"You talked to everyone else on the team but me. Why?"

Erin pulled off her reading glasses and set them on top of the report that she was reviewing as she looked into Penelope Garcia's troubled face. "Please, take a seat," she said quietly as she gestured towards the sofa, getting to her feet as Penelope closed the door and made her way there. They sat at almost the same time, and Erin took a deep breath as she tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't hurt Penelope any more than she already was. "I assumed that you were speaking with Agent Jareau or Agent Morgan. And David has mentioned that you run a grief support group, and so I just thought that you wouldn't need me to step in and check up on you."

Penelope shrugged a little as she folded her hands together in her lap. "I want to say that I call Jayje a lot, but she's even busier at the State Department, if you can believe that! And the group I facilitate is one where I listen, and the others talk."

"And Agent Morgan?"

Penelope gave Erin a self-deprecating little smile as she shook her head. "Much though I love my Boo, he is just so angry right now, and I can't deal with that. He needs to work that out before I can truly open myself up to him. So I haven't really talked to him about much of anything, other than supporting him when he needs it. I, I understand, and I want to support him, but it seems like he only has two moods these days, cranky and flirty. I'm not certain which is worse, honestly."

Erin nodded as she reached out and patted Penelope's knee softly. "All right, so, let's fix this situation before it gets worse, then, eh?"

The relieved smile that spread across Penelope's lips as she nodded, covering Erin's hand with her own as she took a shallow breath. "I don't think that it can get much worse, honestly. I know that Emily was acerbic as hell, that unless she liked you, she treated you poorly, but somehow it seems like the heart has been excised from our team. First, we lost JJ, and I know that that wasn't your fault, but the others were so quick to blame you, because you were an easy scapegoat. We could rally around our mutual hatred of our loss, and know that we could at least see Jayje when we had time. We learned to function as a smaller team, and even adding Ashley seemed natural, of sorts."

"And then, Emily began keeping secrets from you all."

Penelope nodded jerkily as she pressed her lips together in order to keep from crying. "I think that Hotch knew something was off with her before everything came to light, but I can't be certain. He looks like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, as if he thinks that he could have prevented her death somehow. But he couldn't have known what was going to happen, because none of us did. Until it was too late."

Erin looked away from Penelope before shaking her head. "That's not exactly true. You're right, Aaron did know that there was something going on with Emily, and he asked me to confront her about things, since I was her supervisor, and I might get the answers that he couldn't."

Penelope's hand gripped hers tightly as she stared at Erin in disbelief. "So you knew Doyle was after her this entire time?"

She shook her head as she allowed her fingers to dance across the back of Penelope's hand in order to loosen the grip. Penelope quickly complied and she smiled at the woman before drawing in a deep breath. "I had no idea who exactly was after Emily. Honestly. But I did call her into my office a few weeks before the incident, and question her on what was going on. As expected, she was standoffish and a bit antagonistic, but I kept pushing for answers. Finally, she told me all that she could, which was that if she read any of us into the situation, we would be in danger. There was something about the way that she said that, it just gave me pause. There wasn't any true animosity in her voice, but there was a sense of urgency and concern that made me realise that she was deadly serious. And seeing just who was after her, I can completely understand why she tried to keep us away from the situation. Because Ian Doyle is a dangerous man, and I shudder to think of what he might have done if he knew that others on the team knew about him. After all, look what Foyet did to us, and he was just a low level criminal, without any of the connections that Doyle has. So, be angry at me, if you must, but I made the decision that I thought would keep my family safe, and dropped it."

"Oh," Penelope breathed out as she nodded slowly. "I suppose that I didn't think about that in the course of my grief. I just, I really miss her, Erin."

"And so does everyone else on the team. You just have to find the right connections to make in order to lessen your burden of grief. My grandmother was Swedish, and she taught me a few proverbs from her homeland, one of which is that shared sorrow is halved sorrow."

"I think that's why I chose to talk to you?" Penelope tightened her grip on Erin's hand once more as she took a deep breath. "Everyone would assume I'd talk to Kevin, or Derek, or Jayje, but you are probably the best person to help me out of this hole of despair. Because grief has touched you so deeply, and yet you're still able to carry on as if you aren't weighed down by that burden on your back."

"I had to learn to be a good leader, Penelope, which is where that Ice Queen moniker came from."

"When did you acquire that?"

Erin looked down at the coffee table as she pursed her lips together. "During the Amerithrax debacle. Things happened then, things that I'm not proud of, but things that helped mold me into the woman that I am today. I do not feel comfortable telling you what happened back then, even though I know that you could look up everything that occurred."

"Then whatever it is that happened has hurt you so deeply that you can't move past that moment in time. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Penelope. I chose the course of action that I did, and it resulted in a painful experience, one that caused me to grow inwards, before David rescued me and helped me to start growing outwards once more. I just hope that there comes a day when my amends are accepted."

Penelope squeezed her hand a few times as she blinked back tears. "Reconciliation is something to always strive for. I mean, if there are parents out there who can forgive their child's killer, I'm certain that whoever you would like to make up with will eventually listen and hear the words of your heart."

Erin nodded as she suddenly realized that somehow the conversation had neatly been turned to focus on her, and she let out a sigh as she was the one to tighten her grip on Penelope's hand. "This does nothing for you, you know."

"But I feel better for coming to talk to you? And maybe I could come by for supper tonight? I haven't seen the kiddos in a while."

"I think that I would like that," she answered, and Penelope smiled as she nodded. "Now, you should probably head back to work. I'll see you at the house around seven?"

"That sounds like a lovely plan, Erin." Penelope gave her hand one last squeeze before she got up from the sofa and exited the office, and Erin watched after her, wondering what she had just gotten herself into.