Third and final part of my 3-story series. This follows "Couldn't Possibly Mean Kevin" and "The Friend Zone".
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. Boo.
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Penelope had spent the rest of her weekend high on the knowledge that Derek had in fact been sending her signals for a while now; even while she was still with Kevin. Every time she thought about it a pleasurable shiver ran up her spine, and she couldn't stop thinking about it. Every single second of down time she had was spent with him on her mind. Not that that was much of a change to usual, but now she was filled with an enormous amount of hope. Hope for them and the future. She could hardly wait to make it back home so that she could dump her bags and grab her trusty caddy's keys before heading to his place. She was determined to do this tonight, while she was still running high off the steam her friend's encouragement had created.
That was at least until she actually made it home. Then the doubts crept in once more and her hand stilled over her car keys. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. What if he didn't actually see her like that anymore? What if he hadn't to begin with? What if he had someone now? What if she was too late? What if her friends were wrong?
The smile that had been permanently fixed to her face suddenly collapsed. She couldn't do this. The ringing of her landline interrupted her thoughts and she picked it up without looking at the Caller ID.
"Don't even think about psyching yourself out Penelope Garcia!" Came Sara's voice in her ear. Garcia couldn't help but laugh; her friend knew her so well.
"But what if he..." Garcia said softly into the phone, her voice trailing off, she didn't want to finish that sentence, saying it out loud would make it real, more likely to happen.
"The man is besotted with you, girl. I know what I saw sweetheart, I'm not going to lead you into heartbreak." Sara said sympathetically, knowing that this was a big think for Pen. "And besides, you are completely and utterly in love with the guy so you owe it to yourself to at least approach him."
"But what am I supposed to say Sara? 'Hey Derek, I missed you this weekend, oh by the way I'm completely in love with you'. I don't think so." She said quietly.
"You don't have to say anything." Sara said, laying heavy emphasis on her words. "From what you told us the man has been making some serious moves and you've not reacted; all you have to do now is react."
"You make it sound so easy."
"Just trust your gut, stop worrying and react." Sara repeated once again. "I promise you right now that that man will not stop now, not with the looks he was shooting you. Trust me, trust him."
Garcia sighed in defeat: Sara made a very good point. All she had to do was react; she could do that!
"Go get him Twinkle Toes." Sara said into the silence after correctly interpreting it. "And let me know how it goes." She added with a smile before saying her goodbyes.
Garcia almost jumped out of her skin when her cell phone began ringing out in her purse, especially because she knew that ringtone well, Morgan was on the other end. She frantically searched through her purse to find the wonderful piece of technology before it rang out.
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Morgan had been staring at his phone on and off for the past half hour. Should he call her now? Should he text her? Or would he wait and see if she called when she got home? Or would he wait and call when he knew she'd be home?
He went with the last option. He wished he hadn't. It was like torture; waiting and waiting until he knew she would be home. He had timed it almost down to the number of seconds. When the clock clicked over to half past six he pressed the little green button eagerly.
It was ringing...ringing...it was still ringing. His brow furrowed, she usually didn't take this long to answer. He started to worry, then he started to panic a little; what if she didn't want to answer?
"If you're calling for a booty call Handsome you've seriously misjudged; you know travelling takes everything out of me." She teased with a laugh when she finally managed to extract her phone from amongst her messy purse. He laughed with her, his panic subsiding. He had gone from nervously excited to panicking to relieved in a matter of moments. The woman had him in an emotional washing machine and she didn't even realise.
"Silly Girl, I wouldn't forget a thing like that: I was calling to see if your gorgeous self wanted to catch up tomorrow night?" He joked.
She pouted at that, she had wanted to see him tonight while she was still running high on momentum after her chat with Sara. Gathering her composure she spoke, her voice low:
"Aw, did ya miss me, Hot Stuff?"
"Most definitely, Sweetness." He flirted back.
"Well then, why are you waiting a whole night to catch up with me then?" She asked somewhat boldly. He smiled from the other end of the phone, pleased she had suggested it.
"Well I figured since travelling wore you out so much..." He trailed off.
"Derek Morgan! You just want me for sex!" She teased with mock upset. He mentally screamed: 'NO!' at her words. "I can deal with that..." She teased further, wishing she could see his face; he tended to get quite shocked for a split second after she made comments like that, it really was quite adorable.
"Baby you are bad." He said in reply, not really trusting himself to say more at that moment when countless of his deepest fantasies were parading themselves through his mind.
"And you love it." She said knowingly. "So what about it Mmmm-morgan?" She asked, dragging out his name; it was like music to his ears when she did that.
"What about what?" He asked, his brain still caught up somewhat in the erotic images his mind had replayed for him.
"What about coming to pay Mamma a visit? You could bring me some food...the cupboards are bare." She suggested, knowing he would come running at that; he always did take care of her.
"Chinese sound good Mamma?" He asked happily accepting her offer.
"It sounds positively perfect." She replied. "And I'll see you and all your perfection in..."
"About half an hour, I'm already half way out the door." He answered, hearing her laugh before she hung up with a sing-songed 'See ya soon.'
-x-x-x-x-
Garcia closed her phone with a massive grin on her face. She was one step closer to seeing just what Morgan would do if she finally reacted, and after that confidence boosting dose of flirting she couldn't wait to find out just what would happen.
Setting her phone down on the side table she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She definitely looked like she'd been travelling; and it wasn't the best of looks. Heading for the bathroom she washed her face and flung her hair up in a loose bun to keep some of it out of the way. Smiling happily at the situation and pleased with the wonders that a splash of cold water could do, she headed back to her living room, relaxing down into the soft cushions of her couch.
Not even a minute later she couldn't sit still; she was excited, she was nervous and waiting was going to drive her insane.
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After she buzzed him in with a cheery 'Come on up, Handsome', Morgan took the stairs two at a time, a bag of Chinese take-out in one hand and his car keys in the other. He reached her floor quickly and smiled as he saw her standing at the door waiting on him. Walking towards her he couldn't help but let his grin grow wider: oh how he had missed her, and it had only been two days!
"I come baring food m'lady." He said in way of a greeting. She laughed at his silliness, her smile as large as his as she welcomed him inside.
"Why thank you kind sir, it's much appreciated." She joked back before continuing more seriously: "I'm starving."
"Good thing I brought plenty then." He said in reply as he made his way to her kitchen to grab some plates; he was more than comfortable in her place.
"Ah but you're just trying to give me enough to sustain me so that you can have your wicked way with me, I know how your mind works Derek Morgan." She teased, leaning against her kitchen doorframe watching him gather plates and cutlery from her kitchen as if he lived there.
He turned to face her and she watched as his eyes grew serious. The butterflies in her stomach flapped furiously; that was a different look than normal.
"That's not the only way it works, Baby Girl." He said, his voice and expression both extremely serious as he stood back up, placing the plates on the unit. "I'm famished, let's eat!" He said, obviously changing the subject and she frowned; didn't he want to have this conversation?
It was when she was watching him as they were eating that it occurred to her: he was just like she had been, unsure and not wanting to ruin what they have just now if he would only end up heartbroken and without his best friend. She smiled softly at the realisation.
"What you smiling at there, Gorgeous?" He asked in between mouthfuls.
"Just thinking, Hot Stuff."
"About?" He questioned further, laughing slightly.
"Just it's been a good weekend." She said with a small shrug. "And I'm glad you're here, I missed our usual Saturday morning breakfast and banter." She said with a small pout, but her eyes were glittering.
"Aw, you missed me P. I feel the love." He joked with a smile.
"Shoosht." She said, thumping his left arm. He grabbed at it dramatically, his mouth turning from its 100-watt smile to a pout in seconds.
She chuckled, looking away from his puppy dog eyes so as not to get drawn in. When she straightened up again, meeting his gaze square on with a smirk as if to say 'what you gonna do about it?' the air seemed to crackle with something; tension, a spark. Whatever it was she knew he felt it too, his eyes had darkened and the playful tint was gone, replaced instead by something that took her breath away: love.
He leaned towards her and she held her breath as he brushed a stray curl away from her face, tucking it behind her ear, one of his signature half smiles gracing his lips. She didn't move; she couldn't for fear that it would all be yet another torturous day dream. Only her eyes were moving, taking in every inch of his face, from his overly expressive eyebrows to his chiselled jaw line and back to his extremely kissable looking lips before her eyes caught his once more. She saw the uncertainty in his eyes as the small line between his eyebrows began to appear, and before he could even contemplate moving away she moved forward, her lips just touching his and no more, stopping him in his place. She brought her hand came up to trace his jaw line, pulling him towards her a little more as they kissed softly.
It was only a moment before their kissing grew more passionate, more frantic as they both craved to taste more of the other. He ran his tongue along her lip, begging entrance to her mouth. She granted it quickly and reciprocated with fervour. They kissed until they couldn't any longer, breaking apart with amazed smiles gracing their faces as they looked into the eyes of the other and saw all of their own emotions reflected back at them: love, excitement, happiness and a healthy dose of lust.
"Where did that come from?" He asked, curious. "Here was me thinking I was going to have to woo you and you just wow-ed me." He joked.
"That came from too many years of wanting, a few pitchers of cocktail and some good old girl talk." She said with a smile, kissing him again. She knew that this was the start of another addiction; his kisses were like a drug to her and she'd only sampled them twice. "Hold on, you were going to woo me?" She asked and he only nodded in reply. "Damn, I should've held out a bit longer, I wanna be wooed!" She said with a pout and a laugh.
"How about..." He trailed off as he gave her a soft peck on the lips before pulling back. "I woo you anyways?" He suggested. "A princess should be treated like one." He was more than prepared to woo her even while he had her, and he definitely was not letting her go now that he did.
"I like the sound of that." She said with a giggle, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him close for another toe curling kiss.
Pulling away, breathless and extremely turned on, Garcia's voice came out much more hoarsely than she had expected: "Derek Morgan, I think I am completely and utterly in love with you."
"You think?" He asked, not really needing her to confirm it, her eyes, her actions and her kisses said it all. "Well I know I'm in love with you. I'm just so glad you finally noticed that I was making a move. I was beginning to think you weren't interested." He teased, semi-serious.
"Blasphemy." She replied with a smile. "I am completely and utterly in love with you, have been for far too long never to have done this before." She said with feeling. "Satisfied?" She queried with a cheeky smile.
"Nowhere near." He almost growled, watching her eyes widen as his eyes took on a predatory gleam.
"I'm sure we can do something about that." She replied in a lust filled voice just before their lips met in another searing kiss.
-x-x-x-x-
Lying curled up with Morgan in her purple sheets after one of the best nights of her life she couldn't help the massive grin on her face. She finally had the man of her dreams and all she'd had to do was react. She made a mental note to call Sara the next day to let her know just how well her advice had worked, and just how well it had gone over, although maybe she would leave out some of the details: like how she had discovered he has strangely ticklish knees or that if she traces the contours of his abs the muscles tense and flex in response, and definitely not that he was really into pleasing her first. She'd save them for the second phone call. There was no need to make her unbearably smug.
She sighed happily as he nuzzled her neck, his warm breath tickling her as his voice broke the comfortable silence that had enveloped them.
"You lied to me Penelope, it seems travelling doesn't take it all out of you. Look what I've been missing out on all these years." He joked and she laughed; only Derek would bring up something like that now, and she loved him all the more for it.
"You could have proved me wrong anytime, Hot Stuff." She said, intertwining her legs with his as his hand draped around her body.
"I'll remember to do that more often then." He said sleepily, his arms holding on to her more tightly as they both drifted off to sleep safe in the knowledge that they were both exactly where they were meant to be.
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So, we have come to an end! A rather hasty one, I admit, but I wanted this finished before I go on holiday and I don't have internet for a week! Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to cope without it! Maybe the sun'll distract me!
Thanks for those that have read and reviewed this 3-story arc, it means a lot!