Note- This title comes from the song So Happy Together by The Turtles
Imagine Me and You
Chapter One
December 2007
"Do you know that my house has never had a Christmas tree before?" Derek asked as he inspected the tree they had just decorated together.
"That's kinda sad."
"I've never been in town during the holidays." After another moment of looking at it he said "Looks good."
Though it was untraditional- since it was decorated in all of Penelope's ornaments which ranged from Star Was themed to Disney characters and 1950 antique glass ones- it was pretty in its own way. More than that it was important to have there in his home because every time Penelope looked at it Derek knew she would smile.
Keeping a smile on her face was his main priority in life now. Especially this Christmas just a month after she came close to dying. They had never spent a Christmas together before but this year he couldn't imagine being anywhere else but with her.
Lately they were together for most of the hours of the day.
It felt completely natural to wake up and find her in his kitchen, to go to sleep and know she was safe down the hall in his guest room, to come home from the store and hear her clacking away on her laptop, to be in the living room watching sports with her on the couch next to him knitting a scarf.
He wasn't getting tired of having her always around. Not in the least. In fact, he wondered how he would deal with it after their Christmas break was over and he had to go back to work again, come home to an empty house again, be on cases away from her again, and go back to how things used to be again.
It wouldn't be easy.
But that was a week away. Derek Morgan still had a week of domestic bliss to enjoy and he planned to soak in every minute of it.
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"Triple word score," she said a few hours later when they were playing Scrabble, with the Christmas lights blinking in the corner of the room on the now lit up tree.
"Damn, girl, I was just starting to catch up too."
"Just admit defeat and I'll make you some hot chocolate as a consolation prize."
"Forget about that. I'm gonna make a comeback. Watch and see."
"Sure you are, Hot Stuff. Keep dreaming those big dreams."
He didn't seem to be bored with having her as his house guest for the holidays. In a way that surprised Penelope. Though she knew they had a good time together and Derek enjoyed being around her there were still a lot of hours to fill while she spent their break from work at his house and, no matter which way you cut it, Scrabble wasn't all that exciting.
Not compared to how Morgan usually spent his down time: sexing up gorgeous women.
He had told her that he never let women come to his home though. In a way that did make her feel like everything that happened at his place was just theirs alone. They had made memories here in the past (he never really had been to her place until she came home from the hospital) and they were making more now.
It was good to be spending so much time with her closest guy friend.
A month earlier Penelope had been brutally attacked by her date, shot in the chest as she stood on her own front stoop, so now Derek was feeling extra protective. As the days went on she felt more and more normal and okay- she neither wanted nor needed special attention to remind her of her injury- but he wasn't as recovered emotionally as her. So she was trying to give him what he needed most this year for Christmas: time with her to prove to himself his friend hadn't died that horrible night in November.
Whatever it took Penelope would get Derek past his fears that she was about to be ripped out of his life.
She had survived that attack. And the man who hurt her didn't get to ruin another second of her life. He especially didn't get to ruin Derek's Christmas.
Penelope would get Derek through the holidays and soon things would return to normal. She was already planning and dreaming of all the things she could do now that she had this new lease on life. Derek thought he had to hold her hand through it all but he didn't.
She wouldn't lie to herself though. It had felt nice to be walking through life this last month with him always by her side. She would forever remember how he came through for her as her noir hero. Now it was his turn for her to be his heroine and show him that she was strong again, getting healthier every day, and that he didn't have to keep holding her hand so tight.
They would probably never go back to how things used to be between them and that was okay. Penelope had already mourned all she lost when that bullet ripped through her (the feeling of security in her own home, some of her trust in the world, some of her dreams and her naive hopes) but her and Derek would build a different version of their friendship that was just as amazing, if not more so, than what they had before it all got so scary and real.
She truly believed that. Life was going to only get better from here on out. Now if only she could make her buddy believe in that too.
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He liked drinking coffee with her in the mornings. She would read half the paper aloud to him. He'd takethe sports section while she took all the other ones.
He usually didn't do much more than glances at the scores for the basketball games. Other than that he would just sip his coffee, listen to her go on about this story or that one, tell him his horoscope or some recipe she found in the Food Section, and enjoy the time with her.
They did something similar some mornings at work but it wasn't quite like this. Since she moved in they had developed a routine. He found it comforting. It helped him relax and take the edge off to know that mornings meant coffee and the paper with Penelope, night time meant hanging out in his living room, and afternoons were for going out and finding something to keep them entertained.
If only Derek's life could always be like this. It kinda threw him for a loop how much he loved the way it felt to have her living with him. He had expected to simply like it. To feel better knowing she was safe and happy this holiday season.
But he more than liked it. He was addicted to it. He didn't want to ever give it up. Too bad life didn't work that way.
They would have to go back to work and their perfect vacation together would come to an end. For now though he had his baby girl across the table from him and life was good.
"Listen to this, handsome, your horoscope says that a large sum of money is coming your way. Maybe you're gonna win the lotto?"
He chuckled. "Silly girl, if I do then you better get ready to quit your job cause you and me are gonna go on a trip around the world."
"Ohhhhh, sounds sinfully delicious. But I warn you," she joked "if you don't ravish me within the first few weeks I may ditch you for some sexy cabana boy."
Derek laughed. "Hush, woman, unless you wanna get spanked."
"Do what you must. I've been a bad baby girl."
Derek rolled his eyes and shook his head at her. She was still hidden by the paper. Soon she was reading him the gossip column and then the advice one. He sat back in his chair and settled in for another half hour of domestic bliss.
This is the life, Derek thought to himself.