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Location: BAU Offices, Washington, D.C., Virginia
The quiet tranquility that once hovered the air in the office was shattered with the arrival of SSA Derek Morgan and Technical Analysis Penelope Garcia. It was no secret what Penelope Garcia had been through. Everyone in the office knew; from the higher ups with Erin Strauss to the lower agents that worked in the mailroom. Everyone knew, which was probably the reason majority of those agents have been doing not-so-secret stakeouts around her apartment and other locations that she frequents. She had only been cleared to come back to work two weeks ago and the arguments about her safety have been so reoccurring it wasn’t shocking to see her and agent Morgan going around arguing - something that was very rare before Jason Battle arrival.
“Derek!” Penelope growled marching after the muscularly gifted agent. “Don’t you walk away from me, mister!”
“All I’m sayin’ is that I think you should rest some more.” Derek held up his hands as if he were facing off with an armed UNSUB, which for him, Garcia pretty much was.
“I’m going to COMIC CON!” Penelope screeched the location.
Inside the meeting room, the rest of the BAU team exchange shocked looks. Scrambling towards the door, the team were greeted to the sight of a tired Derek sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. Above him stood a stubborn, pissed off Penelope with her hands crossed and her hip cocked ready for battle.
“Guys?” JJ called down to the duo. She wasn’t stupid. There was no way in hell she was going to go down there in between the two. Them fighting was rare, but when it happened everyone needed a safe distance to run. “What’s going on?”
“Morgan asked what I had planned for the weekend and I was explaining that I got tickets to go to Comic Con. And he!” Penelope stopped talking to shoot a glare at Derek. “Said I can’t go!”
“I just want you to be safe!” Derek groans as he throws his head back and slouches even more in his seat.
“First, I didn’t even know you were into Comic Con, Pennie? Second, where is Comic Con being held?” Prentiss scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. This was literally the first time she ever heard Garcia talk about Comic Con, much less attending. Heading down to the couple, Prentiss made sure to stay on the far end of Reid’s desk.
Penelope shrugs. “I don’t usually go because of work, but I got tickets to go with a friend. And sweety, Comic Con only happens in San Diego, California. The location doesn’t change.”
“California?” Rossi questioned. “Is that the best decision?” The silent “with everything that had recently passed”went unsaid but acknowledged by everyone in hearing distance.
Penelope felt her stubbornness leave her like a leech attacked her very soul. That was the problem. She loved her team and all the other agents that have been going out of their way to check up on her, but it had been going on for over a month. Yes, in the beginning she really needed her team and more importantly, her chocolate god by her side to get back to normal. But now? She was ready to fully go back to normal and what better way than to go to Comic Con? “I… I’m ready to start going back to normal.”
The team’s reaction was exactly as she had imagined it. JJ started to wonder aloud how young was too young for Comic Con and if she could get away with inviting Will and Henry with such late notice. Prentiss was arguing with Derek on why he didn’t get the information sooner so the team could have more time to create a plan. Rossi had immediately pulled out his phone and started calling his many contacts in that area for security protection. Hell, even Hotch was starting to panic and looking like he may go ask Strauss for time off. Literally the only person to keep a calm mind about her news was Spencer, who just smiled sadly towards her. He was the only one to truly know her plans and who she was going with.
“Stop.” Reid shockingly demanded. “I understand the protectiveness, but all of you have forgotten to ask Garcia the most important question.”
Hotch looks to Reid in confusion before the question clicks. “Who are you going with?”
Penelope sends a thankful look to Reid before answering. “Percy was supposed to go with Spencer so he purchased two tickets, but Spencer got asked to do some lectures that he couldn’t refuse and Percy’s cousins are busy. He said it’s going to be our bonding weekend since he wanted to go.”
Relief came with the abrupt silence. “Percy will be with you the whole time?” Derek finally questioned.
“Of course! Well we have all of Saturday and Sunday to explore. I know Saturday we have a strict schedule because the booths and people we want signed items from won’t be there on Sunday.” Penelope smiles brightly.
Glancing at the rest of the team, Hotch nods his consent. “Then I hope you have a great weekend.”
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Location: COMIC CON, San Diego, CA
The San Diego Convention Center was jammed pack even with the early time the duo had left the hotel at. Penelope in all of her excitable-self decided that the best costumes would be herself as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Percy as Angel. And yes if Spencer had joined them he would have been Giles.
Squealing in joy, Penelope bounced in her place. “This is so exciting!”
Percy laughed, “Okay hold on, Penny. You can’t just go zipping around to all the booths and shit. We made a plan and we gotta stick to it or we’ll forget what we already seen and end up going to the same shit twice. Trust me, I did that before.”
Penelope was already nodding to his advice before he had even finished. “Okay so I wanted to see the technology used for the Marvel Universe costumes and all-around awesomeness. You wanted to see if they have any Doctor Who merch that Spencer doesn’t already have. Plus we both wanted to get our posters signed for Doctor Who, Marvel Universe, Lord of the Rings, and the Hobbit franchises. So which one first?”
“Signatures.” Percy wrapped an arm around Penny’s shoulder leading her gently through the crowd. “They take longer plus I can start my teachings!”
“Teachings?”
Percy was worried how she would react to his news. Like everyone else, he had been worried about his Penny’s safety. Going to Comic Con was just half of the plan. Percy knew from experience that while Comic Con was a safe place for people to show off their skill at replicating their favorite tv show, movies, superhero, etc. It was also a place that attracted unsavory individuals and by that he means people that are so into their show that it can get dangerous when encountering someone who likes the same show but doesn’t agree with their thoughts on it. So in other words, it was uptight nerd central.
“From what Spencer has regaled me, everyone has gone over the deep-end when it comes to overprotectiveness?” He questioned.
Penelope sighed. “Like you wouldn’t even believe it! I love them, but it was crazy!”
“And other than Morgan giving you a gun that night, you weren’t really given lessons afterwards, were you?” Percy stopped in the line for the Lord of the Rings signing, which according to the sign would have all of the major actors from the Fellowship of the Ring. Thank the gods for that too since Spencer always favored the first book for ‘bringing a good introduction to an amazing series.’
“Nope. I wanted to do nothing like that ever again.” Penelope could feel that familiar rush of fear starting to creep up on her and it wasn’t even from Battle, but the fact that she almost shot Morgan.
“Well I won’t be giving you a gun so you don’t have worry about that.” Percy quickly calmed her nerves. “Instead, I want to teach you something even more important – street smarts.”
That was literally the complete opposite of what Penelope thought Percy was going to say. Making sure she heard right she repeated what he said, “Street smarts?”
“Yup!” Percy could tell she didn’t believe him. “For example, Morgan was able to go from a regular cop straight into the BAU team because he had an uncanny ability to understand people. He had the ability to read a perp like a trained BAU team before he even joined the team itself. That is what I want to teach you.”
“At Comic Con?” She stated the question slowly as if taking to a child.
Percy grinned, “What better place to practice than a place where everyone is trying to portray someone else? And to not overwhelm you, we’ll keep it to the Marvel Universe since you hold it in such high regard.”
“Thanks.” Penelope deadpanned. “Alright. What do I have to do?”
Percy tilted his head in thought. “First will be body language. Focus on how each person holds themselves. What can be considered the real them and what is supposed to be the character. Anything from the way they stand to how they swing their arms can be a way to determine what type of people they truly are. On that note, one thing that always gives someone away is their eyes and the way they feel.”
“The way they feel?” Penelope shot Percy a look that said she didn’t like to be messed with.
Percy only smiled back in return. “Don’t worry. It’s something that is either instinctual or learned. Like when you’re out drinking, you know which guys are safe to dance with when you’re not with Morgan and which ones aren’t. The same when you are talking to the bartender and are surrounded by people. You know who you can safely talk to and who you have to censor your words around. We will be taking that and making so you immediately get a response of what type of people are around you. And even if you don’t get a clear message, you’ll at least have an idea if the person is safe or not.”
Throughout the rest of the day, Percy slowly trained Penelope in the ways of understanding people through their body language. Booth after booth, show after show, and every little gimmick that other participates started up themselves; Penelope watched and learned. They started with the people dressed in Marvel attire and by lunch, Penelope had moved onto other shows. In Percy’s personal opinion, she had the street smarts of a month-old demigod – meaning she wasn’t quite there but she was learning quickly.
On Sunday, Penelope gave Percy permission to skip out on Comic Con since they had already accomplished they wanted to do instead, they headed out to San Francisco to visit Camp Jupiter. Under the tutelage of Lady Lupa and Lady Artemis, Penelope learned the strength of a woman and all that they can accomplished even when afraid. By the time, the duo had left California, Penelope could be seen as a year-old demigod. Her training never truly ended so whenever Penelope had time off, she was always joined by the team and any of Percy’s cousins to keep her training going. Later on in her career, Penelope would become an actual agent and nobody would realize that it wasn’t just her help through being a ‘Tech Queen’ but also a weekend away with her best friend’s boyfriend, who taught her how to be normal again, but most importantly, how to be safe.