RUNAWAY
CHAPTER SEVEN...!
❝ FITNESS TEST , SEASON NINE ❞
"THREE, two, and. . ."
Jennie watched as Vicky counted down, her eyes glued onto the clock on the wall of the Briscoe PD precinct. Marty and Owen were standing next to her, as the trio stood near the desk Jennie was sitting at.
"One." Vicky noted, smiling at the sight of the analogue clock that read 5:00pm, "And we're officially off the clock."
Jennie chuckled, before standing up from her desk chair, beginning to pack up her things. At the sight, Marty turned to her with a slightly confounded look.
"Well, I'll be damned." Marty let out a short chuckle, "Jennie Hotchner actually leaving work at the same time as everyone else? No overtime for you tonight?"
"Not tonight." Jennie grinned, shaking her head, "I'm flying back home for the weekend."
"You sure do go back to Quantico a lot." Vicky commented, "Homesick, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." She nodded, "I try to go at least once every month or two."
"How do you even afford that?" Owen asked, suddenly very interested in the conversation, "You secretly rich, or something?"
"Uh, savings account." Jennie simply stated, turning off her desktop computer, before slinging her bag over her shoulder, "My dad made me one when I was really young, and I never really spent too much money. Not until I left home, at least."
"Well, us three are going out again tonight." Vicky told the younger girl, "Going to that one Mexican restaurant down the street. You in?"
Jennie gave her coworkers an apologetic look, pushing in her chair, "I'm sorry, I can't tonight. I leave tomorrow morning and I still need to pack. Maybe next time?"
Vicky sighed, "No worries. Next time."
At that, Jennie nodded, before forming a small smile on her face, "Have a good weekend guys. Take care."
The group muttered out different responses, pertaining to "you too" and "see you later", watching the girl leave their sight as she left the precinct.
Owen was the first to speak up, after sighing and shaking his head, "We invite her to drinks, she doesn't join. We invite her for pizza, she doesn't join. What else can we do?"
"I hate to say it, but I don't think she'll budge." Vicky responded, her voice quieter, "You don't think she suspects anything, do you?"
"If she does, she's doing a damn good job at hiding it." Owen spoke, "But I doubt she does. Why would she keep up the act for so long?"
"That's a good point. She hasn't done that rambling thing she does when she's nervous." Marty finally spoke up, "I reckon we just need to keep trying."
"Yeah, well the longer we take, the higher chance she'll figure it out." Vicky told him in response.
That was when Owen went noticeably silent, the change in expression on his face causing Marty to furrow his eyebrows.
"What is it?" Marty inquired.
Deputy Owen McGregor's lips curved upwards slightly, looking back at the other two officers in front of him.
"I've got an idea."
—
WHEN JENNIE announced she was back in Quantico, one of the first messages she received was how Penelope and Spencer were planning a couple of fitness training days to practice for their Mandated Bureaucrat Physical Assessment.
So, of course, Jennie offered to join them.
Jennie thought the idea of the two taking the assessment, even after all their hours on the field, was rather strange. But, she didn't say anything.
She also thought it would be a good idea to get some training in, to prepare for her FBI Academy Fitness Test, that she would be taking soon.
So, that morning, she found herself running with on the track field, following behind her two friends.
Penelope had stopped a bit earlier, and Spencer followed in her suit.
"8:49." Penelope observed, looking at the time on her stop watch, both her and Spencer out of breath, "Good God, that's not even close. Why does it have to be such a fast mile? Have you ever even had to run a mile in the field?"
"No." He panted.
"I'm not even in the field." The blonde continued, "I sit at a computer on my perfect posterior, like all day."
Just then, Jennie finally caught up with them, running in place as she stood in front of them.
"You guys taking a break?" Jennie questioned, not taking in their obvious-short-of-breath states.
"That's not even fair." Penelope looked at the younger girl in front of her, "You're not even tired, and you're barely sweating. How?"
Jennie stopped running in place, picking up her water bottle that she left on the side of the track, and shrugging before taking a sip. "I used to do track."
At that, Penelope let out a quiet groan.
"Maybe we should ask Morgan for help?" Spencer suggested to the blonde.
"No!"
"But, he has really good abs."
"Yes, he does." Penelope agreed, but continued to shut down the man's idea, "But, it's bad enough some bureaucrat is making us take this stupid test. The last thing we need is Mr. Universe talking smack the whole time."
"But, he knows about all this stuff. He can probably, like, teach us some tricks. Help us train." He told her.
At his words, Penelope looked at Jennie, "JenJen, what are your tricks? How do you train?"
Jennie paused to think, before shrugging once again, "Just don't think about it too much."
By the look of the two's faces, that advice was clearly not helpful.
"That does not help us."
"Not at all." Spencer agreed with the blonde's response.
"It sounds like better advice than Mr. Universe's." Jennie told them.
"That's true. He takes it way too seriously." Penelope replied, "I worked out with him once."
"You work out?" Spencer inquired, "That's cool. I don't."
Jennie only chuckled at the two's tired states, as Penelope continued to complain about her previous work out session with Morgan, "And never again with him. He was all— there you go, babygirl. Move it or lose it. This ain't your high-tech room. My grandmama can move better than that!"
At the impression, Jennie threw her head back laughing, "That's so Morgan."
"He can be enthusiastic at times." Spencer stated.
"Yeah, that's one way of saying it. But, no. Us three, we can do it. Us three, we got it." Penelope tried to get herself amped up, beginning to run in place, "I mean, Jennie is enough of an expert."
"The key is dissociating." Jennie told her.
"Alright, I take that back. Jennie is not an expert, she just has concerning methods." Penelope took back her previous statement. Jennie frowned in response, before the blonde spoke up again, "Alright, guys. A couple more laps, okay?"
"We got this." Spencer nodded, but the strain in his voice said otherwise.
Jennie aligned herself with her two friends on the track, ready to run, "Alright, let's go! Penelope, we'll go on your count."
"Okay." She breathed out exasperatingly, "One, two—"
"Let's do it." Spencer spoke, yet his eyes were still squinting and his breathing was still inconsistent.
Just their luck, however, Penelope looked down at her buzzing phone, a wave of relief rushing through her, "Hallelujah."
"What? We have a case?"
"Yep."
"Thank God."
Jennie groaned, "I was so amped up!"
Penelope looked at her, patting her shoulders, "I'll race you to the bleachers?"
The younger girl immediately smiled at the opposition, "You're on."
As they ran over to the bleachers, Penelope pumped a fist in the air, "We don't need Morgan!"
The two ran away too soon to hear Spencer mutter, "I'm just gonna have a heart attack really quickly."
Once Penelope and Jennie got to the bleachers, grabbing all their stuff, the younger girl looked over to the blonde.
"Race to the parking lot?" Jennie suggested.
Just as she was about to run off, Penelope was quick to pull her back, making her protest loud and clear.
"No! Don't you dare." She pulled the girl back, almost offended at the suggestion, "You know, you're going to hate yourself tomorrow morning when your legs are aching."
"Psh, tomorrow's so far away." Jennie told the woman, "Live in the now, dude."
With that, Jennie's rush of adrenaline allowed her to run over to the parking lot, while Penelope and Spencer were still gathering their things.
"I think..." Spencer panted out, still out of breath, "She needs to be drug tested."
"Oh yeah, no doubt."
—
IT wasn't too long after the team got back from their case, when Penelope, Spencer, and Jennie were back at the track field.
After answering some work emails on her computer, lunch at the Pizza Palace with Jack, and a quick power nap — Jennie eventually found herself on the grass, sitting next to her two friends.
At one point, Spencer tapped on the ear-cups of Jennie's headphones to get her attention, causing her to remove them from her ears, and place them onto her shoulders.
"Be honest." He began, "You really think they'll terminate us if we can't run fast enough?"
Jennie paused to think, before shrugging, "Maybe."
He did say to be honest, after all.
"No, it'll probably be something worse." Penelope spoke up, "They'll probably make us take another fit test."
Spencer hated that idea, "I'd rather be terminated."
"I just hope the PT instructor isn't a jerk." The blonde shook her head, "Those jock guys are always such jerks."
"Yeah, total jerks." Spencer sighed. After a moment, he squinted at a particular sight from afar, motioning over to it, "That's probably him right now."
Penelope and Jennie looked over to see a man in a grey outfit set — grey hoodie and grey pants — walking over to the trio. His hood was covering his face, but Jennie could still tell the familiarity of the way he was walking.
Penelope and Spencer couldn't, apparently.
"Oh, look. He's totally walking like a jerk." Penelope groaned.
"Um guys—" Jennie tried to chime in.
"Yeah, it's a total jerk walk." Spencer agreed.
"I mean, if the shoe fits." Jennie told them, "But, guys—"
"Total jerk walk." Penelope shook her head.
"Totally." Spencer sighed, before getting a better look, "Wait a minute. Wait, I think it's Morgan."
"Oh, wow. Who would've guessed?" Jennie muttered, sarcastically, watching as Morgan walked up to the group. She looked up at him, before pointing back to her other friends with her thumbs, "Just so you know, these two think you walk like a jerk. And, I do agree with them."
Penelope put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder to get her to stop ratting them out, focusing back at Derek, "What are you doing here?"
"It looks like I'm your new PT instructor." Morgan told them, "Watkins got sick, so today's your lucky day. I'm your guy."
"But, we—" Penelope wrapped her arm around Jennie, hopping it would make her argument seem stronger, "We have have Jennie. She's an expert. Super expert."
"Yeah, super expert." Spencer agreed, also not wanting to participate in Morgan's rigorous fitness training.
"Oh, is that so?" Derek raised his eyebrows, chuckling at the sight of their heads quickly nodding, "Well, no reason I can't help out. The more the merrier, right?"
Penelope quickly realized there was no getting out of this, "Yeah, the...the more the merrier."
"More the merrier." Spencer repeated, with a sigh.
"Awesome...that's awesome." The blonde nodded.
At that, Morgan laughed, lowering his hood from his head, "Guys, come on. Seriously. You should've just said something. This whole fit test thing is just a formality. I could've got the whole thing waived. But, since you didn't— Jennie, you ready to 'super-expertly' train them?"
With that, he helped pull her up from her sitting position, allowing her to stand next to him.
She then looked back at her friends, "You two ready?"
At that, Penelope gave herself a second, before nodding, her and Spencer getting up from their sitting position, "Yeah, let's do this! Woo!"
"Woo!" Spencer tried to mirror her feigned excitement, as the two began to run off to the track.
"Uh— hey, hey." Derek called over to them, "Happy-go-luckys, where are you going?"
"To run the mile." Penelope replied.
"No, no, no." The man shook his head, "You didn't hear? The fit test is more than just a mile. Get your little butts back over here."
The two only stared back at him for a moment in disbelief, before groaning.
Jennie, on the other hand, could tell what Morgan was doing. By the cheeky grin on his face, she could tell that this whole fitness practice was all a waste of time. Morgan had already had their physical tests waived.
"You're such an ass for this." Jennie muttered to him, letting him know she knew what he was doing.
"Oh, so are you gonna tell them?" Derek asked her, only to met with silence from the girl, causing him to chuckle, "That's what I thought. So, let's have fun with it, yeah?"
At that Jennie giggled, nodding her head in agreement. The man ruffled her hair, before the two got back into their 'super-expert trainer' modes.
And even though Penelope and Spencer ended up chasing the two, after figuring out that the entire idea of them taking the fitness test was fake, Jennie and Derek had the best time training them.
"I'm gonna kill them."
"If I can manage to lift my arms, I'll hold them down."
—
AUTHOR'S NOTE |
literally one of my favorite moments in the entire show: penelope & spencer's fitness training 🫶🫶
word count.
2276.