"The Heart of My Angel"

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own CBS and the cast and characters of this wonderful show. If I did I certainly would not have let Shemar Moore leave and I definitely would have made Morcia a true reality.

A/N: I started this journey back in January with the prodding and support from my very good friend Polhop. Thank you my friend for your encouragement and can you believe it, it's finally a reality.

You all know me as a reviewer, now it's my turn to be reviewed. I hope you all enjoy my labor of love. I appreciate all the writers even more now. God Bless you all.

I also want to thank my wonderful friend and beta ddgorgeous. Without her I couldn't have finished this. Thank you for all your love, guidance and inspiration. I would also like to thank FreelySheRoams, SoCaGirl and Jenny Crum for their help, support and patience.

Now, on with the show! Please let me know what you think.

(Derek's POV)

Derek Morgan was sitting in his office tapping his pen against his desk while feeling frustrated. All the while, trying to complete his backlog of paperwork. It had been a long, hard, and tiring few weeks of several bad cases. This was the first time in three weeks that the team had been home for more than forty-eight hours. With Christmas just two days away, he knew he needed to complete his paperwork as quick as possible. All in order, to be able to fly out to Chicago tomorrow afternoon. He was making his annual Christmas trek out to see his mom and his sisters.

He threw his pen down on the desk in a fit of total exasperation, finding it near impossible to concentrate on anything work related. All that was on his mind right now was his Baby Girl. He was extremely worried about her. He sensed that there was something definitely going on with his Goddess. He was having a difficult time putting things together. It was frustrating him. After all, he was a profiler, her best friend and not to mention completely in love with her.

He had obviously noticed a tremendous difference in his Baby Girl's behavior the last couple of months or so. The team noticed changes in her, as well. They all had come to him at different times to ask him about it. He promised them all that he would try and get to the bottom of it as she had been shutting him out, as well. Which he couldn't understand or comprehend why. They had always been able to tell each other everything.

As he sat back in his chair reflecting over the last few months, he realized that she hadn't attended any family functions or gone out with the team in a very long time. He noticed she had lost a lot of weight and that she had none of her usual sparkle. Also, she had not exhibited her usual wit and laughter, even her normal flashy wardrobe had been dulled down considerably. She had been pulling away and their normal flirty banter and use of her pet names for him had taken a complete nosedive. That coupled with the fact that she was still with that geeky, slovenly, wishy-washy and irritating Kevin Lynch, just had him up in arms. He couldn't understand how Lynch didn't seem to have a clue that something was wrong with Penelope.

Derek even went as far as to ask Lynch about her and the schmuck had the nerve to tell him she was fine and on a diet. Which totally infuriated him to the point he wanted to punch Lynch in the face, because as far as he was concerned his Baby Girl was perfect just as she was.

He loved all her curves and thought she had the perfect body. She deserved so much better than being with the likes of Lynch.

Derek only wanted what was best for Penelope and that was himself, not that idiot Lynch.

He sighed as he wished he could get up the courage to tell his Goddess how he truly felt. He just didn't want to hurt her, confuse her or take a chance on losing his best friend, because she doesn't feel the same way about him. He knew he had been in love with his best friend for years now.

He smiled remembering that fateful and life changing day for him. He couldn't forget while working on a case and needed help from the new tech girl and called her Gomez by mistake. That was the day she became his Baby Girl and captured his heart forever.

He looked out the window of his office as he sat there contemplating his three Christmas wishes.

First, he wished that she would talk to him and share what was happening, so he could wrap her up in his arms and take care of her and tell her he would always be there for her. Secondly, he wished he could find the courage to confess his true feelings to his Baby Girl. Lastly, he wished she would come to Chicago with him now and always.

Derek decided that he would try again to talk to her one more time before he headed to Chicago. If that didn't work, then he would try and get some advice from his Momma while he was on holiday. He decided he will help Penelope no matter what it took.

(Penelope's POV)

On Christmas Eve, as Penelope sat on her couch at home crying, drinking wine and trying to eat ice cream she was miserable. She didn't know how to handle everything that had been happening to her. She kept asking herself why this happened to her and didn't know how to get out of it.

It is even worse now that she knows her Hot Stuff left for Chicago. At least with him there she could dream that he would swoop in and rescue her.

All she could do was to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself while waiting on the monster that controlled her life to come home and start his nightly tirade and hope that she could endure all his abuse.

While she sat there, she thought back to when Derek had told her that he loved her after she was shot by Battle. Afterwards, when he didn't take any steps to further their relationship, she had come to the realization that he only meant it as a "friendship" type of love. She had convinced herself that she would never be his type of woman. She was too curvy, wasn't beautiful enough and she was a geeky nerd. He would never love her the way she loved him.

At that point, Kevin had come along and was nice to her and they started dating. She never stopped loving Derek. He would always be the only one to ever completely own her heart.

She decided to settle for second best and tried to find some kind of love with Kevin. For the first year of their relationship things went well. She was happy to be in a relationship with a loving, sweet and attentive boyfriend. They had a lot of good times and became closer. Shortly, after their first anniversary things started to change.

Kevin had become more possessive of her and her time. However, they stopped going on dates. All he wanted to do was stay home, have her cook dinner, watch TV and play his video games. She had brought this up to him many times. She had expressed to him that she wanted to go out more often, but he always had an excuse to keep her inside.

She would try to make plans with her best friend or the team and he would constantly try and prevent her from being with them, except at work.

He always had a huge problem with her relationship with Derek. He was always jealous of the friendship and that became a constant fight with Kevin. He hated their flirty banter and their pet names for each other and how Derek was always hugging her and kissing her forehead and cheeks. He also hated their movie nights and hanging out all the time when the team was in town. He didn't even like it when Penelope wanted to have her girls' days with JJ and Emily. She couldn't stand the constant fighting or the fact he was closing her off from the rest of her life and family.

One day it all came to a head about four months ago. She had enough and told him that. They had a huge fight because he demanded that she not attend the family BBQ with the rest of the team at Rossi's mansion. They had fought about it for three days. She was determined to go and he was not having any of it. On the day of the BBQ everything in her life would change and not for the good!

She had gotten herself all dressed and gathered her things to leave. As she turned around to leave Kevin approached her with such a dark fury in his eyes and demanded to know where she going.

When she flatly told him the BBQ, he completely blindsided her and slapped her right across the face. She was caught off guard, dumbfounded and was completely shocked. Even before she could react to the attack, he quickly punched her in the stomach. He hit Penelope with such force that it completely knocked the wind out of her and she fell to the floor hard.

Kevin continued his assault by kicking her several times in the ribs and stomach. She was in tears while writhing around on the floor in excruciating pain. All the while, Kevin was standing above her laughing maniacally with the same dark fury in his eyes and a demented look on his face.

She just laid there on the floor in shock for what seemed like hours sobbing, trying to catch her breath and trying to digest everything that had just happened. She was in so much pain and was afraid to move.

After a while she managed to crawl off the floor. She did manage to get herself in a chair and just sat there staring at him incredulously.

When she started to speak Kevin immediately cut her off. With such bitterness and so much viciousness and venom in his voice, he told her to "shut her mouth" and that she would be following his instructions from now on. Kevin then told her that she was going to call JJ and tell her that she wasn't going to make the BBQ, because she wasn't feeling well and that she would see her at work.

"Why?" Penelope asked. He jumped up from the couch and stalked toward her and slapped her face again and shoved her cell phone at her. He then screamed, "You will follow my directions to the letter!"

She nodded and unwillingly complied. Once she hung up the phone, he sat down in front of her on the coffee table. At which time, he glared at her and snarled to her with so much hate and contempt, and said. "If you tell anyone about what happened here I will have no trouble killing your Hot Stuff and the rest of your so-called family!" He also bit out to her with gritted teeth. "That from now on we will still be together and you will not be allowed to attend anymore team functions unless I give my permission, do you hear me and understand me?"

All she could do was nod yes in compliance.

He also told her that he would be living with her and would be monitoring all her emails, text messages and phone calls. She knew he had the capability and the know-how to do all those things.

There was nothing left of the kind, sweet, goofy, and loving Kevin that she once knew. She had no choice, but to submit to his demands. She wouldn't take the chance of him hurting her best friend, the love of her life or her family.

The last four months had been hellish and horrendous. She had been living through constant shame and pain as she has had to endure numerous beatings from Kevin.

He would always make sure she had no visible marks in sight. Her back, stomach, chest, inner thighs and shoulders all had different stages of bruising on them. She always made sure she wore sweaters, scarves and longer skirts and dresses to cover up everything. He also would constantly taunt her by telling her that she was "a fat cow, ugly, stupid and good for nothing." He also would remind her that she was his sex slave and his maid. He also told her that no one else would want her, especially Derek. It was all so hurtful.

As time dragged by she had endured so much physical and emotional pain and torture, that all she could do was long for happiness and her old life back. She just wanted to wake up from her never ending nightmare her life had become.

Now, it was Christmas Day and she was forced to spend it alone. She turned down the pleas of her family to spend the day with them at Rossi's mansion. How she longed to be there with them eating, opening presents, singing carols and being happy. Instead, she was sitting in her living room alone and crying, while her tormentor and captor was in the bathroom getting ready to go out. Kevin had announced to her yesterday that he was going to his parent's house for the day, alone. Just as he left the apartment he took her phone and computer and locked her in the bathroom. He told her he would feed her when he got back. Devilishly, he smiled as he left and then slammed the door and enjoyed his day.

There she sat on the bathroom floor alone as she cried and wished that her Noir Hero would rescue her. She missed him and wished her nightmare would end, and soon.