David Hodges and Morgan Brody chatted for half an hour under the flickering neon lights of a 24-hour roadside diner.
Long after the food was gone, the two sipped through mug after mug of coffee, making small talk about work, soft office gossip and so on and so forth.
Finally, Morgan stole a look at her watch and sighed.
"Well, old buddy," Hodges raised an eyebrow at the words. "I should probably be heading home for some beauty sleep."
"Yeah, me too. I need it." This elicited a grin from Morgan, which Hodges replied to with a hint of a smile. "What time is it anyway?"
"6:00."
"Jesus." Hodges chugged his coffee, set the mug on the table, and flagged down the waitress.
"Yeah, you've got your paperwork, I've got cats to feed..." Morgan trailed off, picking up her purse and rifling through it for a moment. Meanwhile, the waitress came over and set their check on the table, giving Hodges another salacious look, and walking off toward the kitchen.
He just shook his head and picked up the check.
He reached into his pocket, pulled a 20$ out of his wallet, and tossed it down with the check.
"You ready?"
"Yeah just let me-" Morgan looked up and saw the money and the check. "Oh, no way. You are so not paying for my food."
"Too late." He smiled and gestured his head toward the door. "Did you wanna go get your car or what?"
"Hodges, you better know this wasn't a date."
"Of course."
"And I'm getting the check next time."
"You bet. We'll go to Red Lobster. That'll beat out the six bucks spent on waffle fries and a BLT. Now let's go!"
Morgan tossed her head and laughed, blonde curls bouncing over her shoulder again.
"You're something else, David Hodges."
He shrugged in concession, smile returning. She slid out of the booth and followed him through to the diner's doors, bell ringing on their way out.

They both happily jumped into the little Ford and sped off back toward CSI down the road. They pulled into the parking lot, up next to Morgan's SUV, and Hodges killed the ignition.
"Well. Hope you, ah, had fun." Hodges scratched at the steering wheel, a pleasant smile planted on his face.
"You know," Morgan unbuckled and turned to face him. "I really did. I thought it'd be awkward, after everything." She paused, and Hodges glanced up. She smiled. "But it really wasn't. We should do this again some time."
"Yeah! Totally! Er, ah," Hodges toned down his grin a bit. "If you're ever up for coffee again. You know. Graveyard shift and all."
"Totally." Morgan laughed, sparkling eyes not going unnoticed.
Hodges swallowed again.
"Well, ah, guess you should be getting home, huh?"
"Guess I should." The more nervous he got, the bigger Morgan grinned. But she knew torturing him infinitely wasn't fair. And, honestly, she was pretty tired.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." She opened the door and, once again, climbed out of the unusually short car.
"Hey, ah," Hodges popped out of his door when she did, keys in his hand.
"Yes?" Morgan crossed her arms on top of the car, chin on her hands.
Hodges mirrored the position, blue eyes earnest.
"Where are we, Brody?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
He shrugged.
"You know. Are we... okay?" His gray-speckled eyebrows went up. "Are we friends?"
Another pearly smile split Morgan's face and she laughed, shaking her head.
"Hodges! Hodges Hodges, David Hodges." She walked around the front of the car and, to his astonishment, threw her arms around the much taller man.
"Uh...?" He awkwardly hugged her back, and then she let go.
"Of course we're friends. You're, well, probably one of my best friends." She looked at the ground and chewed her lip. His eyebrows went up again.
"Me?"
"Yeah. You. I feel like I can trust you. You're patient and caring and..." She trailed off, blushing. "You probably don't need to hear all that gushy girl stuff." She gently slugged his arm. "We're good, Hodges. We're good."
Hodges whole body was warm; whether it was a physiological reaction to the hug, or an emotional reaction to the words- and the hug- he couldn't say. So he just smiled like a schoolboy and shurgged again, abash.
"Alright," Morgan rocked on her heels. "I should probably go home tonight. Sleep deprivation is obviously getting me whacky." She smiled and patted Hodges on the arm.
"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yes ma'am, graveyard shift." Hodges smiled up as she unlocked her SUV and jumped in.
"Graveyard shift!" She stood up on the step bar and gave him a thumbs up.
"See ya, Brody." He waved awkwardly, and caught his breath a little when Morgan winked.
"See ya Hodges!"
She started the car and left the lot. Hodges got back in his car, started it, and took a deep breath.
He put his hands on top of the steering wheel for a moment and sighed, a smile creeping back onto his face.
See you tomorrow, Brody.