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“Hey, wanna swap out?” Tara asked, stepping into Luke’s hospital room. “You check in on JJ, Will, and the boys, and I’ll keep an eye on Luke?”
Penelope tore her eyes away from Luke for just a moment. “I… I don’t know.” She kept tracing circles on his hand with her thumb, silently willing him to wake up and look at her. “I know I should check on JJ and her family, but… I don’t want to leave him.”
JJ and Luke had been found by their backup about five minutes after the bomb had gone off. They were injured, unconscious, and slightly burned, but they were alive. They were rushed to the hospital and placed in medically induced comas so they could heal. Penelope hadn't left Luke's side since the moment he'd been allowed visitors.
“I’m so scared, Tara,” Penelope admitted. “And it’s parlayizng. In the past… whenever JJ was in danger, he was there to comfort me, even if I acted like I didn’t want it. And if he was in danger, JJ was there to make sure I knew he was okay. But now they could both die at any minute and I don’t know what to do! I’m just…”
“Frozen?” Tara guessed.
“Yeah. Frozen.”
In an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, Tara said, “You know, it’s nice to see you finally admit that you care about him.”
"Of course I care about him, I’m not cruel,” Penelope replied. She was silent for a moment before containing in a hushed voice, “Did you know we went out?" Even as she asked the question, Penelope couldn’t tear her eyes away from Luke.
"I'm sorry, you did what? "
"We went out. He asked me out at my going away party, so we went out for dinner together. Just the one time."
"You know, the fact that you went out doesn't really surprise me," Tara told her. "What does surprise me, however, is that it only happened once. What happened? I would have thought that once you two got your heads out of your asses, that would be the end of it."
"I got scared," Penelope confessed. "Everything just felt so… real. I could see things getting very serious, and that terrified me. And then Covid came along and shut everything down and so I said I didn't want to be in a relationship where we couldn't see each other and that it would be best if we just stayed friends. I was so scared of things ending that I didn't even give them a chance to start."
Tara considered this for a moment. "Penelope, can I be straight with you for a second?"
Penelope smirked, the first sort of smile to grace her face in days. "I don't know, can you?"
"What do you– oh my god you did not just make a gay joke right now!"
"I'm sorry, the opportunity was right there! "
Tara laughed. "You know what, I'll let you have that one. Can I be straightforward with you?"
Penelope giggled, wiping away the tears that accumulated in her eyes. "Yes, yes you can."
"I understand where you're coming from. With being scared about being serious. For the first few months of our relationship, I was terrified to be serious with Rebecca, even if I was happier than I'd ever been. Being scared… it's natural. It means you want it to work."
"Well whether or not I want it doesn't matter anymore, does it? It's been three years, I highly doubt he feels the same."
Tara raised her eyebrows. "You're kidding, right? Have you seen the way he looks at you?"
"Tara, the way he looks at me now isn't any different than the way he's looked at me in the past."
"So the way he looks at you is the same as the way he looked at you, say, when he asked you out?"
Penelope's eyes went wide as the pieces clicked. "Oh. Oh. "
"Yeah. Oh."
"What do I even do with that information right now?"
Tara placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "You take a break. You go check on your best friend and her family and you think about it. And then you come back and you sit by him again when you're ready."
"And you'll call me if anything changes?"
"You'll be the first to know."
Penelope got up, hugged Tara, then made her way down the hall to JJ's room. "Hey," she said, knocking lightly on the doorframe. "How is she?"
"She's stable," Will said from his position at her side. He patted the empty chair next to him. "Come, sit down."
"Where are the boys?" Penelope asked as she sat beside him.
"They're at her mom's. I didn't want them seeing her like this."
"That's understandable." There was a pause, then she asked, "How are you?" She knew that if she was bad, he had to be worse. This was his wife. JJ was just her friend and Luke was her… well, she didn't know at the moment.
"I'm paralyzed," Will confessed. "She promised she'd call me when she was walking into something dangerous. When Emily called to tell me that something had happened, I had a voice message from JJ. All it was was her saying she loved me, but it was right before the accident. She promised, she almost followed through, and then she didn't. And now she's in a coma and I don't know what's gonna happen."
Penelope placed her hand on Will's shoulder. "If it helps… she was further away from the bomb. Luke went in first and shouted at her to run before he started running himself. She was already almost completely up the stairs when the bomb went off. I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Thank you. How is Luke, anyway?"
Penelope fought hard against the tears. What right did she have to break down at the mention of someone who–by her own hand–was no more than a very good friend, when Will was here worried about his wife? "He's… stable. But not great. Just like JJ, we won't know until he wakes up."
"And how are you? "
Penelope didn't even have time to understand the implication behind the question before she blurted out, "I'm paralyzed."
Despite the current situation, Will found himself smirking. "So you're as worried for him as I am for JJ. Interesting."
Penelope's eyes went wide. "Wha– what do you mean by that?"
Will laughed. "You think JJ hasn't been complaining about you two to me for the past seven years? Apparently, it's somehow gotten worse since you left the team. According to her, if she didn't know better she'd assume you two were a couple based on the way he talked about you and how often he did it."
Penelope also found herself laughing. "She really said that?"
"Oh yeah, apparently he refused to learn the new techs' names. He was all 'remote Garcias' this and 'not-Penelopes' that. Talking about that time he cat-sit Sergio and found out he was allergic."
"Yeah, and he still offers to cat-sit for me. He just says he needs to get an allergy prescription."
"And you think it's a surprise people could think you're together. You know he has a thing for you, right? Everyone knows it, has known it for years."
Penelope felt herself blush. "Yeah… yeah, I know. Tara more or less told me before I came here."
"You feel the same way like JJ thinks you do?"
For the first time in years, Penelope let herself admit it. "Yeah. I do."
"Then what the hell are you doing here? I'll watch over JJ, okay? That's my job. Yours is to be there when he wakes up. You're gonna be the only person he wants to see."
"Are you sure?" Penelope asked. "I can stay for a bit, keep you company, I don't mind."
Will smiled kindly at her. "Go. I've been here before. I know the drill."
Penelope leaned over and hugged Will before getting up and going back to Luke’s room.
“Hey, you’re back sooner than I thought you’d be,” Tara told her.
“Yeah… Will more or less told me that I need to be here when he wakes up.”
“I’m inclined to agree with him.”
“Will you wait with me?” Penelope asked her. “I don’t want to wait alone anymore.”
“Yeah, of course.”
Penelope sat right beside Luke’s bed, and Tara sat just behind her, against the wall. And they waited.
It was three days later, in the middle of the night when Luke finally woke up. Penelope’s head was resting on his bed near his leg, her hair sprawled in every direction. He began to lightly stroke his fingers through it, not wanting to wake her. Tara, who hadn’t really been sleeping, noticed the motion instantly.
“Hey,” she whispered. “You’re awake.”
Luke nodded at Penelope. “How much sleep has she been getting?”
Tara chuckled to herself. Of course that would be his first question. Not, how long have I been out, not, how’s JJ, all he cared about in that moment was Penelope. “Not much,” Tara said. “She’s been here five days. I’ve been here three.”
Luke smiled at his best friend. “Thank you. How’s JJ?”
“She woke up two days ago. I had to convince Penelope to go visit her for even half an hour. She didn’t want to leave your side.”
Hope surged in Luke’s chest as he gazed at the sleeping woman next to him. Maybe telling her wouldn’t go poorly for him. He’d already decided to do it, he had come too close to death and didn’t want to die with her not knowing, but he’d been scared it would cost him one of his dearest friends. But maybe, just maybe, they would finally be able to move on from just friends.
“I’m gonna go,” Tara said. “Something tells me you two are going to want to talk in private when she wakes up. “
“Thanks.” Just as she was almost at the door, Luke called out to her again. “Tara?”
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to make sure you know… you’re my best friend, and I love you. You’re like a sister to me.”
Tara was nearly in tears as she quickly crossed the room to give Luke an awkward hospital-bed hug. “Love you too, Luke. And I better not be the only person you say that to tonight.” She winked at him conspiratorially, and he rolled his eyes in response.
“You won’t be. I swear.”
“Good. It’s only been seven years, it’s about damn time.” She walked over to the door but paused right before she left. “Oh, and once you’re all better, you owe me a detailed explanation as to why you never told me that you asked Garcia out.”
Luke groaned to himself, and Tara left. The sound of the door shutting woke Penelope up, who looked around, confused and in a sleepy daze.
“Wha— Luke?”
He smiled at her, so glad to hear her voice again. “Hey, you.”
“Oh my god, you’re awake!” She flung herself at him, hugging him tightly, before instantly backing away. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine, really.” He was only slightly lying. Everything hurt a little bit… but he just really wanted to be able to hold her.
Penelope wrapped her hands around his and looked down at them. “Luke… when I thought you’d gotten blown up… I just wanted to apologize for and take back every mean thing I ever said to you.”
“Hey,” Luke said, tugging on their conjoined hands so she’d look at him. “Don’t you dare. I knew you didn’t really mean it. I wouldn’t change anything about us, okay? Actually, no, that’s not true. I would change one thing, and that would be that we’d actually get past the first date. I’m sorry if this isn’t what you want to hear right now, but I,” he found himself near tears as he said this, overwhelmed by the weight of his emotions. “Penelope Garcia, I am in love with you. I have been for years. I never stopped, even when you said you just wanted to be friends.”
He would have been worried when she started crying too, but the large smile that was spread over her face told him that they were tears of joy. “Luke Alvez, I am in love with you too. I’m sorry I was too scared before… but I realize now that I can’t lose you. So… do you want to give this another try?”
"Yes," he replied emphatically. “What, did you think I was just confessing my undying love for you only to not want a relationship?”
Penelope rolled her eyes and laughed, leaning away from him. “Shut up, you’re such a pain.”
“Wait, no, come back,” he said, pulling her toward him again. “So… does this mean I can finally kiss you?”
Penelope leaned even closer, their lips an inch apart. “Yes.”
He slid the hand not currently being held by both of hers to the back of her head and pulled her the final distance toward him, finally pressing his lips to hers after seven years of pining, dancing around each other, and near misses. It was the best feeling in the world.
When they finally pulled apart, Penelope leaned on the best against him, cradled under his arm. “Please don’t leave me,” she whispered.
“I won’t,” Luke promised with a kiss to her head. “How could I? You are everything I’ve ever wanted since the moment I met you, Penelope. I’m not going anywhere.”