Work Text:
Penelope Garcia loved her job.
Some days she had to remind herself of that more than once.
Then there were days like today where knowing how much she loved her job, how much she loved her team (her family) could never be enough to make it feel worth while. These were the rare days she thought about quitting, about taking up a minimum wage job somewhere where she didn't have to make scary calls that put people's lives on the line. Where she didn't have to be on and aware, where her fingers didn't have to move just as fast as her brain to find information - the right information. Where she wasn't scared and desperate for the people she loved.
Too often there was one too many deaths. Too many tortured victims and emotionless psychopaths and grieving heartbroken families. The consequences of all were the images burned into her memory. The death and destruction that she saw every time she closed her eyes.
Today had been one of those.
She loved her job.
But it took a toll on her that wasn't easy to shake off. It was never easy, really, but some days, after a case had gone right, after they'd locked up the bad guy and knew the streets were just a little bit safer, it was a little bit easier to decompress and relax.
She stumbled into her house feeling the weight of the day still pressing into her shoulders. Locking the door behind her was automatic from even before her shooting. But she'd increased her security since being shot. Derek had made sure of it. He'd led the charge in making sure her home was save. When she'd moved, it had all come with her. It didn't necessarily make her feel safer - they'd seen too many cased where suspects had manipulated security systems to truly trust them - but today, flipping the lock behind her, and knowing there were camera's outside her house at every angle with direct access to their phones did help. They weren't paranoid about it, but they'd seen enough, had been through enough, that the security was mandatory.
She kicked off her shoes at the front entrance, and used her heel to push them sloppily into the shoe rack that was mostly filled with hers and Spencer's shoes. Derek had found this one a few months ago and it was better than what they had been using - longer and larger - and it fit most of their shoes. Most of them because Spencer had more shoes than Derek and Penelope combined which was hard to imagine because Penelope had a lot of shoes.
There was music playing from the living room, soft and instrumental though there were words at the tip of her tongue that she couldn't yet find. She could smell a candle burning as she dropped her bag in the entry way. Normally she'd put it away - lock it into the office she had on the main floor. The office was for all of them, but it was universally acknowledged to be Penelope's space for her IT set up.
"Hi honey, I'm home," she said. She tried to sing it out, loved being able to do that when either of her men were already here. It didn't quite come out in the teasing way she had wanted and was far too quiet to fill the house. Regardless, she made her way into the living room.
Derek was already there. He was sitting on the edge of the couch in a fresh change of clothes. It was part of his routine. He'd come home, shower, and change. A physical action to shake off the reality of the day and let himself transition into being Derek rather than SSA Morgan.
He looked so soft as he smiled up at her. The candle burning on the table crackled and she looked down at it to notice the already filled wine glass he had out for her. He was genuinely the best. Her best friend, her favourite coworker, her precious love.
"Hey baby girl, come lay down." His voice was so warm, a comfort that she had never taken for granted. She'd promised to never stop talking to him, and it was one of her vows that she took the most seriously. It was also selfish. If they were talking, then they were okay.
"I might pass out on you if I do," Penelope admitted.
She slid into the couch beside Derek anyway.
"That's what I'm here for, my love," he said. His arm wrapped around her immediately, warm and strong and a comfort she didn't think she could live without. Since the moment they'd met, he'd always been there for her. Penelope didn't want to live in a world where he wasn't. Where he was one of the bodies they saw every day.
She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed at her face to try and shake it loose.
"Hey, hey hey, none of that," Derek said. He took her hands into his own and kissed her palms lightly before kissing her lips. Penelope kissed him back, letting the weight of that sooth some of the ache in her. Derek was here, right in front of her. He'd made it back safe. They'd made it back safe.
She pulled back, and watched his eyes dart down to her tongue as she licked over her bottom lip thoughtfully. She loved kissing Derek, loved the give and take and desire that burned between them. It could be fun tonight to climb into his lap and let that erase all her worries.
Instead, Penelope reached out for the wine he'd poured her, and took a deep swallow.
"Today sucked," she finally said.
"Yeah, it did."
They'd caught the suspect, but not before she'd shot three others in her sixth spree shooting of the month. She had been an anomaly, and they'd spent several days leading up to it thinking they were looking for a male unsub.
While Penelope drank her wine, Derek pulled the clips out of her hair, and carefully untied the scrunchies she had holding it all together. He put the clips and scrunchies down and let the weight of her hair fall down to her shoulders before he reached back up to shake it out.
"Come here, babe," Derek said, and pulled her down into his lap. He took her mostly drank glass of wine out of her hand and placed it back on the table. Penelope sighed and closed her eyes again as she tried to block the images from her mind.
Derek didn't say anything else as he started combing his fingers through her hair. She breathed slowly, letting the tension ease as he scratched at her scalp and let his fingers tangle into senseless patterns in her hair.
It wasn't easy, but with her head in Derek's lap, with his hand in her hair, and her favourite candle burning, it was easier. The candle had been a gift from Spencer, and she'd spent a long time not letting it burn until he laughed and showed her a box in their basement that had a stash of them ready for any given moment that she might run out.
She sighed again, her body decompressing under the hands that were massaging her neck.
The front door opened, and they both fell silent as they listened to the foot steps come closer, as a bag dropped beside hers.
"Hey," Spencer said. He looked almost as wrecked as Penelope felt. He stumbled towards the living room table, scooped up Penelope's wine glass and drank the remainder of it with a wrinkle of his nose. Spencer Reid didn't like sweet wine the same way Penelope didn't like dry reds. But when needs must, anything would do. He put the glass down, eyed the wine bottle thoughtfully, and then picked Penelope's legs up and placed them on his lap when he sat down.
Once settled, he reached over Penelope's legs for the bottle and her glass. He poured more and drank that down quickly before pouring another glass and putting the bottle back on the coffee table. He placed his free hand back on Penelope's leg, letting it rest there as he stared into middle distance for a long moment.
"Einstein?" Derek asked and Spencer glanced over with a wry smile.
"We're home now," he said. Then he leaned over and kissed Derek. Penelope watched them with pure adoration, watched Spencer's tongue sneak into Derek's mouth, as Derek raised a hand and tangled into Spencer's hair to shift the angle of the kiss. She loved watching them. Loved seeing them take comfort in each other. Loved seeing them want each other.
When Spencer pulled away from the kiss his expression was lighter, easier, and seeing that eased the remaining tension in Penelope. He then reached behind them into one of the decorative catchalls they had on the table behind the couch. Not the one that held the condoms and lube, but the one that held power chargers, flashlights, notepads, pens, and - oddly enough - plastic straws. He placed a blue stripped straw into the wine glass and handed it over to Penelope.
"So you can keep laying down while you enjoy your wine," he said at her amused and confused look.
"I adore your genius brain, Spencer Reid."
They settled in like that for a while longer, listening to the playlist Derek had put on and talking about almost nothing at all. Derek continued massaging her neck and shoulders where ever he could reach, and Spencer's hands slowly started massaging her feet. It was a mindless gesture, just there to give himself something to do, and Penelope moaned under the feeling. Spencer had fantastic hands. She'd been lucky enough to experience them for herself a time or two even though that wasn't their normal dynamic.
Penelope Garcia loved her job.
More than that, she loved that her job had brought her the two great loves of her life. The two people that made all of her bad days worth everything.