Don't Own.
Apparently my muse has decided to stick around. This next chapter was all I could think about today and I just had to finish writing it down.
Enjoy!
…
After hoisting Payton up into the backseat of Aaron's Subaru Forester, Penelope climbed in with him and shut the door behind them. She leaned over Payton to do up his seatbelt before fastening her own.
Payton smiled at her from his seat "Mama?"
"Yeah?" she replied, looking down at him.
"This…" Payton began before yawning; he rubbed his eyes and continued "was the best day ever."
Penelope closed her eyes tightly, forcing away tears and then smiled back at Payton "I'm glad you think so," she said. She leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of his head.
Payton leaned into her, his eyelids slowly drifting down before his breathing slowed and he was fast asleep. Penelope didn't blame him, it had been a long day, all she wanted to do was go to sleep too.
Her eyes flicked to the front seat as Aaron opened the driver door and slipped in. He didn't say anything to her but softly closed the door, giving away the fact that he knew Payton was asleep.
He started up the engine and they were off.
Penelope stared out her window as they left the parking garage of the FBI, her eyes roamed over everything, taking in the streets and shops that she used to know so well. It was dark out but she still had enough light to make out a few new places.
She involuntarily sighed when they passed by a coffee shop that had once been a bar that her and the team used to frequent often.
Aaron made a noise from the front seat and Penelope turned away from the window. Their eyes caught in the rearview mirror when Penelope looked to the front but Aaron quickly looked away.
Penelope shook her head, the silence in the car was uncomfortable "Aaron…?" she began.
"Don't." was his instant reply.
Penelope wanted to object but she knew it wasn't the right time and so she kept quiet for the rest of the ride, up until they were turning onto his street and she had a sudden realization.
"Aaron," she spoke up, ignoring his grunt of annoyance, she could feel a tightness forming in her chest "what about Jack."
Coming back to the team and informing Aaron that he had a second son was one thing, but Penelope didn't know how she could face Jack at that moment. It was going to be extremely awkward, she had no idea how the boy…no teen would take it and she wasn't prepared to handle that yet.
"He's not here," Aaron said, choosing to finally answer her "he's at his aunt's."
Penelope felt relief flood through her but it was quickly followed by curiosity. She couldn't think of why Jack wouldn't be home on a night that his father wasn't on a case, especially now that he was older. She wondered if Aaron had called his son and asked him to go to Jessica's once he found out about Payton, but couldn't think of when he would have had time to do it.
The question was on the tip of her tongue but as they pulled into Aaron's driveway she forced herself to forget it. Aaron obviously did not want to talk to her, and she had no right questioning him about his son. Even if she did, there was no doubt that would make him even angrier.
Instead Penelope managed to remove Payton of his seatbelt and lift him out of the Forester with only a slight whimper from him.
Aaron led Penelope up the steps and opened the door for her and Payton. He gestured for her to go in and closed the door behind them. "I'll show you to the guest room," he said without emotion and then made his way quickly down the hall.
Penelope readjusted Payton in her arms before following Aaron. He led her to the third door on the right and Penelope thanked him as she stepped inside. She didn't get a response but she forced herself not to dwell on it.
She walked into the room and over to the bed. It was a queen and would easily fit her and Payton. The two were used to sharing a room. Moving so often from one place to another left them with little funds and renting bachelor apartments.
Penelope placed Payton gently onto the bed. His eyes drifted open for a moment as he searched for her in the darkness. "Mama?" he whispered, a nervous hint to his voice.
"Don't worry baby," Penelope said as she covered him with a blanket "we're safe, nothing can hurt us now."
A small smile graced Payton's features before his eyes drifted shut again and he found sleep once more.
Penelope smiled down at him; she brushed his bangs to the side affectionately before quietly leaving the room. Spencer had helped put their luggage in the trunk before they had left and she wanted to grab something to change into. Sleeping in a skirt and blouse wasn't overly appealing to her at that moment.
She closed the door to the bedroom softly and headed back to the front door. It was open a crack and her luggage was already sitting inside the door. She went to grab it but stopped when she heard Aaron's voice from the other side of the door.
"Yeah I know," he was saying, his voice frustrated "I have tried talking to him. He's not open to talking to me…he doesn't need consoling Jessica. No we're not going to talk about this now…Yeah, I'll call you in the morning. Tell him I said goodnight."
Penelope took a step back from the door knowing that she shouldn't have been listening but it was too late, Aaron pushed the door open and he stepped inside. He glowered when he saw her standing there.
"I…I just came to grab my suitcase," Penelope explained.
Aaron ran a hand over his brow, pinching the bridge of his nose like he had a headache. "Sure," he said, his voice didn't sound angry though, just tired. He started walking down the hall, towards his own bedroom.
Penelope felt bad; she forgot about her suitcase for a moment and walked after him. After overhearing his conversation with Jessica it was obvious that it wasn't just the situation with her and Payton that was grating on him.
"Are you okay?" she asked before he could get too far down the hallway.
His shoulders tensed and he stopped walking.
Penelope's mouth snapped shut and she took a step back, she realized as he turned to her that she had totally misjudged the situation. Why couldn't she just keep her big mouth shut?
"Am I okay?" Aaron repeated when he was facing her "Is that supposed to be a joke? Of course I'm not okay."
"I didn't mean…" Penelope began before shaking her head "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." She began to move past Aaron and watched him shake his head.
"Running away again I see," Aaron said.
Penelope froze, the words hurt. She turned back to him "I'm sorry," she ended up saying "I wasn't trying to hurt you; I thought it was for the best."
"You stole my son," Aaron growled at her.
"I didn't see it like that when I left," she explained "I didn't think you would want him, and I didn't know what to do. I was scared that I would end up raising him on my own if I didn't go with Kevin."
Aaron's look was not amused; she could see him slowly getting angrier. "That obviously didn't work out," she said "but by the time I left I had myself convinced that what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you. I'm sorry about that. I know now that I was wrong and I' so, so sorry, I don't know what else to say."
"You stole my son," he said again, a bit louder this time "you didn't even give me a chance! You said that you thought I wouldn't want him but I had no idea you were pregnant. You didn't give me the chance to decide, and just so you know I never would have written you and Payton off if I had known. You were selfish, and you left. You could have told me that day, before you vanished, we talked. I tried to convince you to stay, but your mind was already made up. You didn't give me the chance and now I've missed seven years of my son's life!"
Aaron's face was red and he was breathing hard.
However Aaron's speech had made Penelope defensive "How could I have possibly known that you would have accepted Payton? You did write me off! After we slept together, which if you remember was your idea in the first place, you acted like I didn't exist. You woke up the next morning, told me it was a mistake and then didn't talk to me for weeks afterwards unless you had to. What was I supposed to think?!"
Penelope was worked up too now, as she glared at Aaron.
He threw up his hands and Penelope flinched back, the memory of Kevin hitting her filling her mind.
Aaron who had opened his mouth to say something stopped at the look of fear on her face. He stared at her in disbelief and slowly lowered his arms "You think I would hurt…"
Aaron was caught midsentence when Payton flew past Penelope fast as lighting, his arms outstretched, pushing into Aaron's abdomen. Aaron was knocked off balance; he grasped the wall to steady himself and looked down at Payton in surprise.
The little boy huffed, his finger pointing at Aaron accusingly "Don't yell at my Mom!" he yelled at him.
Penelope hurried over to Payton; she got down next to him and ran a soothing hand over the tense muscles in his back. Payton must have woken up to the sound of them arguing and he'd come rushing to her defense thinking she was in trouble.
She wasn't surprised; Payton even from a young age had always been protective over her.
"Honey," she said calmingly "don't be upset. Your father wasn't hurting me." Payton looked at her, his bottom lip trembling, searching for truth in her words. Penelope felt bad for making her son upset, really she and Aaron shouldn't have picked to have their argument right outside his door.
"Do you remember when Mr. Cliff and I got into an argument about the leaking tap in our apartment?" Penelope asked her son and smiled reassuringly when he nodded his head "This is like that time, your father and I were discussing grownup things that's all. You don't have to be worried about me; your father would never do anything to hurt us."
Payton sniffed "Honestly?" he questioned.
"Yes of course," Penelope said "you never have to worry about that. Now why don't you go give your father a hug goodnight and we'll get you back into bed?"
"Are you going to come to sleep too?" Payton asked.
Penelope nodded "I just have to grab my pajamas.
"Okay," Payton said watching as she stood up and walked back to her suitcase. He walked back over to Aaron and looked up at him.
…
Aaron crouched down "I'm sorry about that Buddy."
"It's okay," Payton said leaning forward to give his dad a hug. Aaron embraced him tightly; he felt Payton relax against him and felt himself relax as well. He couldn't understand why Penelope hadn't thrown him under the bus, he was being hard on her and it would have been so easy to come out on top of the argument, but she hadn't allowed Payton to think badly of him.
Payton's arms loosed and he began to pull away but before he did he whispered "Don't ever be like him…"
Aaron was struck by that, he had no doubt of the 'him' that Payton was referring too. He wanted to promise his son that he wouldn't ever be like that but Payton had already pulled away and was walking down the hallway with his mother.
Aaron watched them go; Penelope didn't say anything to him as she passed by but he caught her eye and tried to apologize with a look.
He had a lot of thinking to do, but first he needed to get to sleep, the next day was not going to be an easy one.