Hey guys, thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! :D
This chapter is - of course - based on episode 14x16, but there's no major spoilers. Hope you guys like it and if you do, just let me know in a review! :)

Chapter 21 - Loving moves

"Hey, Dad," Morgan greeted her father as she walked into his office. He looked up at her and smiled. "Hey, M, didn't know you were gonna stop by!"

"Well, I just wanted to come and say 'hi', but seeing you're so incredibly busy, I guess I could sit down," Morgan said, nodding with her head towards the newspaper crossword puzzle her Dad was trying to solve.

"Hey, I just came out of a meeting that lasted four hours!" her father defended himself. Morgan grinned at him. "Don't worry, Dad, I won't tell anyone!"

She sat down in the chair opposite his desk and made herself comfortable. Her father smiled at her. "Long shift?"

"No, not so bad actually," she honestly said. "Did you hear about the chess killer?"

"Yeah, I did. And that your boyfriend was the hero of the day," her Dad commented with a smile. Morgan blushed a little at his comment. "He happened to know a lot about chess. And besides, why can't he be the genius who figures out everything for once? Why does it always have to be Russell or Nick or…"

"You?" her Dad teasingly suggested. Morgan's mouth fell open. "What? I… You know what, I'm gonna go home and wait for Greg there!"

Her father grinned. "Sit down, M, I'm just teasing you."

Pretending to be offended, Morgan sat down again.

"Where's Greg of to, since you said you were gonna wait for him?" her Dad asked her.

"Oh, he's in Russell's office playing a game of chess with Sara," she told him. Her father leaned back in his chair. "Remember that I used to try and teach you how to play chess?"

Morgan rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me, please, I was horrible! Remember that last game we ever played?"

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that!" her Dad grinned. Morgan grinned as well, but slightly ashamed. "I threw all the pieces across the board…"

"You nearly hit me with the Queen!" her father remembered. "Did you ever tell Greg that?"

"We actually haven't really had a chance to talk yet," she confessed. It was fun to have a boyfriend working hard on a case and then having him solve it, but she had missed working together with him. Oh, well, she then thought. You'll have him all to yourself once you are at home!

"Well, why don't you go and see if he has finished that game with Sara yet instead of hanging out with your old Dad," her father suggested.

"It's…"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. A man she vaguely remembered entered her father's office.

"Petersen, come on in," her Dad said. "This is my daughter Morgan, or as you might know her: CSI Brody from nightshift."

The man shook her head and introduced himself as Petersen, the dayshift supervisor.

"What can I do for you, Petersen?" Ecklie asked him.

"Well, actually all this talk about chess and the case nightshift worked on got us, that's dayshift and swing shift, thinking about organizing a chess tournament at the end of the week," Petersen told him. "Everyone could join in: CSI's, lab techs, police officers… Some of my guys already made a poster and we were wondering if it would be alright to put it up around here."

He showed Ecklie the poster, which had all the details about the chess tournament they wanted to organize at LVPD. Ecklie looked at it for a few moments before he nodded. "Sure, looks good. And count me in!"

"You, Sheriff?" Petersen said, a surprised tone in his voice.

"Yeah, why not?" Ecklie said. "Your poster says 'Anyone from LVPD', am I not part of LVPD anymore?"

"Oh, yes, of course, Sheriff, it's just… unexpected," Petersen managed to save himself. Morgan was unable to hide a huge smile on her face.

"What about you, Miss Brody?" Petersen then suddenly asked.

"Oh, no, I don't play chess," Morgan quickly said, but while she said it, she changed her mind.

"You know, actually: do count me in," she said. She looked at her Dad and held up her hands. "I promise, I won't throw any pieces across the board this time!"

"That's good to know!" Petersen grinned before he left the office. Ecklie looked at his daughter. "I didn't know you learned how to play chess after all…"

"I didn't," Morgan simply told him. "But I've got until the end of the week and I've got you to teach me."

"What? No, Morgan, I don't think…"

"Dad, please!" She gave him a begging look. "You gotta teach me! Greg's gonna join in for sure and I just wanna be there as well. I saw him and Sara playing before I came to see you, he was loving it! It could be something we could do together…"

"Morgan, he's still gonna love you if you don't play chess!" her Dad mentioned. Morgan nodded. "I know, Dad, but it's just something I wanna do. I won't tell him yet, I'll just surprise him at the tournament. Please, Dad… Will you teach me?"

She gave him her saddest, most desperate look. Of course, her father couldn't resist anymore.

"Okay, I'll teach you!" he gave in. "But I can't promise you you'll be really good by the end of the week, it's just a few days I have!"

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll be okay," she reassured him. "Don't forget, you're raised a really smart daughter!"

Her father teasingly rolled his eyes. "How could I forget?"

For the rest of the week, Morgan spent nearly every free moment with her Dad, learning how to play chess. At work, when Greg was not around, she read everything about chess she could find online, checked old matches and searched for useful tips. At home, she spent her time with Greg as usual, but as soon as he was off, she continued reading books about chess she had downloaded onto her iPad. By the end of the week, she felt nervous, but she knew she was ready.

The tournament was being held just outside of LVPD, where they had enough space for everyone. It surprised Morgan how many people had showed up, she had never expected so many of her co-workers to know how to play chess.

"Most probably know the basics, nothing else," her father said after she had shared her thoughts with him. "Except of course our champion."

He nodded with his head towards Greg, who was just coming out of the building. "Did you tell him yet?"

"No, I just told him I'd meet him here," she quickly said before smiling at her boyfriend. He smiled back at her and gave her a quick kiss. "Hey, sweetie, ready to cheer me on?"

"Well, actually," she said as she saw Sara approaching from the corner of her eyes, "I'm gonna to be a bit busy…"

"Hey, you ready?" Sara asked her. Greg frowned. "Who's ready?"

Sara pointed at Morgan. "She. You're still playing, right?"

"Yep, I'm totally playing!" Morgan smiled. She looked at Greg and grinned. "Surprise!"

Greg's eyes grew larger. "You're playing too? That means… I could end up playing against you!"

"Well, may the best one win in that case," Morgan said, holding out her hand to him. With an amused, but competitive smile he shook it. "You're on! May the best one win!"

The tournament used a knock-out system, meaning that the player who won the game automatically continued to the next round. Morgan played her first game against Sara while Greg played against her father. Thanks to all of her practice games and reading she had no trouble beating Sara. She even had a little time to watch her Dad and Greg play. Her father was good, she had already discovered that the past few days, but Greg was much better. It was the longest game of the round, but Greg won. His next opponent was Hodges, while Morgan had to play against someone she didn't know from dayshift. Again, she had no trouble winning the game and watched Hodges and Greg. When Greg made his final move, she had to hide a smile behind her hand. Hodges would definitely hear about this for a long time!

After the second round, there were only eight players left. That number became four after the third round, the four including Greg and Morgan. Greg ended up playing against Russell in the fourth round, while Morgan had to play against Henry. He was a lot better than her previous opponents, but she still managed to win the game. Proudly, she smiled at her Dad. She was going to play in the final round! She already knew who she'd be playing against as Russell stood no chance against Greg.

"Well, this could become an interesting game," Russell said as he stood up to make room for Morgan. She smiled at him. "Definitely!"

She then turned her attention to Greg. "You ready, Sanders?"

The little spark in his eyes gave away how much he enjoyed hearing her competitiveness. "Ready when you are, Brody!"

"Then let's go!" she said as she made her opening move. Within moments she realized this would be her toughest game yet, but she concentrated and even managed to get close to winning a few times. Greg saw her through every time, though. One thing was for sure: no one could say he was taking it easy on Morgan.

Finally, only a few pieces were left on the board. It was Morgan's turn, but she hesitated. She knew which move she could make now, one that was followed by a move that would make her the winner of the game. She had seen in Greg's eyes he knew about the move as well. If she made that move, there would be nothing he could do to stop her from winning the game. After another moment of hesitating, she brought her hand to one of the pieces and moved it. Greg looked at her, a quick look of confusion in his eyes. She just looked back at him, not giving away anything. She then watched him move his piece and bent her head down, pretending to be sad. Thanks to her move, he had won the game.

"Way to go, Greg!"

"Good job, Greg!"

"Great going, Greg!"

All around them, people started clapping and cheering for Greg. Morgan just had time to shake his hand and congratulate him in a polite way before Nick and Sara took Greg away from her to meet his 'fans'. Conrad Ecklie immediately walked up to his daughter.

"You could have won," he reminded her.

"I know." She looked at him and nodded.

"Didn't you want to win?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Not like this. Greg deserved to win, he's really good! I wanted to do this for him, not for myself. Yes, I love winning games and yes, it makes me feel proud that I managed to learn enough about chess in a few days time to play against someone who has been playing for years, but in the end, I just want Greg to be happy. And if this makes him happy, I'll be happy to give up this game."

Her father smiled at her. "It just tells me how much you truly love him."

She smiled back at him. "Oh, yes, I really do!"

It wasn't until half an hour later that she finally got a chance to be alone with Greg.

"You gave up the game, you could have won!" he immediately said, pulling her into his arms. "Why didn't you finish it like you should have?"

She softly ran her hand through his hair. "I couldn't have let you lose in front of everybody, now could I? Especially not to your own girlfriend…"

Greg smiled at her, a warm, loving smile. "Thanks… But why didn't you tell me you could play chess as well?"

"I couldn't until a few days ago," she confessed. She told him how her father had tried to teach her how to play when she was younger and how she had managed to catch on so quickly the past few days.

"I just wanted to do it for you," she told him. "I love seeing you this happy! And I loved seeing you even happier when you won that game!"

"I would have been happy too if you had won," he told her. "I love you, Morgan, way more than a board game!"

She smiled at him. "I know. But winning a game by making you lose it wouldn't have made me happy."

He pulled her a little closer. "I might know another way to make you happy then…"

"Oh, really?" With a flirty smile she wrapped her arms around him and allowed him to kiss her. No matter what he did, as long as he was near her, she was definitely happy.