Disclaimer – I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters.

Crazy Idea

The door of the diner jingled as the two women entered, one holding lots of shopping bags, while the other only held two. The red haired waitress behind the counter greeted them with a warm smile as they sat in a corner booth.

"I can't believe Rossi is springing a surprise wedding on Jayje," Penelope exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement as they picked up menus. "Do you think she'll kill him?"

"Only if she changes her mind. Besides it gives us excuse to shop; retail therapy goes a long way after our adventure yesterday," Emily said pointedly, and the blonde nodded in agreement smiling at the thought of the purchases.

"That dress looks amazing on you, Em. I'm going to have competition on the dance floor." Emily felt her cheeks getting warm.

"I don't think so," she shook her head. Before she could compliment Penelope on her choice of dress the waitress, Mary, made her way over to the booth.

"Okay Cher, what will it be today?" Her thick New Orleans accent resounding in the dinner as she directed her question at Emily.

"Um can I have the waffles with strawberries and orange juice please?"

Mary nodded as she wrote the order before turning to Penelope. "And you Sugar?"

"I'll have the same, but with peaches instead of strawberries, thanks."

Mary nodded again. "I'll be right back with your drinks," she told them before turning to Emily. "Where's tall, dark and handsome this weekend?"

Penelope's eyes snapped to Emily's face as the brunette avoided eye contact. "Um, change of plans this week."

"Shame, highlight of my Sunday is coming into work to see that smile," she said as she wondered off leaving Emily alone with the enquiring mind of Penelope Garcia, seeker of all things gossip. Emily held out as long as she could before Penelope reached across the table and tipped Emily's chin so she could get eye contact.

"Uh, who is the 'Tall, dark and handsome' the vivacious red head referring to?" Penelope's grin was wide as she launched into another question. "Are you dating someone?"

Emily rolled her eyes good naturedly. "No, she's talking about Morgan, we come here after we go to the shooting range on Sundays," she shrugged. No big deal. Only to Penelope it would be a big deal, and she would read more into it than most, something Emily didn't want.

"Every Sunday?" Penelope questioned.

"Yeah, since our take down requalification," Emily nodded. She could see more questions in her friends' eyes.

"What else are you guys up to outside of work?" And there it was.

"Sometimes we go see a movie afterwards; I sometimes go help him with the property he's working on." As soon as Morgan had heard of her plans to buy a house, he had started questioning her ability about fixing things around the house. From her answers, Morgan had been amused to find out she knew next to nothing, so after teasing her for a suitable length of time he had offered to teach her by getting her to work with him on his current restoration project. She had jokingly accused him of wanting free labour, while Morgan countered by saying he didn't want to be disturbed in the middle of the night because of broken water pipe, his eyes twinkling with laughter.

"You guys hang out a lot," Penelope said, and Emily inwardly winced at the tone. She hadn't wanted Penelope to get that impression of their relationship. It was a platonic friendship. Emily couldn't deny that there was another dimension to the tension between them since her return to the team. A spark that had once been slow burning, innocent flirting that was now tinged with deeper emotion. But Emily had thought it was entirely one sided. During her time in Paris her thoughts often drifted to the what ifs that surrounded her relationship with Derek. When he had clung to her in the conference room, Emily could feel the desperation, fear and apprehension that flowed from his body.

Mary approached their table again and placed the drinks in front of the women, Emily lifted the glass to take a sip. "Oh how was the date Cher?" She asked Emily. Penelope's eyes bulged with the new information, while Emily tried not to spill the orange juice.

"What date?" Penelope asked staring wide eyed at Emily.

"No date. I haven't been on a date," Emily said to her quickly before turning back to Mary. Emily was confused. She hadn't been on a date since long before Doyle returned to seek revenge against her. "What date?" She asked the waitress.

"I couldn't help but overhear you and Handsome discussing it last week. Would've won me a hundred bucks from the rest of the Sunday staff, to hear you two were going on a date, but they said I gotta get proof before they pay up."

Immediately, Emily realised what Mary was referring to. Avoiding Penelope's smirk, Emily could only imagine what was going through her friend's mind at the moment. "Um, it wasn't a date, sorry. And it didn't happen; we were called into work yesterday. We're just friends, that's all."

Mary shrugged. "If I were thirty years younger, that man wouldn't be just a friend," she said wondering back to the counter to serve another customer. Emily sat studying a bead of condensation sliding down her glass to avoid looking at Penelope.

"You guys were going on a date? When?" Penelope questioned with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"It wasn't a date. I was taking him to dinner as a thank you for helping me with the inspection of the house." Emily paused. "I mean it's not like we haven't been out to dinner before."

"Just the two of you?" Penelope asked, a wide grin gracing her face.

Emily rolled her eyes. "A few times after we go see a movie, or maybe takeout if we are at one of our apartments."

Penelope's eyes clouded over for a moment, while she tried to work something out. When she saw Emily watching her intently, she started to apologise. "I'm sorry, just trying to get my head around it. With the amount of time you guys are spending together outside of work and the 'coupley' things you're doing, to anyone who doesn't know you like I do it sounds like you're dating each other."

Emily couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at the idea. "Dating? Me and Morgan? There are regulations, do you have any idea what would happen to our careers, to the team?" She asked.

Penelope turned thoughtful for a moment, before responding as she leant in. "But what if the regulations didn't matter? Would you go on a date with Morgan?" She asked gently.

Emily mulled over Penelope's words. While it was true that they spent a lot of time together outside of work, it was because they were trying get back their friendship from before she left. She was quiet for a little too long as she thought over the situation. She shook her head, trying to banish the thoughts that were going through her head. "Garcia, we're just friends who hang out, like I hang out with you or JJ. It's a crazy idea."

"Really? You two have been hanging out like that for months, and none of us knew. Is it such a crazy idea to date Morgan? He's hot, carries a gun, and works the same schedule. That's your type." Penelope's eyes lit up as she made the connection, the idea settling in her head. Emily groaned at her friend, her head tipping back briefly as she gave a silent plea to whatever deity that would listen to help her through this conversation.

"We were just going to dinner, and that's all. And it got cancelled because we were all called into work yesterday. Would you just drop it please? Besides, yesterday you were going to the Doctor Who convention with Reid; you don't hear me asking if you're dating him," Emily couldn't help the sharp tone; it was overwhelming. She hated being the centre of attention.

"But I don't check Reid's butt out like you do Morgan's." Penelope countered, and Emily's eyes widened as she felt her face heat up. "Don't worry I only know you do it because I do it too. A lot." Emily smiled at the dreamy look that came over her friends face.

"I'll agree that he has a nice butt," Emily conceded. Penelope sputtered in disbelief at her friends' statement.

"Nice? Just nice? It's magnificent," Penelope whispered wistfully. Emily couldn't help but laugh at her friend.

"Seriously Pen, can we just drop it, please?"

"One more question first," Penelope waited for Emily to agree, which she did reluctantly. "Seeing as you guys never made it to dinner, are you going to reschedule?"

….

It was the early hours of Monday morning when Emily walked up the steps to her apartment building, Morgan following close behind as she unlocked the front door. At the end of the wonderful evening, Morgan had done the gentlemanly thing and insisted that he make sure Emily got home safely, seeing as he lived nearest to her. Spencer, who lived closest to Penelope, had said he would get her home. She closed the door as he wandered through to her living room.

"Coffee?" Emily asked as she placed her shawl and bag on the coat rack.

"No decaf," he said, following her into the kitchen as she flipped the switch on the kettle. She threw him a smirk over her shoulder as she reached for the decaf. When a horrified expression came over his face she reached for the regular coffee. "So do you know why Garcia was smirking at us when we were dancing?" Emily closed her eyes at the question. She could still feel him pressed against her as he held her close, could still feel the rhythm of his heartbeat against hers. Over his shoulder, Emily had seen Penelope looking at them while she danced with Kevin, a smile playing on her lips.

She opened her eyes, and filled the cups with the hot water. Emily turned to pass him his cup of coffee; he was leaning against the opposite work top. "It's nothing," she sighed. "We went shopping today and afterwards we went to the diner that you and I go to on Sundays. Mary asked how our 'date' was." The last part came out in a rush, and Morgan was confused.

"Date?"

Emily took a deep breath, studying her cup instead of looking at him. "Mary overheard us talking about dinner last week. Apparently, the members of staff there have a bet going as to when you and I are going to go on a date. Crazy idea, right?" She gave a short laugh before blowing on her coffee. Emily hoped it wouldn't make Morgan uncomfortable. She raised her eyes slowing to his, to gage his reaction.

"Is it such a crazy idea?" He asked.