"Man, you look fried. You know you're supposed to sleep at night now," Russell commented as he passed Greg in the hall on his way out. "The new job keeping you up?" Greg stifled a yawn.
"Something like that," Greg said. It was more like someone. In the past month since they started working opposite schedules, all the shared downtime that Greg and Morgan had were spent with each other. It was a routine that was becoming increasing harder to maintain. After leaving Morgan's place early this morning, his mind had been racing all day. Compounded by too little sleep and too little time with Morgan, she kept creeping into his thoughts. When he went to grab a cup of coffee or when he passed by her locker in the locker room, everything was a reminder that she wasn't around. He loved his new position and was finally starting to feel comfortable with the staff he was supervising. But something was missing and it made the shift drag.
Their time off had finally aligned for the next day and night. They had planned on doing something special with their limited time together, but Nick Stokes had called and said he was visiting town and wanted to get together with the gang. They agreed to go, neither one of them letting the other know how disappointed each of them were with the change of plans.
They still hadn't announced their relationship to anyone at work yet, not officially anyway. Some had their suspicions, but they had managed to keep the questions at bay and hoped to contain their secret a little while longer.
"You have your own ball?" Morgan picked up the bowling ball out of its bag, suppressing a laugh. Greg took the ball out of her hands.
"All the best bowlers do," he said. Morgan raised an eyebrow. "What? Don't look at me like that. This was Nick's idea." He placed the ball back in the bag zipping it up. For his homecoming visit, Nick had invited everyone to go bowling out at Bowl-A-Rama.
"Yeah, remind me to thank him for that." She made a face. Greg pulled her into a hug.
"Come on now. This can be fun. We can even make a game out of it. Who can do a better job of acting like we're not together?" he said.
"Or who can make the other crack?" Morgan let a sly smile slip. Greg frowned.
"Your dad's going to be there, so let's not do that,"he said. Morgan's smile widened as she glided her fingers along the skin at the edge of his jeans. She leaned in, brushing her lips across his neck. "Morgan, I'm serious. He will kill me."
"Just one more crime scene for me to process." Her voice vibrated against his Adam's apple. He closed his eyes, as her continued movements elicited a moan from him.
He gently pushed her away. "Later. I promise I will take you out somewhere special afterwards. Just let me make it through this without losing my mind."
"We'll see," she responded coyly as she walked away to get ready.
They arrived separately, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Everyone else was already there. Catherine, Sara, and Finn sat at one lane while Nick, Russell, Hodges, and Ecklie sat across at the other lane. Greg took a seat with the guys, giving Nick a brotherly hug on the way. Morgan sat next to Catherine and began putting on her rented shoes. Neither gave a glance in the other's direction.
"I'm here. Am I late?" Henry rushed up behind them.
"Yep, you're with the girls,"Nick said.
"Really?" Henry said, exasperated.
"Hey, you snooze, you lose. Besides, we need to even the teams." Nick slapped him on the back as Henry reluctantly made his way to the girls' team.
"Welcome to the winners' circle. We're going to kick their asses," Catherine remarked causing Nick and Greg to make a gesture that said 'bring it on'.
Nick went up first against Sara, while the rest of the former teammates chatted.
"Hey, Greg," Ecklie said turning to him, "Great job last week on the triple homicide. Keep it up and you're going to give D.B. here a run for his money." Greg thanked him and looked up briefly at Morgan across the aisle who gave him a quick smile and nod of approval.
"Well you might be gunning for my job, but I bet I can beat your bowling score any day," Russell said, readying for his turn. Greg laughed and watched as Morgan moved to get her ball. His eyes followed her, glued to her as she walked towards the lane in tight hip hugging jeans. He didn't realized how much he was staring until Hodges made a comment.
"What are you looking at Greg?" Hodges smirked. Greg shifted moving his focus away from Morgan.
"Nothing," he said.
"Really? Cause it looked like you were checking out Morgan's-" Hodges stopped when Ecklie's rigid glare fell on him, moving slowly to Greg.
"Who wants a beer?" Nick said walking up with several bottles in his hand, unwittingly breaking the uncomfortable moment. Greg grabbed one out of his hand and chugged it. Anything to keep his eyes averted from Ecklie's.
"My turn," he said, grabbing his ball and moving away from the sheriff. While he moved to roll, Morgan sipped on her beer. Finn distracted her with her own intrusive question.
"Hey Morgan, word from swing shift has it that you have a guy you haven't told us about. What's the story with that, huh?"
"Where did you hear that?" Morgan asked, gulping down the last of her drink to calm her nerves.
"Amanda said she heard you flirting on the phone the other day. She said you were starry eyed when you hung up. That you had the biggest grin on your face, so spill. Who's the guy?" Finn pressured leaning closer as she waited for her to respond.
Catherine and Sara both turned their attention to the conversation, putting Morgan on the spot. She watched as Henry and Greg faced off, quickly trying to come up with some reasonable answer.
"Oh that. It was just some guy I met a few weeks ago. No biggie. Catherine, is it your turn?" she deflected.
"Speaking of people keeping secrets, I ran into Reggie Howard yesterday," Henry said as he walked up. "Remember him? Anyway he said Greg had brought some hot date to a wedding they were at. He said Greg was all over her." All eyes turned to Greg, who at that exact moment dropped his ball onto his foot. He winced as he bent over to pick up the heavy thirteen pounds resting on his now throbbing toe.
"I need another beer," he stated reaching for another cold bottle and ignoring everyone's stares. Ecklie's phone rang, dissolving the silence as he left to take the call.
"Well, I'd like to know what everyone's secret is," Nick said. "I haven't had one date since I left for California. I'm in a deep dry spell." He turned to Greg, giving him a wink. "Maybe you can set me up with one of your new girlfriend's friends while I'm in town."
Morgan and Greg exchanged the briefest of worried looks before he answered. "I'll see what I can do, but only if you change the subject. Like, how is it being lab director?"
Morgan grabbed another beer to take the edge off as Nick gave them all the latest details on dealing with the murder and destruction in San Diego.
Forty minutes later, she and Greg were both beyond tipsy and it showed in their game.
"Come on, Greg. What the hell was that?" Nick yelled out as Greg shot another gutter ball and then stumbled back to his seat.
"Sorry, man. There was like three lanes and I couldn't figure out which one was mine," he slurred. Hodge gave him a weird look, matching the expressions of the other players on the team.
"Okay, you're cut off," Russell said taking the drink from Greg's hand. Morgan's high pitched giggle stole their attention as she clumsily made her way to the ball exchange. She tripped and failed to steady herself, falling into Greg's lap. She laughed and then rested her head on his shoulder closing her eyes.
"You smell so good," she whispered loudly as she snuggled against him, planting small kisses along his neck. Catherine's eyes widened at the same time Finn's smirk did. Sara and Nick swapped a knowing look while Hodges and Henry's jaws both dropped in surprise.
"Did anyone else drink that much?" Sara asked.
"Sorry, what did I miss? I'm going to have to leave for the -" Ecklie stopped when he caught sight of the inebriated couple. "What the hell is this?"he yelled. The sound of his voice sobered Greg enough to jump up causing Morgan to fall to the floor.
"Conrad," Russell moved to stand between a fuming Ecklie and a swaying Greg, "they had too much to drink. That's all. Look, I say we put an end to this game. My wife dropped me off, so I have to call a cab and can have the driver drop Morgan and Greg off at their homes." Ecklie hedged looking down at Morgan on the floor as Greg and Hodges helped her up.
"Hi Daddy," she giggled again as she tried to steady herself against a slumping Greg.
Ecklie returned his gaze to Russell. "Yeah, okay. Just make sure she gets home safe. I'll deal with this tomorrow. I have to go." He glanced at his watch frowning, then said goodbye and left.
Everyone packed up to leave as Russell called the cab company. Nick waited with him outside helping keep Greg stable as Russell did the same with Morgan. The cab pulled into the parking lot at the same time Russell's wife, Barbara, did. Placing Greg and Morgan into the car, Russell went to talk with his wife. He explained the situation to her.
"Do you think we should give them a ride home instead?" she asked.
"No, no. Look, I can just give the driver the addresses and pay him a little extra to make sure he sees them inside. They should be okay," he answered. "Just give me a minute."
Morgan laid against Greg in the cab as they waited to leave.
"So you're going to take me somewhere special now?" she asked, her words drawing out of her slowly.
"Yeah, baby," he said closing his eyes as he kissed her forehead. "I promised, didn't I?
Greg's head pounded as he stretched opening his eyes. He sat up looking around surprised to find himself in his room when the last thing he remembered clearly was being at the bowling alley. He felt movement next to him and turned to find Morgan sleeping beside him. It brought him some comfort, but not much against his raging headache. How much did he have to drink? He couldn't remember.
Morgan tossed, turning to his side as she threw her arm around his bare chest. The touch jolted her awake as she sat up, shocked. She looked at Greg, bleary eyed as she ran her fingers through her hair.
"What time is it?" she asked. "Oh my God! Why does my head hurt so much?" He glanced down at her naked form drawing in a breath. The sight of her eased the discomfort in his head some, but her echoing words seem to bounce off his skull.
"I have no idea," he said rubbing his face. A glint of light hit his eyes blinding them temporarily. He opened them again trying to find the source when he stopped, the air leaving his lungs.
"Morgan, what is that?" he demanded looking down. She gave him at odd stare as she tried to orient herself. "Where did you get that?
"Get what?" she asked, still confused.
"On your hand," he sputtered. "That ring?" She looked down to see a large diamond engagement ring on her left ring finger. She gasped.
"I have no idea. Did you propose?" she struggled to breath.
"I don't know, but that's my grandmother's ring. Oh God, what happened?" he sat up, quickly sobering. "I need some coffee so I can think." He moved off of the bed, grabbing his pants. He hopped into them as he moved out of the bedroom, feeling the sharp pain in his toe now, but when he had his hand on the doorknob something on the dresser caught his eye. He moved toward it, snatching it up. He stared at it dumbfounded, raising his eyes from the papers in his hand to Morgan and back again.
"Greg, what is it?" she asked, concern flooding her weak voice. He walked in a trance back to the bed, not answering her, not registering anything else around him. He slumped against the backboard staring at his hands. "Greg, you are worrying me. What's wrong?"
"It's a marriage certificate," he choked. "We're married, apparently."
"What?!" She grabbed the papers out of his hands, fumbling through them. "Oh my God! Is this a wedding photo?" She pulled out a picture in a cardboard frame with the label of a cheesy wedding chapel on it. "Holy shit! Greg, what did we do?"