Update on my life; it's still a shit storm. Updates on other updates; I'm trying my best. Thanks for reviews, favs and follows they are lovely to see.
"Look, all I'm saying is, it doesn't make any sense. Why would she - why would they have a secret relationship, break up, and then still be all," Derek held a football in his hand as he opened his arms wide trying to find the right words, "...affectionate." He scanned the people sitting around in a semi circle on beach chairs and towels in the nearby sand.
"Well, it's clear that Luke is more private, so I don't think it was keeping a secret so much as living how he would anyway," Will added into the conversation.
"True. I guess I'm still pretty upset with all of us. How did we not see it, and more than that how did we not see them suffering when they broke up. They must've both been hurting," Emily stated as Mark sat behind her on their beach towel. He rubbed her back in comfort.
"I was around too. I didn't see it. We were all very distracted," Hotch said leaning forward in his chair.
"I know that you're all very close, but, honestly, you don't know everything about one another do you?" Mark asked.
"That's what I said. I get that you know a lot, but you can't figure out everything. Right?" Kristy asked.
"Still too much sometimes, although it seems they can be pretty dense when they choose to." Savannah added smiling up at Derek.
"I was thinking about it last night. To be honest, us not seeing it, that makes sense. That case was… but it's the after part. This whole thing where they are broken up. Now that I look back, I can see where they were more affectionate than before, and, when the jokes became less catty and more playful, it was subtle. There wasn't actually that much of a shift. But breaking up? Why? They're so perfect for each other, it hurts," JJ said emotionally. She hated her friend not being happy, and she knew Luke made Penelope happy even before she admitted it.
"I agree with JJ. Luke's one of my best friends. They make a perfect couple. I thought it would take a lot more of a push to get them together, which I would've been willing to help with, had I known." Matt smirked at JJ. "I never thought they'd break up either," he added with a shrug.
"So what are we talking about? Playing some matchmaker thing? It looks like they can get together just fine without us." Derek's tone was almost bitter, making the others snigger.
"All I'm saying is that we obviously dropped the ball in the friend department. We assumed because they were both single and didn't have kids or parents to worry about that they didn't need our support, and they obviously did. Whatever they broke up over can't be that bad, and we should let them know that whatever difficulties they went through are probably over now so they should feel free to lean on us to get themselves back on track." JJ looked around at the various people surrounding her for some support.
"JJ's right. I bet they broke up because they were so strained. You can't build a new relationship when you're trying to make sure your friends are safe and not depressed because they can't see their own families. Garcia was running around making us eat and sleep. Luke was the pillar of strength. He was the steady hand. We all leaned on both of them. I know I did," Emily added resolutely.
Derek nodded. He had to get involved. Almost everyone who had ever been part of the team had to. He remembered feeling as lost as anyone. He went to Penelope multiple times to talk it out, but he never asked her more about herself than a how are you doing. Luke asked Derek multiple times about Savannah and Hank, but he couldn't remember ever even asking Luke if he wanted a coffee.
"Okay. You're right. I didn't see it before, but you're right. We put everything on them, and they didn't let us down." Derek set the football on a beach bag before taking a seat in his own chair. "So what do we do?"
"Boy's night," Will murmured. "We might not all be sharing our feelings like ya'll ladies do, but we don't just stare at each other while having a burping contest either. He might tell us something."
"I agree. We can make dinner for the kids, and Amanda can take it from there." Matt put in.
"We can split up for dinner, girls and guys, and then meet up at the bar afterwards. No pressure that way." Emily tipped her head.
"Perfect, so it's set then. We'll get to the bottom of this," JJ said.
"Not to put a damper on this, but aren't Luke's sister and partner going to be here?" Hotch asked.
"Well, I'm sure we can just bring them along. Maybe they'll want the same thing for them," Savannah said.
"They definitely do. We heard Layla on speaker phone last night. She asked if they worked through their bullshit yet, and if they were back together. So whatever it is, she wants them together too," Derek told the group.
"Heads up. Here they come." Mark sat up straight and pointed his chin toward Penelope and Luke coming down the pathway.
"I'll text Tara, and let her know to fill the others in," Kristy said as she pulled out her phone.
The group was a little too silent as the other two people got to them. "Hey, my beautiful butterflies. What's up?" Penelope chirped happily.
The group all murmured various degrees of nothing and comments about soaking up sun. Luke crossed his arms, looking at the group as a whole. They exchanged glances, knowing he could read them, even if she couldn't.
"I think some of us have had too many wine coolers," Will drawled.
"Well, everyone should drink some water then. Sun plus alcohol will really dehydrate you." Luke pretended to scold everyone.
Penelope shook her head and pulled her curls back into a ponytail. The sun was now beating down on her, and she was not going to sit around sweating. "Okay kids, what's the haps?" Her long neck now exposed, she bent over to take off her flip flops to dig her feet into the sand.
"Holy hell, Penelope your boobs are going to fall out." JJ laughed.
"Don't worry. They're actually sort of compressed down on the inside," she informed her.
Emily put her sunglasses on her head. "They're compressed? Seriously? I feel like I haven't gone through puberty yet."
"You look sort of naked, but clothed at the same time. How do you do that?" Kristy tilted her head at her.
"See, I told you this was a terrible decision. I should've worn my sunflower dress." Penelope admonished Luke.
"Uh, I've got news for you. That covers even less than this does because there's no swimsuit underneath." He shrugged at her.
"You're telling me this now? I wore that in front of your grandmother!"
"You know what, I have had too many wine coolers. Whenever I get too drunk, I get the urge to touch Garcia's boobs," Emily informed everyone.
"Me too. I like to fall asleep on them," JJ added.
"I don't think it's the wine coolers. I've only had one, and I sort of want to feel them too." Savannah said examining Penelope's chest.
"Well, this is just great. You're all less than helpful." Penelope rolled her eyes at them, but it was partially hidden by her shaded glasses.
All the men besides Luke wisely kept quiet, but were chuckling at the exchange. "Wait, so you have something to wear that covers even less? How is that possible? Are your boobs like the wardrobe to Narnia?" Kristy looked to the other women for support, and she got agreeing nods.
"Well, I'm not going to wear that dress now!" She informed them all.
"Doesn't matter. Unless you're wearing my shirts the rest of the time we're here, you only packed your summer dresses, and every single one of those barely keeps you contained so..." Luke shrugged his shoulders.
"What? Wait! Since when?" She was holding her hand up to shade her forehead to look at him.
"Since you bought them. You don't wear real bras with them. You wear that lacy half thing under it, so it's just spaghetti straps and a low neckline." He looked at her like she should know this.
"Why wouldn't you tell me? I would have packed more of my regular clothes."
"That does not seem like it would be in my best interests," Luke said nonchalantly, making the whole group laugh. They definitely found Luke flirting blatantly amusing, as well as informative.
Penelope turned an evil eye to all of them, before huffing and sitting down in one of the open beach chairs.
"We want to go out tonight. We'll split up for dinner, guys and girls, and then meet back up for dancing later at the bar. Sound good?" Matt asked the two newcomers.
"Whatever you guys want. Layla called me. She changed her story. She and Phil are actually going to pick up a friend instead of meeting here, so they detoured. They might make it tonight, or they might stay out somewhere. She'll call either way," Luke told them.
"Cool. Do we need to give up our bigger room?" Emily said. "It's just us two after all."
"Nah, Phil is sorted out, and their friend can take the small bedroom up top with us, and Layla can take Luke's room," Penelope said without mentioning that that left Luke bedless.
JJ snickered. "So you two are going to share?"
Penelope rolled her eyes. "Newsflash, this isn't a newsflash."
"Still, I don't like any of my exes that much," Savannah said to them, making Penelope shrug and stay quiet.
Luke pulled his shirt off and threw it on the back of Penelope's chair. "Okay, well, I'm going to avoid the covert interrogation by taking my toxic masculinity over there and throwing this ball in the air. Any other testosterone fueled individuals that want to join, may do so at your convenience." Luke tossed the ball he picked up from where Derek left it and trotted away towards where Amanda was with the two children that weren't old enough for day camp.
"Holy hell! Why have I never seen Luke shirtless before?" JJ asked, letting her sunglasses fall down her nose as she watched him walk away.
"I know! What the- how did I not - I mean I knew he was muscular, but holy crap!" Emily added, her eyes following Luke.
"You can say that again," Both Kristy and Savannah said at the same time as they watched Luke let Michael try to hold the ball he had.
"Well, I feel like chopped liver," Will said as he tickled JJ's sides.
"That's putting it mildly," Hotch interjected with a sly smile.
"Sorry, hun," Emily turned her head but not her eyes to Mark, "but you see the definition on that man, right? The indents on the side and the…" Emily trailed off as she continued to admire him from afar.
"As if I'm not here," Derek said incredulously.
"Aww, Hot Stuff. It's okay." Penelope cooed at him.
"You're very pretty, honey." Savannah put a comforting hand on his knee without actually diverting her attention from Luke. "You see him though, right? That's insane." Savannah tilted her head as she watched Luke pick up their son and spin him while he giggled.
Matt shared a sympathetic look with Derek. "I'm not sure I've ever felt so invisible."
"Aww," Kristy said patting his face but not turning to her husband either.
"You're all studs. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Penelope was the only woman looking at the men still sitting in the group, who all gave her grateful nods.
"Oh, please. You're trying to tell me you're not speechless when he gets naked? C'mon," JJ said, distractedly joining the conversation.
"Oh yeah, for sure. You haven't seen anything yet. You should ask him to move your furniture with his shirt off. Also his skin is like a perfectly tanned color which is why those white shorts make it impossible not to look at that..." She made a v motion with her hand. "And he smells like as if rainbows and dreams exploded in a majestic handsome factory made of stars… but we have sort of a truce going on. So he's basically like the sun. I can't look directly at him." Penelope shrugged.
The whole group laughed at her explanation, but she was as serious as a heart attack. She joked about rubbing him down with oil or sunscreen, but there was no way in hell she would be able do that and not get arrested for indecent behavior.
"Well, I think I'll just go hang out with Alvez instead of hearing about how hot he is." Derek stood up.
The other men were standing up as well. "Yeah, me too," Matt nodded. "Although, he is pretty attractive."
The men chuckled as they went to join Luke. "Are we ever going to get details on this because now I really want to know," JJ asked saucily.
"Oh Jayge, I'd love to, but it's not the best idea for me to drudge all that up right now."
"You don't have to go into some emotional upheaval, but you can tell us how much fun it was to wake up with that next to you." Savannah tipped her wine cooler to where Luke was throwing the football to Matt.
"We all can imagine, I'm sure." Penelope had a cheshire grin on her face.
"Sure, but we can also get details," Emily said as she took a sip of her drink.
"Really, you sure you want details about Alvez? That's something you need to know?" Penelope wasn't sure Em thought this through.
"I mean…" JJ trailed off, "We can compartmentalize information with the best of them." She encouraged.
"Ladies, we all know it was amazing." Penelope rolled her eyes as she reached for a water bottle in the cooler near her.
"Was?" Emily asked cheekily.
"Were you not listening when we explained what a break up was?"
"You're just so couple-y." Kristy said.
Penelope squinted through her glasses. "Yesterday, my dear profilers, you didn't know we'd ever been together."
"Okay, fair." Emily said.
"But yes since now that you know, I have not exactly kept my guard up. We were together, and it was amazing, and I miss him everyday."
"It doesn't seem like you have to miss him if you don't want to." Kristy cooed at her.
"It's… yeah, sort of, but it's just all too much for me right now. I just can't do it." Penelope said vaguely.
"Penelope, I know we're sort of nosy-" JJ started.
"Sort of?" Penelope asked dryly.
"But I can say for myself, I always wanted you together. From the minute I saw you two awkwardly have your first closed off conversation, I was damn sure of it. So I'll admit I'm wracking my brain to try and figure out what could have possibly gone wrong."
"I know I'm not around as often, but I agree with JJ. For you two to break up, it seems it would have to be pretty significant, and, if it was, then I can't imagine you two would be so happy to be around each other still." Kristy added.
Penelope sighed. Wasn't that the conundrum after all? "I know, and part of me feels like talking it all out, but the majority of me wants to pretend it never happened."
"The relationship?" Savannah asked with her forehead creased.
"No, no. God, no. I love remembering that. I mean the… " She paused, unsure how to describe this. "The event that took place, that I just can't seem to feel better about."
"Okay, well, I guess I'll just say, I hope you two work it out." JJ gave her an earnest smile.
"Yeah, me too. Me too." Penelope sighed as she decided to chance a lingering gaze at Luke who
was laughing as he ran to catch the football.
The girls followed her gaze and then gave each other conspiratorial, albeit, baffled looks.