Chapter Text
“Aaaand what about…” Penelope lifted her head off of its resting place, directly over Derek’s heart, and looked at her bare-chested boyfriend with wandering, dreamy, but determined eyes; she soon found what she had been searching the upper half of his body for. He had by that point, told her the meaning behind every one of his many tattoos that covered his beautiful body; beautiful to her because of its physical fitness but even more because it was him and no one else. She loved everything about the man underneath her. Her reasons for loving him had nothing to do with his outward appearance; she loved his heart, his soul, his incredible mind, his insurmountable empathy and kindness. His physical beauty well, that was just a bonus.
“This one.” Her voice was soft and genuinely curious when she asked Derek about the origin of one of his many tattoos. After a glance at the clock on the table next to his girlfriend, it hit him that they had been laying in bed for two solid hours; doing nothing while discovering everything. Everything new they could discover about each other; a task that soon proved itself challenging because they already knew each other down to the other person’s bones. Still, they had lived two separate, however incomplete, lives before they had finally made one whole. Everything about her was important to him because it was her and everything about him was important to her because it was him; they existed in a constant state of curiosity and wonder, gratitude and fascination. Nothing was little or insignificant because everything that had happened before they found one another, made them who they were. They each had their bits and pieces, they were made of different things; and every one of those things was a part of their love.
He felt the pressure of her finger on the small but distinct set of numbers he had tattooed directly on his ribs on the left side of his body. He smiled and met her eyes; momentarily lost in their warmth before he remembered her question.
“That, babygirl, is my pop’s birthday.” he said it with an air of pride and a hint of longing. He longed to hear his father’s voice again; to tell him all about Penelope and watch his father’s face light up with admiration for his son’s other half. He was proud to be his father’s son, he only wished that his father could see the man he had become and the woman who had helped him believe again; the woman that saved his life everyday she existed.
She heard everything he didn’t say in his voice. She cursed the things that were out of her control; she silently declared that she would give up absolutely anything if it meant Derek could have his father back. She knew it was a silly and ultimately useless thing to tell herself but she couldn’t help her instinctual desire to help heal; she couldn’t stand seeing anyone in pain, least of all the love of her life. What made it worse or easier, she couldn’t tell, was that she knew exactly the pain he was feeling for she too had experienced the loss of not just her step father, but her mother as well. She wanted to take every ounce of that pain from him and keep it for herself instead. She knew she couldn’t bring his father back so she did what she knew she could do.
Softly, she ran her thumb over that precious date he had branded on his body; she then looked into his eyes and cupped his right cheek with her left hand. Once again, with her thumb she softly caressed his cheekbone, every ounce of her love evident in her gaze.
“Thank you, Derek…. Thank you for telling me about these beautiful tattoos..” she adjusted her position and settled back on his chest. their faces separated by an inch at the most, she gently closed the tiny gap that separated them by resting her forehead against his. She continued-
“I'm honored, hotstuff. That you told me all about every single one of them.” he took in her words and the emotion they held in them, and he had to tell her the same. Their foreheads parted and the small gap separated them again; though not for long as he gave her the softest of kisses as his lips met hers. With his eyes closed he had a gratitude he needed to express as well.
“Baby….” he spoke so softly he wasn’t sure if he even spoke at all; but she heard him. He continued, “I should be thanking you sweet girl.” he opened his eyes to look into her beautiful brown ones, this time he was the one to cup her cheek, maintaining their eye contact, he continued. “Yes, babygirl…i should be the one saying thank you. Thank you for… everything. For even wanting to know about them, about me. For letting me share with you. God, I’m so thankful for you Penelope Garcia. And I love you. I love you so much my beautiful girl. My beautiful girl..” he repeated as he closed the gap with a second kiss, one that matched the first in emotion but topped it in duration and pressure. When they kissed, everything around them was small, they became larger than life. Time stopped, the room disappeared along with the rest of humanity. Their problems ceased to exist and they felt so safe. She returned his kiss with equal tenderness and feeling. Soon, he spoke again.
“I know you don’t think you deserve a thank you babygirl but dammit you do. I’ll never stop thanking you Penelope. You deserve a thank you for simply being alive. Woman everything about you…. Everything you are… you save me. You save me everyday and I love you. Baby i love you” he kissed her again, noticing silent tears falling down her face. They kissed for several blissful minutes, each one building on the one before. On a break for breath, he added to their conversation earlier.
“You thanked me for telling you about every single one of these bad boys but baby, you missed one…” he said with a grin that begged the question:
“Missed one? What do you mean i missed one? I know every inch of this oh so incredible body of yours…” her confusion was evident on her face while she went on, “There’s no way I missed one. Unless you have one… no i would know about that if you did…” she was thinking hard now. There was no way Penelope Garcia would be able to miss one of her boyfriend’s tattoos, her boyfriend Derek Morgan’s tattoos. It was impossible. The moment she had finally met all of him she knew she would never be able to forget any of it. He had to be joking.
“You have to be joking. Derek you don’t have a secret tattoo there’s no way I'm sure of it.” she was sure of it but the look he was giving her made her question whether she should be so sure.
“I’m not lying at all goddess. Nope. you missed one. And I'll put you out of your misery so you can stop calling your man a liar. Even though i could easily look at your adorable confused face forever.” he sat up to kiss her forehead after she had moved to a sitting position on her knees in the middle of the mattress in order to better examine the parts of his skin that were exposed. She frowned at him.
“I never said you were lying, I just said you were joking. There’s a difference.” she said in an attempt to stand her ground for what she didn’t exactly know; she was teasing anyway. “Well where is it… “ she was smiling now, excitement and intrigue flooding her senses.
“Right here. It’s old and faded but… i think it might be my favorite. No, I know it is. It’s my favorite.” he said, pointing to the barely noticeable dark spot on his chest, directly over his heart.
“That's- that's a tattoo? I… I thought that was a birthmark. Like a mole or something… that’s a tattoo? What is it?” she responded feeling somehow more confused than before. He smiled as she made her “adorable confused face” again and gave her answers.
“A birthmark huh?….. Man… well honestly, It might as well be.” the end of his sentence had a sort of gravity to it. It made her heart race and her attention completely focused on the man in front of her.
“Its two letters babygirl…. PG.” he had never told anyone about this tattoo until this moment. He watched as her face registered what he had said.
“PG? As in…” she was shocked, had he really gotten…
“Penelope Garcia. As in Penelope Garcia. So yeah, its my favorite one.” he was glad to have finally told her about his favorite tattoo. He was watching her closely, completely in love with every emotion on her face.
“You said it’s old. H-how old? It’s old enough that it’s faded… How long does it take a tattoo to fade? I- you got my… Derek when did you… how long ago-” she was interrupted with yet another kiss as he held her face in his hands and told her.
“Well, motor mouth, I'll tell you.”