Garcia smiled as she looked down at her phone. Luke's name appeared and her heart started to flutter. However, as soon as she answered, her smile disappeared and her heart plummeted.

"I am so sorry Penelope, but I've just been called in on a case. Can I ring you later?"

"Of course you can. I understand. I'll talk to you soon. Take care and say hi to everyone."

Garcia hung up with a frustrated sigh. She wasn't angry at Luke, just the situation. She knew what his job entailed. Hell, she'd lived it for over 15 years. But this was the third time he had cancelled their date. Ever since her party, she had been looking forward to going on a date with Luke but it just didn't seem to be working. He wasn't the only one to cancel. The couple of times he had been home and had tried to arrange a date, she had been tied up with work herself. Maybe the gods, or whoever, were trying to tell them something; that this thing that had been brewing between them just wasn't meant to be. Garcia shook her head and chastised herself. She had waited this long for him. She could wait a little longer.

Turning towards the living room, she called out for Lou.

"Hey buddy, do you want to go for a walk?"

Lou raised his head and thumped his tail on the floor before standing up and trotting over to her. Leaning down, Garcia attached the lead to his collar and walked back to the door. Just as she was about to open it, Sergio jumped up onto the table where her keys were.

"It's ok Sergio; I'll cuddle with you when I get home. Go hop on the bed and wait for us."

Sergio looked at her balefully before hopping off the table and heading down the hallway. Garcia watched as her cat walked away from her and she just had to shake her head. Sergio was not a happy kitty when Lou came to live with them, but he had adjusted and it was only every now and then that he showed his displeasure at not being the only animal in her life. She dreaded to see what he would do if Luke started to come over on a regular basis, and bring Roxy with him. She smiled at the thought of them becoming a family but she quickly put the brakes on those thoughts considering that they hadn't even had their first date, months after Luke had asked her.

Luke entered the BAU bullpen and tossed his bag onto his desk before heading into the briefing room. He was the last to arrive and everyone was looking at him when he entered. He glared at them all before sitting down. He didn't need to look up to know that they were all smirking at him.

"What?" he demanded angrily.

"Did we wake you from your beauty sleep?' Matt asked jokingly.

Luke just glared at him some more and then turned back to the file that was lying in front of him. Flipping it open, he started to read the information. It was only as he reached the bottom of the page that he realised that no one else was talking. He glanced up to find every pair of eyes on him. Sighing he lowered the file and apologised for his attitude. He knew it wasn't their fault that he wasn't out with Garcia right at this moment. Hell, he knew that most of them would rather not be here. JJ and Matt would want to be home with the kids, Rossi would rather be having a glass of wine with Krystal. Reid was just starting his own relationship with Max; Prentiss had had plans to fly to Denver. Everyone was in the same boat. The only thing was, that none of them knew, well at least he hadn't told them, that he was trying to go on his first date with Penelope.

He hadn't wanted to tell anyone about asking Garcia out but he also didn't know if she had told anyone. They hadn't really talked about it. Even though he was frustrated at not being able to take her out, they had had some amazing phone dates. One week after he had asked her out the team had gotten a case in Kansas and it had been a bad one. Not only was the unsub unusually brutal the entire team had missed Garcia. Luke had called her nearly every night and they had spoken for hours. They talked about anything and everything, but there was still a lot to say to each other. Questions to ask, facts to learn. They had worked together for just over 4 years but most of that time; Garcia had been frosty towards him, only thawing recently. He knew that the team were waiting for him to explain his bad mood, but he was going to disappoint them. This was too new to share with them all.

"Sorry, bad day." He said with a smile "Where are we going this time?"

"Actually, we're staying right here." Emily said before hitting the button on the remote to turn on the screen behind her as she started the briefing. Within twenty minutes he and Rossi were in the SUV heading to the morgue to talk to the M.E. about the latest victim and soon he was absorbed in the case and focused on finding the unsub before they killed again.

For the next four days, Garcia only heard from Luke twice but she knew how the team got during a case. Their focus had to be on finding and stopping the unsub. Even though she loved her new job and was glad that she had taken this one and not any of the others which were further away, she still missed seeing her friends on a daily basis. She certainly didn't miss the horrors that they had to deal with but she did miss the team. She did try to keep in touch with the girls on a regular basis. Unfortunately, she had been as unable to organise a meet up with them either. It had always been so easy to catch up when she worked there because they could always just go out for dinner or drinks at the end of the current case but nowadays it was difficult to catch them at the right moment.

On the fifth day after the last cancelled date, Garcia was walking down her hallway, looking at her tablet trying to figure out an issue that had arisen at work when she literally ran into someone. She hit them square on and she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and her immediate response was to lash out. She had no idea who this person was and she had seen way to many horrific images to just stand placidly in some strangers arms.

She used her free hand to push back from the person, realising it was a man, before she spun out of his arms in a move that Derek had shown her years ago. She turned back to face the man and her anger turned to joy when she saw that it was Luke standing in front of her.

"What are you doing here?"

"We closed the case and I didn't want to wait another day before I took you out to dinner. I came straight over here and have been waiting for you to come home. I have had a few strange looks from your neighbours but once I showed them my badge they were fine. Although, they may wonder why an FBI agent was waiting outside your apartment for the last half hour."

Garcia stared at him in shock. She asked him why he just didn't call her and they could have met up somewhere. He told her that he didn't want to take any chances on jinxing it and he knew that she would be home soon. She smiled at him and told him that her neighbours knew about her connection to the FBI and they she would be fine.

"Although, if it was Jenna from two doors down she's gonna ask me if you're single. She's been on the prowl for a new man since she dumped the last one a month ago."

Luke leaned in close and whispered in her ear to tell Jenna that he was already spoken for. Garcia smiled as she blushed and she gently pushed him away from her so that she could open her front door.

"Hang on, why are you opening your door. I'm here to take you out to dinner. I don't want anything to get in the way of that."

"Luke, it's 5.30. Way too early for dinner. How about we take Lou for a walk and we can grab something to eat on the way home?"

Luke looked at her and nodded. As long as they were going together that was all that he cared about. And a walk in the park was a great way to spend an evening with this woman. They could talk, watch the sunset, and just be together.