Disclaimer- I don't own Criminal Minds)

A/N: Hullo, hullo! Finally it's here! This is the sequel to my other story, The Troubled Children. If you're new and you haven't read that, I highly recommend you do so or else this storyline will be very confusing for you. This takes place directly after the ending of TTC. Some more things I should add: I'm trying to make this mostly centered around Penelope's arrival at first, but all the other children (and parents, of course) will have major roles in this.

The warnings in TTC apply here as well.

Reviews make my heart happy.

Her neck was warm and cozy, two things that she'd never truly experience all over her body until the flowers would bloom in the spring. It was only November, and the days were only going to get colder from now. She'd have to wait months before the temperature worked in her favor. Penelope Garcia sighed at her newly acclaimed prize, the scarf that she stole from who it looked like— a five year old boy.

She closed her eyes to relive that memory—

"Spencer, get back here! You can't leave without me! Mom said I have to go with you since it's getting dark," said the older boy's voice.

"But we're just making snow angels, Derek!" The little boy whined back.

"Wait for me, kid!"

She narrowed her eyes, now or never. Despite her weight, she bolted at the speed of light, and snatched that kid's scarf off his neck in the process. A tactic that she had learned, unfortunately. It's not like she had a choice in the matter.

"Hey! That's my–huh?!"

The older boy just arrived, "Kid, you should wear a scarf. It's pretty cold out."

"I can't...someone took it."

"What do you mean took it? Spencer, did you catch his face?"

"I didn't...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Spencer. We'll find out. Let's go tell mom and dad inside."

—reliving the memory sucked.

Penelope kept trying to tell herself that it was all about survival. That she had to take the chance to get something warm in order to avoid hypothermia. Ugh, she hated feeling guilty. The first time she stole something—when she was new on the streets—she felt horrible with guilt eating at her for days. She was about to go out of her way to try to find the person and give back what she stole.

She remembered it too. It was a pair of sunglasses since summer was close by and the sun would be so bright that it was almost too blinding to bear. Just as she was about to do that, a group of kids—kids like her—had stopped her from doing from what she thought was the right thing to do in her mind.

Their names were Stephen Walker and Shane Wyeth, and they were a couple of years older than her. They took her under their wing, and taught her the ropes to how to survive in the streets—they were homeless after all. It was not going to be easy, and that since there weren't as many homeless kids, that they needed to watch after each other.

Crap, that reminded her. She needed to meet up with them right now. Why was she still standing in the same spot? She could get caught! Penelope blinked back the tears of guilt. Why the hell should she care? That little boy's parents could buy him another scarf. Why should she be consumed with guilt?

It was not like she was going to see them again.

That sentence kept echoing in her mind.

It was not like she was going to see them again...

It was not like she was going to see them again...

It was not like she was going to see them again...

There were few changes here and there that Haley Hotchner noticed in her family after a few months after adoption. One change, was that everyone unanimously called her and Hotch mom and dad, never once calling them by their names, or even the nickname they all gave her husband. And by looking at Hotch recently, she could tell he really misses it, but he loves being called their dad even more, so it was definitely worth the exchange.

It was only a few months, but she already saw that her children were growing up so quickly. She felt they were more mature than when they first came into her home—back when they were foster children. She took a look at JJ who was sitting across from her, nibbling on one of those chocolate chip cookies she took out of the oven.

JJ was now in third grade, eight years old, had taken a free art class that was offered after school. She still had trouble with math, but she'd let her passion take over once she had a pencil, paper, and some crayons. Although most eight year olds didn't understand the definition of passion, Haley was sure right from the get-go that JJ would push herself in order to be a good artist. She colored in the lines now. Although her academic skills were not as natural as her artistic skills, she knew she had to work harder in order to keep her grades up to par.

Haley thought about Emily—her oldest. It was hard to believe it's been a whole year since she was brought into her care. The teenager spends more time in her room talking over the phone with many friends more than she talks with her family, like where she was right now. Haley expected it—she was fourteen, after all. She just entered high school, and couldn't be any more prouder when she won a High Achievement Award in math last year in her middle school. Emily was doing exceedingly well in her classes thus far–she hoped she kept it up.

Then her boys—who just went out playing in the snow—were her next thoughts.

Derek used to be a runner, a term used for kids who ran away from home frequently and had to be tracked. Haley thought it was preposterous to have those stupid ankle bracelets, she knew that Derek would be safe here. Although at age eleven, he considers himself to be a man, more so than when he did at the age of ten. He had a bit of a growth spurt, a few inches taller and had a little more muscle. This is most likely to do with his therapist telling him that physical exercise would be healthy for his mind and body. Clearly, it had worked. He had entered the sixth grade. His grades were always steady, never drastically dropping—but not improving, either. Still, Derek transformed ever since he came into her care.

Little Spencer came to mind—her youngest. He always did well academically, since he had a very high IQ at the tender age of five. School was going to be a breeze for him, entering the second grade, though his teacher had recommended a few times to let him skip a grade or two since he wouldn't be challenged enough in her classroom. Haley would talk about it with Hotch later. Although he was extremely bright for his age that could question the intelligence of adults, he was diagnosed with a mild case of autism, known as Asperger's Syndrome. Despite what some people may believe, the Hotchner family knew for sure that autism wasn't a death sentence. That it wasn't a disease. It didn't define Spencer Reid Hotchner.

"Mom, dad?"

But speaking of her oldest, Emily had finally got off the phone for what seemed like hours. She ran downstairs and took a chocolate chip from the tray and took a bite from it, closing her eyes and savoring the taste. "We need to talk about this." JJ acknowledged this exchange for a second, before taking a bite out of her own cookie.

"Again?" Hotch asked, sounding a little annoyed. He put his usual paper down to face her, "Emily, I told you that I said we'd think about it."

"I just turned fourteen," Emily said, with a grin that would hopefully coax her father into giving in to what she wanted, "I want my own room." JJ nearly spit out her delicious cookie that she just bit into.

"Am I really that difficult to live with?" JJ asked, sounding horrified.

"No, I just want some privacy. Think about it like this, you'd be getting your own room to do whatever you want and draw as much as you want!" This time JJ looked very excited at the idea.

"We should do it! I wouldn't have to deal with Emily's socks everywhere!" JJ shouted gleefully.

"Hey!" Emily exclaimed, making her parents laugh in amusement at the exchange.

"I said we'll think about it," said Haley. "After all, we don't even know how long it'll take—"

"Mommy! Mommy!" A wail from her youngest interrupted.

Haley, along with JJ, Emily, and Hotch were startled as Derek entered the room, carrying Spencer who was crying and sniffling while Derek tried comforting him, but failing as the cries escaping from Spencer wouldn't stop and they were increasing in volume. Haley took over immediately by taking him from Derek's arms and hugging him back.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Wait—" She pauses to get a good look at what Spencer is wearing, noticing that something was missing. "What happened to your scarf?" That was the wrong thing to ask, as Spencer's wails grew louder and began to hug Haley tighter.

"Someone ran by and stole it," Derek said, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. Once he said that, Emily looked very mad as well, and JJ looked sad.

"It w-was my Doctor Who scarf!" Spencer wailed in the crook of Haley's neck. JJ got up from her seat and ruffled his hair.

"Spence, please don't cry! We'll get that scarf back!" She said with determination.

Spencer sniffled.

"We can always get a new scarf," said Haley, looking to Hotch for support on this. "I doubt that we'll ever find this person."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Hotch gently asked his younger son, who shook his head in Haley's neck.

"No, but he wasn't very tall...he was almost my height."

"A kid?!" Emily exclaimed, horrified. Silence from everyone else gave Emily her answer. "That piece of—"

"Emily," Hotch said, shaking his head. "It won't do any good. We'll get another scarf, don't worry." Hotch had other things going through his head at the moment. What kind of kid would be wandering around in the cold alone? That seemed particularly odd, and it made his heart grow sad. Although he was upset that his son was upset, he couldn't help but possibly feel a little for the thief too—a child that was too cold.

Then something in his mind clicked to make him forget all of that sentiment: His son was upset. Hotch now snorted in annoyance at whoever the thief was.

He was probably some street thug.

Penelope knew where she had to go, the problem was getting there from the house she was just at. She wouldn't let herself get lost again, she would be ashamed like the last time she did. Shane and Stephen had to get her from a mile or two away from their usual meeting spot—the nearest metro.

"Hey, Pen!" Penelope felt relief wash over her as she recognized the voice of Shane, and was followed by Stephen. Shane smirked when he saw a prize wrapped around her neck. "Nice job." She sighed, it didn't feel like it was a nice snatch, though her speed would say otherwise.

"It's from a five year old boy," she said, looking down at the ground in shame. Shane wasn't having that, he lifted her chin up so she'd look at him as he explained firmly.

"And that five year old boy should've been careful that he wouldn't let himself get mugged." Penelope looked back in the direction she ran from, as if contemplating to go back.

"He's five...he still believes that there's good in the world."

"Well he's a dumb kid if he thinks that," reprimanded Shane, shoving his hands in the pockets of his oversized jacket. "C'mon, let's get something to eat." He begins to walk, knowing that Penelope and Stephen would follow him. But before they could, Stephen stepped in front of her with a sympathetic look.

"I know how you feel," he said, hoping Shane didn't hear, "I used to have a little brother, before he..." He trailed off, hoping Penelope took the hint.

"Yeah," Penelope said, nodding in understanding with her eyes filled with tears again.

"But look, that little boy's parents could probably buy him a new Doctor Who scarf." Stephen said with a smile.

"D-D-Doctor Who?" Penelope stammered excitedly, and watched as Stephen took out a flashlight and shined it on her new scarf so Penelope could see the design better. "Yep. I'd say that was a nice grab." He shut the flashlight off. "Now let's go eat, you'll feel better." Stephen ran to catch up with Shane, and Penelope almost wanted to stay behind. As she ran to catch up with them, she ran her fingers through the fabric of the scarf. Now she couldn't stop her tears from falling.

She liked Doctor Who too.

A/N: Oof. That's chapter one! I just started my senior year of high school! I am planning on focusing on this story though to the best of my ability. Not entirely, since I have to finish LMHYW. Senior year is allegedly supposed to be a breeze compared to last year in my final term (when I was writing TTC) so I should be able to have more time.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!