A/N: Thank you for the love! I really hope you like this chapter.

Plus, I added a new high school story that I've been dying to share, so please check that out :)

"You have a new foster sister?" Maeve asked eagerly as she so easily did math problems unlike the first day she met Spencer, who nods at her question. At her excitement, she continued talking. "That's really cool. I wish I had a sister."

"Two sisters is already a lot, and they like to put powder on my face that makes my cheeks look red, and they put red glossy stuff on my lips," Spencer said out of the blue, making Maeve confused. "Do you know what that is?"

"No, I don't know what it's called, but my mommy puts that stuff on." Maeve made a face. "She looks like a clown!"

"My sisters put make up on sometimes when my mommy isn't home, and they look like clowns, too!' Spencer said, letting himself smile. Facial Expressions Chart. Maeve is happy, so I'm happy? I feel happy, I'm confused...

"Why are you smiling?" Maeve asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Because I'm happy. Are you happy?" Spencer asked.

"Sometimes I'm happy, and sometimes I'm sad," Maeve answered, a sad look suddenly appearing on her face.

Spencer saw it, and therefore he frowned. "Why are you sad sometimes?" Maeve didn't reply right away, she felt tears welling up in her eyes, and Spencer knew very well that meant she was said, though Haley said that sometimes people cry when they're happy. But... right now Maeve was talking about being sad. Maeve managed to meet Spencer's curious eyes, before murmuring:

"My mommy is gone."

Spencer didn't know how to comfort her, though he wanted to make her feel less sad desperately.

Penelope's first three days at the Hotchner residence was... rather interesting. There were a few things she noticed about her foster siblings. Emily, was very sarcastic and talked on the phone constantly, especially within the comfort of her new room. Penelope realized that was the reason why Emily was probably being so nice to her, because of the fact that she's the reason Emily has her own room. Still, she expected Emily to be a very mean person, due to her sarcastic nature.

Secondly, JJ was probably the sweetest girl she'd ever met, so bubbly and cheery. She was an excellent roommate, too. She was very chatty, eager to talk about art and drawing. Penelope smiled, remembering that at one point that she used to be very creative and bubbly. She wished she could go back to a time where she was happy like JJ was. But even then—no one could be that happy. JJ had a dark secret, and she assumed that all of them did.

Spencer, the little boy she stole from, was a total sweetheart as well. Something about him was a little off, like the way he didn't understand sarcasm, and how he was seemingly smarter than his siblings, despite the fact that he's the youngest. He spoke very articulately and was painfully literal. Penelope noticed that he and JJ played a game involving something like a "Facial Expressions Chart," that Derek and Emily would roll their eyes at.

Speaking of Derek, he terrified her to no end. He didn't know when or how, but he was going to say something to her sooner or later. The past three days, however—he said nothing. Not a word was spoken to her, unless he was obligated to. This only confirmed her suspicions that he knew what she did, yet he didn't rat her out. Penelope didn't know whether she was thankful or not, because the guilt was still eating at her. Perhaps this was Derek's way of punishing her. She has yet to know what's in store for her.

"Penelope?" Haley called out to her, waving a hand in front of her face with a warm smile. "You zoned out a bit there, are you alright?"

"She does that a lot, mommy," says JJ, eating her dinner at the table with everyone else. "Spencer told me that's called maladaptive daydreaming."

"Mala-what?" Derek asked confusedly, looking at Spencer with astonishment. "Where do you...I don't even—" he cuts himself off, looking at his parents. "What books are you giving him to read?"

Hotch and Haley shrugged, looking absolutely clueless.

Oh yes, and then there were her foster parents. They seemed nice enough, which could only hurt her more inside. Haley was a warm person, Penelope could already tell. It reminded her of how her mother used to be, before she threw her out on the streets. Penelope's mother was born to be a mother, or so she originally thought. But Penelope could see, truly see, that this title belonged to Haley. Penelope never has seen someone love her kids as much as Haley did, and those kids weren't even biologically hers.

Hotch was a lot nicer than Penelope thought he was going to be, with his stern look and all. Penelope didn't know why, but she assumed that Hotch was going to look down on her because she was a homeless kid on the street, and that's what it felt like at first. But very quickly, he pushed it aside and made sure that he made this little girl as comfortable as he possibly could.

Penelope wondered why they decided to adopt and not physically have children.

She wouldn't ask though, it was none of her business.

Without knocking, Dave Rossi burst through the door with a giant bag in his hands. "Hello, all!"

"Dave!" All of the kids chorused except Penelope, who could only stare.

Dave held the bag up. "I bring ice cream, because I can." All the kids, besides Penelope who was still staring in apprehension, cheered.

Haley crossed her arms, frowning at Dave in disapproval. "In case you haven't noticed, Dave, we're in the middle of dinner."

Dave smirked at her, knowing she wasn't truly pissed off. "No worries, it's for after dinner."

"Oh and I texted him to bring it over," said Hotch casually, earning a look from Haley.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Why'd you ask me to pick up seven of them? I mean, Hotch, I know you love your ice cream, but it's a bit overkill don't you think?" It was just then he realized that someone new was sitting at the dinner table, someone he had never met before. "Oh," he paused, looking at Haley and Hotch. "Who's this?"

"This is Penelope, she's staying with us for a bit," Haley said with a smile. She faced the nine year old. "Penelope, this is Dave. He's our neighbor next door. Sorry you couldn't meet him earlier, he insisted that he spend three days in a new condo he bought—"

"Hey, hey, hey, mind you, it was a really good condo for a good price," Dave defended lightly, he turned his attention to the nine year old. "But yes, I'm Dave." He pondered for a bit and then smiled. "Ah! Now I understand why Hotch wanted me to pick up and extra one."

"Thank you," Penelope said, allowing him to see a shy smile of hers. Once Haley saw that Penelope thanked him, she urged her children to do the same, which they did. When everyone was finished with their dinner and their ice cream, they went their separate ways. Haley was talking on the phone outside with Kate to do some catching up, Derek, Emily, and JJ went upstairs to their rooms, while Hotch and Dave were sitting on the couch watching television.

Spencer, however, did not move from his table. His brain was trying to solve the puzzle about what to do with Maeve. His therapist was talking to him about friendships, and Maeve was his first friend. His therapist said that when friends are sad, that they comfort each other. The problem was... he wanted to do that, but he didn't know how. He refused to look foolish... not in front of his only friend.

"Give me a second, Dave," Hotch murmured to his friend, who nodded in understanding with his eyes fixated on the TV screen. Hotch went over to his youngest and knelt down beside him, curiously wondering what he was thinking about. "Spencer?" The five year old nods twice, acknowledging his father's presence. "Buddy, what's wrong?" Spencer shrugged, keeping his eyes on his plate that has yet to be removed.

"It's just... it's not... I don't—" Spencer cuts himself off, groaning in frustration as the words wouldn't come out.

"Take your time," Hotch consoled gently.

"It's not okay, it's not right," Spencer managed to say.

"What isn't right, Spencer? Can you explain a bit more?" Hotch prodded.

"Maeve doesn't have a mommy, but I do. In fact, I have two mommies," emphasized Spencer, finally getting the words out. "I just... I wish there was a scientific way where I can give one of my mommies to Maeve so she won't be so sad." Hotch couldn't help but smile sadly at that, though the gesture on his part was very sweet.

"You know that's not possible," Hotch explained gently. "But all you can do, really, is to be a good friend to her. She's lucky to have someone as kind as you."

Spencer smiled a little, feeling himself relax. "She's a warrior, you know. W-A-R-R-I-O-R. Maeve means warrior."

If possible, Hotch's smile got wider. "It sure does, bud."

At first, Penelope and JJ sat silently in their rooms, coloring in the books the latter wanted to share with the former. Soon after, JJ noticed that Penelope stopped coloring, and that she had a curious expression on her face, as well as confusion. JJ understood, of course, because she was once Penelope in the sense where she was brand new to a home.

JJ put her pencil down. "Okay, you have questions," she stated, making the plump blonde look up in shock of how she knew that. "What's up?"

Penelope bit her lip anxiously, hesitant on whether she should really ask or not. Then, she realized, that this was JJ, who has been more kinder than anyone else in her life, besides Stephen, of course. She can kind of trust her. "Why are the four of you here? I-I mean, um..." God! Could I phrase it even more wrong? "What I meant was, how did you guys end up living with Haley and Hotch? And why didn't they have children?"

JJ frowned, baffled by the question. "They did have children, which is us, and we came here as foster children, like you."

"No, you know what I mean? Biological children." JJ knew that this is what Penelope meant to say, but she wanted her to say it herself, that JJ wanted her to know that it wasn't going to offend her.

"They can't," whispered JJ, like it was some big secret. "They... they can't have children like a regular mommy and daddy can, so that's how we came."

"Right," Penelope said, feeling her stomach sink. "One more thing, and I know it's not really my business, but..."

"He's autistic," JJ said immediately, quieting Penelope into stunned silence. JJ explained further. "Asperger's syndrome, is a part of it. He has trouble with social skills, but he's super smart. You didn't hear this from me, got it? If anyone asks how you know, just say that you assumed it."

"Oh," Penelope said, not knowing what else to say. "Got it."

JJ smiled at her, a genuine one. "You know Penelope, I'm really glad you're here. I really like you."

Penelope felt her heart grow a size, with extra warmth inside of it. "I like you too, JJ. I'm just... I'm happy."

Two knocks on the door interrupted the girls' conversation, with Derek standing in the doorway. "Uh, JJ? Emily needed to talk to you about something. Something about stealing her hair ties?"

JJ's eyes go wide. "Oh god, she found out!?" The petite blonde rushed out of the room, leaving Derek alone with Penelope.

The two stare at each other in silence, and it shook Penelope to the core. Was he finally gonna yell? Was he actually going to rat her out for good?

Penelope spoke first. "Derek, I—"

"Tell me your life story," interrupted Derek, remaining neutral and calm. "Tell me everything, and don't leave out a single detail." Penelope's haunted eyes went down to the floor, not knowing how to answer that. Where would she start, even? Plus, everything was a terrible blur of unpleasantness.

"Why?" Penelope said, in an almost broken voice.

"Because I want to know," Derek said, eyeing her. "If you're for real."

"What do you mean?" muttered Penelope.

"Are you doing this for some sort of motive?" Derek asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. "Tell me your story, and that'll be for me to decide, because no one else has ever met you in person other than me."

Penelope's eyes finally met his. "Where do I start? It's very long."

Derek sat down cross-legged on JJ's bed. "From the beginning. I've got time."

A/N: I missed Maeve in this story, so I decided to bring her back! Spencer deserves a friend, after all. Goodness, this story though! I've missed regularly updating for this! Please review!