Friday morning came much sooner than she anticipated, and Penelope felt like anyone who looked at her could tell that she was antsy for the end of the day. Still, she tried to focus on her work, knowing that she had to act like everything was normal. She hadn't heard anything from Aaron since Wednesday afternoon, when she had forwarded him a list of three therapists that she thought would be a good fit for Jack and his needs. He had sent back a thank you, but other than that, there was no indication that he had called one of the therapists, or not.

Shaking her head a little, Penelope got up from her desk and made her way to the bathroom, needing a slight change of scenery. Not looking where she was going, she barged into the bathroom, only to bump into a warm body. Looking up, she locked eyes with Strauss, feeling a deep flush stain her cheeks. "Oh, my god, I am so sorry, Ma'am. My head is in the clouds today, and I totally did not see you there. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Ms Garcia. But what has you distracted?"

That was a loaded question, and she worried her lip a little as they entered the bathroom, Penelope leaning her back against the wall by the mirrors as she regarded her boss. "Jack asked Hotch if I would come over tonight and watch movies with him. I know, it's skirting the frat rules, but I couldn't find it in my heart to tell him no. That little boy has been through so much in the last few months."

Strauss cocked her head to one side as she regarded Penelope, and the smile that started to spread across Penelope's face was a shy one, similar to the expression she wore when she left Aaron's apartment Tuesday evening, and she again felt conflicted about the way that being in the woman's presence made her feel. "I told Agent Hotchner, while you were at the park with Jack, that I would give him whatever leeway he needed to start feeling normal once more. And if you feel that it is truly helping Jack out, I won't say anything. However, like I told you before, your team is always under an extreme amount of scrutiny. You will need to tread carefully if you decide to continue this friendship. And I must stress that there can be nothing more than friendship between the two of you. If there comes a time when you feel like it might be something more than friendship, you'll have to come to me immediately, so that I can smooth things over with the Director."

There was a tight look on the woman's face, as if she had been down this road once before and the outcome had not been pleasant for her, and Penelope nodded a little as she soaked in those words and that look. "I will certainly do that, Chief Strauss. However, I think that Hotch still loves Haley, and isn't ready to think about anyone in a romantic light. Being his friend at this moment in time is all that I'm looking for." Suddenly, she didn't feel the need to pee any longer, instead, wanting to talk further with Strauss. "Do you mind if I wash my hands and then join you in your office to discuss this further?"

Strauss's eyebrow ticked up a little before she nodded and then exited the bathroom. Penelope hurriedly washed her hands and dried them as best she could before following after Strauss, zooming past her assistant before closing the door to her office and taking a seat in front of her desk, watching her intently. "What else did you wish to discuss with me?"
"I wanted to ask you, in private, how you're handling this. I know, it's an impertinent question, but I feel like everyone on our team is so focused on Hotch and ourselves, that no one really thought to consider how you're dealing with this. I don't want to pry, but I do want to touch base."
Strauss blinked a few times, like she had when she had interrogated Penelope during the inquest, and she knew that meant she was close to tears. Concern welled up in her chest as she leaned forward to look into the woman's eyes, smiling softly. "I will be fine, Ms Garcia. But I do thank you for your concern."

Penelope didn't want to let it drop, knowing that Erin was keeping her emotions bottled up tightly, and that was never a good thing. "Being fine in time is okay, but do you have a safe person to reach out to? Hotch has Dave, I have Derek, but is there someone that you trust to vent to?"

Strauss licked her lips as she looked away from Penelope. "Yes." The answer was too quick, too short, to be true, and Penelope just stared at her, hoping that the direct gaze would unnerve her enough so that she would tell her the truth. "That look doesn't work on me, Penelope. I trained as a profiler, and I'm raising three children, so that is a look that I am quite familiar using."

"Oh," Penelope murmured as she looked down at her lap. "Well, it goes without saying that if you do ever need an impartial ear to listen to you, my door is always open. After all, I can't judge you for something I know nothing about!"

She glanced up furtively, wondering how the woman would react to that tiny olive branch. For the briefest of moments, a smile flitted across her lips, and then it was gone, and her neutral look was in place once more. "I will keep that in mind. Now, I'm sorry, but I do have quite a bit of work to get finished today before the budget meeting at two."

Penelope knew that she was being dismissed, and she gave the woman a small nod as she rose to her feet and made her way over to the door. "I hope that the meeting goes well. I know that listening to a bunch of people telling you that you're spending too much money. And I'm still looking for a way to cut corners so that I can get my team tablets, since I still say that it would save us money in the long run."

A light trill of laughter filled the room as she opened the door, about to step out. "If you can find the extra money, you will be a miracle worker, Ms Garcia."

It wasn't said meanly, in fact, there was a real warmth in the words, and she smirked a little as she nodded, heading out of the office and back to the bullpen with a light step. Though she was still nervous about spending a long evening with Aaron and Jack, the little back and forth with Strauss had strangely put a major part of her nerves at ease, as if by not pretending that she was going around behind her back, they had formed a sort of understanding that Penelope hoped would help things along, if Aaron did ever reciprocate the tender feelings that she had in her heart for him. A part of her was still torn about why she felt like she needed Strauss to like her, and why her heart had felt strangely light when the woman had called her by her given name earlier, but she tried not to dwell on that while she got back down to work.

That concentration lasted all of thirty minutes, until her phone vibrated against her desk, and she picked it up to see who had contacted her. A brilliant smile lit up her features when she saw that Aaron had finally texted her back. Opening her messages, she pressed on his name, and quickly read what he had sent. Jack wanted me to let you know that he's made cookies for you tonight. Don't worry, he had a lot of help from Jessica. If you can get away from the office, please try to arrive at the apartment by six. And bring a bottle of wine. I figure, between the three of us, we can drink it and still have you sober enough to drive home without worry, especially since the movies will run until around 10. If Jack makes it that late. We'll see you tonight.

Letting out a little sigh of pleasure, she tapped out a quick reply to him, affirming that she would be there as close to six as possible, and that she would grab a bottle of red wine on her way over. Then, she put the phone away, knowing that it would just distract her endlessly if she had it close at hand for the rest of her shift. Shaking out her shoulders, Penelope looked at her list of things to accomplish and began to research the information that the international team needed from her. Since it wasn't time sensitive, she had left it until today, so that they could look it over during the weekend. And once that was done, she could go on to the twenty other things that she needed to finish before the end of day, when she could escape and be with Aaron, Jack, and Jessica.