Hello! Sorry for the delayed update, I got slammed with work and finally had a few days off to pick this up again. Thank you for your kind reviews. I'll try to update soon.

Happy Holidays!

The ride home was quiet. Roxy had fallen asleep in the back and Luke had turned on the radio. He couldn't help but think of how he'd made it awkward. First, with bringing up Penelope's ex that she clearly didn't want to talk about, but more so with what had happened back in the clearing. He had gotten caught up in the moment.

It had always been clear to him that Penelope didn't think of him like that, up until this weekend he wasn't even fully sure she liked him much at all. He knew she'd pegged him for some shallow playboy when they'd first met. And although it had amused him, he'd been happy when she'd slowly started to ease up on him.

He on the other hand, had always had feelings for her, though he had pointedly ignored and tried to force them away until now. Spending so much time with her over the last day and a half had only intensified those feelings, however, and now he had to acknowledge that this was more than just liking to be in her company or finding it funny to get a rise out of her with a teasing comment.

A part of him felt ridiculous, he was a grown man with a crush on his co-worker and he was too scared to do anything about it. But that had been how he always was – he worked a job where he regularly walked into life threatening situations without a second thought, but the idea of baring his heart to another person, of being emotionally vulnerable, was terrifying.

The last thing he wanted to do was make it more awkward for her. They were still going to be working together, in a team full of nosy profilers no less, so he decided the best course of action would be to pretend it never happened. Instead, he wracked his brain for a topic he knew would annoy her to the point of making one of her sarcastic retorts, breaking the tension.

"So I noticed Sergio really seemed to like sitting at my feet this morning. I think he's starting to like me more than you."

The reaction was immediate. Her mouth dropped open in an offended pout and she flicked him on the arm. "Excuse me. I think not."

There was that smirk again. "If anything, its because he liked your meaty breakfast better than mine. And he knows you're a sucker who will give him some when I won't. But nice try."

"Are you sure it's not because of my charming personality?"

"You? Charming? There's something you hear… never."

He laughed, grateful that they were back to their old selves as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot. The snow was coming down heavier now so he let her wait in the car as we he went inside.

Penelope watched him go and sighed. Maybe she had imagined things earlier in the forest. Either way, after the awkward drive she was glad that they seemed to be back to normal. She just needed to remind herself that Luke was the co-worker that managed to get under her skin and nothing else. If anything, it was the stress of the last couple days that was messing with her head.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped when her phone rang with a call from one of her favourite people in the world.

"Hey baby girl." Derek's voice rang out from the other end of the line

"Hey sweetness. How are you? How's Savannah and my adorable little Godson?"

"They're all good. I just fed Hank and Savannah is on bath duty tonight."

"Aww. You've been slacking on sending me photos. I miss those chubby cheeks."

He laughed, a sound she desperately needed right now. "No amount of photos I send seems to be enough for you."

"That is true." She agreed.

"So how are you? I feel like I haven't heard from you in ages."

"It's been three days, sugar."

"Exactly. Three days is a long time for us."

She agreed. They usually talked at least every other day, if not on the phone then for sure over text. With everything going on with Wilson and then Luke staying over, she hadn't messaged him, or anyone really, all weekend.

"True. I guess I've just been a bit busy."

"Is everything okay, Mama?"

She hesitated for a moment. A part of her wanted to share everything that was going on with her best friend, but she decided against it. Even though he didn't work for the BAU anymore, he was still a profiler through and through, and he would freak out over the Wilson thing. And as for Luke, well Derek would read too much into it. Even though there wasn't anything to even read into.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I think the weather is just putting me in a lethargic mood."

"Yeah its really coming down out there. I just talked to Prentiss and her flight is delayed back."

"Really?" She realized again that she hadn't checked in with any of her friends, which was so unlike her.

"Yeah. She's booked on a later one though. Listen, are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes, my chocolate thunder. I'm good. But I promise I'll go bother JJ or Reid if I need anything, okay?"

"Alright."

She noticed Luke making his way back to the truck, food in hand. "Listen, I need to go. My foods here. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Mama."

She hung up just as Luke pulled his door open. She could've easily told Derek that her and Luke were spending the weekend together, but she didn't want him misinterpreting what that meant, or going to ask JJ or Emily about it and it turning into a big thing. It was just easier this way.

"Who was that?"

"Derek."

"Oh, how's his family doing? Its Hank right?"

She appreciated that he remembered her Godson's name.

"They're great. Just busy being the beautiful beautiful family that they are. What is that smell? It's amazing."

They were significantly quieter as they sat down on her couch after dinner. Roxy had curled up on the sofa, worn out from today's activities, but Sergio had climbed into Penelope's lap and was looking at Luke carefully, wondering why this stranger was still here.

"I don't think he likes me after all." Luke laughed.

"No, he's just sizing you up. He's not shy about making it clear when he doesn't like someone. He would always hiss at Sam if he stayed too long."

"Sam?" Her ex. Luke knew this of course but he pretended he'd forgotten who that was.

"My ex."

"Oh… what happened?"

"Hah. Nice try. If you're not going to tell me about Lisa then tough luck trying to find out what happened with Sam." The truth was there just wasn't much to say about her and Sam. Things were going fine but she'd called it off before it got too serious. She just couldn't see a future there, so why bother?

He laughed, "Fair enough."

"I mean, if you wanted to spill the beans, I wouldn't stop you."

He stared at her for a moment in a way that made her go back to their moment in the clearing earlier. If it had even been that.

"One day."

"One day?"

"Yes. One day I'll tell you what happened. But not now. Do you want some coffee?" Luke was in her kitchen before she even had a chance to respond.

Get a grip. He told himself as scooped some decaf into her coffee maker. If he spent any more time alone with her, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep himself from spilling his feelings.

He just had to make it until the morning, he reminded himself, and then they would be back at work throwing sarcastic comments at each other with the whole team there as a buffer. He had never counted down the time until a Monday morning so much. But at the same time he didn't want to go back to how they were before. To just being work friends that never spent time alone together.

Luke took a few extra minutes in the kitchen, responding to messages from his mom and sister, and one from Matt talking about the big fight they had placed a bet on. He needed to clear his head before he went back in there.

They put on another show that neither one was paying much attention to, and before either of them knew it, they had fallen asleep together for the second night in a row, this time curled up together on her couch, Roxy and Sergio asleep nearby on the floor.

Again, Luke awoke before her in the early hours of the morning. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky behind her curtains, but he couldn't see the time from where he was lying, and he didn't want to risk reaching for his phone or he would wake her. Luke looked down at her again, wrapped in his arms. He was struck once again by how comfortable this felt, and once again couldn't help noticing how peaceful she looked in her sleep. She never looked like that at the office, always weighed down with the nature of their jobs.

He knew that more than anyone, she was the one who carried their work home with her, who remembered the difficult cases, and she was also the one that helped the rest of them when they were being weighed down by a case.

Like she had done this weekend with him.

Spending the weekend with her had helped relieve some of the stress that Teresa's murder had brought out for him, but he knew that in a few short hours it would be back to reality. That report was still waiting for him on his desk, and him and Garcia would go back to being coworkers.

You don't want that.

Her dark, quiet living room made it harder to drown out his inner voice. As much as he tried to convince himself they could go back to before this weekend, to before certain feelings had rushed to the surface, he wasn't sure if he could.

Despite not knowing she didn't feel the same way, despite the thought of the team knowing how he felt about her being the least pleasant thing imaginable, now that he had acknowledged his feelings for her to himself, he wasn't sure what would happen.

He just needed to get through this workday, and to sit down with a beer, maybe talk it out with Phil. He just needed to clear his head.

"You're staring." Garcia mumbled, her eyes still closed, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"I can feel you staring."

"I wasn't… staring." He laughed it off even though that's exactly what he'd been doing.

"Sure you weren't." She opened her eyes to look up at him blearily, but neither of them moved. "Ugh, Newbie. How is it that you can sleep on my lumpy couch and still look like you got your 12 hours of beauty sleep at," she reached for her phone, "six in the morning."

"Are you calling me beautiful?" He laughed.

"Don't flatter yourself. I just mean you look… well rested." She got up, reaching for her glasses.

"I mean, you look… well rested too." He winked.

She rolled her eyes, smoothing down her hair.

"But seriously. I haven't slept as well as this weekend in… a long time." The words sort of just slipped out.

"Same."

They looked at each other intently for a moment and Penelope thought back once again to the clearing the day before.

"Right, well I should go get ready for work." She bolted for the washroom.

"I'll start breakfast."

She took her time getting ready. As much as Monday mornings were a drag, she was ready to get back to a normal routine, and to the comfort of being alone in her office, focusing on work instead of obsessing over Luke Alvez.

"So I was thinking on the way to work we could grab some of those mini muffins from that shop on Broadway." She said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Garcia –"

"I know Reid really likes them and -" She opened the cupboard to get a coffee mug.

"Garcia –"

"I know you're the one that's driving and all but it's really not that much out of the way."

"Penelope."

He rarely used her first name, which is what finally made her turn to look at Luke, who was leaning against the sink with his phone in his hand, an amused look on his face.

"We're not going to work."

"What?"

"There was a snowstorm last night. I guess we didn't notice since we never opened the curtains in your living room. We're snowed in."

"Snowed in? Meaning…"

"Meaning," He smirked as he slipped his phone into his pocket and picked up his own coffee mug, "It's just you and me again today".

So much for separation to work through their feelings :)

Thanks for reading!