Disclaimer: Own nada. Shoutout to Jeff Davis.

A/N: Thank you for your support, guys!

"Everything used to be so simple," Penelope started off softly, scared that Derek was so upfront with her. "Really, it was. Well..." She trailed off, her nerves making it difficult for her to speak about her past. "My parents were good people, until they weren't."

"What do you mean?" Derek pressed.

Penelope sighed. "Well, my mom said that my dad had been diagnosed with something, something that makes you extremely sad, but I don't know the fancy word for it. He tried 'experimenting' with lots of drugs, mom said. After that, my mom became really, really mean. It's weird how I ended up getting kicked out, though. They just decided they didn't want me anymore."

Derek was silent, listening intently.

"Then, that's when I decided to live on the streets," added Penelope, shuddering at the memories. "I've been homeless for a while now." Penelope didn't miss Derek's skeptical look. "I know, this looks bad but... it's not like I didn't try to live somewhere else, my neighbors who used to like me kicked me out. I was on my own for a bit, until I met two friends."

"The ones I met in the cafeteria," Derek realized, making Penelope nod in confirmation.

"Yes," she says, as she went on. "Shane and Stephen." Stephen, your friend who died. Her mind echoed. "They taught me that I needed to steal in order to survive on the streets. I was really desperate, I didn't want to steal from people, but..." she trailed off, her eyes burning with unshed tears. "I hope you know I felt awful about it, yes, I stole your brother's scarf, but it was cold, I was freezing, and... it looked like you guys lived such good lives, I just assumed you'd buy another."

"Where is the scarf now?"

That only made Penelope burst into more hysterical sobs. "One of my friends... Stephen, he... he was shot at and..." Penelope looked up to him, with pleading eyes, desperately asking for forgiveness. She didn't even notice how softer Derek's eyes had gotten. "Derek, forgive me, but... I tried using that scarf to save his life." She looked down at her knees, her pants becoming stained with her own tears.

Derek's heart broke for her. Now, he realized, that he could understand her. That her motives were not cruel, that she did what she had to do. Derek was very protective of Spencer, and anyone who hurt his little brother, had hurt him. But her intentions were not like bullies on the playground, but out of survival. Then again, the longest Derek lasted living on the streets was three days, when the little girl in front of him had lasted over six months? How did she do it?

"I'm sorry," Derek admitted, making Penelope look up again except with surprise as he continued. "I shouldn't have been so cold to you."

"You were protecting your brother," Penelope said in understanding. "If I had a sibling, I'd do the same thing."

"None of my siblings were homeless for six months," Derek countered. "I'm not saying that I trust you, because with me, that takes time, but know that I understand you didn't mean to do what you did."

"Thank you," Penelope said, entirely grateful. "Really, thank you."

A loud argument between Emily and JJ broke their thoughts from outside.

"JJ! How many times have I told you not to steal my hair ties?"

"I'm learning how to put my hair up in pigtails and ponytails by myself, I need to borrow them!"

"Then you ask!"

"Mom!"

"Mom—"

"Girls, enough with the fighting!" Interrupted Haley.

"Do they always argue like that?" Penelope asked Derek.

"Sometimes," answered Derek, chuckling. "Do you want to go downstairs? Maybe play some board games?"

Penelope found herself smiling, something that she's never done in front of Derek. "Sure."

Derek couldn't help but feel like she was leaving something out though.

"Since JJ and Emily were fighting about hair," Spencer started off, resulting in glares from Emily and JJ. Spencer started bringing up a fact as he got a classic board game out for all five of them to play. "This is something relating to hair, the word shampoo arrives from the Hindi 'champna', implication to rub or massage."

Penelope simply stared blankly at the five year old.

Derek, sensing her confusion, spoke to her. "Have you ever played Candy Land?"

"I used to play Candy Land," said Penelope, looking at all the pieces as fond memories returned to her. "Back when I was really little." She scanned the board game in realization. "Doesn't this only go up to four players, though?"

"One of us needs to sit out this round," said Emily, already getting up. "And that'll be me, since I have my own room and I plan on talking on the phone with Tara without you rugrats eavesdropping."

"Rugrats?" Penelope asked, quirking a brow, but Derek shook her head at her to not open her mouth.

Emily smiled. "It's a term of endearment, I promise you."

"Can I borrow a hair tie?" JJ asked hopefully.

"No."

"But I asked nicely!"

"I'll help you do your hair," offered Penelope to JJ, while looking at Emily. "Can I borrow a hair tie?" The oldest sighed, taking her hair tie off her wrist and handing it to Penelope, which made JJ gap like a fish out of water.

"How come you give a hair tie to Penelope?" She emphasized, crossing her arms like the child she was.

"Because I'm not getting in trouble for being mean to the new girl," Emily said simply, not waiting for anyone to reply as she marched upstairs to her room to blab into her phone.

"Yes, she's always this mean," JJ answered to Penelope, once Emily was out of earshot.

Penelope was baffled. "I didn't ask."

"You didn't have to," said JJ, smirking as she picked a piece from the board. "Are you going to help my do my hair or not?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to do it yourself?" questioned Penelope.

"For now, can you do it for me?" Penelope complied, she was always good at anything related to taking care of her hair, and she felt oddly comforted when she was able to do JJ's hair.

"School," Haley said aloud to herself in bed, frowning as the thought had suddenly come to her. Haley sat up and faced Hotch, who was getting ready for bed. "We have to enroll Penelope in school," she told him.

"Yes, we do," Hotch said simply. "We've done the process each time with our other kids, what makes this time any different?"

"Because, Aaron," Haley starts off, climbing out of bed to stand next to him. "She was homeless. Penelope hasn't been in school for a while."

"But some of the months she's been homeless, it was during the summer when she would've had no school anyway," Hotch tried to explain.

"Aaron, she probably has no idea how to learn in a classroom," Haley said, trying to remain calm. "Kate explained to me that even when Penelope was living with her parents, that she hasn't gone to school very often, and that she was consistently absent."

Hotch frowned. "What were her grades, normally?"

"Before her family's problems got worse, she maintained high grades, but as soon as the problems started, she got lower grades mostly because she's been absent."

"You're right," admitted Hotch. "So what you're saying, is that we have to approach this differently."

"Yes," Haley said, beginning to explain further. "We had to see where Penelope is at academically, and what she's capable of learning."

"Whether she repeats third grade or not?" Hotch asked, adding on to the discussion, which Haley nodded at. "To be honest, I don't see that as a bad thing. Penelope would be in the same classroom as JJ, no?"

"She would," said Haley. "But maybe we should see what she can handle."

The very next day, Haley took Penelope to see the school's psychologist. This was not for a psychological evaluation, but because the psychologist here was in charge of giving on tests to see where a child's strengths and weaknesses are at. Penelope would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. She did not want to look foolish or stupid when this test was given to her. Truth to be told, she didn't remember much from what she was taught in school. After all, she hadn't been in school for a very long time.

Once Haley was waiting outside, the psychologist smiled at the little girl.

"Hello Penelope, my name is Dr. White," The woman said sweetly. "Would you like to sit down across from me?" Penelope did so, not feeling that she had a choice in the matter. "I'm just going to give you a series of tests. As we go on, the tests are going to get harder and harder. Is that alright?" The nine year old nodded slowly, not knowing what else to say. Dr. White handed her a list of words while she grabbed a notepad to write notes on. "Will you read them aloud to me?"

"Cat, rat, hat, bat, sat, mat..." Penelope trailed off, listing the words with ease. Of course the words eventually got harder, beginning to slow down. "School, grade, travel, save, dir—" Penelope paused, frowning at the unfamiliar word. "Direction?" Dr. White let her keep going, Penelope pulled out the sheet behind that one to continue to read. "Standard, productive, wise, actual, rhythm, muscle, and..." She paused, sounding out the word in front of her that caused such a challenge. "Occurrence."

"Yes, very good," Dr. White noted, who was scribbling things on her notepad of how many words Penelope managed to get up to. "Okay, now we'll be doing some math." It was simple at first, starting with two plus two, then it got harder to adding two digit and even three digit numbers. However, Penelope immediately stopped when multiplication beyond her two times tables knowledge had gotten in the way, and division she was absolutely clueless with. Soon after that, Dr. White tested her with analyzing stories, which she was just below average with, having not learned how to use context clues.

Then, there was a test on typing on the computer.

Penelope didn't know why, but when it came to technology and computers, she excelled tremendously. She was naturally fast at typing out the vocabulary words just by hearing it. The actual test was whether being able to hear a word and write or type it, but what Dr. White was really focused on was how well Penelope was typing.

"Thank you, Penelope," Dr. White said, still keeping up a friendly smile. When the little girl was in another room, playing with a box of toys that was usually kept, the psychologist spoke to Haley. "Considering that she hasn't been in school for a long time, she's done exceptionally well. She doesn't have the basic knowledge of using context clues in a text, but that can be worked with. She's struggles with basic multiplication with division, which was expected. However, with her vocabulary words, she reached a fifth grade level, and when she was asked to type words down on the computer, not only was she able to spell the words correctly, but she typed very fast."

"So the question is," Haley started off, beaming with pride. "Does she repeat the third grade? Or can she move onto fourth?"

"I don't see why she can't move on to fourth, but the issue is that we're nearly half way done with the year, if she can keep up with the work, along with a private tutor, then I see that this is possible. She's a bright girl, but I think some accommodations should be made."

"An IEP?" Haley questioned. She knew the process of that as well. After all, Spencer's IEP was specific on his special needs in terms of his autism—Asperger's syndrome. His IEP was not for his academics, since he excelled as always, but because of his social issues. Not only did Spencer have an IEP. Also, at the beginning of the year, JJ had recently gotten an IEP, but for the opposite reason. Her academics—especially in math—needed to be worked on, with some aspects of her examination her below grade level, though teachers and students always commented that she was a "social butterfly."

"I don't see why not," Dr. White said. "Penelope would be pulled out of her classroom twice a week, to work on things that she's struggling with to be at the same level as the rest of her peers."

"I like the sound of that," Haley said, going into the other room to pick up Penelope. "It was nice seeing you again!" Haley called out to the psychologist.

"You too, Mrs. Hotchner," Dr. White said with a smile. As soon as Haley was out of earshot, Dr. White said to herself, "Their family gets bigger and bigger."

"Haley," Penelope asks shyly, right after they get out of Dr. White's office. "Am I smart?"

Haley smiled, kneeling down in front of her so they'd be at the same eye level. "I think you're very smart, Penelope."

"You're not lying to me, right?" Penelope asked doubtfully.

Haley frowned, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Why would I lie to you?"

"Because everyone else has," Penelope muttered, almost sounding way too dark. "I don't care if the truth is bad, it's better than being lied at."

"Tell you what," Haley said, remaining gentle and calm. "From now on, you will not be lied to. Aaron and I will never ever lie to you as long as you're under our roof. Do you understand?"

Penelope nodded. "I do."

Haley got up from off the floor and asked, "Now, do you wanna get some ice cream?"

For the first time, Penelope grinned at Haley in joy.