A/N: I know this chapter is hella long, I apologize, I just got carried away, but I felt ending with Garcia back in her office would be a suiting end and familiar with the first chapter. It's about double the length I usually try to keep a chapter, enjoy!
Penelope was at home, sipping at a cup of tea, as she relaxed in a silky robe and some ridiculously fuzzy bunny slippers, just as she reached for the remote her phone began to ring, and without looking she knew it was Luke, how did she know? The fact that he had his own special little ring tone. Penelope put the remote down and answered her phone. "You've reached Garcia's house of fun, what's your pleasure?" She said, she could almost hear his eyes roll. "You always have to answer the phone with something like that?" He asked, chuckling a little bit, he didn't care how she answered the phone, he was just happy she answered it. "Oh you bet your boots I have to. Variety is the spice of life, my dear sweet Luke, and as you know by now I like things pretty spicy." she teased, giving a little snort of laughter. "I bet you do. Listen, Angel, I wanted to ask you something." he started, hoping to God she'd answer yes to what he was about to ask. "Ask away, sir Alvez, think of me as a magic 8-ball, I got answers."
Luke swallowed hard. "I want to take you out for a date. How soon can you be ready?" Penelope's playful smile turned into a blank face. "What wait what? Please say that again? I think I heard you ask for a date that wasn't of the dried fruit variety." She said, a slight note of panic to her voice as he expected. "I said I wanted to take you for a date tonight. The only thing I really asked was when you'd be ready for me to come get you, Angel." he explained, closing his eyes as his heart crept up into his throat, threatening to jump out. Penelope panicked and looked at herself. "Me? Ready? How soon? How soon... I.. An hour. That's all. A date. Like a date date? A real date?" She asked, rapid fire questions being result of her shock. "Like you pick me up and take me somewhere to eat and we sit and talk and by the end decide if we really like each other date? Or a friend date where we drink wine and you let me come pet Roxy after? Or this is a joke date? Is there someone you need to make jealous?" she continued, getting up and making her way to her room, weeding through her collection of fun bras and panties, looking for a cute set.
Luke could understand the panic, this was out of the blue, he sighed and rubbed his neck with his free hand. "A date date, Angel. A real one. I am going to come get you, and take you out to eat. And we will decide by the end of it if we are going to continue seeing each other." He affirmed, Penelope sputtered out a string of incomprehensible syllables before collecting herself "Will you stay a friend even if we decide we don't want to keep dating? I like having lunches with you." she said, they'd eaten together at least twice a week for the past few months since their first meal together in her lair. "Cause I don't want it to go back to us being catty. I don't think I could handle it." She explained as she looked through her closet for an appropriate dress. Luke thought for a moment. "I think we could continue being friends, I enjoy our lunches together too." He said, he could hear hangers moving along a pole. "You're getting ready, so I'll be over in an hour if you can text me your address Angel."
Penelope nodded. "Yes, uh-huh, I can go that. I'm hanging up now to give you my address, and I will see you in an hour. Yes Luke. An hour. See you." she said, hanging up, texting him the street address of her apartment block before tossing her phone back on her bed as she picked out a simple black and white dress what had a thin aqua colored belt at the middle. She changed into her choice of clothing and fixed her hair and makeup, opting to match her accessories and shoes to the belt. She looked at the clock as she put her earrings in, ten minutes. That was her remaining time, she shuffled off to the bathroom to brush her teeth and use the toilet one more time, anxiety set in as she washed her hands. She grabbed a bottle of perfume and spritzed herself lightly on her pulse points, rubbing it in frantically. "Please let this go well, God." she mumbled, letting the earthy, citrus scent fill her nose.
Penelope looked at herself in the mirror one last time, she looked date ready, the outfit screamed playful and fun. She touched up her lipstick one last time before walking out her door. Her heels clicked on the pavement and a vehicle pulled up, it was Luke. She made her way to his car, he was getting out to get the door for her on her side. "Mind the curb, Angel." he said, getting a whiff of her perfume as she got into the passenger seat. "Thank you." she said, buckling herself in as he made his way back around. He looked so different, a casual button up shit with the top two buttons undone, and a pair of black jeans that hugged that perfect little caboose of his just right. Penelope felt a knot in her stomach as he started to drive. "Where are we going? I should have asked that earlier." she said, keeping her eyes forward, hands nervously playing with a fuzzy little pompom keychain she had attached to her clutch purse. "It's a place that does organic food. A friend of mine said they have an incredible vegetarian menu, and they do everything from scratch, including some of their drinks." Luke explained, the radio tuned into a nice jazz station, playing low so they could hear each other perfectly. "That sounds fun." Penelope said, her stomach settling ever so slightly.
After being seated and ordering drinks Penelope looked him over, his cologne was different, it matched this casual look he had going on, a musky, woodsy scent, sandalwood most likely. "You smell different." she blurted out, immediately following herself up. "I didn't know you owned more than one type of cologne, you seem very minimal. But it's nice, I like this." Luke smiled the same one he had given her when she first said his name. "I kind of am, I have one I use for work and two others for special occasions." he admitted, "I like this one better, and I figured it suited the occasion. I really enjoy your perfume too." he said, looking her in the eyes. Penelope melted a little "Oh, thank you. It's a favorite of mine, too. Kinda funny how we both picked personal favorites for this date, huh?" she pointed out, she wasn't a profiler but it didn't take being one for her to know they both wanted to make a good impression even though they both already knew each other.
They both awkwardly skimmed the menus, what should they talk about, a lot of the typical date topics were off the table by default. Work? They knew what each other did, no need. Family? Neither really had much to speak of. Their waitress came and set their drinks down in front of them. Luke and Penelope had both gotten lemonade, Penelope opting for a pomegranate one, Luke had chosen guava and mango. Both promised they'd let the other try, and the idea thrilled Penelope, they were already used to sharing food with one another, and now drinks? This would at least end in a beautiful friendship if they couldn't move forward. After their orders were put in Penelope started the conversation.
"So how's Roxie?" She asked, a smile on her lips, she loved that dog, she was so pretty and energetic. "Roxie? Oh she's doing wonderful. She is probably sleeping right now though, if I had to take a guess." Luke said, nodding his head "Oh that's good. I love animals," Penelope said, giving a little sigh. "It kind of has to do with why I even work for the bureau." she admitted, a little snort before she sipped on her drink, Luke cocked an eyebrow. "The bureau doesn't really help animals that often. I mean especially not our unit." He stated, a tilt to his head. Penelope blushed. "Oh! Okay, I should explain, I mean if you've seen my file you might have known I had an illustrious career as a hacker. Uhm, I used to be the Black Queen. But Hotch actually caught me, the offense had been for hacking into a database for a cosmetics company that tested on animals." She admitted. "I was offered the job, weird thing is though, they made me actually write a resume. I made one, of course. Turned it into Hotch and got the job. And from then on I was one of the things that I, at that point in my life, thought I would never turn into. A techie for the Feds." She admitted, the story caused her to blush in embarrassment, not many people were aware of her history, not all of it anyways. "Really?" Luke asked, her face was one of truth, nobody would be that embarrassed if they hadn't actually done that.
"Oh, really. I mean, I don't regret it though! And just think, if I hadn't, I wouldn't be here, we never would have met. And I happen to believe that everything happens for a reason. I mean I made many, many stellar friends, I've saved more lives than I ever thought I would. Oh! And I met you too! I wouldn't be on a date with you right now if I had never gotten caught." Penelope added, patting his shoulder gently. Luke smiled, he loved her positivity about everything, it gave him an energy he was unfamiliar with, but welcoming of nonetheless. "I adore your positive outlook on everything." He said, taking a sip of his drink before offering her the glass, and smiling when she leaned in and took a sip directly out of the straw instead on taking it from him. "Oooh, sweet~" she said, pulling back and relaxing into her seat once more, holding her glass up to him too. "Try, I think you'll like this too." she offered, he laughed a bit and tried it, it was the perfect balance of flavors. "Wow, you have amazing taste, Penelope." He said, impressed that it was, of course amazing. "It's just like you." he said, looking her face over, watching her set the glass down "In what way?" she asked, unsure if being compared to a lemonade was a good thing. "In a way that it's one of the best things I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Luke stated, looking at her with his earthy brown eyes. Penelope died a little on the inside, her brain SCREAMING at her that she was so lucky. She swallowed hard on nothing and looked at him. "I- Thank you. That's. Not what I expected." she said, her brain scrambling to recover from the compliment. "Your drink reminds me of you too." She said. "I didn't expect it to be as sweet as it was." Luke blushed at that, a girl calling him sweet was not something he was too familiar with.
Before Luke could open his mouth their food was placed down in front of them. "Oh! Many thanks ma'am." Penelope said to their waitress as she unfolded her napkin, placing it in her lap. Luke thanked the waitress before she ran off again to tend to her other tables. "Oh both of our plates look so yummy." Penelope said, her bubbly excitement too much. "They really do." Luke said, he sampled some of his food, a simple pasta with a nice tomato sauce and a balsamic glaze, loaded with vegetables and chunks of tomatoes that had been sautéed to the perfect tenderness. Penelope melted into her dish too, it happened to be a tofu version of chicken parmigiana, and to the side there were a few beautiful spinach ravioli, stuffed to the brim with cheese and potato, covered with just a bit of the sauce as well. "Oh, how heavenly." she sighed. They both tried the other's food, enjoying it as they always had.
Two hours they spent in the restaurant, eating each other's food, and sampling the lemonades. They even enjoyed a dessert, an excellent apple crumble topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. They split the bill and left together, each with a box of leftovers. The car ride back to Penelope's apartment was filled with laughter and fun stories. Luke insisted he walk Penelope to her door, and they did so, arm in arm. "I had the best time tonight, Luke." Penelope said as they got to her door, she turned to him and smiled gently, her heart was all aflutter once more as he smiled back and said. "Me too." They stood there looking into one another's eyes before Luke moved in slowly and gave her a kiss on the lips. Just as gentle as the first kiss they had shared, but there was something more behind it as she closed her eyes with him to enjoy it, she found herself setting the bag that held her leftovers and clutch down beside her so she could wrap her arms around him, only to be returned with an embrace from him. Warmth spread between them as they held the kiss for as long as possible, before parting for a breath. Luke's eyes darted around her face, the blush that took over her cheeks, the lips moistened and swollen lightly. "Luke, I-" Penelope started to say, but unfortunately a buzzing and beeping started to go off, Penelope groaned and reached into her bra to pull out a cellphone which she answered. "Garcia." she said, her voice had gone all business. The blush faded from her face, replaced by a paleness as he felt her shudder. "Yes ma'am. I'll notify the others. No problem. I'll be there soon. Yes.. Okay. Bye Emily..." She said before hanging up. She looked at Luke, a slight horror in her eyes. "We have a case, Luke. She said, Emily wants everyone into the office right now." She continued. Luke nodded and slowly let her go, Evil knew no weekends, and he understood that. "I'll give you a ride in." He said, letting her pull her arms away from him. "I'll give you my leftovers to have while we work this case." He added. "I'd hate for them to go to waste." he said, starting with her back out to his vehicle.
Penelope made the calls in his vehicle, and rushed into the building, getting information from Emily as the others grouped into the round table room. Emily came in with Penelope and they started the debrief. "Alrighty, crime fighters" she said, sighing. "We're all working for the weekend because someone the news papers dubbed the Rocky Mountain Lion Man had turned up in Montana, but there have been other related cases in the rest of the mountain states. " She sighed, "Why do they call the unsub that?" JJ asked, only to flinch when Garcia put pictures up on the screen of bodies that had been mutilated beyond recognition. "Surprisingly not because of that." Penelope said, shaking her head. "They call him that because the bodies only used to turn up every ten to fourteen days." she said. "They're now turning up at rate of every other day, and only in Montana. Garcia then put up the state ID photos of about twenty people. "These are all the people currently identified from dental records, there are another five they unfortunately had no records. Reid piped in "If he went from killing every ten to fourteen days, only to accelerate he may be devolving or coming close to an ideal kill." he mumbled, looking at all the current pictures. "You should look for missing persons looking most like those on the screen. Male, dark hair, dark eyes, between 5'9", and 6'2"... And somewhat fit." he started, scratching his head. "Someone looking like that really did a number on our unsub." Rossi stated "That's a lot of rage." He added. "Agreed." Penelope said "Coroners stated in medical reports that after they were all, well, ripped to shreds as they so reported, they were further beat postmortem with something they suspect to be a meat tenderizer due to patterns on their skin and exposed insides, but can't find any proof of any missing, well, meat, for lack of a better word." she stated.
"Alright," Emily said, looking at everyone. "We need to head out to Montana. Wheels up in twenty." she said, everyone dispersed, but Luke followed Penelope back to her office. "Penelope." He said quietly, watching her turn on her heels to look at him. "Yes Luke?" she asked, looking into those sweet brown eyes once more. "What was it you were going to say before we were called in?" he asked nervously. "Oh, I was about to say uhm. That I... I really like you, and I want to see you again." she admitted, a small smile on her lips. "So come back soon and safe, my dear." she said, giving him a little hug. Luke was stunned, but returned the hug, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I promise, Angel." he said as he pulled away. Penelope watched him go, leaning in her doorway until he was out of sight. She went to her desk and clipped her hair up before she began to dig for some answers.