You realize that you're kneeling on a piece of rock the second your knee hits the pavement, but the pain radiating through your leg is nothing compared to the pain you're feeling in your heart as you look at Lex crying in front of you. Her face is red and screwed up as she tries to not let the tears fall down her face. She reaches up to wipe at her nose with the sleeve of her cardigan and stomps her right foot before turning to look at Luke.
"I don't want to go," she says as she begins to peel the yellow backpack off of her shoulders making sure to drop it on the ground by her feet.
"Here," you say as you reach into your hair to pull out the purple flower you had pinned there this morning as you raced to get ready, butterflies fluttering around your stomach. You reach out to position the flower at the base of her ponytail. When you had shown up at their house this morning Lex was still in her pajamas and screaming at your boyfriend that she wasn't going to school. Luke, with the patience he had exhibited over the past year, looked ready to scream back at her until you intervened. "This flower is special to me." She reaches up to touch the petals, running her fingers along the center stone and smiling at you.
"Why?" Lex questions while reaching up to rub her closed fist into her eyes. You smile and pull a napkin from your purse and begin dabbing at the skin under her eyes, telling her while you do that rubbing will cause bruising. She smiles and nods.
"This flower is magical," you whisper to her as you straighten her cardigan before moving on to pull up her knee socks. "Whenever I need a little extra courage I wear this flower and it helps me do hard things."
"Like first days of school?" she whispers back with wide eyes. You nod your head and tap your fingertips to your chin in mock deliberation.
"Exactly like first days of school!" You should have braced yourself better, you think, as you tumble backward against Luke's legs when she rushes forward to wrap her arms around your neck in a hug. You're thankful for his steady hands on your shoulders as you give Lex a gentle squeeze.
"I love you, Penny," she whispers into your hair and you let out a small gasp, gripping her tighter and giving her a slight rock.
"I love you too, Lex," you whisper back to her before you peel away from her and stand. Reaching down you grip her backpack and hand it to her. She smiles up at you, a new missing tooth shining prominently in the grin as she settles the straps back onto her shoulders. You chuckle at the sight of the bottom of it reaching the middle of her thighs. Luke wraps his arms around your waist before he reaches out to grip your chin and bring his lips to yours, placing a gentle kiss onto your mouth.
"Ew, Daddy, not at my school!" Lex whines as she covers her eyes to shield herself from the pair of you. You chuckle and reach your hand out to grasp her left as Luke takes her right and together you walk through the red doors to find her classroom. Her eyes are wide as she takes in the brightly decorated halls of the new private school she had been enrolled into.
"What's the number again?" Luke asks you.
"107," you answer from memory, "Teacher is Mrs. Adams, married for two years, no children. Got her degree from Kean University in New Jersey. She didn't test well, but who does. Moved to the area over five years ago and has been teaching here ever since. No disciplinary actions and from the PTA meeting minutes she is well liked by the children." You realize that the three of you have stopped walking and when you look over at Luke he is staring at you with a wide grin on his face. "I may have done a thing..." you continue, "there may be a file."
"You must be Lexington's parents," when you turn you're staring at a woman of average height with shining blue eyes and brown hair. She is smiling at you both warmly and extending her hand out to you. Reaching out you grasp her hand before she moves onto Luke. "I'm Mrs. Adams."
"Lex," you correct, "She doesn't go by Lexington."
"My mistake, Lex then, it's very nice to meet you..." she trails off and you realize that she doesn't know your name.
"Penelope and I'm..." you look over at Luke awkwardly as your cheeks grow red.
"Penny is Daddy's girlfriend, they kissed outside. It was gross." Lex says as she peers into the classroom. "Which desk is mine?" She pulls her hand from yours and takes off into the classroom barely turning to look at either you or Luke. He's reached out to clasp your empty hand and you look over at him with a smile as tears gather in your eyes.
"She'll be fine," Mrs. Adams assures you both as she pats you on your arm. Nodding you realize that your lip is trembling much like hers did minutes ago and you find yourself wishing you had your magical flower. Luke nods as he looks into the room in order to check on Lex before he turns back to you and reaches up to wipe a tear off of your cheek.
"Let's get you to work before Morgan sends out a SWAT team looking for his Baby Girl," he says, leading you away from the door as you nod and crane your neck to look at the girl who was happily gabbing with a little boy near the coat hooks, her yellow backpack the brightest of the bunch. He drives you both to Quantico in silence as you take a few moments to gather your thoughts and sort through your work e-mails, trying to get a head start on your day but failing miserably as you find yourself staring at a picture of Lex that was taken this morning. You don't realize that the truck has stopped moving until you feel his fingers on your chin pulling your face away from your phone towards him. He reaches out to grip your face between both of his hands and takes a second to look at you before he crushes his lips to yours, silencing the sentence that was on the tip of your tongue.
"Have I told you I love you lately?" He asks when he pulls back and leans his forehead against yours while rubbing his thumbs over your cheeks. You shake your head, smiling and looking up into his eyes as you reach up to curl your fingers over the back of his neck.
"I love you too, Luke," you whisper as your eyelids fall closed and he brings his mouth back to yours to the sound of your phone going off. You groan because you know that noise. "I have a case."
I literally sit down the hall, Boy Wonder, how do you always let your computer get this bad?" You ask as you sit in his chair staring at his computer screen in amazement. You glare at him out of the corner of your eye and are glad when he has the sense to look ashamed at his actions, but then again you've gone through this several times a year for the better half of a decade.
"You know I hate technology, Garcia." He explains as he waves a book in your face and you smile as you swat the tome out of your vision. You reach out to pick up the mug of tea that Derek slid across the tabletop to you, blowing at the steam when you hear a little voice calling your name. Turning in the chair you take in the sight of Lex running towards you from the glass doors. Her backpack flopping behind her as she's waving a piece of paper through the air while taking steps that are far too big for her stride. The flower is flopping around the top of her head and you notice throughout the day her ponytail had become lopsided and one of her knee socks had slid down around her ankle. She collides with your legs, letting out a loud oomph as she stumbles backward before you can reach out to catch her. You let out a chuckle as she looks up at you from the floor, pushing her bangs out of her face with her left hand and tossing the paper at you.
"I got a gold star!" She exclaims in an excited shout and you reach out to pull her to her feet before glancing out for her father who was walking through the glass door. "I took the stairs here without him," she says hooking her thumb over her shoulder, "he said that you were working and we shouldn't disturb you until later." You let out a loud laugh as she rolls her eyes and turns to Spencer who is staring at the pair of you in confusion.
"I'm Lex," she exclaims sticking her hand out to him and tapping her foot as she waits for him to shake her hand. "What's your name?" she continues as she reaches up to tug on his pant leg. You can't stop the laughter from exploding from your lips as Luke approaches you. He places a gentle kiss to your temple before looking at Hotch and waving apologetically. When you open your eyes you notice that you have attracted a crowd of people and so you stand and beckon the rest of the team over to you.
"My Fearless Protectors, I'd like for you to meet Lex and Luke," you say as you point to each of them. Turning you grip Lex's hand in your own as you introduce your team to the other important people in your life. "This is Spencer, Hotch, Rossi, JJ, Kate, and Derek," you tell them, pointing to each member of your team. She smiles up at the team and reaches out to shake their hands with a large smile.
"And how do you know Penny?" JJ asks, crouching down to be eye level with Lex who leans closer to the blonde woman.
"Penny sleeps over sometimes," she says while cupping her hands over her mouth, "because she's Daddy's girlfriend and they are always kissing." Your mouth opens and closes quickly as you look between your boyfriend, Lex, and your thoroughly amused team. Chuckling Luke reaches out to pull the girl back to him as you continue to look around you silently, heat creeping up into your cheeks.
"You're grounded until you're eighteen," Luke whispers to the small child earning him a glare from her. "It's nice to meet all of you but we should probably get going," he continues before turning to you instinctively reaching out to grasp your hand and pulling you in for a kiss.
"See!" Lex exclaims, hands waving wildly around her which earns her laughter from the members of your team. When Luke pulls away from you he is also blushing and reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck.
"Come on, Lex, Pen is working," he tells her while steering her away from you. "I'm sorry for the intrusion." He says over his shoulder. You stand watching them walk away from you, wondering when they had become your entire world when you feel an arm slide around your shoulder.
"I've been replaced," Derek says as he clutches his hands to his heart, "you never told me it was serious."
"Nobody can replace you, Chocolate Thunder," you say as you smile up at him. "But yeah, it's serious."