Work Text:
As the sun began to set outside the windows of the BAU, the team knew it was time to call it quits for the week. Everyone finished up the last of their paperwork and turned it in to Prentiss before heading out for the evening, except for Luke. He has been out for the past two days due to some little bug he must have picked up while playing with Roxy and Lou at the dog park, so his desk was loaded with all types of papers. Emily looked out of her window to see if everyone had headed home when she noticed Luke was still sitting at his desk. She sighed and got up from her desk and walked out of her office and over to him.
“Luke, what are you still doing here? I told the team to go home and rest for the weekend.” She asked as she leaned onto the side of his desk.
He looked up from the current file he was reading and huffed, “Well I have a lot to catch up on, but I guess I can just do it at home too.” He knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on it at home though, because the dogs would want his attention since he has been gone all day. Plus he has to do a lot of other things since his illness has put him behind schedule.
“Why don’t you just come back on Monday with a fresh set of eyes, I can also see if JJ or Tara can help you out,” Emily said with a helpful smile on her face, trying to relieve some of the weight on his shoulders.
Luke smiled at her gesture and thanked her. Emily walked back to her office to continue reviewing the files from the rest of the team, while Luke packed up his stuff. He grabbed his keys and headed over to the elevator when he noticed one of his coworkers waiting by the doors. The one and only Penelope Garcia. He tapped on her shoulder, not noticing she had headphones in, causing her to jump.
“AHH!” She screamed and slapped Luke’s arm. “Newbie, that was so uncalled for!” Garcia furrowed her brows and glared at him.
Luke tried to put on a comforting smile and apologized immediately. “I’m sorry chica, just wanted to see what you were up to tonight. I didn’t see that you had your AirPods in.”
Penelope could tell that his apology was truly sincere and walked into the elevator as the doors opened. She watched as Luke hit the button to the parking garage before answering his question. “If you must know, I am going to the supermarket and picking up a watermelon and some pumpkin puree to make pumpkin cookies.”
Luke cocked his head to the side, wondering why pumpkin as it was almost 90 degrees outside. “The watermelon makes sense, but pumpkin cookies? Penelope, it is summer..” He watched as a smile appeared on her face and was shortly followed by a chuckle.
“Oh newbie,” She sighed. “Summerween! I celebrate it every year. I carve a watermelon like a pumpkin, even get Sergio his own mini one.” That last sentence made Luke smile again. “Around this time of year, I find myself missing Halloween. Well, not the gory parts, but the fun parts, so I celebrate it, just in the middle of summer.” She continued.
“How does one get an invite to this type of party?” Luke asked as the elevator doors opened.
Penelope rolled her eyes as Luke gestured for her to walk out first. “Are you trying to invite yourself over to my humble home and crash my summerween celebration Agent Alvez?”
He walked out of the elevator behind her and chuckled. “No Chica, I am just seriously interested in what a summerween celebration entails. Do you also watch the movies? I have a few, I could bring over.” He paused, trying to read her facial expressions. “That is only if you want me to come… I could bring the dogs.” He added with a cheeky smile, knowing how much she loves his dogs.
“I guess you can come over,” She answered with a smile. “Only because I miss the pups.” Her comment made Luke roll his eyes as they started walking over to their vehicles. “I will pick up 5 watermelons then, BUT you are NOT helping me bake!” She exclaimed.
“Fine fine, I will leave all the baking to you. How about I meet you at your place in like 45 minutes? That gives me time to feed the dogs and get them ready while you head to the market.” Luke offered as he opened her car door for her.
“Perfect Newbie! See you then.” She smiled as she shut her door and turned her car on.
Luke sighed and walked around over to his car, “Are you ever gonna stop calling me that? It has been like years!”
Penelope rolled down her windows and shouted “Never!!” With a giggle and stuck her tongue out at him before driving away.
He shook his head and hopped into his truck. As he turned the key, he smiled. This is exactly what he needed to help relieve some of his built-up stress.
-
Luke was greeted by two smiling furry faces the minute he opened the door. Both Lou and Roxy ran over to him and licked his face happily as he bent down to pet them. The sitter told him that they were both just out on walks so they should be good for the night. He thanked her and opened the door so she could go home. After he lost sight of her down the hallway he shut the door and went into the kitchen. He chopped up the dog's dinner and set the bowls on the ground, watching as they happily devoured the food he placed there for them. As they finished up, he went into his room to change out of his work clothes and freshen himself up before heading to Penelope’s.
‘This isn’t a date Luke, she is not gonna care what you are wearing.’ He thought to himself as he picked out an orange shirt with ghost dogs on it and a pair of blue jeans. ‘Good enough, she should like the effort.’ He slid his sneakers back on and dug through the closet looking for the dog's Halloween bandanas. It felt silly to pull these out in the middle of summer, but if it was something that Penelope enjoyed, he was going to go all out, just for her.
As he opened the door to his room he was greeted by both the dogs who were licking the remaining food off their faces. He tied on their bandanas and smiled, enjoying the thought of how happy this was going to make his favorite coworker. “Oh boy, we look ridiculous, but you two have no idea what we are about to get ourselves into, I don’t even know, but I gotta find these movies.” He chuckled as the dogs trailed behind him back into the main living area of his apartment.
Opening up the cabinet he was immediately greeted by all of the horror movies that he owns. As he pulled them all out he tried to find some of the less horrifying classics, that way there was not too much gore. He knows how much Penelope tries to avoid that due to the vast amount they see during their work lives. “These should do.” He said confidently, looking at the 5 movies he picked out. Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, and Casper. “Hopefully these will be good for the occasion.”
He put the rest of the movies back into the cabinet and put these into a book bag with some toys for the dogs to play with while they carved the watermelons. He grabbed their leashes by the door and connected them to their collars. On their way out to the truck, Luke figured he should bring Penelope a gift for allowing him to join her on this special occasion of hers. After he put the dogs in the back seat he turned around and jogged back up to the apartment grabbing a bottle of red wine from his kitchen cabinet.
Turning the key to the truck, he pulled out his phone and sent her a quick text,
‘Be there soon, have one stop to make! :) ’
He wanted to stop by the store a get a bouquet of orange roses. He knew it wasn’t a date, he had told himself that 100 times, but he still wanted to make it the best Summerween, Penelope has ever celebrated. ‘Maybe I’ll be able to celebrate all of the future Summerween’s with her.’ He thought to himself. However, he just sighed, it was a stupid thought, there was no way Penelope was interested in him anymore. Not after how poorly their date went. It is what it is though, anytime with Penelope is a good time for him, he just wants her to feel the same way.
-
She pulled into the parking lot of the store and pulled out her phone. She made a strict list in her notes app so she wouldn’t wander around the store for hours.
Summerween list 🎃
2 big watermelons
3 small watermelons
Pumpkin puree
Pumpkin spice
Something for Luke ;)
This list would have to do. Hopefully, it will keep her on time. Luke would be there strictly in 30 minutes because he is always on time. She got out of her car making sure to lock it behind her as she walked into the store. She grabbed a car and headed towards the produce aisle. Finding five perfect ripened watermelons she added them all to her cart. Next stop the baking aisle. After picking up the pumpkin puree and the pumpkin spice, she also grabbed a bag of chocolate chips.
“I know it isn’t on the list, but maybe he’ll like some in the cookies,” Penelope said out loud to herself as she placed them in the cart. “Now what in the world do I get him as a surprise.” She huffed and walked out of the baking aisle, determined to find Luke the perfect something to make his first-ever Summerween celebration special. Then the idea popped into her head. “Perfect!”
As she dashed off to the summer section in the market she grabbed a frozen cheese pizza figuring they would need something to eat aside from watermelon and cookies. Once she got into the summer section she searched high and low until she finally found them. Glow sticks. A perfect way to light up the room while they watched the movies that he was bringing over. Penelope grabbed some bracelets, glasses, and even a glowing hat, that she was determined to make Luke wear.
On her way out of the store, she grabbed a bag of varying candy and some candy corn. It isn’t Halloween if there isn’t candy involved. After paying for all the stuff, she loaded the bags into her car. This was going to be a super fun night. Especially now that she had cut all ties with Tyler and blocked his number. No more distractions from work or from hanging out with her friends. ‘Yeah, friends. That is what he and I are’ She thinks to herself as she drives home.
As she parked her car in front of her apartment building she heard her phone ding. She pulled it out of her purse and saw it was a text from Luke.
‘Be there soon, have one stop to make! :) ’ - Newbie
Of course, he was going to be on time. Just like he always is.
‘Okie dokie pokie 🎃 ’ Penelope responded before throwing her phone back into her purse.
She pulled the bags out of her car and headed inside of the apartment building. She was greeted by Sergio who jumped off the couch at the sound of her footsteps and jingling keys outside of the door. “Hey Mister, I gotta get the place all ready we have guests coming over!” She said to her furry companion with a smile on her face.
Penelope tossed the groceries on the counter and preheated the oven so it would be ready for the pizza by the time Luke arrived. She grabbed the watermelons out of the bags and placed them on the table. While also grabbing a few knives and bowls to set out as well. Sergio hopped up on the chair to sniff one of the watermelons before sitting down and watching his owner pace all over her apartment.
She looked over at her cat and sighed, “You probably think I am insane, but I promise you, my furry friend, I am not!!” She ran back to her room to get a change of clothes knowing her coworker would show up any minute. Orange dress, Pumpkin earrings, and two bat barrettes. Oh, and she couldn’t forget her candy corn necklace! ‘Hopefully, he doesn’t think I am crazy, but I have to go all out especially because, well it’s Luke!’ She thought to herself as she walked back out into the kitchen to put the candy into bowls on the counter.
-
Luke found himself standing outside the doors to Penelope’s apartment building. Bookbag on, dogs in one hand, the roses in the other. ‘It is just like any other time we have hung out. She already got the point across to you that she isn’t into you, so it will be fine.’ His inner monologue was torturing him. What if the roses were too much or what if Penelope thought it was stupid that he dressed the dogs up and put a Halloween shirt on? He stopped himself from thinking of more what-ifs.
“Okay, are you two ready? You guys better behave!” He chuckled looking down at his anxious dogs who were very ready to see their beloved friend Penelope. Luke followed his dogs over to the building door and rang the bell. “Hey, Chica it’s me.” He said as she answered the buzz.
She rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice, “I know it’s you Newbie, who else would be coming to my house exactly 45 minutes after I last talked to you at work?”
“Okay okay calm down there, I’ll be up in a second.” He opened the door and headed upstairs.
Penelope found herself quickly cleaning up the grocery bags and setting out the glow stick stuff onto the counter. Luckily she had cleaned her apartment the night before so it was not a total disaster. However, a knock at her door pulled her from those thoughts and she ran over to open it. As she opened the door she was greeted by 3 smiling faces all of which were wearing something Halloween coded.
She gasped “Oh my goodness!!! Look at you guys so cute and festive!” She bent down to admire the dogs and looked up at Luke and smirked, “Oh and I guess you too Newbie.”
He found himself chuckling and handed Penelope the flowers as she stood up and welcomed them into her apartment. “I got those for you,” Luke said with a shy smile as he unhooked the leashes from the dogs, allowing them to roam around Penelope’s apartment. He glanced up to see her looking at the roses with a smile on her face.
“Thank you, they are beautiful.” She said as blush began to appear on her cheeks, but she quickly rushed off to the kitchen to grab a vase before he would take any notice.
Luke stood up and looked around her apartment. He spotted Sergio over on the chair by all the watermelons, Penelope must have purchased. Luke walked over to the counter and set his bag down on it. Picking up a pack of glow sticks he looked at his lovely coworker with a confused grin. “Chica, what is all of this?” He asked as Penelope set the roses down in front of him.
“Oh, those! They are for us to wea-” The beeping of the oven cut her off. “Hold on, let me put the pizza in” She muttered, turning around to put the pizza into the oven. “Okay as I was saying. Those are for us to wear when we watch the movies!!” Her smile grew 10 times the original size when she saw the look Luke was giving her. “No rebuttal, you will be wearing that hat and I may or may not be sending that photo to the girls!”
Luke was about to open his mouth but Penelope quickly put a finger over it telling him to hush. He sighed and sat down at the table picking up his watermelon and staring at it contently. “These are some pretty perfect looking watermelons,” Luke said as Penelope sat down across from him. ‘Not as perfect as you though’ He thought to himself as he watched her start to carve into hers.
“I thought that I could carve mine and Sergio’s and you carve your three while I bake the cookies. Does that sound good?” She asked pulling the circular top off her watermelon.
“Sounds perfect.” He answered and began to carve into his own.
Eventually, the oven went off and Penelope laid the pizza on the counter to cool down while she and Luke continued to carve. She asked him about his time off and how he was feeling. They ended up chatting for over an hour and completely forgot about the pizza. When Penelope finished Sergio’s watermelon. Looking over at Luke she realized he only finished the first one.
“Oh Newbie, you’ve got a lot left there.” She giggled feeding a piece of watermelon to each of the dogs who were intently waiting for that time to come. “I am going to go start the cookies, you try to finish up. We can just reheat the pizza for when we watch the movie if that’s good with you.”
Luke watched her pull all the ingredients out of her cabinets as she moved around her kitchen. “Yeah, yeah that’s good with me. Sorry, I am so slow with this, haven’t carved anything since I was a kid.” He said with a sigh and looked at the final result of the watermelon in his hands. Penelope’s was so intricate while his was sort of just the typical face one would see on a pumpkin during Halloween.
Penelope’s head shot up and she stared at him. “Are you serious?! What do you do for Halloween then?” She asked intriguingly.
“Well, I normally just set candy out for the kids and then watch horror movies until I fall asleep on the couch.” He said in a sincere way trying not to make Penelope feel bad. “What about you huh? Do you go all out for Halloween as well?”
She watched him start carving into his second watermelon before going back to gather all the ingredients. “Normally I go over to JJ’s and hang out with her and Will and then I will take the boys out trick or treating with JJ while Will stays at the house to hand out candy. Then sometime before that the boys will come over here and we will carve pumpkins together, that way Will and JJ can have some kid free time.” Penelope loved talking about her godsons, they are two of the best things that have ever happened to her. It made her wonder if Luke would enjoy hanging out with them just as much as she does. However, she quickly pushed that thought from her mind and began mixing all the ingredients.
Luke smiled, he enjoyed the thought of Penelope hanging out with JJ and her whole family since he knew Penelope didn’t really get to experience that kind of love with her own siblings. “That sounds like a bunch of fun. I am sure the kids enjoy that and I bet JJ does too.” He started scooping out the insides of the watermelon taking a bite of it himself and he gave some to his dogs before stopping to admire Garcia in all her beauty. She loves baking and he loves that she has something to fall back onto when things get rough, especially now that she is back to work. She moved with grace around her kitchen as she carefully measured all the ingredients. He quickly whipped his head back to his watermelon when she looked his way.
“Enjoy what you see?” She asked with a grin on her face. “Anyways, want chocolate chips in some of these?”
His face got a bit red and he didn’t know what to say. “Yeah, some chocolate chips would be nice.” Luke managed to stutter before accidentally dropping the knife onto himself. “Ow,” He mumbled watching as blood began to pool into his palm. “Hey, uh, do you happen to have any bandaids, Chica?” He grabbed a few napkins off the table and shoved them into his palm before the blood started to drip everywhere.
“Oh my goodness Luke are you okay?” Penelope stopped everything she was doing and ran over to him. “They are in the bathroom I will go grab you a big one, go wash it off in the sink!” She directed before she ran off to the bathroom.
Luke smiled as he rinsed his hand off in the sink. He felt bad to make Penelope worry but he has never seen her care for him this way. ‘She’s just a friend man, calm down, this is what friends do’. Here goes the inner monologue again ruining everything for him. She came back over to him with the bandaids and carefully placed one over the cut.
“You have to be more careful Newbie. Jeez, that could have ended way worse than it did.” Penelope sighed and looked him in the eyes before going back over to her mixer.
Here comes the nickname again. Oh how he has a love-hate relationship with it, but he would never actually tell Penelope that to her face. “Yeah, sorry. You just caught me off guard I was really focused.”
“I bet you were,” She paused glancing over at him. “Really focused staring at me.” Luke’s face flushed up again and he let out a sigh before he picked back up the knife he had just accidentally cut himself with. “It’s okay, I know I am a pretty thing to stare at, I’m not mad.”
That relieved some of the pressure off of Luke’s shoulders and he looked over at her and smiled. “Good, I didn’t want to be injured and in trouble,” he chuckled.
Penelope finished up the cookies and put them in the oven. She came back over and noticed Luke had moved on to the third watermelon. However, he seemed to be struggling now that he had a giant bandaid on the palm of his hand. She took the knife and the mini watermelon out of his hands and sat back down across from him again.
“How about I finish this, and you go heat up some of the pizza in the microwave,” she said with a hushed tone, knowing that Luke was a bit embarrassed that he had been caught watching her bake. “I’m sure your hand would love a break and I am getting a bit hungry.”
Luke nodded and got up from the table. He pulled apart half of the pizza and put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. By the time he came back to the table, Penelope had already finished the mini watermelon. There was a tiny dog carved into it. Luke gasped. “Is that Roxy?” He asked with a smile as he placed the pizza down in front of them.
“Yes, it is, look at how cute she is on a watermelon. Could never compare to the real-life Roxy though!” She said with a smile as the dog came up next to her to take another piece of watermelon from her.
They ate their pizza and smiled at the five watermelons they had carved together. As they finished their dinner the oven went off, which meant Penelope’s cookies were finished. She got up and rushed over to the stove to turn it off, pulled them out, and placed them on the counter next to her. When she turned around she noticed Luke was no longer at the table and he was actually standing right next to her washing the dishes.
“LUKE!” She yelled. “You don’t have to do that! Especially not with that giant cut on your hand. I don’t want it getting infected!” He mumbled something back but she pushed again. “Go set up the movies. Surprise me with what we watch first.”
Luke sighed and took a step back. Turning the water off and carefully dried his hands. “Okay fine, I was just trying to help you clean up.” He walked over, picked up his book bag, and headed over to her couch. “Bring two wine glasses over with you when you finish please.” He pulled the wine bottle out of his bag and placed it on the table. Sifting through the five movies he brought he chose Charlie Brown first. Short and sweet.
Penelope walked over with two glasses and the bag full of glow stick stuff. As Luke poured the wine into the two glasses, she opened up all the packaging. They both picked up the wine glass and cheersed to Summerween. After they both took a sip, Penelope set her glass down and put the glow stick hat and glasses on her friend. She got up to turn the light off to see the full effect, however, when she came back he had also put on a necklace and two bracelets.
“Stay right there. Do not move!” She picked up her phone and took what felt like a million photos of him. After putting on a few bracelets and necklaces herself, she was getting ready to take a selfie, when Luke took the glasses off of himself and put them on her face gently.
He smiled and whispered, “Now you are really glowing.” Luke didn’t need an overhead light to tell that he had flustered his best friend. The paused before she took the selfie said it all.
She pulled the glasses up onto her head and looked at Luke with a big smile. He quickly pulled his phone out and took a photo of her before she could even react. “Lukeeeee” She groaned. “I probably look horrific in that!”
“Nope, you look perfect, see…” He showed her the photo and it made her smile. “No photo of you could ever look awful.”
“Okay Newbie, where was all this sweet talk on our date?” She chuckled before relaxing back onto the couch with her glass of wine. However, Luke didn’t relax, she noticed her comment made him more tense. “Hey, that wasn’t meant to be hurtful. I did have a good time, minus it being clunky.”
Luke stood up and walked over to the counter to grab a bowl of candy. He also checked on the dogs but they were both fast asleep on the carpet. “No, it’s okay. If you want me to be honest with you, the reason it was so ‘clunky’ was because I was so nervous.” He sat back down next to her on the sofa and set the candy down on the table. “I have dated many girls but never ever have I felt what I feel for you. I wish in a million ways that the date would have been better, but the way it happened just, well, it is what it is. I really do wish I could go back and change it though.” When he finished what he was saying he realized Penelope was just staring at him. “I’m sorry if that was-”
“No Luke, it’s okay,” She cut him off before he could continue. “I felt the same way. Have you been holding all of that in ever since?” he nodded his head as he ate a handful of candy corn. “I am glad you came here tonight. I am happy I got to share my funny tradition with you, even if you ended up hurting yourself.”
Luke finished chewing and smiled. “I am glad I got to experience this too.” He grabbed the remote and leaned back onto the couch. “Now that that’s out of the way, how about we watch our first movie of the night!” Penelope clapped her hands and watched intently to see what movie he had chosen. Little did he know it was one of her all-time favorites.
As the night went on they watched pretty much all of the movies. It was probably around three o'clock in the morning when Luke noticed he had fallen asleep, however, so did Penelope. The end credits were rolling on the movie so he swiftly grabbed the remote off the table trying not to stir her from her slumber. He muted the TV and slowly laid back on the sofa where he had just woken up from a few minutes ago. Luke looked around the apartment for signs of his dogs but realized they were both asleep in the same spot they were in earlier. That’s when he felt the couch cushion shift behind his head. As he turned his head around to see what it was, he felt a sneeze coming on, already alerting him that it had to be Sergio. He tried to hold the sneeze back but there was no helping it. Luke quickly but quietly moved his elbow up to muffle the sneeze however it caused Penelope to stir from her slumber.
Luke froze he felt awful, but what happened next immediately soothed those thoughts. All that happened was she shifted her placement on the couch to where she was now resting her head on his shoulder and she had already fallen back asleep. He let out a quiet sigh and tried his best to cover her up with the blanket that she was using before they had both fallen asleep.
“Penelope Grace Garcia, you are the sweetest, most caring, and beautiful woman I have ever met. Never does a day go by that I don’t think about you.” Luke whispered. He shut his eyes and smiled, “Te quiero mucho Penélope García.”
Penelope slightly opened her eyes and whispered back, “I love you too, Luke Alvez.” She got into a more comfortable position, however, she never moved her head off of his shoulder. Before she fell back asleep she felt him place a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Luke had never felt more happier in his whole life. He had everything he had ever wanted in this one room. His dogs and the love of his life. Maybe he should have looked into the concept of Summerween a bit sooner.