The Life We Once Knew

Chapter 1

Penelope Garcia walked slowly to her little “corner”, as she fondly referred to it. Her day at the BAU was a slow one. Not too much going on as of now. But she knew how quickly that could change. What she didn’t know at the time, however, was how quickly HER day was going to change. As she entered her corner, she spotted a very familiar face, belonging to her boss, Aaron Hotchner, or as everyone on the team referred to him, “Hotch”. He seemed to be in a good mood, or as good of a mood he was going to be in. After recently getting divorced, he wasn’t himself. But he was working on it.

“There’s a call for you on line one, Garcia.”

Penelope smiled and nodded. She watched Hotch walk out slowly, then turned to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Penelope Garcia?”

“Yes, this is she. Who is this?” She responded cautiously. She had learned from this job to always be on her toes.

“This is Sergeant Davis in Seattle, Washington. I was told to call you by a girl claiming to be your sister. Her name is Jessica Garcia.”

Penelope sighed. “Yes, that’s my sister. What’s the problem?”

Penelope’s sister was troubled, to say the least. She had depression, and had tried to commit suicide twice. She dabbled in drugs, thankfully only weed. Nothing to be grateful for, but it could be harder ones. She’d run away constantly, and according to her parents, would be dropped off at home by the police, after they’d find her asleep in the local park. Penelope knew Jessica’s home life wasn’t easy. Penelope’s father was an alcoholic, and never seemed to be sober. Her mother was never home, always helping out in the local soup kitchen or reading in the library. She couldn’t stand to be at home with her alcoholic husband. Penelope was lucky to have gotten out before things got like they were now. She separated herself from them, including her sister. For that, she’d never forgive herself. Not being there for Jessica was once of the biggest regrets she had in her life.

“Miss Garcia, we found your sister asleep in the local park. We would’ve taken her home, like we’ve done many times before, if it were not for the fact that she begged us to bring her here. She told us about her home life, and today we are sending a social worker from DSS to evaluate the home. If the social worker believes it is not a stable environment , Jessica will be sent to a local foster facility. I’m sorry to tell you this on such short notice, but believe me, it wasn’t on purpose. We just found out about the situation ourselves. See, with the record Jessica has, we feel that being put in such a strange, new environment with many strangers would do her more harm than good. With cases like hers, we try to find other family members who would be willing to take her in. She has told us that you are the only family member she has, other than your parents. Is this correct?”

Penelope sighed, “Yes, I am her only other family member.”

“Okay. Now, I hate to spring this on you, but would you being willing to take her in if the social worker finds her home unfit?”

Penelope closed her eyes. Maybe this was meant to happen. Maybe this was her chance to make it up to Jessica, to be there for her. She hadn’t seen her in years, ever since she left. She left when Jessica was five. The only reason she knew about the trouble she was in was because of the phone calls she received from her mother every so often. Penelope sat down and held her forehead in her hand. She knew the social worker would find her parents home unfit. Her mother wasn’t there to take care of it. She could just imagine the countless number of liquor bottles tossed all over the place. It wouldn’t surprise her if her father greeted the social worker drunk.

“Miss Garcia, are you there?”

Penelope sat up. “Y-yes, I’m here. I will take her in.”

“Great! I’ll call you back as soon as the social worker reports back with us. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Bye.”

Penelope hung up quickly, then flopped back in her chair. She heard a knock at the door, and turned her chair that direction. She held her head up lazily.

Derek Morgan walked in, smiling at her. “Hey baby girl.”

Penelope couldn’t help but smile. Derek was one of her best friends, and every time he said one of his pet names for her, she got a warm feeling inside. Did she like him as more than a friend? Maybe. But she knew how he was. A typical “playa”, he had more women “friends” than he knew what to do with. She didn’t want to ruin their friendship if it didn’t work out, and admittedly, she was a bit insecure. She didn’t think he could possibly like her like that. She wasn’t his usual type. Skinny was his type. And almost plastic-looking. Too gorgeous to be called an actual human being. Penelope was nothing like that. She was curvy, and her style was “unique”, to put it mildly. She was usually an upbeat person, so she dressed in fun, vibrant colors. Even though she certainly couldn’t give a damn about what people thought, there were certain people, the main one being Derek, whom she wanted to impress.

Penelope slowly lifted her head, and smiled. “Hey.”

Derek’s forehead wrinkled. “You okay, you don’t seem to be yourself today.”

Penelope sighed. “If you only knew.”

“C’mon sweetie, tell me what’s up…”

“My sister is coming to live with me.”

Derek looked at her, surprised. “You have a sister? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, she’s 17. She’s been into some not-so-great things, so she’s coming to live with me. I haven’t seen her since she was 5.”

Derek nodded slowly. “Ah. So when are you going to get her?”

“I’m going to talk to Hotch about sending a plane to get her. I’ll meet her at the airport here in D.C.”

Derek hugged her. “Penelope, I think taking her in is a great thing for you to do. But why didn’t you tell me about her before? There’s not a lot I know about you. Baby girl, I want to know EVERYTHING.”

Penelope smiled. “I know, Derek. And someday soon I promise I’ll tell you everything. But only if you tell me everything, too.”

Derek smiled. “Deal.”

He strutted out, and Penelope couldn’t help but laugh. He always knew how to cheer her up, whether he was doing it on purpose or not. She loved that about him. She rotated her chair back around, and jumped up. Time to talk to Hotch.

Aaron Hotchner, aka Hotch, was very busy lately. Between dealing with his divorce, spending time with his 3 year old son Jack, and leading his team at the BAU, he didn’t have time for much else. Not even enough time to deal with his emotions. At the moment, he was looking over the legal documents from his divorce. What his ex-wife got, what he got. It was a slow day at the BAU, so he figured it would be a good time to look over things he wouldn’t have ever looked over if not given the time. He sat there silently, trying to concentrate on the mass amount of paperwork in his hand, when he heard a knock at the door. He turned to see Penelope Garcia.

“Hello, Garcia. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Penelope was nervous, to say the least. She wasn’t too sure how to word the request. She hoped it wouldn’t seem selfish in his eyes, because she meant it as anything but.

“Um, Hotch, I just wanted to know if the BAU unit could send a plane to Seattle.”

Hotch looked at her, confused. “Why would we do that?”

Penelope bit her bottom lip nervously. “To pick up my sister.”

Hotch nodded toward the seat in front of his desk. “Please, Penelope, sit down and explain.”

Penelope sat down and started to explain. “You see, Hotch, my sister is in trouble. She been doing some not-so-great things. And her home life, my old home life, was never great. My father is an alcoholic, and at this very moment, a social worker is there, evaluating the home. Sir, they won’t find it suitable. Th-that’s who called. The police. She begged them not to take her home.” Penelope felt tears falling down her face. Hotch handed her the tissue box on the corner of his desk, and Penelope took a tissue gratefully. She dabbed her eyes, and continued. “You see, Sir, she has to come live with me. If she doesn’t, she’ll be put in foster care. I can’t let that happen. She won’t make it. I want to help her.”

Hotch nodded, and leaned back in his chair. “Of course you do. I will send a plane out, as soon as you give me the signal.”

Penelope sighed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Sir. I will let you know when the police call back.”

Penelope walked out quickly, and back to her little corner, to wait for the phone to ring. She didn’t have to wait long though. As soon as she sat down, the phone rang. She picked it up quickly, before anyone else could answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hello. Is this Penelope Garcia?”

“Yes, is this Sergeant Davis?”

Yes! Now, down to business. The social worker found you home unsuitable for Jessica to go back to.”

Penelope sighed. “I figured they would.”

“Yes well, right now she is being dropped off at one of our local girls-only foster homes. When will you be able to come get her.”

“My boss has approved of sending one of our planes to pick her up, and I will meet her here in the D.C airport.”

“Okay, that sounds great! We will keep her in the foster home until the plane arrives, then one of our social workers will take her to the airport and make sure she gets on the plane. One of the women at the foster home is going to get her clothes from her home now. We asked Jessica if there was anything else she’d want to take, but she said no, just her clothes. Now I need to speak to your boss to settle all the arrangements.”

“Okay, I will transfer you over. Ask for Aaron Hotchner.”

“I will. And thank you Miss Garcia. I hope this move will help Jessica get back on the right track. She’s a sweet girl, and can really do something with her life if she puts her mind to it.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I’m going to transfer you over now. Bye-bye.”

Penelope transferred the call and set back in her chair. She had so much to do at home. She had a spare bedroom in her small house, she just needed to wash some sheets and clear some closet space. She looked over at the clock. Waiting for Hotch to come in and confirm everything. Penelope was nervous. What was her sister thinking at this very moment? Obviously, she knew things about Penelope, like where she worked. Probably learned them from her mother. Jeez, that thought had her mind reeling. What was her mom thinking? She loved her mom to death, but she never helped Penelope. Never helped Jessica. She thought if she ignored her husband’s alcoholism, everything would be okay. Everything would work itself out. It hadn’t, by any means. She ignored Jessica’s problems too, no matter how many times the Police came to her door in the middle of the night. She would call Penelope and complain about them, yes, but would she DO anything about them? No, never.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. It was Hotch.

“I talked to the Sergeant, everything is settled. One of the planes is leaving shortly, and you can pick your sister up at the airport early tomorrow morning.”

Penelope stood and hugged Hotch, who was surprised by the hug, but returned it quickly.

“Thank you, Sir. Now I’m going to go home and get everything ready.”

Hotch nodded. “You do that. And, if you need some time off to get everything worked out for her here, that’s fine. We can have someone take over for you in the meantime.”

Penelope nodded. “Just three days, I promise.”

Hotch smiled at her. She hated being out of work, and her determination was one of her best qualities, in his opinion.

“Okay. See you then.”

Penelope watched him leave, then turned and gathered her things. Usually, she’d walk around and wave goodbye to everybody still there, but today she didn’t have time. She quickly walked out, got into her car, and drove home. She had a lot to take care of.
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Please R&R. <3