Penelope held the mask up to her face a little tighter, smiling as she looked out over her colleagues. This was the first time that she had managed to get them all to agree to come with her to this fundraiser, even Alex, who was using the trip to heal from her breakup with James. Penelope hadn't found out exactly what had happened between the two of them, she just knew that it hadn't been anything good.
Scanning the crowd, she tried to identify everyone that was important to her. Rossi was easy to spot, since he had chosen not to dress too far out of character, though she had to smile at the fedora that was resting at a rakish angle on his head. Unable to stop herself, she floated down the stairs and over to his side. "Good evening," she murmured, wondering if he would recognize her right away, or if she would have to leave subtle little clues to guide him along.
"Good evening, Kitten. I love your costume, but it gives you away in a heartbeat."
She bit her lip as she shrugged a little. "Well, maybe to you. After all, you're the only one that calls me Kitten. I just incorporated that into my mask. Would you dance with me?"
"Do you really need to ask?" he said lowly as he closed his arm around her waist, pulling her tightly to him as he guided her into the throng of people. As they danced, she found herself still looking for the rest of the team, but found herself unable to identify a single one of them. "Derek's over there, dancing with Savanah. Though it looks like trouble in paradise to me. Look at her body language!"
Penelope followed his gaze and saw that the doctor had dressed in a breathtaking silver gown that reminded her strongly of Ariel's dress at the end of The Little Mermaid. And then she saw exactly what Rossi was talking about. The woman's back was stiff as iron, and she was actively positioning her head as far away from Derek as she could, even as she was rapidly speaking to him. "That is not a good thing," she murmured as she snuggled a little closer to the older profiler. "I wonder what they're fighting about?"
The moment the question left her lips, she watched as Savanah reached up and smacked Derek's cheek before storming away. "Do you want to go dance with him, Kitten? He might need some of your solace right about now."
She was about to say yes when a vaguely familiar blonde woman approached him. They stopped dancing and watched them interact. It was clear that Derek didn't recognize the woman, but he smiled at her nonetheless, striking up an easy conversation as he began to dance with her. "I guess that he found his own little honey."
"I guess." They resumed dancing, only to bump into a petite brunette. In a heartbeat, Penelope knew that it was Kate, and she smiled as she let the woman cut in, knowing that she harbored a crush on Rossi. Penelope could only hope that Rossi felt the same way, since she thought that it was high time he moved on from Erin's death.
A deep sigh escaped her lips as she threaded her way through the crowd of people, eager to find the refreshment table. It seemed like she couldn't think of Erin and not get sad, even though it had been almost two years since she had died. There was just something that she missed about her, and she wondered if that hole in her heart would ever be filled by as vexing a woman as Erin was.
At the punch bowl, she found JJ and Hotch, huddled together in a deep conversation. Unable to stop herself, she picked up a glass and sauntered over to their sides, nudging her friend with her hip. "Hey, you two. Does Jessica have the boys for the night?" she asked before taking a sip of punch.
"Actually, Will volunteered to watch over them, PG. I was seriously surprised that he was willing to do that, given how standoffish he's been towards us. It took me aback that this was the time he chose to come around."
Penelope nodded absently, finding her eye drawn to a tall, lanky, man. She thought that it was Reid, since the man was dressed like Sherlock Holmes. The dark haired woman on his arm, though, was an anomaly, and she wondered who it was, wondering if it could be Blake. Before she could move over to their sides, though, they had disappeared into the throng.
Turning back to JJ and Hotch, a question on her lips, Penelope was startled to find them gone. A deep frown curved her lips downwards, and she sighed with frustration. Gazing onto the dance floor, she no longer saw Rossi and Kate. Whipping her head around, she saw that the person she thought to be Reid had disappeared as well, leaving her all alone.
Letting her shoulders slump a little, she grabbed a flute of champagne and sipped at it slowly, scanning the room for a familiar face. Since everyone was wearing masks, she had to try and find them by other means, and yet no one popped out to her.
"Looking for someone, darling?" a husky, low, voice whispered in her ear, and she whirled around to see a woman standing there, dressed in red. The neckline of her gown attracted Penelope's eyes, and she found herself sucking in a shallow breath as her pupils dilated a little with desire. Which threw her off a little, since she hadn't felt that way since her days underground.
"My friends seem to have melted into the crowd, and my dance card is woefully empty," she replied, trying not to blush as the woman reached out and ran her hand up and down Penelope's bare arm.
"Well, it seems like my dance card is empty, too. Would you care to take a turn around the floor?" Without hesitation, Penelope nodded and let the woman lead her out onto the dance floor. There was something intoxicatingly familiar about the eyes behind the mask, and she tried to figure out where she might know the woman from. "I don't think you'll ever guess who I am, darling. That is a mystery that has eluded many a person for a very long time."
Her warm breath fanned out against Penelope's neck, and it was hard to keep her shiver in check. "And do you know who I am?"
"I think that I might have a clue, but I don't want to ask, since I want to let the magic of the night envelope me. Would you mind terribly if we stopped talking for a bit and just danced?"
There was something so incredibly sweet about the way the mystery woman asked the question that Penelope found herself shaking her head. "I find myself wanting to lose myself in the music with you."
"Perfect." The woman pulled her closer and closer until there was hardly room for a piece of paper between them. The heat that she threw off bled into Penelope and she let out a contented sigh before letting her head come to rest on her shoulder as they swayed in time to the music. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Derek and the blonde that he had picked up. They were also dancing close together, and as she watched, Derek stole a small kiss. "Who are you watching?"
"My best friend. He's dancing with someone that he met here, and I would love to butt in, but I know that would interrupt his groove."
The woman let out a tiny giggle, sliding her hand down just rest on the curve of Penelope's ass. "I take it he has his own little swagger?"
"Mmm, most definitely," she managed to breathe out, arching out her back so that the woman would have a better grip on her ass. "I'm not usually like this, you know. There's something in you that I trust. Maybe it's just that your eyes remind me of someone I lost a few years ago."
She knew that she must have sounded sad, since her masked dance partner stopped and cupped her chin, bringing her face up so that they could look at each other once more. "Try not to be sad at such a happy event." And then, the woman was claiming her lips in a sweet, short, kiss. Penelope wanted her to deepen the kiss, but then they were looking at each other once more.
"I have a room here tonight. I made certain that everyone on my team did, so that we wouldn't have to worry about going home. Would you care to join me?"
There was a slight pause, and Penelope wondered if she had acted too quickly. And while her thoughts still whirled, she received a second kiss. "I would love to join you, my darling Kitty."
"Penny. Call me Penny," she said breathlessly, going in for a third kiss, letting her tongue trace the woman's thin lips. The woman nodded and clasped Penelope's hand tightly, letting her lead her over to the elevators and up to their sweet encounter. She only wondered how the rest of the team's night was going…