A few minutes later there was a knock on her door, she answered it to find Luke.

"Hey"

"So, what exactly were you telling them?" Luke asked, trying not to sound jealous or controlling but not fully succeeding.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I have to work with them Penelope" he continued, "I'd rather my boss, and my co-workers not know intimate details about my sex life, but if they do I want to know what they know, because that's the worst part"

"What is?"

"Not knowing, how much they know"

"Honestly, I didn't give them many details" she answered "I had a feeling you wouldn't like that, so I just told them it was by far the best sex I'd ever had, so much so, that it didn't seem fair to compare it to earlier experiences and that seemed to satisfy them"

"Is that true?"

"Yeah"

"And that's it?"

She thought back to the previous conversation, trying to remember if she'd said anything else, "Yeah, that's it"

"I love you" Crap, not supposed to say that so soon and freak her out

"What?"

"I mean, I love that you know me well enough, to know not to give them intimate details" he said, trying to make it seem less awkward.

"Oh, okay" she said smiling

"And I am not trying to control you Penelope, you're allowed to say whatever you want, I mean I'd rather you didn't, but I just need you to tell me, if or when that kind of conversation goes on, because what I hate most is wondering how much someone knows. Especially since it's already kind of awkward since they are your BFFs"

"I totally get that"

"I better get back and finish up that consult" he said, moving towards the door, "oh and as long as there aren't explicit details, feel free to brag about how awesome it is anytime to anyone" he said smirking as he headed back to his office

She just stood there shaking her head at him.

Later that day, they got assigned a case in NYC, and headed up there late afternoon. Luke asked Penelope as they were getting ready to leave, "Roxy's still at your house I think, do you mind taking her to the pet sitter's house? I'll text you the address"

"Why doesn't she just stay with me?"

"I don't want to assume, but if you don't mind I'm sure she'd prefer that"

"Then she's staying with me" she said, adding "I might get your girl, Janine, to come to my place and walk her during the day though if that's ok"

"Of course!"

He gave her a kiss on the lips, and when he pulled away he said "I've never not wanted to go out on a case this much before"

"Well, yeah, now that you know what you'll be missing"

He laughed, "you're torturing me Penelope"

"Get the unsub quick and come back to me"

"Will do"

That night she texted Luke a picture of her, Roxy and Sergio cuddled up in her bed

Missing you, but Roxy's keeping your spot warm

Not as good as having you right here with me, but it makes me happy to see that.

The next morning Prentiss and Luke were heading out to check out a disposal site, and Prentiss asked Luke how he slept last night.

"Ok, I guess. I had a nightmare but it wasn't that bad"

"I'm sorry by the way, that you have to deal with that. I had no idea"

"Yeah, it's not something I really like to share, that just makes it seem worse." he could tell she was trying to be a good friend, so he added, "it kind of comes and goes, it's been bad lately, but a few months ago it wasn't that bad, and lately, when Garcia's around its better"

"Anything in particular that makes it worse?"

"Stress seems to, but in terms of the bigger picture, it comes and goes kind of in waves usually. It was worse around the time my partner Phil got hurt, it's always worse about mid-May"

"Can I ask why? you don't have to share if you don't want to"

"A buddy of mine was killed in front of me, I've had a lot of nightmares about that, related to that, and May 16th is when it happened"

Prentiss thought back to the day he'd called in sick, which was May 17th. Ugh, she felt like such a horrible boss to not be aware of any of that.

"Well, I'm not going to treat you with kid gloves, because I know you can handle it. But if you feel like you need to take time off, to take care of yourself or because you couldn't sleep, just tell me you need the time off and you don't have to explain why"

"I appreciate that Emily, I really do"

"So, having Garcia around seems to help?" she could help but get that in

"Yeah, a lot actually. I was kind of surprised. It seems to help keep my brain here, in the present, instead of going back to Iraq or other awful places"

"You know, I think you help her too" Prentiss said, "I mean she seems a lot more content, happier, lately which I know that is mostly to do with you"

He nodded, not really sure what to say to that.

Thankfully they wrapped up the case by the next day, and Luke was relieved, the 2nd night hadn't gone as well as the first, he needed to get back to his magic potion, aka Penelope.

When they got back it was pretty late, Garcia had gone home, so he drove over to her place. They took Roxy for a walk and grabbed a late dinner, as they were sitting on her couch, watching baseball I'm going to turn her into a fan someday he noticed some changes in her apartment.

"Penelope?"

"Mmm?"

"Is that a new dog bed over there that Roxy's sleeping on?"

"Yeah, I want her to be comfy over here"

"And is that a new rack on the wall with her leash?"

"Yeah, I needed somewhere to put her stuff"

"And is that thing over there a raised food/water bowl for her?" he asked, pointing to the kitchen.

"Yeah? So?"

"Nothing" he just laughed

"I want Roxy to feel at home here, and I want you to also" she said looking at him earnestly.

"I already do" he said, kissing her lightly.

"Well, I may have cleared out a drawer, and some of the closet for you, and a drawer in the bathroom…"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean you don't have to keep stuff over here if you don't want too but I was thinking it doesn't make sense to keep wasting all that time driving back and forth to the other person's place before we both drive to Quantico. It's really irresponsible if you think about it, to use that much gas when we could just drive together most days"

He laughed at her again, "I love you"

They both kind of froze after he said that, "I know it's really soon, but I meant it. I don't want to freak you out, if you're not there yet, that's totally fine - because I get that it's really soon" he said, starting to ramble, so she stopped him with a kiss "I love you too"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I know it seems really soon, which is why I didn't said it, I didn't want to freak you out, but if you think about it we've known each other a long time. I think I was already half-way there before we ever even kissed"

"Yeah, me too" he replied, kissing her again enjoying the ability to do what he'd wanted to do for a very long time.

I haven't decided whether to stop this story here or keep going, i had a couple ideas but they're kind of stuck so I will probably move onto to something else for awhile at least.