AN: This story keeps surprising me with every update I write. Since I am writing completely without a plan of where I am heading. Although this chapter has a very nice end - so nice I actually could leave it there. But I probably already hear the uproar going around. Try to convince me to write another chapter, guys :)
Anyway, thanks so much for all your patience. I am certain, with me now having recently started to write for a different fandom the question was on everyone's mind 'Is she abandoning us? Is she abandoning Criminal Minds? Never! I might just write a bit less, depending on my muse :) But I have as well quite a few stories still on my hard-drive that need to be published yet ;)
Of course Penelope had known from her earlier spying that he really just lived across the street from the coffee shop, but even though it were just a few feet, it still gave her enough time to think about what was going on.
She didn't just start a journey cross-country to find a guy she had seen once, kinda stripped in front and then never saw again – but couldn't forget. Neither had she actually spent more or less her whole morning pretty much bunked up in a coffee-shop and eventually even spying on him, assuming the worst already, before running into him. And now she hadn't agreed of just spending the night at his place, maybe even more than one. Nope. She totally didn't. Because she would never do that. She would certainly never be very spontaneous either. Well... she used to be, but then she had met her ex-boyfriend and things kind of changed. She changed. Whether for the better or the worse was still up for debate. If you believed Kevin Lynch it was for the worst.
He always complained that she wasn't her usual self anymore. And yes, love changes people, but she shouldn't change into something that was no longer her. She never really listened to Kevin.
And now she wondered why.
Why she had given up on her spontaneity.
Why she had become so stuck up in a relationship that seemed to not do any good for her.
Why she had given up on her usual, cheery, happy, question everything-approach and … grew up.
And had she actually been really happy for the past year or so? Really, laughing out loud, having fun, being silly happy? That kind of happy that made you grin still a week after, when you thought about the moment?
Jackson had pretty early in their relationship called her on her rather childish behavior and that maybe it was time she acted her age. Now, after her break-up she came to realize acting her age didn't get her anywhere either, except to singlehood again. Well, maybe not for too long. But that she certainly could not attribute to grown-up behavior. Nope. Grown-up people wouldn't jump on a plane cross-country on a whim and a gut-feeling, without any preparation or luggage for that matter. Without any idea what to do an hour after landing, or even five minutes, where to spend the night and what to do in general when standing opposite the guy you got on the plane for in the first place.
A guy you knew nothing about, other than the name and that he looked damn good shirtless. Oh, and that he had a killer smile. One that melted icebergs in five seconds flat and let the sun rise within a few moments. Nope, grown-up people wouldn't do that. But why not?
Because Penelope had to admit it was damn fun. Okay given if that wouldn't have worked out the way it was working out right now, and she would have found out he was actually married with three kids, a dog and a picket fence in front of a house she wouldn't have been sure what to do. But it didn't. And that was the main thing. Everything else…. Who really cared? She certainly did not. And somehow she had a feeling neither did Derek Morgan.
Maybe it was time to throw grown-ups over board and act like her usual self again. Kevin certainly would approve. Throw caution to the wind and just take things as they came her way, without thinking, overthinking and worrying. If this didn't work out, there would always be a plane going west again. And she wouldn't have to see Derek Morgan ever again. If it went wrong, which Penelope somehow doubted at this stage.
Which caution thrown overboard, she did what she felt she should just do and that was in that moment, a few seconds after they had made it through Derek Morgan's front door, to throw herself against him, pinning him with her full weight against the back of his door and pressing her lips hard against his, starting a heated, passion-fueled, toe-curling war of the tongues whose outcome was still very much undecided. One thing was for sure, neither would give up a duel like that easily. And no one would give up domination of the other one easily either.
Right now, throwing caution to the wind felt really damn good and Penelope wondered what took her so long to do this. This felt right, perfect and exactly like she should have been here a long time ago. And maybe Derek Morgan was just exactly what she needed.
For now and maybe forever.
