The next morning, Luke got up around 6:30, went for a run, grabbing coffee for them on his way back up, he dropped off coffee, just the way she liked it, to her and went to his room to take a shower. He did notice Rossi at the coffee shop, and Rossi noticed he was buy 2 coffees, but he didn't say anything.
They made some progress on day 3, but still hadn't caught the guy. She did have his location narrowed down, and Luke and Prentiss were going to stake out a location while everyone else went back to the hotel to sleep. Penelope found Luke before she left, giving him her hotel room key.
"In case you get back late and you want to come over"
"Don't you need your key?"
"I will just tell the front desk I left mine in my room, and get another one"
"I always knew you were smart" he said, smiling at her.
Reid noticed when Penelope didn't head up to the rooms with everyone else, instead stopping by the concierge for a room key.
Prentiss and Luke gave up on the stake out and got back to the hotel around 1am, Prentiss told Luke he could meet up with everyone later, but he told her he would probably join everyone as he wasn't good at sleeping in. Prentiss saw him go into his room but was already in her room and missed him going over to Garcia's room.
She was asleep, so Luke was quiet, and crawled into the bed next to her. She didn't really wake up, but she reached out for him, and he smiled. He appreciated her comfort, but had been feeling a little guilty, like she was just doing it to help him, but maybe she was enjoying it too.
He skipped the run the next morning, but with zero nightmares, the ~6hrs of sleep felt like 10. When Penelope woke up that morning, she saw Luke laying there, smiling at her, he'd been playing with or running his fingers through her hair.
"Good morning"
"Good morning to you too" he replied.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Great" he continued, "I'm going to get spoiled, 3 nights of good sleep is awesome"
"Have you had any nightmares last night or the night before?"
"No, I don't think so, at least none that work me up or that I remember"
"I'm glad"
"What am I going to do when we solve this case and go home?"
"If you're nice to me I might let you come over to my apartment" she said, "you know to make sure you get enough sleep"
He smiled and so did she, before he got up and went back to his room to get ready.
Prentiss hadn't noticed the back and forth between rooms, but she had noticed that Luke's mood and energy seemed vastly improved the past couple days. JJ happened to see Luke as he was going from Penelope's room to his own at 7am that morning.
JJ was at the precinct with Prentiss, Rossi and Reid, she noticed a look between Luke and Penelope that reminded her of this morning.
"Have any of you guys noticed anything funny going on between Garcia and Alvez?" she asked the others
"I noticed Luke seemed to be in a better mood than normal" Prentiss observed.
"I hadn't noticed, but I did see Garcia, ask for another hotel room key last night, which seemed strange as I could have sworn I saw her with one in her hand just before we left the precinct" said Reid.
"Oh, I saw Penelope going from Luke's room back to her own room, in her pajamas at 7am" Rossi said
"When was this?" Prentiss and JJ asked in unison
"Well, that time was the morning of day 2, then yesterday I saw Luke headed back to the hotel with 2 coffees, just before 7, and this morning I saw him going from her room back to his around that same time"
"What are you doing stalking them?" Prentiss asked
"No, I am a morning person, my room is right across the hall. I just happened to see her the first morning and I was just sitting in the coffee shop minding my own damn business the next morning. I'll confess I did make a point to look out in the hallway when I heard a door open around 7 this morning though.
"So…do you think they are sleeping together?"
"Do you mean sleeping together or SLEEPING together?" Rossi asked
"Well, it seems pretty clear they they've been sleeping in the other persons room, I guess what I am wondering is if it's just sleep." JJ asked
"I don't know, I could see just falling asleep together one night but every night? even when Prentiss and Luke didn't get back till 1am, he's going over there? I'm thinking more than sleeping" Rossi said.
Later that day, Prentiss made joke alluding to Luke having PTSD, and Penelope didn't think it was funny. "You know Prentiss, you're my boss and all but you really shouldn't joke about PTSD. It's a real thing and it's not funny."
"Woah, sorry Penelope. I didn't mean it in a mean way"
"Well you really shouldn't joke like that"
"Just because you're sleeping with him doesn't mean nobody else can make jokes" JJ
said teasingly.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Penelope practically screamed, drawing the attention of most of the precinct, she pushed Prentiss and JJ into the ladies' room.
"Explain!" she demanded
"What?"
"Why do you think Luke and I are sleeping together?"
"Well, Rossi saw you leaving his room in the morning, and then him bringing you coffee, and leaving your room going back to his another morning" JJ explained
"And both you and Luke seem happier the past couple days, especially Luke you're always cheery" Prentiss explained
"Well I'm not sleeping with him"
"So, he's not been sleeping in your room?"
"Well, uh, yeah, I mean he has been, but I meant we're not SLEEPING together"
"But you guys are sleeping in the same bed every night?"
"Yeah, his nightmares were really bad the first night, I heard him moaning and went over there to comfort him"
"and?"
"He didn't really say anything, we just sat there in silence for a long time, then eventually he laid down and asked if I'd sleep next to him, so I did"
"But how did it get to be a regular thing?"
"Well, he hasn't had any nightmares since then"
"Who knew, Penelope Garcia, the cure for PTSD"
"Honestly, Emily, it's not funny"
"Is there something else I'm missing?"
"No, it's just my heart broke to see him in that much pain. I had no idea he'd been struggling with that, people say PTSD as if it's just a few nightmares or some anxiety but it's so much worse than that. It's not funny"
"Ok, I'm sorry Garcia for taking it too lightly"
Prentiss felt bad, even though she hadn't meant anything dismissive about PTSD at all, but she couldn't help but wonder if Penelope was getting over-attached to Luke.
