A/: Told you there might be hickups in posting. i made it back to Ireland last night, so I should be able to post more or less regulary again. More or less. =)


It would take another two weeks for the wound to be healed well enough so Morgan could be declared fit to travel again, with Penelope staying with him of the majority, making sure the bandages were changed properly. They had a lot of fun during these two weeks, with Penelope literally moving in with Morgan during this time.

Every day she made him stop at her place on their way back from work to grab a thing or two and then head back to his. Penelope tried to have him relax in the beginning, to sit back and don't do anything really, but with Derek Morgan that was never that easy. He was someone who needed to do something constantly, so no matter how much she protested, he would cook for them, take Clooney out or other things, just to be busy. Derek Morgan didn't seem to know the understanding of how to slow down or just do nothing at all for a while.

Of course after such a long time with Morgan Kevin went more or less ballistic. He just couldn't understand why she needed to be the one staying with Morgan or why anyone needed to stay with him at all. Every try from her to explain to Kevin the exact details as to why someone needed to be with Morgan were flat out ignored from Kevin's side. Okay, maybe he had a point, because technically they didn't need to stay overnight with him, but then again Penelope was his best friend, so she saw it as her duty to take care of him. And driving to his place every day and back just was a waste of time in her opinion. Not that this was something she would have told Kevin. She knew he would have probably insisted on it.

After a while his constant jealousy was something that started to drive her insane. In the beginning it was kind of cute. It showed affection and she found it kind of flattering, but by now, when she basically had to explain herself more or less every single minute of her day to him it had started annoying her. The constant lack of trust made her wonder. Penelope knew that it wasn't entirely lack of trust. Kevin's issues that he lacked certain looks when compared to Morgan were probably understandable, but it wasn't as if Penelope gave him any reason to think she would prefer Morgan to him. She honestly didn't care that Kevin would never be a stud in the same league with Morgan. She wasn't that shallow. She loved Kevin for who he was and not for how he looked like, although that love lately had decreased. It wasn't that she didn't love him anymore, she had just started getting rather frustrated.

To pour oil on troubled water she decided on having a night out with Kevin, just the two of them- no phones, no interruptions, no anything. They hadn't been on a date since quite a while and it might be a nice change. A nice restaurant, maybe a movie, some quality time – that kind of thing. Something as it turned out that was not really for Kevin Lynch, who looked at her strangely when she suggested a night out.

"Why a night out? Can we just not order a pizza, rent some movies and chill out at your place?" was his question, which caught Penelope by surprise. She hadn't expected after all the drama lately that she actually had to convince her boyfriend to go on a date.

"Um … well, I just thought it might be nice, you know? You and me, spending some time together…" she tried to reply.

She found it hard to believe that she really had to explain to her boyfriend that she thought of a night out as romantic. Whereas he seemed set with the idea of domestic bliss, which wasn't as blissful as he always made it sound. It started with them arguing about which movies to take, since his and her taste in these things were millions of miles apart. He was fan of horror movies- horrible, blood and gore fests without any real storyline, just a never ending massacre of death. Something she was terrified of.

She saw enough of the real life version of that stuff in her job all day long. No need to bring it into her living room now as well.

Penelope was instead a fan of almost anything that promised a few hours of laughter and maybe a few tears as well every now and then. The more peaceful the better. They rarely could find a compromise and when someone decided to step down it was usually her. That was one of the reasons she stopped movie night with him.

Another one were their eating habits. Kevin loved to order pizza, she was more fan of Chinese. Which itself wouldn't be a problem, if Kevin wouldn't decide always, every single time, that he actually preferred her Chinese much more and left her with his pizza, which was usually having all sort of toppings Penelope didn't eat and didn't like. It seemed like a constant fight sometimes, but she put up with it all, deciding that maybe she was just too picky. For sure other couples had similar problems like them. Especially when she read the newest editions of Cosmopolitan and such and found herself proven right.

No couple was perfect, and a relationship after all was a balancing out of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

On the other hand movie nights with Morgan were like a piece of cake. They seemed to share the exact taste in movies. It had happened several times already that when splitting up to find a few movies to watch they would usually end up with exactly the ones the other one had picked out as well. When it came to food he knew her by now so well, that he could order for her without even asking her and always getting her preferences right.

Penelope wondered whether Morgan's girlfriends had to actually put up such a fight as well when trying to get a date night planned. But then again, Morgan didn't have girlfriends. He has conquests and flings, hook ups and booty calls, but none of them qualified close enough to being called 'girlfriend'. Usually they didn't manage to stick around long enough to even make it past 'one night stand' or 'strings free sex'.

"Okay, if you really want to go out, how does Wednesday sound?" Kevin all of a sudden proposed to Penelope over lunch.

The way he said it made it sound to Penelope more like a duty than an actual activity that he wanted to do and was looking forward to. And that wasn't something she wanted either. She didn't want to force herself on him. Penelope just thought it would be a good idea, especially since their actual night out had been months ago.

"Kevin," she sighed, resigning once again, "if you don't want to go, then we can just … forget about it. I just thought, given that we didn't have spent much time with each other lately it would be a nice idea."

"No, you want a night out we go. Just pick a restaurant and tell me when to be there…," he said, when turning around, halfway out of the door already. And great, now she felt like she was a burden for suggesting it in the first place.

After lunch she decided on researching some restaurants around her neighborhood, looking up newly opened places and seeing if any of them perked her interest. After all he told her to pick the restaurant.

"What are you up to, Gorgeous?" she all of a sudden heard a voice coming from behind, a moment later she felt hands on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Morgan smiling down on her.

He had been chained to his desk from Hotch, until he was cleared for travel and working in the field again, which was only a matter of a few more days. He had been rather bored lately and spent more time with Penelope then doing anything else. A definite advantage in her and his eyes.

"Just … browsing some restaurants. Kevin and I have a date night coming up," she smiled sweetly at him. No need to let him know it was more her idea and him more or less tagging along reluctantly than a real 'date night'.

"Lynch taking you out?" Morgan asked, seeming a bit surprised. When Penelope only nodded, he smiled at her. "Good for you. A woman like you deserves to be taken out as often as possible, which actually brings me also to why I came here."

"You mean, apart from checking me out?" she asked, with a grin all over her face. She didn't miss the look he gave her earlier this morning when he brought her the coffee he always bought on his way into the office.

"Hey, if you don't want people looking don't dress like that," he winked playfully, making her laugh once more. It had been quite a while with anyone actually noticing. The least of all Kevin. Some days she wondered if he even looked at her at all, nevertheless cared if she decided on dressing a bit more risqué or sexier.

"What is it that I can help you with?" she decided on ignoring his comment, bringing the topic back to what he actually came for.

"Right," he smiled, turned her chair around, so she was facing him. "I thought I take you out for dinner on Thursday or so. For having taken so good care of me."

"Morgan you really don't have to. I'm your friend. The last thing you have to do is repaying me for being there…" she started, when being interrupted by his fingers on her lips.

"Well, glad that I don't have to then, since I actually want to take you out. It will be fun. I'll leave the choice in restaurant to you. You tell me where I need to be and I will show you a great time," he announced, and despite using some of the same words Kevin had earlier she certainly didn't feel like he saw this as some duty.

"Tell you what, handsome. Why don't you pick the restaurant? Surprise me," she announced laughing all of a sudden, making him look at her for a moment, before he shrugged his shoulders happily.

"Alright then, I pick the restaurant and pick you up from home on Thursday. How does that sound?" he asked, getting a smile and a nod from her as answer.

With that he left her office, returning back to his desk, wondering to what place he should possibly take her and Penelope returned to her task at hand in finding a new little, cozy restaurant to take her boyfriend to.

If he didn't feel romantic then she would just have to create the atmosphere for bringing such feeling out in him. It was a challenge Penelope wasn't afraid to step up to. And succeed. Come what may.