"𝚆𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚘 𝙱𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶
NOAH sits in Penelope's office with headphones in, blaring her music. Penelope has been working away on closing up the case, seeing as the team has found their breakthrough.
Noah only spent two nights at Penelope's apartment. On the first night, Noah tossed and turned practically all night. With the comfort of Penelope in the next room and Walter the Octopus tucked under her arm, the teen was able to get some sleep the following night.
Just as the teen gets to her last question on her homework, she hears her text tone go off. She reads the text from Liv and lets a little giggle escape.
—
dude i learned how to play that
green day song you like on my
guitar
that's so sick, which one?
walking contradiction
you gotta come over so i can
play it for you!
this weekend? we can also play
that new xbox game that just
came out
hell yeah
—
"And done!" Penelope beams, making Noah look up. The woman turns off her computer as the team informs her that they closed the case.
"And Penelope Garcia does it again," Noah says with a smile.
"I'm gonna go get a much-needed coffee. Need anything, munchkin?" The blonde asks as she stands. Noah shakes her head, but thanks Penelope anyway.
As she walks out of the room, Noah's music suddenly pauses and she looks down at her phone to see Emily calling her. She keeps her headphones in and answers the call.
"Hi," Noah says.
"Hey, we just finished the case, I should be back in a couple of hours."
"Good, I was just thinking about that amazing pizza we had last weekend and a movie?" Noah pushes her luck.
"You know, I was thinking the same thing."
—
"Hey there, fun size." Morgan jokes as he sees Noah sitting on his desk.
"Oh, sorry," Noah says as she slides off the surface.
"All good—"
"Oh, no, I was apologizing for your incredible lack of hair." Noah pokes fun at him and hears Spencer laughing from his desk.
"You know, Morgan used to have hair," Reid notes.
"He also used to have a girl on each arm." Noah sighs, "Whatever did happen to those girls?"
"Hey, I'm just lookin' for the right girl." Morgan defends.
"Well, maybe I can rub your head and see into the future to find out who she is!" Noah exclaims and Reid laughs.
"Oh," Morgan sighs, "I'm gonna get you back for all these jokes you got today."
"Mhm," Noah hums and turns around to see Reid grinning.
"Hey!" Emily beams as she gets to her desk. Noah looks over and smiles wide as she rushes to hug her.
"Did you have fun at Penelope's?"
"Yeah!" Noah answers.
"Alright, well, let's get you home." Emily says, "Say your goodbyes."
"Bye, Doc!" Noah chimes and gives Spencer a fist bump, "See ya', Morgan." She says nicely and gives him a fist bump as well.
The teen rushes up the steps to JJ's office and knocks quietly on the door. A sweet voice tells her to come in before she slowly opens the door.
"Hi," Noah says.
"Hey!" JJ beams, "How was your sleepover with Garcia?"
"It was fun! We watched some movies, had some girl talk, ate popcorn, and drank hot chocolate!" Noah rambles on.
"Well, I'm glad you two had some fun." JJ says, "I know Emily was worried about you being upset about us having another case."
"Well, it's never a good feeling to have to say goodbye to Emily, but it's her job and it's what she likes to do," Noah replies with a shrug.
"I'm glad you see it that way," JJ says and watches Noah smile.
"Well, I gotta go before Emily starts shouting my name and embarrassing me." Noah chuckles and walks towards the door.
"Goodnight, Noah." The blonde says and waves to the teen.
"Goodnight,"
Emily sees Noah walking towards her and picks up her stuff to head to the elevator. They walk out of the bullpen and see Penelope waiting at the elevator with Noah's bookbag in hand.
"Thanks, P," Noah beams and takes her bag from the blonde.
"Do you wanna walk out with us?" Emily asks her.
"I totally would, but I told Sir Hotch that I'd finish up some reports," Penelope says with a smile.
"Don't stay too late," Emily tells her as the elevator doors open.
"Goodnight, Em." The blonde says and looks over at Noah, "And Goodnight to you too, Mini Prentiss."
"Goodnight, P." Noah beams and walks towards the elevator. She suddenly stops and turns to look at Penelope.
"I really hope he doesn't turn out to be a jerk." Noah smirks and touches Penelope's arm, "Be yourself," She quietly says with a smile as she scurries back into the elevator with Emily.
—
𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺'𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
"Look at the size of this one," Noah exclaims as she pulls out a massive slice of pizza.
The two are eating pizza straight out of their personal pizza boxes on the floor of the living room.
"You must be hungry," Emily giggles as she counts the slice as Noah's fourth slice.
"I could eat an entire pizza, I just have incredible self-control," Noah says as she takes a bite of the pizza.
"I missed you," Emily coos as she realizes how much she missed hanging out with Noah.
"I missed you too," Noah beams, "And so did Serg!" She giggles as she sees Sergio walk up to them. She takes a piece of pepperoni off her pizza and gives it to him.
"Hey!" Emily exclaims and laughs.
"What? He wanted a little snack." Noah beams, "It was just a little piece, it won't kill me." Noah mocks what she thinks Sergio's voice sounds like, which is a deep, French accent.
"Is that what you think he sounds like?" Emily asks.
"I feel like he sounds like Samuel L. Jackson if he was French," Noah replies as she pets Sergio's head before returning to her pizza.
"That's oddly specific." Emily chuckles.
"I think about it more than I'd like to admit." The teen giggles.
"How was school the past couple days?" Emily asks.
"It was okay," Noah says with a shrug.
"Did something happen?"
"I got in an argument with one of my friends."
"What happened?"
"We just disagreed on something and I snapped at her." The teen replies and huffs out of frustration. Every time she thinks about being in an argument with Jess and not being able to fix it, she gets even more angry at herself.
"Have you apologized?"
"I haven't had the chance."
"How? Don't you all text nonstop?" Emily asks as she sees the teen finish her last bite of pizza.
"Well, I don't want to do it over text because I don't want her to think that I don't have the balls to explain in person. I mean, how do I tell someone that I have anger issues over text?" Noah asks as she rolls her eyes. The teen stands and grabs her and Emily's empty drink glasses.
"Well, you don't need to say that. Just say that you're sorry for snapping and you won't let it happen again." Emily explains as she helps the teen clean up by picking up the pizza.
"I can't make a promise that I can't keep." Noah sighs.
"It's not that bad, Noah. You've been doing a lot better." Emily states as they both walk into the kitchen.
"How would you know? You weren't even there when it was bad."
"I wasn't, but I talked to the social worker a lot when we were working the case and she told me about what was going on," Emily says as she flattens and folds the pizza box to put it in the trash.
"See, back then I had an excuse for being angry, but now I don't." Noah sighs as she puts the glasses away in the dishwasher.
"It's not about making excuses for it, honey. It's about making it better and doing better." Emily explains and walks over to Noah to make sure that she is listening to her.
"Yeah, I guess so," Noah says and smiles up at Emily.
—
It is around eleven and Emily and Noah have spent some time in their own rooms. Noah has enjoyed a quiet evening with a book and a sleeping Sergio in her lap. Emily, on the other hand, has spent the past half hour pacing in her room while on and off the phone with her team.
Emily finally peers into the teen's room and sees her peacefully reading. She collects herself before walking up to Noah's desk where she is sitting.
"Noah," Emily speaks.
"Hm?" Noah hums without looking up from her book.
"Honey, look at me," Emily says quietly as she kneels beside the teen's chair.
"What?" Noah says and finds herself looking into a pair of sad eyes, "Did something happen? Is Elizabeth okay?" The teen frets as she sits up, making Sergio jump down from her lap.
"It's not her...it's someone else," Emily mutters.
"Emily...?" Noah asks and tries to read the woman's expression.
"Something's happened to Penelope."
"What?" Noah says in a breathy tone. Her heart starts pounding as tears begin to form in her eye-line.
"She was shot outside of her apartment—"
"What?!" Noah gasps, "Is she okay?" She asks as she pleads for Emily to tell her more.
"Emily, please tell me she's okay!" The teen exclaims as Emily remains silent.
"She's in surgery right now. We don't know yet." Emily murmurs.
Suddenly, Noah is standing and trying to catch her breath. Emily slowly stands up straight and tries to understand what the teen is feeling.
"Then, why are we sitting here?! We need to go to the hospital—" Noah rants.
"Noah, you have school tomorrow—"
"I don't care!" Noah shouts, "My friend is hurt, I have to go see her!" She exclaims and pulls her oversized sweatshirt over her head.
"She's in surgery—" Emily tries to make her slow down.
"But she needs someone there. Penelope hates being alone, she hates feeling alone." Noah states as she walks towards the closet to find something to quickly change into.
"Noah—"
"I don't want her to be alone!" Noah says as she frantically pulls out a gray t-shirt, "I don't want her to wake up and think that I didn't care because I'm not there—"
"She would never think that—" Emily defends, but the teen cuts her off again.
"We have to go, I have to be there. I don't want her to be alone..." The teen's voice breaks as she pauses her desperate actions. She starts to sob as she stands in her closet, gray t-shirt in hand.
"Noah," Emily mutters and wraps her arms around the teen, "It's okay, we'll be there when she wakes up."