Thanks for the reviews after the first chapter, happy to know you enjoyed it! And... as you can see, it didn't take me a month to update! ;)
Enjoy this new chapter!
Chapter 2
Morgan fell silent. "You didn't?"
"No, I swear I didn't book any trip for you or for Greg!" her father said. He sounded so sincere Morgan had no choice but to believe him.
"Okay," she slowly said. "Well, then you know where we are in case you were wondering… Bye!"
She hung up, looking at Greg. "My Dad swears he didn't book this trip for us. But… if he didn't, then who did?"
Greg shook his head. "He has to be involved at least! There's no way Russell would agree to give us both time off without him getting involved. Maybe he indeed didn't book the trip, but he did know about it."
Morgan kept looking at him, obviously still confused. "But… who booked this trip for us then? And why? Just because they heard we wanted to visit London?"
"Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you," Greg started. Morgan felt her heart missing a beat. Was he finally going to say something about how he felt about her? But no, he just continued: "I wanna know as badly as you, but we're not gonna find out standing here. How about we find our suitcases, go to the hotel and then take a look around London? As long as we're here, we might as well go to Bakerstreet and the Millennium Bridge!"
Morgan smiled at him, a warm, almost loving smile. "You're right. Come on, let's go to baggage claim!"
Because they had spent a while talking on the phone and to each other, a lot of luggage had been collected already, making it very easy for them to find their suitcases. Greg automatically took Morgan's suitcase of the belt for her and continued pulling it along with his own without saying a word. Morgan knew she was supposed to say she was perfectly capable of pulling her own suitcase, but she thought Greg's action was so sweet that she just couldn't.
When they left baggage claim they entered the Arrivals Hall, where Greg almost immediately noticed a taxi driver holding up a sign with their names written on it.
"Good morning," he greeted them. "I'm here to take you to your hotel, if you'll follow me, please! Do you need any help with those suitcases, Sir?"
"Oh, it's fine," Greg quickly said. "Eh, which hotel are you supposed to take us to?"
"Thistle Euston, Sir, those are my orders," the taxi driver told him as he showed them the way to his taxi. "Have you been to London before, that you know where it is?"
"No," Greg confessed, looking at Morgan.
"Me neither," she said.
"Oh, well, that I won't bother you with too much directions!" the taxi driver laughed. "It's near Euston Station, a train and underground station. It's not too far from King's Cross St. Pancras Station, actually, I'm sure you've heard of that!"
"Platform 9 ¾," they both softly said, recognizing the name King's Cross from the Harry Potter books as the train station where the Hogwarts Express left.
"Exactly!" the taxi driver grinned. "You know, if you're a fan of the books, you should visit the place, there's quite a lovely souvenir shop now!"
"We'll remember that," Greg said as they reached the taxi. The driver quickly put their suitcases in the back, closed the doors behind them and then started driving away from the airport. The further they drove away from the airport, the more something started to worry Morgan. Finally she couldn't keep her worries to herself anymore and she whispered to Greg: "We don't have any money to pay him, I doubt he'll accept American dollars!"
"Maybe he'll accept credit card," Greg whispered back. "Or otherwise he's going to have to take us to an ATM."
"Yeah…" Morgan still wasn't reassured, but when they arrived at the hotel and Greg got out his wallet, the taxi driver shook his head.
"Everything has already been paid for, don't you worry about it!" he smiled. "Here, let me help you with that! There you go, Miss, are you alright with your suitcase now? Marvelous! Now, I wish you both a pleasant stay here in London!"
"Thank you," Greg said as Morgan was still surprised by his announcement the taxi ride had already been paid for. Whoever had booked this trip for them definitely had to have a good pay check!
Before she could grab her suitcase and take it inside, Greg had already grabbed it for her. She quickly followed him inside and walked up with him to a check-in desk.
"Good morning, welcome to Thistle Euston!" the woman behind the check-in desk smiled at them. Her name tag told them her name was Joan. "How may I help you today?"
"Eh, there should be a reservation for us," Morgan slowly said. "Under the name of Morgan Brody?"
Joan quickly checked her system. "Yes, I've found it, here it is! Miss Morgan Brody and Mister Greg Sanders, a room with two double beds, breakfast included. Would you prefer a room with just a shower or with a shower and a bath?"
"Eh…" Morgan didn't know what to say. A room with two double beds? She and Greg were going to share a room here? That could be interesting…
"We don't really have a preference," Greg said when Morgan remained silent.
"Alright, in that case I'll give you a room with both a shower and a bath," Joan smiled. "Now, here we go, these are your room keys. Breakfast is downstairs, you can find the exact times in the information file which you'll find in your room. I also have this envelope for you, I believe it contains some more details about your stay. Do you have any questions at this moment?"
"Yeah, actually…" Morgan had found her voice again and looked at Joan. "This reservation was made for us as a surprise and we're trying to find out who made it for us. Can you see who made the reservation?"
"Oh, let me check…" Joan quickly went through her computer system. With an apologetic look on her face she shook her head. "No, there's no information other than your own. I do have a contact telephone number here, maybe that could help you?"
"Yeah, sure!" Morgan nodded. "What's the number?"
Before Joan had given her the full phone number she already recognized it: it was the crime lab's telephone number.
"No help either," Greg muttered. Morgan nodded with her head towards the elevators. "Let's check the envelope upstairs, maybe that'll help!"
She thanked Joan for the information and left the reception with Greg. Their room was on the second floor, which meant they only had a short elevator ride. Once Greg had opened the door to their room, Morgan couldn't keep in a surprised: "Wow!"
The room was beautiful – two double beds, a desk with a TV on it, a closet with two large mirrors on them and like Joan had said, a bathroom with both a shower and a bath.
Greg whistled softly while he put his bag on the bed closest to the window. "Nice! Not bad at all!"
Morgan raised her eyebrows. "Wait! Who says you get the bed by the window?"
Greg looked at her. "Eh, me? Since I put my bag on it first?"
Morgan shook her head. "No way, you hear me? Have you never heard of 'ladies first'?"
"Of course I've heard of it!" Greg said. "I just didn't know there was a lady in here!"
"Oh!" Morgan playfully nudged him. Grinning, he grabbed her arm, which she tried to pull back. He then wrapped his other arm around her as well, while she continued to try and break free. Somehow in their playful struggle they suddenly fell down on their sides onto the bed, face to face.
For a few moments they just stared at each other, their faces only a few inches apart.
"This could be a solution," Morgan softly whispered. She fought the urge to move even closer and just kiss him, not sure whether or not he'd like it.
"Yeah, it could be," Greg whispered back. He continued to stare at her. Morgan just looked back at him without saying a word. She felt the tension rising… and then suddenly it was gone. They both sat up, Morgan quickly brushing her hair out of her face.
"What's… eh…" Greg cleared his throat, so his words wouldn't come out all squeaky again. "What's in the envelope?"
"Oh, right!" Morgan grabbed the envelope Joan had given her and checked what was inside. "Two travel cards to use for all public transportation in London for the entire length of our stay… A tube map… A regular map of London… Here, check this out: directions how to get to the Millennium Bridge! And… Oh my gosh, tickets for the Sherlock Holmes museum for tomorrow!"
She gave Greg an excited look, but to her surprise, he just frowned.
"What?" she said.
"Well, when I heard the taxi ride had already been paid for and when I saw this room, I thought the person who had booked this trip might be… Catherine," he confessed. "That she happened to be visiting the lab and heard us talking and decided to surprise us. I mean, she's definitely got some money!"
Morgan agreed with him immediately.
"What made you change your mind?" she asked him. "Other than the fact that we probably would have known if Catherine was visiting the crime lab…"
"Whoever booked this trip for us has heard our whole conversation," Greg started explaining. "Not just that we wanted to visit London, but that you wanted to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum and that I wanted to go and see the Millennium Bridge. If it was Catherine, she had to have been listening outside the breakroom for a long time. There's no way she could have done that without being greeted by at least one familiar face. And we didn't hear anything – no talking, no 'Hey, how are you?' That rules out Catherine for me!"
"You're right… again," Morgan added with a grin. "Although I never believed it was Catherine in the first place. I mean, why would she visit the lab and not tell us? But hey, I thought you didn't want to talk about it anymore? Let's go and freshen up a bit and then check out that bridge of yours! I'll figure out how to get there! Or do you wanna check out King's Cross station first of all?"
Greg shrugged his shoulders. "As long as we're in the neighborhood we might as well check it out!"
He was trying to be cool about it, but Morgan could tell he really wanted to go to King's Cross.
"Alright, you go freshen up first, I'll figure out how to get there," she said. Smiling, she watched him go into the bathroom and close the door. Still smiling, she thought about their earlier moment – how they had been on his bed together, close enough so they could have kissed. Would she end up kissing him during their time here in London together? She certainly hoped so! She was definitely planning on trying to let him know how she felt about him during the next few days. Maybe she'd even find out if he felt the same, because she was getting the idea that he was more and more by the minute.
"Okay, Morgan, stop it," she muttered to herself. "First find out how to get to King's Cross Station and the Millennium Bridge, then figure out how he feels about you!"