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snailsandpuppy-dogtails · 1 year

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Do You Hear Me?

The second part of 'How You Say It' was posted on the 3rd last year, but I missed it's fic-aversary, and since the 3rd part came out tomorrow last year, I'm posting the 2nd today. Anyway. The story continues with a friendly game of flag football! The team and kids coerce Penelope into playing too, but will Luke be able to clue Penelope in on his feelings for her? WC: 2,319 of fluffy bonding Ao3

Emily, Luke, and Will were huddled with the kids on the north end of the field, to the south the other team was made up of the remaining parents, along with Spencer and Tara.

Emily cupped her hands, calling out to the team of adults, “We hardly think it’s fair that eight of you are against ten of us!”

Derek, grinning, shouted back from the other side, "What? Trying to draft more players, Princess?"

Distracted, Luke couldn’t stop thinking about what Will had said earlier, "sometimes we say things with words, other times with a look, people say things different…” How did Penelope say things? She said it with gifts, like the sweater and cookies for Roxie, with food, like the treats she greats them with without fail every time they make it home. She says it with exactly what a person needs, she says things with thought and care. Did she know what he needed was her? If she did would she be willing to give it? To give them a chance? And how did he say things? Will was right, he’d never been much of a talker, he was much more of a listener, he was a comforter, secure in his roll as protector and lover, he said things with looks and with touch. If he wanted to be heard, he was going to have to be more forthright.

Luke glanced to the side lines, yelling over, “Nah, we’re gonna kick your butts either way, but it looks like we’re missing someone...”

Following his line of sight, Tara responded impatiently, “We’ve already been over this, Rossi and Krystall are ref-ing, Alvez, use your big, dorky ears and listen.”

“Nice, but I’m talking about Garcia.” he laughed.

Attention suddenly on her, she slowly sunk low into the chair from her place on the patio, pulling the wide brim of her black sunhat down, willing herself invisible. "Come on Chica, everyone else is playing! You can’t lounge in that chair all day.“ How could he tell her anything if she wasn’t near him?

"Yeah! You chose this activity, if anything, I should be the one to sit out…” Reid crossed his arms and pouted.

“Not a chance Pretty Boy, we saw what you could do at the softball game, show us what you got here!”

Penelope sat up a little more, shouting over to her team and their spouses, "I am hardly dressed appropriately!”

JJ, who definitely wanted to see where this was going given Penelope’s reaction to Hank’s question earlier, was not having any of it and yelled back “You’re wearing capri leggings, Garcia! For once, you’re dressed very appropriately! Just play barefoot.”

Luke leaned down whispering to Hank at the same time Will started talking to Henry.

The boys turned with wide grins. "Come on Auntie! Come play with me!” “Yeah Penelope! Come play with us!”

Suddenly the large brood of sweet, sweet babies had turned on her, chanting and calling for her, at which point, all of the adults join in as well, pressuring her to play. A audial mob of “Come on, Penelope!”, "Garcia!”, “It’ll be fun”, “...promise not to mess up that pretty hair”, and “Just for a little bit!” bombarded her, pushing her into reluctant submission.

She glared across the yard, singling out the one face that had started all of this. Trying to be heard over the noise she yelled to him, “No fair using my nephew and godson against me, Alvez!”

He smiled wide and open and full, he’d gained her attention. “Payback, Chica. Now get out here.”

Derek looked from Luke to Penelope. He may not be a profiler anymore, but his ability to read people wasn’t stripped once he quit. He could see Luke’s goal a mile away, wanting that happiness for Penelope, he decided to help push things along. What better way, he thought, than a little friendly rivalry and well placed jealousy…and he could test Luke just a little bit. “Come on, Hot Stuff, you’re with me.” he purred holding out a hand, and beckoned her to join him.

Penelope huffed toeing off her heels and stalked towards the field. “I do not run! I am not a runner!”

He responded in his warm, deep voice,“Oh, Sweetness, I remember. You don’t run for anything.” Penelope teased back, swiping at his arm,”I always run for you, Sugar.” then extending her arm, "Here, help me with my belt?”

Luke watched the pair, Penelope all smiles and giggles, Derek smoldering and winking and wrapping his arms around her to fasten the flags...And for the first time, Luke felt a bitter pang of jealousy seeing her laugh and touch him back. It wasn’t directed at Morgan, not really, he knew what their relationship was, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen them together. No, it was the fact that she would never do that with him. But, then that’s the exact thing he was working on fixing. Getting her to hear him required breaking through that armor...

“Alright, that settled? Then let’s get this game started!” called Rossi.

For all the rule violations, you’d think none of them had ever played flag football, the referees were of no help either, with one wooing the other through song and sweet nothings. JJ ran down the field only to be tackled to the ground by Emily, belt torn off as she fell. Matt’s preferred move was to simply scoop up whatever child had the ball and run with them tucked under his arm as if they were the ball, tickling them until they dropped it behind the goal line. Derek, getting sucked in to the game, tried his best to keep things on track, coaching the team in next moves and directing plays that never worked out, while Spencer tried to block Chloe from passing the ball to Jake or Henry. Tara was fast, keeping up with changing hands, spitting trash talk to the adults on the other team, and giving playful mean looks to approaching children. Luke was all encompassed with getting close to Penelope and Penelope was oblivious as he chased her up and down the field.

He’d caught her in his line of sight, zoning-in he raced forward, the toe of his shoe digging into grass, he lunged. Penelope swung her hips and twirled, flags fluttering against her movements, darting just out of reach, squealing. Luke falling, pitching forward, recovering, chasing again. Penelope quickly found that what she lacked in speed, she made up for in grace and agility, forever just out of reach. “Ha! You call yourself a profiler? Profile this-“ Quickly answered back by, “Oh, I’ll get you, Chica, there is no doubt in my mind.”

You didn’t need training to see what was going on, his single-minded determination was apparent to everyone on the field. Like a dog with a bone, he chased her relentlessly. With or without the ball, Luke stayed on Penelope.

“You think we should say something?” Savannah, standing at the far end turned, asking Spencer.

“Nah, we tend let them think we don’t know, makes things easier.” replied Spencer.

“And we’ve all got our “dawning” moment picked out and want to see who’s right.” added Tara.

Savannah nodded as the pair came rushing back towards her, Emily and children close behind.

A final vault and Luke flew through the air, tackling Penelope to the ground in a protective roll inches from the goal line. He came down hard on his elbows, hands tucked behind her head and neck. Heat flared up from his stomach staring down at her shocked face so close to his. Penelope, held her breath, stunned at being tackled to the ground, at having Luke Alvez on top of her. His eyes caught hers and held them, she could feel him hovering just above her, holding himself ridged, the fine layer of atoms separating them pressing against each other, buzzing between them filling her with electricity. And that felt…oooh...that felt lovely, and scary, and too real. He breathed hard, his voice a whisper, low and quiet, slow and impossibly close, “Got ya, Chica...” he trailed off as a hand snaked its way from under her head down her side, brushing her waist and tugging, flag belt falling loose to the ground below, his eyes never straying. The touch was light and his gaze so heavy she closed her eyes, goosebumps flaring in his wake. She was vaguely aware of everyone else around them, of needing to pull out of this space that had formed. She blinked, snapping back to, her hands pushing up, “Ugh, Newbie! Get off me!” came hurtling into his face. It was sudden and harsh, shattering the moment. He almost thought he’d imagined what had transpired until he caught the quick quirk of her mouth, a sly smirk igniting a grin of his own.

*floof* There went part of the armor.

"They have got to be some of the most oblivious…”

“For a profiler, I’m kind of disappointed in Luke… But, well, we try not to profile each other, at least not when talking to one another. This, this though, this is so obvious it's fair game."

——

They all lay collapsed on the grass, last flag having been pulled, last touch-down made, laughing and catching their breath. One by one, kids began to squirm and mill around, breaking off to once again play with bubbles, inspect bugs, and do cartwheels.

"Remind me again how you all convinced us to play a tackling game with agents…” panted an exhausted Kristy.

"Actually, according to the official rules, Flag Football is a contact-free sport. Liberties were clearly taken.” Reid supplied helpfully dusting off his pants.

JJ rolled onto her stomach, Will draping an arm across the middle of her back "Seriously, Emily, it’s a game.”

Emily rolled her eyes, "That’s a loser's attitude, JJ, and I won’t have losers on my team, so it’s a good thing I happen to be on the winning team.” she gloated.

"I just can’t believe you chose this, Garcia.” Matt was crawling awkwardly over to his wife, the last of their children having run off to play. “I would think it was a little rough and tumble for you.”

"Penelope likes things a little rough sometimes…”

There was no mistaking who's voice that was. Everyone got quiet, JJ and Emily trading looks with Spenser and Tara. Did he really just say that out loud? In front of everyone? Savannah choked down a laugh and elbowed Derek.

Penelope's mouth dropped open, tongue catching up seconds later. “You wouldn’t know.” she scoffed haughtily.

Rossi, who was sitting on the steps just next to the grass called over "If I had known what it would do to my lawn I wouldn’t have let her. The seed was imported!"

She ducked her head, chancing a glance at Luke sitting up cross-legged tossing the ball shallowly to himself, a stupid satisfied grin plastered across his face. "I honestly thought I’d get away with just watching all you fine physically fit people running around.” her look then settling back on Matt, “And it seemed like it would be fun for the kids.” she finished with a bright smile.

"Indeed, fun for the kids, not so fun for my gardener or wallet.” muttered Rossi surveying the freshly torn turf and gaping dirt pits.

“Sir, I am so sorry! If I had known Alvez was so heavy footed I would have banned him from the game!” Teasing him, not unlike how she would at work, giving him shit, but here the difference was the earlier situation and mixed company. Savannah’s voiced suspicions had almost thrust Penelope out into the light and there was no way she could continue working with him if he knew, if everyone knew, it would just be awkward. Even if he had the same feelings they couldn’t act on them…but she didn’t have feelings for him. No, he just had a pretty face. And perfectly sculpted abs…and hard biceps that she secretly enjoyed watching more than Matt’s, imagining them holding her and ripping her close, his mouth pressing against hers…like a romance cover. No. It was just his pretty face.

Luke stopped mid-ball toss looking over and raised an eyebrow smirking, “If I had known messing up Rossi’s yard would get me sidelined with you, Chica, I would have brought a tractor.” She glowered at him and looked away.

"So…uh.. about dessert...?” Spencer chimed in.

After a few minutes more enjoying the soft squish of Rossi’s admittedly amazing grass, the group slowly began to disperse, parents calling children back, child-less agents shuffling towards the brick patio. “I’ll start the espresso and coffee.” Rossi said, disappearing into the house. Luke walked over, bending low in front of her, offering a hand to Penelope who was brushing strands of vibrant green off her leggings. They were alone, everyone else having already gone. She looked up at him, his shy friendly smile, eyes glittering. She looked to his hand, a small smile instantly appearing at the offer it presented, and took it, slipping her palm against his, fingertips brushing his wrist.

*floof* There it went again...

Luke pulled her up gently, allowing her body to follow his hold. When she was up, his other hand wrapped around her shoulder pulling her in close, his tongue darted out moistening his lips, leaning down next to her ear he murmured, chest rumbling, "Nice playing with you, Chica, but I think we should stop the game…” She felt his lips skim her cheek as he righted himself. Then he let go, turned, and walked away. Message, he felt, delivered. Penelope stood breathless and immobilized, ears burning, cheeks hot, watching his retreating form. The thoughts, what the fuck was that? and we should always play flag football colliding in her head, derailing all other functions.

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