I do not own Criminal Minds nor any of the characters.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Dave. You're back," Penelope almost whispered.
"Garcia," Hotch interjected before Rossi could answer, "Agent Rossi is back and ready to get to work. Did you happen to bring his tablet with you?"
"Of course, sir. It's right over here. Let me just grab it." She walked over and grabbed the tablet before returning to the door. "It has the case file ready to go on it," she stated, handing it to Rossi who turned and walked away without making eye contact or thanking her. Hotch stared after him curiously, before turning to Penelope and seeing the look on her face. A look of true devastation. Her features started to crumble as Hotch stood there, so he wished her a good night and excused himself, not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on between the couple.
Penelope shut the door and collapsed back onto her bed, fully sobbing. She cried herself to sleep that night as she had every night for the past three weeks. But this time was different. This time was worse. This time she knew for sure that all of her worst fears were true. Dave hated her. Hated her so much that he couldn't talk to her; couldn't even look at her.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The next morning, Penelope arrived at the police station they were using as their base later than the others. She had had some trouble finding a reason to wake up and go about her day. She didn't want to face Rossi or the rest of the team. She couldn't face him. But she knew that she'd have to eventually. She had left her hotel looking like she was still crying, mostly because she hadn't stopped crying since Hotch and Rossi had left her room last night.
When she walked into the conference room, everyone was gathered around the table discussing what to do next with the case. They all looked up at her as she walked in, and the room went silent.
"Pen," JJ spoke up first, "are you okay?"
"Yeah," Penelope responded, not sure how much she'd be able to say without falling apart again. She went to an empty seat at the table between Reid and JJ before pulling out her laptop and getting started on searches they needed.
Reid leaned over to Penelope, whispering, "What's going on?"
"Nothing," she replied.
"Penelope, I'm a profiler. And even more than that, I'm your friend. Something is going on."
"Nothing's going on."
"You're wearing black! Penelope, I have never known you to wear black. Ever. I didn't even think you owned clothing in black." Penelope looked down at her outfit, realizing that she was wearing black. She hadn't even paid attention to what she put on that morning. She had been too focused on trying to stop the tears and focus on work.
"Can we talk about this later?" she asked before returning to work.
The team began to brainstorm around her, but Penelope could not focus on what they were saying. Everything sounded muffled and vaguely like she was Charlie Brown and they were all the adults in the show. She sat staring blankly at her screen for a while, trying to not cry, when someone yelling her name broke her out of her revere.
"Garcia!" Hotch yelled, finally getting her attention. "Are you with me?"
"Sorry, Hotch," Garcia said before sniffling and trying to refocus on her work.
"Do you need the day off?"
"No! It's better if I stay here."
"Where's Morgan?" Rossi finally spoke. Penelope looked up at him, but he was looking at his hands.
"Morgan has taken temporary leave," Hotch responded. "I don't know when he'll be back."
Rossi looked up at Hotch before saying, "Why is he on leave?"
"He didn't say. He only said that he needed time off to think about things."
"But, I thought-" Rossi began.
"You thought wrong," Penelope interrupted before shutting her computer and looking at Hotch. "I think I do need that day off. I'll call Kevin and get him in on the case. I'll see you all tomorrow."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Penelope stopped for a bottle of wine on her way back to the hotel, deciding that she deserved a little alcohol after the few weeks she had been having. Once she got back, she started to run the bathtub and poured herself some wine before settling in and trying to relax. She had just finished off her first glass of wine when someone started pounding on her door.
"Penelope!" the voice bellowed from the other side.
"I'm coming! Calm down!" She yelled in response as she got out of the tub and threw a robe on before going to the front door and throwing it open. "Rossi!" she yelped in surprise before she was pushed into the room, the door slamming behind them both immediately before Penelope was slammed into the door, Rossi right against her, kissing her, as the world around her dissolved once again.
"You didn't choose him," Rossi stated when they pulled apart to breathe.
"No. I ran after you once Derek finished talking, but I couldn't find you."
"You came after me?"
"Of course I did," she responded before his mouth was on hers once again, devouring her, making her feel at peace and whole for the first time in a long time.