"I still don't know why I am here," She mumbled out for the umpteenth time and her two companions, co-workers, and friends sent each other knowing glances and smirks.
"Because this town in Alaska is so remote, they don't have the internet connection for us to reach you all the way back at Quantico," Luke Alvez was the one to speak and Penelope Garcia narrowed her eyes at him as she listened. "So, bringing you down with all the equipment to set up a network made more sense."
"Oh, now I remember," Penelope hissed out. "It's because of you, 'newbie'," She said using a name he had not heard in years, and it brought a genuine smile to his face and made Tara Lewis laugh as she watched their interaction with the same amusement as she always had. She thought that often times watching them was like watching some cheesy 80s romantic comedy where the main plot was will or won't the main characters ever hook up. "I am here because you darkened my doorsteps during, the Sicarius case and 'you' talked me into coming back, that's why I am here now."
"Oh please," He playfully scoffed at her even as the huge smile never left his face. "You know you missed the job. Also, you could have left after we solved the Sicarius case well over a year ago, yet here you are. That's on you Chica, not me," She sneered and then poked her tongue out at him and at his very true words.
"I only stayed because I saw just how lost you all were without me," Penelope stated.
"Now, that's the true gospel," Tara finally chimed in as Luke nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, the remote Garcia's were not as awesome or efficient as you," Luke said and Penelope couldn't stop the giggle that erupted. It always tickled her pink when he spoke about the other Technical Analysts hired to replace her when she left the BAU. Especially the knowledge that Luke specifically never tried to learn their names.
"I still cannot believe you never learned their names," Penelope teasingly chastised him.
"Well, there were three of them," He began to defend. "And none of them were really memorable. I mean we only ever spoke over the phone or facetime. Also, they were so slow compared to what we were used to," He waved his hand at Penelope and Tara then nodded in agreement at this assessment. "None of them inspired me to want to get to know them," Luke ended with a slight eye roll as he leaned back more comfortably in his seat.
"Although, Rachel, did try her damnedest to inspire you," Tara spoke out and Luke chuckled and he let his head fall back against the head rest as he hoped Tara would not go on. Penelope looked intrigued as she noticed Luke's reaction and the amused look on Tara's face. "Her name is Rachel Jamison she was the most competent of the three and she had a major crush on Agent Alvez. She still asks about you when I see her about at work," Tara answered the unasked question she could see on Penelope's face. Penelope had to quickly swallow down the pang of anger and jealousy at this news. She knew she had no right to react that way. She had her chance but she herself had put an end to whatever could have happened romantically between her and Luke. And it had been evident that there was something happening between them long before the one date they had gone on. The tension between them had been palpable and almost tangible, electrical even and it had scared her. She had convinced herself that Luke's interest in her was likely fleeting whereas her feelings were growing deeper with each day they were around each other. She believed that if she didn't put a stop to things she would get burnt badly once he found a woman more at his level of hotness. And her leaving the BAU to start a new job and then the pandemic had been the perfect excuses to cut off contact with him after their date, even though he continued what he had assured her and the others was just a platonic pursuit of her for a year and a half after their date with texts, calls, and a lot of facetimes. Then they became fewer and fewer until he had stopped reaching out, and even though she had mentally told herself it was for the best she had been devastated emotionally. Once she was back working at the BAU and with him full-time she had been tempted to ask him about it but had never worked up the nerve. So, they just feel back into their comfortable song and dance with each other, but with much less animosity and name calling from her side.
"Well, there's no accounting for taste," Penelope proclaimed as she stood from her seat and made her way toward the back of the private work jet to go to the bathroom. Luke stared after her with a smirk on his face. "Stop looking at my ass Luke Alvez," She called out to him never even turning around to face him, and he snapped his eyes up to lock onto the back of her head as the smile instantly fell from his face. And his face held a look of surprised horror to her words.
"I'm not, it's just that I rarely see you wearing jeans and a sweater, and you look nice in them," He defended as she disappeared into the bathroom without a reply.
"Dude you were totally looking at her ass," Tara said to him with a knowing smile on her face, and she arched her brow as she waited for him to try to lie and deny it. Luke pushed his tongue to his cheek and smiled as he looked at his friend.
"All right, I was, but it looks really good in those jeans, right?" He admitted and Tara nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, it really does," She chuckled along with him just as the plane jarred so strongly that they both nearly fell out of their seats and a muffled yelp from Penelope could be heard from the back. "Shit, that was some strong turbulence," Tara hissed out as she rubbed at her right elbow that had been banged hard against the armrest. Luke nodded as he stood from his seat and made his way to the cockpit, just as Penelope made her way up from the back. He paused to regard her.
"Get buckled in," He spoke this to Penelope as he pointed at the seat she had been occupying. She gave a curt nod and hurried to her seat and attempted to pull out the belt to buckle it, while Luke went to go speak with the pilots. The plane violently jerked again and felt as if it was being smacked about and both Penelope and Tara cried out in fear this time. Then they seemed to be falling forward and they locked their now panicked eyes onto Luke, who was now running back up the aisles from the cockpit. Instead of moving back to the seat he had before which was right across from Tara's he rushed and planted himself into the seat right beside Penelope and reached over to get her buckled in securely, and then he buckled himself before he finally spoke.
"We're going down, brace for impact!" He yelled as he reached over and placed a hand at the back of Penelope's head and forcefully pushed her head and upper body forward, and as far down into her lap while he did the same, as did Tara. And then they all wrapped their arms around their heads. Tara closed her eyes and silently prayed, Penelope's softly cried, while Luke spoke words of comfort to her. And then everything went dark.
There was no pain but there was a very loud ringing in the ears as well as something very bright, almost blinding which made her screw her eyes more tightly shut to try to push it away. Then came the mumbled noise that seemed to have sounded so far away at first, but then grew louder as if it was getting closer and closer.
"Penelope," She finally registered the noise wasn't really just noise, but was Luke's voice. "Open your eyes," He commanded. "C'mon, baby, please open your eyes," She wasn't sure if it had been the urgency she heard in his voice or the terms of endearment but she slowly opened her eyes and locked them onto his. She could see the instant relief that washed over his face and she hadn't even been bothered when he had swooped in and placed a quick smooch upon her lips in his elation.
"What happened?" She asked as she felt his arms around her helping to steady her as he now made her sit up and, propped her upon something that was very cold against her back.
"We crashed," Luke answered as he let his eyes rake over her as his hands touched her in places that he wouldn't have normally dared to venture without her permission, but given their situation she fully understood it wasn't anything remotely sexual about his perusing and assessment. She had a cut on the right side of her head, near her temple that had started to bleed a little and was already bruising to a purplish color.
"Oh my God!" Penelope exclaimed as her eyes now focused on their surroundings and found that they appeared to be outside in the snow but then upon closer inspection she realized they were actually still in the plane but it had been ripped open and exposed them to the snowy elements outside wherever they had landed. "Tara, where's Tara?"
"I don't know, I was closest to you, so I wanted to make sure you were okay first," Luke stated.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," She shoved his hands away. "Find Tara," She said and he gave a curt nod and then crawled through the rubble and debris in search of their friend. He moved in the direction he assumed had been where their seats were and within seconds, he heard a pitiful moan. Luke knew it was Tara and he hurried to the pile of jet seats, splintered wood, and twisted metal.
"Tara!" Luke called out to her. "If you can hear me I'm gonna need you to speak up or if you can't speak, make some kind of noise, so I can find you," He didn't have to wait long before he heard her banging. And he knew she was buried under the wreckage and he began to dig. He jumped, startled when Penelope suddenly appeared at his side where she too started digging. Within a couple of minutes, they had uncovered where Tara lay. She had been pinned, actually skewed in a corner of the plane. Luke instantly knew it was bad, and that where she had been impaled through her body she didn't have long. And he could see it on Tara's face that she also knew it. But Penelope however, was completely oblivious as she tried to move more things so they could better assess Tara. Luke stilled her by placing a firm hand upon hers.
"What? What are you doing, why are you stopping?" She questioned him in a squeaky and panicked voice. "We need to get that pipe out of her."
"We can't Pen," He spoke to her with sad eyes as he used a nickname he had taken to calling her only ever when they were alone.
"What do you mean we can't," Penelope spat out at him in disgust as she viciously yanked her arm from his grasp. "We have to help her, Luke!"
"You can't," This time it was Tara's near breathless voice that spoke out. "This pole … [wheeze] … in my body … [wheeze] … is the only thing that's keeping me alive … [wheeze] … right now, but not … [wheeze] … for very long," She panted out through very labored breaths and then she coughed and sprayed out blood from her mouth and down over her white blouse.
"No," Penelope sobbed out as her tears poured from her eyes and she hugged herself and rocked a little where she was kneeling. "No, please, please."
"I'm sorry … [wheeze] … Penelope," Tara struggled to speak now as her own tears flowed as did Luke's from where he kneeled at Penelope's side with his head bowed and eyes locked to the snow-covered ground where he watch large droplets of his tears make holes in the snow. "You guys have to go … [wheeze] … get to safety …" Penelope vehemently shook her head to this idea. "Penelope, listen to me … [wheeze] … I don't have long. I am … [wheeze] … going to die, but you … [wheeze] … you're going to live. And you and Luke … [wheeze] … are gonna get your shit … [wheeze] … together. You're going to get married … [wheeze] … have some beautiful babies … [wheeze] … and you better … [wheeze]… name your first daughter after me," She coughed again as a laugh bubbled out along with more blood. Luke had lifted his sad wet eyes up to her at these words and cast her a kind, comforting smile. "Tell, Rebecca … [wheeze] … I'm so sorry … [wheeze] … and that I … [wheeze] … I love … [wheeze] … [wheeze] … [wheeze] …
Luke clamped his eyes shut to block out Tara's now dead eyes and frozen gaze, and Penelope crumbled against him in her despair. Her head fell against his lap as she continued to sob in abandon. Luke fisted both of his hands into the hot pink puffer vest that she wore and clutched her to his body, and together they cried and mourned the loss of their beloved friend.