(Hey all! Thanks so much for your patience in waiting for this update. I've just grown really attached to this story, and found myself reluctant to end it. I hope I haven't made you wait too long, and that you'll enjoy this final chapter. I've loved all the reviews and feedback and your support for this story. This is the end, but I'll be working to cook up something else soon, I can't leave Morgan and Garcia plot ideas alone for long, they're too much fun to work with!
As usual, none of the characters belong to me, just my own story idea…)
Come Back to Me
Chapter Ten
Hours later, snuggled down under blankets in bed, curled up contentedly next to Derek, Penelope Garcia smiled to herself, not sure when she'd last felt so happy. She thought that Derek would probably agree with her, as she watched him sleeping like the world didn't even exist; looking utterly spent, but wearing a smile on his slack, resting face.
Despite all that had happened to them in the last year – her kidnapping, and now Derek's getting shot and almost dying – she had never felt so safe as she did right now, lying in his arms, her body aligned and held close to his strong, steady form. She felt completely covered with a sated feeling of blissful peace that she couldn't even really describe.
She rolled over with a grin plastered on her face as well, savoring the sensation of her bare legs slipping through slick, satiny sheets. The two of them had moved to the bedroom after coming back down from their earlier escapades in the living room, and fallen into bed and gone to sleep tangled up together. It was still an amazing feeling, she had to admit, to drift off to sleep encased in the hard-muscled arms of a chocolate god who had turned her into putty, languidly trailing kisses over her collarbones, licking and nibbling, until he'd gotten her so relaxed she'd had no choice but to pass over into the most pleasant, dreamy sleep she'd ever had.
Wrapping her arms around him, she snaked her hands up over his warm skin to scratch her fingers lazily across his back, causing him to shudder in his sleep and pull her even closer. Murmuring incoherently, he sounded to her liked he was making the happy purr of a contented tiger.
She didn't want to wake him; he was still recuperating after all – but she was feeling playful this morning, ready to tease and kiss and cuddle him, and she couldn't help at least touching him as much as possible. That they could be lying here again, so easily, happily, and fine, made her feel incredibly blessed and lucky. Things could have turned out so much differently, and she knew in her heart that never having another morning like this with Derek would have been like having her life itself cut short.
Pondering all this, she was just leaning forward to see how much of his exposed skin she could kiss before she'd get enough of a reaction to wake him up, when his cell on the nightstand on his side of the bed started ringing, blaring into the peaceful quiet shrilly. She wanted to answer it quickly and stop its noise before it bothered him, but she found that she couldn't move. Morgan's arms around her were heavy with sleep and she couldn't get disentangled or reach his phone from where she was.
With a muffled growl, Morgan's arms left her body as he rolled to his other side to slam a hand down on the offending phone. As he stretched his arm across, Garcia actually had to catch her breath sharply at the sight of the muscles in his back rippling with the motion. Sometimes she was reminded once again just how insanely gorgeous he was, and she had to blink a couple times and pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming him there beside her.
"Morgan," he answered the phone gruffly, identifying himself, but not bother to hide his annoyance at being bothered so early by whomever was calling.
She had to bite back a giggle at his tone of voice, the caller certainly wouldn't miss that he wasn't in the mood to talk. She could sympathize with him being tired, healing, and wanting to sleep in, but personally, she was glad he was awake now. She wanted another go…if he was up for it.
"Yeah, Hotch, we're fine. Everything's great, other than the fact that Pen's probably gonna confine me to bed for the next week." He hadn't meant it the way it had come out sounding, but as he glanced over at her and then his eyes suddenly popped wide when she smirked and gave him a nod while licking her lips, she knew he'd realized the statement's double meaning. She also knew their boss well enough to know that he could pretty much sense what was going on with most people most of the time, and was probably shaking his head right now, having not missed the second way Derek's words could be taken. She could almost picture one of those rare smiles on Hotch's face for a moment. The mental image made her smile too, Hotch almost looked like another person when he allowed himself a genuine smile.
"Well, thanks…" she heard Morgan saying now, his voice sounding either curious or suspicious, as if he couldn't decide if checking up on his agents had been the only reason his boss had called or not. "Yeah, you too…take care." With that, he hung up and glanced over at her.
"Yes?" she questioned, quirking an eyebrow at him saucily as she propped herself up on one elbow to look back at him.
"You're trouble, Mama, you know that?" he chuckled, reaching out for her playfully. "Bad through and through."
She squealed when he got hold of her, pulled her to him, and flicked his tongue out playfully to a ticklish spot on her neck. "You're the one telling Hotch I've captured you in my bed," she gasped out, tucking her head to her shoulder trying to stave off the tickle torture. But her eyes were sparkling and his looked every bit as playful as he stopped with the licking just long enough to run his hands through her sleep-disheveled halo of platinum locks and then catch both her wrists in one large, capable hand and pin her arms over her head on the pillow.
The tickling turned to slow, pleasant torment as he began to idly take his time kissing down her naked body, from her ear, along her collarbone, making her shiver, to her chest, then her stomach. "I've got you right where I want you now," he murmured, purposefully driving her insane by going so slow. "Now you're gonna get it."
Garcia found she didn't really have a comeback, other than to let out his name on a low, voiceless whisper and beg him to keep going, a moan of pleasure and frustration in equal measure following as she squirmed to move what little she could and try to urge him on.
He chuckled, the noise coming from deep in his throat, not giving an inch or speeding up in the slightest. "You wanna laugh while I embarrass myself with the boss," he mock-threatened between slow, measured kisses, "then you've got to pay the price." For a second, he thought he had her beat, that he'd finally gotten the last word. Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was actually biting her tongue to keep from begging again. Then, on a ragged breath, she got one more shot in. "Yes, sir," she teased, if somewhat breathlessly, "since you seem to be feeling agile enough to dole out punishments this morning."
But it was then that he finally reached his destination and her eyes did roll back, her hands began to clench and unclench on the pillow and she didn't do any other talking other than crying out his name. Maybe at least he'd won this round, Morgan thought with a smirk as he sent her over the edge, returning the favor from the night before – and then some.
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It was evening by the time they finally hauled themselves out of bed and into the kitchen, famished enough at last to leave the comfort of warm blankets and each other's arms for a while. Penelope, though not nearly the domestic goddess that she was computer wizard, was standing at her stove, clad only in an old football jersey of Morgan's that she'd snagged from his house at some point, managing to make them some scrambled eggs and toast. The jersey sleeves came down past her elbows and the rest of it landed about mid-thigh length; she had her hair piled messily up on the top of her head, and she was padding around the kitchen barefoot. Morgan couldn't help thinking that she had never looked more adorable, as he watched her from where he sat. The jersey had certainly never looked sexy on him like it did on her.
As she sat plates down for them both and sat next to him at the kitchen island to eat, she cocked her head, studying him curiously. "Hotch, just wanted to check and make sure everything was okay, when he called this morning?"
Morgan glanced back at her, and she sensed that whatever had been troubling him, weighing on his mind, back before his injury had happened, when they'd been leaving the BAU that night of the shooting, was there again. He merely nodded.
"And is everything alright?" she asked, concerned enough to push if she had to. Whatever it was, if it was still troubling him, it was time for them to deal with it.
When he began to speak however, she was relieved to see the look on his face clear, and she thought that maybe he was finally going to open up to her a little and let the weight he was carrying go. He took her hand and looked right into her eyes, capturing her in his stare. "Yeah, I think things are gonna be fine, Sweetness. It's just – I was holdin' onto stuff that wasn't mine to deal with…stuff I couldn't do anything about. I was worried about how we were gonna keep functioning without Gideon, wondering where he was or why he couldn't have talked to us instead of just taking off and disappearing. I was worried about Strauss and the other bigwigs trying to oust Hotch, and that the team really would fall apart if that happened. I was worried about Reid, that he wasn't taking Gideon's leaving very well, that he was withdrawing from us and hurting." He took a deep breath here, not used to talking about how he was feeling so much at once. "But when I woke up in the hospital…and all I could think about or care about was you, Pen…Were you still here? Were you alright? I knew I'd been carrying around too much baggage that wasn't mine and that I couldn't fix anyway. What's important is us. If you're beside me, and I'm taking care of you the best I possibly can, then anything else that comes along, we'll handle it. I can't do anything about Gideon being gone. We've just got to deal with that. And Hotch can take care of himself. We've just got to follow him and back him up, like always. And Reid – well, I finally really talked to him. Let all the guards down and just lay my fears and concerns for him out honestly one night while he was visiting at the hospital."
"And?" Penelope prompted.
"He was surprised, I think," Morgan said softly, reaching out to stroke his hand down her cheek lightly. "He didn't realize we'd been that genuinely worried for him. I think he was touched that we'd noticed and cared. He has been struggling since Gideon left. Probably felt like he was being abandoned by a father all over again. But he says he's made his peace with it, and I do think he seems more back to himself these last couple weeks. It was something he had to handle on his own and pestering, teasing, and trying to joke with him to mask my concern wasn't helping."
She nodded, resting a hand on his chest, looking at him with love written all over her face. "So he's okay then. And you are too?"
"Well, Reid did encourage me to get the one other thing that I've been mulling and fretting over off of my chest. He seemed to find it pretty funny that I hadn't worked up the nerve to discuss it with you yet."
He looked almost sheepish, which was an interesting expression for him, she thought. But now she was confused, her forehead scrunching up in thought. What concern did he have that involved her?
And then, it seemed he gave the answer to her before she could process it. Morgan was slipping off of the tall kitchen stool and, somewhat stiffly, getting down on one knee before her. Reaching into the pocket of the sweats he was wearing, he pulled out a small velvet box and she felt as though her heart might actually stop beating.
His eyes looked up to search hers, an expression of hope and anticipation on his face as he bit his lip for a second, collecting his thoughts before he spoke. His voice was suspiciously hoarse, and Penelope found she had silent tears pouring down her face before he even started, just from the sheer emotion that seemed to be radiating from Derek right then.
"Pen, Sweetness, my Baby Girl…I honestly never thought that I would be saying these words to anyone. Never in my life did I think I'd be getting down on one knee asking someone to marry me. I convinced myself a long time ago that no one was going to get in my heart; no one was going to know me enough to hurt me. I had some flings, but I never let myself fall. I didn't intend to let anyone that close. Then you came along and blindsided me. You were irresistible – I absolutely could not stay away from you. I was just going along, flirting with you and having fun, and didn't even realize that I was already long gone. It hit me right upside the head, and I was yours before I even knew it. It took almost losing you to make me see that I loved you – body and soul – in a way I didn't think I was even capable of. I've regretted and wondered a lot about how I could have been so blind, but it's not a mistake I've been willing to make since then. I think that at this point I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if you weren't in my life. I'd be lost. I want you beside me all the time, making me laugh, making even the worst things bearable. And when we aren't together, I'm counting the minutes 'til I get back to you. I'd protect you with my very last breath, and I'll never even begin to cherish anyone the way I cherish you."
He paused for a moment, bowing his head to kiss her hand, and then looked back up at her again to see her sniffling and nearly sobbing, but looking ridiculously happy and already nodding her head 'yes.' "Let me get the question asked, Mama," he teased lightly, his cheeks crinkling with the smile that lit his entire face. "Hold your horses."
Wetting his lips, he regained the serious composure he'd been holding before. "Penelope Garcia, make me the happiest man on earth tonight…accept this ring and be my wife. Will you marry me?"
Laughing and crying, and so happy she couldn't contain herself, Penelope slid off of her stool as well, still clutching his hand, and joined him on the floor as he pulled her into his arms. "Yes, yes, of course I will! Yes!" she kept repeating, raining little kisses all over his face as she spoke.
"Hey, hey," he laughed, relief and joy evident in his voice and on his face as he pulled away just a fraction to ask her, "Don't you want to check out your ring?"
"Sugar, I don't need to see the rock to know that you're the man for me. I've known I wanted to be with you every moment that I could since the first day that I met you. You've done more for me by asking and wanting to marry me than you could ever know," she answered, still grinning like an idiot and swiping rogue tears off her cheeks.
Morgan leaned in to kiss her deeply, holding onto her like the lifeline that she had become to him. If he could have his way, he would never spend a day apart from her again. And though he knew in reality that wasn't possible, just then he felt that she was his forever and that was enough of a wonderful feeling to make everything else fade away.
He opened the ring box and turned it to face her, taking the ring out to slide it onto her finger. It was distinctive; noticeable and unique, just like Penelope. He'd made sure of it, knowing it was the ring he wanted as soon as he'd laid eyes on it. The canary yellow diamond was set smoothly in a plain white gold band. And though it was plain, so as not to get in her way or snag things as she was working and moving her hands all over the place in that insanely fast, mesmerizing way only her hands had, it was a large stone and quite eye-catching. He'd known she'd like it.
She let out a gasp of surprise as she glanced down at her hand and got a good look at it. "Derek, it's too much!" she exclaimed, startled. It was perfect. Just what she'd have chosen if she had picked it out herself.
"No, Goddess, it isn't nearly enough. But they don't make enough karats to express just how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I consider it more than fair if I get to spend the rest of my life with you in exchange."
She shook her head disbelievingly as she finally tore her eyes back away from her engagement ring and lost herself in his gaze again. "Sometimes, Handsome, I'd swear you were perfect. You know I love you every bit as much, don't you?"
"That's hard to imagine," he teased, a challenge in his eyes. "I love you an awful lot."
"Oh, I think I can prove myself," she promised, her voice silky as she stood and pulled his arm, until he stood too and followed her lead. She led him back into the bedroom and lay down on the bed, beckoning for him to join her. "Come here and let me show you."
Never before had the love between them felt so strong, and they spent the rest of the night consummating the bond they'd have between them for the rest of their lives. The world outside continued turning, life went on around them, but for those few hours, they were left alone and untouched by it. There was nothing but the two of them, together in love, and neither of them wanted anything more than that.
