Part 2

Gift 1

About 1 o'clock the next afternoon Penny answered the door to find a deliveryman with a huge vase of flowers.

"Delivery for Miss Penelope Garcia," announced the deliveryman.

Who could they be from? Penelope wondered, her mind not immediately jumping to the obvious answer. No one she knew would go to such expense, because while there were no roses, there was still a lot of flowers and that would have been costly.

"That's me," Penelope answered.

"Sign this," the deliveryman said all the clipboard with a pen.

Penelope signed for the flowers and the deliveryman was even nice enough to set them on her kitchen counter before departing.

Penelope finally found the card amongst all the blooms and read it. Her expression immediately turned to one of great anger and she crumpled the card in her fist. She didn't even have to guess how Aaron Hotchner and had gotten her address considering that Emily would've given it to him willingly.

Aaron's just playing with me Penelope thought, so he can dump me or worse. Penelope didn't trust her own judgment when it came to Alphas like Aaron.

Penelope didn't even think about the fact that she was hardly being logical, as she had been hurt so greatly in the past that she just assumed that all Alpha's were like the one that she'd had the misfortune to date. Logically, she knew this was not true, but when her emotions got involved, logic went out the window.

She had never told anyone that she had been basically raped by an alpha. Oh, she had gone up to his apartment willingly, but when he had started to get to rough and had actually tied her to the bed without her permission. He hadn't actually bothered to ask her whether she was into bondage sex. She had been frightened and tried to get him to stop, but he hadn't no matter how much she protested. He had basically raped her, although she knew most wouldn't see it that way, because she had gone with him willingly. She might've gone up to his apartment on her free will, but that didn't mean what had occurred wasn't still rape, as she hadn't been a willing participant. Once the alpha had fallen asleep she had managed to wiggle one arm loose, then untied her other limbs, had gathered her things and left before he had woken.

Ever since then, she had been dating alphas that she knew would never touch her heart in anyway. She had been just barely 25 when it had occurred and not even Emily knew what had happened to her. Even drunk she had never revealed her deepest darkest secret to another living soul.

She had been scarred by that had occurred feeling that people would look at her like she was a whore or least a loose woman, even though she had done nothing, except go up to the Alpha's apartment of her own free will, as she knew people were fickle. She should have reported the alpha she knew, but she hadn't, because she had been to ashamed, which was also the main reason she had never told her best friend. If she hadn't managed to get the alpha arrested she knew it was likely that he would come after her, so she had said nothing for her own safety as well as because she was ashamed. Even if he hadn't come after her personally, he would have probably spread rumors about her and true or not they would be believed by most, so she had remained silent. Ever since that night nearly 8 years ago she had a closed yourself off from getting involved in any romantic entanglements. Built a wall around her heart, as Emily had said. She had to in order to protect herself, but it didn't exactly make her very happy. She had already decided to live her life alone, as she wasn't about to take the chance of anybody else alpha or human doing the same thing to her. She would live her own way from now on and not try to find a mate.

Penelope thought about dumping the gorgeous bouquet into the trashcan, but thought she might as well enjoy the gift, even if she turned down the offer of a date. She simply threw the card with Aaron's message as well as his phone number into the trashcan and put the flower on the mantle. If she didn't call him maybe he wouldn't give up, Penelope thought hopefully.

Penelope regained her cheer quickly and did laundry and several other chores, before she headed out to do some shopping

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~

Gift 2

The next day Penelope was just finishing getting dressed when the doorbell rang again and went to answer it just like she had yesterday.

"Delivery for Miss Penelope Garcia," the deliveryman announced and Penelope stared at the deliveryman as if he was insane.

"You are Miss Garcia, right?" The deliveryman ass after checking his clipboard for the address.

"I am, but I certainly wasn't expecting a delivery," Penelope said.

"Well, here you go," the deliveryman said thrusting a small package into her hands and then pushing the clipboard towards her, so she could sign for it and Penelope did so somewhat in a daze as she had been sure her not calling Aaron as his previous message had instructed would have done the trick and let him know she wasn't interested, but apparently not. She had momentarily forgotten how stubborn alphas could be.

Once the deliveryman had left, Penelope took the small package inside and closed the front door.

Penelope ripped the paper off the small package just knowing it was some sort of jewelry and if that was the case she was going to mail it directly back to Aaron, because accepting flowers was one thing, but if she accepted a piece of jewelry no matter how inexpensive she knew that she would be agreeing to at least date him. Accepting jewelry was a no no, because it was an indication that an Omega was interested in at least dating the alpha in question. The more expensive the piece the more serious the commitment. If it was just cheap costume jewelry then you agreed to at least a few dates, but if was real, brass, copper, gold, silver, platinum or real gemstones depended on someone's budget, which was basically a lifetime commitment.

Of course, if the omega was interested in what was on offer then they were allowed to keep the jewelry, as it indicated that the alpha's courtship/mating gift was accepted.

Penelope opened the box and saw that it wasn't jewelry thank goodness. It was several Ghiradelli caramel squares, her favorite. She lifted them out almost reverently as she didn't allow herself to indulge to often in case she gained weight. Underneath the chocolates was a folded piece of paper and Penelope unfolded it cautiously. She read Aaron's message, which was short sweet and to the point and she knew that she wasn't really being fair to him at all. She wasn't even giving him a chance to prove that he wasn't like that Alpha she had encountered 8 years ago that had basically raped her. Penelope shook her head and threw the chocolate in the trash along with the note with regret. It was a shame as the chocolates were her favorite, but she wasn't going to take the chance.

Again Aaron had been begging her to call to accept just one date from him and again she had refused, even though it was getting harder. She wouldn't be so determined to not date Aaron if she didn't already know that he could be the one to steal her heart if the way her inner omega had acted when she had first met him was any indications and she was not going to be hurt again when he dumped her for some model type.

If this continued she didn't know what she was going to do, as she hated to be rude to someone who was so nice. Maybe she could get Emily to let him know that she wasn't interested, so that he would back off. Yes, that might be her only solution. On the other hand, she already knew that Emily was on Aaron's side, because there was no way he could have discovered her addiction to caramel squares without inside information. She knew her friend meant well, but Emily didn't know about her dark secret and she was determined never to tell anyone.

Penelope went about her business and once her chores were done she got on her computer and was soon absorbed.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~

Gift 14

There was a knock on the door just before lunch time and Penelope sighed in exasperation wondering what kind of gift Aaron could have possibly sent her today. She was getting tired of this game, but Aaron was being unusually persistent and she would think that he would be tired of her constant rejections by now.

"I know you're there," called a familiar voice. "Open the door."

Great, Penelope thought. Here comes the Cavalry. Her best friend was determined to interfere.

"What can I do for you?" Penelope said, just stopping herself from being rude to Emily who didn't really deserve it, just because she was frustrated with a certain Alpha. She didn't even notice the bag that Emily was carrying, a bag that had the head of an adorable gray kitten sticking out.

"You can close the door," Emily said. "We need to talk."

Penelope closed the door and stood there with her arms crossed in a show of defiance and Emily rolled her eyes.

"I know why you want to talk and you can tell your rather persistent friend I'm not interested and that he needs to pay attention to some woman that is," Penelope said.

"Let's go sit down," Emily said studying her friend, noticing that she looked absolutely terrible like she was having a bad bout of insomnia at least, as the bags under her eyes were deep enough to hide in. Emily knew very well why that was, as Penelope was denying the Omega part of her who wanted to go to Aaron. The omega in her friend was more than interested in Aaron Hotchner and Penelope was so afraid of having her heart broken that she refused to accept, that the interest was mutual, which is why she was having problems sleeping, but then Aaron was having the same problem.

"Just look at yourself," Emily began. "You look terrible and you know very well why that is. Why are you putting yourself through this torture? Going out on a few dates is not going to kill you."

"You know why," Penelope said listlessly.

"You're killing yourself," Emily told her friend bluntly. "The omega in you is fighting back and there's no way you can control that part of you forever."

"That part of me will just have to get over it," Penelope said still looking stubborn.

"That's not going to happen and you know it," Emily said still being blunt because she felt like that was the only way she was going to get through to her stubborn friend. "You know very well where your insomnia will lead. You're eventually going to end up killing yourself quite literally and I don't want to see that happen, just because you're being as stubborn as a mule. I never made an issue of it before, but now I have to, but something happened to you, something more than you've told me, something that caused you to create a wall around your heart."

"There's nothing I haven't told you," Penelope denied shaking her head.

"I don't believe that for a moment, as I know you too well and the deceit is practically rolling off you," Emily said. "Do you know that you're literally killing Aaron? He's in worse condition then you are if that's possible. He hasn't been able to do much, except stay home in bed. Luckily, he's the owner of several theaters and is not the manager, so he doesn't necessarily have to be there, though he likes to be, but he's useless to them right now. This cannot continue! Aaron refuses to force you to at least date him, as he insists it must be your choice. From the way you two are acting I suspect that you'll be mated before very much longer passes if only you would see he's a good man."

"It doesn't matter I've already determined I'm living the rest of my life alone," Penelope said, though she yearned with everything she had to go to him, but knew, she could not, as Aaron would never accept the fact that she had been basically forced to have sex with another alpha. Sex not freely given spoiled the Omega for any other alpha, at least according to the old laws that had been around for thousands of years. In the past, any of their race having sex before marriage, particularly the female omegas were spoiled for any alpha that was interested. It wasn't fair really, but Penelope knew if she told Aaron about what had happened he'd have no choice, but dump her, even if he wasn't disgusted by what had happened. She doubted he would want to deal with her baggage anyway, since a lot of males wouldn't. She knew she couldn't stand to be dumped by Aaron when he learned of her rape at the hands of another alpha, so she had to stand her ground. All they had to do was stay away from each other and eventually they get over their attraction. She chose to ignore the fact that this wasn't a hundred and even thousands of years ago and that old law wasn't really in effect anymore, even if it still existed

"That is just bullshit!" Emily almost screamed causing Penelope to stare at her in amazement, just a little frightened. "There is something you have not told me that is preventing you from accepting Aaron's offer and you know damn well you're not just going to get over and forget him and he's definitely not going to forget you. You're killing him and yourself and for what? You've lost weight at least 10 pounds probably more, because you're not eating, so you are literally starving yourself to death and to what purpose really, other than your own stubbornness."

Suddenly there was a meow and Penelope started staring at the bag at Emily's feet as a gray head poked out again.

"Now who's this," Penelope said, her her demeanor softening at once.

"This is your present from Aaron and his last gift to get you to go out on a date with him, though I know he wants more than that. I won't be surprised if he takes his own life after this, just by stepping in front of a bus, as he's not the type to slash his wrist or take an overdose of sleeping pills. Is that what you want?" Emily told Penelope having calmed down, but was still staring at her intently.

"Surely he wouldn't do that," Penelope protested knowing that if Aaron was seriously considering suicide, then she had to stop being stubborn and agree to at least date him. She knew that a date would lead to another and then them mating within a short amount of time as neither one of them would be in this condition if they hadn't truly clicked and the omega part of her had known that all along, but she hadn't listened. She still wasn't sure how Aaron would deal with her baggage and she had only met him that once, but she couldn't in all honesty not tell him, because that wouldn't be fair and she'd feel guilty forever if she didn't

"He won't want me once he learns my secret," Penelope said finally, stroking the soft gray kitten that had jumped onto her lap to offer her comfort.

"Tell me what it is," Emily almost demanded, but when Penelope looked up at her friend's pleading expression she gave in. The kitten in her lap seemed to give her the courage to tell her best friend what had happened to her so long to go.

She started out haltingly, but soon she was crying as she explained.

"So this is what you've been keeping secrets for so long," Emily said. "You've been an idiot, you know that? Do you really believe that Aaron is going to reject you, just because some alpha raped you and yes, it was rape, because you didn't consent to be tied to the bedpost or to have him ram himself into you. No, wonder you've been so wary of men and been dating guys that you couldn't really get close to, ones that would never truly touch your heart. I knew there was something you weren't telling me, but I didn't think it was something so serious. You should've told me a long time ago, as it at least would've taken the burden off you, as carrying this kind of thing alone weighs on you."

"I know, but I couldn't tell you after it first happened, as I felt so ashamed and even afterwards, I couldn't find a way. I just knew that you would accuse me of leading him on, even though I knew better, so it was just easier to say nothing," Penelope explained.

"I never would've done that," Emily told her and Penelope nodded.

"I know, but still, I couldn't bring myself to tell you," Penelope said. "Then as time passed it just got easier to keep the secret."

"You're afraid to tell him," Emily realized and Penelope nodded.

"I'd feel guilty if I didn't, since is not like it's a harmless secret, it's something that seriously affected my life. I accepted it a long time ago and it's not like it's turned me off having sex, but to tell someone about something so serious in my past would have then dumping me before I could blink."

"That's true for a lot of our species," Emily admitted, "but as for you and Aaron, you have something special and he's more worldly then the guys you've dated before and believe me he's not going to dump you when to tell him."

"But the law," Penelope protested. "Even if he understands what happened he'll have no choice."

"Is that's what's stopping you?" Emily snorted looking at her friend with incredibility in her eyes and expression. "Penny, you've been an idiot, you know that, right? That law doesn't apply in this day and age and you know it. How's anyone going to find out about it. We don't live in small villages or towns anymore where everyone knows everyone else's business. I mean, come on, we live in Baltimore Maryland, which has millions of people, and what happened to you would hardly be a blip on anyone's scale. If they happen to hear about some woman that had been forced most of them would feel sympathy for the woman and anybody who didn't, well then, they are not worth knowing. It happened eight years ago and you've been carrying around this pain for longer then was really necessary. If anybody should be ashamed its that alpha who tied you up, so you couldn't get away and then forced himself on you instead of getting your consent. What he did to you was very wrong and he should be drawn and quartered or at least thrown in prison, because it wasn't consensual. He tied you up, even when you protested he continued with his plan. Yeah, you went up to his apartment willingly, but so what? That doesn't give him the right to do what he did to you 8 years ago. Far as you know there have been no rumors about you and him, as he kept his mouth shut, so who's going to know besides you, me and Aaron when you tell him? Even if someone did know, nobody knows who you are, except your closest friends and it's unlikely at the very least that your friends would ever have heard the rumors."

"You're right," Penelope finally admitted feeling some of the shame, she had been having for so long leave her.

"Of course, I am and you should've told me years ago," Emily said briskly. "This isn't the 15th or 16th century anymore Penny, and you should not have been carrying this around by yourself for nearly a decade. Now are you going to go see Aaron? He really is in worse condition then you are. You two need each other, even if you don't want to admit it."

"I've been an idiot, I admit it," Penelope said. "I suppose I was more deeply affected by what happened then I realized."

"Of course, you were," Emily said. "Who wouldn't be? You've been dating men who in no way would ever have touched your heart, so there's no way you would have fallen for them and even if some part of you had, the omega in you definitely wouldn't have."

"I suppose I've been so afraid of peoples reaction that I haven't been thinking straight at least when it comes to men," Penelope said.

"It was partly that, but it's also the fact that you don't consider yourself a beautiful woman and that had a lot to do with it as well," Emily told her friend bluntly. "You've been insulted so often both directly and indirectly and you took it to heart that it affected you in numerous unforeseen ways. Now, I'm going to take you to see Aaron, as the two of you just being near each other will do both of you both a world of good."

"What about this cutie?" Penelope asked, as she stroked the fur of the kitten on her lap who had been as good as gold.

"She is housebroken according to Aaron, so we'll just put down some paper towels for her right now until we can buy some litter, a box and a few toys for her," Emily said.

"Just let me fix bowl of milk before we leave because I have no idea how long I'll be gone," said Penelope. "It might only be a few hours or it might be much longer and we wouldn't want her to go hungry."

"Smart," Emily said. "You have put yourself, in your current horrible conditions and all because you weren't thinking straight. Do you really think the omega in you would've had such a strong reaction, if she didn't already know that you and Aaron were more than compatible, that you have something very special and rare between you? You knew this deep inside and yet you were still determined not to give in and you were slowly killing yourself and Aaron as well. If Aaron wasn't such a gentleman he likely would've broken down your door by now and you know it."

Penelope blinked at that for that hadn't occurred to her and it should have. Alphas could be aggressive when the situation required it and just because Aaron had been so nice at dinner did not mean that he couldn't have done what her friend suggested. If he had done so it would have caused quite a scene and Penelope was sure that people would be rubbernecking and wondering what was going on. It might even come to involve the police, which was the last thing she wanted so she really had been an idiot.

Emily and Penelope took care of the kitten who purred, when she saw the bowl of milk placed on the floor for her and started drinking immediately obviously hungry.

Once they were sure the kitten was going to be okay without her mistress for a little while both ladies left Penelope's apartment shutting and locking the door behind them.

~~~Aaron and Penelope~~~