Hi guys! Gosh, it has been such a Long time! I finished School a year ago, spent the following year in Italy as an AuPair and now started studying to be a primary school teacher ;)

This piece literally came to me during one of the boring lectures. Since I have not written much these last months I have no idea if I lost my touch or not. Please, please let me know what you think, it would make me very very happy!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to CBS and the Producers and staff of Criminal Minds. Well, all characters except Simon ;)

Pusteblume17

She remembered the day they had decided not to give each other Christmas gifts. She remembered it as if they had talked about it only yesterday.

And still: Luke was here, on her doorstep, at a ridiculous time of day. Or rather night. They just got back from a long and tiring case- she went with them. The things she saw were even more shocking than when she saw them on her computers in her lair. She just wanted to take a bath and read a romance novel to get some distance from this job- and yet, he was here. Holding a small package in his hand, wrapped in some colorful paper. It was pink and green and yellow and orange and she swore it had unicorns on it. It screamed Penelope Garcia.

"Uhm… hi." He said and thus bringing her out of her thoughts. He scratched the back of his head nervously. She was on the brink of tugging him in by his tie and kissing him senseless. What was she thinking? They work together! Furthermore; since her relationship with Kevin she had a no-intermingling-with colleagues-on-a-more-than-friendly-basis-rule!

"Hi" she found herself answering. Her voice came out scratchy, rough, as if she had a throat ache.

"I am sorry I turned up unannounced. It's just… I had to give this to you…" Luke nervously handed her whatever there was in the package. Their fingers brushed. They haltered, thoughts running through their heads at the same time; hearts beating faster and in one rhythm.

"I thought…" her tongue darted out to wet her lips, gaze flickering from the gift in their hands to Luke's warm, loving, kind, almost black eyes. "I thought we agreed not to exchange christmas gifts."

He nodded. "That we did."

"Then why…. Why did you get me something then?"

He shrugged, his hand going back to his neck, nervously fiddling with the hair there. "Just take it. Please. Open it if you like. And see it as a gift of a… friend. Not a colleague. Cause that's what we are, isn't it?

Before she even had the chance to say something, anything, even the slightest whisper of thank you, he turned around on the threshold and left her alone.

Penelope blinked for a few seconds, not sure if he had been there at all or if she simply imagined it. Then she silently closed the door, placed the colorful package down on the coffee table and then took a considerably long time just staring at it. What could be in there? Why did he bring her a gift? If anything, she had been cold toward him when he first joined the team. She missed Derek and yes, she was angry, mainly at Luke- even though she literally had no reason to be angry at him. Derek left and it wasn`t Luke's fault. She should really be a little nicer to him, she decided.

With a shake of her head and a small sigh she finally grabbed the gift and carefully pulled at the red ribbon. It had the size of a book and she wondered if it was indeed a book and if he knew what kind of authors and genres she liked. Well, he is a profiler after all, so she shouldn't be surprised if it were a book of her favorite author, Cecilia Ahern.

After another small tug the paper fell off and she caught a glimpse of a brown frame. She turned it around, then saw it: A picture of herself and little Simon, the two months old baby of a colleague of theirs from the floor they all worked in. She smiled at the camera, cuddling the baby close to her chest. She remembered clear as day what she had felt in that moment: She had felt the need to protect this vulnerable baby, this small human being unable to do anything by himself yet. Little Simon had been fussy, missing him momma, but as soon as Penelope held him and cooed at him and enjoyed that beautiful calming feeling of a baby in her arms, she had known that there are not just bad guys out there.

She also remembered the content and somewhat longing look she had seen on Luke's face once he came into the conference room. She had smiled back and she hadn't even noticed him taking a picture of the two of them. In the end, now, she was glad he had.

She carefully wrapped the frame back into the colorful, unicorn paper and placed it into her work bag. She would be sure to take it with her to work the next day, to put it as close to her laptops in her lair as it was possible. Oh, and she had to thank Luke for being so thoughtful, properly than him. Maybe, just maybe, she could agree on not calling him newbie anymore. Kind of as a first step, maybe toward something more than just colleagues.