- Chapter 2-

Penelope couldn't sleep last night. She was almost embarrassed by how excited she was to go to work today, to see Luke. It was like Christmas morning when she was a kid. That is really pretty ridiculous she thought to herself as she drove to the office, yawning from the lack of sleep.

Luke was also looking forward to today, though he slept OK. Perhaps because a lot of his dreams lately had already been starring Penelope, so it wasn't all that different. He reminded himself not to go too overboard with the hand-holding today. But he found himself quite disappointed when he heard from Prentiss that they had a case, and saw Penelope running about getting files. Might have to do this sooner rather than later, if we are heading out of town.

They were in fact heading out of town, as Penelope explained the details of the case, Luke was barely paying attention. He kept getting distracted by the skin on her neck which was just begging to be kissed. Jesus, Alvez, get it together he scolded himself, shaking his head. Prentiss told them wheels up in 30, they were headed to Dallas, Texas.

Luke offered to help Penelope carry the files back to her office, he got a confused look from her, before she realized why he was asking that and she agreed, handing him some of the files. Now she could have totally carried them just fine, but as soon as they had gone thru the doors, exiting the bullpen, he used his free hand to grab Penelope's and held it until they got to her office and she had to enter her code to unlock the door.

She turned to him, and he handed her the rest of the files. "Stay safe you" she said, "I will, trust me" and then he leaned in close to her and whispered, "I'm not going to let anything happen that might make me miss out on having you sit on my lap in the conference room", smiling as he heard her breath hitch and she started blushing. "Ok, bye Luke" she said, and he smiled at her as he walked back into the bullpen to grab his stuff.

JJ, Reid and Matt were on him immediately as soon as he entered the bullpen. "What was that?" JJ asked

"Yeah, why did you carry Garcia's files back to her office for her?" Reid asked, "she could have totally managed that herself" he observed.

"Want to tell us something" Matt asked

"Nope, there's nothing to tell. I just thought Garcia seemed a little worried, so I wanted to reassure her we'll all be fine" he said matter of fact-ly. He could tell they were skeptical, but they couldn't really argue with that. JJ wasn't given up however "Did you two leave together yesterday?"

"Why are you monitoring my movements so carefully JJ? Am I in trouble?"

"That's not an answer"

"Neither is yours"

"Ok, fine, I'm not watching your movements any more than normal or more than any other team member, and you aren't in trouble that I'm aware of" she replied "so, your turn"

"Yes, we left work together"

"Why?"

"No particular reason, I had just seen her and told her I was leaving soon, she said she was as well, so when she came into the bullpen I figured she wanted to talk out together, you know Penelope, she likes company"

JJ looked at him like she wasn't buying this, but she couldn't challenge it and she gave up, they all headed towards the jet. Luke couldn't hold back a small smirk, This is fun.

Unfortunately they were in Dallas for 3 days, so they couldn't really progress their plan, but Luke found himself calling her at the end of the day when he got back in his hotel room anyway, under the excuse of discussing their plan, but really, he just liked talking to her about non-work stuff. She also started texting him more, non-work-related stuff, he smiled as he got one of her texts about how he better buy her a gift while he was out in Dallas, when Prentiss saw him smiling "you're in a good mood" she observed.

"Yeah, I guess I am" he answered. "Despite the fact that this case has been frustrating. But I'm more than ready to get back home"

One thing the team was learning was that Luke was a hard one to read. While Penelope was an open book, and couldn't keep a secret to save her life, he gave away nothing, and they knew he had a fair amount of undercover work, so it was hard to tell if there really was nothing going on or he was just very good at acting nonchalant about it.

They were finally headed home, Luke stopped by the little gift shop that was in the bottom of their hotel, and found a cute little figurine there, that made him think of her, so he bought it. Rossi noticed Luke buying a figurine, which didn't seem like him. "I didn't take you for the figurine-collecting type" he said as Alvez rejoined the group, as they gathered to head to the jet.

"Yeah, I thought it'd make a good memento for a friend of mine"

"Yeah, anyone I know?"

"Nope"

The next day, they were all back in the office. Today was the day that they planned to let someone observe Luke leaning close to and whispering something to Garcia, and she added that she should probably put her arm on him after he told her a joke. He loved that she was so into this. He had a good opportunity after lunch, as they had some down time, he was done with his report and they didn't have a new case yet. He'd normally head off to the gym or the range to get in some practice or a work out, but instead he headed over to Garcia's office. He suggested they go get coffee, and she agreed. As they were waiting for the elevator, she leaned against the wall, he put on hand on the wall, leaning in towards her, whispering in her ear.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me an actual joke?" she said softly

"Why did the cookie go to the hospital?" he whispered, pulling back slightly to look at her, then leaning back in and whispering "because he felt crummy"

Penelope genuinely cracked up at that joke, as dumb as it was, and it didn't really take acting to reach out and touch his arm as she did so.

With perfect timing the elevator doors opened, and they got on to go get coffee, Luke upping the ante by grabbing her hand. "Do you think anyone saw us?" Penelope asked as they rode the elevator down to the main level.

"I am not sure, I thought for sure someone else from the team would be coming to the elevators, but that didn't happen"

"That's a bummer"

"Well, we might just have to repeat that later he said, raising his eye brows at her, causing her to laugh again.

Later they came back up to the main floor, with their coffee, chatting, Luke didn't even realize he had his arm around her as they walked off the elevator, till he saw Reid standing there frowning at them.

Penelope broke away from Luke and said bye as she headed to her office.

"Are you still maintaining there is nothing going on with you and Garcia?" he asked as he and Luke walked back to their desks.

"Yes, there is nothing going on"

"Nothing going on what are you guys talking about" Tara asked as she walked up to Reid and Luke

"Luke here is trying to deny that there is something going on between him and Garcia"

"There isn't"

"I'm calling BS on that one" Matt said, joining in on the conversation. "I saw you leaning over by the elevator earlier"

"He had his arm around Penelope as they got off the elevator" Reid said in response

"Don't forget about the hand-holding before we left from Dallas" JJ chimed in.

"What I continue to not get is why you all care so much"

"Just curious is all, you two would make a cute couple" Tara said.

"The inquisition is way more than curiosity, and we are not a couple, period"

Nobody else had anything to say in response and they all went back to their work.

The next day it was Prentiss and JJ giving him a hard time.

"From what I've heard nobody gave Morgan a hard time about flirting with Penelope. So why is it so hard for you to believe that we might just be having fun?"

Prentiss was skeptical but didn't really have an explanation, "except that she used to be like so cold to you, so something changed"

"I think I finally bought her enough figurines for her desk, so she's accepted me" he explained, "who knew, that's all it took. I would have bought a truckload of them early on" he said, smirking.

"Do you really think they are just flirting like Morgan and Penelope used to? JJ asked Prentiss as they walked away from Luke.

"Well, those two used to act a lot like they were dating, to someone observing that didn't know them. So he has a point. Except with them it happened so gradually that it wasn't weird. This is a big change" Prentiss observed

"I think we need to have a girls brunch this weekend"

"Good plan"

Luke, come to my office when you have a minute Penelope texted him, he wasn't doing anything particularly pressing, so he got up and headed over there. "whatcha need?" he asked entering her office.

"JJ just invited me to a girls-only brunch with her Prentiss, and Tara. I know they are going to ask me about you" she explained, "what do I do?"

Luke laughed, "we're talking about brunch, not being interrogated by the KGB, Penelope" he continued, "In all seriousness, you just have to deny that anything the bring up means we are together. Just explain that you decided it was more fun to flirt with me like you used to with Morgan, than be the ice queen"

"Ok, but what if they ask me about stuff, like do I admit that we held hands or that you bought me the cat figurine?"

"No, no need to deny anything that we actually did, that was all on purpose, so at least someone would see." he explained. "You'll be fine, just no matter what they say, respond that we are not dating, and we are not together" and you'll be fine.

"OK"

"You want to go get dinner after work?"

"Are you asking me out?" she said confused, "Today was the leaning thing already"

"No, I just wanted company for dinner and thought it wouldn't hurt our plan, you know solidify the details for the next steps?"

"Oh, ok" she paused for a second "I'm game, Thai?"

"Sure, why don't you just come by the bull pen again when you're ready to leave"

"Ok"

Later the entire team, except for Reid who had left early to teach his class that day, watched Penelope walk into the bull pen, Luke get up, grab his stuff and walk towards her like it was a habit. They also noticed him taking her bag from her and carrying it for her as they walked towards the elevator.

"Did you see that?" JJ asked Matt.

"Yeah"

"There is no way they aren't dating" JJ responded. "The question is when did they start"

"Hey guys, what if they know about the bet?" Prentiss said, smelling something fishy going on.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked

"Well, I don't know how they might have found out, but say they knew we were making bets on when they would start dating…. and decided to mess with us by doing a bunch of couple-y things but denying actual dating"

"I don't think Penelope is good enough at keeping secrets to do something that elaborate" Tara offered, she continued "now Luke I can totally see doing something like that"

"Even if she liked him?" Prentiss responded, "Penelope might really like him and so it's not really acting on her part"

"I guess we'll find out Saturday, because Penelope just responded she's in for girls' brunch"

"Awesome, we'll sort it out then"

After Thai, Penelope followed Luke home under the pretense of visiting Roxy. They sat on the couch, watching TV and before she knew it Penelope realized she had her legs over his lap and he'd been playing with her hair, Is this supposed to be pretend or does he think it's real she wondered. She decided she'd rather continue than find out, so she snuggled closer to him. Eventually it was getting late and she was tired. "I better get going home"

"Or you could stay" he offered

"Woah, newbie, we aren't there yet, remember the plan?"

"Yeah, I do" he responded, then he got up and walked into his room "I forgot to give this to you, so you can wear it into the office should a good opportunity arise" he gave her one of his army t-shirts he so often wore when not at work.

She took it from him, grinning "Good idea." then as she was leaving she said "You're picking me up at 7:30 tomorrow right? I think tomorrow is the day we were going to start carpooling"

"Yep, see you tomorrow Chica" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

I am in so much trouble she thought to herself, yet again, as she realized that she never wanted this plan of theirs to end.

The next morning, Luke picked Penelope up on time, and they went into the office, arriving together, which was noticed by Rossi, and Tara noted when she saw Penelope that she had just gotten in and she hadn't seen Penelope's car in the lot.

"Oh, Luke gave me a ride this morning" she said, trying her best to stay calm and nonchalant about it.

"Oh really?" Tara asked

"Yeah, I want to reduce my carbon footprint, and he lives pretty close to me, so it made sense" she explained, thankful a reason to end this conversation as her phone rang.

That evening, some of the team was talking about going to O'Keefs, Penelope and Luke had both said they were in.

"Penelope, you can ride with me" JJ offered, "I'll give you a ride back here to get your car, or I can give you a ride home if you've had too much to drive"

"Thanks for the offer JJ, but I didn't drive today, actually. I rode in with Luke, so I think I'll just ride with him to the bar and home, if that's OK with you"

"Of course it is, I was just offering" JJ said. "since when did you two start carpooling together?"

"I don't know, recently, but I'm trying to reduce my carbon footprint"

JJ smirked. She knew that was BS. There was no way that Luke's truck had a smaller footprint than Penelope's tiny Honda fit, and if they really wanted to reduce carbon footprints she would be driving that instead.

That night at O'Keefs everyone noticed how Penelope and Luke were much more comfortable with each other, more affectionate, and less fighting. But Prentiss had to acknowledge that they didn't do anything that she wouldn't have with Morgan, so that wasn't really evidence.

"Ready?" Luke said to Penelope, who was grabbing her purse, "Yes, coming" she said "Bye guys, JJ, Prentiss, Tara I will see you ladies tomorrow for brunch"

Then as soon as they left the bar, Prentiss saw through the window Luke take Penelope's hand as they walked towards his truck. She grabbed JJ and they followed them outside, peaking around the entry way to watch them walking down the street, still holding hands.

"Oh, they are so dating" JJ said.

"Yeah, that's hard to deny" Prentiss said, watching Luke unlock his car and open the passenger door for Penelope, helping her step into the vehicle.