Disclaimers: As if I could ever own criminal minds. CBS does. Same for the characters
A/N: There was so much angst and pain out there that I decided to write my own 'everything is good' fic - well kind of 'everything is well and good'. It will be three chapters in total. Huge thanks to my beta JenRar, who did a fabulous job.
The case was one of those that would haunt them for a while. They lost the race against time, and the kidnapped girl died just seconds before they took the Unsub down.
Morgan tried CPR, but it was already too late. When the EMTs arrived, all they could do was pronounce her dead and leave the task of telling the parents to Hotch and the team.
Morgan hated cases where they were too late; where they couldn't do anything and were left dealing with the aftermaths. The nightmares this job gave him didn't even bother him as much as they used to. He had gotten used to them. They didn't even come as regularly anymore as they used to. Sometime during his third or fourth year, he got used to the images he seemed to see on a daily basis. By now, he wasn't even asking himself anymore what people could do to each other, because he had seen some of the worst. Unfortunately, he knew there was always some sick bastard that could top it all.
There was hardly anything fun thing about his job. Usually when they were called, it was on the worst days of people's lives, and it was their job to prevent it becoming a bad day for someone else's family.
It was Las Vegas they had to go to this time, and all of them went, including Garcia. Due to some circumstances that Morgan couldn't really recall, she was supposed to come with them and help them directly on location.
The only person who actually made this job somewhat fun was her. The light hearted banter and flirting they did regularly during their phone conversations somehow made this job slightly easier. She was also the one that got them on track of their Unsub, as usual.
Hotch noticed what this case had done to his team. Of course he did; it was his job to notice things like that. He noticed how they all looked like someone had kicked their puppy, and he fully understood. Cases that involved children were always hard, and it was even worse when the cases didn't end well. A long weekend would hopefully give them much needed rest, and enough time to get their minds back for whatever case laid ahead of them.
Most of them went back to Virginia that same night, hoping that when leaving Las Vegas, they would leave the feeling of failure behind as well. Only Morgan and Garcia decided to stay. No one really understood, but no one asked twice why either.
They ended up in a bar just a few hours after the case was closed. Morgan was already on his third beer, and Garcia on her fourth Gin and Tonic for the night. Apparently, both of them had decided that tonight they should get drunk.
"I have to warn you, Morgan, I am not much of a drinker. The usual amount I consume is a bottle of wine per week. And apart from that... nada."
"What, Baby Girl? You worried that I'll take advantage of you when you're drunk?" he laughed.
"I can pretend to be fully drunk and we can move on to the good stuff, if that's all it takes for you to take advantage," she grinned at Morgan, who for a second was left without a reply.
"I'm not gonna take advantage of you, woman."
"You still owe me that night of passionate lovemaking you promised me a few years ago…"
"I promised you a night of passionate lovemaking with Reid, baby. And only just if you'd been able to answer my question. Which you didn't, if I remember correctly," Morgan replied, drinking the rest of his beer before ordering another one.
The 'sort of' grunt that came from his drinking partner somehow amused him. It was always so easy with her. Just talk and get taken away. She made it so easy with the nicknames and flirting. It had always been a great distraction on a job as dark as his.
"A girl can try, right?" she finally asked.
"Try harder," he grinned, showing her his perfect white teeth.
"You ain't seen nothing yet," she said and ordered another drink.
"I can hardly wait to see it all."
"Trust me, you wouldn't be able to handle 'all'," Garcia sighed.
"And what makes you say that?"
"I have eyes, Derek. The girls you usually … um … end up with, are not exactly me. They are … slender, and tall, and brunette and all sorts of other things I am not. You would be lost with a real woman like me," Penelope teased and grinned at Morgan.
Morgan laughed for a few moments, which showed Garcia just how drunk he already was.
The night went on and it got late, with both of them having more to drink the later it got. They would have one hell of a hangover the next morning. They just didn't know yet how bad…
When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was how bright the room was. It was way too bright for her eyes. It also wasn't her room. It was big, white and spacious. At least, that's what she could take in before she closed her eyes again, when the light of the day became too bright.
She threw her head back in the cushions and let out a groan when she noticed the headache she was having. There was also a slight nauseous feeling.
As she tried to remember last night and what exactly had happened, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she suddenly felt a hand on her upper thigh.
Well, looks like I didn't go home on my own, she thought to herself. That would also explain the different hotel room.
She slowly turned around, the curiosity of who was lying next her getting the best of her. She didn't see much, since the head was more or less completely buried under pillows, but she saw the silhouette the sheets were drawing from the rest of the body.
Not bad... Not bad at all.
Suddenly, she heard a groan, sounding almost like the one she'd let out just a few moments ago. She saw the pillows slowly moving, falling to the sides of the mystery man. Her heart nearly stopped.
The guy next to her looked a lot like Derek Morgan.
"Garcia? What are you doing in my … Wait, this isn't my hotel room," he realized when he turned his head to either side.
"If it isn't your hotel room, and it isn't mine, then whose is it?" she asked, wondering what the hell happened last night. "What's the last thing you can remember?" She assumed that Morgan had pretty much the same headache she had.
"Um… you and me, at the bar, drinking?"
"Is that a question?" she asked, confused.
"Well, last night is a bit … hazy, to say the least. I remember the case, with a not-so-great ending, and the urge to get drunk. You followed suit, the good friend you are, and that's all I can recall from last night."
"Yeah, I'm the best friend you've ever had, Hot Stuff," she stated, receiving a grin from Morgan.
"Well, what do you remember, Baby Girl?"
"Not much more than you do appar-" she started, but got distracted midsentence when Morgan left the bed. Penelope noticed that all he was wearing was a pair of white satin boxer shorts, which were a wonderful contrast to his chocolate colored skin.
"You all right, momma?" he asked, turning around. Penelope just managed to look somewhere else at the last minute.
"How much exactly did we drink last night?" she shouted after him, when he disappeared into what she assumed was the bathroom.
"Too much?" came as answer from the closed door.
While Morgan was busy in the bathroom, Penelope decided to use the time and take a look at the hotel room, or suite as the case may be. Draping one of the sheets around her body, she left the bed and walked over to a table that was standing in front of huge glass windows.
When Garcia noticed passports lying on the table, she held the sheet around her body with her right hand, while looking at the passports with her left. That's when she saw it... She stopped her actions for a moment and let out somewhat of a scream, or a yelp.
Morgan, alarmed by the sound, came rushing out of the bathroom and looked at her, checking to see if she was okay and what made her scream.
"What happened?"
Instead of answering, she walked over to him and grabbed his left hand, looking carefully. Bringing both of their left hands up to his face, she simply said, "We got married last night."
Morgan, checking first her face to see if she was serious, and then both of their left hands, he saw the silver bands on both their ring fingers.
Plain silver, nothing else to it.