"Erin Strauss?"
She looked up from her phone to see who was addressing her, not recognizing the young man. "May I help you?"
"Yes, these are for you. You've been served."
Erin felt the blood drain from her face as she took hold of the manila envelope that he shoved at her, watching him quickly turn on his heel and make his way over to the elevators. Her knees buckled a little, and as she weaved on her feet, she tried to think about who would have had the audacity to do this to her at her job. "Ma'am? Are you all right?" She looked almost sightlessly at Ms. Garcia and shook her head a few times. "All right, let's get you back to your office, then." The younger woman placed a gentle hand on the small of her back and guided her back to Helen, who seemed surprised to see the both of them there. "I think that she got bad news," she heard Ms. Garcia say as she helped her to sit in the chairs by the wall as Helen rushed over to their sides.
"Erin, what happened?"
Wordlessly, she handed the envelope over to her assistant and then took in a few, deep, shuddery, breaths in an effort to keep from bursting into tears. "I'm assuming that those are divorce papers" she finally murmured as she pulled out her phone and texted David, needing to talk to him at that moment. Within seconds of her sending the text, her phone was ringing, and she brought it to her ear as she gave a shaky smile to Helen. "Darling…"
"What's happened? Are you okay? Is it the baby?"
She could hear the agony in his voice, and that was the thing to kick off her tears, and she blindly thrust the phone at Ms. Garcia as she curled her arms around her baby bump and sobbed. Soon, she felt Helen's arms around her shoulders, and she leaned into her assistant, grateful that she was there. In the background, she heard Ms. Garcia tell him what little she knew, before ending the call and reaching out and touching her knee softly. "What do you need me to do? I still have my connections from my days underground, and I make certain that everything works out for you."
Erin let out a watery laugh as she shook her head, pulling away from Helen a little so that she could look into the other woman's eyes. "I knew that this day was coming, we've been separated for close to four months now, but it's still a shock. The fact that he thought it was appropriate for him to do this while I was at work, though, that's a low blow. We were doing so well, I thought."
"Well, you should probably go home and talk to Rossi. He sounds extremely concerned about you. I'm supposed to ask Helen if she'll bring your car home, and if I would drive you home. He didn't want you to take any chances on the road. Do you need anything from your office?"
"No, I was heading home when I was served."
"Okay. Where are your keys?" Wordlessly, Erin pulled her purse onto her lap and rummaged around inside before taking hold of the keyring and handing it over to Helen before taking the envelope from her hands. "Now, let's get you home. Do you think that you could manage the stairwell? No one thinks to take the stairs, so you wouldn't be seen with a tear stained face. At least, that's what I tell myself every time I end up that way after a particularly difficult case."
She nodded a little as the women helped her to her feet. "I will be here tomorrow, Helen. I can't allow this to throw off my schedule, not when I'm trying to save all my sick days for later in the pregnancy."
"I'll have your smoothie ready when you arrive then, so that's one less thing that you have to worry about. Call me when you get home, so that I know you arrived safely. Your car will be there in a few hours, since I have to finish up here, and call my partner to let her know that I have to be picked up at your place again."
"Thank you, Helen," she murmured as she slipped the manila envelope into her bag before taking a deep breath and looking at Ms. Garcia. "I suppose that I'm ready to go, Ms. Garcia."
"I've told you, Penelope. Please."
Erin gave her a short nod before turning on her heel and sweeping out of the room, keeping her chin raised high as she went over to the stairwell, slipping behind the door before allowing her shoulders to slump in relaxation, knowing that no one could see her. Moments later, Penelope joined her, and to her shock, the younger woman took firm hold of her hand before heading down the stairs first. "I don't need to be guided, Penelope."
"And I have the feeling that your David would find very creative ways to make me suffer if I should allow anything to happen to you, no matter how much you insisted that you are a strong, independent, woman. I did my research, I know he grew up in Commack."
"Fine, but if anyone appears…"
"I drop your hand like it's a hot potato. I get it. You don't do warm and fuzzy feelings all that well." Penelope squeezed her hand a few quick times before they continued down the stairs. Instinctively, she wanted to head towards her car, and it was difficult to let herself be guided over to a car that thoroughly suited who Penelope Garcia was. "Do you want me to keep the roof up? It's nice enough these days where I like to drive with it down when I can, and the weather is perfect today."
"It might be nice to allow the wind to whip through my hair," Erin replied quietly as she watched Penelope take down the cloth roof before she got into the vehicle, storing purse and bag at her feet.
"Did you want to stop and get anything to drink before I bring you home? Or get ice cream somewhere? I know, you don't trust me, not like I might want to be trusted, but I would like to show you that I'm not as cruel as I was to you when you found out about the baby. I judged you before I knew everything, and I hate when people do that to me. I know, we won't be best friends, but I want to be kind."
"And I appreciate that, Penelope. Truly. It just might take me some time to warm up to you, since my focus is on my children and this pregnancy."
The younger woman nodded as she turned in the direction that Erin pointed. "And is Rossi taking good care of you?"
"Yes. I do care for him so much, and I know that he is going to take care of us so well. He didn't sign up for all the baggage…" Her voice trailed off as she drew in a deep breath. "You'll want to take a right at this light." Penelope nodded, and they fell into a much lighter conversation as Erin directed her to her home, as if Penelope knew that she couldn't talk about anything heavier in that moment. And while she wasn't quite ready to accept her fully into her inner circle, it was nice to talk to someone about little things in the world that made her happy, and she thought that maybe, just maybe, in time she could consider Penelope a friend.