Catching Up

Two old friends connect then part ways.

Slightest of spoilers for S1E1, S1E15, S1E17

I own no characters or canon of Criminal Minds. Many thanks and blessings to those who created them.

Thanks to my sweet, beautiful beta Sunny. In short order she's become my confidant, brainstorm partner and sister. I am the luckiest girl alive!

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"Jason, I think Penelope and I probably need to talk. Thanks for coming by tonight."

Dave stood, giving his own look of warning to Jason to not challenge, waiting for the other man to follow. He allowed Jason through the French doors first and closed them once on the other side. Dave's mind was whirling at a steady pace already with thoughts he'd cataloged the last number of minutes: the tension between Jason and Penelope, Jason wanting to talk about retirement, Penelope becoming so upset over Jason's rudeness, Penelope working for the BAU.

Penelope worked for the BAU, Dave repeated to himself while thoughts raced through his head. This is why Penelope was so shocked to see Gideon at Dave's house. This is why Penelope referred to her work as 'restricted' earlier tonight; probably why she doesn't usually talk about work at all. This is why Penelope missed some Saturday nights. He knew from experience… bad guys rest for no one.

Dave tried to clear his mind while Jason slid into his shoes and put his jacket back on. Confident they were out of the Penelope's earshot, Dave continued with his old friend, however that friendship was defined. "You couldn't have called first?"

"Dave, you know better than that," rolling his eyes. "I hadn't heard you got married again, so I thought you were likely hanging out with the dog, drinking scotch and smoking cigars."

Dave shook his head slowly, unsurprised at his former colleague's self-centeredness.

"So what do you want from me? For me to talk you out of whatever you're running from this time?"

Gideon rounded on his reluctant host and snarled. "Rossi. You have no idea what's happened."

"You're right, Jason. I don't," Dave paused to give Gideon time to calm himself. The man was clearly bothered. Bothered enough to reach out tonight. Bothered enough to be even more of his asshole self. Dave was able to take a deep breath and find a space of compassion for the man.

"So what is it? What's bothering you?"

Gideon let out a sigh. Dave watched as the normally composed man took of his glasses and ran his hand over his forehead. A couple of minutes passed. Before long, Gideon's shoulders slumped and he leaned back a bit against the front door.

"Dave, I don't know," Gideon said, his voice heavy. He replaced his glasses. Dave reflected it was the quietest he'd seen his former teammate, maybe, ever. Then the floodgates opened.

"I don't know if I ever should've come back after Boston. I have spanking-new agents questioning if I'm ready, or sane for that matter. But I went back because they said they needed me. And it was okay. I was okay," the gruffer-looking man whispered. "But people keep on wanting to hurt people. Innocents are being hurt when they don't need to be. People executed that shouldn't be. Drugs used as weapons, like we never saw. And not being able to talk 'em down…" Gideon looked almost hallow. His next breath was a whisper. "It just seems like we're having to take the kill shot more often than we used to."

Dave gave his friend - because this was his friend standing before him right now - a moment. "That sounds hard, Jason." Dave yearned to comfort his friend, but he also wanted to be alone with Penelope.

"I hear you. We got into this to stop the bad guys by finding and tripping up their patterns, not necessarily by shooting them down." Dave sat with the sadness and reality of the situation.

Gideon nodded. "Speaking of we, Max just helped us on a case. He made it look pretty nice - wrap up the loose ends and go live life. A normal life. As normal a life as we can, anyway, given what we do. …or have done." Jason made a sweeping motion with his hand. "You seem to have a normal life."

Dave scoffed. "It maybe looks normal. Sure."

Another wave of sadness came off of Gideon and he looked directly at Dave again. "Max doesn't connect with his family any more. That makes me sad for me, dammit. I miss Stephen," he whispered.

Dave shifted his weight for several beats.

"So anyway, yeah," Gideon continued. That impenetrable wall of indifference surrounded him again. "I came by to talk."

Dave tried to be gentle and yet keep his friend accountable. "Clearly you've known where I am all this time. You could've come to me, before it's the middle of the night, causing a ruckus."

Gideon shook his head, rolling his eyes again. And he started with another round of scoffing. It only served to piss Dave off.

"Hey. I'm being serious now, too. I didn't need you coming in here, disturbing my evening. You obviously did your best to upset Penelope."

There were questions gnawing at the back of Dave's mind as he tried to engage - yet get rid of - Gideon. How could Penelope not know who he was? He wasn't really the pompous ass everyone thought he was about fame… but seriously. Wherever his face was, it was associated with the BAU. Had she known at the bar? Had she really known any of this time they spent together - and hid it from him? If she did know, what did she really want from him? The events of the evening had thrown him for a loop as well.

"So… uh," Dave ventured nonchalance. "What does Penelope do for the BAU, anyway?"

"You don't even know what she does for a living?" Jason asked with less heat than Dave expected.

"Give me a break, okay? We're just getting to know each other. And what she does Monday through Friday has not been on the top of my list of things to find out."

Dave could tell Jason wanted to tease and lean into him, but he had lost some wind from his sails.

"I don't even know, Dave. Hotch found her. She does a lot of computer stuff," Jason started.

Okay, Dave thought, so 'IT' would cover 'computer stuff', as Gideon so eloquently described.

"She… digs into the internet, finds out information to give to the team. She works for the whole BAU, but seems particularly-tethered to our team. I don't know if it's because we get the hardest cases or what."

Dave's mind piqued, that twinge he couldn't ignore. "What do you mean 'the whole BAU'? It's you, Hotch and another profiler, right?"

"Dave," Gideon laughed. "It's me, Hotch, two junior profilers with more experience than either of us had when we started. Another profiler who is so smart it's scary… I don't even know how to describe him. Plus a communications girl, preps the cases and deals with the press. And Garcia." He took a beat. "And we're only one team. There's whole other team that goes out into the field, and two entirely different teams who work background locally and cold cases."

Whoa, Dave thought. The BAU - that started with just the two of them and one other guy - sounded like it had exploded. The pair both seemed to take a couple of minutes to take in the offered information.

"What are you doing with Garcia, anyway?" Gideon whispered harshly. "She's weird and she's flamboyant. She obviously has… assets… but when you're together she has to take attention away from you. You can't like that."

Dave's jaw hung low, sure to catch flies if they were there. When he went to speak, his voice was low and salty. "Listen to me, Jason. You keep your mind, hands and eyes *off* Penelope's 'assets'. I don't want her to hear one cross word from you, I don't want you to look at her. You're going to do the right thing and leave her *alone*."

The protectiveness he felt over Penelope - no matter how many questions were whirling around in his head - rose up inside him.

"I'm serious now," Dave emphasized. "There's no need to even remember you were here tonight. Leave her, and me in regard to this situation, alone."

The look Jason gave him agreed that he'd acquiesce. Dave ran a hand through his hair and let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Look, Jason. I obviously want to help you if I can. I just… we just have to do it at a time that works." He just needed the distraction in front of him right now to go away. Now.

"Fair-enough, Dave."

"Call me next week if you're not on a case, I guess."

"I'm actually headed to LA on Monday to do a workshop. But yeah, I'll call soon."

And with that, they shook hands, Dave opened the door and saw Jason out.

Man, Dave thought. What a hell of a night.