My Broken Valentine

Home of Savannah Hayes – Monday Morning

Savannah hated mornings; Monday mornings especially and this Monday morning held a special place on her things to hate list. Today marked the one-year anniversary of her divorce from Derek. She’d promised herself that she would move on, that there was more to life than pining over a man who did not lover her, but Savannah’s heart still ached for him. She never imagined her marriage coming to an end so quickly, but it had. Now, all the hopes of a family and life together with Derek was nothing more than heartache and disappointment.

Savannah Hayes never wanted to become one of those women; those women who plotted and planned to get her man back. She didn’t want to look foolish and desperate, but she was all those things, the thought of losing Derek to Penelope Garcia of all people made her sick to her stomach. She had tried everything to hold on to him, to convince him to give them a sincere chance, but he insisted their separation was for the best. The sound of the doorbell yanked her back to the present as she checked her watch and hurried toward the door.

Looking through the peephole first, she then opened the door and let the young woman into her home. Della was always on time, always dependable; she’d been a godsend.

“Good morning, Dr. Hayes.”

“Good morning, and when are you going to start calling me Savannah?”

“I’m sorry, Doctor...I mean Savannah,” then following her boss into the kitchen Della removed her jacket and dropped it and her backpack next to the kitchen table.

“How was your weekend? Did you and Jason enjoy the game?”

“It was amazing! Thanks for the tickets too. Jason was so impressed he’s wanted courtside tickets since forever!”

“Well, if you want, I have season tickets and you two are welcome to them; I was never a basketball fan, that was Derek’s thing. I just went along to get along, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. That’s generous of you, Savannah! Thank you so much.”

Della couldn’t help but notice how sad her employer seemed. She knew today would be rough and she felt for the woman who had been so kind to her and her family.

“Hey, are you okay? I know today...” the younger woman began.

“...I’m fine but thank you. I just need to get through the day,” Savannah chuckled sadly.”

“You’re too good for him, you know that, right?”

“You’re kind. Thank you.”

“No, I mean it. You are too good for him! You didn’t deserve what he did and what goes around comes around.”

Savannah hugged Della and for several seconds the two stood silently while Savannah gathered strength from the woman’s encouragement.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Della. You’ve been a true friend.”

“Nonsense. I appreciate you giving me a chance to work,” then pulling away and smiling, “now enough of this sappy stuff, you’re going to be late.”

Savannah checked her watch again and smiled as she wiped away a few stray tears. Then grabbing her keys and her bag, she headed toward the door.

“I went grocery shopping, so there’s plenty of food in the frig and pantry, but if you two want to order out, help yourselves.”

“Got it boss!” Della followed her to the door. “His second birthday is coming up, any plans?”

“No, I’ve been so busy at the hospital lately.”

“Well, if you need any help I’m here.”

“I appreciate that.”

Then noises could be heard from the nursery and both women smiled and shook their heads.

“Go, get out of here before the hospital sends a search party for you.”

“Okay, okay, thanks Della!”

Della waved and smiled, then before heading toward the nursery, she locked the door and exhaled. She loved Savannah like she was a sister and she hated seeing her in pain. Derek had hurt her friend, broken her heart, and tossed her to the curb like garbage, all for a frumpy woman who couldn’t hold a candle to Savannah. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t right at all.

Sounds of an impatient toddler beckoned her down the hallway and as she made her way inside the pastel-hued room, Della smiled at the beautiful caramel-colored baby boy standing up in the crib with tears trickling down his face.

“Good morning, DJ I’m here, baby boy! Auntie Della is here, and we are going to have such a good day together, okay?”

The little boy’s frown quickly turned to giggles and smiles as she lifted him from the crib and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“How could you leave such a precious baby? Savannah didn’t deserve this! All alone to raise a baby by herself! You’ll regret this Derek Morgan...you’ll regret this! I’ll make sure of it!”

Home of Derek Morgan –

Things hadn’t gone exactly as Derek had hoped after his divorce from Savannah. He’d confessed his feelings for his best friend and like he had with Savannah, he promised Penelope that he would do whatever was necessary to have her in his life, but Penelope balked at the notion of the two of them being more than best friends. As much as she loved Derek, she saw herself reflected in Savannah’s tears and she wasn’t brave enough to gamble on him, on them; not yet and not now.

Penelope had remained in his life and nothing much had changed except that she now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how he felt about her. He knew that she felt guilty for the demise of his marriage, but Derek knew that his marriage was doomed from the start. Savannah was never the one, she was just a choice that seemed to make sense. She was successful with an extremely busy schedule, so his extremely busy schedule seemed to work for them both. Plus, Derek needed to prove that he could settle down and make a life with one woman and make them work, but he had chosen the wrong woman.

It had been a year now since his divorce and his feelings hadn’t changed for Penelope and he still wasn’t ready to stop working to convince her to give them a chance. His baby girl had begun dating again, renewing her relationship with Sam and Derek hated it. He knew what she was doing, he’d done it for years; she was trying to forget her feelings for him and so, dating someone else was her attempt to do so.

Home of Penelope Garcia –

Penelope drained the last of her coffee and placed her mug in the sink. Just as she turned to leave the small kitchen her eye caught site of the ridiculously large bouquet of red, pink, and white roses that took up her entire table. She wanted to laugh at the expression of love that seemed out of place. She had almost grown comfortable with her perpetual state of guilt. She’d turned her back on Derek’s affections and ran straight back to Sam, a man who’d loved her too but could never make her feel what she felt for Derek. Everything she did and said to Sam to make him feel comfortable with her again was a lie, but it was what she had to do to go on with her life. The thought of knowing that she had singlehandedly demolished someone’s marriage hurt her beyond any love she had for Derek. Being with Sam was her penance, her punishment and it was the most she could hope for; the closest to happy that she deserved.

Home of Derek Morgan –

Derek had asked Reid to drop by before heading into the office, so it was no surprise to him when the doorbell rang. Without looking through the peephole, he opened the door and was surprised to see that it was not Spencer.

“Savannah, what are you doing here?”

“Hi Derek, can I come in?”