AN: Happy Super Clearance Chocolate Day everyone! I hope everyone that celebrated yesterday had a fabulous Valentines Day, and those of you like me who just wait for 2/15 to buy up all the leftovers get a good haul today! So for this week we have Jolene getting introduced to more people. Will it go well? Read it and find out! Tune in next week for moving day!

Jolene looked up when she heard the door to her room slide open and a small smile spread across her face as Agent Morgan walked into the room. She was feeling much better than the other times she had seen him. She was still physically weak, but her medications had kicked in and she was feeling much more mentally stable. Some part of her mind doubted if Agent Morgan would come back, but she had something inside of her said that he would.

"Hey honey, how are you feeling?" Agent Morgan walked over and sat on the edge of her bed again.

"Much better. How was your day Agent Morgan?" She smiled at him and he flashed her a grin back. She was so caught up in him that she didn't even realize that he had brought someone else with him.

"Same old same old. I brought someone with me tonight. And please, call me Derek. If we're going to live together this 'Agent Morgan' shit has got to go." Derek laughed and gestured to his friend. Jolene recognized her as one of the agents who had been in her room when she woke up..

"Hi. You're Agent Garcia right?" Jolene tensed slightly but forced herself to remain calm even though everything in her head was screaming at her to shut down.

"Garcia yes, agent no." Garcia looked puzzled and Jolene realized they had never been formally introduced. "Penelope is my first name. How did you know?"

"When I woke up, I heard Agent Hotchner call your name. I remembered it." Jolene shrugged and bit her lip. "Sorry. It's been awhile since I've been around people. I'm a little rusty at … everything." Jolene rung her hands back and forth in her lap and focused her gaze out the window, feeling deflated.

"It's okay." She could almost hear the sunshine in Penelope's voice. "It just threw me off. I didn't think you would remember that."

"Well I don't know about you girls but I'm starving. How about I get us some food?" Derek got up and walked over to read Jolene's chart hanging on the wall.

"I can have solid foods now. Gentle ones." She was excited and she couldn't keep it from her voice. After all, it'd been almost six months since she'd had anything except bread and water, and the last month she hadn't had any solid food at all.

"Well what would you like then?"

"Can you see if I can have an omelet? Ham, mushroom and cheese?"

"I will get you the best hospital omelet that you've ever had. What about you baby girl?" He turned to look at Penelope and Jolene guessed that the two of them were a couple.

"You know what I like Sugar."

They both watched Derek leave. There was a heavy silence between them. Jolene took a deep breath to calm her shaken nerves. She met Penelope's eyes and saw them filled with pity. She was looking at Jolene like everyone else was: like Jolene was a victim. She supposed that she was, but she was tired of it. She was surrounded by so much pity she felt like she was drowning.

"Please don't look at me like that." Jolene almost jumped at her own voice.

"I'm sorry. I know how you feel. Well, not exactly how you feel, but similar to how you feel right now." Jolene could tell there was something behind her rambling, but if she had felt any hint of the hurt that Jolene was feeling now, she didn't want to force Penelope to dredge that up.

"You're nervous." Jolene interrupted whatever Penelope was saying.

"Oh God you're not a profiler too are you?"

"No. I used to write songs and groom dogs. So I guess I'm a dog profiler if anything." Jolene laughed sadly. "I'm bad at the whole people thing remember? It's what got me here in the first place."

"Oh. Right." Penelope looked down at the floor. She hadn't moved from the entry way since arriving.

"Why don't you come in and sit down? The chair that Ag- I mean Derek, used to sit in is still here. You're not going to break me."

"You're not going to punch me are you?" Jolene raised an eyebrow at Penelope as she walked over. "Well, the first thing you did to Derek was punch him so I wasn't sure if you're inability to connect with people was partially due to your greetings." Jolene couldn't help but laugh and Penelope visibly relaxed.

"I like you. I think we're going to be good friends."

"Me too. And Derek clearly likes you too. Welcome to the family. We're all a little crazy, but we take care of each other. I can help you with anything you need. I'm a computer wiz and I volunteer one night a week doing counseling with the families of victims of the cases that we work so if you ever need to talk just let me know. Plus I could only imagine what living with Morgan is going to be like. Working with him is enough for me."

"Aren't you two a couple?" This time it was Penelope's turn to laugh.

"Oh no honey. He's just my work hubby."

"Oh. It just seemed…"

"I know, it seems like more, seems like we're a couple, yada yada. I've heard it all before." Penelope waved her hand dismissively. "Let's talk about you."

"Me? Why, I'm not that interesting."

"Just humor me. Favorite color?"

Jolene squeezed her eyes shut as an unwelcome memory flooded her senses.

"What's your favorite color darling?"

"I like light blue and white."

"I'll make sure to paint the house tonight. It should be ready for you to move in on Monday."

Jolene had no idea how much those blue walls would haunt her.

Jolene gasped as Penelope put her hand on Jolene's arm. She closed her eyes and shook her head, willing the flashes out of her head.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Penelope's voice was full of concern.

"I don't know." Jolene was swallowing back the burn of tears.

"I can call a nurse…"

"No I'm okay. I just… I don't know what my favorite color is. Sorry."

"It does get better, I promise." She squeezed Jolene's arm comfortingly. "So dog groomer? You must love dogs."

"Yeah I do. I love animals more than people. Dogs, horses and cats are my favorite. I had these dogs as a little girl, Orpheus and Troy. We found Orpheus as a little two-week-old puppy and my dad helped me raise him. Troy was the farm Collie. Orpheus looked like a small smooth coated version of Troy."

"Do you still have them?"

"No, this was back when I was seven. Troy passed away when I was fourteen and Orpheus followed him three years later on the same day. I haven't had a dog since due to college."

"I used to have a dog. Clooney. He passed away last year." They both turned toward Derek as he walked in with to-go cartons of food. "Food is here and it is hot."

He placed the food containers on the overbed table and wheeled it over. He took off the top box and handed it to Penelope, then grabbed the second box and sat down on the edge of the bed. Jolene moved her box to the side so she could share it with Derek. While everyone else was beginning to eat, Jolene opened her box and just stared at her omelet.

"Is something wrong?" Derek asked.

"No, it's just that…" Jolene swallowed back the all too familiar burn of tears once more. She put down the plastic fork so that they wouldn't notice that her hands were shaking. The simplest things that she used to take for granted were now overwhelming to readjust too. "This is the first time I've eaten something besides bread and water in over six months." Jolene took a deep breath and closed her eyes to steady herself once more. "It's just one of those things that you don't ever expect to take for granted, that you don't realize you take for granted, until something happens that makes you realize that you do and have been."

The room was silent for a minute as everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

"Well, I'm just sorry that your first experience is a hospital omelet because let's be honest, there are far better omelets out there." Derek said as he began eating once more.

A small, amused smile spread across Jolene's face as she picked up her fork and began to eat. The flavors were much richer than she remembered. So much so, she almost couldn't eat. After a few slow bites her body began to adjust and she was able to enjoy the little bit that she did eat. Her stomach was still shrunken and after having been on a feeding tube while she was in a coma and the solid food felt foreign and hard. She was also surprised at how quickly her jaw muscles got tired, but she at least had expected that after so much disuse.

After dinner she was content to sit and listen to Derek and Penelope talk and joke with one another. Jolene asked a few questions about the people and things they were talking about, but for the most part she was content to sit and listen. They each had their own way of making people feel comfortable, and when they were together they made the entire room warm and bright.

Jolene's nurse came in to check on her around 8:00 and gave her another round of medication, including another sedative to help her sleep. Her tests had all come back as expected so if the food she ate for dinner passed through her system without issue, she would be allowed to go home with Derek the following evening.

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she woke up alone in the middle of the night feeling the unforgiving stare of cold coal eyes that weren't there.