misery//sequel to gut feeling

four: steak out

"Oh, what are your names again? I'm just so bad at remembering names!"

Morgan stiffened slightly in subtle annoyance. Penelope glanced at him and grinned at their new neighbor.

"Oh, don't worry about it! My name's Alexa and he's Samuel, but we all call him Sam." 

"Oh, good, good! And are you two married, too?" The woman asked, smiling slyly.

Derek and Penelope shook their heads. 

"No, but we're engaged." Penelope said to the woman (for the third time).

"Oh, that's wonderful! I remember being engaged for the first time! Oh, it was magical! Of course, my first three engagements only lasted weeks, but..." 

Morgan shifted his weight and pretended to pay attention. She had already told them this twice...

 The neighbor noticed Morgan's glazed eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, I must be boring you!"

Morgan noticed his mistake and quickly began to reassure her. "Oh, no, of course not! I was just thinking how hard it must have been to be engaged so many times. I mean... not knowing if you were ever going to find the one.... right?"

The woman smiled graciously back. "Oh, you have no idea! And I hope you never have to. You two are just the cutest! Of course, you do have a bit of competition with the other two couples you live with. They both seem so nice!" Morgan and Penelope laughed.

Hotch and JJ appeared next to them. 

"Oh, hello! Meredith, Adam, we were just talking about you!" The neighbor clasped her hands together and beamed.

"Oh!" Hotch looked at Morgan, who shrugged. "Good things, I hope?" 

"Oh, of course! What bad things could I say about you wouldn't be lies?" She cheerily leaned forward laughing.

"Thank you, Myrtle," JJ began. "Adam and I were just about to ask if we could take these two kids away for a minute?"

Myrtle nodded. "Oh, of course! Take them as long as you need. I still haven't met your other roommates after all."

"Henry and Mia?" Penelope asked.

"Oh, yes, everyone has told me the most wonderful things about them. They sound so funny!" Myrtle waved goodbye and crossed the lawn.

"Kids?" Morgan asked, raising his eyebrows at JJ and making a small circle with her, Penelope, and Hotch. 

JJ shrugged. "I didn't know what to call you, it just slipped out!" 

"Wait, so is it an emergency, or did you guys just need a break from everyone else?" Penelope asked Hotch.

Hotch nodded towards a relatively large huddle of people. "I came over here because of Emily and Spencer. Everyone is crowding them because they haven't met them yet. I'm just worried they'll get overwhelmed."

"Hotch, it's Emily and Spencer--" Morgan began. He saw everyone's expressions. "Oh. Yeah. So we get them out of the group. Then what, take them home, or just keep them close?"

JJ shrugged. "Arthur said we need to stay here for a while. I think we should just keep them close. We can stay for another..." JJ checked her watch. "Thirty minutes?"

"Okay, we got this." Penelope said. "Go team!" She whispered quietly.

They all split up. 

Across the yard, surrounded by multiple couples and other neighbors, Emily and Spencer stood as the center of attention.