Growing up in a Catholic household had never taught him an appreciation for the finer holidays in the year, specifically Halloween. Dating Penelope Garcia, on the other hand, had taught him that the single most important holiday was, in fact, All Hallows Eve. He had noticed the change in her behavior at nine in the morning on October 1, 2017 when they had walked into the Quantico, their hands barely touching in fear of impropriety. It would have escaped the notice of anybody else, but he was tactically trained to notice the little things, the changes in facial expressions. And so the subtle change of his girlfriend's appearance was something that he noticed immediately.
"I like the earrings, Garcia," Luke says, reaching up to touch the dangling skull with a wide grin. He watches as his girlfriend turns to him, her mouth beaming in the elevator.
"You noticed!" She exclaims, her fingers reaching out to graze against his hand. The feeling while familiar still sends a tingle of nerves through his body.
"Of course I noticed," he explains to the woman as he turns his palm to press against hers. "It's my job to notice you."
On October 5, 2017, Luke Alvez returns home from a morning jog with Roxy, to find Penelope Garcia standing in the middle of his kitchen in an old t-shirt of his and a pair of orange leggings with her hair in a bun on the top of his head and black socks on her feet. Turning to him she smiles, gesturing to the large pumpkin situated on his counter top.
"What's that for?" He asks, reaching down to unclip the leash from Roxy's collar and rubbing the pooch behind the ears.
"We're going to carve it, silly!" Penelope exclaims, bending down to produce a carving kit from a too large purse in his opinion.
"I've never carved a pumpkin before, seems absurd," Luke tells the woman, rounding the counter and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek as he passes her to procure a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
"I'm going to ignore that," the blonde woman responds with a cheeky smile as she rips open the package of markers, handing one over to him while uncapping hers. "because for some reason you hate Halloween, which I find absurd." Reaching out she pulls the man closer to her in the kitchen, uncapping his marker and pointing him towards the pumpkin on the counter.
"What do we carve?" the taller man asks, peering down at his girlfriend through thick eyelashes, a slow smile spreading across his cheeks at the picture of glee painted onto the woman's face. He realizes in this moment that he would do anything to see her happy and vows to do everything possible to make her smile. She turns away from him and presses the marker to the pumpkin while looking over her shoulder.
"Anything we want, Luke. The possibilities are endless."
The afternoon of October 16, 2017, finds Penelope Garcia and Luke Alvez browsing the aisles of a local pet supply store. For days they had been talking amongst themselves about if they were going to dress Roxy up for Halloween, on his part. And what they were going to dress Roxy up as for Halloween, on her part. Both...at a stalemate which seemed to have cultivated over at the end of the aisle, housing the costumes for the canines of the world.
"Please, Luke, she will look adorable as a bumble bee." The man turns to his girlfriend at the end of the aisle, a large bag of dog food tossed over his shoulder, and fixes her with a glare.
"No," Luke tells her with an air of finality to which the woman rolls her eyes and walks down the aisle anyway. Heaving a sigh the man places the bag of food on the floor at his feet and watches his girlfriend peruse the costumes lined down the aisle. Blinking, he turns his attention to the costumes in his general area, his eyes immediately falling to a package housing one of the Minions. With a resigned sigh, he selects the appropriate size and waves it for Penelope to see.
The woman beams brightly at him as she rushes back down the aisle and wraps her arms around her neck, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.
"I hope you know that I'm only doing this to make you happy." He murmurs against her lips, running his hands along her face before stepping back and picking up the bag of food at their feet. "But you can wrestle her into this since you want her to wear it." He walks away from the woman, laughing at the look of exasperation on her face.
October 25, 2017, dawns bleak and cold, with a constant sheet of rain pouring down around them as they walk onto the tarmac in order to board the jet home from a case in Seattle. The temperature seeps into his bones, and he finds himself wishing he was sitting under a blanket on his couch, with the woman of his dreams curled up into his side. He finds that he wants nothing more in this moment to be sipping on a cup of hot chocolate, with that damned pumpkin spice sprinkled into it, and whipped cream coating the top. He finds that he wants to be running his fingers through her long blonde hair as she clutches tightly to his waist as she squeals at yet another horror movie playing on the television that barely ever gets watched.
When he does finally return home the only light source in his apartment is the electric candle shining through the jagged carved lines of the pumpkin from weeks ago. His eyes take a while to adjust to the light of the jack-o-lantern but when they do, he notices the piece of paper perched precariously on the side of the orange squash. Luke smiles when he notices her curled handwriting alerting him that Roxy and herself were patiently waiting with hot chocolate in front of the television in the bedroom. When he enters the room he can see both of his girls curled up under his blanket, the television flickering a light across their sleeping forms.
A quiet chuckle escapes his throat when he sees the DVD menu for Halloweentown displayed, and a bag of unopened Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on his bedside table. A soft snore pulls his attention back to the bed as he makes his way to the bathroom, ready for nothing more than a hot shower in order to wash this case off of his body, and when he notices that the snore came from his girlfriend he smiles widely and shakes his head.
Luke Alvez realizes in this moment that he loves Halloween.
Luke Alvez also realizes in this moment that he loves Penelope Garcia.
On the evening of October 31, 2017, Luke Alvez finds himself laughing hysterically as he watches his girlfriend Roxy around the house, a minion costume held in her hands.
"Luke, please help me!" She exclaims tossing the costume onto the couch as Roxy continues to burrow herself under the coffee table.
"Oh no," the man responds with a laugh, tossing himself onto the couch and folding his hands behind his head. "You wanted this remember, I told you it was a bad idea, but you didn't listen to me." He continues in explanation. "Besides, I think it's adorable seeing your face all flushed like this." Luke watches as Penelope sits on the floor, curling her legs underneath her and begins whistling as a way to coax Roxy out from her hiding place. The dog lays her head on the carpet, covering her eyes with her paws.
"This is pointless, she's never going to come out," Penelope says, leaning her head back against the couch and looking up at her boyfriend. He reaches down to run his hand across her hair, curling his fingers at the top of her skull and scratching her scalp.
"How about we take her onto the porch and let her help pass out candy to the children," he suggests, leaning down to press a kiss to Penelope's lips. "Besides, you crawling around on the floor chasing after Roxy has given me a newfound appreciation for Halloween." Standing from the couch he leans down to help her up.
"Hey Luke, would you say that you love Halloween?" Penelope asks, reaching out for the goggles that came with Roxy's costume, twirling them around her arm as she smiles slyly at him, approaching slowly.
"No," he replies holding up his hands and backing away from the woman with a determined look on his face. "I am not wearing those!"
"Please, Luke?" She asks, advancing on her boyfriend. She pouts, her eyes casting downward to the carpet.
"Fine," the man says reaching out to grab the goggles from the woman, holding them out to her with a smile. "You are so lucky I love you." He finishes as the doorbell rings, a chorus of laughter reaching the pair of them from beyond the door.
"You...love me?" Penelope asks, looking up at him with a wide smile. He nods, his mouth hanging open as he slips the goggles over his eyes and grabbing the bowl of candy off of the counter and making his way to the door to a shout of 'Trick or Treat!'.
"Look at all of you!" he exclaims, passing out candy for the children with a smile. He watches the children race off down the street as Penelope walks up to him and curls her arm around his waist, leaning her head against his chest. "Yes, I love you, Penelope Garcia, I love you." he leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead, smiling at the feel of her in his arms.
"Happy Halloween, Luke" she whispers. "And, I love you too."