A/N: Thanks to all you wonderful people, for making this story such a success and taking in the combined writting of KricketWilliams and me. We can guarantee you this'll be a fun ride, with maybe one or two bumps along the road. And it'll be quite a long road. LOL We are well aware of the fact that the sightseeing we make them do in this chapter is A LOT, but ... well, they don't have much time. - Naidoo
The next morning, it was Morgan who had knocked on Penelope's door, ripping her right out of her sweet dreams. One look at the clock and she saw it was already getting close to noon. She'd groaned; the jetlag really was starting to play her good. She had slept a bit more than 14hrs and still had felt as if she didn't get any sleep at all.
Bleary eyed, she'd grumbled as she answered the door. She knew she looked a mess. Her hair was rumpled, her glasses askew, and her makeup blurred, but she didn't care. It was just Morgan, after all.
"Is that sentiment true?" Derek smirked and pointed at her chest. "'Cause looking at you now, I'd definitely say that's wrong."
She was wearing her short, pink t-shirt nightgown that said Blondes Have More Fun. She scowled. "You could've brought me coffee."
"Read something in a travel magazine last night. Caffeine makes you more dehydrated, and part of the cause of jetlag is dehydration."
She growled at him, turned and headed to her suitcase. "Who are you? Reid?"
"Hey!" he answered, obviously offended.
She grabbed her dress and her panties. "Give me five, and I'll be ready to go down." Then she walked by the door and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Sorry I'm crabby."
"It's okay, baby," he answered as she disappeared into her bathroom. He reached a hand up and touched his tingling cheek, a little discombobulated, before he left her room.
"So, what do we have planned for today?" he asked her, skimming the newspaper, while she had the last few bites of their breakfast. They'd made it down to a corner restaurant for breakfast…. And coffee. Penelope had demanded coffee, dehydration, jetlag or not.
"Well, I thought we could tour the city and see everything we wanted to do yesterday, but couldn't. How is the weather supposed to be today?" she asked, her fingers crossed on her lap.
Morgan looked through the pages of his paper until he found today's forecast, before announcing "Sunny and bright, with a slight chance of rain spells. I guess the same as yesterday."
He smiled at her, but she knew she didn't mirror the look.
"I was hoping there would be some better weather over here," she said, pouting.
"You are in England, love. We either have rain or a chance of rain," one of the waiters remarked, shrugging his shoulders as if that was a fact and she should better get used to it.
"Don't you ever get tired of the rain?" Penelope asked, hearing Morgan laugh.
"No, you just make the best of it. As long as they say 'a chance of,' it can always turn out to be a good day. The forecast usually is never right to begin with," The waiter began.
Penelope was about to ask a question when he continued, "Last week they'd said the whole week we would have temperatures way below average for this time of year and it would be raining every single day. We ended up with most of the days sun shinning and temperatures way above the average. You learn to be prepared for everything. Take an umbrella with you wherever you go, no matter how the forecast is and how it looks at the moment. "
"That's … encouraging. I think I don't even have an umbrella with me," Penelope grumbled, getting a snicker from her best friend.
The waiter gave a sympathetic shake of his head, then took his leave from the table.
"And here I thought you are always so well prepared for everything," Derek teased with a grin.
"It isn't my fault that I didn't have enough time to prepare for this trip…" Penelope complained with a pout.
"Not enough time?" Morgan asked in disbelief. "You had over four months to prepare."
"Well, I didn't expect when we'd talked about it, we'd actually go through with it."
"Oh, Baby Girl, when will you learn I am not just talk?" He smirked before helping her up.
She rolled her eyes with a grin, looped her arm in his, and then they were off.
Penelope had it all prepared. She had city guides and tour books, marked with funky colored post-it notes sticking out from several pages and a map of London that sported a good number of post-it's, with comments on it, too. She had circled and crossed out things, referenced them and made noted about how to reach places of interest best.
Starting their tour with Big Ben, the House of Parliament, as well as the residence of the British Prime Minister in Downing Street 10, Penelope had a good laugh trying to get a reaction from the guards that were standing in front.
No such luck; they didn't even move a muscle. It was like they were made of stone. He just stood there, not moving an inch left or right, always looking straight ahead.
Morgan took a picture with her next to one of the Guards, and then they moved on towards what looked like a Farris wheel. It was supposed to give you a fabulous view all above London. The London Eye usually was rather well visited and had hours of waiting if you got there on peak-times, but surprisingly Morgan and Penelope were rather lucky and didn't need to wait for more than ten minutes. They even had the capsule all to themselves.
They had a late Lunch in a small café in one of the side roads on their way to St. Paul's Cathedral. Penelope was getting more and more excited the closer they got.
"That's the Church in which the Royals got and get married. Where Charles wedded Diana, William will marry –"
"I didn't know you are so obsessed with the Royal family, Baby Girl," Derek smiled. He found it somehow adorable that his best friend was getting excited just standing near the church where some old king married some woman.
"I'm not … obsessed," Penelope argued.
"Sure, of course I wouldn't know… seeing that obsessions are just my specialty in profiling."
"I'm not obsessed. I find it just … so romantic. It's every girl's fantasy, you know? To become a princess or a queen some day, like guys want to be cowboys or astronauts."
"They're just people," Derek quipped. "Not even really good looking people. Look at Prince Charles!"
She shoved his arm. "You have no romance."
He smirked at her. "Give me some over night time, and you'll see how romantic Derek Morgan can be."
She smiled and laughed. "Good Lord, we're in front of a church."
He just grinned and threw an arm around her shoulders, as they entered the stately old church.
Much later, after touring the church, they'd walked further through the streets of London.
"I never wanted to be a cowboy or an astronaut," he admitted after a few minutes, making Penelope look up at him.
"You didn't?" she asked. She couldn't believe he was still stuck on their original conversation. She waited for his nod and then continued. "So tell me… what did young Derek Morgan want to be when growing up?"
"You mean apart from heartbreaker and Casanova?" he asked playfully, getting a laugh from Penelope in return. "An explorer. That's what I always wanted to be as a kid. I wanted to discover new countries and sail the seven seas. I also wanted to see everything of the world."
There was silence for a while and when Penelope didn't answer or respond Morgan looked down at his best friend, who just looked at him with a mix of aw and a strange smile.
"What?" he finally asked.
"I think that is totally adorable. Little Derek Morgan wanting to explore the world," Penelope giggled, not noticing how Morgan just shook his head at her comment.
He squeezed her side. "Nice to know you're making my dream come true, isn't it?"
She smiled, and leaned closer to him, and they walked in companionable silence.
Soon, they reached their final destination for the day, Tower Bridge, one of the landmarks of London, and the London Tower, which held the royal family jewels.
Penelope was slightly disappointed about the fact the jewelry was so far away, you could hardly see them.
Morgan slung his arm around her shoulders again and smiled at her.
"You know, Baby Girl, if you want an up close and personal inspection, I can certain help you there with a very different kind of family jewels," he teased with a wink, making Penelope blush six shades of scarlet, and then giggle like mad.
"Careful what you wish for, Hot Stuff. One day I might take you up on all these offers," she threatened her best friend playfully, accompanied with another fit of giggles.
"I do hope you will, Baby. I do hope," Derek replied, and for a moment there was silence again as they made their way to the underground transit.
"How about you buy me dinner and a drink, and I think about that very tempting offer?" Penelope teased, breaking the silence.
A second later, his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. "Oh, shit. Dinner."