A/N: Let me be the first author of probably many to follow for this year's valentine's day story posting. LOL

A year had twelve months and out of all of them Penelope had decided February was the one she liked the least. Yes, it was the shortest month of them all, which usually meant people would get their paychecks sooner, but as far as she was concerned that was the only good thing about Februarys.

February was the month of Valentine's Day. A day that when you were in a relationship was probably something you could easily get excited about. But Penelope wasn't in a relationship. Not anymore anyway. Her latest try at some sort of life outside the BAU had come to a failing just a few, mere weeks ago. She had tried telling herself that it was his phobia of commitment that made him end things so close to Valentine's but that was just a lie to herself. The truth was that things between her and Linus had gone nothing but downwards since a while now and he was just the first of the two of them to admit that this was just not going anywhere anymore.

"Hey, pretty momma, you still moping about that guy of yours?" Morgan wondered when he entered her office, seeing her looking anything but happy. It had become a sight he unfortunately had come getting used to by now.

"I'm not moping," Penelope replied without looking up from her screens, which, at closer inspection from Morgan, seemed like travel sites.

"You planning on going somewhere?" he asked, handing her a coffee he had gotten on his way in. Her favorite one.

"Just an idea I am having…" she said rather cryptically, making Morgan raise an eyebrow in wonder. Morgan was hoping she would elaborate more, but she didn't say anything more, which left him to ask.

"What's the occasion? As far as I know neither of us is having any vacation coming up…"

"I feel like going far away. The further the better. Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I don't feel like spending it necessarily here. All by myself…."

"Hey, last year you loved Valentine's day, if I am not entirely wrong. As well as the years before that as well. You always had your lair decorated with these red, little heart-shaped lights. Come to think of it, your whole office turned rather red for the week approaching Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, well, last year I wasn't single. And the years before that I wasn't just freshly broken up with, was I?" Penelope asked and saw Morgan weight his options. She scrolled further down on her current screen, seeing plenty more pictures. "Why does this site seem to only offer Paris as a destination?"

"I always thought you like Paris and always wanted to go?" Morgan wondered, seeing her scrolling down further.

"Yeah, well, but definitely not on my own during Valentine's day. Can you imagine? Me, all on my own, single, in the city of love? That has torture written all over it…"

XXX

For Penelope there wasn't much to be done that day. The team was grounded and ordered to chase up with paperwork, which had been more or less neglected for the past few months ad new requested by the higher ups. With the entire team filling out paper work, Penelope could spent more or less all day browsing websites for last minute escapes. But every webpage she opened invited her to 'spent Valentine's with a loved one'. Her screen filled with pictures of happy people on beaches, in nice looking cities or cuddled up in front of fire places in some snowed in town. Great, exactly what she did not need.

Morgan had dropped by a few times throughout the day, mainly to leave a few files with him. Yes, occasionally she was required to do paperwork herself. It was not for every case, which made it less annoying, but every time she had to do it, she hated it. She always felt like she had to defend herself a bit. Although no one ever came back to her and questions whatever she had been thinking when doing certain things. Not that it made anything better.

Two weeks before Valentine's turned into one, which turned into the Friday before the day. By now the whole city of Washington D.C. was plastered in red. Flowers, paper hearts, decoration, advertisement. Book stores advised special offers and last minute reminders. Jewelry stores went more or less crazy with 'special offers' that 'guaranteed her affection'. Even TV channels didn't seem to have any other topic anymore. There was just no escaping. Not even on vacation, which she had given up on about a week ago when it became obvious that she wouldn't be able to get far away enough from any of this.

Making it to her office that last Friday before the day, Penelope was surprised to find her office being decorated like she had done it the previous years. There were her blinking red, heart-shaped lights, red tinsel around her desk and a few other details. And in the center of her desk was a big, heart-shaped box of chocolates. Taking the attached card, she had to see it was not signed, but she'd recognize that handwriting everywhere.

Someone's thinking about you

Morgan always gave her chocolate for Valentine's. Every year. And it was never the cheap one. She should have known that this year wouldn't be any different. And just when she had managed to open the box and take the first piece of chocolate the man himself appeared in her doorway, armed with two, deep red paper cups of coffees from their favorite coffee shop.

"They have a special at the moment. And it made me think of you, so I got you one. Not your usual coffee, I have to admit," he smiled at her, handing her a cup and waiting for her to take a taste.

"What kind of special?" Penelope asked curiously, taking a first sip and realizing this really wasn't her usual coffee.

"They call it the 'Anti-Valentine's Day signature coffee'. Stuff that is rich in endorphins that are supposed to make you happy, or happier at least," Morgan explained and saw his best friend taking another sip. "How does it taste?"

"Like coffee. It has a bit of a weird after-taste, but it actually doesn't taste bad…" Penelope answered, taking another sip, which made Morgan smile at her softly.

"Emily and JJ said by the way they meet you for lunch at the Thai place down the road…"

"Emily and JJ? I can't remember that we made plans," Penelope said, looking surprised.

"I think they just decided last minute about it," Morgan smiled at her.

"What about our traditional lunch?" Penelope asked, pouting slightly, which made Morgan laugh.

"Unfortunately I have some plans that I can't postpone. But what about dinner to make it up?" he inquired and saw her nod after a few moments of consideration.

"Okay, but only because you are so damn handsome."

That made him laugh more. Stepping forward until he stood right in front of his best friend, Morgan leaned forward to press his lips against Penelope's forehead. "Good to know you've got your priorities right…" Then he moved slowly back, towards the door. "I pick you up after shift. How does that sound?"

Lunch with the girls was entertaining, but nothing too exciting. JJ was going on and on about Henry and Will, which usually made Penelope smile, especially anything in connection with her adorable godson. Emily was talking about some guy she had been seeing for a few weeks now and things seemed to move rather well. It seemed to Penelope like the whole world would spent their Valentine's Day with someone special and she was the only one out there that would be all alone and depressed. But hat for did she have that two pints of Ben&Jerry's and her subscription to the Lifetime Network? Sounded like a perfect Valentine's weekend in her books.

Or maybe she could ask Morgan whether he had any plans? But what was she thinking? Morgan, who was always having something going on, would probably not miss out on some Valentine's romance.

….

"Ready to go?" she heard the familiar voice coming from her door at five o'clock sharp.

Penelope was just shutting down her systems, switching off her screens and reaching for her handbag, when Morgan appeared behind her, her coat in hand, helping her in it.

"As ready as always," she smiled at him gently, following him out of the door, before locking it and making her way with him together to the elevator.

"Okay if we take my car? I can either drop you off here later, or I can get you home and pick you up on Monday…"

"Okay, sounds logical. Where do we go by the way? I think you never mentioned the place."

"I thought French might be a nice change from our usual Chinese and Pizza we always seem to have," Morgan grinned at her, holding the elevator door open for her once it arrived.

Penelope remembered that he had mentioned a few times that a new French restaurant had opened recently and whether they should check it out, she remembered roughly the address and knew it wasn't that much of a drive from the office.

When they passed the first exit on the freeway Penelope was wondering where Morgan's mind was, and mentioned that maybe they should try with the second exit then. But he drove past that one as well. He did the same for the next three exits. By then Penelope had started to wonder what was going on.

"I guess you mean a different restaurant than the one you have been talking about a few times…" Penelope simply remarked.

Morgan took briefly his eyes of the road to look at her. "Yes, maybe. But … I have to admit, I have a little confession…."

"What…. confession?" Penelope asked warily. Usually they never had secrets from each other.

"Consider yourself kidnapped," Morgan grinned, making her look at him surprised.

"Kidnapped? Why… what's going on?"

"Well, we, Baby Girl, have a flight to catch."

"A flight? To … where? We didn't catch a case or something, right?" she asked confused.

"No, we didn't," he assured her, seeing her slightly relax. Funny, he thought didn't she try to escape V-Day?

"Where are we going to?" he heard her ask in a soft voice.

"Paris," he simply stated, not saying anything else.

"Paris? I … as in Paris, France?" she asked shocked, seeing him simply nod.

"Yes, the one and only," he simply answered.

"I can't just… I mean, we can't just go to France. Not like that? I mean … what happens when a case comes in that really requires us to be in the office?" she asked.

"That's your main concern?" Morgan wondered amused. "That there might be a case coming in and we would be needed?"

"Well, yes," she answered truthfully. And admittedly her brain worked strange ways when being confronted with the unexpected sometimes.

"I can put your mind at ease then, Baby Girl. If a case comes in, it doesn't matter. I cleared it with Hotch. We are off for a few days…"

"You spoke to Hotch? About… taking me to Paris?" she asked astonished. "I … I … um, why?"

At that Morgan just laughed. Sometimes she just was too funny.

"I had to get us a few days of, Baby. I don't just fly to Paris for a day."

"But I don't have anything with me," Penelope all if a sudden realized.

"Well, I am sure you wouldn't really need plenty of clothes for our little, extended weekend," Morgan laughed, which made Penelope look at him alarmed. "But just on case you did want to do some sightseeing, I got you a couple of your clothes during lunch. As well as your passport."

"If I go to Paris what else would I do then sightseeing?" she asked confused.

"I leave that up for you to come up with," he grinned dirtily at her.

"I … um…" Penelope started, but wasn't sure what she should say.

Morgan let out a sigh, just when they took the exit for Dulles International Airport.

A few minutes passed without anyone saying anything. In the end it was Morgan who broke the silence, just when they arrived at the parking.

"I love you, Penelope. I always have and not in a sisterly-best-friend-love. Most definitely not. And quite honestly… I started getting a bit impatient waiting. So instead of waiting and bidding my time, I decided to take charge and make things happen," Morgan said all of a sudden, knowing full well he took a risk now. But he was tired of their constant dancing around each other. If it turned out that she didn't want him he at least would finally know and could move on, instead of hoping, praying, wishing for something to happen.

He left the car, trying to get to the door to hold it open for Penelope before she left the car herself, but was a bit too late. Penelope stood in front of him for a moment, looking at him as if she was studying his expressions, him. And then she leaned slowly forward, cupping his face with her hands and kissed him.

It was like lightning hit him when her lips touched his. At first he didn't even register what was happening. When he did, he wondered whether he was daydreaming and when that was ruled out, it was almost too late, since he felt her slowly withdraw. But before her lips could leave his, he pulled her back in. At first it was a bit like testing the water, trying what would work, but it didn't took them long to figure out what worked best for them. With Morgan taking over their kiss, pulling her in, wrapping her in his arms and exploiting her lips further, letting his tongue trace the outer lines of her lips, before taking a deep plunge into her heat and taking a deep and long taste of what would soon become his new favorite flavor.

They spent half an eternity in that parking lot, almost missing their flight to Paris. But once they did make it, both of them knew everything was about to change. And from that day onwards Penelope's Valentine's Days would never be the same again. Or spent alone for that matter.

*-*-*-*-* THE END *-*-*-*-*

post-A/N: One might assume now I have an obsession with paris, since I always seem to sent them off to Paris in my stories. LOL But as previously mentioned, I actually hate paris, but for V-Day, well... it is the City of Love after all.