Title: Time's Fool
Rating: R
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Universe: Zombie Cantos
Characters/Pairing: Garcia/Kevin
Genre: Horror/Drama
Summary: Penelope Garcia's an optimist and not even the apocalypse can change that.
Zombie Cantos: Time's Fool
* * *
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Sonnet 116 – William Shakespeare
*
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Fredriech Nietzsche
* * *
Three months after the Zombie Apocalypse
She knows, even before she can see their faces.
She knows that something has changed the moment she sees the wheels kicking up dust in the distances.
Realistically speaking, she thinks she should have given up hope a long time ago; even in a town as small as this one, almost the entire population had succumbed to the virus. Even if they had made it out of town before the worst struck, it's a long journey, and there would have been a lot of zombies in between.
Penelope Garcia's an optimist, though, and not even the apocalypse can change that.
She still has hope for some kind of future, because even after all that they've been through, they're surviving. And today she just has something else to be hopeful for.
'Oh my stars and garters,' she whispers.
Hotch notices that something's going on at about the same time as she does, his eyes lighting up for the first time in what seems like eternity – there hadn't been any ten-year-olds sitting in the front seat on the way out of town, that's for sure.
She's on her tippy-toes as the vehicle draws closer, trying to get a glimpse of who else is there. Morgan's driving, as always, and she can see a flash of blond in the back seat, but her glasses have cracked sometime in the last three months, and prescription lenses aren't the easiest thing to find when all the optometrists are either dead, undead, or looking for more effective ways to grow hydroponic potatoes.
The SUV comes to a stop, and her heart is beating so hard, it's almost as though there's two of them in there, thumping away in tandem. Time lord victorious.
She only wishes she could go back in time, if only to savor the past.
Scratch that, though. The car doors open, and she's not entirely sure her heart hasn't stopped beating altogether. Morgan's out first, and then she sees JJ, clutching the bundle of limbs that can only be Henry to her chest, as though he's some kind of lifeline.
Then she sees Kevin, and everything else seems to fall away. She's vaguely aware of Hotch's tearful reunion with Jack, and of the tears in JJ's eyes, and the fact that Will is noticeably absent, but she right now all she can think about is the strong arms that are wrapping around her, holding her tight.
'I missed you,' she murmurs into his chest.
'Missed you too,' he says back, and in those words, she hears volumes. He sounds so much more serious. A somber echo of the man that she loves.
Hotch and JJ split off from the group, their respective children in tow. Kevin looks after them, giving a small sigh.
Garcia nudges him. 'So I guess you've been playing big daddy, huh?'
'Yeah,' he says, his smile somehow managing to convey great sorrow and great happiness at the same time. 'Will died,' he says, and it seems non-sequitur, but Garcia gets the feeling that the thought has been lurking under the surface for a long time. 'About a month ago. The kids, they…' He pauses, biting his lip. 'They're strong,' he says finally.
'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree,' Garcia whispers, her own voice starting to choke with tears. Because it's not alright. It will never really be alright.
She doesn't ask about what happened, about the circumstances that led to Will's death, or about any single thing that's happened since the day the world ended. There's plenty of time for that. Nothing but time. At least now she has someone that can help her work on the radios that she's been tinkering with, once it had become clear that they'd probably be staying in this town for a little longer than two weeks. It's not a vacation, it's their lives.
She takes his bag for him, and together they walk back towards the motel, leaving the others to deal with the unloading of whatever supplies they'd managed to pick up before the impromptu rescue mission.
Kevin's clothes are torn, and he smells a little bit, but she's almost used to that by now. Still, she grabs a bucket and fills it with water from the limited supply that they've got. A bucket bath is all she can give him right now.
'A sponge bath?' he asks, the grin on his face widening. The smile doesn't quite meet his eyes, and part of her wonders how much of it is put on for her benefit. 'With my very own sexy nurse?'
'I think I left that outfit back in D.C.' she shrugs. 'You'll have to deal with post-apocalyptic retro technical analyst, which, if I recall correctly, was on your list of fantasies anyway.'
'As long as it's you, I'm smitten,' he says, lifting his shirt over his head. The skin is rough and tanned, which means he's forgone wearing a shirt a few times. Three months ago, that would have meant showing off the slight belly that had resulted from a diet of bacon donuts and Big Gulps. He's lean now, and there are more than a couple of scars decorating his torso.
Squeezing the sponge dry, she hands him a towel. It's no decontamination shower, but it's as good as they're going to get until they can procure a renewable water source, even if it means accepting the urine-water that Reid's been working on.
She lays a hand on his bare chest, not saying anything. After three months, after the zombie apocalypse, after everything, she's not really sure what she can say, beyond what she's already said. So instead she kisses him. It's soft, and it's gentle, and it's nothing like the sometimes awkward, sometimes humorous makeout sessions they'd had when they'd first started dating. A lot smoother than the series of unfortunate events that had found Kevin standing naked in front of David Rossi after a post-coital shower. That's not to say that there's never been any real romance. They'd just done romance a little differently than most couples. Geeking out over the latest Terry Pratchett novel, rather than getting gooey over romcoms.
It's nice.
It's different, but it's nice.
Three months isn't enough to make her forget that he's incredibly ticklish, or that he likes it when she licks his nipples, even if there's a scar running through one of them now. It's red, and ugly, as though it hadn't really had the medical attention it should have. She makes a mental note to have Jean take a look at him in the morning, but right now, he's all hers.
She makes good use of the condoms that Morgan had jokingly given her a few weeks back. He'd picked them up on one of the supply runs, and given a box to all of the team, saying that it's really not the time or the place to be having kids. She'd given him a half-serious slap then, because they'd been a reminder of what she'd lost. Now, though…she makes a mental note to thank him.
In any case, she's fairly sure that she's the first of the team to be using them, though surprisingly, it's Reid that's come the closest to getting some. She shouldn't really be surprised, come to think of it, because nerds are incredibly sexy. She's got living proof, calling her "Oracle" as he worships her body. She returns the favor and calls him "Nightwing."
Time's changed some things.
But not everything.
A/N: A big thanks to the person that nominated Kevin Lynch for Best Supporting Character in the CM Fan Fic Awards for Miles to Go Before I Sleep. It was honestly a pretty big surprise *g*. Consider this a pimp of sorts; I've also got nominations for a bunch of other stuff, so you should all totally go check it out. Peace.