In the morning, Penelope found herself more nervous about the call from Doctor Myrkle than she had been for Rossi's verdict. Erin kissed her on her way out the car door to head into the building. "As soon as I get the call, I'll call you, I promise. And this is only clearing up the three percent uncertainty we have."
"Suddenly, three percent is seeming like an insurmountable number. I want this to go okay, more than anything in the world."
"I'll still love you if we have to go through a second round of IVF."
"I'm still amazed that you know my secret heart so well, my dove. I love you."
"And I, you. Now get going before you're late. Aaron will be waiting on the results of that search he had you run last night." Erin leaned over and kissed her once more, pushing her out the door and handing her her lunch as she did so. Penelope took it and made her way up the walk and into the building. Her mind was full of her musings about how she would react if the three percent turned out to be their answer this time. Patience really was not her strongest suit, she concluded.
She opened the door and stepped into Mike's security line, smiling at him slightly. "Good morning."
"Morning, Penelope. How's Erin doing?"
"Well, she's doing well. We all are, thanks for asking. And you're family?"
"Things are going good for us. It's a bit hectic, what with us getting ready to move our daughter cross country in about six months."
"That's us, too. Paul was accepted to Michigan State. I think we're going to have a doctor in the family in a few years, Mike, but not in time to deliver our baby." She smiled at him and watched his face light up.
"Congratulations, Penelope. When is the child due?"
"August. I figure the babies will be here for two weeks by the time we get ready to move Paul up. That's going to be an interesting road trip. Well, I should get up to my office, I'm in the middle of a search for Hotch and his team. Have a good day."
"You too."
She pushed the elevator button and waited for a car to arrive. Her stomach still roiled as she rode up to her floor, and she stepped out into the bullpen only to run to the bathroom and lose her breakfast. She felt someone come up behind her and she looked up to see Cass standing there. "Aren't you supposed to be in Texas?" she asked.
"They left without me. Agent Hotchner said to look after you before he got on the plane. Here." She thrust out a wet paper towel at Penelope, then helped her to her feet. "Did you eat something off this morning?"
"No, I'm just waiting for a test result to come back, and I'm rather nervous about it."
"Oh, my god, do they think you have cancer?" Cass asked, anxiety filling her voice at once.
"No, no, nothing like that, Cass. I'm pregnant, I think. There's a small chance that the treatment didn't take, and that's what's eating me up inside."
A smile spread over her face. "You and Erin went the IVF route?" Penelope nodded. "How lovely. I take it you already took an over the counter pregnancy test that came back positive. What are you worried about then?" she said as they walked to her office.
"That small three percent false positive," Penelope replied as she opened her door. The moment she started her system up, her cell phone rang, and she fished it out of her purse. Biting her lip at the sight of the caller id, she answered. "Hello?"
"Hello, Mama. Or at least in forty weeks or so. Oh, my sweet peacock, we're going to be parents. Do you have an OB in mind that you'd like to see?"
"No, not really. Will you come and take me to lunch today? I want to see your face when you tell me the news once more."
"Sure. Does 12.30 sound good?"
"Perfect, I'll see you then, my love." She hung up and smiled at Cass. "Forty week and counting!"
"See, there was nothing for you to worry about. Congratulations, Penelope." Cass stepped forward to hug her, but then hesitated, looking away from her. Penelope closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly. "I wish I was better at this. Penelope, I don't know what to do. I know Agent Hotchner is getting frustrated with me. I think he wants me to transfer out."
"Oh, Cass, you just have to move a little faster when you pick cases for us to pursue. I know you want to make certain you pick the right one, but there is no right one. Trust your instincts, you'll know in your gut what one we should go to," Penelope said as she guided the young woman over to her couch. "Hang out with me today. Maybe seeing the teams in action from my side of things will help put things in perspective."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Certainly. Though you're on your own for lunch." Penelope sat down and out her Bluetooth in as she brought up her search engines. The program was still running her earlier search, and had turned up no similarities between the two women. Her first call came about ten minutes later and she set about looking up what they needed to know.
After another hour, her database search was complete and there were no matches between the two. She hit Aaron's speed dial and waited for him to pick up. "Hey, Hotch, this is not a best news call, to say the least. I can't find any connection there at all. Do you have anything else you want me to look up or cross check?"
"Not at the moment. I'll have Morgan call if we find something else out, Oh, and by the way, have you heard?"
"Yes. When you get back, it will be better if we talk about my maternity leave options. Don't want to put this off until it's too late."
"Congratulations, Penelope. I'm so glad the two of you are finding so much happiness after the trials you've been through."
"Thanks, Aaron. I'll talk to one of you in a little while." She hung up with him and waited for her next call. During that time, she delved further into her databases. It bothered her that she couldn't find a connection between Claudia and Amber, and it felt like she was missing something.
"Have you considered looking into their financial history? Not the easily traceable stuff, but things like Mary Kay or Amway. Something they may have wanted to keep quiet," Cass said softly as she looked over Penelope's shoulder at the screen.
Penelope made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat and hacked into the bank records of the women. There, she noticed regular withdrawals from a side account. The amounts were the same from both women and always in cash. "Well, that's odd," she whispered as she tracked back how far the matching withdrawals went. Quickly, she dialed Morgan's number.
"Hey Baby Girl, do you have something for us?"
"Maybe. I looked a little deeper into their financial records and found that each woman had been taking out three hundred dollars, monthly. And we wouldn't even have this had Cass not suggested it."
"Is she there with you?"
"Yeah. Hotch has her looking out for me while you're away this time."
"Well, tell her good job, then, for us. But why do you need watching over?"
"The answer to that question will arrive in forty weeks, Sugar. Give or take."
"Is my Baby Girl going to have a baby of her own?"
"That's what I'm saying, Morgan. Now, go tell Hotch about what we found and call me back if you need anything else." She disconnected his call and took another call from one of her teams. When she'd finished that search, she turned back to Cass. "Morgan said to tell you good job."
"Thanks," Cass replied, blushing slightly. They worked together for the rest of the morning, and Penelope found herself growing to like the young woman more and more. At 12:15, a light knocking came on her door and Cass jumped up to let the person in. "Hello, Erin."
"Cassandra, it's nice to see you again. Are you ready to head out, Penny?"
"Yes." She flipped on her out to lunch message and got up. Cass handed her her coat. "I'll see you in an hour." Penelope took Erin's arm and they went down to the car. Erin drove to an out of the way restaurant that wasn't too busy. Before she got out of the car, Penelope stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Why?"
"You haven't smiled since you stepped foot in my office. What did I do?"
Erin sighed and looked at Penelope. "I'm just being stupid I guess, but when I saw Cassandra in there with you, I was a little jealous. She's so much closer to you in age and, I don't know…"
"Hey, I'm having our babies, aren't I? She's a kid and you, you are the love of my life." Penelope reached up and stroked Erin's face gently. "Listen to me, my dove. After all that we've been through together, I never want to leave you or lose you. You are stuck with me until the very end."
Erin nodded and Penelope leaned over to kiss her. "We should head in before we lose all your lunch hour." Penelope nodded and they got out of the car. Penelope went to Erin's side and wrapped an arm around her waist. Erin relaxed into her and they entered the restaurant. After a short wait, they were seated in a secluded booth.
"Order for me, will you? I'm not too hungry, I just want to spend time with you," Penelope said as she set the menu down and rested her head on her hand, smiling at Erin.
"Of course, my peacock." The waitress came moments later and Erin put their order in. Once the waitress was gone, Erin bit her lip and looked at Penelope. "We're going to be parents, my love. I called an OB, her name is Pamela Liggett and she seems really nice. Our first appointment in in two weeks, though she won't be able to tell if both eggs took until our second appointment."
"I wonder who our children will favor, you or Spencer?"
"I'm not sure. Dr. Reid has some strong, handsome looks in his family."
"Though I want a little girl who looks exactly like you. Our son would be darling if he was a blend of the two of you. Oh, I love you and these forty weeks cannot pass by soon enough."
Their meal came and Erin speared a piece of meat. "So, I've booked us a suite at the Plaza for Christmas. Make sure you put in for a week off. That's how long we'll be in New York."
"Great! When do we leave?"
"We're scheduled to check in on Christmas Eve. I hope you don't mind the short notice."
"No, my love, that's fine. And as long as we can make it to the top of the Empire State Building, I'll be happy. Christmas in New York will be so beautiful." She sighed happily and went about eating.
"How is the case going?"
"Not well. Aaron's at a dead end with things, so hopefully there's a break soon."
"Usually that means another body turns up, Penny."
"I know. That's the horrible part of our job. How are your lessons going?"
Erin smiled gently. "Wonderfully. Ms. Lockington is a great teacher, and she says I'm a natural. My first recital is in May. I know you're going to be really far along then, but will you come?"
"You have to ask? Certainly I'll come. And after, will you give me a private concert?"
Erin nodded, smiling mischievously. "Is there anything in particular you'd like me to play?"
"You mean, besides myself? No, whatever you play will be fine. If we had more time, you could play me something before I had to go back to work. Now I guess that will have to wait until tonight." Penelope frowned a little. "And you do know how I hate waiting."
"I, as well, my peacock, but patience is a virtue. I'll make certain to reward your virtue handsomely this evening." They smiled at each other and clasped hands.