The last thing, or rather person, Aitana thought would ever show up at her house was knocking on her door, disturbing her sleep. It was the first time since she started working for the BAU that there was an actual day off. The term "day off" would still hang in the air until the actual full day would go by, but for now she should've at least had the morning off.

That being said, Penelope Garcia shouldn't be at her doorstep...but she was.

Aitana rubbed her tired eyes then looked Penelope over. "Okay, I know we've only really known each other for 2 weeks but how the hell do you manage to be this bright and colorful every morning?" Penelope's personality was solely described by those words but to have her clothes always match that description was beyond Aitana's comprehension. "My favorite color is yellow but I can't find the energy to wear it every day."

Penelope chuckled lightly and nervously. She was on a mission and what was more is that it was a secret mission. No one knew that she was here and by the time they did, she'd be done with what she had to say to Aitana. "You still look great," she said to her tired friend. "I love the pjs."

Aitana wore a set of loose-fitting, palm tree matching pajamas. Her lips quirked into a lazy smile. "Thanks. Do we have a case already?" She was sure that there were no house visits for the announcement of a case but then again she'd only been working for the BAU for 2 weeks so...who knew.

"No," Penelope shook her head, her neat curls bouncing with her. "But I need to talk to you. Can we?" With no suspicion of what was going to happen, Aitana nodded her head and allowed Penelope inside. "Very pretty house," she remarked as Aitana led her through the foyage. "Ample, too." Penelope spotted various family pictures on tables and walls. It was a very cozy place.

"Thanks, it was my parent's," Aitana said once she had led them into the living room. "I grew up here with my brothers."

"Aww," Penelope spotted the fireplace where a few more family pictures were set. She could spy a younger Aitana with the two brothers she mentioned. Her mother looked completely like her. "You live in your childhood home?"

Aitana shrugged. "As of late, yeah."

Penelope glanced at the woman for the odd choice of words. Aitana used to live with her best friend, after all. Aitana couldn't possibly know that they already spoken to Elia a few days ago and learned what happened between them. After the visit to Elia, they worked to come up with a suitable way to talk to Aitana without making her feel bad. She was going through a rough patch and needed to be gently turned in the right direction. Penelope thought that was fine up until it became too slow with no actual progress. Aitana still wouldn't speak to Spencer unless their work urgently called for it. He, in turn, didn't even try to fix things. Penelope understood he wasn't all that good talking to women but this was a woman he would be seeing all the time. There needed to be a solution.

"No offence Penelope, but why are you here?" Aitana finally voiced her thoughts after a few minutes of standing in silence. She admitted she wasn't quite used to having visitors around anymore. She hadn't even offered Penelope something to drink yet. Her mother would have her by the ear if she found about this.

"O-okay so no one else knows that I'm here," Penelope started off with because once she got to the touchy parts, she was sure that Aitana would automatically assume that the others had sent her.

"I would assume so—they sleep, right?"

Penelope smiled. "They're amazing, aren't they?"

Aitana nodded slowly. "Sure." She didn't feel like she had the best qualifications to determine whether or not that's true.

"I'm here to tell you that everyone on the team is amazing, including Reid."

"Oh," Aitana shook her head. "Penelope, honestly, it's too early for this and you don't even have anything to do with it so just drop it."

"But I do have to do with it!" Penelope exclaimed. "I really do, I swear!"

"Look, I admire your friendship. You're here on his behalf—"

"Yes and no," Penelope pointed a finger at her. "Yes, I'm here on his behalf but also on mine. And, let's just remember that no one knows I'm here. I came on my own, out of my own accord."

"Why?" Aitana cocked her head to the side. "You already know that I'm upset—"

"Because you think he read your journal…"

"I don't 'think', I know," Aitana corrected her. "He said it."

"No, you said it and he let you believe it." Penelope expected the silence that followed after her own correction.

Aitana was ready to retort the opposite but once she thought about the argument, she realized Penelope was right. "Hold on—"

"It's fine, it's not your fault, and it's definitely not Reid's fault either. It's mine."

Aitana fell silent again. She blinked several times at Penelope. "What?"

It was now or never. Penelope drew in a breath and came out with what had been eating at her ever since she found out what it caused. "I read your journal, not Reid. He took the blame because he's a really good person and I'm a slightly less good person who sometimes sticks her nose where it doesn't belong." The next minute felt like agonizingly long. Penelope couldn't read Aitana's face and she was sure that it wasn't due to a lack of profiling skills.

Aitana was trying to work it out, trying to figure out whether or not Penelope was being honest with her. The good news is that she was indeed the profiler—albeit a beginner—and Penelope Garcia wasn't that hard to read. "Oh my God," she said suddenly, "It was you." Penelope nodded slowly. "Penelope—it was you!"

"Yes," Penelope lowered her gaze. Aitana's eyes were hardening in what she imagined was the same way Spencer had to have been on the receiving end of last week.

"But...why? You didn't strike me as the type to read someone's personal journal?"

"But Spencer did?" Penelope couldn't help the question that flew from her mouth.

"One problem at a time, please!" Atiana snapped. "You read my journal! How is that even possible!? Did he just let everyone get their hands on it!?"

"No!" Penelope said quickly. "Absolutely not. I am nosy and sometimes it gets me into trouble, like this, but I didn't read everything—"

"Oh, well," Aitana sarcastically snorted, "That makes it all better, doesn't it!?"

"No," Penelope shook her head. "It doesn't because what I did is terrible and I really am sorry about it. I didn't think I would ever see you again and...I guess it was just easier to think that, especially when I never even met you."

Aitana had no idea what to do with herself at that moment. She turned away from Penelope and walked a few steps, her hands coming together and pressing the bridge of her nose. Her mind was racing with new feelings she was working on controlling, much like she'd been doing towards—

She froze. Oh God. She turned around to meet Penelope's anxious face. "You said Spencer let me believe he read the journal?"

"Y-yeah," Penelope nodded. "He...he was being a good friend to me but he didn't do anything. He didn't want me reading anything and I didn't listen. He would never read anything that was so personal unless the situation really called for it."

Aitana brought a hand to her hair. "Oh my God, is that for real? I blamed him. I completely blamed him—I yelled at him." She was feeling absolutely fantastic right now. She let herself fall on the couch behind her. "I was terrible."

"He understands," Penelope was about to come closer when Aitana sent her a glare that froze her in her tracks. "If it was up to him, he'd let you believe it forever."

"And you'd be okay with that?"

"Of course not! Boy Wonder and I go way too far back for me to ever let him do something like that for me!"

"That's why you came, then? To set things straight? Penelope, this has been going on for almost 2 weeks!"

"I know but I didn't know about it until last week, and ever since then I've been trying to come up with a way to set things clear. And just so we are clear...I'm really sorry."

"I thought you were my friend—I have trouble making those nowadays," Aitana said quietly.

"I am a friend who made a mistake," signed Penelope. "And I'm so sorry for it. I wish I could change it but I can't. The only thing I can do is what I'm doing right now. I'm setting things straight because my friends shouldn't fight with each other because of me."

Even though she felt completely terrible, Aitana found one ounce of admiration for Penelope. She did say before how she admired Penelope's loyalty to her friends. "Penelope, I can't even define what I feel for you right now." Aitana stops up from the couch. "Because I want to be mad at you but I also admire how you came with the truth just so that I wouldn't be upset with Spencer anymore."

"That's okay," Penelope said, even motioning with her hand. "I just really need you to have a talk with Spencer—"

"Well of course!" Aitana's exclaim startled Penelope. "Because I blamed him for something that he didn't do!" At that moment, she had no difficulty being angry with Penelope. "I'm already doing so bad in life right now. He was so nice to me. He should hate me."

Penelope shook her head. "It's really hard for Boy Wonder to hate anyone. Look what he did for me and I definitely didn't deserve that. So...will you talk to him?"

"Yeah," Aitana sighed. "As for you and I...I don't know…"

Penelope nodded. "I understand. It'll take time to regain your trust. I'll work hard, I promise."

Aitana wouldn't say anything to discourage that work. She had too much on her mind to wonder what Penelope had in mind. What she would give to be able to speak with Elia right now.

~0~

It was hard getting the courage to fix your problems. Aitana spent a shameful five days working to summon up bravery. She'd like to say that the few cases they'd received got in the way of her planning but that wouldn't be entirely true. She lagged ig and she knew it. But on the fifth day, she was finally able to work up the courage to do something.

This time around, the case hadn't taken them so long. They were back in the bullpen at a decent time to finish up paperwork and then head home. Aitana was on guard for the perfect opportunity and Spencer had no idea about it. When a small brown box was slid in front of him. He looked up slowly, naturally puzzled with the box and even more so to find Aitana standing beside his desk.

"I'm hoping that it will buy me at least 2 minutes to speak with you," Aitana said timidly, a deep contrast to her recent behavior towards him.

Before saying anything, Spencer looked around to see if anyone was helping out on what could possibly be a prank of some sort. He wouldn't put it behind Morgan to use Aitana like this, especially when she was upset with him. There was no one around, however. The others were already gone except for Hotch who remained in his office.

"What is it?" Spencer now eyed the box in front of him. Aitana motioned him to open it up. He was surprised to find a single chocolate covered donut with rainbow sprinkles on top.

"Penelope said those were your favorite," Aitana said when his surprised face met hers.

"Y-yeah, but...I don't understand…"

"I know it wasn't you who read my journal. It was none other than Garcia."

"What? That's not—"

"Don't try to argue with me, you've seen how that ends."

Spencer promptly closed his mouth. Yeah, he'd seen exactly what happened the last time. "How did...how did you find out?"

"Penelope told me. She came to my house to tell me...very early in the morning."

That sounded like Penelope alright. Spencer presumed that the guilt had gotten to her. It actually took her a bit more time than he thought it would. "I'm sorry," he still felt compelled to say. Even though he wasn't the one who read the journal, he should've been more diligent with it. "It's hard for me to say 'no' sometimes but I should have. I shouldn't have let her take it."

"What happened?" Aitana asked, truly wanting to know how on Earth this situation was even started. "How did she end up reading it? You did take the journal from San Diego, right?"

"Yeah," Spencer straightened up in his seat. "Emily and I went back to the hotel to say goodbye but you had already left. You didn't get a chance to go back there, did you?"

Aitana shook her head. "Lewis didn't let me."

"I didn't want to leave the journal out in the open for some stranger to read." Of course he then let exactly that happen at the BAU. "I took with me back to the BAU and I thought about what I wanted to do with it."

"And that's when Penelope read it?"

"She found out I had it and she just skimmed a few pages. It did help, though, to find someone to give the journal to."

"What?" Aitana raised an eyebrow at him. "Give? Give to who?"

"Elia." Spencer watched her face fall at the mention of her best friend. "Emily and I visited her and I explained the situation as much as I could to Elia. She promised that she would give it back to you if you ever came back."

Aitana looked to the side as she began to think about her friend. "I don't...I never got my journal back."

"Yeah, we...we know. We sort of visited her again a few days ago to find out what happened."

Aitana swallowed hard. "So you know that we don't speak?"

"Yeah…"

"Well...I did say that I was having trouble going back to my normal life."

"I think she understands that better now," Spencer said, gaining her immediate attention for that. "Elia didn't see it before—your parents didn't either. They thought that you wouldn't want to speak about Witness anymore, about what happened before. They thought you'd moved on already but...that's impossible. You can't just move on from trauma like that."

"Mm, you make it sound like I went through life or death or something," Aitana said with a light chuckle that was meant to be casual. She was trying to be casual and downplay her experiences.

"No, but it's still trauma and you deserve to have it validated by your loved ones," Spencer said and watched her pause. No one had told her that, apparently. Had no one really figured that out yet? "Obviously, I don't know what you went through. No one does except for you but it happened. I'm sorry that Elia didn't get that but I promise that she does now."

"You shouldn't be so nice to me when I was such a bitch to you," Aitana said suddenly. She was puzzled with his words of comfort and much more with his intentions.

"No, you were upset and that was valid too. A journal is something personal and no one should read it without permission. So…" Spencer raised a finger at her to give him a moment while he went looking for something in his drawers. "We can start new once you have this back in your hands."

Aitana gasped when he pulled her journal out from his bottom drawer. "Oh my God!"

"Elia gave it back to me." Spencer handed the journal over to her.

Aitana couldn't believe she was actually holding her journal again after nearly 3 years! She grazed a hand over the cover. "Tania Oranears," she whispered with a chuckle. "I never thought I'd say that name again."

"Clever of you to hide your name with an anagram," Spencer remarked. "I'm surprised that none of the Marshals figured it out."

Aitana scoffed. "Please. They were mostly men—they just saw a girl writing in a diary. But you figured it out, then?"

"Aitana Serrano." Spencer could vividly remember that moment. The odd taste of the name that, at that moment, didn't really fit the woman he'd met in San Diego. "You forgot your middle name, though. You could've at least made it a challenge."

"Oh," Aitana tilted her head at him. "Sorry, I'll be sure to remember that the next time you go fishing through my things."

"Uh, well, I didn't mean—" Spencer stopped with Aitana's chuckle. It was a big change to their recent relationship.

"I'll have to up my puzzle talents around you, Dr. Reid," she tapped her left temple. "Thanks for this," she waved her journal. "And, again, I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault," Spencer assured. "But I am glad that things are cleared up. Don't be so hard on Garcia, though."

"Oh, she will grovel for a bit," Aitana shrugged. "Teach her a lesson."

"I guess that's a bit fair." Spencer could only imagine what Penelope would come up with to get back on Aitana's good side.

"I'll leave you to finish your work." Aitana turned to leave.

"Aitana?" Spencer called to her as she neared the steps leading to her office. "A-about Elia...maybe consider calling her soon? I-I don't want to overstep and definitely not push you to do something you don't want to but...she really does want to speak with you again. She wants to listen."

Aitana nodded slowly, acknowledging his words. "I...I'll try," she admitted. "I miss her...we've been best friends since forever."

"I think I saw your old fish tank too…"

Aitana laughed. "Yeah, she still has my fish. Thanks."

"Anytime," Spencer nodded. He felt much more energized to finish his work and the donut he had beside him wasn't completely responsible for it. He was slightly ashamed that he may or may not have heard one potential phone call Aitana made later.

"...it would be nice to see you again…"

He wasn't eavesdropping, her door was open and the bullpen was basically empty. He would've heard Hotch too if his door wasn't shut.

When Aitana re-emerged from her office, it was to leave. "Leaving too?"

Spencer was adjusting his bag when she stopped by his desk. "Yeah."

"I have to ask, does Hotch ever leave at a decent time?" Aitana jerked a thumb over her shoulder. Hotch's office light was still going strong.

"Uuh, sometimes." Spencer motioned her to walk first.

"Everyone works really hard around here," Aitana remarked. She reached the elevator first and pressed the down button.

"You do too," Spencer said after getting the gist she was saying that she didn't work as hard as them. Whether it was intentional or not, he wasn't sure but the point was that he didn't like it. "You just started, give yourself a break."

Aitana glanced at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Something tells me that you don't exactly follow that advice."

Spencer bobbed his head, making her chuckle. The elevator doors slid open, letting the pair step in. Aitana watched Spencer press the first floor button. Silence stretched between them once the elevator started down.

Then, for some odd reason, Aitana admitted, "I'm meeting Elia tomorrow night."

Spencer's eyebrows raised as he glanced at her. She was already smiling which was a good sign. "I'm glad."

Aitana nodded. She couldn't stop smiling.

A/N:

P.S. As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"