A/N. Oops, in my eagerness to post the second chapter I totally forgot the A/N! What I wanted to say was, wow, thanks for the overwhelming response to chapter 1! I hope the next chapters will live up to the expectations.
There's a little more angst to come, but really, it's nothing bad and it's just working them up to realising what has been in front of them all along, or rather Pen finally getting it!
Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
By the time he was done with the dishes, he had composed himself and Pen came back in the kitchen, looking at her cellphone in her hand like it had suddenly grown two heads.
"Something wrong, sweetheart?" Morgan asked, concerned about the lost expression on her face. It was not like Penelope Garcia to be lost, but whatever the phone had done it had thrown her for a loop.
"He - he isn't answering his ph- his phone," she stuttered, looking up at him with such disbelief Morgan couldn't help but laugh, but he quickly stopped that when he saw the glare she threw him.
"Maybe his battery is dead, or he doesn't have his phone, I'm sure there's an explanation, he wouldn't do that to you, would he?" Morgan soothed.
"His phone is not ringing out, and it's not dead either, because it rings just a few times and then it is disconnected," she said stubbornly, tears slowly welling up.
"I'm sorry he's being a jerk," Morgan hugged her, "you know what, give me five minutes to get ready and I'll drive you to the police station and then we'll swing by your place, okay?"
"And then what, Handsome? What am I going to do?" She sounded so heartbroken, he answered before even thinking.
"Easy, you are moving in here until you find something or your place is fixed," he reassured her, but she moved her hands up on his chest, pushing him slightly away, her eyes big.
"Are you serious?" It sounded more like a whisper, as if she barely believed her own ears.
"I've never been more serious in my life," he shot her one of his famous thousand-watt-smiles. His heartbeat sped up, expectant of her answer. If she said no, he didn't think he'd recover. This was a once in a lifetime chance to perhaps regain a bit of the closeness which used to be their trademark, and he missed so much.
"But I am going to be in your way, and I don't know how long it will take, I don't want to overstep my boundaries and Kevin..." she babbled, trying to make sense of what she just heard. She knew she shouldn't be so ridiculously happy he offered, that she should refuse, but part of her really wanted him to convince her.
"You can stay here for as long as you want to, I'd love to have you, you're my best friend and you'll sort it out with Kevin when you two had some time to think, alright?" He could be so persuasive, she knew he was certainly using some sort of interview trick to coax her into the answer he wanted to hear, but she didn't care because it was the answer she was dying to give.
"If you think it'll work, I'd love to," she smiled, happier than she had been in a while.
"Of course it'll work. This is us you are talking about," he quipped, walking backwards out of the kitchen, sporting a huge, giddy smile on his face, "Five minutes, and I'll be ready."
Penelope was left wondering why the mention of "us" made her heart skip a bit, then swell with love. She thought she had left those feelings behind her, long ago when she figured out she wasn't exactly Morgan's type of girl, but she was sadly mistaken. Suddenly staying here didn't seem like such a bright idea, because she didn't want her still aching heart to shatter all over again. She thought she had it under control, but obviously she had been delusional, if one brave action, a night in the guestroom and breakfast brought back all of her feelings to the surface. But did she really have a choice? Perhaps Kevin would come around... But did she really want to go live with Kevin? She thought of all his little habits that drove her crazy, and of his mother's constant remarks about what she wore or didn't wear, what she did or didn't do, and most of all how she was supposed to love Kevin. Staying with her hot stuff sounded so much more appealing, she felt a little guilty about thinking that but what was she supposed to do?
Sighing, she quickly disappeared to the guest bedroom to find herself a cardigan to wear. Morgan was singing in his bedroom, some tune she didn't really recognize because he was terribly off-key, but it made her smile anyway. She wondered if he was always this happy in the morning, or if it was purely because she was there. She knew he was the cause she wasn't crying right now...
=~==Baby, If You Were Mine==~=
Penelope was – in a totally innocent way she told herself – absolutely relieved it had been Derek with her at the police station and not Kevin. Not only did not one accusatory word come out of his mouth when he took over her declaration for her when she was starting to get upset, he also kept a reassuring arm around her at all times, and defended her when one of the police officers started lecturing her on fire safety. Thanks to his 'we're with the FBI'- attitude they were able to leave in no time, which she was very thankful for. She realised she could've set the building on fire, no need to remind her of that!
"Well, well, back already huh? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" a snarky voice came from their right as they were walking out of the police building. Penelope turned towards it, blinked once, twice, opened her mouth, then closed it again. Morgan looked at her questioningly, pulling her closer into his side when he noticed she was blushing.
A police officer was walking up to them, shooting Morgan a disapproving look before ignoring him, which did not go over well with the profiler. It was obvious the man knew Pen, and from the way he treated her with disdain, he didn't appreciate her.
"Poor Kevin. You really need to be more careful!" With those words, the man disappeared into the office behind them, slamming the door before Morgan could jump his throat.
Looking at the door, then at Pen again, he pointed to it with his thumb. "What the hell was that all about? Baby girl?" She was looking away from him, which he knew meant she was embarassed about something she hadn't wanted him to know. Usually, this did not bode well.
"Not now, please," she pleaded, dragging him out of the police station to the SUV.
"Shoot," he told her once they were seated in the car, his tone full of concern yet firm, not giving her the opportunity to back out.
"It's nothing, Derek," she answered softly, almost subdued, looking out of the window, her thoughts miles away.
"Baby girl, that man disrespected you in front of me. If you hadn't dragged me out he'd be eating his badge by now," he said rather forcefully, pointing at the general direction of the police station to make his point. She knew he was capable of going back in and demand explanations, so she just sighed.
"I was there last week with Kevin to report a large sum of stolen money," she stated, flatly, as if she was stating water is wet.
"Goddess..." he insisted, knowing there was much more to the story than that. She shrugged, then remained quiet. "Tell me, please," he begged, softly. He hated seeing her like that. He told her long ago that he'd always be okay if she kept talking to him, and seeing her retreat into her shell hurt him more than he thought possible.
"Okay, it was my fault the money got stolen, me and my ideas," she muttered. "It turned out Kevin and the officer had been in college together, they were best buds back then."
"Then why doesn't he like you? Kevin loves you, doesn't he?" Morgan inquired further, knowing he'd have to drag this out of her.
"Because I'm a stupid girl. And... DON'T!" she put up her hand when she saw Morgan starting to protest, "They are right. Last night was just more proof of that." Tears were welling up in her eyes, and before she could think of wiping them away, he had pulled her in his arms and was holding her tight.
"Listen to me, hard head," he eased her away a little from him, cupping her face in his hands so she would look him straight in the eye, "Never, ever say you're stupid to me again, got that?" He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, in a gesture so tender it made Penelope sigh and new tears well up. "Now why the hell did those bastards say you were?"
She settled against his chest, a little shocked by his harsh words. She knew he didn't like Kevin, but he'd never called him any names, at least not to her face. Yet at the same time, she felt strangely comforted too. She didn't feel safer anywhere else than in his arms, and it suddenly made the events of the last week a lot more bearable.
"I wanted to buy a new MacBook Pro, top version, so I was saving up," she started her explanation, earning her a raised eyebrow, which she waved away, "hear me out, hot stuff." He just nodded, gently stroking her arm to encourage her.
"But instead of putting it in the bank like any normal person would do, I figured I'd be less inclined to spend it and it would give me more incentive if I put the cash into an old fashioned piggy bank," she looked up at Morgan, blushing because he now knew the silly things she did. "And that got stolen from my home, of course. I had 3 grand there!
She slapped Derek's arm when she saw him smiling at her. He had the same adoring look to him as he always had, but she mistakingly thought he was making fun of her because of it.
"It's not funny Morgan! I've heard enough last week how stupid that idea was and how I was asking to be robbed!" she exclaimed, a hint of fury warring with the obvious hurt in her expression. "The officer even told Kevin something like this would've never happened with his ex-girlfriend, and he was out of luck having to deal with me," she added, much more softly, looking up at him with big eyes.
"Honey, that's adorably cute. It's what makes you, you, and I love you for it," he said with a tender smile for her. They were silent then, and he held her for a minute longer before she settled back into the passenger's seat.
"Thank you, Handsome. Let's get out of here," she commanded with as much cheer as she could muster.
"Alright, Baby Girl," he agreed, before turning back to her, bringing his hand up to gently caress her cheek with his fingertips. "Just one more thing, Penelope, any man would be the luckiest guy on earth to have you."
A/N: I don't know how fast I will be able to update this as I have a busy work week (start of the busy season at my job, I work as a translator for a film fund), but let's just say that comments are a good way to shift my list of other priorities around ;)