D E R E K ' S   P O V

"New recruit, new recruit, new recruit."

Penelope's grip on my arm tightens as she drags me down the hall and into her office, no doubt gearing up to gossip about the new recruit she's singing about. I barely stepped off the elevator before she caught me, beaming with excitement.

She closes the office door behind us, resting her back against it, her jaw practically on the floor. "I saw her!"

She's asking to be teased at this point. "Who?"

Penelope's eyebrows lower as she gawks at me, reaching over to slap the side of my head. "The new girl!"

"Someone new is starting?" I gasp, taking a step back. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Penelope takes this opportunity to whack me again. "This is not the times for jokes," She says, before her excitement takes over once again. "I saw her walking in with Spencer! They both got out of his car—"

"Wait, wait, how do you know all of this?"

Penelope looks at me like I'm stupid. "I hacked the security camera's... obviously."

I pinch the bridge of my nose when I chuckle. I honestly don't know why I even asked because of course she hacked the cameras.

"Something is up with this whole situation," Penelope says, looking like her mind in running a mile a minute. "Averie has been avoiding me too and she only does that when she's hiding something because she can't lie to me. So, what's the deal? Do her and Spencer know her?"

"Baby girl, I know just as much as you," I sigh, draping my arm over her shoulder. "Which is..nothing."

This new girl has been the talk of the office the past few weeks since Penelope dragged it out of Hotch that there was in fact someone new starting.

It's all been very secretive, Hotch and Rossi wouldn't even tell us her name. But that's probably because with her name, Penelope would look her up and we would know her social security number and where she went to middle school before ever laying eyes on her.

A knock at the door interrupts us before Penelope can pull up the hacked security camera footage and we look over just in time to see JJ peak her head through the door.

"She's out of Hotch's office," JJ says, grinning. "You guys ready to meet her?"

Penelope practically takes off running out of her office towards the bullpen, so fast that it leaves her empty desk chair swivelling behind her. Laughing, JJ and I both take a much more normal pace when we follow behind her.

Pushing open the glass doors of the bullpen, I see the group over by our desks. As expected, Penelope already has the new girl wrapped up in a hug, causing her back to be to me as I approach.

I know I shouldn't, but I'm a guy so of course I check her out.

Her chestnut hair flows down past her shoulders and my eyes drag down the slope of her waist, right to where the white shirt she's wearing cinches and is tucked into her skirt. I'm a total sucker for a pencil skirt and the navy one she's wearing is tight in all the right places and I can't even focus on her hips and ass for more than a millisecond or I'm going to have a bigger problem.

Even just from her back profile, something feels oddly familiar about her but I can't seem to put my finger on it. Maybe she was recruited internally and I've seen her around the office before.

"Good, you're here," Hotch says as I approach, nodding at me over her shoulder. "Derek, this is SSA Evans."

"Hi, I'm—holy fuck balls."

The end of what was supposed to be my introduction comes out as a cursed whisper because standing in front of me is Layla, my one night stand from yesterday.

I'm not one to forget a face, especially one so beautiful and fresh in my memory. Can you even call it a memory if it was only last night? And can you even call it a one night stand if it's over the bar bathroom countertop and she splits without saying goodbye?

This is comical. Who writes this shit?

I actually look over my shoulder to see him I'm being punked right now because I'm half expecting Ashton Kutcher to jump out.

He doesn't.

Layla's emerald green eyes are wide staring back at me, and if it's possible, she looks even more shocked then I am to see her here.

But she quickly recovers, masking both our surprise when she out stretches her hand for me to shake. "It's nice to meet you," She says, giving me a curt nod and a smile.

Oh, okay so we're acting like yesterday didn't happen. I shake her hand, returning the smile when I say, "Nice to meet you too."

"You'll be taking Spencer's old desk," Hotch says to Layla, nodding towards the desk directly across from mine. "You'll have more time to talk to everyone later, but we just need to go over a few more things in my office."

As she's following Hotch back towards his office, Layla looks back at me and we share a look. A look I can only describe as somewhere between what the fuck and oh my god. Pretty sure that's a good mixture of how we both feel about this situation right now.

And maybe only I notice it, but I swear there's a slight limp in her step. Now that's an ego boost if I've ever had one, knowing I put that there.

Now that they're gone, it leaves me alone with Penelope, JJ, Emily and Spencer looking at me expectingly, waiting for me to explain what the fuck just happened. Trust a room of profilers to notice a weird vibe like that.

"I thought I recognised her," I shrug, trying to keep my voice nonchalant. "But I don't, it's all good."

Penelope throws me a bullshit look. "I can see right through you, chocolate thunder. You think she's pretty!"

"As he should," Emily cuts in and I chuckle when she subtly daps me up.

Spencer appears in front of us. "The two of you," He says, wagging his finger between both Emily and I. "Neither of you are allowed to sleep with her."

Emily backs up, holding her hands up in defence. "I can appreciate the menu without ordering anything."

I refrain from telling Spencer it's way too late for this lecture because I get this warning every time a new girl joins the team and I've never broken it. And I technically still haven't broken it because I didn't know Layla was on the team when I slept with her.

But with Spencer's scolding stare burning into me, I have to get offended and play the part. "What?" I scoff. "Why do you always assume I'm going to sleep with girls who join the team?"

"It's different this time," Spencer says. "Layla is actually Averie's cousin and we like her and want her to stay here."

Uh oh. This just got a whole lot more interesting.

If Averie gets wind of this, I'll never hear the end of it. I love that girl like a sister, but she'll play match maker and assume that we're soulmates or some shit like that because of our 'chance encounter' and try to convince us that we're destined to be together.

When in reality, we were both just horny and attracted to each other. So if that consulates as soulmates, then sure, we're soulmates.

"I won't sleep with her." Again.

Well, If I have anything to do with it, I will be sleeping with her again. I've had a taste now and let me tell you, it's worth breaking the rules for.

But I told Spencer what he wants to hear and that's good enough for me.

-

I can't say I'm mad about Layla's desk being directly across from mine.

I mean, who would be mad about staring at a pretty face all day? Much better than when Reid used to sit across from me that's for sure.

The girl's had Layla hauled up in Penelope's office all morning, getting to know her better so we haven't got a chance to talk yet, but I know we will have to at some point.

So when the office dies down and people start leaving for lunch, Layla and I's eyes meet and she nods her head towards the office kitchen.

She's pouring two mugs of coffee by the time I follow her over and she hesitatingly passes me one. I can practically see the gears turning in her head, wondering how she's going to approach this.

She taps her finger to her mug, lips folding into a thin line. "So.."

Nah, I'm not going to be the one to start this conversation, I want to see what she's going to say. I hold back my smirk when I say, "So.."

Layla takes the silence as an opportunity to finally take a sip of her drink. She grimaces at the taste. "This coffee is ass."

"It is ass," I laugh, placing my cup in the sink. "Which is why we usually get coffee from the bakery across the street."

Our eyes meet and we both realise that if we want to talk without the chance of anyone hearing, we need to get out of the office. So wordlessly, we both head towards the elevator.

We're staring in silence at the floor numbers counting down and one thing I will say about Penelope is that you can hear her before you see her. The sound of her heels clicking against the ground approach us and Layla and I turn to see her grinning face.

"Where are you guys going?"

Layla smiles at her. "We're in search of some good coffee."

"Oo," Penelope hums, clicking her fingers. "The bakery down the street. They have the best cream puffs too."

We need to talk but obviously Layla wants to make friends here, so I completely understand when she invites Penelope to come with us.

So the three of us leave the office and make our way down the street, stepping inside the bakery to see a couple people already in line. I take this as our opportunity to get a second alone.

"You order, baby girl," I say, handing Penelope my card. "We'll go find a table."

Penelope pumps her eyebrows, wiggling my card in her hand. "I'm memorising these numbers."

I laugh, rolling my eyes. "I'm surprised you haven't already."

Layla follows me when I head for a booth in the back and we slide into opposite ends. I decide to be the one to break the silence since we don't have long.

I snicker. "You snuck out on me."

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" Layla whispers yells, wincing slightly. "Are you offended?"

"Offended?" I gasp dramatically. "Layla, I am truly heartbroken. I was picking out our wedding china patterns—"

"Okay, shut up," She laughs, catching onto my exaggeration.

Despite her protests, I'm nowhere near done yet. "Seriously, it was going to be a summer wedding, on the beach at sunset—"

Layla pushes against my arm, teasingly rolling her eyes and willing me to stop.

"But you walked out..." I say, heaving a heavy sigh, clenching my hand into a fist and patting it to the left side of my chest. "You walked out and took my heart with you. So, I'm sorry but I can't marry you anymore."

There is nothing but amusement in Layla's eyes. "Are you done?"

I contemplate on pushing my story further, maybe adding a kid or two but I decide against it. I laugh. "I'm done now."

She still looks unsure because I didn't give her a proper answer. "Seriously, are you offended? Do you hate me?"

"No," I laugh, finally telling her the truth. My back sinks into my seat, grinning when I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm honestly impressed."

Layla looks confused by my admission, but she doesn't push me to elaborate and I'm glad because I'm not proud of it, but usually it's me sneaking out on girls so having it done to me was an interesting change of pace.

A few minutes had passed before I noticed she hadn't came out of the bar bathroom and when I went to check on her, I was surprised to find it empty. Leaving the bar when I realised she split without me noticing, I have to say I did laugh to myself. In a weird way it made me like her more. She got what she wanted and dipped. I respect it.

But I am one hundred percent not opposed to it happening again. So I pull out my phone, "Put your number in my phone."

"You probably already have it," Layla says, shrugging. "Penelope added me to the team group chat."

I do, but I still place my phone in her hand. "But I want you to give it to me."

Teasingly rolling her eyes, Layla takes the phone from me. When she gives it back, I snicker when I read what she put her contact as.

"Slut from the bar?"

"What?" She shrugs, laughing. "It's relevant."

If we're going off relevancy, I think I know what I want my contact to be in her phone, so I hold out my hand and when she places her phone in it, I begin typing.

She laughs, rolling her eyes when I give her back her phone. "Big D?"

"What?" I shrug, laughing when I match her previous expression. "It's relevant."

Layla slides her phone back into her pocket, fighting back a smile. "Your ego is way too big."

"It wasn't my big ego that gave you that limp."

Layla's mouth drops open and I can't tell if it's because she expected me not to notice her little waddle or if it's because I'm still flirting with her. Just because we're co-workers doesn't mean we can't flirt.

Checking over her shoulder, Layla sees Penelope at the cash register and knows we only have a few more seconds alone. She turns back to me. "So we're good?"

"We're good."

"Friends?"

The term feels strange leaving my lips, but still, I nod. "Friends."

I'm regretting giving Penelope my card because she approaches the booth with a tray that looks like she just bought the entire place out of all their sweet treats.

"What?" Penelope shrugs at my confused look, sliding the tray onto the table. "You trusted me with your card so that's a you issue."

I take my cup of coffee from the tray, taking a sip when I let my mind wander over everything that has happened since yesterday.

I genuinely didn't go to the bar to hook up with anyone, I just wanted to get a drink before going home because a glass of whiskey was needed to put my disaster first date behind me. I'm never using tinder again. It just goes to show, some girls can be pretty but have the personality of a brick.

But even though it wasn't a date, the short time I spent with Layla trumps any dates I've ever had. We have the same flirty personalities, she can make me laugh, she's easily the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and don't even get me started on her body because fuck me.

But we're friends now.

Yes, I've watched her come on my dick, heard her moan my name and beg me for more and yes it was the best sex I've ever had.. but I can't think of her like that now.

Friends... I've never done that with someone I've slept with before. First time for everything, right?

While her and Penelope fall into conversation and enjoy their pastries, I find myself staring at Layla while she takes a bite of her cream puff, using her finger to swipe the cream from the corner of her mouth, pushing it past the seam of her plump lips and sucking it off her finger.

This friends thing might be harder than I thought...pun intended.

-

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :) oh and what good friends Derek and Layla are going to be...👀