She was woken up with soft kisses up and down her spine. Now that was certainly a way she could get used to waking up. Maybe she should rethink her whole idea of letting him convince her of being The One and just move on right away. It certainly seemed like it would be worth it. A moment later she felt his hands caressing her sides. She was barely able to keep back a moan.

"I know you are awake, cupcake," Morgan smiled against her skin and a second later his lips were gone. "Time to get up, our plane is leaving in a bit less than five hours. And we still need to make it to the airport, which will probably take us a good two hours."

"What if I don't want to leave?" Penelope mumbled into the cushions.

"Well, too bad I want you with me in D.C. The BAU without you wouldn't be the same. Hell, I wouldn't be the same without you any longer. So, gorgeous, get moving."

An hour later they were back on the road, driving their rental along the coastline back north, to the airport. It was a nice day, with plenty of sunshine and no cloud to be seen anywhere nearby. Just like the last week had been.

"Promise me one thing?" Penelope asked in the silence.

"Sure, anything you want," Morgan nodded, keeping his eyes on the winding road.

"Promise me that we'll return back here in the future. In a year, ten years, whenever. Just … that we will come back." She smiled, pressing her head further into the headrest of her seat and closing her eyes. She wanted to enjoy the last few moments here in Italy to the fullest, because soon enough she would be back home. Back to her normal life and back to the mess her life seemed to be right now. A mess she hadn't really wasted a minute lately thinking about. It was then that it hit her that it was exactly one week ago when she was supposed to get married. Supposed to become Mrs. Kevin Lynch. A week since she boarded a plane to Italy, away from her wedding and any commitment that was tied to it. She had only spoken briefly to JJ and Emily, had just listened to Kevin leaving that cruel and harsh voicemail that ended it for her.

A week later she was without husband, but involved again. With a guy she never thought possible, although they were still working out the details of their relationship. But that still in the future.

Pulling up in front of the airport several hours later, they had to return their rental first, before making their way to the check-in area. Morgan carried both his and her bags and guided them towards their airline's check-in.

After their bags were taken care of and they had their boarding passes in their hands Morgan decided on having one last Italian breakfast with coffee and some more – and also the last – ice cream for Penelope. Penelope had once mentioned in the last few days that she wouldn't have any problem at all if from now on she had to only survive on ice-cream, at which Morgan pointed out to her that this might be a rather one-sided nutrition and anything but healthy.

While Morgan was still sipping his coffee Penelope decided it might be a good idea to call JJ and Emily, let them know they were on their way home. She realized she hadn't really talked to either of them for the entire week. By now they must have been thinking God knows what about her motives and why exactly she had decided on running away. With Morgan. On her wedding day.

"They are your friends. They probably don't even care why. I mean … they probably want to know why, but they pretty sure won't judge you on it," Morgan commented before she finally pressed the numbers for JJ's phone. She saw Morgan getting up, taking his coffee with him. Watching him for a few more moments until JJ picked up the phone, she saw him buying a newspaper, before settling into one of the chairs in the departure area. He wanted to give her space to talk to JJ about whatever she needed to talk about and that thought alone made Penelope smile again. It was just such an adorable gesture.

"Well, it's about time, Pen," JJ answered her phone, letting out a laugh.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier. I just … kind of forgot about the time while being here," Penelope answered kind of guilty. She definitely should have called her friends earlier then now.

"So how are you holding on?" JJ asked.

The question made Penelope suspicious. It wasn't just the way she asked, but also the tone of voice, the careful, soft way of asking, that made Penelope wonder how much JJ knew. So far only she, Morgan and Kevin knew about what happened with Kevin and her, and Morgan certainly wouldn't just call JJ and Emily and tell them the whole story just like that.

"You know?" Penelope asked careful, and JJ just sighed softly on the other end of the line.

"Well, I do know now. I had a suspicion though…" JJ replied.

"How?"

"Um … a few days ago Lynch came to me. He was acting kind of weird. Weirder than usual at least. He asked whether I knew where you were," JJ started to explain, before quickly adding "but don't worry. I didn't tell him anything. As far as he is concerned you are somewhere in close reach. Rossi and Hotch told him you needed some time to think about everything. That you all of a sudden weren't sure anymore what you wanted. They made him believe it was just a bad case of cold feet and you would be back in no time. Anyway … when he stopped by my office he was asking all these weird questions you wouldn't expect from someone who was just left standing in front of the altar. Like how you are and when you'll be back and I also shall tell you he is sorry. And that last comment kind of made me suspicious. So I guess he did something stupid, because even Kevin Lynch wouldn't blame himself for you taking off on him. And since you just responded so nicely I guess I got my confirmation. I'm sorry, Penelope, if that is any comfort."

"Thanks, I guess one way or another I might have suspected something all along and that's why I just took off." Penelope laughed into her phone, although it wasn't entirely genuine. She certainly would have preferred talking about something else right now, but it was good practice. Sooner or later she would have to face Kevin. They worked in the same building after all.

"You … you are not considering taking him back, are you?" JJ asked carefully.

"No. I won't. Don't worry about that. This chapter is closed and in the past. There is no way I will let him back into my life."

Just in that moment Penelope heard an announcement for their flight, announcing that boarding began for the business class cabin for their flight and she saw Morgan getting up, which made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity. He turned around to her, held up his boarding pass and tipped against it.

"JJ, I have to go, they just announced our flight. I call you as soon as we touchdown in D.C., okay?" she rushed into the phone, getting her handbag and walking towards her best friend, shutting her phone off.

"You got us business class tickets?" she asked, more in shock than surprise.

"Well, not exactly. I just … upgraded our tickets," Morgan smiled at her.

"Why?"

"I think that must be the first time that someone seriously seems to complain about flying business class. Why don't you just accept it and enjoy the flight?" He grinned at her.

"Careful that you don't spoil me too much. Could be that at some point I am going to come to expect this kind of treatment all the time." She smiled at him, while making her way to the gate.

"Wouldn't be the end of the world. I had six years and plenty of girls that were rather … cheap in regards of maintenance, so I guess I can afford it for a short while," he said with a chuckle.

They showed their boarding passes to the gate agent as well as the passports and then walked towards the plane, hearing the Italian agent wishing them a pleasant flight.

"How was your conversation with JJ?" Morgan asked, once they were seated inside the aircraft.

"Okay. Lynch asked her to say he is sorry," she informed him, seeing how he turned towards her, a surprised expression on his face.

"He said what? Did he … tell her what he did?" Morgan asked after a short while.

"No, but JJ guessed it anyway by the way he behaved and acted and all the questions he asked. She wanted to make sure I was okay."

Morgan just nodded at his best friend, not sure what to say to her. They sat in silence for a moment, Penelope looking out of the window, waiting for takeoff when he all of a sudden heard her voice again.

"Thank you, Hot Stuff. For this little adventure."

"Anytime, princess. Anytime." He smiled softly at her, placed a hand on her cheek and brushed his lips over hers.

Moments later the plane moved and they were on their way back home.