Penelope smiled as she looked down at the meal she had made for herself and Derek. She had wanted to be absolutely twee about things and have everything reference baby foods, but found that she didn't want to be that obvious when he got home. Instead, she'd just built a meal around baby carrots and called it good. Hotch had been so good at letting her take off early from the office and working from home for the rest of the day after she'd told him her good news, and she knew that she'd have to make him cookies to show her appreciation to him.
She heard the door to her apartment open, and drew in a soft breath as she turned to watch for him coming in. "Baby Girl, Hotch said that you went home early today, and Blake mentioned that you weren't feeling well this morning. Is everything okay?" he asked as he came over to her side and wrapped her up in a warm hug. Penelope nodded against his chest as she encircled his waist with her arms and rubbed her cheek on his shirt. "You made supper for us?"
"Yeah, I wanted to do something special for tonight, since I have good news. Or distressing news, depending on who you are in relation to our work group."
He pulled away to look down into her face, a quizzical expression gracing his features. "Distressing? Is someone on the team dying?"
Penelope shook her head quickly, pressing her lips to his cheek before motioning for him to take a seat at the table. She joined him once he was seated, and let a cheerful smile spread across her lips as she watched him dig in with relish. She was a little more reserved, as she didn't want to risk the chance of getting ill in the middle of the meal, what with her nerves and the pregnancy. "No, everyone is fine, positively blooming, and I just find myself awash in happiness. Seriously, I think that this is going to be the best year of our lives, even if it is about to get very busy."
"This is a bit of a turnaround from Sunday, what with how upset you were over everyone else being pregnant. Have you finally come to terms with the fact that we're going to have to resort to more extreme measures to have a baby, so you won't be able to have one with them?"
"That might be the case, yes. But why don't you finish up your meal, and then we can discuss how we move into the future." He met her eye, and she grinned at him before starting to eat once more. It seemed that what she had made agreed with their baby, and she bit her lip in order to keep the news inside before she was ready to tell him everything.
"All right," he replied, giving her a small wink. As their meal continued, Penelope felt her nervous excitement grow until it almost reached critical state, only for Derek to lean away from the table when he was done and let out a satisfied sigh. "That was delicious, Baby Girl. Especially the carrots. Did you want to relax in the living room while I do the dishes?"
"That would be lovely, thank you," she murmured as she got to her feet and headed into the other room. Once she heard the clink of dishes, she relaxed on the sofa and picked up her tablet to scroll through her email as she waited for the perfect time for Derek to check the oven. As soon as she heard the beep of her dishwasher starting, she drew in a sharp breath through her nose and then called out, "Would you check on what I have in the oven before you join me, Der?"
"Is the oven even on? It doesn't feel warm enough in here for that."
"Just, check and see, please."
Penelope listened to him grumble a little as he did as told, counting under her breath as an expectant silence filled the apartment. Then she heard his slow steps move through the kitchen into the living room, a confused smile on his lips. "So, what is your distressing news, Mama?"
He held out the plate that held a pair of hot cross buns towards her, and she grinned as she patted the spot next to her. "So, until I get to my doctor and can figure out exactly when a little miracle will be entering our lives, I'm thinking that we have approximately seven months to get me moved in with you and prepare for a new arrival. Oh, and I can't eat blueberry muffins for the foreseeable future. They definitely disagree with the little bean."
"Penelope?"
She nodded and reached out for the paper bags with the pregnancy tests, handing it over to him. "Blake and JJ thought that I needed to take these after my little bout with morning sickness today. Two can't be wrong, right?"
His nod was a little slower, and then he was looking in the bag before back at her. "There really must be something in the water you used for those smoothies, sweet thang, because this is almost too good to be true. We're going to be parents?"
"We're going to be parents! I want to wait until I'm in the second trimester before we tell our families, but I think that I need to go to Cruz and let him know that I'll be the third member of Alpha out on maternity leave around the same time. Plus, if Rossi and Hotch want to take paternity leave, or you, that could really decimate the team. This…might have backfired a little on me?"
"Maybe a little. Wow. Five BAU babies at the same time."
"Uh huh. At least we'll all be able to swap stories with each other on how things are going. I mean, it's been ages since Erin and Blake had kids, and Jessica and I will be first time mothers. This is going to be one crazy ride coming up way too soon."
"Yeah. And I don't want to start our kid's life off in an apartment. Not when I have a home I've been working on almost ready to go. It has a yard, and plenty of room to grow a family. I'll show you next Saturday, before you go off to yoga, okay? I think you'll like it, even if it will make our commute a little longer. But I swear, it's not out in the country, and you'll still have access to the world and technology."
She loved the way he was babbling at her, and Penelope nodded as she snuggled in close to him, resting her head on his chest as she listened to the way he talked about their future, and how blindingly bright it was going to be. This was everything that she had been hoping for when she had cooked up this little scheme, and she knew that these coming months would bring nothing but happiness for everyone in her friend group, even if this whole result hadn't been in her original plans. And a tiny part of her hoped that they'd all have little girls to spoil, since that was what she wanted first. Only time would tell, though…