Three weeks later you find yourself running into the building a half hour later than you normally would, swiping your badge at check-in and tossing your bag onto the belt in order for it to be scanned by security. Your Bluetooth headset begins to ring in your ear and you groan at the fact that your absence hasn't gone unnoticed when you answer the call.
"Yes sir, I'm in the elevator now, I had slight car troubles this morning." You say into the set as you enter the elevator, pushing the button for level six and looking around you impatiently as you wait for the other employees shuffling into work late to file into the elevator. Your eyes lock with a pair that you recognize and you immediately smile at him as he makes his way to stand by you, looking at a younger agent until he moves out of Luke's way. You hold a finger up to him, pointing to your ear as Hotch continues to talk to you about the current case that had just come to his attention. Instinctively you reach out and clasp your hand around his, giving his fingers a gentle squeeze as you jot down notes on your phone, preparing yourself to set up three searches the second you get back to your office.
When the elevator finally reaches the sixth floor you realize that he's missed his stop and has followed you out of the elevator, trailing behind you to your office. He remains silent as he looks around him, taking in the sight he's never had the pleasure to see before, as you turn on your computer and prepare your system to run the searches that your boss requested. After a few minutes you give Hotch the information he wanted before pulling the small set out of your ear and replacing it with your headset, and you turn in your chair to look at Luke who is captivated by a picture of the entire team taken a while ago.
"I'm sorry," you begin, "I've been on back to back cases the past three weeks and we just got another one. Did Lex get the books I sent to her?" you ask, urging him to turn around and look at you, and when he does your heart starts to beat faster, and you find yourself wishing that it would stop doing so. He smiles and nods, coming to sit in the other chair that you leave set up in case you get visitors, which you rarely ever do.
"She's had me reading to her all week." He says, lifting his cup of coffee to his lips and pulling a sip from the small opening in the white cover.
"We FaceTimed when you were in the shower the other day," you say, turning around to pull up the second half of your system, leaving it to run a search of all criminals in Providence, Rhode Island while your team boards the jet. He chuckles, his head nodding as he looks at you.
"I know, it's all I heard about that night," he says, rolling his chair over to you and reaching out to grab your hand. "Why didn't you wait to say goodnight to me too?" he asks, rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand. You look up at him and blush, your cheeks tinting a shade of red that causes heat to rise in your face. You avoid the question, instead calling your team in order to fill them in on the new body that just popped up on your computer screen.
"Thanks, Baby Girl," you feel him stiffen next to you and you sigh as you disconnect the call. You don't turn to him right away, instead, you remain facing your monitors.
"There's a movie playing that I think Lex will like," you begin "can we take her this weekend?" you ask, pinching the bridge of your nose and hoping that he wouldn't bring up the pet name.
"Baby Girl?" he asks, leaning back in the chair with his legs crossed at his ankles. You shake your head, turning back to him with a smile.
"That's Derek, he's called me Baby Girl for as long as we've been working together," you say in explanation. "He's my best friend and he's dating a very lovely woman, a doctor I believe." you continue as you roll over to him. "So, about that movie?" you ask, reaching out to place your hand on his knee. He looks up at you and nods while taking another sip of his coffee.
"And dinner," he says, looking down at your hand resting on his knee. You find yourself wondering how your hand on his body effects him as you remember back to the other night. You hope that it affects him the same way his touch effects you.
"Dinner?" you ask, looking up at him, rubbing your thumb against the soft material of his pants.
"We can take Lex to the movie, but then I am taking you to dinner," he says before standing and walking over to your office door. "Is that okay?" he asks, his confidence wavering as you remain silent. He's looking at you over his shoulder and so you nod, swallowing the words that were threatening to spill out of your mouth.
A week later you pull up outside of their house with a pizza in one hand and a movie in the other, you had texted about an hour ago informing Luke that your team was heading home and you were dying to see Lex. Your happy mood spreading to your team as you passed them in the hallway, shouting out goodbyes and dodging questions of where you were off to the second Luke had texted you back that they were both home. Once again you find yourself knocking on the door before letting yourself in making sure to lock the door behind you, only to be greeted by loud barking from an excited dog.
"Penny!" Lex yells as she crashes into you, jumping into your arms and causing you to drop the pizza on the floor in order to secure the small child to your chest. You laugh and hug her tighter to you. "I missed you!" she says as she pulls back to take in your face, looking at you like she hasn't seen you in years before she leaned forward to wrap her arms around your neck again squeezing you tighter.
"I've missed you too, Lex," you tell her, looking up at Luke who is standing at the end of the hallway leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, a pleased smile playing across his lips. You smile at him.
"Daddy missed you too, he kept talking about you," Lex says in a loud whisper, causing you to chuckle and look back at Luke.
"Is that so, little Lex?" You question, noticing that Luke has crept closer to the two of you and picked the fallen pizza up from the floor.
"That's enough of that," he mutters, pulling his daughter from you, brushing his fingers across your neck as he does so, your eyes closing as the sensation takes over you and letting out a small groan.
"Are you okay, Penny?" Lex asks, reaching out to tug on your arm. You nod, looking down at her and smiling, handing her the movie that was currently clutched in your hand.
"Do you want to watch Mulan with me?" you ask her, changing the subject and ignoring the laughter that is coming from her father. You smile, watching the way her eyes widen in excitement. You take the beer Luke hands you, his fingers sending a shock of electricity through your hand when they touch, and you quickly press the bottle to your lips and take a sip, suppressing a moan.
"Only if you promise to stay for breakfast," Lex says after a moment, her fingers tapping her chin as you sputter, beer falling onto your lips. Your eyes quickly looking over at Luke who has gone completely red in the face, his movements stilled as his eyes are trained on Lex. He's not daring to look at you and for that you are grateful. Thoughts of his body covering yours in his bedroom, which you've yet to see cloud your mind, causing you to wipe your mouth with the back of your hand. "You can take my bed and I'll sleep with Daddy." she continues, racing out of the hallway and into the living room, leaving both you and Luke alone for a moment. Before you can say anything he has you pressed against the wall, his lips covering yours silencing a moan when his tongue darts into your mouth.
"My daughter will sleep in her own bed," he says, his lips pressing against your neck as you struggle to breathe in the aftermath of the bruising kiss. "If you ever decide to spend the night, that is," he's gone before you can process the statement, calling out to Lex to get the movie started and grabbing the pizza as he goes, leaving you standing in the hallway with a hammering heart. A fire burning so deep inside of you that you're not sure you will ever be able to tame it.
"Penny, are you coming?" Lex calls out to you, her tiny head sticking out around the corner to look at you. You smile at the small girl, pushing yourself off of the wall and running your fingers through your hair before you follow the sounds of the movie deeper into the house.