A/N: Well, here it goes my entry to the masquerade challenge… I'm not really proud of it, but I've gone through two hellish weeks IRL and haven't been that busy in a while (thanks to my professor for those EVIL papers and attending a group fitness instructor course)… Anyway, I just wanted to hand in something, 'cause I think it would've sucked to sign up and then hand nothing in. Adding to that the task wasn't an easy one as I've never been that fond of the Adams Family, so I wasn't familiar with the assigned "costume"/character… If somebody reads it, I'd love to hear what you think! Reviews make my world go round.
P.S.: I boycott Agent Mary Sue, therefore she won't show up in my stories. Also… did I mention that I HATE Kevin Lynch?
Summary: Entry for the Author's corner's Halloween challenge. Morgan/Garcia ft. Morticia Adams.
Garcia's Halloween Who Is Who
It was a quiet evening at the headquarters of the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Derek Morgan thought. Maybe that was due to the time of the day... or rather night, he figured as he looked at his watch. Midnight had passed almost an hour ago. The bullpen was nearly empty. The lone figures that remained all belonged to Hotch's team, who'd gotten in late after a grueling case in New Mexico. But even most of the BAU's finest had already called it a day: JJ had gone to Henry right after they'd arrived, eager to see her son after being away for almost a whole week. Emily had half-heartedly worked on her report for a while and then left to go clubbing. Reid had carefully typed his and then gone to spend the evening playing chess with an agent from white collar. Even Rossi had called it quits a while ago, saying that he was in dire need of a glass of the really good stuff. Hotch's office was the only one that was still lit-up. It seemed that everyone else had left... no. Not everybody. He noticed that there was still some light coming from the hallway that led to Garcia's lair. The past few months had been tough for her. At the beginning of the year Kevin Lynch had proposed to her. Morgan himself had been shocked, when he'd learned the news and over and over again told himself later that he should've trusted his intuition back then. He'd never really approved of nerdy tech analyst and thought his baby girl deserved much better. But when he'd tried to talk to her about it, she took it the wrong way. To this day, he could still see her before his eyes as if it had happened yesterday. The way her eyes had narrowed and the usual happy-go-lucky attitude of her person had given way to a bitter expression. And then the fury that'd kept her going had disappeared as fast as it had appeared, she'd deflated, looking uncharacteristically realistic and spent. And then she'd spoken...
"I'm not you Derek. I won't have guys lining up outside my door for all the time to come. I always wanted to get married some day. Maybe it's time to grow up and settle for what I have."
She'd turned around and trudged away with hunched shoulders. Things hadn't been the same between them ever since. Gone was their flirty banter, gone were the smiles he'd liked to think she'd always saved for him. And then it had happened: a mere month before the wedding was to take place it'd gotten out that Kevin Lynch had been two-timing Penelope for almost the whole duration of their relationship with a with a barmaid of a shabby place in the centre of D.C. A barmaid that had apparently back then been very much pregnant. He'd never forget the way her voice had wavered as she'd called him and asked him to pick her up and drive her home. Never forget how crushed she'd looked, when she'd just been the beaming bride to be a couple of hours earlier. It had only been his iron self-restraint that had kept him from punching Lynch's lights out back then. In the weeks and months after it he'd tried to be there for his baby girl but she'd always only looked like a shell of her former self and he'd never know if he'd been getting through to her.
"Morgan?" He looked up, torn from his thoughts, to find Hotch watching him carefully.
"Yeah, Hotch. I was just thinking." He replied, trying a half-smile.
"I'm heading home. I think you should too." Hotch said.
"I will - in a moment." Derek replied with a glance into the direction of Garcia's office. He watched his boss depart and then got up to see what his baby girl was up to. When he opened the door to her small office it was empty. Only the many running computers indicated that she still was around. Derek already wanted to turn around, when something on Garcia's biggest screen caught his eye. She'd opened an e-mail with the subject "office who's who: the HALLOWEEN version". Derek wasn't one to pry and he respected people's privacy very much, but right now he was just too curious and inched closer to see what his baby girl had written. When he looked at the sender, he saw that it was from another technical analyst, that had also been 'recruited' by the FBI from the dark side and that worked with a team in counter terrorism. He didn't know the woman all that well, but notice that her and his baby girl had become close friends after the Lynch incident. He switched his attention to the text and started to read: "...if your team had to attend a Halloween party. Who would show up in which costume?" The analyst had asked Garcia and given an example, dressing her team from the Simpsons' Disco Stu to Donald Duck. Since he didn't know the members of that team that well he only skimmed this part and started to read what Garcia had written. He sniggered, when he read the first line: "Ok, Ellie. I will start with the only unpleasant being in the BAU. When you consider how many times she literally tried to kill the team, could Erin Strauss be anyone but Morticia Adams (whose maiden name was frump notabene)? Ok, next coming up: our baby genius. You will agree that he'd be perfect as The Doctor! Emily... she'd be perfect as Wonderwoman, when you think how much she kicks ass chasing after the bad guys. Hotch would totally be Mr. Fantastic and David Rossi would show up as Scotty from Star Trek, 'cause I'm sure they share a love for whiskey. JJ would dress up as Emma Frost. And finally Derek...oh, Ellie. I've never told him how sorry I was..." The text ended there and left Derek with a bad feeling. What was she sorry for, letting him help her? And who was he supposed to be anyway?
"Superman." A quite voice behind him suddenly said. He whirled around and saw Penelope standing in the doorway uncertainly. "I meant to say..." She took a deep breath and stared at the floor. "That I am sorry I never thanked you properly for being there for me, after….well after everything." She paused when she saw his surprised expression. Obviously he'd expected her to write something entirely different. " Derek, who else could you be? You always were my Superman. Always."