The sun is shining through his half closed blinds when you wake in the morning, It's casting a soft light that permeates the bedroom and from where you lay you can see small particles in the stream of light. His arm is tightened around your stomach which has gained a roll in the last six months. You try to move but his arm flexes around you, holding you close to his body, and you resign yourself to laying on your side next to him until he wakes up. For the first time in a while, you feel safe. It's a comforting feeling, knowing that he has you held close to his body, with his back facing the door. He's molded himself around you, making you feel smaller than you actually know you are, but instead of suffocated, you feel safe.

His breath is soft on the back of your neck, it's sending a chill down your spine, and you if you close your eyes you can pretend that the last six months did not exist at all. He shifts behind you, and that's when you feel it. And Boy Wonder would rattle off some insane medical journal title informing you that this happens to about eighty percent of the male population several times a night. And you remind yourself that this is just biology, and of course, his blood is constantly moving, but you're finally in bed with Luke. This is a place you didn't think you'd ever be or a place that you didn't think you'd ever allow yourself to be.

His hand splayed across your stomach is a harsh reminder that six months ago you could have woken up like this, but you chose instead to show him the door, literally. His fingers twitch against the soft fabric of his shirt as it shifts across your skin, and it's then that you remember that you never put on a bra when you left Ryan's apartment last night. Suddenly you're hyper aware of every thread of his ARMY shirt sliding across your hardened nipples, and you wonder if he can feel the change in your breathing. You wonder if he can feel the heat that is radiating off of your body, and you wonder if the wetness that's pooled between your thighs has gotten onto his.

But he shifts, loosening his grip on you, and all logical signs are pointing to you slipping out of his embrace to use the facilities, but you find yourself turning to face his chest. Coming into your view is an expanse of darkened skin, smooth to the eye but if you look closely there is a patch of brown hair between two perfect pectoral muscles. Leaning back a bit you can see the same brown hair trailing down the middle of his abs, and disappearing into the band on his boxers. You reach out and lightly run a finger from the top of his underwear to the middle of his chest, and you hear him hiss in his sleep. His member twitches against your thigh involuntarily, and so you push yourself forward.

You want nothing more than to feel good in this moment.

You haven't felt good in so long. So you shut your brain off and react.

Your lips gently land on his chest and move upward slowly, his eyes flutter open as you land a partially open mouthed kiss to his neck and he hisses, whether it's from pleasure or pain you're not aware. But judging by the dark color of his eyes and the way he pulls you tighter against him, you can safely bet on pleasure.

This is it, you think kissing your way up his jaw, peppering his cheeks with quick kisses spurred on by his shortened breaths, everything that went wrong never happened.

But as quickly as it started, the illusion shatters around you like a broken mirror in a stupid fun house.

"Don't" his voice rings out, loudly as if magnified in the early morning sun, his voice is gravelly and you want nothing more than to close your lips over his, and it would be oh so easy considering your own are hovering mere inches above his own. "Don't" he repeats. He releases you, and cold air whooshes around the space where your bodies were sitting flush against one another. He's sitting up with his back to you now, and you can see that he is sitting with his elbows resting on his knees with his head in his hands. He's breathing heavily, using the same technique he taught you when you were having a panic attack over Derek. You recoil from the middle of the bed, shoveling yourself closer to the headboard, and wrapping the blankets around you for safety. You suddenly feel cold.

"There's no denying that I want you, Flower." He whispers, his voice reaching your ears on a particle that you're staring at in the stream of light. "But not like this, never like this." He continues, standing to put his sweat pants back onto his body once he's regained control of certain parts of it. He moves around the bed to kneel by you. "You've been through something so traumatic, that neither one of us would ever forgive ourselves if we crossed that line today." He presses on, reaching out to brush his hand lightly down your cheek and you hiss in pain, remembering briefly the beating you took yesterday.

"I love you, Penelope Garcia." He says, withdrawing his hand quickly. You nod your head in understanding, but the comprehension isn't completely there so you stare into his honey eyes, and try to smile. You're sure that it comes off as a grimace as it hurts to even attempt to move your lips.

"I'm sorry." You whisper, sure that your breath must reek as you can't recall when the last time you brushed your teeth was. "For that day, for not telling you then…" you trail off as the tears start to come now, you sniffle rubbing at your eyes fervently, wondering for the millionth time in the past twenty-four hours when you had become so fucking weak. He shakes his head, pulling your hands away from your face.

"Another time, Flower."

You nod.

For the next few weeks, as your face is healing, you hide at his house in shame, moving in and helping yourself to his wardrobe since you'll never get yours back you suspect. You're working nonstop, that brain of yours constantly moving in order to put the pieces together to get Spencer released from prison. You're eating blueberries, sharing with Roxy who hasn't left your side since you came back when you get the phone call that Spencer is being released. You stand from the couch where you feel as if your ass has made an indent in the microfiber material. Things have been tense between you and Luke lately, since that first morning, and you can't remember the last time you showered and so you race into the bathroom, stopping to grab his favorite - your favorite shirt of his - and that same pair of yoga pants you wore when you came running back to him.

When you say tense, you don't mean that he's not speaking to you, it's the way that you're so embarrassed to fully look him in the eyes. He keeps telling you that it's fine, and that one day soon you will both have your time together, but you keep avoiding eye contact. You think back to that morning and how you felt, as if nothing was wrong in the world, as you shampoo and condition your hair with whatever he picked up for you at the store. You have no idea how he managed to get your car to you, but it's sitting there in front of his house when you finally gather up the courage to walk out of his front door with Roxy at your side.

You close your eyes and turn your face up to the sun as you slide your arms into a too big hooded zip up sweatshirt, and jog down the short walkway to your car with Roxy at your heels. You immediately lock yourself into the small car, before turning the key into the ignition, and making sure that Roxy is safely laying on the seat next to you. Your fingers tremble as you speed down the highway, passing cars that you thought housed Ryan, and when you reached Quantico you quickly attach your new badge to the zip up and race into the building and for the elevator.

You pace the hallway once you reach the floor that housed the BAU, and your heart stops every time the elevator dings behind you, until the one time that it's actually them and you let out a heart wrenching sob. You throw yourself at Spencer, clutching him so tightly to your body, that you're sure you've snapped a rib. You feel him hug you back and you release him, holding him at an arms length in order to get a good look at him.

"What happened to your face, Garcia?" He asks. You shrug brushing the question to the side, and glancing over to Luke in the process. He comes over to you, tentatively reaching out to you before deciding to place his hands on your shoulders.

"Garcia has left Ryan." He says, giving your shoulders a gentle squeeze. The team looks at you, looks at the yellowing bruises on your face, and looks at the murderous look in Luke's eyes. Thankfully they understand and you're embraced in a group hug the likes of which you've never felt before.

"It's good to have you both home." Rossi says as you all disband. You're standing too still to hear anything, trembling, before you feel a comforting hand grasp yours.

"It takes time, Flower." He says, guiding you to your office. You nod, not daring to use your voice at the moment.

"I'm going to call Rebecca." He continues and you look up at him, nodding. He sits you down in your favorite chair, and pulls his phone out.

"I'd like to make an appointment please." He says, and you tune out. Reaching out to grab the black and white stress cat that Luke bought you months ago, you squeeze it lightly and you laugh as you hear the meow.

"I love you too." You whisper to the cat. "I love you too, Luke."

But he doesn't hear you.

There is no room for failure, you tell yourself as you run the trail for the second time that day.

Your brain is working on overload, and for some reason, you woke up with the desire to run until your legs fall off. Luke joined you for the first go around, before he got called to pick up Roxy from the groomer. You decided that after she is safely in the car that you want to go for another four miles and you ask Luke to drop the both of you off at the trail. Wondering silently when you're going to feel whole again.

You and Roxy are racing through the trees, coming through the opening and jumping over the heavy chain. You come to a stop in the middle of the parking lot, doubling over, and trying relentlessly to catch the breath that is evading you.

"Hello, Penelope." You freeze, your back straightening immediately. You immediately scold yourself for not listening to Luke when he told you that dropping you back off wasn't a good idea. But you're just finding your footing in this world again, and you wanted independence. You wanted to not be carted too and from places, you wanted to be strong enough to survive an outing without backup. You wanted to live again. Was that so much to ask for?

Yes, you stupid, stupid girl. What were you thinking?

"I've been looking for you." He says, walking closer to you. You take a step backwards, pulling Roxy with you. "You were hard to find." He looks down at Roxy, smiling at her. "So you ran back to Luke?" You find yourself nodding your head, fear taking over you again. You thought you were over this. You step back, looking down at the ground.

"I'm sorry." He continues, reaching out to touch you. "I miss you, I love you, please come home." He says. You start to listen, telling Roxy to stay put, but you continue to listen. You figure if you keep him calm, appease him for long enough, Luke will be there to pick you up. And so you continue talking to him, with Roxy in the middle of the both of you.

You can feel all the places that he used to hurt you.

"I didn't know where else to go." You say, reaching down to fiddle with the hem of your tank top.

"You should have stayed at home." He says, stepping closer to you. "Your home is with me, Penelope." He reaches down to pet Roxy and you stand frozen. He's too close.

You breathe.

In through the nose.

Hold.

One.

Two.

Three.

Out through the mouth.

"No." You say, pulling Roxy backward with you. "You hurt me, Ryan."

"I was trying to teach you a lesson, baby."

You shake your head. Only a few minutes left now. He reaches out to grab your arm, and you think he's going to be gentle but he grips you so tightly that you scream out in pain.

It's then that you hear the familiar click of a safety lock releasing and you sign in relief.

"Let go of her, now." Luke's voice remains steady, calm. He has his gun trained on Ryan, finger closer to the trigger, but not touching. You feel the grip on your arm tighten and you wince in pain, but he lets you go. He puts his hands in the air, turning to face Luke.

"Your second watch dog is here baby, does he always come when called?" Ryan taunts. Luke doesn't blanch, he doesn't take his eyes off of Ryan but he speaks to you slowly.

"Garcia, take Roxy and get to the car, okay?" He says, his right arm is still firm, steady. His left hand is supporting the weight of the gun. You nod your head, moving slowly around Luke before you break into a run and lock yourself in the familiar Jeep. You roll the window down slightly so as to hear the conversation.

"I guess you forgot my warning from two months ago," Luke said, clicking his safety back on and holstering his weapon. "If you ever come near her again I will have you arrested." He continues, stepping closer to Ryan. "And if that doesn't work, I'll hurt you the way you hurt her." He's toe to toe with Ryan now, "and if you still don't get the fucking message, I'll bring the entire force of the bureau down on you for touching one hair on her head. You'll feel that crippling weight until the day that you die." He reaches out to brush the link from Ryan's shoulder.

"Are we clear?" Luke nods before he starts walking backward towards the Jeep.

"Good, now get the fuck out of my sight."

A/N: Thank you all to those who reviewed over the past few days. This is the fastest that I've ever updated a story, and you all inspire me to continue writing this story. I'm not sure how long this will be but I at least have until chapter 10 mapped out.

Also, I've created a tumblr y'all. itsdawnashlie, so go and do whatever it is that happens over there. I'm still figuring it out.