The chilled, murky waters underneath the Golden Gate Bridge beautifully reflected the sunlight – making the dark, swirling blue depths with the large white swells; crashing back onto the beach, look clean and inviting.

Unzipping her black leather jacket; relishing in the pleasant breeze that cooled her heated skin, she couldn't help but to take a deep, calming breath of the familiar and enticing coastal atmosphere – desperately trying to imprint that soothing salty aroma in her mind for future comfort as her heart already ached with dull longing for the place that has always been her home.

Distracting herself from wayward thoughts, she took a tepid sip of her mocha latte only to burn her tongue – smiling to herself, Garcia wasn't about to let the stinging pain ruin her last day in San Francisco; not when she was at her favorite internet café with her bestie Jennifer Jareau.

The kindred spirits were longtime friends but almost complete polar opposites. The only noticeable thing that they had in common was their blonde hair and even then that was different. Where Penelope had a wild, curly mane of honey locks and indigo and black streaks, JJ's hair was in a sleek low ponytail with a perfectly curled bang.

And the differences didn't stop there, while wearing one of her beloved corsets, bright green fishnet stockings, a skirt that was teetering on the edge of indecent, and thick chunky boots, Penelope could easily make Frankenstein jealous. Her companion for coffee, on the other hand, was wearing a simple light yellow sleeveless blouse and white high-waisted short shorts and matching white leather sandals.

The duo was like two peas in a very unique pod – one outrageously vibrant, the other subtle and chic, though they had been inseparable these last few years and Penelope was going to miss her dearly.

Following her friends gaze out towards the bay and taking a few moments to watch the ferry passing underneath the bridge, Penelope finally decided to drop her news on JJ.

"Garcia are you sure about this? I mean how much do you even know about this Derek Morgan?" came JJ's clipped response; wide, bright blue eyes and thin brows furrowed with concern.

"Jayje I'm not completely crazy. I did do some research," she shrugged, innocently twirling a dark lock of hair.

"You mean you hacked into his shit and dug around where you didn't belong," she nearly growled.

It was Penelope's turn to stare back in shock; mouth falling open into a little 'O' – it was very rare for her poised friend to curse, which meant she was in trouble and had to do some quick damage control.

With a giant grin plastered on her face; hell she even batted her long lashes, Penelope chuckled and said, "See this is why you're my best friend. You know me so well."

JJ stared back over the rim of the porcelain mug, which had one too many shots of espresso in it, and rolled her eyes.

"Alright so give up the goods on Mr. Morgan. I heard it's almost impossible to get a meeting with him and he never does interviews," with a dainty wrinkle of her nose, JJ added, "I also heard he is kind of a man-slut."

"Well I can attest to the impossible seeing him. He's not just busy, the man is as elusive as they come. It took me awhile to even find a recent picture of him," she huffed in annoyance; Penelope liked to believe her hacking skills were a lot better than that – in fact she knew they were, she just needed some extra time to crack the coded world of Mr. Morgan.

"Ooh tell me more."

"Okay so I got a look at some of his investments and he's rich. Like crazy, stupid rich. For him acquiring a company is a game that he takes very seriously. He has recently purchased an internet security firm and he sent me an email asking me to overhaul it. Apparently some girl he was banging snuck out of his bed and hacked her way in. In my opinion if she was better she would have been able to do it remotely," the smug little smile graced Penelope's lips and she had to admit that she was definitely being a bit haughty.

"Well not everyone is you Garcie," JJ chuckled while greedily buttering a warm croissant – something Penelope had to admit drove her crazy, it wasn't fair that JJ could eat the whole bread basket and not gain an ounce while she could stare at a crouton and gain five pounds.

Adding a ton of parmesan to her salad, she aggressively stabbed her leafy lunch and continued.

"Anyway, Morgan trusted this company to keep his investments safe. When they failed to do so he bought the company and fired everyone. He wants to start all over and repair the reputation of this company. He's even changing the name," tossing her fork down; she leaned back in the chair, crossed her legs and fiddled with the bow of her corset.

"Wow. That's really impressive that he's trusting you with all of this," JJ waved her hand around, still trying to grasp the importance of it all.

"Tell me about it," after blowing a lock of hair out of her face Penelope added, "I was doing some projections and this company stands to make billions. That's billions with a capital b. That's a lot of responsibility for this tech goddess."

"If anyone can handle this, it's you. I know you can do this," JJ flashed her a toothy smile and winked.

After sitting sometime in companionable silence Penelope looked away from a ferry full of tourists coming to a slow stop to take pictures, to look at JJ who was practically chewing off her bottom lip.

"What's up JJ?" Penelope shifted in her seat, having noticed her nervous energy.

"I was just thinking that I'm really going to miss you Penelope Garcia."

"I'm going to miss you so much Jayje. Who else am I going to text when I do my walk of shame?"

JJ rolled her eyes and said, "One day Miss. Garcia you are going to meet a man that is going to be on equal footing with you and might be able to tame you just a little."

Penelope snorted and tossed back her bright curls "Even if he is on even footing as me, somehow I'll still bring him to his knees," adding a coy, little smirk and waggle of her manicured brows.

"Wild woman." JJ playfully chided.

"Prude," Penelope shot back with a chuckle.

After getting up from the table the two blondes were occupying, they threw their trash away in a nearby receptacle, linking their arms and walked towards the front of the internet cafe.

"So I was thinking packing party at my place," Penelope smiled, as she unwrapped a peppermint candy.

"I'll see you at six," JJ giggled, giving her friend a quick hug before heading towards her car.

"How many corsets do you need?" JJ hollered from her bedroom, only to emerge with a red face and matted bangs as she dropped a giant box filled with colorful fabric on the coffee table.

"Well…I…you never know…there's different occasions," she mumbled under her breath, as she turned the heat up on the kettle and grabbed a tin of chamomile tea. "And they need to match my shoes."

JJ took a big swig of water and glared. "Garcia," she tutted. "You did pack your shoes, didn't you?"

Her hazel eyes darted around the room, catching Zelda's inquisitive green orbs staring back at her – the cat seeming to purr in amusement.

"Well, you see…" she started.

"Nope, no way am I packing all your shoes!"

Garcia pouted, holding up a few of her troll dolls and gestured to the box that was overflowing with color. "But Jayje, look how good you packed the corsets!"

JJ arched a brow and plopped down on the couch, taking a moment to pet Zelda behind the ears. "Yeah, those puppy eyes aren't going to work on me Missy. There's still two more boxes to fill with these lace up things you insist on having."

"Drats!" tossing the fun toys into a box, she took a quick glance around her cramped apartment filled with half empty boxes and overstuffed duffel bags, and sighed – obviously she hadn't thought this through.

When had she collected so much…stuff?

Glancing at the little robotic clock, she felt an overwhelming knot twist in her stomach – there was only three hours left until she had to catch a flight to Virginia.

JJ had been watching Penelope closely and could read her like a book.

"Hey," she smiled, picking up her furry friend and walked into the little kitchenette. "We'll pack the most important things now and then I can send the rest of it to you once you get settled."

"Bernie won't like that very much," Garcia giggled as she lifted an old glitter spackled jewelry and sewing kit – reminding her that she needed to fix that old denim jacket she had torn a few weeks ago.

"Please lil Ol' Bernie will do just about anything for you PG," JJ rolled her eyes and exchanged the cat for the jewelry, perching herself up on the ledge of the counter as she searched through the assortment of dazzling rings and broaches.

Penelope hugged Zelda, letting the cat climb its way onto her shoulders and frowned – yes Bernie, her very senile landlord who had a horrible habit of staring at her chest during every conversation and often forgot to pay the electric bill on time during winter was also the one who had let her get away with quite a bit of shenanigans while living here – like getting to keep Zelda, even though he had a strict no pet policy or not evicting her that one time when she accidentally caused a blackout for the whole complex when she got a little carried away while hacking.

Yes, Bernie wouldn't mind keeping her stuff here while she moved across country, but that also meant Penelope would have to knock on his door and talk to his halitosis. Wrinkling her nose at that thought, but then catching sight of all the things they still didn't have packed, she internally cringed at her poor luck.

JJ sniggered as she put on a large pearl ring and dramatically wiggled her fingers under the light. "Just think how mysteriously creepy this new landlord is gonna be."

"Just because no one has seen the guy, my dulcet dove, doesn't mean he's creepy."

God, she really hoped Mr. Morgan wasn't anything like Bernie.

A melodic tune replaced the silence, as JJ's cell phone vibrated against the coffee table – cursing under her breath she ran across the room and immediately started apologizing. A few minutes later, having followed half of the clipped conversation, Garcia wasn't that surprised when her friend turned around with a regretful look on her face.

"Go, it's okay," she smiled knowingly. JJ did work at a very esteemed PR firm after all and it was rare that they even got to spend a whole day together without her getting pulled away.

"I'm sorry," grabbing her sweater as she enveloped Penelope into a tight embrace. "I'm gonna miss you, silly girl."

Garcia smiled, quickly blinking the tears away and laughed through a choked sob. "Not as much as I'm gonna miss you!"

It was another couple of minutes of hugging and shouts of who would miss who more until JJ finally left, leaving Penelope alone with her cat, a bunch of things to pack and only a limited amount of time.

"Come on Zeldy!" she chirped, heading into her bedroom only to stop when she spotted the many piles of ruffled skirts and dark leather garments and frowned. "We can do this."

Fiddling with the button of the purple plaid shirt she had changed into earlier, she took a deep breath and picked up a handful of scattered leggings only to stop when someone knocked on the door.

Running back into the living room, nearly tripping over her chunky boots she had kicked off by the couch, she laughed as she threw the door open. "Miss me already my blonde beauty!"

Only to step back in shock when it wasn't JJ standing in her doorway but the greasy blonde man with dark simmering eyes from last night.

"Hey, beautiful," Todd purred, quickly shoving his foot inside the door as she tried to shut it. "I missed you."

The strong scent of liquor drifted over her and the tingling sensation of dread shot down her spine. Taking a deep breath; plum nails digging into wood as she tried to remember where her cell phone was, or that bottle of pepper spray JJ had insisted she carry around.

"Todd!" she gritted out, eyes narrowed into slits. "Move your foot!"

"Come on sugar tits, lemme in!" he sneered and without warning, shoved the door wide open – sending her flying into the back of the couch where she fell onto a pile of boxes, knocking over the contents, and cringing when she heard glass break.

Zelda hissed from somewhere behind her, as she tried to reorient herself.

Todd kicked the door closed behind him, only to trip over her fuchsia duffle bag and curse. "You sure aren't making this easy for me."

Scrambling to get up, she made it to the kitchenette only for hot searing pain to tear through her scalp as he grabbed her loose locks and yanked her backwards into his solid chest.

"Let…me go!" she yelled, frantically waving a hand behind her – feeling victorious when she managed to scratch his face, though it was short lived as he dragged her further into the kitchen and slammed her into the counter. His heavy weight pressed her onto the cool surface, hot breath panting down the back of her neck as he trailed his fingers up underneath her skirt.

"Women like you…" he growled, fingers digging into her soft flesh, making her gasp as he yanked her head back to look at him. "Are little fucking teases."

Penelope saw the bitter rage brewing in his eyes, and felt anger coil in the pit of her stomach.

"Fuck you, asshole," the only thing she could do was spit and the moment she did, her head hit the counter – causing nauseating, white stars to burst behind her eyes.

"Oh, no Princess…" kicking her legs apart and lifting her flouncy skirt. "You owe me a good fucking."

Her body chilled with panic and a scream ripped from her throat as she violently thrashed against him – it was through that dizzying haze that a flash of furry orange jumped over her head and attacked the man restraining her.

"Son of…a bitch!" he yelled, letting Penelope go as he stumbled into the fridge – knocking over several magnets and bills as Zelda scratched and hissed at his face.

Taking a shuddering breath; mind slowly jumping back to life as she ripped a drawer open – shaking hands, trying to find a knife, a fork, anything – only to realize that stuff had already been packed up.

"Fuck," she mumbled, only to cry out when he tore the cat off of him and tossed the protective feline across the room.

Garcia only had a split second to see her little companion scurry under the coffee table before Todd's heavy fist back handed her across the face, forcefully snapping her head back into the cabinet. Trying to blink away her blurred vision only to see the vicious marks across his cheeks as he charged forward; grabbing a fistful of her shirt, popping off a few buttons as he yanked her towards him.

Leaning back as he peppered her neck with wet, sloppy kisses it was then that a loud whistle filled the room and a smile graced her bruised split lip.

"Hey Todd," she chuckled; tasting the acerbic iron on her tongue, waiting until she caught his eyes. "Fuck you!"

Reaching back, grabbing the hot kettle off the stove she whipped it around and hit him over the head with it. Grinning as the scalding water poured over his exposed skin – burning his face, chest and hands as he flew back screaming.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, muscles trembling with shock as she took a step back and watched him rip his shirt off as he slid to the floor in agony.

He looked so pathetic and now that the threat was subdued Penelope felt the anger rise back up, forcing her forward as she delivered a swift kick between his legs. "You, sleazy prick!" she gritted out.

As Todd withered on the floor moaning in pain, she glanced around her apartment, suddenly not caring for her scattered belongings. Stumbling away, she pulled on her boots and quickly gathered Zelda into her sparkly cat carrier.

After several frantic moments of running around, she was finally free – lugging her laptop, duffel bag and fur ball as she waited outside for a cab to take her to the airport.

It wasn't until the cool night air hit her bare skin that she realized her hands had gotten burned – glaring at the nasty red marks that covered her hands and trailed up her arms, wiping a tear away as it snaked down her cheek, she looked back up at her apartment window and frowned.

Yes, Garcia was definitely ready for her new life in Virginia.