Chapter 4

When he let her into the apartment, she'd been carrying two laptops in bags with a string of accessories and one of her large purses.

"I know this sounds careless Penelope, but every copy of every video of Haley with Jack is in that computer. If there is any way at all to rescue those… Please, please do it."

Her look was so full of sympathy it made him groan on the inside that he'd caused her further concern on his part. "Of course Sir," she turned and set up her computers before turning to his.

"Uh Sir?"

"Yeah?" He was hovering eager to help in whatever way he could.

"There's a fifty in the front pocket of my purse. I had just ordered Chinese when you called. I called them back and asked them to deliver it here."

"You haven't eaten yet?" God now he did feel guilty.

"No," she was typing away. "My families of murder victims group went a little long tonight. It kind of … deters your appetite if you know what I mean. But a hot shower magically rinses away some of the yuk, and then I was starving."

That explained the damp ponytail and faint smell of strawberry soap. "I wasn't sure you'd still be doing counseling work with how you'd been feeling lately." He was profiling her and he knew it but couldn't help it. She was possibly the most selfless person he knew. She wasn't perfect and had a bit of a rebel in her, but her heart was filled to the brim with kindness and compassion.

"If I ever acquire a family of my own to care for, I will probably stop. But if that never happens then I won't ever stop. It helps me cope with what we see every day."

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure you provide a great source of comfort for them Penelope."

"I try Sir."

"Penelope, each time you call me 'Sir' I feel like an additional year has been added to my age. Please tell me that is not your intention."

"Oh my God no," she reached up to her shoulder and touched his hand, "my Liege, I will correct that I promise." Her hand then slipped back to the keyboard. Then she sighed in frustration, removed the SD card from his computer, and plugged it into her laptop.

There was a knock on the door and Hotch went to retrieve the food. She wasn't paying attention to the fact that he still carefully examined the delivery man through the peep hole. Or that he paid for the food himself, along with giving a generous tip. He put the food on the table, went to retrieve a plate and poor a couple of glasses of wine.

"Wallah!" she was so glad that the SD card wasn't fully corrupted. They could become pretty temperamental at times when programs that used the files had an error, but she had an independent card reader that could usually retrieve any file from one.

"You got it?" When she shook her head and smiled while still hammering away at her keyboard, "Oh my God I love you!"

She looked up at him then, she'd never heard him say anything remotely like that. She was startled and it showed.

He put his head down and smiled, and then they both burst into laughter. He handed her a glass of chardonnay and set some serving spoons on the table next to the cartons of food.

"Have you eaten?" she asked, still typing.

"I have, Jack picked dinner. We had macaroni and cheese." The slight grimace and roll of his eyes said it all.

"Not your favorite huh? Were you planning to put all these videos on a single CD or file?"

"Yes I was, and no it's not my favorite."

"Most men I know flip over macaroni and cheese."

He watched her pull out the SD card out and inserted another. "I always loved the homemade version, I just have no idea how to make it. Jack seems to be happy with the boxed stuff, I guess most kids are."

"Well now I understand your aversion to it," she smiled. "I only eat the homemade stuff too." She gave the keyboard one final hard tap and looked up at him. "Go get another plate and let's eat."

The smell of the food actually had his mouth watering, and it seemed there was enough. "Are you sure? I don't want to short change you here."

"Oh please, you see this spread right?" Noticing that he wasn't moving she went to the kitchen herself to grab the plate. "The thought was to curl up on the couch, wear my furry slippers and some comfy jammies and spend the weekend watching old movies. And with all this, I wouldn't have to cook, just microwave." She was wearing a guilty grin.

"Well, I might be able to supply the old movie." He nodded toward the computer. "I'm assuming your writing another DVD, those take a little bit."

She knew that her computer didn't take long but she wanted to make more than one copy for him. They dished out plates of food and moved to the sofa to watch the movie as they ate.

They were watching "Topper Returns" and laughing so hard at Eddie Anderson each time the ghost appeared. Ok so it was the ghost of a murder victim, but it was light and funny and they were really enjoying it. Hotch of course had always loved the old movie but Penelope had never seen it before. Watching her laugh was definitely good for anyone's soul. He found himself enjoying the evening more than any could remember in a very long time.

"Smiles look good on you Hotch, you should wear them more often." She didn't look at him as she said it. She wasn't used to not calling him 'Sir' and even though she'd watched Jack here a few times they had NEVER spent any relaxed time together EVER.

"Well I am trying, but I have to say, smiles look much better on you and they've been very scarce lately."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'll work on that."

And then his interrogation skills came into play. "We all had been wondering if you'd just been harboring a broken heart."

"Well in a way, oh…. You mean Kevin? Oh God no!" She looked completely aghast.

Hotch couldn't help but snort into his wine glass.

"Did you know he left the bureau last week?" she asked.

"I did." Once again his serious mask was back.

"He blames me."

Hotch turned to her still serious, "How do you know?"

"He sent me a pretty nasty email."

"Penelope, I don't want to seem intrusive, but why did you and Kevin break up?" He was still wearing the stoic mask.

"You mean besides the clinginess, bossiness, and general creepiness that began to emerge?"

Hotch's expression didn't budge nor did he speak.

"Well, he had a couple of habits that I couldn't tolerate."

"Which were?"

"Uhg… he ate bacon on maple bars, you know… smooshed into the maple frosting? And…"

"And?"

"His favorite movie was '8 Heads in a Duffle Bag' and after Terlingua, I just couldn't take it anymore and gave him the boot."

She looked so disillusioned but Hotch couldn't help but burst into laughter. She tried to keep looking appalled but she enjoyed seeing him laugh so much, she couldn't help but join in.

Once the laughter died down however, he began to question her again. "Seriously, what did he say in the email Penelope?"

"Oh," she was stunned by his sudden change in mood. "He said that he knew I got him fired, he had no idea that I had people so wrapped around my little finger, and that he wouldn't forget it."

"Forward me that email." It was a command, and she knew it. But his mind was beginning to race. He'd seen this kind of scenario more times than he'd like. "Actually…" He stood up feeling agitated.

"What? What is it?"

He turned to her, "How much of your BAU magic can you work from these laptops?"

"Most of it, just a little slower. Why?"

"Can you track the location of Kevin's cell phone right now?"

Oh this is ridiculous, Kevin was a pain in the ass but he wasn't dangerous. "Oh come on, that's not really necessary, he's just a computer geek."

"Indulge me." He tried to soften his request.

It worked of course, she nodded and went to her computers. The one was just finishing up the last of the videos, she sat down at the other and began typing away. First, she accessed the FBI resources, then punched in the phone number and waited for the GPS co-ordinance to appear. "My God!"

"What is it?" He was looking over her shoulder in an instant.

"He's outside." She was completely stunned.

Hotch tried to think this through. He was more than a bit cautious since Foyet's appearance in this very apartment, and now Jack was here. If he went outside and there was a problem… He couldn't let Penelope go out, and if he called the local LEO's this situation would just continue.

"Penelope, the information about your seeing a mental health professional came through Kevin, how might he have obtained that information?"

Now she really looked aghast. "There's only one way, he's been physically following me. There is no parking spot there, I usually have to walk two blocks to reach the office. And I have been keeping the cyber "buzz" regarding … err… maintained." Her eyes lowered at that part.

"I thought as much." He went to the closet, retrieved his side arm and clipped it to him and put one of his suit jackets on to conceal it.

"What are you doing?" She was almost in a panic. "YOU can't go out there."

"I have to, this needs to stop."

"We'll call 911 but don't go out there." She was clutching at his arm.

His response was calm and meant to reassure her. "Penelope if we call the locals it will be dismissed as unimportant. He'll make up an excuse for being there and nothing will come of it."

"Well maybe it's really nothing." She wanted to hope that was true but she knew better.

"This may not be as bad as I suspect, just sit tight but turn the security alarm on after I leave ok? I'll call you," he said picking up his phone and holding it up, "when I'm coming back up."

"Ok."

She couldn't help but stare out the window, but she didn't see Hotch come out of the building. She could however see Kevin's car parked along the street. He was down just in front of the building a bit, same side of the street so that he could watch the entrance of the building. Then she saw Hotch. He must have exited the building through a back or side entrance. He was standing behind Kevin's car watching him.

Hotch could see an open laptop in the car, the screen showed Penelope staring out the window. He could now see Kevin holding a digital camera with a high-powered zoom lens on it. Hotch stepped back into the shadows and called her. "Step back from the window," he whispered after she picked up. Hotch tried to see if she'd complied but his gaze was focused on the car. He saw Kevin drop the camera and exit the car.

When Kevin saw her stare out the window, answer her phone and move away he knew he'd been spotted. Damn, I'm not going down for this, he's the one that stole my goddamned girlfriend. Kevin grabbed the tire iron off his floorboard and got out of the car scouring the shadows of the dark street. There's the bastard. He spotted Hotch and lurched for him.

Hotch saw Kevin coming for him with tire-iron held high and drew his firearm. "Stop right there Lynch. Think about what you're doing." Hotch with his left hand punched the emergency number programmed to a single key on his phone. "I'm a federal agent, and you're stalking and brandishing a weapon."

"Well I was with the bureau too you jack-ass. I gave you pertinent information and it got me canned, how does that work?" He was still gaining on Hotch ever so slightly.

"Kevin, you're still moving toward me. You need to stop, you know as well as I do how these things end." Hotch kept his gun trained on Kevin.

Kevin halted his step. "What's she doing with you up there huh? You think I don't know how she worships you? I just thought it was a stupid one way crush, but you aren't so great are you? You'll take what's on offer same as any guy."

Whoa! This guy is a wreck, how did he ever pass his psych eval when he was hired? "Lynch you're way out of line here. Think about your own future, you really want to give up everything over a broken heart?"

"Broken heart? You think I'm broken hearted over that bitch?" his look turned even more sinister. "Here's the thing though, she's mine. NOT yours. MINE!"

They both heard the siren then. "Kevin, that would be the local authorities. You don't want to still be in that threatening stance when they arrive do you?"

This seemed to make an impact and Kevin lowered the tire iron. The police car pulled to a stop in the street and the officers exited. They didn't spot Hotch right away so he had a chance to raise his credentials with his left hand and step out toward them, his gun still trained on Lynch with his right hand.

"I'm Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI. This is former Technical Analyst Kevin Lynch. He's stalking another analyst who is down the street. I'm going to lower my weapon now."

As he lowered his weapon and the LEO approached. Kevin lurched at Hotch once again with tire iron held high and a shot rang out. The LEO still standing by the car shot Kevin and Hotch watched him fall as if it was in slow motion. Damn! This was all the emotionally fragile woman needed to happen.

It would take a while to answer all of their questions; he called her in the mean time.

"What happened? I heard a shot." She was frantic.

"Please stay there with Jack, local law enforcement is here, I'll be up in a few minutes to explain."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Penelope, I'll be there soon."

He hung up and went over the scenario with the officers. They wanted a statement from Penelope but he'd used his own persuasion to put that off until tomorrow. He didn't want Jack disturbed if he hadn't already been. It also helped that he hadn't been the one to deliver the shot. He did feel bad though, it was a fatal wound and the EMT's on the scene could do little more than zip Kevin's lifeless body up in black.

In one way he hated to see it happen, yet in another … for the sake of Penelope's safety, he was glad to see this at an end. These cases could go on for years and the object of an offender's obsession usually had ended up with scars to show for it, sometimes physical but always emotional scars.

Twenty-five minutes later, he rang her phone to indicate that he was coming back up. He hadn't brought his keys out with him so he knocked slightly on the door. After verifying it was him through the peephole, she opened the door and let him in.