“No, to the left. There!”
“Baby Girl, that’s where the thing started.”
“I know,” Penelope said with a bright smile. “I just wanted to watch you manly men lift.”
Emily laughed from the doorway where she was helping JJ move boxes upstairs. She set her box on the bottom step and headed to Hotch’s side. “Mmm, she’s right.”
“Come on! Get a room!” Penelope exclaimed as she watched Emily pull their boss in for a slow kiss.
Emily just laughed again, dodging the pillow Penelope had thrown and skipping back to her burden.
It was moving day for Penelope and Derek. They’d consolidated their belongings, picking the best from each place “ or, more often than not the most sentimental “ to put into their new home. Derek and Hotch had worked overtime and Emily had even enlisted her brother’s help to make sure it all got done on time. Penelope had been thrilled that the place had been finished before she’d given birth and she’d had specific design plans for each room of the house.
But the one thing she wouldn’t tell Derek a single thing about was the baby’s room. That was Penelope’s little pet project and she’d had Emily and JJ help her paint it. She’d found a gorgeous shade of dark green and fallen in love with it immediately. Since all of the furniture in the room was white, the green walls contrasted beautifully with the furniture. She’d even asked the girls to help her sponge paint stars on the ceiling. Penelope knew it was what Emily and JJ were in the process of unpacking.
“Mama, we can’t do this all day or we’ll never get everything moved in,” Derek scolded, coming over to kiss her forehead.
Penelope hummed, resting her hands on her stomach. “I can’t help it if you’re smokin’ hot.”
Derek chuckled as he shook his head at Hotch. “Em like this?”
“I wouldn’t tell you if she was.”
“Nope,” Penelope chirped helpfully. “She hasn’t said a thing and we share everything.” Much to her surprise, Hotch actually chuckled.
“Not quite everything, Garcia.”
The blond raised an eyebrow. “Emily Catherine Elizabeth Prentiss you have been holding out on me!” she yelled up the stairs. She grinned at Hotch when he raised an eyebrow at the use of Emily’s full name.
“I have not,” Emily replied indignantly from the top of the stairs.
“According to Lover Boy down here you most certainly have.”
“Aaron’s lying. Don’t listen.”
“Hey!” Hotch called
“Love you!” Emily responded cheerfully. “We’ve got it done Pen. Come look.”
Penelope smiled more than willing to take that change of topic. “Well gentlemen? Shall we go see the nursery?”
Derek was more than excited. He’d wanted to see their child’s room since they’d put the finishing touches on the house, but Penelope had threatened him with bodily harm should he so much as peek at what she’d done. He walked behind her as they made their way up the stairs. He was anxious to see what she’d done since she’d told him, under no uncertain terms, that they were going to be surprised by Peanut’s sex.
JJ and Emily stood to the side of the room, proudly displaying their handiwork. Penelope gasped as she took in what her friends had done with the furniture and the toys. “Guys,” she said, voice filled with teary emotion. “This is fantastic.”
Emily and JJ grinned.
“We tried to stay close to the original plan,” Emily began.
“But then, well…”
“It’s wonderful,” Derek reassured them. Penelope had outdone herself. The green against the white was a fantastic contrast. It wasn’t the light colours he usually associated with a child, but it was elegant and so Penelope, that it didn’t really matter.
“You think Peanut will like it?” Penelope asked, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
Derek wrapped his arms around Penelope’s stomach. “I think Peanut will love it.”
“Derek Morgan where on earth are you?”
Derek’s blood froze. “Mom?”
Even with Fran in the house, Derek and Penelope had been adamant that the team stay, help them finish unpacking and eat dinner, just like they’d promised. Since Saturday had been a day of moving everything into the house, Sunday had been designated as they day that they actually unpack it. None of them had even thought of considering Fran Morgan showing up in surprise.
JJ had opted for the outside, while Emily and Hotch had volunteered to unpack the office. Emily swore she’d disconnected and reconnected computers so many times it would be easy. It left JJ with really nothing to do since Fran, Derek and Penelope were in the living room. The blond sighed. Things today had been… different. Awkward. She and Spencer hadn’t talked all that much since he’d returned from Las Vegas two weeks before unless it was work-related. She’d wanted to give him time and wanted to see if he and Becky, well, had something. If they did, she wasn’t about to infringe on that.
She turned when she heard the back door open and stopped.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t-“
“It’s okay,” she said, smiling at Spencer tightly.
“I’ll just-“
“We’re going to have to find common ground soon,” she said quietly, not a trace of accusation in her voice. “The team is a family. We can’t be on awkward terms forever.”
He stood frozen in the doorway for a moment before making a decision and stepping out. The July air was warm, the breeze just perfect to hold off the humidity. “You’re right.”
They stood in silence for a few moments, about three feet of space between them. “How’s Becky?” she asked finally, unable to stop herself. She slammed her eyes closed. “I’m sorry, it’s not any of my-“
“She’s a good friend,” Spencer replied, interrupting her. He had no idea why he was telling this to JJ. It wasn’t her place and what did it matter to her if he was seeing the detective? Who was he kidding? He knew exactly why JJ was asking the question and exactly why he was specific enough to call Becky a friend.
“Do you talk to her a lot?”
“Enough,” Spencer replied, watching JJ out of the corner of his eye.
She sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Not just for prying, for everything. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about what happened for awhile I guess, I just… I didn’t want to bog you down if you had something good going for you.”
Spencer turned to face her. “Just because our relationship didn’t work out doesn’t mean I don’t want to be friends, Jenn.”
The use of her real name made her shiver. He was still the only person that had called her that since high school. “I’m so sorry, Spence.”
“For what?”
“For being stupid. For listening to stupid rumours. For not talking to you about what was going on in my head when I could talk to you about it before,” she answered. “The list is long.”
Spencer shrugged. “Maybe it just wasn’t supposed to happen.”
JJ sighed. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “The feelings were there. They’re still there.”
“Me too,” Spencer admitted. “We’re just-“
“Too different,” JJ finished for him with a tight smile and a nod. They were silent for a few moments. “Do you think it’ll ever work again?”
“Maybe,” Spencer said honestly. “Someday.”
She faced him then, leaning against the railing just like he was. “I do still want to be friends.”
“So do I,” he promised her.
JJ took a deep breath as she held out her hand. “Friends?”
Spencer took it with a smile. “Friends.”
JJ knew she had a lot of work to do, a lot of trust to regain from him, but that was okay with her, because striking their friendship a new was a start. And everything had to start with baby steps.
“You mean to tell me, Derek, that the love of your life has been pregnant for seven months and you didn’t see fit to tell me?”
Derek had figured his mother would be a little less than impressed with the fact that he had yet to tell her about Penelope’s pregnancy in their weekly conversations, but he didn’t figure she’d been this upset. “Mom-“
“My first grandchild, Derek Morgan and you were going to hide it?”
“Not at all Mrs Morgan.”
“It’s Fran, dear, we’ve talked about this.”
Penelope smiled sweetly. “That was never our intention Fran.”
“We’ve been busy Mom. We haven’t had the chance to call.”
“For seven months? And you could have told me during one of our conversations. We talk every week.”
“I wanted to be there when he told you,” Penelope said honestly. “I didn’t want him to have to explain things by himself.”
“So how long have you been dating then? Since the last time I was here?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Derek replied honestly. “We’ve kind of done everything a little backwards.”
Fran raised her eyebrow. “I thought you were always careful.”
“Mom!”
Fran waved her hand. “It’s irrelevant now. When’s the wedding?”
Penelope froze. “What?”
“Mom, we’re not getting married.” Not yet anyway, he thought to himself.
“She’s pregnant.”
“Pen? Can you come help me with something?” Emily called from upstairs.
Both Derek and Penelope rolled their eyes. It was to perfect for them to believe she hadn’t been eavesdropping. “Coming!” Penelope replied. “Excuse me.”
Derek waited until Penelope had gone carefully up the stairs before turning to his mother. “She won’t marry me.”
“Why not? She loves you.”
“I know. And she knows, but she wants to make sure we’re not just getting married for Peanut, that we can really make this work.”
“You’ve moved in together,” Fran said confused.
“I told you, backwards. Pregnancy, cohabitation, dating, then probably an engagement and marriage.”
Fran blew out a breath. “That is backwards.”
Derek chuckled. “Mom, why are you here?”
“I had some time,” she told him. “And I wanted to see the new place. Is the nursery up?”
Derek shook his head. What was it with women and babies? “Come on, I’ll show it to you.”