I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.

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"Did that kiss mean anything to me?"

"Yes. That's what I asked."

"Did it mean anything to you?" Rossi replied, sitting down on the bed and starting unpacking his things from his suitcase.

"Answer my question first," Penelope responded, getting frustrated with his lack of concern for the conversation, or maybe for her.

"I don't know, kitten, I just-"

"You just what? Got a little too into your acting? Well, next time, can you just let the 'moment' pass by? I didn't ask you to do that."

"No, but you did agree to acting like a couple in front of the team. That's what a couple would do if they were going to be separated for an unknown amount of time."

"Well, I'm glad to know that none of this means anything to you."

"Penelope, that's not-"

"I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted," she replied, effectively ending the conversation before taking her suitcase into the bathroom to get changed into pajamas. When she emerged from the bathroom, Rossi was laying down on the bed, facing the wall. Good, she thought, now I don't have to talk to him. Maybe the rest of vacation can go like this, too. She got into the other side of the bed and lay facing the opposite wall from Rossi. Before she had even settled, she felt his arm wrap around her stomach and pull her into him. "I'm sorry, Penelope. The kiss did mean something to me. Just like you do."

"I'm not sure that I believe you."

"Why?"

"Because when you kissed me, I couldn't focus on anything else. The world dissolved around me. I know that that's what people say, but it's what actually happened to me. And then you pulled away and it seemed like you hadn't been affected by it at all. You heard the elevator ding. I didn't even remember that we were near an elevator. How can you say that the kiss meant something to you when you were still aware of what was going on around us? You were just acting. Just doing your part."

"You don't know what I was thinking," she huffed in response and tried to pull away from him. He pulled her even closer and she could feel his breathing on the back of her neck. "Penelope, listen to me, please. When we kissed, my world melted away too. All there was left was you and your lips and your incredible body. Do you know how much effort I had to put into trying to pay attention to the elevator? The last thing I wanted was to get lost in that kiss, but that's exactly what happened."

"Why is getting lost in a kiss with me such a bad thing?"

"Because this whole thing isn't about me or my feelings. It's about you and Derek. You want Derek, Derek's an idiot, hopefully all of this will make him less of an idiot."

"What do you mean about this not being about your feelings? What feelings?"

"I thought that I'd made that perfectly clear."

"No. Nothing that has been happening has been perfectly clear. That's why I ran away. I needed to clear my head. Figure out what was going on."

"Why did you think I suggested we start this whole thing? I'm not actually a very generous person, Penelope."

"Yes you are. Don't say things like that. You're an amazing man."

"Just not amazing enough."

"Not amazing enough for what?"

"For you. Can we go to bed? I'm exhausted."

"No! We need to talk about this."

"In the morning."

"No! I know how this works. Come the morning, you'll pretend that none of this happened and we'll be stuck back at square one, only I'll be even more frustrated and confused, because I have all of this to add to the ever-growing list of things that confuse me about whatever is going on between us."

"But if we keep talking now, we'll say things we regret. Give too much of ourselves away."

"Dave, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Please don't worry about it. Just relax and go to bed. Everything will be better after some shut eye."

"Dave, I really don't want this conversation to be over. Please promise me that we'll actually talk about this tomorrow?"

"Of course, kitten. Now go to bed."

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After a few minutes, Rossi's breathing evened out and his hold on Penelope lessened enough that she felt safe getting out of bed and leaving their room. She was so confused and conflicted. She had come all this way to try and get less confused, but she was now drastically more confused. And exhausted. She probably should have just done what he said and gone to sleep, but she didn't think she'd be able to. Her mind was racing. She needed to clear her head. She wandered downstairs and found Emily sitting on a couch reading a case file which she closed as soon as she saw Penelope standing in the doorway. Penelope went over and sat down next to her.

"What's going on, P? You seem not okay. And you're dating Rossi? When did that happen?" Before Emily could ask any more questions, Penelope broke down and started crying.