Sorry it's taken so long to update. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. I save them all.
Chapter 10
Spotting Penelope Garcia in a crowd is something Hotch would never have a problem with. At this moment, her green and yellow clad self was making her way towards him at the Atlanta airport.
"Good morning, my captain," she said.
"Hello, Garcia," Hotch said. "Any more luggage?"
"Nope, this is it," she said. They started walking to his car. "Care to tell me what's going on?" she asked.
"I will once we get back to the hotel," he said. "This is more of a have to see to believe thing."
"That bad?" she asked.
"Not at all," he assured her, "it's just not something I really want to discuss in the middle of the Atlanta airport."
"You're scaring me," she said.
"Relax," he said. "You get to do two of your favorite things today."
"What's that?" she asked.
"Shopping on someone else's dime," he said, "and tormenting Rossi."
"I only torment him out of love," she swore.
"Uh huh."
"He gives as good as he gets," she said.
"Yes, your snark wars are quite famous throughout Quantico," he said. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
"If you can call it that," she said.
"We'll get something on the way to the hotel," he said.
The rest of the trip was taken up with other subjects. She filled him in on what was happening at the BAU so he wouldn't be surprised when he got back. They stopped at a restaurant and picked up some breakfast to go for her.
Penelope was more than a little curious by the time they got to the hotel. "You'll be staying in the same suite with us," Hotch said. "Dave had booked a three-bedroom suite for us."
"That man has more money than should be legal," Penelope said.
"Maybe but he is paying for this trip," he reminded her.
"I didn't say it was a bad thing," she said, "and not being legal is not necessarily a bad thing, either."
"I'm not going to ask you to explain that," he said wisely.
"That would probably be for the best," she said. "What you don't know can't get me in trouble."
When they got to the suite, Hotch used his keycard and they went inside. Dave was just coming out of one of the bedrooms. "Hey, Kitten," he said.
"Hello, secret agent man," Penelope said. "What's up?"
"Put your things in that bedroom," Dave said, pointing, "then I'll explain everything." She looked at him for a few seconds then headed for the bedroom.
"Have you told her anything?" Dave asked.
"Not a word," Hotch said. "I'm leaving it all to you."
"Appreciate that."
"What are friends for."
Penelope walked back into the room. "Okay, someone start talking," she said.
"Sit and eat while I explain," Dave said. She grabbed her food, sat down at the table and began to eat. Dave took a deep breath and began.
"First things first," he said. "There's someone I want you to meet." He walked into another bedroom. When he returned, Skylar was with him. "Penelope, this is my daughter Skylar," he said. "Skylar, this is a friend of mine Penelope Garcia. She works with Hotch and me at the FBI."
Penelope's eyes grew wide and she dropped her fork on the table. "A daughter," she said. "When did that happen?"
"Well, she's eight so you do the math," Dave said. "I just found out about her earlier this week and I was granted custody yesterday."
"O...M...G.," she said. She got up and walked over to Dave and Skylar. Kneeling down, she smiled at the little girl. "Hello, there," she said. "I am your Auntie Penelope and you are a very pretty little girl."
"She doesn't talk," Dave said.
"That's okay, " Penelope said, standing up. "I can talk enough for both of us." She turned around and looked at Hotch who had opened his mouth. "Not. A. Word," she said, pointing at him. He closed his mouth. "Smart man." She turned back to Dave. "Why am I here?" she asked.
"We need to go shopping," Dave said simply.
She stared at him for a minute. "You brought me all the way from Quantico because you need to go shopping," she said incredulously. She looked at Hotch again. "I thought you were kidding." He just shrugged.
"Neither of us know anything about shopping for small female children," Dave said. "We need an expert. It was Hotch's idea."
"Men," she muttered. "So where are we going?"
"I thought we could ask the concierge about that," Hotch said.
She rolled her eyes. "I'll take care of that," she said. "You just get ready to leave." She walked over to the table and pulled her laptop out of her bag.
By the time they were ready, Penelope had the name of a mall along with its address and directions. "It's not the biggest or the closest but has some good stores," she said, handing the paper to Hotch.
"You're enjoying this," Dave said, looking at the tech analyst.
"A shopping trip to the mall on your dime?" Penelope smiled. "Oh, yeah, I'm enjoying this."
"We don't need to get a lot now," Dave said. "We can do a major spending spree at home."
"Which I am totally looking forward to but she's going to need at least a week's worth of outfits now, from the inside out," Penelope said. "If you get them to mix and match, that'll be even better. She'll need underwear, shoes and socks, pajamas, maybe a dress or two. Summer's almost here so that means at least one bathing suit."
"Penelope, no turning her into a clone," Hotch said.
"She'll find her own style soon enough," she said, "but I promise to behave."
Penelope felt a tug on her arm. Looking down, she saw Skylar standing there. "Yes, my little love?" she asked. The little girl pointed at Penelope's beaded bracelet. "You like that?" she asked and Skylar nodded. "A friend of mine got it for me," she said. "He'll be your Uncle Derek. He is very handsome and very brave. You'll also have an Uncle Spencer who is very smart and does magic. There's Auntie JJ and Auntie Emily. Auntie JJ has a boyfriend named Will and a little boy named Henry who's two. Boss man here has a little boy named Jack and he's almost five. I have pictures of everyone on my computer I'll show you when we get back." The little girl nodded. "Do you like going to the mall?" The little girl shrugged.
"She's never been," Dave said but didn't explain.
She gave him a questioning look but didn't ask. "We are going to have so much fun," Penelope said with a smile.
TBC
Like I keep tellin' people... this is my world. JJ and Emily are still around.
I've got this and the next five stories already plotted out. Thanks to ME who is my sounding board and has no problem saying, "Try this instead". She's right a lot.