Disclaimer: In no way do I own Criminal Minds, no matter how much I wish I did, and I'm not making any profit off this story.

Summary: Penelope's headed to meet the team when she runs into a little trouble, who will come to her rescue?

This was written for the Mix and Match Challenge on CCoAC. My chosen characters were Penelope and Aaron and my prompts were: thunderstorm, broken down car, purple piece of clothing, lightening.

Please R&R

Enjoy!

…

Clank…sputter clunk…rattle…rattle BANG!

Penelope's orange Cadillac lunged forward one last time before dying noisily on her. Rain was splattering against her windshield and she could just make out her smoking engine.

"No, no, no, no!" Penelope cried "This can't be happening to me!"

Penelope couldn't have broken down in a worse place.

She was on her way to Rossi's cabin for the weekend. The rest of the team, minus Hotch since he was spending the weekend with his son, had already left as they had gone straight from the airport after getting back from a case. They had offered to wait for her but Penelope had been at the office when they called and had some work to finish before she could leave. She hadn't known when she was going to be done and she knew the others were tired from the case; she didn't want to make them wait around for her.

Though, at the moment, she wished they had.

She was on a practically deserted, country road. She had gotten off the main highway forty five minutes earlier and so far she had only seen five or six cars.

She had hoped to be at Rossi's by now but the driving conditions were horrible. It had started pouring while she was still on the highway and she was now having trouble seeing a foot in front of her. The idea of the cottage had seemed so appealing to her before she left, what better way to relieve some stress than spend a relaxing weekend with good friends? But now she wondered how she could have been so stupid. Heading out on the road at 10:00 pm after a long, tiresome day without someone there to keep you company, as well as awake, and that was without including the bad weather.

Penelope heaved a heavy sigh and reached for her purse which was sitting on the passenger's side. She dug through it and pulled out her cell phone.

When she looked up she got a shock.

Light was streaming into her car from the back window, peering up at the rearview mirror Penelope saw that a car had pulled up behind her. The head lights were blinding and Penelope couldn't make out much about the car…or its driver.

All at once images of nameless women's faces that had been abducted from their cars after breaking down raced through her mind.

She gripped her cell phone tightly and her fingers fumbled to press the on button. She had turned it off before she left work once she realized she had been running low on battery, to save what power it had left.

Apparently just another bad decision she had made that day.

She was frantic as she made sure her doors were locked, her heart pounding in her chest. "Come on, come on…" she whispered looking down at her phone.

Suddenly lightning lit the sky. Penelope looked up, and screamed. A man, illuminated by the lightning stood outside her window, seeming to have appeared from nowhere, he loomed over the low-to-the-ground car.

Her scream was shrill and piercing. If it hadn't been for the storm, anyone around would have come running.

Her scream died on her lips when the man got closer to her window and she could hear him say, although slightly muffled, "Garcia, it's only me…"

She finally allowed herself to get a good look at him.

Penelope took in the dripping wet form of Aaron Hotchner, his suit wrinkled from the rain and hair plastered to his forehead.

Penelope placed her hand over her heart as the relief sank in.

She stared at him blankly for a moment and then her brain began to reboot. She realized that not only was he standing there in the pouring rain, but he was also standing on the side of the road. If any cars did end up driving by, he could easily be hit.

Snapping back into the role of mother hen, Penelope unlocked her door and hastily opened it before sliding across the bench seat. "Get in here quickly, before you catch a cold or worse" she ordered, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Aaron slid into the car without protest.

"I can't believe it's you," Penelope blurted once he had closed the door behind him.

Aaron looked over at her.

"Don't get me wrong," Penelope added "I'm uber glad it was you…rather than the alternative."

Aaron chuckled and Penelope scowled at him "It's not funny; you scared the bejesus out of me!"

"Sorry," Aaron said sobering "you're right and given our jobs I understand completely."

Penelope shook her head "It's alright; I guess I was quite a sight huh?"

Aaron sent her a small smile "Your face was priceless when you looked up and saw me there, but I honestly didn't mean to scare you."

Penelope knew that, Aaron just wasn't the type to take pleasure out of scaring someone. Especially someone like Penelope, knowing how easily she was frightened, he was too honorable to do that do her purposefully.

Penelope smiled back at him so he would know she wasn't mad.

"What are you doing here anyways Sir? I thought you were spending the weekend with Jack?" Penelope asked, only then realizing that his appearance was not only unbelievable but also improbable.

Aaron sighed "That was the plan up until two hours ago. After I had said goodbye to the rest of the team, I had to come into the office to collect some paperwork I needed to bring home. I was finishing up when I got a call from Jack, apparently one of his friends invited him over to spend the night and go to a waterpark tomorrow. He seemed really excited about it and Jessica ensured me that the other boy's family are good, trustworthy, people."

"Well that's nice," Penelope said "It's too bad you missed out on your time with Jackers though."

Aaron shrugged "It would have been nice but I'm happy as long as he is. Besides I was planning on leaving the cabin tomorrow night so that I can at least spend Sunday with him."

"Does Rossi know that you're coming now?" Penelope asked.

Aaron nodded "I called him right after I talked to Jack. I just decided that rather than going home to my empty apartment, it would be nice to go and have a good time with you guys. Of course then, twenty minutes after I got on the road, it began to rain."

"Well I'm certainly glad you did" Penelope said.

Aaron laughed "Yes well, I was surprised to see your car on the side when I hadn't seen much but rain and farm country for almost an hour."

"I know right," Penelope said "it's so forlorn out here. I'm sure it would be a nicer drive during the day and with better weather but I've never seen a road so deserted before."

"So, speaking of driving, do you know what's wrong with your car?" Aaron asked.

Penelope sighed "I think this baby is finally on her way to the junkyard in the sky, I've been having trouble with the engine for months. In hindsight I shouldn't have driven her tonight, but I just had a service check three weeks ago so I thought things would be fine."

Aaron frowned "It looks like there's no easy fix if it's the engine, I thought maybe there'd be something I could do to get her going but with the rain and everything that's looking doubtful. We'll have to call Triple A…I think there was a motel a few miles back. We can stay there for tonight and then continue on to Rossi's in the morning."

"Oh Hotch don't let me stop you from…" Penelope was cut off by a large boom of thunder that caused her to jump in her seat.

Penelope's eyes widened as she looked out her windshield into the stormy night…she hated thunder.

"I…" Penelope began trying to remember what she had been saying but this time it was Aaron that cut her off.

"Garcia, I think it is best we head to the motel anyways. It's raining even harder now and it was hard enough seeing before."

Penelope was still distracted by the storm "Oh…I just…are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive," Aaron responded, taking out his phone.

…

A/N: Just a quick note, I'm sure most of you already know this but for those who don't: the Third Annual Profiler's Choice Fanfic Awards for the Criminal Minds community has begun. Nominating Ballots are now available and all you Criminal Minds fans should go and check it out. There are so many great stories out there that deserve recognition.