Penelope woke up feeling deliciously refreshed. Derek's arm was a heavy weight around her waist, and she smiled as she turned to give him a soft morning kiss. Glancing over his shoulder at her clock, she saw there was still quite some time before their alarm went off. Knowing that she couldn't in good conscience wake him up, Penelope gave him another kiss before slipping out of bed and choosing an outfit for the day before heading into the bathroom and taking a quick shower before dressing and having a quick bowl of cereal.

Peeking her head into her bedroom, she saw that Derek was still sleeping, and she bent down to kiss his forehead softly. "I'm going to head in early, Der, so just meet me at work. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch Blake before we go into a briefing today. I still think that there's more for me to say." He stirred a little in his sleep, but didn't wake, and she smiled as she left the room and then made her way down to her vehicle. The drive in was uneventful, and Penelope found herself singing along to the radio the entire way, using the music to calm herself down.

By the time she was stepping out of the elevator, Penelope was feeling slightly better about everything from the previous evening, but there were still questions swirling around in her mind about what was going on between Strauss and Blake. Her first instinct when she entered the bullpen was to look towards Blake's desk, noticing that she hadn't appeared yet, and she frowned a little, almost running into Rossi when he stepped out of the break room, a full cup of coffee in his hands. "Whoa there, Kitten. Are you still waking up?" he teased as he reached out with his free hand to steady her.

"I actually woke up early, and since Derek was still…" Her cheeks burned bright red as she clamped her lips shut, mentally kicking herself for revealing such a detail about her life to the man. He chuckled a little as he splayed his hand out on her back, guiding her up the stairs and into his office, closing the door behind them.

"So, I take it that this is a new development between the two of you?" he asked as he pulled her down onto the sofa next to him. She gave him a small nod as she tried to think about what she would tell him, knowing that he would prod and pry for answers from her. "London was very good to you, then."

"Something had to be," she said sadly, suddenly thinking about Emily and how they should have been visiting her in London. "I'm sorry, I just seem to take one step forward, two steps back, some days. I really fucking miss her, Dave."

"I do, too, Kitten," he replied as he reached out and rubbed her shoulder softly. "Sometimes we get dealt a really rough hand in life, and then have to find a way forward, even though that can be so very painful. But I am glad that something good came out of the pain for you. You deserve to be happy."

"And so do you. I mean, you and Strauss are still a couple, yes?" She watched his face carefully, wanting to see if he was going to give her any clues in his expression. His face was a mask, though, as he gave her a small shrug, revealing nothing. "Oh come on, Rossi! You can't play innocent here! That morning, before everything went to hell, I saw her coming out of the hotel. And she most definitely had that never went to sleep look on her face. And I know that she doesn't smoke stogies and hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in almost a year, so she wasn't there for that event."

"Dammit, I really need to take better care to make certain my private life stays private." She let out a little laugh as she shrugged. "Fine, we had spent the night together, and it was nice to reconnect."

"And are you still reconnecting?" she asked, trying to sound smarmy and cute at the same time. He chuckled as he shook his head, a proud grin on his face. "That tells me nothing, Dave!"

"Erin and I have an understanding which leads to many incidents of reconnecting when we're not on a case."

She nodded before taking a deep breath, knowing that her next question might upset him a little. "And what about her and Blake? I feel like there's a weird sort of history there between them, and I'm not certain about the vibes that I'm picking up off them."

The smile on Rossi's lips tightened just the tiniest bit, telling her that she had hit a nerve, and she tried to look innocent while he cleared his throat. "Are you asking as a way to get intel on Blake or to defend Erin?"

"Maybe both? You know that we've been gone for almost three months, and the dynamic in the team has changed so much. I need to be caught up on the history so that I can interact well with everyone. So, what can you tell me about everything I've missed?"

He relaxed a little before sipping at his coffee. "Well, I'm certain that you've noticed that Erin and Blake tend to orbit around each other." She nodded. "They used to be close friends. Very close friends. But there was something that happened years ago that ended that friendship rather abruptly, and Erin has been trying to find a way to make amends ever since. It was difficult with Blake being relocated across the country in order to repair her reputation, but now that she's back with us, there's a more concerted effort on Erin's part to make everything right once more."

"Oh. Well. That has to be awkward, since they're sharing a hotel room in the field."

"Believe me, I heard many a tense discussion about that fact. Though they seem to have worked out an understanding." There was something about the way that he said those words the told Penelope there was something he wasn't saying, but she knew that he wouldn't tell her anything more. "Though things seem to have started to even out between them, and while they aren't friends, they're friendly. I think of them like Derek and Aaron were, back when I first started on the team. There's that grudging respect, but they're not going to go out for dinner together willingly."

"I suppose that you have a point, there, Rossi. And I'll try to be kinder to Blake from here on out. I just hope that she can really get over that little misstep I made when we first met."

"Erin got a great laugh out of that, Kitten. It seems that you are exceptionally great at saying precisely the wrong thing at the right time when it comes to our team." She began to blush as she shook her head. "It's adorable, truly it is, and while I don't know Blake all that well yet, I think that you'll be able to work through things, eventually. She might just make you work for it, though."

"I suppose that you have a point. And I should probably get to work now, since I know that there are probably some searches that I should get caught up on, especially being this early. Thanks for helping me to catch up." Leaning forward, she hugged him quickly before popping to her feet and heading to her office, intent on talking things over with Derek, certain that there was more at play than what Rossi had told her.