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“So, I was thinking, since we’re not ‘working together’ anymore, and I’m not going back to prison, maybe I could take you to dinner?”
Green’s words made Penelope’s stomach churn. They reminded her too much of the last time someone had asked her out. She had been trying to ignore the similarities between Green and Luke and the things they’d done for her, specifically how when Green did them she felt nothing but the maybe-beginnings of a tentative friendship, but with Luke she felt… everything. These words really drove everything home. Only last time, she had said yes. It was all she could have said.
“No,” she almost spat. “No, I will not go to dinner with you. Why on earth did you think I would say yes to that?”
Green sputtered in shock, clearly not expecting the rejection. "I just thought, you know, since we were starting to get along…"
"Oh please do not tell me you're the kind of guy who thinks just because a woman is nice to him that that automatically means she's into him."
Green remained silent.
Penelope groaned. "Oh my god, of course you are. No. Absolutely not. Get out of here. I am keeping the cat, but not because I appreciate the gesture, giving someone a pet unprompted is still a shitty gift, but because I don't trust you to take care of him. Now go. Shoo."
Green didn't need to be told twice and hightailed it out of the building, his purpose fulfilled.
When Rossi walked into the Round Table Room and saw Penelope angrily packing her things, he knew something had gone down, and considering his absence, he figured it probably had something to do with Green. "What happened?"
"He asked me out," Penelope seethed. "Can you believe that? He asked me out. Just because I was nice to him and he assumed that I liked him."
"Who, Green?" Rossi clarified. He was sure that was who she meant, but she was just using a generic he, and there was another he Rossi was currently hoping would ask Penelope out.
"Yes! Can you believe it! I don't date guys like him who are snarky, and rude, and buy me crappy, presumptuous gifts as bribes, and underestimate me but then show me basic niceness and expects me to fawn all over him. When I date guys, I only date guys who are kind, and sweet, and give me little random trinkets just to make me smile, and are caring just because that’s the kind of person they are.”
Rossi stared at her, fighting back a smile. He wondered if she knew what she had just given away. "So… you only dates guys like Luke."
The revelation hit Penelope so hard she physically recoiled. She had never thought of it that way, or certainly hadn't intended it that way… but Rossi was right. The guy she described… was Luke, through and through. He was one of the sweetest guys she'd ever met, she still kept that squeaky cat that he'd given her years before, and she would not quickly forget the feel of his arms around her when he comforted her as she cried. "Oh… my god," she stammered out.
"What happened, Penelope?" Rossi asked her. “When you told me that you and Luke were just friends, I believed you at first. But then when you came back, nothing had changed! You still act the same way you did before you left the team. I know you had feelings for him back then, don’t try to deny it, and I know you still have feelings for him now. And I know those feelings are reciprocated, and I’m pretty sure you know that too. So what happened between you two? How did nothing happen? Because normally once people as in love as you two are get all their obstacles removed, they get together. But you two didn’t. Why?”
“You’re kind of wrong,” Penelope told him. “Something did happen. He asked me out and my going away party. We went out for dinner. And then I got scared, and covid hit, and it just seemed like that was a pretty massive sign that this was not right, so I called it off."
"But you love him, don't you?" Rossi pressed.
Knowing the older profiler could read her like a book, Penelope didn't bother trying to deny it. "Yeah. I do."
"And he still loves you. Trust me, I know. So isn't it possible that all that was actually a sign of how very right it was?"
Penelope cocked her head in confusion. "Explain."
"You two have managed to stay in love with each other for years, with zero active reciprocation, over the course of a pandemic that was the end for some relationships that had lasted longer than you two have known each other. That's some strength. Doesn't that count for anything?"
Penelope could see what Dave was trying to tell her. If she and Luke could last that… they could last anything. What was the separation of a case compared to the separation of three years? If they loved each other through that… they could love each other through anything.
Rossi continued. "You still haven't been to the hospital yet, have you?"
Penelope shook her head. "I was worried I'd see him and my emotions would overwhelm me, and I'd end up saying something I'd regret." She hadn’t gone in when he was still in his coma out of fear that he would still be able to hear her, so she definitely hadn’t been in since he’d woken up.
"Is that something you're still worried about?"
Penelope shook her head once more.
"Then go. God knows this has been far too long in the making."
When Penelope got to Luke’s hospital room, Tara was just leaving.
“Hey,” Tara said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here today.”
“Yeah… I really need to talk to him.” Penelope was certain her tone gave away everything about the conversation she intended on having with Luke.
She was correct. “Oh thank god,” Tara sighed. “I was wondering how long it was going to take.” She stepped to the side, allowing Penelope access to the door. “Well. Don’t let me stand in your way.”
Luke’s face lit up as soon as Penelope walked in the door. "Penelope! Hey, how are you?"
"I'm good," she replied, taking a seat at his bedside. "How are you feeling?"
"As good as I can be, under the circumstances."
Penelope tried to laugh, but she just started to cry, the stress and emotions of everything just becoming too much and overwhelming her.
"What, are those tears that I didn't blow up?" Luke teased.
"Don't even," Penelope admonished. "Don't even joke, Luke, I swear to god."
"Hey, hey," he took her hand in his and started rubbing soothing circles on it. It seemed weird that he was the one in the hospital and he was trying to comfort her. "I didn't mean to make you upset, I promise. I was just trying to make you laugh. What's going on?"
Penelope didn’t really know how she wanted to broach the topic, but blurting “Tyler Green asked me out,” was certainly not her first choice. It is, however, what she did. “I said no!” She tacked on hurriedly when she saw Luke’s eyes go wide. “Because obviously. Not my type. Eek. And then I was talking to Rossi about it, and then the kind of guys I do and don’t like to date, and he helped me realize that my ideal guy… is you.” She looked him in the eye as she said that last part to make it abundantly clear what she meant.
Luke was taken aback. “Me?”
“Yeah. I still have feelings for you, Luke, and I know I’m the one who called things off, but with this whole bomb scare, I learned that life is too short to not go after the things you want… and I want you. So, if that’s something you’re still interested in… would you want to try again?”
“If it’s something I’m still interested in?” Luke repeated. “Um, yeah, I’m interested. I’m very interested, Penelope. How could I not be?”
“Well, you know, since it’s been three years and—”
“Penelope,” Luke cut her off, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer to his hospital bed. “I have wanted you, loved you for seven years now. That’s not going to change.”
She smiled down at him. “I love you too, Luke.”
“I really want to kiss you,” he told her, bringing one hand up to rest on her cheek. “Is that okay?”
Instead of answering him, Penelope leaned down and gently pressed her lips to his in a kiss that had been seven years in the making.
“I still owe you lunch, don’t I?” Luke asked when they finally broke apart. “What do you say once I get out of here I finally hold up my end of that bargain?”
“I look forward to it,” Penelope told him, pecking him on the lips once more.
“Me too, Penelope. With all my heart.”