Chapter 2

It took the rest of the day for things to fully sink in as Penelope re-watches the tape from the golf place again and again. She and Dave. She and Dave were soulmates. And he had kissed her – in public. And they had sex. In her bed. And at some point, he had decided to keep this information to himself. Why? Why wouldn't he tell her?!

Was he embarrassed? Was the sex bad for him?! They could practice. A lot. She giggles and blushes as she thinks of all the intimate things she would like to do with him. Things she could never imagine herself doing with Kevin.

"Oh God!" she moans as she thinks about Kevin. She loves him, in her own unique way but now, knowing she was Dave's soulmate, she no longer wants to be with him. No, that wasn't completely correct. It wasn't the fact that she was Dave's soulmate, it was the fact that she wasn't in love with Kevin. He was fun and they had a lot in common but he was so predictable and staid.

Their lives had become a routine of work and dinners and movies and gaming and… and… and predictability that made Penelope want to scream. It was like they were a very old married couple. She wants travel and spontaneity, and he wants to settle down and buy a farm. As the saying went, the writing had been on the wall for a while, but Penelope had been loath to pull the trigger and break it off with him.

Now, however, she knew it was time for her to do the deed. No matter what happens with Dave, she could no longer see herself long term with Kevin Lynch. Once that decision was made and accepted, a feeling of calm fell over her. She was feeling all the cliches today and accepts the fact that a load was lifted from her shoulders.

She took some time to gather all of Kevin's things that had accumulated in her apartment and places them in a box. There were some things, gifts that he had given her, that she would keep as well as the pictures. The pictures, however, she removes from frames and places in her keepsakes box. Once she finishes, she realizes it is nearly time to leave for JJ's.

After a quick shower she puts on a cute outfit, packs her laptop, because she knows JJ and Emily will demand to see the footage from the golf place, grabs the unopened gallon of Rocky Road ice cream and heads out the door. She was ready to start a new phase in her life. Exactly what that phase was going to be was a mystery but she was ready to start.

At JJ's place, Penelope parks in the driveway behind Emily's Volvo, grabs her stuff and marches to the front door. She opens the door without knocking and steps inside.

"Hello my lovelies," she calls out as she closes the door.

"We're in the kitchen," JJ yells back.

Penelope kicks off her shoes in the hallway. Strains of Adele reach her ears as she makes her way to the back of the house. She stops in the doorway and takes in her friends. Both are dusted with flour as they roll out dough for their pizzas.

"Thought you were never going to get here," Emily grouses. "I'm usually the last to arrive."

"Sorry, I was cleaning house," Penelope replies.

Both women stop and look at her. "I thought your burglar cleaned house?" JJ says as she blinks.

"Eh," Pen replies. She crosses the room and tosses the ice cream into the freezer then puts her purse and laptop on the counter. She grabs a glass and helps herself to a generous portion of the wine Emily brought. "This was a deeper cleaning. I'm breaking up with Kevin."

"What the hell happened?" Emily squawks.

"Oh honey," JJ says empathetically. "Are you okay?"

Pen takes a sip of wine, holds it on her tongue for a moment and thinks about the question. "Yeah, I'm good. It's been coming for a long time and now… now I know I need to, for my own sake."

Emily and JJ share a look.

"Well, put down the glass and roll up your sleeves," JJ tells her. "Your pizza dough isn't going to roll itself out."

Penelope takes another sip before setting the glass down and rolling up her sleeves. She takes a spot at the counter and begins working her blob of dough into a pizza-like shape.

After a few minutes, JJ speaks again. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Penelope looks up and takes in the concerned looks on their faces. She smiles. "I'm fine."

"I never imagined you'd be this quiet," Emily murmurs. "You're not like this, PG. Talk to us."

Penelope laughs. "I guess I am acting stranger than normal. Honestly, you both know that this has been coming for a long time."

"Yeah," they agree simultaneously.

"I've enjoyed my time with Kevin. We had fun and I do love him, I'm just not in love with him. You know what I mean?"

The girls nod.

"And recent events have made me realize that I'm not willing to settle," she says. "I want what is truly mine."

"Recent events?" JJ questions as she moves the pizza items from the back counter to the island where they are prepping the dough. Emily slides her dough on a metal pizza tray.

"What does that mean?" Emily asks.

Penelope stops working the dough and looks at them seriously. "I'm David Rossi's soulmate."

Both of the other women share another look that Penelope interprets as "here we go again". Before either of them can speak, she continues, "And I have proof."

"Proof? What kind of proof?" they ask over each other.

Penelope grins. "I thought you would never ask."

She makes them wait until the pizzas are in the oven before she pulls out her laptop and the copies of the entry in her diary.

"You only brought a copy? How do we know you didn't just write this?" Emily accuses. "We need to see the whole diary."

"Oh, hell no! I am not letting you anywhere near my inner most thoughts and desires," Penelope shoots back.

JJ chuckles. "No worries. Now that we know you have a diary; we'll find it next time we take you home drunk."

Penelope glares at her. "Be nice to me."

"Let's see this video," JJ replies.

Penelope pulls it up and hits play.

"Holy shit," Emily swears.

"Whoa," JJ adds. "That's some kiss."

"You don't remember any of this?" Emily asks with a frown.

"Not a second of it," Penelope admits sadly. She sighs and plays the video again. "I don't understand why he didn't tell me."

"Men are stupid," Emily growls.

"Maybe he thinks you're happy with Kevin," JJ points out. "Maybe he doesn't want to ruin that for you."

"He doesn't have to worry about that, Kevin and I were already on the outs," Pen sighs again. "What should I do?"

"What do you want to do?" Emily asks.

She takes a breath before she replies. "I want to smack him upside the head with my laptop. But that would just hurt the computer."

"Why don't you just talk to him about it?" JJ suggests.

"What if he doesn't want me? Just because I'm his soulmate it doesn't mean he's attracted to me."

"Do you really think he would have sex with you if he wasn't attracted to you?" JJ asks.

Penelope pauses. "Yeah, why did we have sex? Oh my God! What if I'm pregnant?!"

She puts a hand on her own belly. "Imagine me, pregnant with David Rossi's love child."

The room is silent for a moment.

"I could see that," JJ says suddenly.

"Me too," Emily agrees.

"Same," Penelope says wistfully.

"Okay, we need a plan," JJ orders. The bell dings for the oven. She grabs the oven mitts and goes to check the pizzas.

"Well, the first thing that needs to happen is you breaking up with Kevin," Emily surmises. "Dave is not going to do anything if you're still dating him."

"Done," Penelope says. "And then what? I wait for Super Special Agent Pain in the Ass to make a move?"

She looks back and forth between her friends.

JJ laughs. "You? Be patient? That's not going to happen."

"And you shouldn't," Emily continues. "Grab him while the fires hot, as they say."

Several hours later, Penelope sits in her car outside Kevin's apartment. The box of his stuff sits on the seat next to her. She had thought about waiting for his day off but then her impatience won, and she drove to his place to greet him when he got home from work.

At precisely sixteen minutes past the hour, Kevin's car swings into the lot and pulls into his designated space. Penelope grabs the box and climbs out of her car. She crosses the lot as he opens his door and gets out.

"Hey," she calls out softly which still manages to startle him.

"Jesus," he swears softly as he clutches his chest. "You scared me."

"Sorry," she says automatically. "I wanted to catch you before you went inside."

He frowns. "Okay. You have a key; you could have just waited inside."

"Oh yeah," she laughs. She hands him the box. "Hold this."

"What is this?" he asks.

Penelope ignores the question, instead she removes his key from her ring. "I'm sorry, Kevin," she says finally. "I'm breaking up with you."

He stares at her for a moment then sighs. "I had a feeling."

He puts the box on the hood of his car and pulls out his own keys.

Penelope tips her head, like a dog hearing an unusual sound. "What kind of feeling?"

He fumbles to remove her key from his ring. "Something was different last night. After the party."

"What are you talking about?" she questions.

He looks up at her and shrugs. "I'm not sure. It's just… there was something there, between you and Rossi. Something that wasn't there before the party. He's your soulmate, right?"

She blinks at him. "I, uh, I…"

"It's okay," he tells her. He finally gets the ring free and holds it out to her. "I love you. And I know you love me. But I also know that we are and have been heading in different directions for a while. To be honest, I'd been thinking about breaking up with you too, I'm just not as brave as you are. When did he tell you?"

She swallows hard. "He hasn't."

"What? Why not?"

She shrugs.

"But you think you're his soulmate?"

"Actually, I know I am."

"The videos," he nods knowingly.

She laughs. "Actually, the videos I took were crap. The one in the kitchen didn't work at all and the one in the bookcase fell over, so all I got was a black screen and some shitty audio."

"Then how…"

"We went to the Topgolf place," she smiles wistfully. "They sent me video of Dave and I."

"Wow! You went all out to spy, didn't you?"

She frowns. "Well, when you put it that way, it sounds creepy."

He stoops over and picks up the box from the hood. "Do you want to come in and get your stuff now? Or would you rather I brought it to you at work that way Dave can see that we have broken up?"

"You'd do that?" she asks surprise coloring her voice.

He shrugs. "I still think of you as a friend. And I want you to be happy."

"Thanks, Kevin. Bring my stuff tomorrow? Text me before you show up."

He nods once and trudges off towards his apartment. "Good night."

She watches him disappear before getting into Esther and heading home. Time to put the rest of the plan in motion.

The next morning, Penelope dresses carefully. She knows there are certain outfits that Dave likes more than others. She's caught him staring a time or two. He usually would grin at her, raise his eyebrows suggestively and tell her she looks beautiful. It never fails to make her smile back and blush a shade or two of red.

She slips into the bullpen and glances at Dave's office. His door is open, and the lights are on, denoting that he has already arrived. She fights the urge to go there and confront him right away. Patience, she reminds herself. She needs to wait for Kevin to come in. She slips through the large room and down the hall to her office.

Her morning is filled with a lot of research and some updating to the code on her computer. The team had yet to catch a case which was fine with her. At eleven-forty-five her phone dings. Kevin has texted her.

Kevin - Sorry for the delay, been running a bunch of things for Sex Crimes. Is now a good time to come see you?

Penelope – It's okay, I've been busy too. Let me make sure Dave's in his office.

She picks up her desk phone and dials Emily's number.

"Hey," Emily says after one ring.

"Is Dave still in his office?"

"Uhhh, yeah. What's up?"

"Kevin's bringing me my stuff from his apartment," she explains. "I want to make sure Dave sees it."

"Hurry up," Emily whispers. "I think he's getting ready to go to lunch."

"Shit! Hold him there!"

She hangs up and quickly texts Kevin. Come now, HURRY!

She grabs her coffee cup and heads for the break room like it's a normal day. Wandering into the bullpen, she sees Emily talking to Dave who looks a little impatient. She casually walks over to them.

"There's the birthday boy," she grins cheekily.

Dave looks at her and gives her an appraising look. His eyes wander down to her pointed high-heeled shoes, up her fishnet stockings to the red print dress, eyes lingering a second too long on her breasts before meeting her eyes. "Hello, Kitten."

She opens her mouth to speak again as Kevin slams into the glass doors and nearly falls as it opens suddenly. He awkwardly gets his composure as he looks around the room and spots trio across the room. He pushes his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, wipes his hand down his shirt then quickly crosses the room.

He stops short of the group. Looks at Emily, then at Dave. He swallows and bobs his head in acknowledgement, then looks at Penelope. He thrusts the box at her. "Here's your stuff," he says quickly. "I figured since we broke up that you would want it back."

Penelope sucks in a breath and bites her cheek to keep from laughing. Kevin, bless his heart, was trying so hard but being so awkward. "Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate you taking the effort to bring this to me."

He shrugs and glances at Dave quickly then at her again. "You're welcome."

He stands there as the moment draws out.

"Was there something else?" Penelope asks.

He shakes his head quickly. "No, just… no. Take care of yourself."

He gives a quick wave then hurries out of the room.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asks from his desk.

"Kevin and I decided to go our separate ways," Penelope says truthfully.

"I'm sorry, Baby Girl," Derek frowns. He gets up from his desk and walks over. "Let me take that to your office."

"Thanks," she smiles. She feels a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she looks directly into the concerned eyes of David Rossi.

"Do you want to have lunch with me?" he asks.

She blinks before allowing a smile to form. "Of course."

"We have a few things to discuss," he tells her. "Go grab your purse."

She follows Derek to her office. He places the box on the floor. "Alright, Mama, what's going on?"

She bites her lip and smiles. "I'm Dave's soulmate."

He blinks. "Seriously?"

She nods.

"Seriously," he repeats. "Holy shit."

She laughs. "Yeah."

"Okay, so what happens now?"

She shrugs. "I guess I'm about to find out."

He nods and pulls her into a hug. "Let me know if you need me for anything. And we need to talk about this later."

"Deal," she replies, gives him a kiss on the cheek. "I don't want to keep him waiting."

"Understood," He says as he releases her.

She grabs her purse and her laptop bag then precedes him out the door. Dave waits by the glass doors. He watches as she approaches, then opens the door and allows her to pass through first.

Dave drives them to a diner across town. He helps her out of the vehicle. Holding her elbow, he leads her across the parking lot and inside.

"Not your usual choice for lunch is it?" she asks.

"I've only been here once before but it holds a lot of sentimental value for me."

He asks for a specific booth in the back. Penelope slides into the seat. She's surprised when he slides in next to her.

"Is this okay?" he asks softly.

"Yeah," she replies breathlessly.

"Wanna split a plate of fries?" he asks.

She laughs. "Okay. But I'm also getting a salad."

"Get whatever you want, Kitten."

The server comes over and they both order their food and drinks.

"So, you and Kevin broke up. What's that about?" he asks boldly.

"It was a very amenable break up. We both knew it was coming," she says lightly.

"I'm sorry, none the less."

"Don't be," she smiles. "I'm ready for new challenges."

"Oh? Like what?"

She waits for him to look at her. When he does, she smiles. "Like you."

He stares at her, his mind whirling. "What is it you think you know?"

She grins ferally. "I got a video from a friend of mine."

"And?"

"He works at Topgolf National Harbor. He sent me some security video from your birthday," she tells him.

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Is that why you and Kevin broke up?"

She shakes her head. "I told you. We were already heading in different directions. I want you, David. We are meant to be together."

He sighs. "I don't know, Kitten. There's a lot of obstacles in between us."

She places her hand on his. "What are you afraid of?"

"Many, many things."

End