Penelope smiled sadly at the flowers that had just been delivered from Aaron. She hadn't known that he would do something so kind before he left for Texas, and she knew that the thought was what truly mattered. Still, it was a cold comfort after the night they had spent together, and she found that she was more looking forward to seeing Erin that evening than in thanking Aaron for his flowers. A deep sigh spilled from her lips as she leaned back in her chair and stared at her screens. No one needed her assistance at the moment, which allowed her to ruminate a little too much.
A soft knock on her door caught her attention, and she turned to see who was coming to see her, hoping that her smile read true. Derek peeked his head in before coming inside and closing the door behind him. "Thanks for coming in early today to get me that information before I headed out on my custodial," he said, a teasing tone to his voice.
Penelope blushed a little as she shrugged, looking down at her keyboards. "I needed an excuse to give Aaron about who I was texting before bed. I couldn't exactly tell him that you were telling me about what you've requisitioned for me so far. After all, no one can know what we're doing, right?"
He gave her a sheepish grin as he nodded. "Right. Not until we have all our information in a row, ready to go. I don't like going behind Hotch's back, but I think that it needs to be done in this case. You at least managed to get Strauss on our side, yes?"
"Sort of? She's going to pretend that I never told her anything, so that she can maintain plausible deniability. But we also have to take every precaution to make certain we stay safe. She doesn't want to lose my friendship, or fill out the paperwork that might come with any mistakes we might make."
Derek laughed as he took a seat on the edge of her desk. "Why does that not surprise me? Do you know when she's returning to work?"
"Why? Do you miss her?"
He nodded, and she could tell that he meant it, which surprised her. "Well, I should say that I miss the fact that her and Hotch would get into it, and then he would forget about the fact that I was late with a report. I need her back so that she can needle him again!"
Penelope rolled her eyes a little. "She just gets frustrated about the fact that Hotch doesn't respect her. And I know, you probably don't respect her that much, either, but she's not the ogre that everyone seems to make her out to be. Or maybe I've been lucky to get to see behind the mask she wears at work. Ugh. Now I'm frustrated again. Thanks, Derek."
He reached out and patted her shoulder lightly, giving her a sheepish look. "I'm sorry. I know that you're friends with her, but it still takes a reminder every so often. Now, did you want to see what came in so far?"
Penelope looked at the time, seeing that she had some to spare before she left to visit Erin. "Some stuff is already here?" she asked as she got to her feet, grabbing her purse before following him from her office, locking it behind her.
"Yeah. I paid for expedited shipping on as much as I could, since time is of the essence. If he manages to slip below the radar for too long, we'll never flush him out. Or was that a bad idea?"
"No, you're right, the sooner we get at this, the better. I just hope that my hacking skills are still up to par. Things change so swiftly in the hacking world, and since I've been unable to practice my skills outside of officially sanctioned business, well…I could be rusty. The sooner I get the systems up and running, the faster I can set up a few tests to see where my skills are, comparatively. And I'll have to choose a new hacker handle, since the Black Queen is too well known underground. Though that comes with it's own set of problems, since every person's coding is unique to them."
"I didn't think about that."
"Why would you? You're not a hacker, you didn't do questionable things that ended with you having to make a hard decision. But that's okay, you just took a different path to bringing down the dregs of society." Penelope gave him a small wink as he unlocked his office and let them inside. She gasped a little at how the office had changed in less than a day. "How did you accomplish this?"
"I called in a favor from Anderson. And before you ask, I didn't tell him what we were doing in here. I just said that I was going for a different setup, and what I'd need from the office supply rooms, and how I didn't have time to change it, since I was on these custodials this week, and would be out in the field next week. He said that he'd get it done for me by the time I got back today, and this is the result."
She nodded, looking around at what was a good facsimile of her previous tech cave. There were already three large monitors spread out over a long desk, along with a small stack of boxes addressed to Derek. "This is going to be perfect. And there are two chairs?"
"Yeah, because when I'm here, I'm going to be helping you as much as possible. Because if you go down, I'm going down with you." She preened a little at that, giving him a wide smile as he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
"What did I ever deserve to have you as a friend?"
"You walked into the bullpen," he replied, giving her a wink before he plopped down into one of the chairs and twirled around a few times. "So, just how close are you to Strauss? And why her?"
She shrugged as she took a seat in the other seat, adjusting it until it was the perfect height for her. "It was something that I never expected, either. But don't assume that you're going to get any dirt on her from me. She trusts me, and I would never do anything to destroy that trust. Just like I have a hard boundary where I'll not answer questions about you and the rest of the team. Because our friendship is outside of work, and I won't do anything to upset that delicate balance. Okay?"
"Of course, Baby Girl. But she is being kind to you?"
Penelope nodded, unable to keep the dreamy smile from her lips as she thought about Erin. "If you could get to know her outside of these four walls, you'd see the person I see. But I know that you're not going to trust her right away, if ever, and that's okay to. You don't have to like everyone that I do, and vice versa. Now, let's get unboxing!"
He grinned as he nodded, popping to his feet and heading to the boxes. She grinned at the easy way he was able to lift the entire stack, bringing it to her side and setting them on the desk in front of her before wheeling his chair closer to her, grabbing a box and carefully opening it. Penelope followed suit, and soon enough, they had everything out and setup in an approximation of where she would want it when everything was on hand. "This is looking great already. Here."
He handed over a shining key, and she took it from his hand, frowning a little. "Why are you giving me a key? My keys have access to all the offices on our floor, so that I can tune up systems as needed, and not have to worry about others' schedules."
"I know that, and that was true until this afternoon. I installed a new lock, to make certain that only we would have access to this room. Our need for privacy outweighs almost every other thing here." She went to protest, but Derek shook his head. "Don't worry, I kept the old mechanism, and will switch it back as soon as Doyle is in custody. That way, no one will ever know what we were doing here."
"I suppose that you have a point there. And now, I hate to cut this short, but I do have places to be tonight. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Probably not until the end of the day, my custodial is a bit further afield, so I'll be heading out early. Have a good night." She nodded as they stood up, and she wasn't surprised when he hugged her tightly to his chest. "We're going to find him, yes?"
"Yes," she whispered in return, knowing that the more she said that, the more she could hopefully convince her heart that that was true.