A.N.- Hello everyone! Hope you have a great Holiday coming up! I hope you like it please let me know! I am telling you now there could be mature themes here. Sex, drugs, whatever. If you don't like it, don't read! I hope you all stay but I will understand. Well... Enjoy!
What Could've Been
Chapter One
Police sirens blared loudly in her ears, and some idiot was babbling next to her, something she didn't care to listen to at the moment. She didn't know how she felt about these new set of circumstances. On one hand, a little embarrassed it is happening in front of her apartment complex she called home for the past ten years, but on the other... she kind of expected it.
She supposed one way or another, this should have happened. Now, later, earlier... did it really matter? The man blubbering in her ear grabbed her arm roughly, and shoved it behind her back. Walking outside, her neighbors watched in horror as she walked down to the local Sheriff's police car. The man, police officer Body took out his handcuffs and slapped them hard against her wrists. She winced, but other than that remained quiet.
Opening the car door, he tightened the cuffs sharply against her wrist, the cold cuffs against her exposed arms sent chills down her spine. Putting a large hand on top of her head, he forced her in and shut the door loudly. She winced, and peeked up at the officer that was already in the driver's seat. He was a wheezy old man with a thin gray mustache whose stomach pressed tightly against the steering wheel.
"Come on, Wheeze. Tell your partner to get in here and we can head to the jail before my hair turns whiter than your ped-o mustache," she jabbed. He narrowed his eyes through the mirror, but didn't say anything. Shrugging, she decided to take a nap since she had no idea how long it would be until he got into the car. Unfortunately, a few minutes later the other officer came into the squad car.
She saw her reflection through the window, and with her hair half-up, smudged makeup, and wearing a thin tank top and short shorts she may as well add soliciting to the charges. Shutting her eyes, when she opened them she noticed a figure behind her. Black hair, young, strong, lanky build, and eyes that haunt her every time she seems to look in a mirror. He stares at her, hurt and the crooked smile he gives her makes her heart race. She feels tears prick her eyes, when his smile falls and the longing in his eyes hurt just as it did so long ago, she wants to yell, or beg him to stay with her, to not leave her. Her heart constricting, she shut her eyes tightly and with a shaky breath opened them. As usual he was gone, and that felt even worse than seeing him there.
They brought her in, and immediately threw her in a cell. Nothing happened for a couple of hours, no speaking to her, no change of clothes or finger prints. It was odd. Finally, someone came and opened her cell. They asked her some questions, and she wouldn't talk without a lawyer. Being there for a few hours was too long to be there. They had nothing to hold her for, and they knew it. Finally, she asked for a phone call.
She called the closest and least non-judgmental brother she had, Jason, and he came within a few hours. They didn't put her in a cell after her phone call, instead for some weird reason they placed her in the waiting room, with cuffs and two guards standing over her. He smiled his boyish grin and shook his head.
He was six years older than her, with blonde shaggy hair and brown eyes. He had his hipster glasses on with a hat and his work clothes on. Looking at him, she looked down, and silently told him how sorry she was. He was a great brother, and he was always her favorite. She had four older brothers, and they were scattered all around the U.S. and luckily, her favorite one lived only an hour away. Her brothers loved her, but they were too far apart in age to ever be friends with her. Her oldest brother, Zach, just turned forty. Then there was Daniel, Jason, and the youngest was Brian. Jason and Brian were twins, but they looked nothing alike now, although they were identical when they were younger. It was very evident growing up that she was the "unplanned baby", but that was okay.
She could hear the words, but nothing was registering. Jason, who at first was calm, began to wave his hands in frustration, and slowly turning around to face her, she saw his boyish grin was gone. Before she could fully comprehend it, they yanked her up and brought her out of the front doors. Jason ran behind her, and kept asking, "What happened? What did you get yourself into, Penelope? Do you want me to call the others?" Dread laced itself into her bones, and she shook her head. She couldn't understand it.
Shaking her head still, she looked at her terrified brother blankly as they shut the transport car door, dividing her brother from her. "I'll call the others, Penny! Don't worry! Love you!" he screamed through the glass. She felt tears prick her eyes and nodded, not trusting her voice. She was terrified, and all she kept thinking was how different her life could have turned out if she hadn't been so stupid.
She walked into 2nd period, and she immediately wanted to turn around. She had been late and everyone was staring at her. She started off last month keeping her head down and not answering questions like a good kid, but now, everyone was looking at her.
She scurried to the back but saw her normal spot had someone in her seat. It was the absolute perfect spot to never get chosen to almost never talk in class, and the one place others won't bother to look because all that was back there was a lame poster that every teacher in the history of teaching had in all of their class. Not wanting to cause a scene, she abruptly sat down and couldn't help but look in her spot or more importantly who was in it.
He was a boy, her age with short jet-black hair and chestnut eyes. He seemed sort of lanky for seventh grade, with a long jaw and elongated neck, and he was diligently writing his notes of what the teacher was talking about. He was the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen, and if she already didn't declare her love for Leonardo DiCaprio, she would've been all over that. She was nothing if not faithful.
Sighing, she grabbed her notebook from her backpack. It had stickers all over it, things she was into, actors she loved. Flipping it open to a blank page, she tapped her pen on the margin. "I told him not to sit there. Sorry, he can be a dick," the boy in front of her murmured. Started, she looked up and noticed him.
He was quite handsome, with a stockier build than the Seat-Stealer but just as handsome. His hair was blonde, with a faux-hawk and he had a light amount of freckles on his cheeks. They were slightly chubbier than the Seat-Stealer but by no means was he fat. His sky blue eyes flicked from her brown eyes down to her notebook. His smile was perfect and quite infectious. Suddenly, she felt weird, as if she walked into a beautiful-people class and any minute now they are going to throw her out on her ass.
Truth be told at the moment she felt kind of stupid. They had been in class together that long and she never noticed either of them. Thinking back, all she ever did was look down and focus on her notebook and doodled. First one in, first one out.
Clearing her throat, she shook her head and questioned with her eyes what he meant. He motioned to the kid in her seat, who wasn't paying attention to them. "Aaron. I told him you sat in that seat, and you would kick his ass if he sat there. He went on about how his eyes were 'better on this side of the room', or some shit. What an ass," he said.
So Seat-Stealer, or Aaron, is the beautiful one who apparently could be an ass. Great. It always seems that way. Wait, he said brother, right? No way! They look nothing alike! Are they adopted or something? she wondered. Realizing she was taking too long to speak, she leaned in closer. "So, brother, huh? Twins, or which one was held back again in seventh grade?" he kept his smile and looked at his brother.
"We're fraternal twins. I know, it's weird, right? I look like our mom, and he looks like our dad. Genetics, huh?" he laughed. She nodded, not believing it. She had fraternal twin brothers and they looked practically identical.
"Yeah, so what's your name? I'm Penelope." He grinned and held out a fist. "The name's Sean Hotchner." She gave him a lop-sided grin and connected her fist against his. The teacher began calling on students to answer, so Sean turned around. Garcia blushed, and looked at her paper.
When the bell rang, she started putting her stuff away when she saw Aaron get up from his seat. He didn't bother looking at her, instead walked over to his brother who was still loading his backpack up. "Let's go, Sean. I have to get across the school for my next class," Seat-Stealer huffed. Sean, laid-back, smirked at his brother.
"Yeah, sure. I need to talk to Mrs. Gundersen about something, anyways." Before they left, Sean turned to Penelope. "Hey, do you want to come over to our table at lunch, Penelope?" Sean asked casually. Penelope shrugged, and flung her backpack over her shoulder, moving her blonde hair away from her shoulder.
"Sure. If Seat-Stealer doesn't have a problem with it," she asked, gauging Aaron's reaction. He wasn't looking at her, instead looking at the door. When it was quiet, he turned and saw the pair staring at him. "He's fine with it. Sometimes he goes to sit with some other friends, anyways," Sean offered. Garcia smiled, and began walking out of the classroom.
"See you then," she waved. Walking to her next class, Penelope was wondering how that just happened. It turns out she had a few other classes with them. She had two with Sean, and two with Aaron aside from the one they were just at. She had both of them in A.P. English, and Sean in A.P. Science and Aaron in Gym class. She felt kind of dumb not noticing before, but she decided better late than never.
Lunchtime, she slowly got her hot lunch and walked awkwardly around the tables, hoping to spot them. Knots tightened in her stomach, and for a moment panic set in. What if this was a trap? He seemed nice, but what if he was just pretending? What will I do then? I will be mortified! She freaked inside. This was too much pressure. This is why she took to eating lunch in the computer labs.
Looking around, she saw a hand fly up, but it was someone she didn't recognize. She looked at her trembling pale hands clutching her tray that was covered in Tuesday Surprise and wanted to get swallowed up. Turning around, she began walking to the cafeteria doors when she heard him. "Penelope! Over here!"
She looked to her left, and Sean and Aaron were there, Sean with a big goofy smile and Aaron talking to some other girl. Relieved, she walked over to them and sat across from the brothers. "Hey, Sean," she said. He nodded and opened his soda. "So, you are actually eating that shit?" he asked, pointing to her food on her tray.
Frowning, she moved the brown glob around, and she couldn't tell for the life of her if it was beef or gravy. Her family life is so hectic with all the boys at her house, she was more of an after-thought. The boys had sack lunches and her mother could never remember the number of meals she made. She always ended up handing her some cash or a carrot to eat from their garden.
So half the time she didn't eat and saved up for a new computer or video game. It was a lot easier to buy this way instead of going to her parents. This time she bought the food because they asked her to eat, so she actually had something to munch on. Shrugging, she set her fork down.
"Not really. Why, you want it?" Disgusted, he shook his head. "No thanks, I want to live until next period," he dead-panned. Giggling, she shoved the grotesque food away, and ate the green beans that sat in the corner of the tray. They tasted as good as they looked, which wasn't saying much, but still it was good to have something in her stomach. Aaron stopped talking to the girl who sat with them and looked at her. She felt a light blush heat from her chest to her face, and looked at him. He seemed to be scrutinizing her or something.
"Sean told me I stole your spot. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad," he said. His face was blank, at first glance but the longer she stared, the more she saw his emotions at the far reaches of his eyes. She waved it off, not really caring. It turned out better that it happened. If it didn't happen, she would have a date with Mac, or so she called the number 22 computer in the computer lab instead of coming out here and meeting some people.
"It's cool. It's Aaron, right? I'm Penelope Garcia," she brought her hand out to shake. He gave a faint smile and grabbed hers and shook firmly. She could feel her face burning, and hoped they couldn't tell. "You're the oldest, aren't you?" she giggled. Aaron gave her an intrigued look.
"Yeah, how could you tell?" he questioned. She shrugged and pulled out her notebook from her backpack. "I have twin brothers," she stated plainly. They nodded, seeming to magically understand her. Sean gasped and grabbed her notebook. He looked at the stickers on the front and couldn't believe it.
"You play Super Mario Brothers? Whoa, look at all the games on here. Have you played them all?" he asked eagerly. She nodded. "I have four brothers in my house. If I had a doll it never lasted more than a day there. I played a lot of those games but my brothers broke the Nintendo console a couple of years ago, so I put Mario on there for nostalgia purposes." Sean was really excited.
"That is awesome. You should come over later! We were just going to go after school to get a new game." She smiled, and Aaron nodded and turned back to the girl. Sean leaned in and whispered loudly, "Looks like Aaron may not make it since he has a date." Aaron whipped around and shoved his brother's shoulder before looking at Garcia.
Penelope felt her heart speed up, and even though he was awfully difficult to read but she had a feeling he wasn't mad at her, but trying to see her reaction. "I'm coming after school to get the game with you and you know it! If you don't shut up I'm gonna tell Mom what's under your mattress," he hissed. Penelope bit her lip, wishing she could ask what that is, and just by Sean's horrified reaction it had to have been good.
"So, will you?" Penelope, lost in her thoughts of all the possibilities looked at Sean again. "Will I what?" Sean finished his last bite of his sandwich, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Garcia rolled her eyes and sighed. Boys are all the same...
"Will you come over to our house? If you want you can come with us to get a game and you can stay for dinner," he rambled. She smiled and nodded. She had nothing better to do, and since her old best friend moved early in the summer, she hadn't hung out with anyone in a long time.
"Yes, but I will take you somewhere to pick it out. It's close by," she grinned. Sean and Aaron turned to look at each other, and nodded. Aaron didn't seem as enthused as Sean, but he didn't say no, so that was good.
"Okay, I got to head to class. I'll meet you guys by the front doors. My last class is Gym, and that is all the way across the school, so..." Aaron looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I have Gym with you, remember?" he asked, his usual blank stare was gone and she saw a small smile form on his face.
"Oh, uh, sorry... I didn't notice you there," she blushed. Wow, I really need to pay more attention in my classes, she thought. He laughed, and shook his head. "Are we that invisible?" he winked. Her blush deepened, and she adjusted her rectangular glasses. This was uncomfortable, but she loved seeing some expression on his face. He was so beautiful it hurt to look.
"No! No way! I just... I mean I kind of been distracted lately and to be fair I don't even remember my teacher's names, so..." she trailed off, biting her lip. Sean laughed, and Aaron nodded and shrugged. "Okay, I'll wait for you by the Gym doors and we can walk to meet Sean. Okay?" Aaron asked her nicely.
Nodding, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and just then the bell rang. She walked to her next class, which was Social Studies and sat down. This time, she carefully checked to see who was in her next class, or more importantly, if the Hotchner brothers were there.
The cops said nothing to her, and she couldn't understand what was happening. She screamed, but they kept their mouth shut like she was invisible. It didn't make sense... wouldn't they have thrown her in a cell back at the station? They have been in the car for hours, barely stopping for bathroom breaks.
She fell asleep, what time she wasn't sure but woke when the sun glared into her eyes. She sat up and groaned, her body was sore from the uncomfortable position she found sleep in. The men were talking about the football game on that day, which could mean it's Sunday, but she couldn't be sure anymore.
Peering out, it was difficult to make out where they were. Her glasses were on, but were so smudged she could barely see out of them. Sighing, she hoped they would answer a single question at least before they got there. "Are we there, yet?"
The policemen in the passenger seat, Officer Jenkins, ignored her, along with the driver. Sighing, she looked out the bright window again. A female officer that sat across from her in the van, looked up from her book and held out a cup for her to drink. When Garcia finished drinking, the woman put the drink back next to her and stared intensely at her. Garcia felt the urge to stick her tongue out but refrained.
"We should be there soon, now stop asking," she murmured. Shocked, she mutely nodded and looked out the window again. Finally, she cried inside. At least I know something. On the other hand... why bring me somewhere else? She couldn't think of a crime she committed outside state lines but who knows how they prosecute these things. Maybe she should have looked more into that earlier...
After a couple more hours, the driver veered off the highway. The passenger, Jenkins, looked up from the GPS and said, "We're here." Looking out the window, she could feel panic bubble up in her chest. She shut her eyes and smacked the back of her head against the headrest. She knew where they were now, they were in Quantico, Virginia. For what, she wasn't sure but she knew it couldn't be good.
A.N.- I Hope you enjoyed it! I hope to get another chapter out soon! Send me love!
