"Agent Anderson is here to see you, Erin."
She looked up from the open file on her desk and pulled off her reading glasses as she gave Helen a small frown. "Did he mention what he wanted?" she asked as she set the glasses on top of said file.
"No, just that it was rather urgent. Do you want me to show him in?"
Erin nodded as she took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter, trying to give off a more commanding air. Helen smiled a little as she left her office, and then moments later, Agent Anderson was coming in, a pensive look on his face. "How can I help you, Agent?" she asked as she motioned for him to take a seat in front of her desk.
He sank down into a chair and let out a long breath. "I don't like being a snitch, since that usually means I don't get to hear the best gossip going around the bullpen, but I think that this time it's warranted. Penelope isn't handling this current case that Alpha is on very well. I had to go past her office door just a few minutes ago, and it sounded like she was crying, but trying to hide the fact that she was doing so. I just don't want to seem like I'm prying, but since you're technically her boss, it wouldn't seem so odd if you were to check in on her?"
Erin didn't like being manipulated like that, but she knew his heart was in the right place. "You do have a point, Agent Anderson. Head back to your office, and I'll go in after a few minutes." He gave her a quick smile before getting up and heading out of the office. Erin watched him go before slipping her reading glasses back on and finishing up with the editing on the file in front of her, knowing that she could probably finish it in a short enough time to allow a cover between Agent Anderson's return and her entrance. With that quickly taken care of, Erin set aside her pen and got to her feet, sticking her glasses in the pocket of her blazer before leaving the office. "I have to go check on Penelope. It seems that something might be wrong with her."
"Well, if it's this case that Alpha went on, I don't blame her for being upset. The unsub is playing dirty pool in her sandbox, and that would upset me, too."
Erin nodded as she smoothed her skirt across her upper thighs and took a deep breath. "Wish me luck, then. I'm certain that I'll need it." Helen nodded as she turned to leave the office, and Erin strode to the bullpen with a cool expression on her face. She took care not to really look at any of the people she passed, feeling like she was just playing into the reputation that she had built up over the years, but not really caring, since it meant that she could more effectively get her job done. Reaching Penelope's office, she knocked twice before entering.
"Penelope?" she asked when she didn't see the woman right away, and she heard the slight sniffle that told her the woman was most likely curled up on her sofa, and Erin turned to look there, seeing that she was hastily trying to swipe away the tears that were staining her face, leaving rivulets in her makeup. "I guess that I did hear right. Do you want to talk about it?"
Penelope shrugged as Erin made her way over to the sofa and carefully took a seat next to her, not wanting to crowd her, but still wanting to offer the support that Penelope so clearly needed. "I suppose that you'll hear about it from Rossi tonight, if he calls you before you go to sleep. But I just really hate the cases we're called to that are out in the middle of fucking nowhere, because they always seem to bring out the worst people. He's making snuff films and putting them up on the internet, and he's so good at the internet that he knows how to bounce between random, rotating, proxy servers across the world, and by the time I manage to get close to him, he's already chosen another path to head down. I'm so frustrated, Erin, and seeing that last video hasn't helped at all."
"You watched it?"
Penelope drew in a sharp breath as she shrugged a little once more. "Sort of. I watched the unsub enter her bedroom, and straddle her. I thought it was going to end in a rape, that's how these usually go. But it was worse. So much worse. I couldn't keep my eyes on the screen any longer, and instinctively took my glasses off before turning my head from the screen and asking your fiancé to tell me when it was over. But you know what?"
"What?" she softly asked as she reached out and rested her hand on Penelope's arm, curving her fingers around it in an effort to soothe Penelope.
"Your brain can conjure up the worst mental images to the noises it hears. It might be worse than what actually happened, but I won't rewatch her death scene just to confirm that thought. I'm feeling burnt out from all these horrible cases, and I just want a break. But I know that I can't have one, because of my situation, and I just, I'm trapped. And I hate that feeling."
Penelope's eyes met hers, and Erin tried to give her an encouraging smile, even as her lower lip quivered a little. "I understand that feeling, perhaps more than you know. Try to get through the day, but if you need to take a break, the roof is a magnificent place to just forget the whole world exists for a few minutes."
"That sounds like experience talking."
She nodded. "I have a tendency to go up there, when there aren't any smokers already occupying the area." Squeezing Penelope's arm, Erin took a deep breath. "Are you feeling better now?"
"A little, yes. Thank you for coming up here. It's just been a hard year?"
"It has. But I take comfort in the fact that I have my Catherine to help pull me through the worst of it." Penelope gave her a small smile as she got to her feet, too, and Erin was not surprised when the woman pulled her into a quick, tight, hug. "All right, I need to get back to work. If you need anything, you know where my office is."
"Lunch tomorrow if the team isn't home?"
"I think that we can make that work, yes. As long as I don't get called into a last minute meeting." Penelope nodded as they went over to the door, and Erin found a tender smile spreading across her face as she opened the door and headed back down to her office, suddenly not caring who saw her in a better mood, because there were things that mattered more than her being the resident Ice Queen of the BAU. Though she knew that she would have to have a long conversation with David about treating Penelope with a little more grace and kindness in the days ahead.