Chapter 3:

Please… I don't know how much longer I have.

Luke jolted awake suddenly. It took him a moment to recognize his surroundings in Penelope's darkened living room. Roxy, ever the faithful watchdog, was snoozing at his feet. He glanced at the time on his phone - 2:38 am.

They'd watched the show for at least another 6 hours until Luke had decided he needed to move, so they'd taken Roxy out for a walk around Penelope's neighbourhood, navigating the areas that had been paved from the snow. She'd slyly put on a rom-com as he heated up their leftovers for dinner and he hadn't argued even though it was the last thing he'd have chosen to watch. He found his entertainment watching her sigh happily at the cheesy lines and how she shushed him when he spoke during the man's declaration of love scene.

He had fallen asleep almost instantly after the movie had ended, which was surprising since he'd sat around most of the day. Luke was used to having to be on the go most of the time, physically exhausting himself, especially when he was trying to keep his mind off of something.

And Penelope had succeeded in keeping his mind off the case for most of the day. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so relaxed doing absolutely nothing like this.

Now though, as he sat in her dark living room, he couldn't stop his mind from going back there.

Tell my mom I'm sorry. Tell her that I love her.

And he had. The look on Teresa mother's face as he'd repeated her daughter's last words to her was etched in his memory. Luke felt his throat close up. Silently, he crept to the washroom so he wouldn't wake Penelope up.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few moments, trying to push the thoughts away. Eventually, he splashed more water on his face and left the room, thinking of pulling out his work laptop to catch up on some emails.

In the hallway, though, he noticed a tiny sliver of light in Penelope's room. Luke hesitated for a moment, not wanting to disturb her, before he knocked gently.

"Come in" He found her sitting up in bed, her phone in her hands.

"You're still up?" He stood at the threshold of her room, unsure of whether he should enter or not.

"So are you."

"I…couldn't sleep."

"Same."

Luke caught the look on her face before she had a chance to rearrange her features. Something was definitely wrong.

"What's the matter?" He took a few steps into the room, stopping at the foot of her bed.

"Nothing. I was just looking at cat memes, there's this one reddit page that has the best –"

"Garcia." He cut her off, not buying her lame excuse at all. Luke walked over to the side of her bed and sat down beside her, not breaking eye contact. "Tell me what's going on."

She stared at him for a moment. "Okay. Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially not the team."

If she hadn't looked so serious, he would've been tempted to crack a joke at how ridiculous that sounded.

"What is it?"

"No. Promise me. I don't want them knowing."

"Okay. I promise."

She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes trained on the throw pillow in her lap. He waited for her to be ready.

"Almost twenty years ago I had this boyfriend. Wilson Pratt. It was while I was still in high school. He was a couple years older than me and he was…bad news. My parents and I used to fight about him all the time."

He noticed how her voice dropped when she said the last part.

"Well eventually I realized how terrible he was and ended things. But he got…obsessed. He would show up at my school and leave letters and things at my house. He had this thing about yellow daisies when we were dating, and afterwards I would wake up to find them on my front porch almost every day. We went to the police, but they didn't do anything. It was like living in a nightmare." She closed her eyes at the uncomfortable memories.

Luke reached out and grabbed her hand, waiting for her to continue.

"I honestly didn't know what would happen. It felt like everywhere I went, he was there. Until…he wasn't. He was driving drunk one night and he… and he killed someone. He got charged with vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison. About a year into his sentence he got into a fight and killed someone on the inside. sixteen years were tacked on to his sentence."

She paused, still looking down at the pillow.

"He was released last week."

Luke squeezed her hand reassuringly, staring at her until she finally looked up at him.

"There's more to it, isn't there?"

She nodded. "Carlos still lives in my parents old house. And the other day he found a yellow daisy on the front porch."

"What?" Luke's voice rose as he stared at her intently. Suddenly, her behaviour was making more sense.

"Carlos was looking into it for me, and he found out that the guy moved three hours away from where I lived anyways. So it was probably just a prank or something. I checked it out at work this morning. He's set up at a halfway house with a parole officer and everything. Carlos even confirmed it with Wilsons's cousin who still lives in the neighbourhood. That's what I was waiting to hear back about. So it's nothing."

"Garcia, that's not nothing. Why haven't you told anyone about this?"

"I don't know. I've never really talked to anyone about that time in my life. Until now." She looked away from him, unable to handle how he was looking at her with so much concern.

"And the team?"

"No. No no no. You promised, Luke."

"I won't. But why, Penelope? You know they'll want to support you in this. We all will."

"That's exactly why. Look, we deal with the worst of the worst every single day. This is just one little ex from two decades ago. And I work for the freaking FBI, I can take care of myself. I don't want them worrying or babying me over nothing."

Luke sighed in resignation. "No one's denying you're a badass, Garcia. But you shouldn't have to deal with this on your own."

She ignored the last part and smiled at him, a teasing tone replacing her serious one. "You think I'm a badass?"

He returned the smile. "You and I both know that's the truth."

She nodded, "Yes. Yes we do. Now tell me why you're awake at three in the morning."

He could tell she was deflecting, but he could also see the genuine concern in her eyes, so he let her change the topic. "It's nothing."

Now it was his turn to not be as forthcoming, not wanting to rehash how much this last case had shaken him.

"Is it about the case?" She prompted him gently, seeming to know exactly what he was thinking.

He nodded but took his time before he spoke, "It was Teresa's mother this time. The look on her face when I told her... That part never gets easier."

Neither of them had pulled their hand away and this time Penelope squeezed his reassuringly.

"No. It doesn't. But what you did for her mother was so significant, Luke. You gave her the gift of her daughter's last words. You have to know how important that was."

He nodded slightly and was surprised to feel Penelope pull him into a hug a moment later. Luke leaned into her, not realizing how much he had needed it at that moment.

"Wow. We have to be the most depressing people in the city right now." He said as they broke apart and she laughed in agreement.

She patted the open bed space on the other side of her, "Since we're clearly not about to fall asleep any time soon."

He hesitated for only a moment before walking over to the other side of the bed and settling in on top of her covers.

"So tell me about your favourite childhood memory…"

So I hope that answered some questions about Garcia's mysterious behaviour. I'm working on chapter 4 now so hopefully it will be a quick update.

Thanks for reading!