Beauty and the Genius

Chapter 13

Gwen walked into the BAU with her coffee in hand.

Spencer and Hotch were interviewing a prisoner so he had to cancel their breakfast date. Although Gwen wondered if Spencer would even consider it a date.

Prentiss descended on her. "What's going on with your father?"

"I really wouldn't know," Gwen said.

"'Cause his office's a mess."

"What?" Gwen dropped her stuff on her desk and followed Prentiss into her father's office.

Her father was a neat and organized person. He would have never left files strewn out on the floor.

"Hotch is in Connecticut, right?" Prentiss asked.

Gwen knelt down and looked at the files. "Yeah. With Spencer. They left last night."

"Do you know what's going on?"

Gwen shook her head. She didn't even know where her father was.

JJ and Morgan walked in.

"Woah," Morgan said.

"Yeah..." Gwen said.

Morgan knelt down next to her. "Gwen, do you have any idea what he might be working on?"

Gwen shook her head. She wished she could talk to Spencer. The sound of his voice always calmed her down.

Morgan put a hand on her arm and she jumped.

"I...I don't know. He doesn't always tell me things," Gwen told them.

"I think Garcia might know. He stopped by her place last night," JJ mentioned.

"What?" Prentiss asked.

"Why?" Morgan asked.

"I'm not supposed to say. 'Cause...he said he wanted to keep it between us," Penelope said. She looked at Gwen.

If Gwen knew, she would understand.

"He might need our help," Prentiss told her.

"He didn't ask anyone for help."

"Penelope, Rossi is a guy who color codes his handwritten notes in his notebooks. Blue pen for evidentiary items, red pen for supposition and theory. The guy is a fussy, anal-retentive, neat freak who never leaves anything out of place. I would say this is a scream for help," Prentiss said. Prentiss gestured at Rossi's office.

"Please Penelope," Gwen begged.

"He's in Indianapolis on a 20-year-old double homicide. He says it's time someone pays for it. And he was upset."

Gwen didn't hear anything past 'double homicide'. She felt like the walls were closing in around her.

"Gwen?" Penelope asked.

Morgan put a hand on her back. "You okay?"

Gwen could hear screaming and a baby crying. There were gunshots. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor.

She tried sitting up, but Penelope urged her to lay back down.

"Easy there, sweet pea."

JJ pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Spence. Maybe I can catch them before they start the interview."

Gwen shook her head. "Go. Go help my father."

"Gwen, we wanna make sure..."

"Go." Morgan took one look at her and stood with Prentiss and JJ.

"I'll stay with her," Penelope said, "Make sure she's okay."

The trio took off and Penelope helped Gwen up.

"I'm sorry. I...I don't know what happened. You started talking about the case and..."

"And it brought up some memories?"

Gwen nodded. "I wish Spencer were here."

"Him and Hotch should be done in a few hours."

"Right. Right."

Gwen walked over to her desk and sat down. "Hey Penelope, don't...don't tell Spencer about this, okay? I haven't told him yet."

Penelope nodded. "Of course, baby doll. Your secret's safe with me."

Spencer arrived with Hotch before anyone else. He walked up to Gwen.

"Hey, how was your trip?" she asked.

"Weird."

"Yeah. I've had a couple of weird days too."

JJ, Morgan, Prentiss, and Rossi entered the BAU.

"Pretty Boy! How was trip?" Morgan asked.

"Ultimately uneventful."

Rossi walked up to Gwen.

"What?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.

Rossi said nothing and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Uh, sir. There's somebody wanting to speak to you in your office," Spencer told Rossi.

He looked up and saw Kevin.

"Agent Rossi. We need to talk about Penelope man to man," Kevin said.

Rossi gave him a small smile. "Man to man." He went to his office and closed the door.

"What about Penelope?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know," Spencer said.

"Garcia and Kevin sitting in a tree," JJ sang.

"Get outta here. Are you serious?" Morgan asked.

Prentiss laughed. "Just when I thought nothing scandalous was ever gonna happen around here."

Prentiss looked at Spencer and Gwen. "Well, besides you two."

"What? What does that even mean?"

"Didn't you hear JJ?"

"The song meant something? No, I missed it."

"Don't worry. Gwen can explain it to you."

"What?"

"Come on, boy genius. Let's get out of here," Gwen told him. Gwen grabbed her bag and they headed for the elevators.

They stepped inside and once the doors closed, Gwen slipped her hand into Spencer's. "I missed you."

Spencer smiled. "I missed you too."