So, here is the second chapter. I know it's a slow going, but we all know – the route is the goal. Let me know what you are thinking. I also would appreciate some feedback since it's my first story I have ever written so far. I hope they are not too out of character.

Homecoming means coming home to what is in your heart. ~Author Unknown

Finally. This case is done. I can't wait to get back. Luke wanted to talk to Penny first thing when they would be back at the office. But maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have this talk at the bureau. So he texted Penny a message, asking her if she wanted to go for a drink, just the two of them. While waiting for an answer he started to talk to Reid on the flight home. Luke knew how hard it was for his fellow agent, who still suffered a bit from PTSS, but was doing much better the last weeks.
JJ came to their seats and joined in on the conversation.
Inside he waited impatiently for an answer from Penelope. He knew that she has her phone on her all the time, and yet half an hour past and still no answer. Luke tried to close his eyes for a bit but couldn't bring himself to relax. Every few minutes he checked his phone.

"You waiting for a call Luke?" JJ asked a bit nosy.
"Uhm, ah no, not really." Luke shrugged and put his phone away.
"Yeah sure. You looked at that phone at least 20 times in the past hour." JJ said with a little smile.
"No, it was 25 times in one hour and 7 Minutes" Reid barged in.
"Really guys, its nothing." Luke cursed himself silently, of course they would see it, they were Profilers after all.

Bzzzzzzzz.

The Phone in his pocket vibrated. He reached instantly for it. Rolling his eyes at himself when JJ was speaking to Spencer in a hushed voice. "He wasn't waiting for it. Never ever."
"Hey Newbie, not a good idea. Also I have plans." Luke read the message at least five times, and didn't realize that his shoulders dropped a bit and his face turned to a blank visage until JJ converse to him.
"Bad news?" She put a hand on his arm and was clearly concerned.
"Nah everything's fine." Luke forced himself to smile.
"You know you can talk to us, right? We're here for you, we are a family, you know that." JJ said to him with a insightfully smile and Spencer nodded his head to her words.
"I know guys, thank you. It was just something unexpected, and you know, I'm not so the..." He shrugged.
"Talking guy. Yes we know, but you need to know that you can if you want to. Anytime." JJ was worried a bit. In the last year she never saw him so down, or that he showed his feelings so obviously. But there was not much she could do when he didn't want to talk about it, and she was never a person to push someone.

I don't get it. First Penelope ignored him, then she was completely different on the phone and now that. Luke was totally confused. For the rest of the flight he was deeply in thoughts. They landed and drove back to Quantico. As always Penelope was still there to welcome them home. She hugged all of them, everyone except him. "Welcome home Newbie. So glad you are all back in one piece." She smiled at all of them. That smile. It is perfect. It is heaven. Even with her rejection of his invitation he still felt his heart beat a bit faster when he saw that smile. When he saw her.
He took his go bag, said good bye to everyone and walked away with a rigid step. The whole team looked after him as he quickly left them behind.

Penelope went to her office to grab her stuff, when JJ came to her.
"You should really try to be a bit nicer to Luke. Like that phone call. You made him smile. By the way, what was that about?" Penelope lightly shook her head. JJ took her hands in hers and squeezed them a bit. "On the flight home, he was waiting impatiently for a message, and when he got it, he was devastated. Or at least down, hard to tell with Luke." Penelope lightly smiled about that. "But I never saw him like that in all the past months. And now you welcomed us all back with a hug, except for him. I thought you were finally accepting and starting to like him. Its not like you, to be so resenting towards anyone. And when he left before, I can't but feel that he is kinda lost."
"Mhhhm, I know sugar." Penny sighed heavily. "I really can't explain why I react to him this way. But I'll be better. I promise my blonde beautiful gorgeous friend." Penelope smiled at JJ, but not as bright as she normally does.
"You don't need to be better Penny, just be who you are to Luke as you are to us." With that they headed out of the office and to the elevator.

Bzzzzzzz.

Luke was almost asleep as he grabbed his phone. He squeezed his eyes shut because of the bright light from the display. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light he saw he got a message from Penelope.
"Sorry brown sugar for my short unpersonalized message. And for not welcoming you home properly. Its just, I don't know how do deal with you. After you know... Well doesn't matter, see you bright and shiny tomorrow at the bureau. Sweet dreams Newbie. xo Penelope"
Luke smiled when he read the message. Maybe she wasn't mad at him about that kiss after all. Maybe she just really didn't know what to think about it. We really need to talk.
So he began to type his answer.
"Its ok Penelope. But we really should talk about that kiss. At least that we're not awkward toward each other. Good night beautiful." He forced himself not to send her a kissing smiley. And rolled his eyes over himself.

The first thing tomorrow when he catches Penelope alone, he wants to ask her to go out again. Alone. He needed to know, this roller-coaster of feelings he lately was experiencing wasn't doing him any good. Luke never felt so attracted to a women before and was so unsure about it at the same time. Not good for my state of mind at all. I can't wait for tomorrow. And with this thought he finally fell asleep. But it was not as a peaceful sleep as the night before.
The next morning in the office, before he got the chance to speak to Penelope, Spencer told him that Prentiss wanted to see him. So he walked to her office.

"I heard you were looking for me."
"Yeah come on in, have a seat." Emily pointed at the chair. Her desk was full of folders with reports.
"Oh oh. Am I in trouble?" Luke asked with a little smile.
"Well we do have to talk about one of your FT3O2s. Your report about what happened on the roof with Scratch."
Luke was really not thrilled to talk about that topic. He wrote the report but was a little light on the details, he knows that. But what had happened on that roof, it was still very present on his mind. Even if he didn't wanted it to be.
Emily was talking about the press and that Scratch was an known enemy. With a inner sigh he began to report to her what had happened that night in details. He pointed out that Scratch was begging for help, more then once, and that he didn't try to pull him up, so Scratch fell more then 50 feet, she answered with a sympathetic voice, "That was intense."
"For all of us" Luke answered with a little nod.
"You did the right thing, with Scratch. If you'd reach for him he would have pulled you down. You followed protocol."
"I know", he said with a little bit of relieve,but he still felt somewhat guilty. He knew that Scratch deserved to die, but he wondered. Was it because he deserved to die that he didn't help him, that he wanted him to be dead or was it really just following protocol? Luke was a strong guy, he knew that. He wasn't bragging about it, it was simply a fact. So he could have pulled him up, knowing Scratch wouldn't have the strength to pulled him down. He was almost sure about that. And yet, he didn't do it. Another thing on his conscience and he was sure, another memory for his nightmares.
"So what you just told me, would you write it up?" Prentiss looked at him with a concerned expression.
"You got it boss."
"Ok thank you." She gave him a little smile and attended again to the reports on the desk, when he began to walk towards the door as the phone started to ring.
Oh great. Writing this report again and what had happened. As if I needed a reminder of that.
"Prentiss." Luke heard Emily answering the phone. "Secretary Duke!" Luke stopped at the door sill and turned around, hearing her voice turning fierce.

"Just got a call from Homeland Security" Emily said as she and Luke where walking towards the others and to the television that was hanging on the wall.
"Hey whats going on?" JJ asked.
There was a workplace shooting at an office, a pc-gaming company. He had a few flight simulator games from them. He mentioned it and saw from the corner of his eyes that Penelope glared at him for a moment.
Apparently Homeland Security was asking for their help, must be a bad one otherwise they would'nt want us in.
The talking about the shooting continued, questions occur about terrorism, a coordinated attack or a lone wolf. But since the situation was not fully disclosed, they had not an answer for any of that.
"Wheels up in 10", Emily said to the team.

It was a taff case. The victims of the shooting with the massive gun shot wounds at the first scene, and then on the second, it reminded him of the war. And the things he had seen. It brought back a lot of memories. No good ones.
As they discovered more and more details about the Unsub, a drone operator who had a breakdown because of guilt at what he had done and also was suffering from PTSS for sure, Luke could understand him. Not that he ever would approve of killing other people or anything, but the guilt that the young man must have felt on his counscience. He had a lot of guilt also inside of him, for other reasons but not so far away from the Unsubs's.
He was glad when they finished the job and that they could arrest the CEO from the government contract company.

On the flight home, Luke had a lot of thoughts about the past. He didn't wanted to be all alone that night and when they would finally arrive it would be to late to pick up Roxy. I need a distraction, I can't think about that case. And the past. I can't have the memories brought back to me. It took me too long to put them aside.

When they were back in the office, all Luke wanted to do when he finished the paperwork was to go to Penelope and ask her if she wanted to eat with him. Not only that he wanted to finally talk to her, but to be in her warm, lovely and full of happiness presence. He longed for that so much in that moment, after these days and this case. He was almost scared of how much he wanted to see and talk to her. See her smile, hear her voice. He heard JJ a few months back inviting Penelope to a Thai Restaurant, and remembered that Penelope was thrilled about it and that she said she loved Thai food. So he walked into her office to ask her out for dinner, but she was not there. The Computers were shut down, the Monitors off. Fuck. She must already be on her way home. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I should have texted her. But he knew exactly why he didn't. He didn't wanted to hear another "no". Not that night. He couldn't have borne he went back to his desk. Before he headed to Penelope's office he had finished the report about Scratch and what had happened and gave it to Emily. He looked at his emails and saw that he got some information about Peakstone and that the government ended the contract with them. At least one good news tonight. As he began to put his things together to get home, he saw that the light in Emily's Office was still on. Not wanting to be alone he decided to go buy some food and ask her if she wanted to eat with him. He liked her, not as he liked Penelope of course, just as a good friend. He could talk to her, easier then with most other people and she knew some things of his past, where he did his tours with the Rangers and such. He normally didn't talk about that to anyone except for some of his family members. So Luke got out of the bureau and drove the short way to the next Thai Restaurant.

When he got back he stepped into her office and told her about Peakstone and the information he received previously. Her desk was even fuller of paperwork then before. So he held the food up.
"No way, you brought dinner? Och, that is so perfect." He could hear in her voice that she really was thrilled about it. He felt a little guilt that she wasn't his first choice for the dinner plans. But what should he have said? I wanted to eat with Penelope and she is gone so I'm stuck with you? That wouldn't be the truth either, he liked Emily's company and besides he was glad not to be all alone.
She meant that they should eat together but then remembered Roxy and that is was also late. He told her that he couldn't pick Roxy up because it was to late anyways so they went together to the table and set down.
"Eating alone in the office is the worst" Emily spoke as she put her food on the table.
Luke laughed a little and answered to her "Tell me about it."
"And why is it that I always come home to an empty refrigerator?" she continued.
They began to eat and chatted about different things and he even laughed some times. He asked her one of two questions about Penelope in between, trying to learn as much as he could about her.

"You ask a lot of questions about Penny" Emily wondered.
"Yeah well, she's not exactly a fan of mine I guess, and it's very hard to get to know her. I see the way she acts with you all and since she does not let me get to know her, I sometimes I ask you guys. Just being a bit curious". Luke was not very happy that Emily caught up on him with his questions.
"I get it. She is different around you. And it has been months you joined the team. She should have get used to you by now. I will need to talk to her."

Luke just wanted to say that it wasn't necessary for her to talk to Penelope when suddenly he heard someone walking the stairs up also there was a voice coming closer "Why is my super sexy Unit Chief still here?" Penelope was saying as she stepped into the office. Emily and Luke both turned around just in time to see her eyes growing bigger and that her face was turning into a little bit of a shock.
"Hey Pen, what are you still doing here? Luke was so nice and brought me dinner, since I needed to work late with all the paperwork" Emily answered here and pointed her thumb back at her desk.

Fuck. Where the hell did she come from, she was gone, I looked for her. He peered down at the table and then back to here. What will she think. He knew what it could look like, even when it was nothing more then a meal and some company.
"Oh wow. Sorry my lovely friends" Penelope said after a few silent moments, "I helped some guys down on the second floor with some computer problems and then remembered I forgot something in my office. I saw that your light was one my fluffy Chef. I didn't mean to interrupt". Her voice sounded nervous, and as fast as she spoke, something was definitely bothering her. And with that Penelope walked away. Walking away? No it looks like she's escaping. Damn it.

"Penny wait" Emily shouted after her with a puzzled look. As her eyes wandered back to where Luke was sitting, Luke's face full of remorse among a lot of other things, she spoke to him. "What the hell was that all about, and whats with that look on your face?"
"Uhm, ahm, well..." Luke had no idea what to answer. And his mind was not exactly in this conversation at all.
She could clearly see he was very uncomfortable and speculation rose in her as she thought about the last months and the interactions between the both of them. The questions from him about her and also the other way around, Penelope was curious about him to. With what she just learned she finally started to see all of it from a different point of view, and then it clicked.
Luke was still sitting rigid at the table and locking back to the door where Penelope left just a minute or two ago.

"You should go after her, you know. And tell her." Emily said with a gentle voice.
Luke was startled and looked at her. "Uhm what? What shall I tell her?" He asked confused.
"Luke, remember? We are Profilers, and well, with your expression, and with hers, it is a little bit obvious I think. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. So go and talk to her."
He sighed and began to stand up, "I don't know what you mean, but thanks. And please, don't tell the others, whatever you think is going on."
"Of course not, bye Luke" she said to him, with a wink of her eye as he was leaving her office. He began to run to the elevator, hopefully to catch up with Penelope before she was gone.

Am I actually running? When was the last time you ran for a women? Never. You answer to yourself. Please, please let me catch up to her.

God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them. ~Author Unknown

I promise that in the next chapter it will get more interesting. But I don't want to press this story to fast.

I also have some ideas about One Shots. Not sure if I should write and post them, don't know if there would be interest in them.

Hope you enjoy the story so far. xo