- Chapter 7 Luke POV -

I was relieved when Penelope suggested dinner at my place tonight, even more so when she volunteered to cook for me. After a week on the road, and as much as we traveled on a regular basis, it was nice to just be home, with both my girls. Roxy was of course ecstatic at that plan, and I was hoping that Penelope would be comfortable here, as it would definitely be easier to live here than her place, with Roxy at least. As she stopped at the grocery store I picked up Roxy and cleaned up a bit around the house. I mean I normally had the place tidy and clean, my place was pretty minimalist, but still I wanted it to look as good or as welcoming as it could.

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as Penelope told me about her phone call with Derek Morgan. The man had been a hurdle ever since I got to the BAU. Now I had heard a ton of great stories, and by all accounts he was a great guy, and without a doubt a good profiler, but it was frustrating to always be compared to this guy, to have his and Penelope's relationship always kind of out there, and I had a hard time forgiving him for stringing her along for all those years. Whether she'd admit it or not, I think she liked him as more than just friends or coworkers, maybe not as much as she did with me, but it certainly seemed like he strung her along. Now hearing about how upset he was, I wondered if there were still feelings between the two of them.

"But it doesn't matter because even if he told me he was madly in love with me and leaving savannah, I don't care, because you're the one I want, and the one I'm married to, end of story"

I felt my heart get lighter when I heard that. It really didn't matter what Derek Morgan thought or felt, as long as she wanted to be with me, that's all I cared about. I was the one that got to kiss her.

As I sat down, theoretically "helping" Penelope cook dinner, but that mainly consisted of keeping her company and watching her work because she wouldn't give me any tasks.

I love you so much.

Those words were going through my mind as I was watching her cook. That's when I realized, I don't think either of us had actually said I love you to the other one. I mean it was kind of unspoken or implied, but apart from possibly during sex, I don't think either of us had said that. Which is kind of weird since we're already married, but I resolved to tell her tonight, and in a meaningful way. Because I did, already love Penelope Garcia.

As we sat down to eat, I couldn't help but smile at how domestic it all seemed, and how different it was. Instead of grabbing something fast on my way home and eating at the couch, the dining table now had a whole meal on it.

"This is a bunch of vegetables, and pasta, with a creamy sauce, and a salad to go with"

"Penelope this all looks amazing, you never told me you could cook"

"You never asked"

Fair point.

"Yeah, I guess that we have a lot still to learn about each other"

"I hope you don't mind that it's all vegetarian, I know how you meat eaters are, but it should be pretty yummy so hopefully that will make up for it.

"It's so good, I could care less if there was meat in here or not. I'm impressed"

I was genuinely impressed that she'd made all that, and in a short amount of time, but I wasn't quite sure I was going to give up meat completely and become a vegetarian. I was fine with all the meals she cooked being that way, but when I was out, I was probably going to order a steak.

After cleaning up the kitchen together, we ended up on the couch.

"You want to watch baseball don't you?" she said when I asked what we should watch.

"I'm fine with whatever you want to watch as long as its not a super chick-flick"

Penelope scrolled through what was on tonight before handing the remote back to me. "There's nothing interesting on, so let's watch your baseball"

I laughed at the way she called it "your baseball" as I changed the TV to the correct channel where the game had already started but was still 0-0.

"Did you know I used to play baseball pretty seriously in high school?"

"I didn't"

"Yeah, I was good too. I mean not major league baseball good, but I might have been able to get on a college team if I hadn't joined the army out of high school instead"

"Do you miss it?"

"Yeah, I mean I enjoyed playing, but I don't miss it as in I wish I'd done that instead. I made the right choice"

"So which one of those guys were you?"

"Do you mean what position did I play?"

"Sure"

I chuckled, "In high school it's pritty common to play a lot of positions, but I mostly played third base"

"Which one is that?" she said pointing to the screen.

I pointed out to here were 3rd base was, "interesting" she commented, "I bet you were hot in a baseball uniform"

I couldn't help but laugh when that was what she focused on, I guess I had my work cut out for me turning her into a baseball fan but at least she seemed happy to watch it with me, even if she was paying more attention to the uniforms and the looks of the players than the actual game.

"Thank you, by the way, for being a good sport and watching baseball with me" I said as I leaned over to kiss her.

"Yeah, well I just want to cuddle and fall asleep with my head on your chest, so it really doesn't matter what's on the screen"

"I love you Penelope Garcia"

She grinned, "I love you Luke Alvez" She lifted her head off my chest to look me in the eye, "you know I think that's the first time either of us has actually said that"

"I know, I was thinking earlier that I hadn't actually told you and I thought it was about time to rectify that"

I leaned in to kiss her and Penelope released a satisfied sigh, "You know you could also show me how you love me" she said with a smirk and a twinkle in her eye. My Baseball was soon forgotten.