"Twenty years." Penelope Garcia looked up from her coffee, the only drink that her boyfriend kept in his apartment, and into the eyes of said boyfriend. "He killed twelve children - children! - over twenty years, and no one noticed. Or even if they did, they couldn't catch him."
Long, pale fingers – perfect for a piano player, Penelope noted absently – wrapped around her free hand as he reminded her in that uncertainly gentle way of his, "But we did catch him. And we were able to do so because you could track his cell phone's signal to his location."
"I was just doing my job." Penelope replied.
Horribly gruesome photos of the dead little girls played like a slideshow in her mind, and she refused to be comforted.
"I know that I couldn't have done something like that with a computer." He offered another attempt at cheering her up.
'Yeah, but that's because my computer is technological and yours is up here." She leaned forward and gently tapped his forehead.
Spencer grinned softly, and Penelope answered with a loud discouraged sigh.
"What can I do, Darling, to make it go away?"
Darling. The only endearment that Derek hadn't called her by now. When he had noticed that fact, Spencer had started using the term for her, and after six months of dating, the title now slipped off of his tongue as easily as her given name did.
But only in private, or at least when the team wasn't around, since their relationship thus far had been a supposedly well-kept secret.
Supposedly.
But the fact of the matter was that Derek Morgan was suspicious.
Out of all the people that he worked with at the BAU, he was closest first to Penelope and then to Reid, and he knew that something was going on between those two people. He was determined to find out what. And – as he parked in front of Reid's apartment building – he was determined to find out right now.
He took the steps to Reid's apartment two at a time before rapping on the apartment door. No answer, so he knocked again.
"Pretty Boy, open up! It's me, Morgan."
Someone inside the apartment – definitely not Pretty Boy – gasped, and Derek heard the distinctly familiar voice of Penelope Garcia hiss at Reid, "It's Derek."
"Just a minute." Reid called out, and Derek heard him shuffling towards the door.
But – faced with this new evidence – Derek was no longer sure he wanted to know what was going on on the other side of that door. He took a step back and from there his feet carried him back down the stairs and out the door of the apartment building of their own accord.
He paced for a full five minutes on the sidewalk outside the building before he decided to call Hotch. If anyone would know what was going on between Baby Girl and Reid, it stood to reason that it would be the leader of their team, SAIC Aaron Hotchner.
"Hello? Aaron Hotchner here."
"Hotch? It's Derek. Listen, I've got a question for you."
"Go ahead."
"Pretty Boy and Baby Girl. Is there something going on between the two of them that you know of?"
"That I know of officially? No. But do I think that there's something going on between them? Yes. I've even talked to Dave about it, and he agrees with me."
"Do you think that they could be… together or something?"
"It's a possibility, yes. Maybe you should call and ask JJ. Reid or Garcia may have told her something that they wouldn't tell you or I."
"Good idea, Hotch, I'll do that."
"I wouldn't drag anyone else into it though unless you're okay with letting Reid and Garcia know that you're onto whatever's going on with them."
"Well, I'm in front of Reid's building and Pen's up in his apartment, and they both know that I'm here, so it's probably a pretty safe bet that they know that."
"Alright." Hotch replied before the two agents hung up.
Onto JJ.
"Jareau." JJ answered his call.
Derek repeated his question to her. Were Reid and Penelope dating?
"Not that I've been told/ Pen hasn't said anything to me anyway. Maybe you should ask Alex. Reid may have told her something, since the two of them are pretty close.
"Yep," Derek agreed. "She was my next choice. Thanks, JJ."
"Any time."
So Derek hung up with her and instantly hit another button on speed-dial, calling the newest member of the team, Alex Blake.
"Dating?" Alex reiterated Derek's question when he asked. "Not that I've been told. But now that you mention it, that does explain some of their recent behavior. Have you talked to Spencer or Penelope about it?
"Not yet. I'm here in front of Pretty Boy's apartment building. I went up to his apartment and I was going to talk to him about it, but then I realized that Penelope was already in his place with him, so I went back outside before he could get to the door."
"I'm less than five minutes from where you're at right now. Do you want me to come over and we can talk to them two on two?"
"No, you don't have to unless you want to." Derek turned to watch two familiar vehicles that had caught his eye, one pulling into the parking lot one directly after the other. "As a matter of fact, Hotch and Rossi both just showed up."
"Do you mind if I come join the party anyway? I'd like to see what Spencer and Penelope have to say for themselves."
"Sure, not a problem. You're a big kid, you can do whatever you feel like doing."
"Then I'm on my way. By the by, if this is going to turn into a big team thing, someone had better call JJ, just in case she wants to get in on it.
"Right," Derek agreed. "Consider it done."
Meanwhile, up in Reid's apartment, Spencer paced nervously to the window and looked out before groaning aloud.
"What's wrong?" Penelope asked from her station on the couch where she had been sitting, wide-eyed and nervous, ever since Morgan had knocked on the door and then fled.
"Hotch and Rossi are here now. And Alex is pulling in too."
"What are we going to tell them?"
"Well, they obviously already suspect something, so we might as well tell them the truth." Spencer rationalized.
"But what about the director Word would end up getting back to her before long."
Spencer shrugged carelessly. "You dated Kevin, didn't you, and she knew about it. And, besides, what about the hotel that we saw her coming out of before Emily left for England? She was at that hotel with Rossi and you can prove it if it comes down to it. So it's not Strauss I'm worried about; just how the team will react."
Penelope opened her mouth to reply, but didn't have the time to do so before the expected and dreaded knock sounded at the apartment door.
"The gang's all here, Spence." JJ called out from the hallway.
"Let us in, Pretty Boy, before I have to kick the door in." Morgan threatened.
"I wouldn't put it past him to do it right now, either." Alex added.
"Alright, alright, the door's open." Spencer called out.
JJ came in and the others trooped in behind her.
"What did you want earlier?" Spencer asked Morgan.
"We all want to know what's going on between you two." Morgan glanced at Penelope, including her in the statement.
"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, feigning innocence.
"What he means," Hotch cut in. "Is: Are the two of you dating?"
Spencer cut the charade. "Yes. But so what? Everybody here has hidden a romantic relationship from the rest of the team."
"I never have." Alex spoke up.
"No, but you helped me hide my relationship with Maeve." Spencer pointed out. "And I won't even mention who Penelope and I saw with Rossi at the cigar convention." The eldest profiler paled as Spencer continued, "And we all know that we never got the full story on Jordan and Morgan. JJ had been with Will for a year before she told us about their relationship. And Hotch tried to hide his relationship with Beth to begin with too."
"Alright," Hotch agreed. "You're right. I didn't tell you about Beth right away. But I didn't try to mislead you either –"
"Not at all like you're doing now." Penelope cut in, speaking up for the first time since everyone had invaded the apartment.
"What?" Hotch and Spencer asked at the same time, turning to her along with all of the others.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hotch asked, defensively crossing his arms across his chest.
"It means that a cursory look see at where you've been flying to see your girlfriend will reveal that your destination is much more in the direction of England than New York City."
Surprise reigned for two silent yet achingly loud seconds before JJ broke it, voicing what they were all thinking. "You're dating Emily."
Hotch nodded his affirmation, his arms falling back to his sides. He sighed, and then began to explain.
"Beth and I broke up the week after Will and JJ's wedding. I confided in Emily about it, since I knew that she would be leaving soon after. But before she left, we started getting closer, and then suddenly we were dating. I'm still not sure how it happened. It just…" Hotch trailed off, only for the sentence to be finished up by Spencer, who was grinning a little to himself.
"It just happened."
Hotch locked eyes with him for a second before nodding again and asking the team at large, "Are you upset with me?"
After a few moments of consideration, they agreed that they were not.
Relieved, Hotch almost smiled before turning to Penelope and asking, "If you knew about Emily and I, why didn't you say anything to anyone?"
Penelope grinned deviously, answering, "Two reasons: If I had to, I could have used it for blackmail. But, as I thought was more likely, the time would come when Spencer and I would have to tell you all about us and then I could say something about you and Emily to get the others off of our case, which I just did. So, basically, because knowledge is power."
Just so you know, this one has given me fits and starts trying to get it done. It's another challenge from Challenge King. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! My next story will be the "Courageous" one-shot "No Greater Joy," and after that the one-shot addition to my Leah/Reid series, entitled "Don't Blink.":)