Disclaimer: I own nothing.
`It had been two days before Penelope had a chance to talk with Kevin. She was busy running a multitude of searches and still taking care of Clooney and Sergio with help from an elderly neighbor that adored the dog and cat duo.
Penelope took a sip of her tea and sighed. It had been a long two days already. This serial killer was smarter than most. Hell he even started to frustrate Reid.
Penelope's phone rang, and she slapped the speaker button.
"Hey baby girl can you run a track and trace on a number for me," Derek asked.
"Sugar, you know track and trace is one of my specialties," Penelope batted back.
"Well, how about after this case, you show me the rest?" Derek said after a deep chuckle.
"Derek Morgan, you should know by now that only a special few get to see what I can really do, and certainly not for free," Penelope purred.
"Well, how about instead of just movie night part two, we also go to that little Italian place you like?" Derek said with a hint of hopefulness in his tone.
"Now that sounds more like it. Oh, and I'm sending you the information to your tablets now. It looks like your baddie is on the move as we speak," Penelope said as her tone went from teasing to quite serious.
"Thank you sweetness," Derek replied.
"See you later, and be safe my love."
Penelope turned her chair when she heard someone clear their throat.
"Oh hey Kev. I thought you were running updates with the tech pool," Penelope said.
"I was, and now I'm stopping by to see my girlfriend.
Penelope glanced back at her screens. She knew that her band of mighty crime fighters were just now going after the unsub. She sighed and said, "Kevin, I'm all done here for now. I can come in tomorrow and finish my paperwork."
As she started packing up her things it totally slipped her mind that Clooney and Sergio were still in her apartment. She quickly rose and gave Kevin a kiss on the cheek. She flinched as Kevin stiffened to her touch. She wondered what that was all about. She shrugged the feeling of uneasiness off and followed Kevin out of her office and to the bank of elevators that would take them to the parking deck.
They made the short drive in Kevin's beat up old Volkswagen, and after a moment of awkward silence, they both relaxed inside the sputtering hunk of junk.
When they arrived safely at their destination, Penelope carried her heavy bags out, and grumbled at the thought that Derek would have helped her, or even insisted he carry it all himself.
Once they were outside of her apartment building Kevin walked quickly over to her. He seemed like he was in a better mood.
Penelope placed the key in the lock and turned it, as soon as the door was opened Kevin sneezed.
"Oh, here honey let me get you a tissue," Penelope said while carefully placing her bags down.
"It smells like dog in here," Kevin said after sneezing for what felt like an eternity.
Clooney raised his head from the end of Penelope's bed, where he had been napping.
"Remember the plan," Sergio hissed.
Clooney gave a wide smile.
The two animals could hear voices. Every once in a while they were interrupted by loud almost painful sounding sneezes.
"Oh, shoot! Kevin I forgot Clooney is here," Penelope exclaimed.
"Why the hell is Morgan's dog still here? I thought we talked about this," Kevin said, giving Penelope a look of disapproval.
Penelope rolled her eyes and then said, "Uh no Kevin you yelled I simply ignored you."
"Penelope, this is insane. You know I'm allergic to Clooney. and Sergio's fur doesn't help the matter," Kevin whined pathetically.
Penelope fumed. "What do you suggest I do with them? Should I just opened the door and let them loose?"
Kevin mumbled something but quickly shut up when he saw fire flashing in Penelope's eyes.
"No of course not, Plum Sauce, it's just that it's bad enough I have to share you with the BAU and Morgan, but now I have to share you with his damn dog too."
"Kevin Lynch if you are standing there and telling me you are jealous of Morgan's dog then you have lost your mind,"Penelope said as she crossed her arms across her chest.
Just then Clooney came barreling out of Penelope's bedroom.
Clooney happily hopped all around Penelope, causing Kevin to let out rapid fire sneezes.
"Get him out of here, please!" Kevin begged.
Penelope was startled at how loud he yelled.
She looked from Kevin to Clooney. The dog stopped what he was doing and backed away. He put his head down and his tail between his legs in an obvious sign of fear.
"Are you happy now? You scared him" Penelope snapped at Kevin
"Penny, you know that's not what I meant to do,"Kevin ruefully.
"Then why did you yell like that?" she shot back with a roll of her eyes
Penelope ignored Kevin for a moment and went to comfort Clooney.
"It's okay, buddy. Kevin didn't mean to scare you. Come on, go lay down."Penelope sweetly said.
Kevin rolled his eyes at Penelope while her back was turned to him. Once she turned around, he tried hard to muster up a look that said he was sorry. That look was wiped off his face when he saw Clooney staring at him.
Just before turning to go jump back on the bed in Penelope's bedroom, Clooney eyed Lynch up and down.
Kevin scowled at the dog. The scowl went from a look of annoyance to surprise when Clooney winked at him.
Kevin was rooted to the spot speechless. There was no way in hell that dog just winked at him. He sneezed and used that as an excuse to grab a napkin and glass of water out of the kitchen. He found his allergy pills and took two.
Penelope grabbed her own glass of water and sat down.
"Kevin, we do need to talk." Penelope huffed out.
Penelope let out a quiet Oomph when Sergio jumped in her lap. She started petting the cat.
"Penny dear, I'm sorry for earlier. It's just this is all getting to be too much. I think it is time that we really settled down," Kevin said, trying to place a comforting hand on Penelope's shoulder.
Penelope's features softened, "Kevin, I know my job takes a lot of my time, but my work is important to me."
"Plum Sauce, I know that, it's just hard for me to have to share you," Kevin replied.
"I know Kevin and I do understand where you are coming from. Maybe it is time we talked about becoming more serious," Penelope said thoughtfully.
"Really," Kevin said excitedly. "You'd be willing to settle down with me….. Maybe we could move in together,' He asked hopefully.
"I was thinking maybe start off smaller… Like give you a key," Penelope said. She didn't miss the look of disappointment on Kevin's face.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sergio frowned. This was not how this was supposed to go. Darnn Penelope and her big heart and where the hell was Clooney? He better not have fallen asleep, the cat thought to himself.
Sergio sighed. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. He picked his head up from where it was resting on Penelope's lap and nuzzled her cheek.
"Awww. I missed you, too, Serg," Penelope said as she lovingly stroked the kitten.
'A-A-A CHOO!" Kevin sneezed and glared at the cat.
Sergio climbed from Penelope's lap across the little couch and into Kevin's lap. The gray feline looked up at Lynch with wide innocent eyes and purred. He then laid his little head against Kevin's arm and let out a quiet meow.
"See, Kevin? They aren't so bad. They really are just little bundles of furry love," Penelope said.
"Yeah sure little bundles of…..OW," Kevin exclaimed.
WIth a smile of self satisfaction, Sergio lept from Kevin's lap after secretly digging his claws through mountains of khaki colored pants.
"That little fucker hurt me!" Kevin screamed at Sergio, who was now "trembling" in the corner.
"That's it. Penelope, you chose right here, and right now. It's me or them, "Kevin demanded.
Sergio, not liking the tone that Kevin took with his Penelope, hissed, alerting Clooney it was time to finish up their plan.
Clooney came barrelling into Penelope's living room. He stood directly between Kevin and her.
"Penelope, Plum Sauce, Penny-Kins…come on is it really that hard to decide? Me, the love of your life, or two flea bags that don't even belong to you," Kevin asked while warily keeping an eye on both cat and dog.
"Love of my life," Penelope whispered in disbelief. "Love of my life." She repeated it, but loudly and with anger laced through each word.
Sergio and Clooney shared a look that clearly meant that Kevin Lynch was about to get it, and not in a good way.
"Kevin, the love of my life wouldn't give me so much hell about every single aspect of my life. We have done nothing since we walked into my apartment tonight except for going around in circles about my family, and a few adorable animals."
"Penelope, it's more than just the animals and your so called family. It's about the fact that everyone in your life comes before me. I need a real commitment. You can't just keep stringing me along," Kevin shouted.
"I have never strung you along. I have never once hid any facet of my life from you. Hell, the day you met me was the day the BAU proved how much we meant to each other. JJ shot a man for me, Hotch, Rossi, and Reid broke almost every protocol in the book to capture my attacker. Emily -" Penelope sniffed at the memory of her dearly departed friend. "Emily not once treated me like a victim. She was the only one who knew I was strong enough to get through this."
"And what about Morgan?" Kevin sneered. "What did Morgan do for you?"
"He helped me to put myself back together," Penelope whispered.
"What was that? Speak a little louder Penelope," Kevin taunted.
"I said, he helped me put myself back together. I realized that I was strong enough to do that for me, and as much as I wanted a knight in shining armor to fix me, Derek helped me realized that I had to be that for me. He helped me by pushing me a little bit everyday to be stronger and braver." Penelope looked at the ceiling and then back at Kevin. "I just realized that he pushed me to be brave and I couldn't do the one thing that I should have."
Kevin through Penelope's confession started to become livid. His naturally pasty face had now become almost crimson in color. His eyebrows were lowered dangerously, and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.
"What are you trying to say Penelope," Kevin asked with hatred laced into his tone.
"What I am saying is that I should have had the lady balls to tell Derek how I felt, instead of going out with someone who I felt was safer and more suited for me," Penelope said, deceptively calm.
"Why, you little bitch-" Kevin started to say, but was effectively cut off by a growl that was coming from Clooney. The dog stood directly in front of Penelope barring his teeth.
"Shh, down boy. Mama's got this" Penelope cooed to Clooney. He listened and moved to stand next to her side but he never took his dark brown eyes off of Kevin.
"Kevin, let me tell you something. First of all, if you call me Penny or Plum Sauce, and not my actual fucking name, I might just strangle you with one of your ugly ass ties. How dare you come into my home and demand me chose between my family and you? And you are a complete moron if you think you are the love of my life."
"But Penny-" Kevin whined.
"You asked me to choose, so I am. Kevin, get out and take all of your shit with you. If you leave anything after tonight, if you want to get it back you're going to have to go to the city dump to get it. You know my mom once told me never to trust people that animals don't like. Clearly, she was correct," Penelope said as she shot Kevin a look of distaste.
"You'll regret this. When you're all alone with your cat. No one wants a lonely desperate cat lady," Kevin said as he started picking up items in the living room that belonged to him.
Penelope turned on her heels went to her closet and grabbed an empty box and threw it at Kevin.
Kevin picked the box up and starting throwing things inside muttering to himself. A few minutes later he announced that he was done getting his things and that he was leaving.
Sergio who never took his eyes off Kevin wanted to make sure the nerd in the hideous tie was gone for good.
"You will regret this. You'll realize that James Bond would never want Money Penny when he could have his pick of Bond girls" Kevin snarled at her.
"Get out," Penelope exclaimed as she walked towards Kevin. Finding the need for self preservation he backed up. In his haste to get away from Penelope he didn't notice the cat that was directly behind him.
Kevin tripped over the cat landing ass first with a loud thud on Penelope's hardwood floors. The box that he was holding flew out of his hands and landed somewhere near the kitchen. With a scowl firmly in place Kevin stood up and dusted his pants off. He then went to get his belongings and leave.
As Kevin was headed out of the door he took one last look at Penelope and glared.
"You know? My mother was right. You're more trouble than you are worth. Goodbye," Kevin said with a nod of satisfaction followed by a sneeze.
Clooney, who still by Penelope's side, barked letting Kevin know it was time for him to leave.
"Well fuck you too, Clooney," Kevin said as he walked through the door. He shifted the box and slammed the door behind him.
Penelope took a deep breath. Now she had a decision to make. Did she tell Derek how she felt or would she keep her mouth shut and love her best friend from afar. Now that she wasn't quite so angry she lost some of the courage she had while she was yelling at Kevin.
She flopped on the couch and smiled slightly when Clooney placed his head on her lap and Sergio curled up next to her side.
"Guys, what am I going to do," Penelope asked the cat and dog.
Clooney barked, and she smiled.
"Are you trying to give me an answer?" she cooed to the dog.
Inwardly, Sergio huffed. He gracefully leapt from the couch. He stood in front of the coffee table where Penelope's cellphone was. The cat looked from Penelope to the phone.
"You think I should call him Serg?" she asked the cat.
"Yes you frustrating woman call him," Sergio inwardly screamed.
"Maybe I should wait until tomorrow. He's probably busy," she reasoned.
Sergio meowed and nudged the phone with his nose.
"Okay, I'll take the hint. I'll call him," she said as she picked up her phone.
With a deep breath Penelope pressed the number one on her speed dial list.
Only the epilogue left!
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