If you follow my other stories you know I am attempting to update in a rotation that makes sense. Sometimes this doesn't happen. My bad. I appreciate all the reviews, favs, and follows.

Here comes Layla!

"Ready everyone?" Rossi called out across the living room where the nearly twenty adults were standing around in nice dinner attire.

"We are still waiting on the not-so-in-love, lovebirds," Mark said.

As he said it, Luke came down the back steps, walking into the kitchen, making his way through to the living room. "Ow ow," Rossi half howled. "No need to have dressed so nice, Luke. Apparently the ladies are very impressed with you shirtless."

Luke chuckled. "Well thanks, but I think there's probably a dress code."

"Yeah. No worries, this is a good look too." Kristy nodded in approval. He had on a navy blue suit that was impeccably tailored to fit his body and a true-black button-up underneath with the top couple of buttons left undone.

"Chyeah," both Tara and Emily said at the same time as they admired him as well.

"This is all getting very disturbing." Hotch mentioned dryly from his spot.

Luke tried to stand off to the side, as if that would make him less the center of attention. "Uh, Penny is ready, but she was talking to my sister about whether or not they were going to drive the rest of the way tonight," he explained why she was missing.

"No worries. You boys go ahead. We'll meet at the club at ten," Hayden said as she kissed Dave's cheek.

All the gentlemen filed through the doorway. Piling into their large rental, they were thankful they had it so they only needed one designated driver. Rossi pulled out cigars, handing them back from his place in the front passenger's seat. "Here, boys. We're going to smell like a cigar factory mixed with scotch tonight."

Almost all of the men took a cigar as they settled into the seats. Mark opted to be the designated, since he felt that most of the other men needed the bonding time more than him. He only met up with these people once or twice a year when him and Emily could sort it out.

"So, Luke? You do realize that we've all been instructed to debrief you about your very secret relationship," Hotch said in a monotone, but he had a hint of a smile as he spoke.

Luke was in the middle row, and he didn't even bother to turn around to acknowledge the comment.

"Yeah, it's the only reason the ladies let us out of their sight. It was a divide and conquer situation," Will added.

"I have no idea what any of you want me to say," Luke said casually.

"Well normally I'm not into this gossip stuff, but, at the same time, I feel like I am in the dark when it comes to my Angel. I do not like that." Derek punctuated the last words.

"Oh please, Morgan. I think what you mean is you don't like to be jealous," Reid teased him.

Derek turned around and threw the pen he had in his pocket at Spencer as the rest of them laughed.

"Either way, the ladies are not going to be pleased if we come back with nothing," Matt said nicely.

"Sorry, boys. I've got nothing for you. I can't imagine what you want me to do. Breakdown the whole story so we can all analyze it? I know we're all evolved, but I can't imagine any of you have a deep-seated need for that kind of bonding. If Penny decides she's fine with us talking to all of you about it and any of you are so inclined, I will happily do so but, are you?" Luke smirked at them.

Rossi sighed. "I think we're all curious, but we don't need the play by play that Hayden seems to believe they need to manipulate the situation."

"Yeah, I mean inquiring minds want to know. How did the two of you break up?" Derek asked.

"Can't go there. I'm not at liberty to say," Luke told them.

"Right. You said that. So what about how long you were together? That can't be a secret," Will asked.

Luke sighed. "I suppose not, not now anyway. I don't know what exactly counts as together, but a year or so."

"A year? I've never felt dumb until right this moment," Reid informed them.

"Seriously? That's a long time to keep something under wraps," Matt said almost betrayed.

"Honestly, at first, we kept it quiet because, well, we practically all live in each other's laps as it is. We wanted something to ourselves. But eventually it became a matter of Penelope assuming everyone already knew and her wanting to prove she could hold out longer than all of you. It just so happened to coincide with the worst time of all of our lives at the BAU," Luke informed them.

"So you were serious." Hotch said informally.

Luke only nodded slightly while keeping his gaze towards the large window, focusing on the scenery outside instead of giving himself away.

"So it just," Derek brought his hand up and let his fingers dance for a second, "fizzled?"

"No," Luke said without any further explanation. Derek gave him a disbelieving look before glancing to the other men around him.

"Okay, so tell us this, son. If we didn't know you, and what happened happened, would we want to kick your ass?" Rossi turned toward the group, but his eyes focused on Luke.

The car was impossibly quiet, and for the first time they could hear the faint sound of the radio, which was turned down so low it was all but muted. Luke waited a moment. "I'm not sure."

The answer made almost everyone in the car sit back in their seats trying to suppress their protective instincts for Penelope. Luke for the very first time actually felt like his Newbie title was in order as he realized that, with the exception of Matt and Mark, who didn't really have skin in the game, he could easily be kicked out of the group without a second thought.

Reid squinted at the back of Luke's head. "You're very loyal, and you've got integrity, so I can't imagine that's like you."

"It's not," Luke said dismissively.

Derek was examining Luke as he sat impassively. He made eye contact with Rossi before asking, "Did you break her heart?"

Luke sighed, "I'm not sure."

It felt like the air was thick in the car, and it wasn't just from the cigar smoke. It was even quieter than it had been before, and Luke didn't know what else he could say or how to get back from where they'd gone, so he stayed quiet.

Reid was squinting down at the seat in front of him as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle. Then he blinked. "Did she break yours?"

Luke quickly took the cigar that he'd been holding in his hand and started tapping it against his palm. Then he cleared his throat and answered, "Yes."

Every man in the car now wore an utter look of bewilderment as they tried to sort out what the hell could have gone wrong.

Rossi examined the top of Luke's head, since Luke was now studying the car mat in front of him. He exchanged looks with the rest of the guys, deciding that they needed to change the pace of this conversation before they all needed a therapist instead of a waiter. "How did you two get together? Surely that's not a banned topic."

Luke gave a low chuckle. "You'd be surprised what I can get in trouble for." The others all laughed. "To be completely honest, I'm not really sure. It just kind of happened. We actually got close pretty fast, but she still gave me the same attitude in front of all of you, so I guess it never showed at work. Then, I don't know, whenever one of us wanted to do something outside of work, we just called the other. Eventually it went from that to... not that." Luke knew he wasn't making a lot of sense.

"Uh what?" Matt asked as he glanced at Luke right beside him.

"Okay, for example, back when Reid was in jail, she was crying and upset. That's why I went and threatened Shaw. I made sure he had protection in there. As that was getting sorted out, she would call me, or we'd just go hang out or whatever. We weren't really dating then, but none of you even thought she could stand me so..." Luke shrugged.

"Right and then…" Derek prompted.

"Like I said, I'm not sure. We were hanging out all the time. We hung out more when she came with me to all of Phil's physical therapy stuff. She helped get Lou for him and train him, and after that…" Luke drifted off not sure how to explain it. It was a slow build from friendship that was never really just friendship. They were exclusively dating without dating, and then one day they just made it clear they were actually dating, and that was that.

"But she's hung out with your family, apparently enough that she's close to them. That doesn't just happen. That's deliberate," Hotch said.

"Yeah, eventually it was obviously deliberate, but the whole thing before we were together, I mean that was… I don't know. That's what I'm saying. Maybe we were dating a year, more or less, depending on how you look at it, but we walked around it tentatively for a long time."

"Is that why you broke up? You forgot your anniversary?" Will joked.

Luke laughed. "No, actually I can tell you the exact day we had the conversation that we were officially serious, but the conversation was exactly we've been dating for a long time, haven't we? Yup. So should we just? Yup. Okay, I'm leaving my stuff here. Okay. That's it. We were exclusive before we were ever exclusive."

"I already have a headache." Mark finally chimed in again as he pulled into a spot in front of the restaurant Dave had chosen.

"Hey, I was there. My migraine hasn't gone away since I joined the BAU," Luke said dryly, bringing another round of laughter.

"Okay, no more of this until the women force us again," Rossi said tipping his cigar at them before getting out of the car.

…

At exactly ten o'clock, the eight men who had been thoroughly enjoying their after dinner cigars, loudly made their way into the club where they were meeting the ladies. As they walked in, they looked around, scanning for the women they were meeting. Luckily Penelope was walking back from the bathroom when she saw the brood obnoxiously looming around the entryway.

"Really boys? How annoying can you be? You're in the way." Penelope stood in front of the group with her hand on her hip.

"Damn, you weren't kidding." Derek glanced briefly at Luke before turning back to the woman in front of him, indicating her low cut dress.

"Oh my God, would you?" Penelope said irritated as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh, Baby Girl. That just pushes them further up."

She slapped her arms back down to her sides. She gave every man in front of her, aside from Luke, an evil glare before speaking. "We have tables through there." She pointed at the curtain on the far side of the main room.

All the men nodded and walked around her towards the room beyond the curtain except Luke, who stepped closer to her. She eyed the rest of the group as they passed her, but she stood still, the unspoken expectation that she would be talking to Luke.

His eyes followed Mark who was last through the curtain before looking down at her chest. "He's not wrong. You can't get too mad at them for noticing." He tipped his head at her, indicating the cleavage he'd been examining.

"Yes, apparently that is the consensus among the ladies as well. Believe me, I've already heard it. I guess I didn't realize how different my out-of-work wardrobe was to my at-work wardrobe."

"You've gone out with them plenty."

"Yeah, but mostly right after work, so I'm just wearing what I already had on, and all the other times were usually family functions that I wore leggings too. This is a beach vacation and clubbing. My outfits are different."

"Not to me. This is about as covered as you get when we go out." He leered at her.

"True, but then again, I wasn't allowed out naked, so…"

"I wouldn't have said anything." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Wait, are you saying you dressed provocatively solely for my benefit?"

She gave a flirty smile. "I think you know that I might have bought some things specifically for you." He chuckled and gave her a grin that turned back to a leer. She took a deep breath, trying to lessen the immediate, and constant if she was honest, arousal. "So did they grill you?" She needed a distraction, but she also wanted to know.

"You know they did. Asked about the breakup, asked when we got together and how, for how long we were together, and if we broke each other's hearts," he informed her, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. About the same for me, and what did you say?"

"I told them it was pretty gradual, I'm not sure when we started dating because it feels like we were from almost the beginning, but maybe a year."

"And the broken hearts?" She pursed her lips, nervous for the answer.

"I said I wasn't sure about yours, but I knew mine was. They wanted to know if they would kick my ass."

"You told them you weren't sure mine was broken?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I didn't know if it was the right answer on a technicality. I- Honestly, I know we're both heartbroken, but it almost feels as if I don't, and never will, have as much power over you as you do over me. So no, I'm not sure if I broke it or if I just was an idiot and bruised it a little bit." He raised his shoulders. "Besides I did tell them they might want to kick my ass, so they know you didn't just trample on my heart for fun."

She looked relieved as she finally let her hand fall from her hip. "Oh, well, I wouldn't want them to." She was fidgeting, eyes darting from the floor to his face. "I mean we both made it messy."

"You don't have anything to explain to me. We've talked this over and under and backwards. You know where I stand." He smiled at her and brought his hand to the side of her face.

"I wish I knew how to feel better," she said sadly as she moved in to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her as she clutched the back of his jacket in her hands. After a few calming breaths, she stepped out of his embrace but clasped his hand, and they made their way to their friends.

As they stepped through the curtain, it got eerily quiet for such a large group of tipsy adults. Everyone was eyeing them and their clasped hands. Penelope rolled her eyes and approached one of the tables. Both of them sat down, not acknowledging anyone's questioning gaze, knowing that they were just being talked about until they made their appearance.

Emily went into captain mode immediately. "Okay, kids. Let's order some pitchers of margaritas so we all get liquid courage to dance." They all started having conversations with the people near them as Kristy and Will went to get the drinks.

Luke and Penelope stayed at the edge of the table together, speaking intimately. They were close, touching and leaning into the other. They could occasionally feel the curious glances from the others, but they ignored it. They'd given as much information as the two of them could handle sharing in one night. Penelope felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out and saw a text from Phil. "Apparently they are making their way here. They'll be here in a couple hours," she told Luke.

"They decided to drive late then. I guess with Lay's schedule it's not all that late."

"Yeah, they probably made a day of it - drove a little, picked up whoever she invited, and then drove some more, took pics on the way. Lay makes the most of everything she does."

"You're not wrong. Okay. Well, if the others don't want to leave, I'll just take a cab back to the house. Tell them to text when they're close."

"I already did, but I'll come with you if we're not done by then." She put her phone away after replying, grabbed her lip gloss out, refreshed it and then set her purse back down. She reached over and drank from the glass they had been sharing.

He had watched her reline her lips with the glossy pink color, and then he watched as she wrapped her lips around the straw, remembering how much he enjoyed kissing them. "Mi amada, that's not fair. I remember exactly what that mouth of yours can do." He whispered in her ear, and he smirked when he felt her shiver.

They were leaning into each other intimately, still in the corner, almost on their own. "Lucas, don't do that."

"Don't call me, Lucas," he countered.

"You want me to. You love hearing your name on my lips."

"I love a lot of things on your lips."

She was smiling saucily at him, knowing they were walking into dangerous territory, but it wasn't the first time they had done so since their breakup. Most nights they spent together anyway, but it was all too raw still, and one of them would put a halt to things, and let it stand at intimacy without relations.

She put her elbow up on the table and supported her neck as she leaned in closer to him. She felt the magnetic pull, and his head automatically came closer to hers. "Lucas, you know better than to do this right now. I don't have self control like you."

"What makes you think I have self control when it comes to you? I only keep away because I don't want to ruin something before it has a chance to get fixed. The only thing keeping me in check is the thought that, if I don't, I lose you forever. Don't need more motivation than that," he said to her. They were just inches apart, as he scanned her face, looking between her lips and eyes.

"I know. Me too. I don't want to get confused. I want to know it's my decision without anything clouding my judgement. But sometimes I don't think it's very necessary to do that when we could be doing something else entirely. I mean, at what point do I admit I don't have any intention of moving on whatsoever," she said to him quietly. She was still flirting, but she was also deliberating.

Luke took a deep breath. "We're still in an exclusive relationship, Penelope, even if we aren't together," he said sincerely.

She let her eyes fall to the table before peering at him under her lashes. "I know, and I don't want to change that. I just want to know how to get back to where I don't think of the pain."

Luke was about to respond, tell her that that's why they were waiting, whether their libidos wanted to or not, and that he was perfectly willing to continue for as long as she needed but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard the loud, unmistakeable screech of his sister. "What the fuck are you two playing at?"

Luke stood up swiftly and came towards his sister, wrapping her in a hug and whispering in her ear to be good, a direction she quickly rejected. "Everyone, this is my sister, Layla, and that is my ex-partner, Phil," Luke told the group who were paying rapt attention as he gestured to Phil before walking over and clasping his hand, leaning down to give him a hug.

That was all it took. A few moments with no supervision, and Layla was off. She knew everyone in the private room was paying attention to her, and she thrived on attention. "Penny!" She gave Penelope a hug when she stood up, and then as she pulled back, Layla started tapping each of her index fingers on either boob that was peeking out of Penelope's dress. "Aw, man. I missed these things." She heard her first round of laughter and was hooked.

"Lay-" Luke was going to scold her, but Layla was louder and feistier.

"Shut up, bro. So, like, for real, I thought you weren't together, or were pretending not to be together or some shit, but you're basically making out, so what gives?" She looked at them briefly, but was also smiling at the people that she didn't know in the slightest but was assuming she could make into allies, just as she did with everyone else she'd ever come in contact with.

"We-" Penelope tried.

"Whatever. Doesn't matter. Just let us know when the wedding is." Layla halted the light tapping and put both full palms on Penelope's boobs and pushed them together gently, "I really, really, missed these."

"Layla for fuck's sake!" Luke shouted at her.

She put her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, officer. Cripes! Take a chill pill, bro. Ooh, that reminds me. Does anyone have any spare handcuffs they aren't using because I'm going to need them?" she asked seriously.

All of the people that were meeting this girl for the first time were laughing and smirking as the scene unfolded in front of them. Luke and Phil came towards the girls, giving the others a better view of the characters on stage. "She already lost mine is what she's trying to say," Phil spoke for the first time, nodding towards the large group.

"Well, you're in physical therapy. You're not out being all, covert undercover man anymore. It's not like you were using them." She put her hands on her hips ready to argue.

"She's very empathetic. It's her specialty," Phil said earning more laughs.

"Anyway, why are you here? Thought you were a couple hours out," Luke said loudly, trying his best to contain the situation.

"Yeah, we lied. Thought it would be a fun surprise to show up and embarrass you, and so far it has not disappointed." She lowered her voice, arching her eyebrow at the people she saw with the widest grins.

"Actually, Layla just breaks laws. So traffic laws are not even on her radar. I should've arrested her multiple times, not just on this trip but just in life, generally," Phil said.

Layla glared at Phil. "Excuse me, I'm a surgeon. I save lives like, all the time. So if I sort of don't pay attention to gambling or trespassing laws, like, isn't that sort of repayment for being like, super awesome?" She turned to the group. "I don't have to be a doctor. I could be a stripper. I'd be a great stripper, and then I wouldn't have to pay taxes, more laws I don't care for." She used one hand to make an almost karate chop.

Luke had a hand to his forehead, unsure why he allowed his sister to come on this vacation at all. He usually pretended she didn't exist. Why didn't he do that? Oh, right. Penelope wanted her there, and he would give Penelope whatever she wanted. "Layla, not everyone finds you entertaining or funny. Some of these people might actually arrest you if you pull some of your usual shit. Plus, there are kids at home."

"Alright, but there ain't kids here, so..."

"Anyway, you two want drinks?" Penelope asked.

"Hells yeah." Layla stepped forward and downed the rest of the liquid in what was Luke and Penelope's shared cup. She walked towards the main part of the table and poured more from the pitcher she saw. Reaching over Hotch and JJ, not caring that she didn't even know their names. After her glass was nearly spilling, she walked further around the table, taking a seat in between Savannah and Mark where there was a spare chair. "So anyone have any questions I can answer? I've got loads of stories."

The group were now turned partially so they could see both sets of people. "No, you have no stories. Keep your mouth shut," Luke said in a menacing voice.

"Relax, they know I can't tell them why you broke up. Blah blah, boring, but I can tell them how Uncle Rico caught you two doing it at Abuela's surprise birthday party. No one ever told me that story was off limits." She clinked her glass against Emily's since it was the closest and started taking large gulps. Everyone was thoroughly amused and enjoying the new addition to the evening. She gestured back to where she'd left her mortified brother. "Oh, that's Kelsey. Sorry, I left her outside on the phone."

"Uh, hi." Kelsey gave a small wave at the many people whose eyes were trained on her. She stepped further into the room. She looked at Luke and then Penelope shyly, "Uh, hi, you two. Nice to see you."

As soon as Kelsey walked in, Penelope's posture changed. Her demeanor was closed off. She forgot the profilers in the room, and instead she just remembered the pain in her chest. Luke was eyeing her up and down, feeling the need to reach out to her, but she tensed up and gave him a glare to inform him to do no such thing.

After a few moments of silence and Kelsey's wide-eyed stare towards Layla, Penelope responded. "Yes, it's nice to see you." She gave her a half hearted smile. "You know what, I'm going to go back to the house and make sure everything is ready for you all. So, yeah. Don't worry about the time or anything. Stay. Have fun," she said it to the group as a whole without looking at any of them, grabbing her purse from the table where she'd been sitting and swiftly moving through the curtain.

Luke put his hand to his temple and rubbed, before giving Layla a death stare and turning to Kelsey. "Don't worry about it," he said to her, before following Penelope.

Phil wheeled himself closer to the table. "I told you you're an asshole, didn't I?" Phil said to Layla in a reprimand. "You could've told them who were bringing, just to be courteous."

"Fuck off, Phil. Are we just supposed to hide anything that reminds them forever?" Layla glared back at him.

"Lay, I don't need to be here. If my presence upsets her, I should go," Kelsey said meekly. Her eyes couldn't help but drift to the overly curious, and not particularly friendly, faces that were Penelope and Luke's friends.

"Nonsense. Those two fucked up their relationship; you didn't. It's their problem, not yours. Sit down. Have a drink. Let the past stay where it belongs. Let it go," Layla said decisively.

Kelsey meekly sat down at the chair vacated by Luke, as far away from the group as possible. Phil came closer to the group, but not too far, so he didn't have to leave Kelsey alone.

Phil glanced around to the other people, feeling a sense of camaraderie but a need to tell them to let it settle for the moment. They didn't need to protect Penelope tonight. "I'm really happy to be here. I hope you don't mind spoiled rotten dogs because Penelope and Luke gave me Lou, and he's going to be excited to have so many people around."

The others took his cue and made conversation with the newcomers and each other, alike. Not one of them was going to drop it. Not until they got to the bottom of this, but they couldn't do anything at eleven o'clock at a bar when their friends had left and apparently needed privacy.