AN: This is one of these stories that started a life of its own. Was intended to be three chapters, then 7 on paper and finally written in 9 chapters. This chapter is the sort of flashback. That explains the background this story will be based on. Chapters again will be loosely tied together and not necessarily each chapter represenets one year. Enjoy...
Five years ago …..
Garcia heard a sigh coming from Morgan, who sat across from her and had been staring at the bottle of beer for a good twenty minutes now.
"You alright?" she asked, even though she could tell there was a problem. He hadn't said a word for the last half hour, just every now and then a 'hmm' when she told him about her latest issue with Foster, her boyfriend of four months.
Yes, Morgan seemed like miles away tonight, not his usual witty self. No smart comebacks, like he usually made when she started talking about Foster.
"What makes you think otherwise?" he asked.
"Because the closest thing to an acknowledgement of you being part of this conversation was 'Hmm' for the past hour or so. I was actually about to ask for a vowel. Oh, and the fact that when I told you that I am thinking of calling it quits with my boyfriend didn't even get the slightest reaction at all. Neither good, nor bad. Here I was getting ready for your sudden expression of joy and happiness… and nada, zip," Garcia pouted.
"Why would I be happy when you want to split from your boyfriend?" Derek asked innocently.
"Because secretly you want me all for yourself," she smiled at him sweetly, before continuing. "Or because there wasn't one conversation over the past four months where you didn't say at least something mean about him. Of course, not straight and direct, but in that hidden 'Derek Morgan' way."
"I would never say anything bad about whoever you choose to date," he defended himself.
"Sure," she answered, making sure he knew that she didn't believe one word.
"Whatever," he said, smiling. She just rolled her eyes.
"So what's wrong with you now, Hot Stuff?" she asked again, but moments of silence passed. "Derek?" she pushed, using his first name, which she knew he hated.
"It's Chloe …" he offered.
"What about your Miss World?"
"Why do you always call her that?" Morgan asked, looking at her with arched brows.
"Because she just looks like one of them. Surgically enhanced, of course, but that is not for me to judge."
"She ended it. Just like that," he said, choosing to ignore her last comment.
"Sucks," she replied, not even trying too hard to sound sorry. Of course she was sorry, if only for the look on her best friend's face right now... like someone just hurt him badly, which was quite strange, given that they had only been dating two or three months – give or take.
Penelope Garcia had seen plenty of women move in and out of Derek's life – usually gone within the very night, or a week later. There were a few that managed to stick around for a few months, but usually Morgan never looked like someone kicked his puppy after either of them had ended it.
"She dumped you – which sucks and moved her onto my 'most stupid people in the world' list, right up to the top stop. But … I mean … it isn't like it hasn't happened before. Why so ... gloomy?"
"I'm thirty-five now, Baby Girl. And I am not getting any younger…" he said, which did cause Penelope to just look at him quizzically and confused.
"Yeah, so am I. You worried to step outside this bar and drop dead? I'm not Reid or anything, but I would say that the chances for that are pretty minimal. Maybe ten years from now it will look different, but that is still far enough in the future…"
"I'm not scared of dying. Well, not any more than everybody else is, anyway. I found my yearbook a couple of nights ago. Going through it, I found out that most of the guys I went to school with are married now."
"So they have settled down and you are still… running riot. I bet half of them are already divorced, while half of the rest have already at least consulted a divorce lawyer…" Penelope grinned at Morgan in an attempt to make him smile and feel better. Which worked.
"I guess I am just afraid of ending up alone at some point," he confessed.
"Oh, you will never be alone, my dear. After all, you will always have me. And when you are sixty and still running after the bad guys – maybe slower than usual – I will still be there, over the phone, adoring the ground you walk on. I bet at sixty, you'll still be looking so hot that neither of these pretty FBI agents stands a chance against you. Girls will still be flocking to you, and on your gravestone will be something like 'The world's most favorite heartbreaker'. I can see it right in front of me," Penelope laughed, waiting for her drinking partner's response.
When none came, she looked up, right into Derek Morgan's face. He seemed to be lost in thought, judging by the intense expression on his face.
"What?" she asked.
"I have an idea. A backup plan."
"A backup plan? For what? You do realize what I just said was me basically making fun of you. I seriously hope that at sixty, you will have decided that a desk job is much better."
"Let's make a deal," he said, confusing her more.
"About what? Who pays the next round of drinks?"
"If, five years from now, you are not with someone, not engaged, in a relationship, married, God knows what, and I am the same… you and I marry."
Garcia, who had just taken a sip of her beer, came close to spitting the beer over half the table. "Excuse me?"
"In five years, if neither of us is attached… let's get married."
Instead of saying anything, Garcia just looked at Morgan for a moment, not sure what to say, or think for that matter of fact.
"Are you serious? Or is that just an early midlife crisis?" she joked.
"No, I am serious. In five years, if neither of us is attached to anyone, we get married. What's there to lose?"
"Apart from my sanity?" She smiled, getting one from Morgan in return. But she didn't miss that spark in his eyes that somehow told her he really was serious about the idea. And he was right. What was there to lose?
"Okay, let's agree on that. Five years from now. If neither of us is married, you and I get hitched," Penelope finally agreed cheerfully.
'Maybe we should keep him away from the alcohol the next time', she thought to herself, but then remembered that Derek was only on his second bottle for the night. On their usual nights out, he drank way more than that without any sort of sign of being anywhere close to drunk, or even tipsy.
"And just in case we forget…" he started, with a napkin in his right hand and a pen in his left, "we write it down on paper, or this napkin," he said, waving the napkin in front of her face, just in case she didn't notice.
"And what exactly do you want to write down on this thing? I, Derek Morgan, promise to marry Penelope Garcia in five years time, if neither us is in a relationship?" she asked, still not sure if Morgan was serious or just dealing with the 'break-up,' Derek Morgan style.
From previous experiences, she knew that Morgan tended to overdramatize things a bit after a break-up. Strangely, only after he was dumped, never when he was the one who ended things. Maybe this was just his way of dealing with rejection, although in Garcia's opinion, the woman who dumps a god like Derek Morgan must be either dumb as a breadstick or blind. Or maybe both.
"Okay, so that's done. Now we just need to sign," she heard him say, and when she looked back at him, saw him handing her the pen.
"Sign? Cupcake, these are no pre-nups. Aren't you taking this kind of too seriously?"
"Why?"
"Because… well… let's see. In five years, you will probably be married to Miss Universe and have four little Dereks running around, while I cry after another dumbass of an ex-boyfriend," she advised, taking a short break and thinking hard. "Yeah, that sounds about right," she finally agreed with herself. But seeing Derek still handing her the pen, she sighed, taking it and putting her initials under whatever Morgan had scribbled on the white-ish napkin.
Morgan did the same, then folded the napkin and put it in the back of his jeans.
"Are you feeling better now? Now that you know there is someone for you to marry in five years if all goes terribly wrong?"
Morgan just nodded, but it didn't escape her attention that he just seemed a lot more at ease now, more relaxed and definitely more focused on their conversation.
It was about half an hour later when they decided to call it a night and head home.
When Garcia stepped out of the bar, she already had half forgotten about their pact.