Author's Note yo

Eek. So this is my first fanfiction...which is equally exciting and terrifying. I'm really sorry if its out of character or unrealistic or anything. Also I wanted to say thank you to my awesome friend, Rosalie (who doesn't have an ff account but is roseweber on AO3-you should definitely check her out) for editing this monster! Please, please, please review I'd love to hear what you all think and what I can do better.

*ding dong*

The sudden chime of the doorbell jolted Morgan from her shallow sleep. Her head was throbbing and her eyes were weak, a result of too many sleepless nights. Ever since the undercover-prostitute-job-turned-kidnapping ordeal, sleep had been hard to come by, her odd night shift hours only worsening the issue. Unfortunately, what little sleep she managed to come by was often plagued by nightmares. However, despite her insomnia and the nightmare-ridden slumber, Morgan was content. She had a great boyfriend, Greg; a satisfying and steady job; and was successfully continuing to mend her confusing relationship with her father. But at that moment she was feeling anything but happy; she was cranky and tired and wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep in Greg's arms. She considered ignoring whoever was at the door completely, but the echoing ring of the doorbell had already woken her up, she might as well answer it. Sighing, Morgan slowly untangled herself from Greg; whoever was downstairs outside of her door was getting a piece of her mind, waking her up at such an inconvenient time, she thought, checking her clock, which blinked impassively back at her, flashing the time 2:47 PM. How rude. Greg groaned, not appreciating that his source of warmth suddenly disappeared.

"Come back to bed." He slurred groggily. While pulling on a more appropriate door opening outfit, consisting of a baggy sweatshirt and pants, she replied, "Can't; didn't you hear the doorbell?"

"Yes, but I've elected to ignore it, and you should too," came the response, sleepily mumbled into a pillow. Grinning, she exited the room.

"I'll be back soon enough." She called. An unintelligible murmur followed that sounded suspiciously like "stay." Morgan smiled to herself. She'd lucked out. Greg was sweet, funny, attractive, intelligent, and kind, not to mention tough as nails and a damn good CSI. After several weeks of dating, she could already tell that this was shaping up to be much more than one of the few small flings she'd enjoyed since moving to Vegas. However, she'd alerted no one of her current relationship happiness, her irregular work hours not allowing for many friends outside of work and she and Greg had agreed on keeping it a secret at work. Neither wanted their coworkers to think their personal relationship was affecting their professional relationship in any way and frankly she wasn't sure how their relationship development would be perceived or if it was even technically allowed. She'd heard from Greg how Sarah and her ex Gil Grissom had successfully managed to keep their romantic relationship under wraps for a while and was using them as a slight model. However, she'd also heard that they'd had to change shifts, something Morgan had no desire to do. She loved the nightshift and all the people that worked it, and she knew Greg did too. A curt knock on the door interrupted her straying train of thought. She swung the door open, pissed, and ready to reprobate whoever had awoken her. Sheriff Ecklie stood on her doorstep, looking polished in a sleek black suit.

"Dad!?"

"Morgan, good morning." Ecklie shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, hi, what are you doing here?" she suddenly felt awkward and inappropriately dressed in her grubby sweats.

"I have some important news for you." He didn't ask to come in, and she didn't invite him to.

"It's about work." He continued lamely. Her mind raced, could this have to do with her relationship with Greg? Was she in trouble?

"In lieu of recent events," he paused, noticing his daughter's troubled expression. "The undercover job and kidnapping," he clarified, his expression hard. She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in.

"We, as a department, believe you exhibited extreme bravery and thoughtfulness while undercover and in captivity and these actions need to be rewarded." He paused, "You're an expert CSI Morgan, it's very clear how dedicate you are, as well, and for these reasons…we're promoting you to a level 3 CSI."

She stared at him, in shock. "Wait, really?" He nodded. She broke out into a huge grin. "This is so awesome!" She surprised the older man by throwing her arms around him in a quick embrace which he uncertainty returned. Too soon, she pulled away. "But why are you here telling me now?" she puzzled. "Why not just tell me at work later with Russell?"

"I wanted you to know as soon as possible and well, I have something else I sort of wanted to address with you…it kind of relates to the new job." He trailed off embarrassed. She had a vague notion of where this was going.

"What?"

"Well I've noticed your relationship with some, well one, of the CSIs seems to be developing or has significantly developed—"he stopped and cleared his throat. "What I'm trying to say is you and Sanders are now professional equals, both level 3s, so a more, uh, intimate or developed relationship would be acceptable, and nothing would have to change, unless of course you two couldn't work together appropriately and professionally." Morgan was blushing furiously and pulling obsessively at her sweatshirt collar, suddenly very aware of the faded hickeys positioned on the base of her neck.

"Oh." They stood in silence for a few moments, Morgan embarrassed by her apparent lack of discretion. After a very pregnant pause she finally spoke, "Um, well thanks for letting me know about the promotion, dad. That was really cool." He flashed her a quick grin.

"You deserve it, Morgan. Now I'll let you go back to sleeping or whatever you were doing." Thinking of her boxer-clad boyfriend currently dowsing in her bed and what they'd been doing several hours prior, her blush grew even deeper.

"Sleeping," She clarified before giving her father one last thanks and then shutting the door. Once the door was shut she couldn't contain her excitement, her smile widening considerably. She'd been promoted, she was in a good place with her dad, and he had basically just given her the okay on her boyfriend. Excited to tell Greg everything she hurried to the room, sleep no longer on her mind.

Fin.