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It wasn’t that Penelope didn’t go to the hospital after Luke and JJ were found in critical condition. She did. She went often. She comforted Will and the boys, and even sat by JJ’s bed for a time. But she wouldn’t, couldn’t go in and see Luke. She was told that he had taken the brunt of the force of the bomb, as he had been closer. When JJ had woken up, she told Penelope that Luke had pushed her forward, even further away from the bomb. To protect her. Penelope was terrified of what he might look like, all bruised and battered in that hospital bed. She reasoned with herself that if she remembered him as alive, healthy, and okay, not as the near-death version of him she knew was currently still in a coma, she wouldn’t have to believe that he wasn’t okay. If all she knew of him was the okay version of him, then that version of him would come back to her. He would have to. So, no. She didn’t visit Luke in the hospital. She spent her days with Roxy instead.
She took Roxy on her walks, fed her, and played with her. The poor dog had no idea that her owner’s life was hanging in the balance. Penelope almost envied her ignorance.
This went on for a week. When she was with Roxy, it was easy for Penelope to pretend like everything was okay. Like they were just waiting for Luke to get home from a case. She supposed that was true, in a sense.
She could also pretend sometimes that she was living the life she saw herself living three years ago. When Luke had asked her out. She had envisioned them going on a perfect first date and starting a real relationship. She’d stay with Roxy while he went away on cases so he didn’t have to pay for a sitter and they could see each other as soon as he got home. Well, the first date had happened, and it had been perfect. Of course it had. It was them. But then Covid hit and everything came grinding to a halt. Including them. They never got the chance to explore their chemistry and obvious mutual attraction, so they formed this weird, flirtatious friendship where they both tried their best to pretend that they’d always been that way, that nothing more had ever been between them. Even though whatever was between them never went away. Penelope regretted not acting on it again when restrictions lifted. And now she might never get the chance.
This. This was why she had left that job. Because it kept hurting her, kept taking people and things and opportunities from her. And now it was threatening to take the one person who—as much as it terrified her to admit it—she loved most.
Just as Penelope was getting close to letting her thoughts consume her, her phone rang, snapping her out of her stupor. It was Tara. “Hello,” she answered miserably.
“He’s awake, Penelope.”
Penelope felt like she’d been struck with a bolt of lightning. “He is?”
“Yeah, and he asked for you. It was literally the first thing out of his mouth. Where’s Penelope? ”
“I’ll be right there,” she promised, already grabbing her keys and heading out the door. “Give me twenty minutes.”
Penelope arrived at Luke’s hospital room in a whirlwind of nerves and sparkles. She took a deep breath to steady herself and then poked her head in. “Hello?”
Tara stood up from her spot at Luke’s bedside. “I’ll give you two a minute.”
Luke looked at Penelope rapturously, like a blind man seeing colours for the first time. “Hey. I heard you haven’t been around much.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, sitting down beside him. “I was making sure Roxy wasn’t lonely while you were cooped up in here and…” she took his hand in hers. “I couldn’t bear to see you like this.” Her eyes began to well with tears.
Luke laughed. “You didn’t visit me in the hospital because you were taking care of my dog. That is so you.”
“In a good way or a bad way?” Penelope asked nervously.
“In the best way,” he assured her, stroking her hand with his hand. He made the decision then to stop trying to pretend everything between them was platonic. He had almost lost her, he was not going to make that mistake again. “Penelope Garcia, I love you. ”
She blinked up at him through the tears she was still fighting back. “You love me?”
He nodded slowly, trying to make it abundantly clear how he felt.
“In… in what way?”
“In every way. However you want me to.”
She could see it on his face, in the way he looked at her, he meant it. “I love you too, Luke. I was so terrified I’d never get to tell you.”
“So was I.”
They sat in silence for a moment smiling at each other before Luke said, “You know, I would try to kiss you right now, but I can’t exactly move super well at the moment.”
“Let me help with that, then,” Penelope said, leaning down and pressing her lips to his.
They both let out a breath of relief, one that sounded and felt a lot like finally.