Chapter 8
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AN: REMEMBER, if there are specific episodes/storylines you want me to address I'm willing to take requests.
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It has been a while since the BAU had a movie night together and since then Penelope has been on Medical leave, a leave that is now coming to an end.
It's Sunday night and Penelope is at her apartment, in her kitchen, with her father.
"You know, Dad, you cooked, you didn't have to help with the clean-up." Penelope informs her father as she walks around the kitchen bench and sits down on one of the stalls.
"I know, I wanted to." Rossi tells his daughter, as that now he and Penelope are talking once more he wants to spend as much time with his daughter as possible, "How are you feeling? Do you really think you're ready to go back to work?" he asks, clearly concerned.
"I feel good, Dad, and I'm completely ready to be back." Penelope assures her father.
"You know, I could pick you up, drive you to work tomorrow." Rossi offers.
"Sorry Dad, Morgan's already beat you to that one." Penelope informs her father, looking slightly amused at that.
"Of course, he has." Rossi says, not overly surprised, as he finishes emptying the sink, and rolls down her sleeves, "Just remember to ease back in slowly, don't try to do too much too fast."
"I know. I'll be fine Dad, you don't have to worry."
"I'm your Dad, Kiddo, it's what I do." Rossi tells her, "I always have, and I always will." Rossi says, as even when he and Penelope weren't talking he worried, in fact he worried even more, "Get used to it."
"I am, kind of." Penelope says, still trying to getting used to having her Dad back in her life after almost twelve years without him.
"I should get going." Rossi says, walking over to Penelope, "I'll see you tomorrow." He says before hugging his daughter.
"See you tomorrow, Dad." Penelope says, returning the hug, and as she does Rossi places a kiss on his daughters head.
"I love you." Rossi tells his daughter.
"Love you too." Penelope responds, as they break apart, and once they do Rossi heads out of the apartment, leaving Penelope.
Just like she told her father he would Morgan picks Penelope up the next morning and takes her into the BAU.
"I can open my own door." Penelope says as she and Morgan approach her office.
"Not on my watch." Morgan says, "Now, will you zip it." Morgan says, as he opens the door, and as he does Penelope sees the mess her office is and she can't help but be horrified.
"What the hell?" Penelope asks, looking around her office in horror.
"What?" Morgan asks.
"What happened in here?" Penelope asks.
"Oh, what the mess?" Morgan asks, "I got that." He says, picking up Penelope's pink bin.
"Partially." Penelope says, looking at everything, and knowing it's going to take her a while to fix all of it.
"I guess the guy who was in here going through your system….." Morgan starts to say.
"Kevin Lynch." Penelope injects.
"He made a little bit of a mess. Don't worry about it." Morgan says, not understanding why Penelope is getting so upset.
"He changed everything."
"Changed everything?" Morgan asks, "What are you talking about?" he asks, not seeing what Penelope is.
"He adjusted the… the….." Penelope says, getting worked up, "Forget it, it'll be." Penelope says, realising that there is no point in getting upset, "Go. You need to get to LA." Penelope says, gently hitting Morgan's chest.
"No, listen, I'm gonna stick around for a while. I think you might need me." Morgan says, honestly he doesn't want to leave Penelope alone just yet.
"Stick around?" Penelope asks, giving him a look.
"Yeah. The team can handle one case without me. They'll be fine." Morgan informs Penelope.
"Honey, I know you love me, but the prospect of you whirling around here trying to fix this is actually more frighting than getting shot." Penelope admits, meaning that completely.
"Garcia, are you sure?" Morgan asks.
"I completely fine." Penelope says, starting to move her arms, "Look. Full range of motions." Penelope says, continuing to move, "No pain."
"Stop, stop, stop stop, with you stop it with the 'uhh' stop." Morgan says, putting his hands on each of Penelope's arms and stopping her from continuing to move, "Go, you know I'm just a phone call away." Morgan says.
"Thank you." Penelope says, to her friend, "Go." Penelope says, and Morgan leaves, "Kevin Lynch, you might be cute, but if you ever mess with my stuff again…." Penelope mutters as she starts to clean up the mess left by Kevin, feeling a little bit of pain as she does.
A while later Penelope has cleaned up some of the mess made by Kevin, but due to the fact that she is still experiencing some amount of pain Penelope isn't able to fix everything. As she works Penelope's phone starts to ring, and even without checking the caller Id she knows exactly who it is.
"Hey Dad." Penelope answers, knowing that it will be embarrassing if she's wrong, but she doesn't believe she's wrong.
"Am I that obvious?" Rossi asks his daughter.
"Kind off, you've been in LA for a few hours, I figured it wouldn't be long before you called to see how I'm doing." Penelope admits.
"And? How are you doing?" Rossi asks.
"I'm fine Dad, really." Penelope assures him, "Do you need me to do something for the case?"
"Not yet." Rossi answers, "You'll know as soon as there is something for you."
"Okay. Stay safe, Dad." Penelope requests.
"That's not always possible, but I'll try." Rossi tells his daughter, "Bye."
"Bye." Penelope says, before hanging up, and looking around Penelope opens her hand bag and pulls out a framed picture of her and her dad that was taken while she was on sick leave and puts it with the pictures from when she was five and fifteen that she has decided to permanently keep on her desk.
After a day of the team being in Los Angeles they finally seem to have someone they suspect to be the unsub Penelope is calling Morgan.
"Hey, how you feeling, Baby Girl?" Morgan answers.
"I- just can't seem to get my chair adjusted just right again." Penelope admits, as she tries to fix her team, but just feels pain, "But, other than that, I'm mortified." Penelope admits.
"Mortified?" Morgan asks confused.
"Please tell me the unsub isn't Jonny McHale the graphic novelist." Penelope comments.
"Don't tell me you're a fan of this guy." Morgan says, sounding shocked.
"Oh my god, he's a genius." Penelope admits.
"Well, Sweetheart you should see what he thought the victims looked like before he killed him." Morgan explains, as he picks up one of the drawings to have a look.
"Sometimes for an artist, the only difference between insanity and genius is success." Reid reveals.
A few hours later the team have arrived back at Quantico and Morgan is in Penelope's office with her, fixing her chair.
"You really don't have to do this." Penelope says.
"Women, will you hush." Morgan says, as he works on Penelope's chair.
"I can do it myself. I just can't grip anything too tight yet." Penelope admits, "And when I tried to do it, it kept falling…." Penelope starts to say.
"Will you sit your motormouth down." Morgan suggests, and Penelope does exactly that.
"See, now, that's perfect." Penelope says, as she sits down in her chair.
"Yeah?" Morgan asks.
"Totally."
"Well, there you go, my sweet lady." Morgan says.
"My hero." Penelope says, smiling at her best friend.
"I'm nobody's hero." Morgan says, as he starts to leave.
"Hey, do you know who Frank Miller is?" Penelope asks.
"Frank Miller. It sounds family. Unsub?" Morgan asks.
"No." Penelope says, looking amused, "Graphic novelist. 300? Sin city?" Penelope asks
"Right, right, right. Cool movies." Morgan admits, causing Penelope to be amused.
"Anyway. He said something once it makes me think of you." Penelope reveals, "The noir hero is a knight in blood-caked armour. He's dirty, and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time." Penelope reveals.
"Huh, interesting." Morgan says, and then before he can say more the door opens and neither Penelope nor Morgan are surprised to see that it's Rossi.
"Hey Dad." Penelope says.
"How you feeling Kiddo?" Rossi asks.
"Okay, I'm good Dad, really." Penelope assures him.
"Good." Rossi says, clearly relieved about that, "I'll see you tomorrow." Rossi tells his daughter.
"See you tomorrow." Penelope says, and Rossi exchanges looks and nods with Morgan before leaving.
"I noticed the new picture on your desk, how's things going with you two?" Morgan asks curious.
"Good, better." Penelope admits, "I love my Mom, and my Step-Dad, and I miss them every day, but I always felt closer to my Dad." Penelope admits.
"You did?" Morgan asks interested.
"Yeah, I mean it's strange. After Mom and I moved to San Francisco I only really saw Dad during the summer, and school breaks, and weekends and other times between cases when he would come to San Francisco, or even the rare weekends I would come here, but I always felt closer to him." Penelope explains, "We were alike in a lot of ways, you know?"
"I can see that in some ways." Morgan admits, as he does see similarities between Penelope and Rossi, but he sees a lot of differences too.
"Yeah." Penelope says, looking over at the photos.
"You know, when you were in the hospital a woman came to see you, Carolyn. Rossi said she was his ex-wife." Morgan says, "I'm guessing you were close?"
"Still are." Penelope corrects, "She was my first step mother… and my godmother."
"Step mother and godmother?" Morgan asks, confused and surprised.
"Yeah." Penelope confirms, not surprised by Morgan's reaction as some other people who know about her family have reacted with the same confusion and surprise, "She and my Mom were best friends."
"I'm…. so confused." Morgan admits.
"That's normal when it comes to my family." Penelope admits, getting a little bit of amusement from Morgan's reaction.
"Well, if you want to explain it I'm listening." Morgan admits.
"Well, it all started one night at a bar by the name of The Benjamin…." Penelope starts to say, but before she can say more the door opens and Emily walks in, and it is clear that JJ and Reid are waiting just outside the door.
"Good you two are still here. We're doing dinner and drinks, you in?" Emily asks, deciding not to mention that it was her idea as she wanted to do something to celebrate Penelope's first day back.
"Definitely." Penelope answers.
"Count me in." Morgan says, as Penelope stands up.
"Then let's go." Emily says, and they head out.
"You're going to finish your story later." Morgan informs Penelope in a quiet voice as they start to walk.
"Sure Sugar." Penelope says, as the group of four continue to walk.
"So, we're are we going?" JJ asks curious.
"Not Chinese." Reid requests, and as he does Morgan notices something.
"HEY ROSSI." He calls.
"What? I'm right here, why are you yelling?" Penelope asks, as Rossi turns to look at Morgan, and as he does Penelope realises her mistake, "Right, not talking to me." She realises, as the others just look amused.
"We're going out to dinner; would you like to join us?" Emily asks.
"Of course." Rossi says.
"What about Hotch?" JJ asks.
"What about me?" Hotch asks, coming from the bullpen.
"We're going for dinner and drinks; do you want to join?" Penelope asks.
"Sure." Hotch answers, as he knows he doesn't have anything to go home to at the moment.
"Great." Emily says, with a smile, and the group of seven head out.
A few hours later the team have had a quiet enjoyable dinner together and Penelope is being walked to her apartment by Morgan.
"You know you didn't have to walk me home." Penelope tells her best friend.
"Yeah, I did. You owe me a story." Morgan says, with an amused look.
"Then I guess you better come in." Penelope says, as she unlocks her apartment and lets Morgan in.
"So, your mom and step-mother were best friends?" Morgan asks.
"Since they were kids." Penelope answers, as she puts her keys and bag down.
"Okay." Morgan says, looking confused, "Fill me in Baby Girl, because I'm feeling pretty confused right now." Morgan admits.
"Dad met Carolyn and Mom and the same night." Penelope admits, "He hit it off with both of him, and he and my Mom started to date." Penelope explains.
"And yet he ended up married to Carolyn?" Morgan asks confused, "Your parents were never married, were they?"
"That is correct." Penelope confirms, "Mom and Dad dated for a few weeks, before breaking up because they thought they made better friends." Penelope explains, "When they broke up Mom encouraged Dad and Carolyn to start to date because she knew they had feeling for each other." Penelope explains, "A couple of months later Mom found out she was pregnant with me, and told Dad and Carolyn at the same time." Penelope says, smiling slightly as she remembers that particular story being told one New Year's Eve after a few drinks, "Mom knew that Dad and Carolyn loved each other, and belonged together, and she didn't want to get in the middle of that, and so she suggested that the three of them raise me together, co-parent me. That's part of the reason why Carolyn was both my step-mother and god-mother." Penelope explains.
"If your Dad and Carolyn were so in love, what happened?" Morgan asks curious, "Why'd they get divorced?"
"That's not my story to tell." Penelope says, as that would get into stories that she would feel very uncomfortable telling without her father's permission, as she walks over to one of her bookshelves, "This was my first birthday." Penelope reveals, handing Morgan a picture, "My Nonna took the photo." Penelope explains.
"Nonna? Grandmother?" Morgan asks, looking down at a picture of one year old Penelope, two women, who are clearly Debra and Carolyn, and Rossi.
"Yeah, Dad's mom." Penelope says, saying what Morgan guessed, "She was orthodox, very tradition, but she believed that the biggest sin anyone could commit was turning your back on, or not accepting, family." Penelope admits, "I think she found the arrangement strange, but she accepted it, loved me completely." Penelope admits, trying not to think about the fact that her grandmother would likely have been very disappointed her for refusing to talk to her dad for almost twelve years.
"That's nice." Morgan says, handing the photo back, "I should get going, see you tomorrow, Baby Girl." He says, before hugging Penelope, and once they break apart Morgan heads out of the apartment.
It has been a few days since the team went out to dinner together and Penelope explained to Morgan a bit about her parents, and Carolyn, and since then the work week ended and it's Saturday evening.
Using the key her father gave her Penelope lets herself into her father's mansion, and from the second she does she can smell her father's cooking,
"Dad, it's Penelope!" she calls, so that he knows its her.
"Kitchen." Rossi calls back, and Penelope heads straight there, dropping her bag in the living room as she goes.
"Everything smells great, what are you making?" Penelope asks curious, as she walks up the kitchen bench.
"Risotto, baked Gnocchi with Ricotta and Marinara, and Bruschetta Pomodoro." Rossi tells his daughter.
"Nonna would be proud." Penelope tells her dad, "But you know you didn't have to make all that."
"I wanted to." Rossi explains, "It shouldn't be too much longer."
"Cool." Penelope says, and as she does she notices the wine that her Dad has opened and so she walks over and pours herself a glass.
"Pen…." Rossi starts to say, but then he realises.
"You forgot I was twenty-one for a minute, didn't you?" Penelope asks.
"Yeah." Rossi admits, sadness in his voice, "I missed so many years, so many things." He says, as Penelope goes to take a drink of the wine, "No wine until the food is ready." Rossi tells his daughter, and as he does Penelope puts down the wine.
"I know, we both did." Penelope says, and as she does an idea comes to her, "Hey, I have an idea, I know it might be hard with work, but how about if once a week we have dinner, just the two of us, so we can get to know who we are now, talk about some of those times we missed." She suggests.
"I'd love that." Rossi admits, "You know, I could use some help, you interested?"
"Very." Penelope says, walking over to the sink to wash her hands, "You know, I've tried to make some of the soup recipes you used to make, I kind of succeeded there, but failed when I tried to make pasta." She admits, once she washes her hands.
"I'll show you again some time." Rossi tells his daughter.
"That would be great." Penelope says, walking over to her Dad, "What do you need me to do?" Penelope asks, and once she does Rossi starts to explain to his daughter what he wants her to do.
A while later Penelope and Rossi have both finished eating, and the both of them are starting to clear up the dishes.
"That was incredible, Dad." Penelope says.
"It was, and I think it was better because I had your help." Rossi informs his daughter, and as she does Penelope smiles slightly, "You know, if you're interested, I found some of our old home movies if you wanted to watch."
"I'd like that." Penelope says, putting down a plate, and as she does her phone starts to ring, and so she pulls it out of her pocket, and when she looks down at the caller Id it is more than clear to Rossi that it isn't a business call his daughter is getting.
"If you want to answer that I can put the dishes on." Rossi suggests.
"You sure?" Penelope asks, as she really wants to talk to who is on the other end of her phone, but she doesn't want to leave all the work to her father.
"Positive." Rossi says, and Penelope quickly flicks her phone open.
"Hey, can you hold on for a sec." Penelope says to the person on the other end, "I'll be really superfast, promise." Penelope says, before hurrying out of the room.
"Take all the time you need." Rossi says, as he watches his daughter, who is clearly extremely happy, hurry off.
After Penelope leaves Rossi continues to clean the dishes enough so that she can put them in the dishwasher, and once he does that he heads into the living room to set up the projector.
It only takes Rossi a few minutes to set up the projector, but then it's another five minutes before Penelope comes into the room.
"Sorry, that took longer than I was expecting." Penelope admits.
"It's okay Kitten." Rossi assures his daughter, as she sits down on the couch, "I've loaded up the earliest one I could find, it's from when you were about three." Rossi reveals.
"Cool." Penelope says, and Rossi reaches over to start the projector, "It was Kevin Lynch." Penelope reveals, before her Dad can start the projector.
"Okay." Rossi says, not pressing play.
"We're going on a date tomorrow night." Penelope reveals, as she was always able to talk to her father, and now that they are getting back to the way things were she wants to get back to that, "I'm really looking forward to it."
"I really hope it goes well for you, Penelope." Rossi tells his daughter, meaning that as he wants his daughter to be happy.
"Thanks Dad." Penelope says, glad he reacted like that, "So, when I was three?"
"Yep." Rossi says, before starting the projector to play the old family video.
