I know I already update both Signals and Cash this week but last night's mention of a drawer had me in an absolute tizzy. I was not okay about it. So I decided to throw more Garvez out in the world and hope it sticks.

The credits on the movie had rolled long ago, and the screen was replaying the main menu over and over again. Both Luke and Penelope had fallen asleep. He had slunk down onto the bed, and she had rolled into him, her head still glued to his shoulder where he had placed it to comfort her.

That was how Derek found them when he wandered up just an hour before dinner was set to start. He had come up the stairs and noticed there were only four doors. One was open, revealing a bathroom, the farthest door away was closed, and then the two doors right next to each other were open. He walked towards the familiar sound of the television and stopped abruptly in the doorway. He was confused at first. He almost backed away, not sure what he was interrupting, but he saw that both people were peacefully asleep and not terribly intimately connected. Their legs were far apart. Her body was not against his. The only part of them touching was her head on his shoulder. Both of them were fully clothed in casual movie watching attire. So instead he knocked lightly on the door.

Luke was a light sleeper. The small knock was enough to wake him. He opened his eyes and saw Derek's questioning face at the doorway. He sleepily began to sit up. Noticing that his left arm was numb, he looked down to Penelope. "Garcia, I think we fell asleep watching the movie."

She mumbled something incoherently as Luke stretched his neck. "Morgan, we didn't miss dinner already, did we?" he asked casually.

Derek took in Luke's calm nonchalant attitude about being asleep with one of his coworkers. "No, man. Just came up to see if my girl was bored yet, but I guess everyone's tired from the drive."

Penelope had been slowly coming back to life as the men made conversation. "So tired." She yawned. "Children are exhausting, and all I had to do was sing along to the various songs, but yeesh I am wiped."

"Good morning," Derek teased her.

"I'll show you a good morning, Hot Stuff." She was sitting up now, one leg curled underneath her, eyelids heavy, squinting at Derek.

Luke noticed her straining to see Derek only a few feet away and reached over to his side of the nightstand. As soon as she fell asleep, he took her glasses off for safekeeping. He handed them back to her. "Here, Chica. You're going to make your eyeballs pop out of your head."

She took the glasses and lazily brought them up to her face. "Thanks, hun." She turned to Derek whom she could now see and not just assume the blob-like-thing was him. "So what's the haps?"

Derek wondered why these two were so chill about their circumstance. Then again, him and Penelope used to watch movies and fall asleep all the time. She'd rarely fall asleep on him, but it happened sometimes. Heck, even Emily had fallen asleep on him when they got drunk before. "Everyone seems to be tired and mellowed out. Guess we're not young enough anymore to go on vacation, start drinking right away, and not look back for a week."

"Are you kidding? I feel like we need to sleep for two days and then maybe start vacation," Penelope said to him as she stretched. Derek noticed the men's shirt she wore and wondered why she had it. Something left over from an ex?

"You're telling me. I feel like we're still at work. It's hard to get out of that mindset when we are all still together." Luke stood up and made his way into his room to find his phone.

Derek took notice that the adjoining door was open, but shrugged it off since these two seemed to be chilling out. "So, watched a movie, and fell asleep. What are your plans for tomorrow, Goddess? Clean the oven?" he teased. Penelope crossed her legs on the bed and pulled a pillow in front of her to cuddle.

"I figured everyone will want to go to the beach or the pool or maybe even shopping. I wanted to plan it all out, but there's too many of us to wrangle, and I don't think I have enough Goddess powers to make everyone stick to a schedule."

Derek laughed as he came to sit on the edge of the bed, twisting his body to look at her. "I thought you were all powerful," Derek teased her.

"I am." She paused. "When I have the energy," she amended.

"Oh, so over twenty people took their personal vacation time to come here, to this place, where you wanted to go, for no good reason then, huh?" He nudged her calf with his fingers.

"Oh, Honey. You know I can get you to do anything I want." She smiled coquettishly at him.

"Hmm mmm, you know that's right, Momma," Derek said back to her.

Luke was standing in the doorway again, smiling at the joking pair while reading a text. "Hey, I think both Phil and my sister are going to make it. I guess we're going to be even more crowded around here," Luke said to the two of them.

"The more the merrier, I suppose. Phil was your partner right?" Derek asked.

Luke sent off another reply before looking up to answer him. "Yeah, he was for years. He was in the rangers with me too. My sis, she's just sort of nuts. Said she's meeting someone down here." He shrugged. "I told her I was coming down with my team. She must have thought that was an invitation. It wasn't, but she's driving Phil down, so I guess I can't complain," Luke joked.

"When will they be here?" Penelope questioned.

"Tomorrow afternoon sometime. Although the way my sister drives…" Luke trailed off.

Derek chuckled. "I hear that. Sarah is a great driver, but Des? You can't pay me enough to get in a car with her behind the wheel."

"I'm glad I kept that room on the first floor open. I knew you said Phil was a maybe, but it's the only room on the main floor, so just in case and all that," Penelope said.

"Why? Is it really nice or something?" Derek asked.

"It's the master suite. Walk in shower, bay view windows, remote-controlled pop-up entertainment center. It's what's back behind that play area, that whole corner of the house," Penelope explained.

"And why is Phil so special?" Derek teasingly asked as he looked between the two.

Penelope gave Luke a sympathetic look before she saw him nod. Derek furrowed his brow at the small exchange. "Phil's in a wheelchair now. He can't get up the stairs," Penelope explained with a small smile.

Derek's face turned in recognition as he glanced to Luke who was examining the floor. "Oh, right, gotcha. Well, I guess I'll just have to make friends with him so he'll let me watch the game in there on Saturday."

Penelope rubbed his arm to assure him he didn't overstep any bounds. They would all know once Phil arrived anyway.

"Hey, he was going to bring Lou. Would that be okay with everyone?" Luke asked.

"Oh yeah. I think everyone has a dog or has had a dog, but we can confirm at dinner so you can let him know tonight before they take off tomorrow," Penelope said.

"Great, yeah. If not, he can drop him off to my pet sitter who has Roxy, and I can pay her when we get back," Luke said.

"Is your sister dating Phil?" Derek asked.

Luke gave him an amused chuckle. "No, not at all, but Phil's my best friend so you can imagine that he knows everyone in my life. Actually it's very odd that he hasn't met the whole team yet, but he was struggling with recovery for quite some time so I didn't see too much of him outside of rehab when I visit him," Luke explained.

Derek nodded, and Penelope tapped his upper arm again. "But he's doing much better. Last time I saw him he was so happy, and Lou was running around like a hellion." She smiled at Derek and then Luke.

Derek contemplated Penelope, confused, and then glanced to Luke, who caught on to his question. "Yeah, Garcia helped me surprise him when I got him the dog. I needed someone to help me, and, if you're going to do something with a cute animal, then you call Garcia in." He crossed his arms and leaned against the door jamb.

Derek nodded. There was a weird friendship happening here, but he had been unaware of it. The first time he saw them together, Penelope was giving the new guy a hard time. He knew it wouldn't last. They didn't speak more to each other than any other team members. They didn't avoid each other either. In fact, Derek had not noticed much of an exchange at all. He mentally shrugged. It was weird, but then again, him and JJ knew each other very well, which made them good partners. Prentiss even picked up Clooney for him years back, when he couldn't make it to the vet. He went on vacation with Elle for goodness sake. "I'm sure we'll enjoy his company. Glad you stopped giving the Newbie a hard time. You two are actually getting along now, eh?" Derek asked curiously.

Luke casually answered, "She had to break down eventually. All of us are always together." Luke gestured to the house that they were all in at the moment, proving his point by the shear idea of the place they were in.

Derek shook his head in acceptance. "That's true. I don't miss having to share rooms with Reid, but I do miss sharing rooms with my Sweet Stuff." He grabbed Penelope's fingers and kissed them.

"Ahh, Shug." She brought her hand up to caress the side of his face. "And if you didn't snore so loud, I'd miss that too." She laughed as she watched his face fall.

"Woman, why do you insist on torturing me?" His faux anger made her laugh even more.

"Well, you came to see if I was bored, Angel Fish, which means that you volunteered to be my entertainment," she told him.

"Well, that's not the way I was planning on entertaining you." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Ah, Hot Stuff, why do you tease me so?"

"Uh huh, Hot Stuff, you're the tease."

"Wait," she held her hand up to stop him from talking. "Is that Rossi's garlic bread I smell?" She looked around the room for confirmation.

"It's a safe bet," Derek answered

"C'mon, we've got to get down there." She pushed Derek off the bed. "I should probably change." She said as she threw her hair up into a cute ponytail.

"Don't bother. More people are dressed down than up," Derek said. He still had on jeans and a shirt. "I passed JJ and Will before I came up. They had on tanks and shorts."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" She started shoving him.

Luke pushed off the door and followed her down the steps.

"See? He doesn't know," Luke whispered in her ear as they descended the steps.

"He was joking." Penelope waved him off, and Luke shook his head at her back.

The loud conversation wafted up to them as they got to the bottom of the more narrow staircase. Derek put his hand behind him for her to grasp as they descended the last few steps. When they appeared in the kitchen, everyone was gathered around the counter or on the barstools that were spread between the living room and kitchen.

Rossi whistled, drawing attention to the two descending the steps. "Uh oh! Are you two still working on that lovechild we've all been waiting for?"

Derek laughed, letting go of her hand and leaning over to grab a piece of garlic bread from the counter. "Oh, you know we never stopped Rossi."

Penelope stilled when he let go of her hand and leaned against the nearest counter. Her tummy started hurting, and this rowdy crowd wasn't going to calm it. Luke was only steps behind them, and he saw her standing there uncomfortably as she watched the others. He placed his hand on the small of her back. Luke said to the group, "I think I messed that up for them. I was too close and interrupted their private time."

"Well, you did have claim on him before I did," Savannah spoke to Penelope, as Derek kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh, no worries. I was just reminded of how he snores. I remembered why I don't miss him all that much." Penelope snapped back, making everyone laugh again, especially Savannah who knew she wasn't lying.

"C'mon, c'mon. Ease up now." Derek held his hands wide, asking for a little less teasing from everyone.

"Why would we ease up when it's completely true," Spencer said as he stepped around Derek, and reached for some carrot sticks. Derek lightly tapped the back of his head, and Spencer brought his hand up to the back of his head to rub it as if in pain.

"Alright, kids. Settle down. Uncle Dave made us all a nice dinner." Hotch was smiling slightly.

"Oh, good. That's your job to wrangle us and not mine," Emily said as if she just noticed, "This vacation just got a whole lot better." She leaned over to kiss Mark as the others chuckled at her.

"I'm not doing any paperwork." Hotch smirked.

"Spoil sport."

Amanda appeared in the foyer leading to the other side of the house. "I've got the folding table in the playroom setup."

"We already pulled out the chairs," Kristy said as she kissed Matt.

"Sav and I will bring in the kids plates." Will nodded at Amanda as she went to join the children again.

Savannah followed Will with a couple plates and returned for a second trip.

"Alright, everyone. Grab your plates, and make your way through," Hayden announced to the others, handing Tara her plate first. "You're my favorite remember?"

Tara laughed. "Oh, I remember. Don't think I don't appreciate it either."

"Hey, wait. You're playing favorites? What do I have to do to be favorite?" Emily asked with her brow furrowed.

"Do you speak French?" Hayden asked.

"Oui bien sûr," Emily answered.

"Well then, you're my favorite too." Hayden held out a plate to her next.

Emily gave her a huge smile and made a small fist bringing it down in celebration. She stuck her tongue out at Derek, who was leaning against the counter still.

Luke was eyeing the group, but spoke to Penelope. "Don't worry. They all love you so much. You don't have to pretend to be okay when you're not. If you feel overwhelmed, you can excuse yourself," Luke assured her.

"I know, I guess it's all a little much, when I'm still not feeling like myself. Normally I'd love to have everyone here, laughing and joking, even though my tummy is in knots." She waited for everyone to get 'their food, so she could calmly grab a plate.

Luke patiently waited for her. He was last to get his food. They sat at one of the high tables together. Savannah and Derek were sitting across from them, while everyone else was spread around the various couches and tables in the living room.

They could hear faint screams and yells coming from the other room as they ate in relative quiet. "Hey, if anyone spills, all of you are scrubbing the carpet," Kristy yelled towards the other room, and there was an immediate hush.

"Wow, you're good," JJ said to her impressed.

"No other options. It's about survival really," Kristy explained as everyone chuckled at her.

"This is why I will not be procreating," Emily announced happily.

"I thought you wanted kids, back in the day," JJ said.

"I wanted to take in that older girl because she needed a stable place. I don't think I ever wanted to start from scratch," Emily told her.

"Do you think you'll adopt?" Tara asked.

"I don't think I want kids at all, but, if I did, I would adopt. A lot of kids need homes. If I decided I had room in my life for children, that's how I'd do it."

"We agree on that." Mark smiled at her.

"Me too," Reid said making everyone look over to him. He noticed all the eyes on him and nervously looked over to his mother.

"Schizophrenia is genetic." Diana tapped her son's hand, letting him know it was okay to say. "Plus, there are kids that need homes. It would be a kind thing to do." She was having a very lucid day, which made Spence smile.

"I don't want kids. My ex and I always said we would adopt if we changed our minds. Work was my priority. I didn't want to take time out to have a kid before it would be too late, but adoption can be done anytime," Tara added.

"I never wanted kids either, but one day it happened anyway. I'm very grateful for her, but I don't think I would've consciously made a different decision," Rossi said, tapping Hayden's hand.

"I wouldn't either. I love our Joycie, but I didn't want children, either. Suppose that's why I never had another," Hayden said.

"I wouldn't give Jack up for the world, but I'm happy to stop at one," Hotch added.

"Looks like we're the only crazy fools around here." JJ lifted her beer and tipped it towards Matt and Kristy.

"Well, you two, also." Matt gestured to Derek and Savannah.

Savannah shook her head side to side in contemplation. "It was sort of an accident so…" She raised her shoulders.

"I'm happy to stop at one," Derek said lifting his fork, then he glanced back at Savannah, "unless you inform me otherwise of course."

The group laughed at them. "What about you, Pen?" JJ looked over to her curiously.

"You know me. Love my god babies. Love it more when I can give them back." She smiled at the group as she raised her wine glass, making them all laugh again.

"Luke?" Tara questioned since he was the last one to ask.

"Not for me," he reached for his beer.

"Okay, good. So the group stops at eight then? Because I'm going to be honest, you all are driving me into debt with all these children's birthday parties," Emily joked.

"So what are we doing tomorrow? Beach? Shopping? There's an arcade," Penelope questioned.

"Beach time for sure," Derek said.

"Amanda will see the kids off in the morning to go to camp and then take care of the young ones while we drink." Kristy raised her eyes and licked the garlic off her finger.

"I think we're all ready for the beach," JJ said as she looked around the room seeing mostly nods.

"I'm going to take my mom to an art exhibit that just opened downtown, if anyone wants to come along," Spencer said.

"Ooh! I read about that online. I'll come," Tara said.

"Sounds nice. I think Dave and I will join," Hayden said as Rossi nodded.

"Okay, so, everyone else, beach at eleven?" JJ confirmed.

"Sounds good, except I'll meet you all there later on. I'm going to go run and get a couple things for Phil, my old partner. He'll be here tomorrow with my sister. Sorry, I know the house will be even more full," Luke informed them.

"Oh, that's right. Phil will be taking the suite on this floor. Layla will be upstairs with us," Penelope told the group. "Phil has a dog named Lou. Does anyone mind if he brings him? Don't hesitate to say no if anyone's allergic or anything. Phil is disabled, but he doesn't have to bring Lou to help him."

"I don't think anyone has any issue," Rossi responded, and no one objected.

"Great. I'll go with you. I promised Layla that I would have those Mexican flavored drink, whatevers, and I forgot to request them. Plus, I wanted to make sure and get Lou those treats from the dog bakery that I got Roxy's last time," Penelope was speaking to Luke before she reached for her wine glass, not noticing everyone staring at her curiously.

Luke did notice, however, and diverted their attention. "My sister is a handful. She is quite demanding. Feel free to push her into pools, take her candy, hide her possessions," Luke spoke to the group at large, hoping someone would pick up the thread.

Matt saw the flash in Luke's eyes. "Yeah, so you said. She can't be all that bad." Matt was trying to help him out, but Penelope was so sweetly oblivious to the fact that she was revealing more than any of them knew.

"She is not. She's a sweetheart. You just don't like that she's your grandma's favorite," Penelope said to him as she pushed her wine glass around.

Luke glared at her and almost wanted to laugh. She thought everyone knew already and wasn't trying to keep the secret she didn't know she had. Yet here she was, revealing it for the first time, unwittingly. He gave Matt an imperceptible blink of gratitude before diving right in with her. "I think you're Abuela's favorite, so, using that illogical logic, I should be mean to you."

Penelope hadn't even noticed the intrigued faces of the others around the room. "Well, of course I'm her favorite. That's a given, but Layla is the baby, and you don't like that she gets extra gifts at Christmas." Penelope waved her hand.

Luke leaned on the table. "It's not fair. She gets two sets of pajamas, and I only get one. How is that supposed to feel?" He was acting casual as ever as he surveyed the reactions of all the people in the room. Everyone was smart enough to understand, even if they weren't profilers.

"Well, whatever. She can have her fruity drink things. She's bringing back my boots that she stole, like, eight months ago, so I'll be happy to buy her stupid drinks for her. However, we should mention that she shouldn't be allowed to drink more than three if she's also consumed alcohol because she will throw up red, all over," Penelope informed them as she picked at her garlic bread.

Luke put both elbows on the table, wanting desperately to signal to her what she was revealing, but from where he stood now, the only thing to do was act casual to keep everyone from reacting animatedly. "My sis is a mess, sweet as anything, but she likes to act young and dumb. She was in college forever and apparently still believes dorm behavior is acceptable in the real world."

"She's head surgeon at University of Pennsylvania Presbyterian, so I guess that's pretty impressive. Can't fault her for wanting to let loose, but she will steal your boots when you're passed out drunk, pretend that she didn't notice, and then she'll send you a picture of her wearing them in Barbados, so just watch out for that ladies," Penelope said jokingly, as she finally noticed the quiet group in front of her, seeing for the first time that everyone was hanging onto her every word. She squinted at them.

"She's not bringing your shoes back," Luke tried to divert her attention again.

"She better be." Penelope pulled out her phone to angry text Layla about her boots.

"She won't. That's just a ploy to make you buy her what she wants." He turned back to the group. "Which is why you should feel free to be as mean to her as you like."

Penelope let the back of her hand slap at Luke's bicep. "She's fine, and I wouldn't mess with her anyway. She can make it from the hot tub in the back to the bathroom on the fourth floor in forty five seconds flat. She will steal your stuff, and you won't catch her, FBI or not," Penelope said casually.

Luke had nothing else to give. He had an amused smile on his face as he shook his head. He picked up his beer to take a drink, waiting for someone to ask the question.

"Baby Girl, you- you-" Derek glanced to Luke, hoping to read his face, but finding no information, turned back to her. "You came here with Luke on vacation before?" Derek did a quick scan of all the intrigued faces in the room, finding that none of them had answers.

Penelope squinted at him in confusion. "Uh, yeah. How did you think I picked this place? We came here with Luke's cousins and Layla and their boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, and whoever else. Wait, didn't you know that?" She scanned the room with a slight bit of horror growing on her face. "We took vacation to the same place when we were on mandated leave, that didn't register?" she queried, glancing frantically from face to face.

Emily decided to speak first. "Uh, no. I mean Luke said he was going to South Carolina for a semi-family reunion, and you said you were going to Myrtle Beach with friends. I get that they're in the same place, but no."

Penelope could tell her cheeks were turning pink, but she didn't understand. "Well, what did you- I mean- why- what did…" She trailed off looking to Luke, who was trying to give her a sympathetic smile, but his eyes were holding just a hint of I-told-you-so in them.

JJ set her beer down that had been suspended mid-air since she heard this revelation and cleared her throat. "You came here together? On purpose?" She watched Penelope nod slightly. JJ glanced to Rossi and then Reid, "No, uh. We didn't know that."

Penelope scrutinized Derek's face. He almost seemed angry, or at the very least betrayed. Then she scanned the girls, whose faces didn't look that much different than his. "Wait, wait, but you're all profilers. You- I- I've never been able to hide anything from you. Ever. At least not for long. Rossi knew about the encrypted files. Spencer always knows what he's getting for his birthday. When I dated Lynch, it was a surprise at first, but..." She looked at Derek remembering how he came storming in her office, a big question on his face, and how Reid still didn't figure it out for days, but they would've sniffed her out within a week or two.

"Well, yeah, but we were off on a case. When we were back for awhile, we would've have seen it," Emily told her.

"I wasn't there for that, but it's safe to say I didn't know this at all." Tara pointed in between Penelope and Luke. "How long have you been dating then?" Her face was as flabbergasted as everyone else's.

"We're not." Penelope inspected Hotch's face and Rossi's, sure those two were well aware, but clearly they weren't. After she spoke, she saw everyone's faces scrunch more. "We're not anymore," she clarified.

The whole room seemed to sink into deeper puzzlement. Luke cleared his throat. "I know this isn't a time for I told you so, but," he let his eyes travel the room before landing back on her, "I told you they didn't know."

Penelope flicked her hand on his bicep again. "Why did you let me tell them?" she asked incredulously.

He put his hands out. "What part of they don't know was unclear, Cariña?"

"You mean this was actually all my own and I didn't have to-" She looked around again at the various faces.

"Garcia, don't you think we would've asked you about it?" JJ was still trying to process the information.

"No. I thought you all were doing that thing you do, where you all know everything before I do, and you were waiting for me to blurt it out like I always do, and I didn't want to give you the satisfaction, so I just- I just thought that you all were pretending for my sake." Her eyes darted from JJ to Derek, certain that those two knew exactly how she felt.

"Baby Girl, I had no idea," he said to her.

"What? What? How?" She was more befuddled than everyone else now. Her eyes silently pleaded with everyone, team and spouse alike, before turning to Luke.

He gave her the answer he had always given her. "You weren't trying to hide anything. You thought they knew, so your behavior was never nervous or telling. Since you avoided saying anything out right, they didn't know. That, mixed with everything terrible happening over the past year, no one was thinking you or I were hiding anything."

Understanding now dawned on the rest of them about how this could happen, "But still we missed an entire relationship?" JJ turned to Emily.

"We were all under a lot of pressure. Half of you didn't see your families for weeks. There were other things on our minds." Emily reassured her and the others.

"Like Luke said, I know when you have a secret because you are jumpy and giddy or you fidget, but, if you weren't trying to hide anything, I wouldn't know if I wasn't looking for something." Matt informed.

"But, wait. You're not together anymore?" JJ squinted and shook her head in disbelief. She had seen them interact with each other from the very beginning. She'd seen Penelope accidentally flirt with him. She'd seen Luke comfort her. It might have been nothing, at least at the time, but it had turned into something at some point. She was always certain they'd get together and never break up. "What would you two ever break up over?" JJ asked sadly. Everyone observed her on the verge of tears. She was sad over something she didn't even know she didn't know about.

Penelope started to stutter and shake her head. If they didn't know, she surely didn't want them to know. She assumed there were looks of pity over the past months. She had no idea she was just interpreting their weariness as something else. All she knew was that she was grateful they had decided to pretend they didn't know because she was not prepared to talk about it or cry about it or anything else about it. It was painful enough to go through. She sure as hell didn't want to relive her failed relationship with everyone at work.

Luke stepped in. "I don't mean to be rude at all, but that's private, and I think there's a reason neither of us came to any of you, even when it was hard to deal with," Luke said as honestly and nicely as possible, looking around at the others. "Maybe if you just give us some more time to process everything... but we won't let it affect work, which, I guess is obvious," he stated.

Silence filled the room. "Okay, but, if you want to talk, you can," JJ said to both of them.

Penelope finally let tears fall down her face, but she kept her voice steady. "I really really don't. But thanks anyway. I'm going to bed. I'll see you all tomorrow." She gave them a half hearted smile before rushing up the stairs, trying her hardest to not look like she was rushing.

Luke cleared his throat, letting his eyes fall to the table momentarily before addressing the curious and concerned eyes around him. He made brief eye contact with Matt before saying to the group generally, "It's just not a good time right now. She thought you all agreed to this big family vacation because you already felt bad for her. I told her it was because we all actually like each other. So just give her some time. Believe me, neither of us thought it would end this way." He pushed off the stool and followed Penelope up the stairs, leaving a ton of very concerned, confounded, emotional faces behind him.

Love hearing from all of you on any platform. And since I'm trying to get things out I might not have gotten to some replies yet so just bear with me. Thanks.