AN: I am so pleased and excited to be working on this collaboration with my dear friend, Naidoo. This story is her idea, her baby. I'm just along on the romantic ride. Hope you enjoy my little "kricketwilliams" additions!- Kricket
"You're taking a trip?" Kevin asked his eyes wide and incredulous. He was looking at her, watching her nod. His voice raised just a bit when he added, "With Morgan?"
She knew this wasn't going to go well. Kevin had always been more than a little bit jealous of her relationship with Derek. He needed to realize that Morgan was in her life for good; he was her best friend. She simply smiled and nodded.
"You are going to go with one of the biggest Lotharios in the FBI to parts unknown, where he can show you his well-known parts!"
She grinned at the dramatics of her boyfriend. "Kevin, it isn't like that between us, you know that." She patted his hand gently, to calm him. "He's my pal, kind of like JJ."
"Well," he cried, "go with JJ, instead then!"
"JJ has a newborn," she explained. "She can't exactly fly anywhere she wants to."
"You can't possibly want to go with Morgan."
"Actually," she said. "I do."
"You cannot go," Kevin replied flatly. "I forbid it."
She narrowed her eyes. "You forbid it?"
He waited a moment before he answered. "If you go with him, Penelope, we no longer have a relationship."
"Kevin, you're being ridiculous."
He shook his head rapidly. "No. No, I'm not."
"This is stupid!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "We're just friends, Kevin! You need to trust me."
"I do trust you," he yelled back. "It's him I don't trust!"
"No, you don't," she said sadly. "If you trusted me, you'd know I would be true to you. I am not that kind of woman."
"Ask him. Ask if he would allow you to go with me-"
"I went on a mini-trip with you last weekend!"
"If you were dating him, he wouldn't let you go with me," he replied.
"That's because we're not friends, Kevin," she answered with a scowl.
"No," he said, his mouth pursed into a thin line. "And we're not dating anymore, either."
With that, he opened her office door and left.
"You know, he wasn't that unreasonable, really," JJ said, taking a sip of her coffee.
Pen's mouth fell open. "Forbidding me to go is not unreasonable to you?"
JJ rolled her eyes. "Yes, that was. However, worrying about you and Morgan together, what might happen and all… that makes some sense."
This time, Pen rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Derek and I have been friends for a long time, and he's never done anything."
"He's different with you, Garcie," JJ said, leaning forward to put her coffee cup down. "Ever since you were shot, he can't take his eyes off of you. He was always smitten with you, but now, he's more in tune to you than ever."
"You're wrong," she said flatly. "He could've asked me out a bunch of times, but never did- and I really liked Kevin."
"You seem really heartbroken about that breakup."
Pen narrowed her eyes. "No reason to be sarcastic, Jayje."
JJ stood and reached for her cup, then said, "I'm just saying there is a world of possibility there while you're seeing the world, even if you refuse to acknowledge it."
She opened her office door and walked out, leaving Pen to ponder what she considered the impossible.