Penelope gave Strauss's assistant a hesitant smile as she stopped in front of her desk the first day back from their holiday break. "May I help you, Ms Garcia?" the woman asked, and she nodded. "Well, what is it?"

She cleared her throat a little so as not to let out a nervous giggle before smoothing her skirt down her thighs. "I need to speak with Chief Strauss. Is she in this morning?"

The woman looked down at the monitor in front of her. "She doesn't have any meetings scheduled for this morning, however, I will need to call her to see if there's something she hasn't put on her agenda. Give me one moment?" Penelope nodded and listened to Helen call into Strauss's office, asking if she was free. "All right, she has about ten minutes for you, Ms Garcia."

Penelope nodded a little as she turned and made her way into Strauss's office, plastering on a confident smile that she totally did not feel. "Good morning, ma'am. I hope that you had a good holiday?" she said as she took a seat in front of her desk, noting that the picture of her with her family was now absent from the shelves behind her. In its place was a picture of just her children, and she tried not to frown as she started to put a few pieces together.

"My children were quite happy with how it went. And I know that Tabitha wrote you a thank you note for the book you sourced for her, but I want to tell you that I am extremely grateful for the lengths you went to, in order to acquire it. That was a personalized autograph, Penelope."

The use of her first name caught her a little off guard, and she nodded as she tried to relax. "I knew that it was important to you, so I went to great lengths to ensure that that would happen. Truly, it was a small thing, in the scheme of things. I just like making people happy, I guess."

"You certainly do a good job at that. Now, why did you want to see me?"

Penelope licked her lips as tried to formulate her next words, knowing that they would have a large impact on her future happiness. "That matter we were speaking about last year, between Aaron and myself? Things have indeed changed, and we would like to pursue a relationship. I did some reading into the frat rules, and as long as I report to Rossi for things like my evaluation, and we can keep our relationship quiet while we're at work, it should, technically, be all right? But you wanted to be informed of any decision that we made, which is why I insisted that I tell you about this. Aaron wasn't too certain."

"Aaron has good reason not to trust me. So do you, and yet, here you are."

"You're not the tiger that you pretend to be here. Though I know that you need to keep that image intact so that you're respected. I get it. You need to be the ice queen, because you had to work so hard to get where you are, you had to be better than the boys, and that leaves a mark on your psyche. I won't tell anyone that I've seen behind the mask." She smiled sheepishly at the woman, seeing the smug look on Strauss's face.

"Amazing, you're the first person in the BAU to actively search out who I am outside these four walls." That was a lie, Penelope could tell by the way her hand tightened around her coffee mug, but she chose not to comment on it. "And so, I will smooth things over with Director Shepherd, and make certain that you and Agent Hotchner can have a pleasant relationship."

"Thank you, ma'am." She touched the headband on her head, watching a gentle smile quickly flit across the woman's face before her usual cool expression slipped into place. "Hopefully, we'll get good news later on today."

"You'll know as soon as I do, Ms Garcia." They nodded to each other, and then Penelope was making her way back to her office, whistling an upbeat tune as she made her way over to the break room and snagged one of the cookies that someone had brought in to share. She nibbled at it as she made her way to her office.

"You're in a good mood this morning," Anderson said as she was unlocking her door, and she turned to smile at him, shrugging a little. "Are things good for you and Agent Hotchner, then?"

"We're friends."

"And I'm the queen of Sheba," he retorted, giving her one of his looks, making her giggle a little. "I have eyes, and those eyes have told me that things between you and him have changed since Haley was murdered. I, for one, personally like the fact that he's starting to be his normal dour self, rather than glowering at everyone, ready to bite their heads off for the least thing. And you are much happier as well."

She took a deep breath as she beckoned him inside her office. "We are nothing more than friends for the time being. Strauss has to talk to the Director and smooth things over first. And even if he does give his approval, we still can't be an overt couple while we're at work. So it will appear like we're nothing more than friends, ever, while we're attached to the BAU. This is going to be a delicate tightrope we're walking, and even though I might have the support of Strauss for the moment, if she gets any pushback from above her head, then we have to abide by that. So I'd rather do anything I could to keep the boat as steady as possible."

"I totally get that, Penelope." He reached out and patted her arm a little. "Don't worry, the secret is safe with me. But if I might ask a person question, how did you break the ice with Strauss? I know that you two aren't friends, but she is warmer towards you than any one else here."

"I treated her like the human being she is. I'm surprised that it took me this long to do that, but it's working in my favor thus far. And while she's not nice, she's good. Nice is definitely different than good." Anderson nodded a little. "Now, I suppose that I should buckle down for the day. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me, and I might just answer them." She gave him a little wink before heading over to her desk and taking a seat.

"Will do, Penelope."

As soon as the door closed, she let out a deep breath before picking up her coffee mug and taking a long sip, finding that it had cooled considerably since she had gone to visit Strauss. Sighing, she knew that she didn't really have time to get a fresh cup, so she decided to just roll with it as she checked on the long term searches she was running for the international team. Just as that was loading, her office door opened once more, and she glanced over to see who was there. "Hey, Boss Man! Are we ready to brief the new case already?"

"Just about. I wanted to run over the details with you beforehand, since I think that it's going to be a rougher case, so I know that you like to know the details beforehand, so that you don't get emotional during the briefing."

She smiled up at him as she nodded, taking the case file from his hands and glancing at the attached pictures, feeling her eyes widen. "Oh," she breathed out before she scanned them into her computer and began to arrange them in an order than felt appropriate. Aaron rested his hand on her shoulder as he watched what she was doing, and then she was looking up at him. "All right, give me the barebones of what this case is about, so I can tell the team while they take notes."

He nodded and gave her all the appropriate information, and she made a few notes on her copy of the case file. When he had finished, he gave her a small smile before taking a seat on the edge of her desk. "So, did you talk to Strauss this morning?"

"I did, and she's going to speak with Director Shepherd later today, and she'll let me know as soon as she hears one way or the other. She was really kind about it, too, so maybe she is trying to turn over a new leaf?"

"Perhaps," he replied as he reached out and stroked her hair. "Just be careful with how much you trust her until you know her a little better. I don't want to see you getting hurt because she happens to do something that makes you regret opening up to her in the first place."

"I'll keep that in mind, Aaron, but I truly think that you're wrong about her. Now, let's gather the team so that you can get out into the field and catch this bastard." He nodded before leaning down and kissing her temple, the closest way they could express affection while in the office. Getting up, she allowed him to rest his hand on the small of her back as he led her over to the door, relishing the small bit of contact that she could have with him for the moment.