To say shit got awkward in the room at a high rate of speed would be an understatement. The men immediately looked at each other as Hotch began rubbing soothing circles on Garcia's back. Reid stared at Hotch with his mouth hung open trying to process what the unsub had said, as Morgan began swearing a blue streak around the room.
Once he stopped his imitation of a goldfish, Reid leaned his forehead against the back of Penelope's head. "You don't believe that do you Garcia? You can't possibly think that we don't find you…"
"Is this really something we need to get into?" Penelope ask jerking away from Hotch's arms and effectively ending the contact with Reid. Wiping her eyes with her finger tips, she tried to minimize the eyeliner and mascara damage. "The real problem is how do we get out of this. Rossi, Prentiss, and JJ will be looking for us that's a given. We have to…"
"No Mama. We're not doing this. You're not doing this. We need to discuss this." Morgan said placing his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face him. "Talk to me baby."
"This is extremely unimportant right now. With the gravity of the situation..."
"The gravity of the situation is not lost on us Baby Girl. However, we are not going anywhere at this exact moment, so we are going to address this. Now. You are always so confident. Why the change?" Morgan questioned.
Penelope looked away and inadvertently meet Hotch's eyes. Jerking her gaze away from the older man's, Garcia closed her eyes. "Please don't do this right now Derek. Can we just focus on getting out of here?"
"In order to get out of here Pretty Penelope, you are going to have to come clean with these men. Stop hiding yourself from them and I know you would be pleasantly surprised at their reactions." The ceiling said.
"Would you just STOP ALREADY?! WHAT is your problem?! WHAT did I do to you that made you want to put me in this position? These men are my friends, my family. Why would you try and make them do things that they DO NOT WANT TO DO?!" Penelope's voice gave out at the end of her tirade. Reid immediately stepped forward to wrap her in his arms.
"She feels as though she is unattractive to you." the voice supplied. "Of course this is the furthest thing from the truth, but she does not see it. However, she is not alone. Agents Morgan, and Hotchner, and Dr. Reid also must see their truths before I will allow you all to leave. You might call it, release for release." the unsub chuckled.
Penelope looked at the men assembled from the ring of Spencer's arms. 'Oh boy.' she thought. 'We're going to be here forever.'
"It doesn't matter to you that none of us are homosexual would it?" Hotch asked even though he already knew the answer to the question.
The unsub sigh as if disappointed. "Agent Hotchner, the love that has developed between you four transcends sexual orientations and genders. Stop seeing with your eyes and feel with your heart."
"Why do I feel like I've heard that before?" Reid mumbled to himself. Aloud he said, "The unsub believes us to be in love with each other. He thinks that he has built us the perfect place to be able to express that without others judgement or ridicule."
Garcia groaned and let her forehead drop to Reid's chest. "What do we do?"
No one knew what to say.
Rossi chunked his phone down on the kitchen counter. He was getting real worried. Aaron had never ignored his calls before, even when he was pissed off at him. Morgan and Reid were supposed to come over to Rossi's house the day before to watch movies and eat dinner, and they never showed, both phones going straight to voicemail. Grabbing his cell again he tried Garcia. If anyone would know where Morgan and the others were, it was Penelope Garcia. Rossi touched the screen on his phone bringing up Penelope's contact info on his speed dial, touching the appropriate keys to reach out to the Tech Analysist. Immediately the call went to her voicemail. "Hi this is Penelope Garcia. I'm not able…" Rossi ended the call and grabbed his car keys. That was four members of his team that had their phones off. Something was hinky and he was going to get to the bottom of it. Trying Emily as he walked out of the door he was thankful to get a "Hello".
"Prentiss I need you and JJ to meet me at the BAU. It looks like we're in trouble."
Morgan was staring at her again. She could feel his eyes on the back of her neck as she lay on the bed with her back to the room. Hotch was laying down on the couch, pretending to be resting. Morgan was sitting on the floor in front of the couch where Hotch was laying. And Reid was laying down next to her on the bed also pretending to sleep.
After a tense hour, the group had decided to check out the room more and visit the shower hub each giving one another privacy they desperately needed. Hotch had found clothes in a few of the lockers that appeared to be their own. Knowing that someone had gone into their homes and taken their things had upset all of them. None so much as Hotch since Jack lived with him.
Hotch has also taken the time to calm Penelope down when she began losing it over Jack. He explained that Jack was with his Haley's sister for the next two weeks so he wasn't alone. She had also noticed the way his hand had lingered on the back of her neck and the way he stared into her eyes when he comforted her and the soft tone he had used. Is this what the unsub meant? Or were the guys just being overly handsy and affectionate because of what the bastard had said.
God why did he have to go there? Why did this have to happen? She had been extremely happy living in the Land of Denial, ignoring all of the craziness that had been going on inside her. Everyone knew that her and Derek flirted all the time. That was nothing new. What was new however was the feelings that their interactions were evoking. Then there were the handful of almost too intense and way more than friendly kisses that had occurred lately. The "accidental" contact between them was getting more and more obviously deliberate. Even JJ had made a comment and asked if her and Derek had taken things to the next level. She had scoffed at her friend and blown it off and just the usual. But it wasn't.
If that wasn't enough, taking things even further she was starting to "notice" how much Reid had changed. The word need the air quotes that her mind provided. Oh who was she trying to lie to. "Notice" was the biggest damn lie should possibly come up with. He had stared in regular roles via her sex dreams. That damn hair of his always got to her and lately there was something about him that made her start salivating. He really wasn't a kid anymore and it kind of freaked her out. Especially when she felt the hardness of his chest and arms earlier. The way he held her body protectively, had made her feel the safe in the way Derek Morgan had only been able to.
Then the awkwardness of a few weeks ago had replayed in her mind on loop. Garcia had taken a file that had been left in her lair to Hotch's office. His door was open and he was standing by his desk with his back to the door. Penelope had her hand posed to knock when Hotch had dropped something and bent over to pick it up. It was as if the blinders had been taken off and a happy ray of sunshine had illuminated the firm derriere of her stoic boss. As Hotch stood and began to walk around to his chair Penelope turned on her heel and booked back to the confines of her own office. Once safely behind her closed door Garcia let go of the large breath she had been holding and realized she had been fanning herself with the file she hadn't returned. Who the hell knew that man had such a great ass.
Everyone one of the men in the room with her had been in one of her very naughty and very detailed dreams. And all of them had left her with curled toes and sighs of completion after she had taken care of the things those dreams had started. She remembered waking herself up moaning during a dream where a very naked Hotch had just bent her over his desk above the BAU. She could feel her body start responding remembering the dream and a moan almost slipped out of her lips. 'Oh shit! What if I moan in here with them while I'm asleep? Oh my God this can't be happening. What if I say their names. Not good! So not good!'
Cracking her eyes open to see if Reid was asleep yet, she was startled to see his whiskey colored eyes looking directly at her. The one lamp in the large room had been left on as a curtesy to Reid's fear of the dark. With the limited light and the lack of her glasses, Penelope could still make out the high cheek bones, square of his jaw, and the cupid's bow of his lips. They looked so soft. What she would give to be able to move in a simply share a kiss with him. With her limited vision she didn't see his hand until it was on the side of her face making her jump slightly. Apparently Reid must have thought the same thing about her lips since the pad of his thumb sought out the pillowy softness of Garcia's lips.
'Am I freaking dreaming right now?' she thought as a warmth pooled in her stomach.
Very quietly, barely a whisper, Garcia heard Spencer ask her, "How can you possibly think you are unattractive to us? To anyone?" Right before he slowly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.