“Good morning, Mrs. Morgan.” Derek smiled when he felt the woman in his arms move.
Grinning up at him she murmured sleepily: “I’ll show you a good morning, Mr. Morgan.”
Derek chuckled and ran his hand up and down her arm: “As much as I would like to let you do this, I fear we have to get up.”
With a complaining mumble Penelope snuggled back up against him and replied: “You know this is just not fair. I’m fighting a battle with myself.”
“About what?” Derek smiled and kissed her head.
“I miss Eliana so much and I can’t wait to have her back.” Penelope sighed. “But I don’t want to leave this bed either. Maybe we should ask your mother to bring her here.”
Laughing heartily Derek answered: “I know what you mean, and I assure you I’m fighting the same battle. But I think she’d better not share a room with us. I don’t think our little girl should learn about these things so early in her life.”
“Right, that could be a problem.” Penelope chuckled and unwillingly rose from the bed.
“Baby girl?” Derek held her back.
She turned to face him, still sitting on the bed, and gave him a querying look.
“I know we haven’t really talked about it yet.” he smiled. “But I think… well, maybe we should start to look for… a new home, a house that is. I mean, my apartment is fine and I’m glad you moved into my place but… I want something that’s ours, something we chose and furnished together. What do you say?”
A beaming smile spread across her face and she whispered: “That’s a great idea.”
Derek sat up and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss.
They took a shower “ which lasted longer than they’d intended to let it last “ before they went to Derek’s apartment. Fortunately, JJ had left them some fresh clothes in the suite so that they didn’t have to put the bridal dress and suit back on.
When they entered they found Fran, Des and Sarah with a wide grin on their faces sitting on the sofa. “Hello, turtle doves.” Fran greeted. “I hope you enjoyed your first night as husband and wife.”
“Yes, we did.” Derek replied and frowned at the three women in his living room.
“Come on!” Fran grinned. “You could give us some details.”
“Mom!” Derek and his two sisters scolded simultaneously which made their mother giggle.
Derek shook his head in annoyance and rolled his eyes. “Where’s Eliana?”
“Asleep.” Fran answered a little offended. “She’s fine. I raised three kids, remember?”
“I know.” Derek assured her. “I just…”
“We missed her.” Penelope stated to help him out.
“Yeah, I understand.” Fran smiled. “She’s in the bedroom. But be careful, she wakes quite easily!”
Nodding Penelope and Derek headed for the bedroom and slowly opened the door that was slightly ajar. They stood in the doorway a good five minutes and watched their little girl sleep, Derek’s hands resting on Penelope’s shoulders, her right hand entwined with his.
“She’s gorgeous.” Derek whispered and kissed Penelope’s head.
“Yeah” she smiled. “She takes after you.”
“Kids with our genes can’t be anything but beautiful.” Derek chuckled.
Penelope didn’t answer. But after a while she whispered: “I’m so glad she’s okay. It’s like a miracle that we overcame all this. Nonetheless, I’m still a little terrified, I don’t think that will stop anytime soon.”
“I know what you mean.” Derek nodded. “But Bexter is dead and I’m sure everything will be fine. I’m looking forward to Eliana’s baptism and then watching her grow up and maybe having some siblings.”
“That sounds good.” Penelope agreed.
When they returned to the living room two new faces were grinning at them. Derek rolled his eyes once more: “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“We took the day off.” Emily’s grin widened. “You look a little exhausted.”
“When I called around one p.m. they still hadn’t slept.” JJ explained.
“Traitor!” Penelope grumbled at her.
“Ignore them!” Derek advised and then handed Penelope a laptop which she flipped open and started to type.
“What are you doing?” Sarah wanted to know.
“We’re looking for a christening gown for Eliana.” Penelope answered. “It’s much faster to search the internet for it since it’s in four weeks.”
“I’m still a little surprised that you decided to have her baptized.” Fran said. “I thought… well… I know Derek’s struggling with his faith “ and I completely understand. I sometimes struggled myself.”
“Everyone does from time to time, I guess.” Penelope mumbled.
“Maybe God didn’t answer my prayers back then.” Derek replied. “Or maybe just not the way I wanted him to answer. But he answered them this time. I didn’t lose either of my baby girls and I can’t express how grateful I am. I couldn’t have taken it.”
Silence filled the living room for a while until Penelope pointed at the screen and softly asked: “How do you like this one?”
Derek smiled at the sight of a beautiful pale pink dress. “I love it.”
“It’s really cute.” Fran agreed when Penelope turned the laptop so she could see it. Des, Sarah, JJ and Emily nodded in agreement.
Nodding to herself Penelope hit a few keys and ordered it.
“Did you already talk about some siblings for Eliana?” Sarah grinned.
“I bet they were working on it last night.” Des chuckled and poked her sister in the ribs.
“Sisters…” Derek growled. “Sometimes you still behave like teenagers.”
“I’m pretty sure they have a point there.” JJ giggled.
“Hush you!” Derek scolded. “You are even worse!”
Fran frowned when she realized that Penelope had been typing for quite a while. “Do you need something else?” she wanted to know. She couldn’t help but be curious.
“We’re looking for a house.” Derek answered with a huge grin on his face. “A big one with lots of rooms for children.” he added when he noticed his sisters whispering secretly.
“You wish!” Penelope leaned her head back over the backrest to grin at Derek.
“We should definitely keep trying.” Derek chuckled and leaned down to kiss her deeply.
“Aw!” Des, Sarah, JJ and Emily smiled simultaneously.
“Teenagers.” Derek sighed and rolled his eyes once again.
Sarah opened her mouth to object but didn’t get the chance to do so because Eliana started to cry when she awoke.
“I’ll take care of her.” Derek immediately volunteered and hurried to their bedroom.
“Okay, now that Derek’s gone” Emily grinned and conspiratorially leaned over to Penelope. “Tell us everything!”
“Um… you know…” Penelope started and blushed slightly.
“Come on, girls, leave her alone!” Fran laughed.
“We just want to know if it’s really as good as everyone says it is.” JJ pouted a little.
“No.” Penelope replied and got three querying looks for that statement. She grinned and added: “It’s so much better!”
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
For many years Derek Morgan felt uncomfortable and out of his element being in a church. Now for the second time in two months he simply felt happy. Penelope became entirely his in this church and now their daughter was going to be baptized. He smiled at his wife who was holding Eliana and took her hand as the ceremony started.
Spencer next to him seemed a little nervous and Derek couldn’t help but chuckle. Being his best man had been an honor to Spencer Reid, being his daughter’s godfather on the other hand seemed to be a horror.
“Relax, Spence.” JJ whispered. “We’re not going to adopt Eliana.”
“I know.” he sighed. “It’s just… I’m not good with kids, that’s all. How shall I… teach her to be a good Christian? How shall I teach her anything?”
JJ smiled as she took his hand and squeezed it slightly. “Spencer Reid, don’t belittle yourself. There are so many things you can teach a child by just being yourself.”
He smiled sheepishly and blushed deeply.
Derek frowned a little when he heard the words the pastor read from the gospel of Matthew: “Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ ” But instead of wondering why God didn’t listen to him when he asked for help as he usually did at words like these Derek wondered if God would listen to Eliana if she ever came to Him.
Penelope squeezed his hand gently and Derek looked at her. Smiling at her he thought that God finally answered his prayers. He had sent him this woman and made her become his. She was the one whose love had healed him.
The pastor nodded at them and they gathered around the font.
“Penelope and Derek” he smiled at them. “You have chosen Spencer and JJ to be the godparents of your child. Are you the godparents, with the help of God, willing to do all that you can to help and support Penelope and Derek in the bringing up of their child?”
“We will.” they both answered simultaneously. JJ was smiling brightly while Spencer’s smile looked still a little nervous.
“Penelope and Derek, what name have you chosen for your child?”
“Eliana Christina Morgan.” Penelope smiled. The second name they had chosen was the name of Penelope’s mother. That had been Derek’s idea and although she’d never thought that would be possible it had made her fall in love with him even more.
The pastor nodded again and Penelope and Derek held their little girl over the font. “Eliana Christina Morgan, I hereby baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” he said carefully pouring the holy water over Eliana’s head.
“As a baptismal verse for your daughter you have chosen the line from the first book of Samuel, chapter 16, verse 7.” the pastor nodded at JJ.
Smiling she took a little note out of her pocket and read it out: “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
“Eliana Christina Morgan” the pastor smiled at the little girl secretly thinking that she was probably the calmest child he’d ever baptized, she hadn’t even grimaced or whined when he’d poured the water over her head. “today we officially welcome you. We wish you long life and much happiness. May you face all challenges that come to you as a person of integrity, may you continue to bring great joy to your parents, your grandparents, family, friends, and to all those who come to know you. May beauty delight you and happiness uplift you, may wonder fulfill you and love surround you. May your step be steady and your arm be strong, may your heart be peaceful and your word be true. May you seek to learn, may you learn to live. May you live to love, and may you love - always.”
Derek and Penelope had decided to adequately celebrate the baptism afterwards in a nearby restaurant. Well, it had basically been Penelope’s idea, but Derek had had no intention to object. It was a good chance to thank their friends and family for the wonderful wedding they had arranged for them.
“Can I ask you something?” JJ leaned a little closer to Penelope who was sitting next to her at the long table.
“Sure.” Penelope shrugged and smiled at her.
“Don’t get me wrong, I loved the verse you chose but… how did you come up with it?” JJ wanted to know.
Penelope smiled widely and replied: “You know, I was kind of… insecure about Derek’s feelings for me and… This verse was written on the first Valentine’s card I ever got from him. Underneath he had written: I know, I’m not that perfect. But all I see when I look at you is beauty, the beauty of your face, the beauty of your eyes and most of all the beauty of your heart. The greatest beauty I’ve ever seen.” she blushed a little and added: “I kept this card and every time I started to wonder about Derek’s feelings for me I read it again.”
JJ smiled and whispered: “I understand why you chose the verse.”
“Actually I didn’t choose it.” Penelope chuckled. “Derek found the card by accident and said that if I kept it I probably still didn’t entirely believe in these words. We had a long talk about it and well, I told him many things I never wanted him to know “ about why I’m still insecure. Afterwards he decided that he wanted to teach Eliana to judge people by their actions and not by their looks “ and to simply pity everyone who doesn’t.”
“That’s a good thing to teach a child.” JJ nodded.
“Yeah” she agreed. “And I’m rather sure I can learn something in doing so as well.”
JJ frowned a little. “So you still doubt his feelings?”
Penelope smiled and shook her head. “No.” she whispered and turned to her right smiling at her husband who was warily watching his two sisters fighting about who was next to cuddle with their niece while his mother kept holding Eliana and shaking her head.
He was startled when Penelope took his hand. Turning to face her he gave her a puzzled look that soon changed into a smile fitting the wide one she wore. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Perfect.” Penelope whispered. “Everything is just perfect.”
“I agree.” he nodded and leaned over to kiss her. When he pulled back his eyes fell upon a scene next to Penelope and he grinned. “Look at that.” he pointed his head in a direction behind her.
Penelope turned to follow his look and smirked. JJ and Reid where chatting about something and JJ was obviously flirting with a pretty nervous Spencer.
“Hey, Reid!” Derek called to get the attention of his best friend. When the young agent looked at him he grinned: “Did you ask her already or do I have to spank you first?”
Reid blushed deeply and Derek chuckled.
“Ask me what?” JJ wanted to know and turned back to Spencer.
“Well… um…” he stuttered.
Derek rolled his eyes. “If you’d go out with him.” he stated.
“Thank you, Morgan.” Reid snarled and then looked back at JJ and explained: “You know, you don’t have to do this. I mean, if you don’t want to, I understand, really. I wouldn’t be… offended or anything. I just thought that maybe… since we get along quite well and stuff… that we maybe could just… go for dinner or something. Nothing serious, though… and if you don’t…”
JJ stopped the flush of words from his mouth by gently placing her finger over it. She smiled and looked into his eyes as she softly said: “I’d love to have dinner with you, Spence.”
“Really?” was all he managed to do. Good job, Spencer Reid, now she’ll take you to be a complete dork!
But JJ smiled and simply nodded: “Really.”
He smirked sheepishly.
Derek couldn’t resist. As much as he tried, he simply couldn’t. “But do me a favor.” he grinned at his two friends. “Wait with the wedding until Eliana is old enough to be your flower girl!”
Penelope poked him in the ribs.
Spencer blushed even more if possible.
JJ simply shrugged and replied: “As long as you’ll allow us to use the same wedding verse you did…”
Penelope smiled first at JJ and a bright red Spencer and then at Derek: “Only if you prove that it applies to your relationship as much as to ours.”
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
The end