Disclaimers: The usual.
A/N: Again, thanks a ton to all the reviews and alerts. You guys are just unbelievable. Last chapter - although I have a certain feeling. =) I am sorry I haven't replied to anyone for the last chapter yet, but it seems like Fanfiction has a problem with delivering emails at the moment. I promise I will reply to all remaining reviews as soon as I receive the email notifications. Also huge thanks to my beta JenRar, who works damn fast and very well.
Back at the hotel, she watched as Morgan threw the papers onto one of the many tables and left them there without looking at them again.
"Shouldn't we … um… sign them and just hand them back to the chapel and get it over with?" Penelope asked, slightly confused.
"You know, I have been thinking…"
"Uh, we are in trouble now," she joked, getting a pillow thrown in her direction, which she easily avoided.
"Why did we get married last night?"
"Because we were drunk," Penelope stated, matter of factly. She could have kicked herself for it.
"No, I mean, what made us get married?"
"The alcohol, most likely."
"Very funny, Baby Girl. Really, though. What sparked that idea?"
"Hm… something that happened between Gin and Tonic number four and Gin and Tonic number fifteen? Something that happened to you, since you were the one dragging me down there," she smiled, remembering what Elvis had told them.
"Maybe … it wasn't that bad of an idea," he finally said, making Penelope look at him as if she wasn't sure whether she just heard correctly, or her hazy and maybe still alcohol poisoned mind had just played a trick on her.
"Excuse me?" was all she could say.
"You know, getting married."
"Derek, we were drunk, confused and out of our minds."
"These are all the arguments you have?" he laughed.
She thought about it for a moment, wondering what else she could say.
"The best argument I have is probably that if we do not get an annulment, I give it four months before I get a divorce, because the disappointment of not having a wedding night just was unbearable…"
"You are unbelievable, Garcia, you know that?" Morgan grinned at her, shaking his head in slight disbelief.
"I have my priorities sorted. Years of verbal foreplay and promises and then I am let down. I thought this would be the whole purpose of it, that you finally put your body where your mouth is."
"Oh, poor baby," he winked and Penelope wondered whether he actually was serious.
After a few moments of silence and her not responding to him, she suddenly heard him saying her name, sounding serious.
"What do you really think of this?" he pressured.
"I… um … well, what I really think is that I should never get drunk in Vegas again, especially not when you are by my side," she joked, since she couldn't really make out what he was aiming for.
The laugh that escaped him let her breathe out slowly, but he seemed to wait for more.
"It was a mistake?" she finally offered.
"Is that a question, or are you fishing for information on what I want you to say?" He grinned at her, shaking his head in disbelief yet again.
"Both," she replied with a grin that matched his.
"I want you to tell me what you really think. About the … mess we got ourselves into."
She gave him a skeptical look, knowing he wouldn't be able to handle the truth when she told him what her real thoughts were. Like that she actually thought it was great, apart from not remembering anything. But knowing he was – technically – hers, written down on paper, gave her little thrills. Not that this would actually change anything about them, since the fact that they were married wouldn't just change Morgan's feelings for her.
After getting lost in those thoughts of hers and not noticing that Morgan was actually still waiting for her answer, she heard him suddenly repeat her name a few times.
"Oh, right, um… I think it was … um .. unprofessional, to say the least. We got … carried away, by the alcohol, or the moment. No, the alcohol," Morgan heard her say, sounding like she was arguing with herself, which made him laugh even more.
"Unprofessional?" he asked, moving from the bed he was sitting on.
"Yes. I mean, who gets drunk and married?"
"I've heard it happens. No one I know, although I guess that's part of the whole Vegas experience."
"Something like one of the ten things you have to do while in Vegas?" she asked with a giggle.
And where did that come from? she wondered to herself.
"Yeah, something like that, Goddess."
"Now that we got drunk, married and saw Elvis, all that is left, I guess, is seeing a magic show, Celine Dion in concert and win a million dollars in one of the casinos."
"You wanna see Celine Dion?" Derek asked in surprise and disbelief.
"No," Penelope protested. "That was just the first name that came to my mind."
"Concerning the magic show, I guess I can help with that."
"You can? I always thought Reid is the hobby magician among you profilers," Penelope laughed.
Suddenly, she had Morgan's lips pressed against hers; lips that felt so perfect, smooth and firm, yet gentle when they brushed over hers.
She could feel how his hands slowly moved up her body, until they cupped her face, keeping it steady. When she felt Morgan's tongue tracing her lips, she opened them, more in surprise and shock than anything else. That was all Morgan needed to deepen the kiss, taking full advantage of the moment. He kissed her like he meant it, passionate and demanding, strong and fierce, giving Garcia the feeling as if her lips were on fire. But there was no way she would let go of this, not when she was finally getting what she had been wishing for so long.
When one of Derek's hands left her face, Penelope was quite certain that this kiss would end soon, but she realized that the hand just left her face in order to move her hips closer to his body.
He moved both of them a step back, until her legs hit the edge of the bed. Morgan pushed her further, until she lost her balance and fell down, taking him with her.
He pinned her down to the bed, moving his body fully on hers and settling his knee between her legs. This was just too damn good to stop anytime soon. By now, she had lost track of time, not that she really cared about it anyway, and when his hands found their way under her shirt and caressed the newly exposed skin, she felt like she was about to combust. If this was a dream, she hoped to never wake up.
She flung her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, not able to get enough of him and his taste. Coffee, chocolate and something that was just him. She could definitely get addicted to his taste.
His lips left hers and started moving along her throat and neckline. Penelope pushed herself further into the cushions, loving every minute of the assault. Her skin burned like fire whenever his lips made contact.
She felt his lips move up her neck again, moving higher slowly, making sure to reach every patch of exposed skin that was offered. Feeling him nibbling at her earlobe, Garcia felt like she was about to die, or combust, whichever came first.
"This is my opinion on the whole situation," she heard a voice that sounded like it came from far, far away. It took her brain a few moments to catch up and realize that it was Morgan talking, or whispering, as the case may be.
"Huh?" she responded, needing a few moments to register that Morgan had stop his assault and was now kneeling in front of her on the bed.
Instead of answering right away, he grinned at her.
"Can you repeat what you just said? I might have not been my usual sharp-minded self."
"You probably got distracted," he teased.
"I sure did, because what I heard sounded like 'this is my opinion on the mess.' Or something like that," she explained, still not believing she'd heard correctly.
"Actually you heard right."
"I … how… why?" Penelope stuttered. Great way of making conversation, Garcia, she thought to herself, wondering how long it might take for her to actually form a coherent sentence again, after a kiss like that.
When Derek didn't say anything, she thought that maybe she should try forming a sentence, since he might not really get what she was trying to ask. Before she could try, he spoke.
"I guess.. in a lot of ways, our dear Elvis was right. Somehow. Alcohol probably encourages you to do thing you wouldn't really do with a sober and clear head. There … " he suddenly stopped, looking at Garcia as if to check whether it was safe to continue.
"There had always been … something between the two of us. And there is no way of denying it. We had chemistry that was simply through the roof," he went on, looking again at Penelope, who gave him more of a confused than encouraging look.
"A lot of the stuff I said last night to you, at the chapel, before, during and after our wedding, was probably just … my … I don't know. I guess I just realized something that I somehow knew for a long time, somewhere deep down, but never acknowledged. You are the closest to family I have in Virginia. I mean Hotch, Emily, JJ, Reid and Rossi... they are as well, but you are… you are different. In a good way. I don't want to lose you."
"So you decided to marry me in order to not lose me?" Penelope asked with a grin, not sure if she'd gotten that right.
"I guess," Morgan shrugged.
"That doesn't sound very convincing, Hot Stuff. Not that I would ever leave you. If there is one who will leave, it is probably you, with your instincts for dangerous and life-threatening situations and how to get best into them. If you would stop risking your life, no one would ever lose anyone."
"That's my job, Baby Girl," Morgan said, defending himself.
"And where exactly does it state in your contract 'When there is an ambulance with a bomb, you are required to drive the ambulance yourself, all on your own, to a place where harm is reduced to a minimum'?"
"Somewhere at the end, I guess," he smiled, and got a laugh as response.
"If you would trust people, it would be so much easier sometimes," Garcia complained, which made him smile even wider.
"I trust you, isn't that enough?"
She shrugged her shoulders. After all, this answer was more than enough for her.
"There was always something between the two of us. I never took it seriously, thought it was just some way to make this job a bit easier and lighter. At some point, I knew there was more to you and me than what I thought. You started growing on me, woman. I never thought to act on it, never thought it would work out to begin with. When I asked you out that one evening, when you were so mad at me for saying it was a good decision to not go out with Battle, I meant it. I didn't ask you as a friend to have a good night out, but as a date. Of course, you needed to play hard-to-get and turned me down…"
"I did not play hard-to-get. I was just mad at you," Garcia replied, taking in all the information she had gotten in the past few minutes.
Morgan rolled his eyes at her.
"Whatever. Anyway, when I got the call saying you had been shot, I thought I'd really lost you. I wanted to kill Battle with my own two hands for doing that to my Baby Girl. But more importantly, I wanted to see you for myself and keep you safe. After we caught him, I was about to tell you how I felt. Kind of. And what did you do? You ran off with Lynch. Kevin Lynch. Of all people…"
"He was cute. And interested…"
"Cute? You found Kevin Lynch cute? That guy looked like his mother still dressed him. Maybe you meant pathetic??" he laughed, somehow a bit outraged. How could anyone describe Lynch as cute?
Garcia looked at Morgan for a moment, pouting. Of course Kevin was in no way any comparison to him. Morgan was hot, and gorgeous and god-like, with upper arms the size of Lynch's thighs. And he could kiss. Not that Lynch couldn't, but when Morgan kissed her, she forgot everything, including her own name. He kissed her like he meant it, giving her a feeling that she was the only thing on his mind and his only concern.
"He was cute in his own way," Penelope protested.
"Okay, let's agree on him being … special. How does that sound?" he asked, getting somewhat of a nod before continuing his story.
"Anyway, so you ran off with Lynch. This was the first time I saw you with a guy. I mean, serious with a guy. I know there had been others, but they kind of came, were in your life for a week or a month and then vanished. Lynch stayed. Way too long, in my opinion. And that's when I had to face the prospect of losing you. Throwing myself into work was a good distraction, not that it helped much since I was still calling you, flirting with you, playing along. The moment Emily told me you had split was the happiest in my life, I think," he said, without thinking, and realizing too late how that might have sounded.
"I mean, not that I wanted you to be unhappy, of course. Not that I would put my own happiness ahead of yours," he rushed to explain, relieved when he saw a smile displayed on her lips.
"I get what you mean," Derek heard her say.
"Well, that was two months ago. Back then, I decided I would get to you, make you mine and make sure I would never have to see you with another guy again. I just couldn't decide on how to go about that," he confessed, leaving her surprised. Never had she imagined that Derek Morgan was someone who would need a plan on how to conquer a woman. This guy was a born charmer, someone who just knew what to say, when and how to get what he wanted. And he needed to make up a plan on how to get to Penelope Garcia?
"I guess last night, in my state of being drunk, I found a way. The most literal way of making you mine. Dragging you down the aisle," he grinned at her.
She just laughed. She didn't know why. It was all just so … surreal. Five years of being in love with him and never thinking of getting anywhere, and all he needed was some kind of a dorky tech analyst to woo her for a few weeks to get Derek Morgan to realize what he wanted all along?
"And you told me that now because…?" she asked, looking at him again. She saw a few moments of doubt before he realized that she was playing him. She wanted him to say it.
"Baby, I'm a profiler. It is my job to know and understand how people think and what they think. That video … told me everything. Everything I needed to know. And much more," she heard him answer, without saying what she wanted to hear.
He bent his head slightly, letting his lips brush over hers. For a moment, she thought this would end up in another of these mind-blowing kisses, but his lips literally just brushed hers for a second or two before brushing over her cheek.
"I love you," she heard him whisper in her ear. She broke out into a smile that challenged Morgan's best trademark grin easily.
He said it. And he meant it, she could feel it. Not just love like a sister, as she always had assumed he meant. But love as in girlfriend. Not that they were at that stage yet, of course, although they had gottenmarried last night.
He left her on the bed and walked over to the table with the papers they got from their Elvis priest. Bringing them back to her, he didn't say it, but she knew exactly what he thought.
It was up to her and what she wanted to do.
"You wouldn't mind staying married?" she asked, wondering how far he thought her possible reaction through.
"I have a feeling we would be heading that way anyway in a few years," he grinned.
She took the papers out of his hand and looked at them for a moment. Although she didn't look at him, Penelope could see him, out of the corner of her eye, looking slightly worried and tense. Not because he was afraid she might want to say yes to staying married, but because she might turn him down once again.
She took the documents in both hands … and ripped them apart, throwing the pieces carelessly next to the bed.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't one be dating before getting married?" Penelope laughed.
"Well, as I already said earlier, I tend to do things differently." Morgan smiled down at her before sealing her lips with his. Lord, what his kisses did to her. If there was doubt or second guesses, they were gone the moment his lips met hers. It seemed like whenever his lips were on hers, her brain decided it was time for a break.
He softly pushed her back on the bed, pulling his t-shirt off himself before he joined her. His fingers moved over her body, trying to find skin they could touch. They moved under her tank top, pushing the fabric slowly upwards and over Penelope's head, throwing it somewhere behind him in the room.
"I believe I owe you a wedding night, Goddess…"
FIN