A/N: One more chapter and an epilogue, after this :)
I hope you all are still enjoying the story, I'm furiously writing the end of it! Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favorites, after the holiday insanity is over I am sitting down and replying to them all :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Standing in front of his mother's house, Penelope was sure that Morgan could hear her heart beat loudly in her chest, she squeezed his hand tighter, as to draw strength from him. She'd been fine during their – given the time of the year – rather uneventful flight and the drive to his mom's, but when he'd started pointing out all the places in his old neighborhood where he used to hang, she had started feeling a bit nauseous. This was probably going to be the first Christmas she celebrated on the day itself, with family or friends, since her parents died. Her brothers had tried to keep the tradition for a while more but she'd gone underground really soon after and after her arrest and then starting her job at the FBI she'd preferred working. Meeting Kevin had opened new perspectives for her, the first year she'd understood they weren't together long enough for his family to invite her, but she'd been disappointed year after year.
"There's no reason to be nervous, sweetheart," Morgan squeezed back, stopping in the middle of the alleyway, his hands on her shoulders turning her to face him.
"What if they don't like me?" she whispered, her worst fear was that the Morgan family wouldn't approve of their friendship, or whatever there was between them, "I should've stayed at work like ever year." Morgan frowned, unsure of where this was coming from. He'd talked about his family many times with her, she'd talked to them over the phone, and they had all been extremely welcoming of her. If anything, when she wasn't around, his mother didn't neglect to mention he should man up and declare her his love already.
"You talk about her all the time, I might as well get my grandbabies out of the deal," his mother had said one time, but he wasn't about to repeat that to Penelope. At least not right now.
"Baby, my family loves you, and you know that. What makes you think they'd change their minds because you're coming?" As soon as he'd asked, he knew the answer, and mentally kicked himself for making it even harder for her.
"I met Kevin's parents a couple of times, but I was never welcome for any holiday festivities," Penelope answered in a small voice, "Kevin said it was because I was too loud, too outgoing, they didn't like it I worked. They invited her instead."
"Bastards," he muttered, a slight tick in his jaw revealing how angry they made him while he pulled her close to him, "They are blind not to see you're the most gorgeous, funny, caring, smart, fabulous woman any man could ever meet. My family loves you, for them it's enough that you're my perfect-..." He didn't get to finish his spontaneous confession, as the door opened and his sisters ran out to greet them, leaving Penelope wondering what exactly he had meant with that last sentence, if maybe, maybe, he felt something for her too.
But instead of being able to ask him, she was pulled right into the holiday celebrations by a joyful Morgan family, who, like he had said, loved her to pieces and was beyond thrilled to have her.
=~==The Profiler Who Saved Christmas==~=
During dinner, Garcia couldn't help but shoot quick glances all around her, pinching herself to make sure this was all real. Morgan hadn't exaggerated: his family did love her, and from the minute they stepped in she had been enveloped in Fran Morgan's arms, who was giving her a big hug and kept telling her how pleased she was to finally meet her son's baby girl. It made her question what exactly Morgan had been telling his mother and sisters about her, especially given what he had been saying to her while they were standing outside, before they were interrupted, she had assisted to more than one of their conversations over the years but lately, after they had drifted apart when she started dating Kevin, she hadn't any longer and she always figured he'd only done it because she had been there.
All night long, conversation had flown freely, not once was there an awkward silence or a misunderstanding of any sort. In fact, she felt like she was already part of their family, which made it sometimes hard to look at a beaming Derek, who was sitting next to her, his arm casually resting around her waist. She wished she was really part of their family, she hadn't felt such a sense of belonging since her own family fell apart, and it hurt to know she probably wouldn't find one again unless she started her own. Her entire relationship with Kevin had been based on that: the desire to start over. They had enough affinities, and she thought she could love him over time.
Now, she was sitting with Derek in the couch of his mother's living room, in front of the open fire they were enjoying a last glass of wine while everyone else had gone to bed. The night had been a real success, but they weren't tired in the least: back home in Virginia they never went to bed before the early hours of the morning either.
"You should've warned me beforehand, I'd have bought gifts for your family," Penelope looked at the stockings hanging on the wall, she still couldn't believe they had gone to such great lengths to surprise her. Just like he had said, there was an extra stocking next to his, with her "name" on it: Fran had actually taken the time to hand embroider "baby girl" onto it, and it was stuffed to the brim with stocking stuffers.
"Nonsense, bringing yourself was the greatest gift you could ever give them," Morgan grinned, before growing thoughtful. "Or me," he continued, feeding the tension which existed between them since he almost poured his heart out earlier that night. She snuggled closer to him, with a content smile on her lips, as he was trailing his fingers over her arm.
"Come on, baby, let's get some sleep, Santa's coming early tomorrow," he suddenly said, sitting upright. Sarah, her husband and her two children had gone home but would be back in the morning to unwrap gifts, leaving her old room for Penelope.
"Goodnight, baby girl," Morgan told her tenderly, softly putting a strand of hair back behind her ear before kissing her forehead, "Thanks for making my Christmas."
Penelope just stood there, watching him as he disappeared into his old room, before she turned around and got into bed. She definitely had a lot to think about until the morning.
=~==The Profiler Who Saved Christmas==~=
"That is so unimaginative!" Penelope laughed at Morgan who was finishing up a snowman in his mother's garden, helped by his two nephews. She herself was sculpting the snow into a series of animals, so far she had made a turtle, a crocodile, a rabbit and now she was attempting a dog. It was a lovely, sunny day for Christmas, and they were enjoying a bit of outdoors time after opening up presents that morning and sharing a joyful breakfast. Penelope still marveled at how lucky she was to be part of the celebration.
"Unimaginative, huh," Morgan growled, sneaking up on her and grabbing her waist from behind, pulling her against him, "I guess I'll have to do better showing you I'm not."
"Is that a challenge or a promise, hot stuff," Penelope giggled, trying to break free from his grasp.
"Oh that's it!" Morgan exclaimed, laughing loudly, "Let's make a Penelope out of snow!" He let go of her, a huge grin plastered across his face, and she stepped back immediately, knowing he was up to no good, her suspicion confirmed when he bent over and grabbed some snow, his eyes fixated on her. When she heard his nephews' war cries, after they saw what Uncle Derek was up to, she knew there was no way out, and decided to just fight back.
Half an hour later, Morgan surrendered. Penelope had successfully managed to convince his nephews to attack their Uncle instead of her, and together they'd cornered him in the back of the garden. Morgan playfully went along with their attack, exaggerating when they hit him, and generally not putting up much of a fight, to his nephews' delight.
"Thank you," Penelope smiled, as he pulled her down in the snow with him, after the boys finally let him go, lured inside by their mother's promise of hot chocolate.
"For making this the best Christmas ever," she explained when seeing his questioning look, "This year I really wanted to give up on it."
"I'm sorry for not doing it earlier," Morgan admitted, "I should've known you didn't celebrate, I should've known Kevin was such a jerk to you, I should've stopped him from breaking your heart."
"It's okay handsome, there are things you can't protect me from," she mused, reminding them both that somehow fate had always brought them back together, even if the circumstances were often difficult, "It's not him who broke my heart, it's what he said about you that did."
A/N: The return of the stockings, and the final prompt: 'snow dog' (although used with liberty I guess lol)
Ready for the rest?