Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the CSI franchise. I play with the characters but unfortunately I can't keep them. Otherwise, I'd have a few of them chained to a bed in my non-existent basement.

A/N: This is my first fic so the possibilities this isn't a train wreck are kind of low. Read at your own risk. I wanted to give the Morgan and Hodges couple some love so let's see what I can do about that. Please don't flame me too much about typos because English isn't my mother tongue and I have no beta.

This is a Modges romance story. I don't know just yet if I'll include other couples and/or if it will contain smut sweet smut. I'll try not to OOC the characters too much.

This story starts a week after Hodges and Elisabetta end their relationship because even though they like each other, they are incompatible.

Morgan's POV

It had been a week since she had given advice to Hodges about marrying Elisabetta. A big part of her had wanted to tell him to call it off but she cared too much about him to ruin his chance at happiness. She had doubted the Italian beauty was being honest about not doing it just for her green card for a long while but soon she realised it was her jealousy making her think that because she knew David wasn't being a fool.

It had taken her by surprise how badly she had taken it all. She was a grown up woman for fuck's sake and she didn't have any claim on him. Still she had managed to keep it all inside and she was well on her way on giving up on him when he had to ask her if she though he was making a mistake getting married to her and even though she had given him her best advice, she couldn't stop thinking about it all once and again.

She kept replaying the scene on her head. Most times she was very happy with having being a good friend. She had been honest telling him she would support him whatever he decided because he was her best friend and she knew he was a good logical man and he would lead a very happy life with his beautiful wife and their little mini Hodges (the mental image of mini Hodges always made her smile even in mid of her despair). Other times her mind would flew wild and she would imagine very different scenarios in which she would tell him, she loved him and he'd return her feelings. It was all very romantic in a Disney kind of way except for the ones that ended up with them having sex on his desk.

She guessed she wouldn't be this frustrated if there was at least a minimal quantity of bliss on his face these days but David appeared to be even more reclusive and gloomy than ever. She had caught Nick, Greg and Henry trying to decide if they should pry and Finn of all people seemed to look away or lower her gaze every time they had to interact. She decided she would try to talk to him next shift.

But then next shift passed and the next and then the next and she didn't have the time to talk to him. Oh, she had good excuses. He had looked happier, they were super busy with a more than a decade old case that her dad and most people in the lab had worked on and she didn't want to meddle. The truth was that she was simply a coward and didn't want him to tell her they were doing great, not at least until she thought she could bear the news.

-"Damn Morgan, grow a spine"- she told herself.

So she finally managed to steer herself to the trace lab and try to establish a conversation.

-"Morgan, do you bring me some traces to work my magic on?"- he inquired as soon as she saw her entering. His normal half-smile on.

-"Actually, I was wondering if you were going to take your lunch break now and you wouldn't mind if I accompanied you?"- she tried to ask as non-nonchalantly as she could.

-"Actually. I was thinking of using that time to finish something for Nick. That body of his was covered in about 30 unknown substances and since they don't know who he even is, they really need of my expertise"- he looked like the cat who had just eaten the canary.

-"Please"- she put on some puppy dog eyes- "You seemed really down last week and I've been worried".

Suddenly his demeanour changed:

-"Look, I understand that you are trying to help but as I told Nick AND Greg AND Henry, I am Okay. Look here, I'm smiling"- he put on one of the most fake smiles ever-"Now could you guys leave me work in peace?"

She didn't laugh.

-"Okay, no need for sarcastic replies"- He was just being Hodges and keeping people at bay but it still stung quite a bit- "I won't pry and I'll tell the guys not to bother you."

-"Morgan... I didn't mean..."- he seemed to have realised he had touched a nerve.

She left before he could even finish the sentence but didn't mope for too long. David hadn't been this closed off with her ever so her Hodges' senses were definitely tingling. Had she really thought that? Greg and company were certainly geeking her up. She realised she would need to find what was wrong with him before actually confronting him if she didn't want more of that reflection non-sense he did.

She considered visiting Elisabetta for less than a minute (no way in hell! grrrr) and decided to question Finn who had been behaving so weirdly last week.

She decided she wan't going to let things to luck and started planing. Soon, it would be Saturday, a Saturday shift-free. If she invited Sarah and Finn to a Girls Night Out, she was sure she'd have the blood specialist hooked. Now she just had to convince Sarah Sidle and that took the promise to go to a place with a good vegetarian menu and that she would give it a go to a novel Sarah'd recently discovered to have someone to talk about it.

When she finished the paperwork on a hit and run, she hit the showers to get ready. It had actually been quite a simple case, except for the ubiquitous paperwork, as they've caught the 18 year old just one street away after the poor bastard got a flat and flattened a post. The victim had also surprisingly survived so the night didn't have the depressive tinge of darker shifts.

She liked the idea of going out with her co-workers. She was getting closer to them which made her happy because she didn't have much in the way of friends in Las Vegas. Still she found it hard feeling like the newbie in the place. Sarah had been there for such a long time (which came with its own type of problems as when she couldn't bring herself to tell everybody about her separation from Grissom) and Finn and Russell had each other even if their relationship had been a bit muddled at the start. That's why she really didn't want to lose Hodges who was the person she had felt most connected with, the person who had gotten her back on her feet after the kidnapping and the awfulness that came with it, but other two forces were pushing her to intervene. Her desire to protect him even if it was none of her business and those twisted dark hot feelings she felt in her stomach when she looked at him. Hot... hot mess, that's what she was right now.

The water cooled her head. Lately, it seemed she couldn't form coherent thoughts... everything ended up being about Hodges and she hated that because she wasn't an adolescent boy-crazy girl. She stepped out of the shower space, the blue tiles cold against her feet. After putting on her favourite red dressy shirt, black slacks, a silver chain and some light make up, she had made her mental plan on how to get Finn to spill and she also planned to have a great time with her two newest friends.

-"Brody, have a nice weekend"- said Gordon Shepherd, the agent in charge of the desk during day shift.

-"I sure plan to after I sleep for a few hours"- she grinned at him and thought to herself- "and buy enough hard liquor to soften Finn's tongue".