Here's a long one for you; that's what he said! Enjoy!
Magic
Chapter 2
The jet finally landed in New Mexico and the time was 1:23am. Reid yawned drowsily as he rubbed his eyes. The rest of the group walked sluggishly to the cars, except for Hotch; who seemed to not let anything slow him down. He kept his determined pace as he lead the others toward the black SUV's.
"We're going straight to the police station. After we get a rundown on the case, we can all head to the hotel and get some long overdue sleep." Hotch told them as they put their bags in the trunk.
On the car ride there, Penelope found herself having a draw with the Boogieman; and he was winning. As her head bobbed back and forth, it ended up landing on the strong shoulder of Morgan. He was barely able to keep his eyes open, but he knew he wasn't imagining her sleeping on him.
Hotch, Rossi and J.J. were all riding in one van and Prentiss, Reed, Morgan and Garcia were all riding in the second.
From where Reid was sitting, he could see Prentiss diagonally where she was in the passenger seat. His heart quickened as he watched her take an easy breath in and out as she slowly fell asleep. He smiled lightly to himself and rested his head against the side of the door and just watched her. For someone as smart as he, it was ironic that he couldn't see what was right in front of his face.
"Are we there yet?" Penelope asked childishly and Morgan laughed lightly.
"Almost." he answered easily as he got whiff of her incredibly inducing scent of shampoo. It was almost too much to bear and he found himself turning his knuckles white as his hands made fists in order to control the sudden urge that came with the encompassing aroma.
Not here, not now, not at all. This was work and he needed to stop acting like a hormonal crazed teenage boy and focus all his attention on the case. He would need to find a way to put his feelings to bed before they caused someone else to fall into bed with them.
Finally arriving at the station everyone made good use of the freshly made coffee just inside the doors. The aroma of the coffee beans was more than inviting.
Once in the conference room, Penelope took a seat next to Prentiss and listened to the game plan; waiting for her objective. There were so many computers to go through and she knew she needed either a good night's sleep to tackle them all or a case of Monsters and a giant bag of Swedish fish. If she could crack who was spamming all of these victims, she would lead them on the right track to finding the killer. She was ready for the challenge.
XOXO
"Sleep, mmm." Penelope said tiredly walking into the elevator with her neon pink suitcase rolling behind her.
"One thing we don't get enough of." Prentiss said with a knowing smile.
"I don't know how you guys do it." Garcia responded. "At least I get to nod of in front of the computers every now and then. When someone walks in, I pretend I'm cleaning dust out of the keyboards."
Everyone laughed as the elevator slowly took them up. Unfortunately, they all got spread out due to how packed the hotel was. The whole gang had to deal with being on three different levels.
As the elevator slowly thinned out, it was just Morgan and Penelope after Prentiss and Reid got out on the same floor.
"What room you in?" Morgan asked Garcia as the doors finally opened for them to get off.
"410." she replied. "Top of the barrel."
"408." He commented holding up his room key. "Looks like we're neighbors."
There it was again; his magnificent, kidlike smile that she loved seeing on his masculine face. It was the perfect balance.
"Call me Lady Luck." Garcia replied with the same glowing smile. Waiting for her to get in safely, Morgan watched her slide her room key and enter the room before he went into his own.
How would she be able to sleep with him right on the other side of those thin walls? Laying her suitcase on the bed, Penelope let her dirty mind take over as she tried to imagine what Derek slept in; or didn't sleep in.
The sinful thought made her blush profusely as she pulled out her own nightgown. As she stood in the shower letting the hot water cascade down her body, she imagined what it would feel like to have his strong arms wrapped around her. It was something she always thought of, but never got the satisfaction of fully enjoying. She wanted him too bad to let a cheap little fantasy even remotely settle her cravings. It would never be the same, yet it was all she had to get her through the dark, cold, lonely nights.
Stepping out of the shower, she dried off before slipping into her magenta colored silk pajamas. Climbing into bed, she touched her wall lightly. Her beloved was just on the other side, but she couldn't see, hear or feel him. She was being teased by architecture.
"Damn walls." she said to herself before snuggling down into the blankets.
XO
Morgan fell back on his bed almost instantly after walking into the room. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.
He awoke to the sound of a car horn outside a few hours later. Morgan turned over and saw his bedside clock read 6:14am. He wondered if anyone else was awake yet as he slowly sat up and yawned drowsily.
After his shower, he went and grabbed a coffee for his roommate and knocked on her door.
"One minute!" Penelope yelled hurriedly. "I'm coming! Hold on!"
Morgan waited outside, curious to the sounds that were coming from inside the room. He heard a few things crash to the floor and Garcia cuss right after. Suddenly, she whipped the door open, hand in her curler covered hair and a flushed face.
"I thought you were Hotch coming to yell at me." Penelope confessed taking a breath. "J.J. called and told me to be ready by eight, but I'm a person who is more partial to meeting at the crack of noon on Saturdays, so I've been racing back and forth trying to get ready before you all leave me."
Through her whole rant, Morgan couldn't help but just grin at the exasperated woman.
"Garcie it's only seven, calm down." Morgan handed her the coffee and proceeded into her room with a light chuckle.
"I know, but have you seen this?" she asked; insinuating her hair, as she let the door shut by itself. "These curls take up most of my already hectic schedule. It's more of a curse than a blessing from Marilyn."
Morgan flipped the blankets over on her bed so at least it looked half made before planting his butt on the soft mattress. He noticed she was wearing a knee-long jean skirt with her pajama top still on as she raced back to the vanity.
"You're a saint." She said making eye contact with him through the mirror as she toasted to him with her coffee. "How'd you sleep last night?" She continued applying her makeup as Morgan answered her question.
"I was in a dead sleep within seconds. These cases keep coming right after the other, it's my body's way of saying "Let Spiderman take care of the crime." Penelope smiled as she brushed blush lightly on her cheeks. "How was your night?"
"It was awfully lonesome." She used a fake southern accent as she spoke. "I just couldn't sleep knowing you were in the next room yonder. Seemed like a world away."
Morgan laughed as he took a swig of his much needed coffee.
"You know I was missing you too, girl."
Penelope wished all mornings could be like this; Derek surprising her with coffee and his heartwarming kiddie smile. It made her heart pitter patter just thinking about all the scenarios where he would be fulfilling her fantasies.
As she unraveled the curlers out of her hair, she watched him through the mirror.
"Oh, wait!" Garcia said getting up quickly. She ran over to her suitcase and pulled out two different blouses. "Which one is better?" she held both up for him to choose. "One says "I work on computers at the FBI and I refuse to relinquish my sense of style." Morgan chuckled at her definition. "The other screams Lady Gaga. What do you think?"
"Lady Gaga!" Derek decided solidly.
"Didn't take you long to answer that one." she said with a smile.
"Gaga's very talented."
"You mean Gaga makes you Gaga." Penelope replied as he Morgan shook his head feeling embarrassed.
"You need some privacy?" he asked her standing up.
"No, I'll be out in one minute." Penelope closed the bathroom door, but let it hang open slightly so she could hear him if he said anything. She quickly changed and returned to the vanity where she continued to take out the rest of her curlers.
"When we solve this case, I'm ordering a large lobster." Penelope said with a smile in his direction.
"Baby girl, you can order anything you'd like." He said walking over to where she was sitting. Morgan watched her through the mirror, adoration for the woman, hiding in his eyes. She was so precise when she applied her eye shadow. It was like watching an artist at work, only Morgan wanted to admire the player rather than the illustration. "You don't need all that makeup, Garcie. You look beautiful just how you are."
His words almost brought tears to her eyes. She looked up at him through the glass and wasn't sure what to say. Her gaze caught with his and for a moment, she forgot that she wasn't dreaming. It was a perfect moment. A moment that she would forever hang onto.
Right at that moment, there was a sudden knock on the door. After a quick second more, Morgan turned and went to answer the door, giving Garcia a chance to catch her breath.
"Morning." J.J. greeted quite obviously surprised to see Morgan in Penelope's room. She looked around Derek's body and politely smiled. "Sorry to intrude, I was just wondering if you had any eyeliner I could borrow. Mine just ran out." she told Penelope.
"Of course, my dutchess." Garcia handed over the liner and J.J. took it with a smile biting down on her bottom lip before giving Garcia au fait eyes without Morgan noticing. Penelope threw back an austere look, threatening her to leave right away or else.
"Don't mind me." J.J. exclaimed before slipping out of the room after nodding at Morgan soundly. Even this time, he could see a substantial amount of curiosity in her eyes. They all made promises not to profile each other, but Morgan couldn't get over the omniscient glimpse of pride he caught in her eyes. The question was, what for? Hmm…
XOXO
"I get an eerie feeling being in here." Penelope confessed as she walked around victim #1's bedroom. The woman who used to call it home was Jennifer Johnson; a 26 year old kindergarten teacher whose demise came with the sound of duct tape and the occasional toilet flush. Her body was found beaten to death in a truck stop bathroom outside of Albuquerque. "Live Free" was etched into her cheek.
"Just think about the job, Garcia." Hotch told her. "Prentiss and Reid are on their way to Caleb Michaels murder scene right this second and Rossi and I are on our way to the murder scene of Tyler Mission and Jessie Metzler. We'll stop by their homes when we're finished. Morgan, you accompany Garcia and see what you can dig up on Jennifer Johnson's home. If you find anything questionable in the hard drives, we need to bring them back to the lab to be fully analyzed. You have any questions, give J.J. a call, she's back at the station."
"Be careful." Morgan told them.
"You too."
Right after they left, Penelope enveloped herself in her objective and instantly got to work. As she hacked into Jennifer's laptop, Morgan took a look around the house, looking for clues.
"Wasn't a very good housekeeper." Morgan noted taking a look in her bathroom.
"She spent seven hours a day chasing kindergartners around the classroom and another five volunteering at the art center. Cut her a break." Garcia told him as she analyzed the website that was frozen past the log on screen.
"Still cleaner than my place." He expressed to her from down the hall.
"I always imagined your place looking like a YMCA." Images of Morgan working out tainted Penelope's mind and she smiled to herself. Morgan laughed and shook his head at her comment.
"Imagine my place a lot, Garcie?" She heard his flirty tone from the other side of the house.
"I'm only human, my darling." Penelope said as she worked her magic on the screen. She was fully concentrated on her job, but she always had time to flirt with Derek Morgan.
After a thorough walk through of the house, backyard and garage Morgan returned to the office where Penelope was.
"Okay, after resetting the system, I was able to hack back into her e-mail and find that the message was sent to her by a DarkDreams. You'd think that'd help me, but as soon as I examined the actual website, I realized it says at the bottom; created by DarkDreams. After researching who filed the claim for the website domain, the name is under a John Smith, who seems to have discontinued the cell service for the number listed along with giving the address of an old wearhouse somewhere downtown."
"John Smith? Nothing like a unique alias." Morgan stated.
"Exactly. So, I'm hoping he left an identifier somewhere in the internet where I can connect his name to postings, blogs, or any other social networking sites." She turned her head from the screen and gave Morgan a slow, doubtful look. He caught her gaze and drew the truth out of her. "The chances are slim that I'll be able to find any sort of connection."
Morgan sighed frustrated. He was hoping Garcia would find something that pinpointed the unsub right off the bat. Especially with her skepticism, things were not looking good.
"Alright." Morgan thought. "Alright, let's get over to victim #2's house and see if we can find anything there. Throughout my whole life, there's always been an accidental slip up. There has to be."
"Not if the unsub stayed clear of the houses. It looks like the only way we're going to track this guy down is if someone, somewhere caught sight of something they weren't supposed to see."
Morgan gave Garcia an intrigued look.
"Ever think of joining us on the battle front?" he asked her with a smile.
"Then I won't be a nerd anymore." Penelope replied standing up, taking Jennifer's laptop with her.
"Nonsense. Look at Reid."
XOXO
Reid and Prentiss investigated the murder scene of victim; Caleb Michaels, whose body was inconveniatnly found in the dug out of a baseball field at a park ten minutes from the first victim's house.
"Beaten to death by a bat is not a good way to go." Prentiss said as she examined where his body was found.
"He had "Live Free" written on the backside of his right hand." Reid pointed out.
"What's his story?" she asked him.
"He was a little league coach at this very field in fact. About a week ago, there was a conflict between him and one of the player's dad's. It got violent and police had to escort him out of the park."
"Do you think their argument could actually lead to murder over a baseball dispute?"
"Not about baseball. Supposedly the fight was about Caleb cheating with his wife."
Prentiss stopped and gave Reid a staggered look.
"Wow, people suck."
"On more than just sunflower seeds, apparently." Reid said taking a look at the ground in and around the dugout.
XOXO
Later that evening, the team returned to touch base on earlier events. Reid went walking into the conference room with a big bag of sunflower seeds and took a seat next to Rossi.
"Sunflower seeds?" Rossi asked him charmed.
"Yeah." Reid replied like a little boy. "What? I was craving them after I saw them at the baseball field." He popped one in his mouth and J.J. and Rossi smiled and shook their heads.
"Wait." Morgan said suddenly. "You had sunflower seeds at your crime scene?" he asked.
"Yeah. It's either chew, gum or seeds the player's peck on." He lifted his bag up. "Is there a problem?"
Morgan got lost in his thoughts for a minute as he ran something over in his head.
"There was a giant pile of sunflower shavings in the grass at Jennifer Johnson's house."
"Wait, I remember seeing some by the curb at Tyler Mission's house." Hotch recalled. "I didn't think anything of it due to it being such a busy street. Looks like our unsub has an addiction."
Everyone in the room looked around. This case was starting to take a turn in many different directions. Hopefully they were on the path of discovery.
"House keeping!" There was a light knock on Morgan's door later that night. He opened it without peeping through the peephole and was surprised to see Garcia standing outside.
"Baby Girl, where's your French maid uniform?" he asked welcoming Penelope in.
"In my suitcase, next to my devil horns and tiara. Gorgeous, could it be any colder in here?" she asked rubbing her bare arms. His a/c had been blasting since he turned it on this morning.
"It's summer time in Albuquerque. How can you be cold?" he asked shutting the door.
"I have very sensitive skin." she defended with humor.
"Well then, let me warm you up." He said with a trace of flirtation as he came up from behind her and rapidly ran his hands up and down her goose bumped arms. The friction caused more than just warmth to run through her body. She felt how strong his hands were and how comforting they were to be on her. She wouldn't trade this serenity for all the full body spa massages in the world.
Morgan wanted to wrap his arms around her entirely and trap her in his web. His hands ran down her arms; at first quickly, but eventually they became slow and leisurely as he felt; admired the skin below his fingertips. He found himself in the moment as he stopped the rubbing and gripped her wrists lightly, pulling them across her body and holding her tight against his chest; his arms over hers. He rested his chin on her shoulder and made the goose bumps return for other reasons.
"Warm yet?" he asked; his voice vibrating against her neck. Penelope found speaking hard to do as she tried to process all the sensations. His firm chest pressed into her back and the elusive force of contact made her feel a rush of overwhelming precondition.
She smiled and let an amiable laugh escape her throat as she let her head fall back over his shoulder. He squeezed her tighter and rocked her lightly in his arms with his own sustaining smile on his arresting face as he looked down and caught her gaze with his own.
"You're warmer than the sun." Garcia complimented feeling haziness surround her like fog on the shore.
"You're more striking than the sun." he countered charmingly making her laugh like a giddy schoolgirl.
"Oh Derek, you flatter me." Penelope mused. She slowly turned in his arms so she was face to face with him; his arms wrapped around her back soundly.
She wanted to kiss him. Oh, she wanted to kiss him so badly. But, what if she kissed him and he didn't want her to? What if he thought their friendship couldn't work since she made a move? What if he had a secret girlfriend he didn't tell anyone about? What if he laughed in her face because a guy like that would never, could never, be with a girl like her? What if?...
In the end, it didn't matter because he bent his head down and kissed her instead. She was frigid at first; unable to believe what just happened actually happened. His lips were softer, more voluptuous than she could have ever imagined. They were full and sustaining, never giving her a chance to fully digest their perplexity. Instinct kicked in and she kissed him back with all the want and desire that had been growing inside her for him. It was illuminating to finally know the taste of him; the feel of him.
Penelope melted in the arms of her knight in shining armor as she experienced the feel of being a damsel. He held her possessively, relishing the sexy woman in his arms. His mouth captured hers in repetitive motions of adoration. Kiss right after kiss, intensifying as he threw his entire existence into exposing his desire for her. His right hand fit in the groove of her neck and Garcia just imagined the two of them kissing in black and white on the vibrant streets of New York on V-J Day. That's how she felt inside, like a romantic character in history, a book, movie or…TV show. It was mind-sweeping, heart-pounding, speech-stuttering, skin-tingling…magic.
If neither believed in magic beforehand, they certainly did now. The sudden knock on the door was no surprise to Morgan, his room service had finally arrived. The only thing he wanted to consume at the current time was Penelope. He broke the kiss, but his forehead rested on hers with his eyes closed. "Stay here." he breathed out.
He drew himself away from her and went to answer the door. Garcia's lips were happily swollen and pink. Her breath; uneven and jagged, was the only thing keeping her under the definitive notion of reality. This kiss was a dream in her mind and her heart, but it had finally come out of the imaginary and into the realistic.
He rubbed the back on his neck with his hand as he pulled the door open.
"J.J." Morgan stated surprised.
"Morgan…Garcia." J.J. said with the same hint of satisfaction as earlier. "Um…Hotch wanted you to look over these files." She handed him some manila folders with labels and smiled politely. "See you guys." J.J. left quicker than she thought she would given the circumstances. She didn't want to intrude on whatever was hopefully going on in the room.
"Night, J.J." Morgan shut the door and turned around, awkwardly. He looked at Garcia and wasn't sure what to say; or if he should say anything.
"Garcie-" he started and shook his head bewilderedly, setting the folders down on the nearest table.
"Morgan, please don't say that was a mistake because if you did, I don't think I could handle it." she confessed honestly.
He looked at her like he had just stumbled into her secret Eric Estrada shrine.
"Garcia, I would never say that that was a mistake." His words sang true, you could see it in his eyes. He walked over to her and enveloped her in a gracious hug, playing with her hair in the process.
There was another knock on his door at that time and he gave Garcia a look as he went to answer it. This time he checked the eye hole and saw for good it was his room service.
"Care to join me for dinner?" he asked with an opulent smile. "Please?"
"Well, since you said please." Penelope replied feeling bashful and at ease. Oh yeah, she would definitely have to write this down in her diary.
A/N-Aye! This chapter was a little nail-biting, but I got through it. What do you think? Review my lovelies! Happy Reading!