A/N: Although my muse doesn't have seemed to have returned from her vacation yet - in oder words I seem to suffer from a really bad case of writters block - I decided on clearing a couple of stories from my harddrive by posting one or two. This one isn't too long, at least not by my usual standards...

Penelope wasn't sure what was worse. The actual break-up from Technical Analyst Kevin Lynch, with him saying "I need a change", or the aftermath brought on by her friends?

They had always told her she could do better, but Penelope never listened. Never wanted to listen actually. She liked what she had with Lynch. Maybe all her friends thought she could do better, but Penelope herself never thought so. She was happy with what she had. They loved each other , had a good time and Penelope learned to live with the small issues which bugged her in the beginning. Penelope seriously even had thought he'd be the one, not that she had planned or expected any proposal or such anytime soon, but she really thought Kevin Lynch was the one. Now she felt actually rather foolish.

Had he felt like that for longer now? Was it maybe an early midlife crisis?

She tried talking to him, understanding his point, maybe convincing him of a break rather than a break-up. But he wasn't listening. And just this morning she saw him with a 20-something redhead, looking rather unusual with a shirt more unbuttoned than buttoned up and jeans that looked like 3 sizes too small. And had he dyed his hair? Definitely a case of early midlife crisis!

With the split came her friends – who all of a sudden seemed to have friends Penelope 'had to meet' according to her friends. And all of a sudden they all seemed to be so interested in her love life. She managed to let down Emily so far for a total of three times, usually saying 'she had no time'. Of course she had plenty of time, but just no interest in seeing anyone yet. She just came out of a relationship. She had been with Kevin for three years. She needed time, time to herself.

Emily and the others seemed to have other ideas of what Penelope needed or not.

"We have this bet going on," Emily said bluntly one day when walking into Penelope's office. "Who can set you up with the most perfect choice."

"Who is we?" Penelope asked curiously, already dreading bad things.

"Well… you know… me, Reid, Rossi, JJ. The usual suspects," her friend laughed.

"The usual suspects would include Morgan as well, but I guess he is smart enough to know that this won't end good," Penelope replied.

"So anyway… we all have friends you need to meet. What do you say?"

"Say to what? To meet them? Um.. sure…." Penelope answered.

"Oh so you agree on dates? That was easier than expected…" Emily smiled at her friend triumphantly.

"What? Date? No… I thought you meant casually during a cook-out or something like that. I'm not going on a date…. I just got out of a relationship. I can't…."

"You just said you do. And as well… what do you have to lose?" she asked and Penelope was about to answer my sanity but stopped herself last minute. "You'll like it, trust me."

"But I really don't want to," Penelope answered and she didn't really care that it sounded like a whine. She had previous experience with friends setting up friends and that kind of thing never ended well. But with Emily talking for another half hour and Penelope fearing she would never stop talking if she didn't agree Penelope eventually said yes. After all, what did she have to lose?