They had been home exactly two hours when Penelope showed up on their porch, bearing food. "Did you really think that I could stay away, Boss Man?" she asked as she sauntered inside, giving him a saucy wink before heading into the kitchen.

"Who's here?" Erin asked as she appeared on the stairs, wearing a different outfit than what she had worn on the trip home.

"Penelope. I really don't want to know how she knew that we would be here at this time, but she brought food, so we don't have to worry about cooking this evening, especially since we don't have any supplies in the house. Jessica said that she'll be here at seven with breakfast, and when I leave for work, she'll take you and Jack out for groceries."

"Oh, good. It will be weird not to see her after spending so much time in her presence."

He nodded as he held out his hand to her, and Erin clasped it softly before allowing him to lead her into the kitchen. Jack had already set the table for them, and he smiled to see that Penelope had filled wine glasses for the adults, while Jack had water in his. "Daddy! Aunt Penelope got my favourite Chinese food!"

"Chinese food?" Erin asked as she took a seat next to Penelope, leaving him to sit next to Jack.

"Oh, that's right, you've probably never had this kind of food before. I went with chicken fried rice, beef and broccoli, and kung pao chicken, along with egg rolls and pot stickers. You might not like the king pao chicken, but I think that you might like the rice dish."

Erin nodded as they began to pass around the cartons. Aaron noticed that she followed his lead in filling her plate, though she took smaller portions, and he caught her eye, giving Erin a small smile before snagging two egg rolls. "I have to grow accustomed to new things, since everything about this world is so new to me. Change can be good though. Yes?"

"Yes." They shared a wink before Erin picked up the chopsticks in confusion. "Here, you might find it easier to use a fork at this point." He got up and rummaged in the utensil drawer before pulling out said fork and handing it over. "What wine did you open?"

"Well, since you only have red here, even though you know that I prefer white, I went with the open bottle of shiraz. You owe me big time, mister!"

"Shiraz?" Erin asked as she picked up her glass, swirling it around and sniffing the drink delicately. "Oh, this is quite a dry red wine, isn't it?" Taking a sip, Erin sighed with pleasure, and Aaron grinned as he took a sip of his wine as well. "I will happily drink this for the rest of my life, it is so delicious."

"Well, you can have my portion, then, Erin. I'm glad someone likes it." Penelope nudged her gently with her elbow before digging into the food on her plate. "So, I heard from Rossi that we will for certain be headed out on a case tomorrow morning. Cruz wanted us to leave this evening, but Rossi reminded him that you were coming back tomorrow, and it would be better if the whole team was together, rather than relegating you to desk work for the entire week, depending on how long it takes. I hope that you have a go bag ready, since it sounds like it will be wheels up almost as soon as I've given the briefing."

"Do you know where we're heading?" he asked before taking a bite of an egg roll. Though Erin was quiet, he could tell that she was paying complete attention to what was being said, as if she wanted to know what his job entailed.

"Rossi thinks it will be Texas, which means it will be a two and a half hour flight. Given that they're an hour behind us, the earliest you would land would be nine, their time. And before you say it, I will be fine heading in early to get all the preliminary data gathered for the team. Again, Cruz probably wanted me to come in tonight and start that work, but I had better plans. Namely, making certain a sweet lady settled into her new home safely."

Erin blushed a little, then, taking a large sip of wine before sighing. "Aaron has graciously cleared some room for my clothes in the closet and dresser, and my trunk is at the foot of the bed. I will want to head to a general store at some point to pick up fabric so that I can make a new quilt for our beds, if that's all right with him."

"If that's what you want, we can arrange that, Erin. And it will be a dedicated fabric store that one of us will take you to." Her eyes widened a little in shock, and he nodded. "I told you, things have changed. I mean, if you wanted, Penelope could probably show you on the internet the plethora of fabrics that are available to you these days. But you'll also need a sewing machine for that project, yes?"

"Sewing machine? Aaron, those are not for home use. You make a quilt by hand, as it helps fill up the long nights while you're talking with your loved ones."

"Oh!" Penelope exclaimed as she looked at Erin. "Did you make your clothes, then, too?"

"No, those were made for me by the local seamstress. My husband drew the line at my frugality with that, since he wanted to prove to our neighbours that we were well off enough not to have to make our own clothing." Erin let out a sharp breath. "I wish that I had something other than my handkerchiefs to show of what I made from my other life. But at least this way I get to start anew."

Penelope nodded as the conversation continued, and he found himself hooked on Erin's every word, seeing that she was so happy to tell Penelope about the different stitches that she knew how to do by hand. Glancing over at Jack, he saw that his son was quickly losing interest in what he saw as a boring conversation, and he reached out to ruffle his son's hair. "Daddy, did Mommy know how to sew?"

"No, she never took the time to learn that, since she was too busy in school participating in the drama club. But everyone has different abilities, and it will be so nice to find out what Miss Erin likes to do, won't it?"

"Yeah. Do you think she'll play soccer with me?"

Aaron looked up at Erin, seeing that while she was talking with Penelope, she was still listening to their conversation as well. There was a small questioning look on her face, and he shrugged, letting her know that he would explain later. "I think that she might, if we teach her how, since I don't think she'll have played that before."

"I can do that!" Jack grinned up at him, and then dug back into his food, allowing Aaron to weave his way back into the conversation that Erin and Penelope were having, feeling like his family was finally starting to come back together after the sorrow that they had been through.