Penelope Garcia, Ever the Optimist
WARNING: Season 6 spoilers!
Summary: This is set in the bit where Garcia is in Hotch's office having her assessment after what happened to Emily.
A/N: Please R&R!
"Can we talk about the times she made me smile?"
Garcia sat on the couch in Hotch's office, her hands trembling and her voice hoarse. It was obvious that she was trying not to burst into tears, though she'd never been one for bottling up emotion. Hotch watched her dejected physique and felt a wave of guilt and sorrow crash over him as he knew that it was within his power to end her misery, but that he would never do it. It was a choice between putting his team through hell, or killing Emily Prentiss for real.
It was tough to see what was usually such a bright bubble of joy crumble into despair and grief. Garcia wore her usual bright colours and heavy make-up, but she wasn't pulsating with positive energy like she usually did. For someone with such a huge heart it was not fair that she had to go through this. Garcia had always been the team's idealist, the one who found hope in even the toughest of situations, but even she couldn't find hope in this one. There was no bringing back a dead woman. That's why Hotch had to fight so hard to hold his tongue, because Emily wasn't actually dead.
Even so, he was amazed at her statement, because even now, when the worst had happened, she still only wanted to talk about the good times. She didn't want to go near talking about the way Emily died, but only wanted to think of the positive memories they'd made together. Even when her eyes welled up with tears as she stared for the thousandth time at that photo of Emily, Garcia wouldn't state how unfair it was that Emily had taken away, or how angry she was at Doyle for killing her. Instead she would talk about what an amazing agent and friend she had been: all the live she had saved; all the people whose lives she had touched upon and changed for the greater good.
Hotch prayed that one day Doyle would be gone for good and then maybe he could bring Emily back again, because Garcia, as well as the rest of the team, didn't deserve to lose her – and also, because it was killing him. He was certain that one day the truth would come to light, and that the whole team would never forgive him and JJ for what they'd done. Indeed, such a sensitive soul as Garcia would be twice as overwhelmed as anyone else, but he hoped that she would see only positivity in Emily's return, and be overjoyed rather than angry.
After all, positivity was Penelope Garcia's strong point.