A/N: Now... a tiny bit of angst, but nothing really to bad. I swear.
They made it back into the city late at night, with Morgan driving her home to her apartment building. Neither of them really said a word, mainly not sure what they should say.
Morgan knew that this was the date that would shift things in either direction. Either he was successful and they finally would move towards something more serious, or he wasn't and what that meant for the future he himself didn't know. He wasn't sure if he really could go back to best friends after the last six months. Fact was that he loved her and he didn't regret the last six months, but he also wouldn't be able to go through the whole 'just sex' thing again, too many emotions were involved on his side.
And Penelope? Usually he could read her like a book, but right now, sitting on the passenger seat, she was as unreadable as someone could be. He facial expression neutral and that was something that slightly worried him.
Penelope on the other hand was confused to say the least. The whole day had been great and she had a lot of fun, liked meeting Derek's family and knew by now that there were no expectations from either him or them, but there was something that made this all feel so different. Okay, she was usually not flown out to cities for dates and she certainly didn't meet the other one's family on their first real date, but then again they were Morgan and Garcia, they never did things the ordinary way.
The kiss they had shared on the Ferris Wheel was out of this world, to say the least, and she knew it was more than just some sort of distraction. The way he had kissed her, so soft and gentle, as if she'd be fragile and needed special taken care of, so filled with love, she knew Morgan was head over heels in love with her. She knew so even more when she looked into his eyes when she had fallen out of the gondola right into his strong arms.
The entire afternoon, when they walked around the town or the pier and Morgan had his arms resting over her shoulder she had to admit she never felt safer, better or more protected. Not that she felt as if she was in danger before, but with Morgan walking next to her, his arm draped over her shoulder she felt … taken care of.
When they left the car, he was quick in jumping to the other side of the car, wanting to help her out of the car and bring her to the door. That was another thing that made her wonder. The way he had been towards her. There was no pushing, talking about the significance of today. He was just there, like on any other day and was the perfect gentlemen. A fact that astonished her slightly as well, especially since he had gotten it all already, there was nothing else for him left that he didn't have had so far. But still he went through all the trouble to be there, take care of her and be the perfect gentlemen, helping her out of cars, the plan, holding doors open, flowers at the beginning of the date.
"It was a fun day," Penelope said as they reached her entrance. She leaned against the door frame of the main entrance to her building and looked up into Morgan's eyes. She thought of how to finish the night off and could see that now, she might be able to do good on all these last few days, weeks even. "You wanna come up for a coffee?" she asked, and found it a bit weird. She usually would ask dates that who she didn't see for very long, who were still in development maybe, but not Morgan. Morgan, who had a key to her apartment, who knew the way she drank her coffee up to the smallest detail and who knew her somehow better than anyone. But still she asked and he looked at her for a moment, studying the situation and her. "We could see where this date could still take us," she cooed and if Morgan had come closer before, now he was drawing back. Not a good sign.
He shook his head for a moment and Penelope wasn't entirely sure what that meant.
"I give up Penelope," Morgan finally announced, making her look up. "I don't know what it is, but apparently all you seem to see me for is … sex."
"Wh-," she started to ask, but didn't get really far when he interrupted her quickly.
"I don't know what Kevin Lynch or any other guy did to you that you … seem to have so little faith, don't know what I did that you honestly can't see us getting anywhere more than just having sex with each other, but whatever it is… it succeeded. I can't keep running after you for very much longer. I'm sorry, but … this just doesn't seem to get us where I had hoped that it would. I do understand that you are worried this … this all could hurt our friendship, but you already paint scenarios that don't even have to occur. Why is it so likely this won't work out? That this all will fail is so likely? Why are you thinking it is more likely for us to fail than us to work out perfectly as a couple? We have so much chemistry that it is off the hook. Everyone, even JJ and Emily and the rest of the team see that, and yet, you are the one who doubts it. We have so many things in common, share so many things, we know how the other one ticks, what he or she thinks and yet, you somehow still believe I am not knowing you well enough to make this work? Do you have so little faith in us?" he asked, and all Penelope could do was just stare at him. She just was lost for words and when Derek didn't see or hear her respond he just shook his head, turned around and left.