A/N: You guys seriously need to have more faith in me, Penelope and the HEA. LOL This is it... the last chapter. Thank you all very much, for reading, reviewing, alerting, fav'ing. It means a lot to see that people share the same idea about these two and actually like the creations of my imagination. =) I have quite a lot of stories written right now, but they all will need to get beta'd first, so it might maybe not be tomorrow when you see the next one up from me, but eventually there'll be a new story, no worries...

Penelope still stood in front of her apartment building ten minutes after he had already left, staring after him, wondering what just happened. It was just a simple question, and okay, one that could be used for reading into a lot, but all she really wanted was this date not yet to end. She wouldn't admit to have agreed to a second date, but she certainly couldn't argue with that she had a lot of fun today. It certainly was a very interesting day, and a very interesting first date as well.

After a while she came out of her trance-like state of mind and went inside, knowing that thinking further about it wouldn't get her anywhere, but then again so wouldn't not thinking about it.

When she told JJ and Emily she was loving the thing with Morgan because it had been so uncomplicated up until that day she probably lied more to herself than anyone else. Because who was she trying to kid? Things between her and Morgan had always been complicated and such thing as string-less would never exist. They had danced around each other for the better part of the last six years, tiptoeing around the other one, testing, teasing, flirting. Seeing how far they could push the bonds without doing any real damage to their close friendship. Neither of them probably realized that by pushing their bonds so frequently, flirting like there was no tomorrow and also with the nicknames, they had prepared their whole relationship for something entirely new. And it was just a matter of time until one of them was going to push for that 'more'. She never had thought however that this someone would be Morgan. She had always assumed it would be her, not her free and far away from ever settling down best friend. But if he had been waiting around for longer than six months that one was probably longer in the making than she would ever have thought.

The thing was she loved Morgan, dearly, but wasn't sure whether she really was willing to go that step towards more. She didn't want to risk her friendship with her best friend just in order for maybe a little bit of that certain happiness. She didn't want to lose him for good, but than again, seeing how things between them were right now and would develop further from here on she probably was halfway to losing him already.

XXXXX

Morgan made it home still angry.

Although he wasn't sure who he was angry with. He couldn't be angry with Penelope. She after all had always played with open cards, never making him believe something that wasn't there. It was him who pushed for that date, hoping he could open her eyes, make her see they could be more. But he failed as he had to realize now. Maybe he was angry at himself more than anything. Angry for being foolish enough to think he could turn things around, make her see him for more than just the best friend with benefits. How wrong he had been. He had risked it all and lost even more. But that was what he had to live with now. There was no way he, they, could return back to normal, for them, their relationship, their interaction. Granted, he could be more than professional with her at work, but just the two of them? He had to realize that tonight, he had lost their friendship, lost her, their closeness.

The best thing he could do now was go to bed and forget about this all. Not that everything would look better tomorrow, but at least he wouldn't spent the next few hours thinking about things already done and he couldn't do anything about anyway.

The other option he had was getting drunk, but somehow that didn't seem to appealing, and the hangover he would have tomorrow wouldn't be worth it and just remind him further about the misery. A misery he certainly didn't need to be reminded about, especially since by Monday he would have needed to find a way look halfway decent and not as if he had just handed his heart to the only woman it seemed who didn't want it.

XXXXX

Neither of them had really slept well that night. Morgan woke up buried under his covers and with Clooney at the end of his bed as his companion for the night. He never had been a good sleeper, but last night he barely slept at all. A fate he shared with Penelope, who more or less spent the entire night rolling from one side of the bed to the other and back, her mind going a million miles a second and still she couldn't come up with anything. But by now she at least knew what she had to do.

By 7am both of them gave up on getting any kind of sleep. Whereas Penelope decided to get up and face the day, Morgan opted for a way lazier way: staying in bed, zapping through the TV programs until he found something more or less interesting.

When his doorbell rang by 9 he had not really any other option then getting up and seeing who it was. Could be the mailman, he was expecting a few parcels. But who he found standing on his front porch wasn't the mailman, but rather his best friend.

"Penelope?" he asked rather surprised. He certainly hadn't expected to see her here anytime soon.

She smiled shyly at him. "I brought you coffee?" she said, holding up a paper tray with two steaming Styrofoam cups on it.

Morgan took a step back and let her in, deciding that maybe he should let her do the talking and see why she was here at such an unusual hour. He knew she preferred her weekends off to stay in bed for as long as she could.

There was a silence for a moment when she put the tray on his kitchen counter and just stared at them. When she noticed he wouldn't say anything either, she turned around and smiled uneasy at him.

"I … we … I mean … you," she started, but had difficulties to get any coherent sentence out. She hadn't thought this through well enough. She had somehow hoped he would do the talking once she showed up at his house. Major miscalculation.

Morgan just smiled at her once he noticed her nervousness, which she wasn't so sure how to take. Was he laughing about her? Was he relieved? Was he finding this whole situation funny? Because she certainly didn't. This was all somehow not how she had imagined them at all. Ever.

"Listen," she finally tried again, after taking several deep breaths. "I … never just saw you for the sex. I mean you are my best friend and I love you dearly and I admit, over the last few months things got kind of … out of hand. I mean … I don't regret what happened. Not one single bit. We had … fun. A lot of fun actually, and it all was good. We managed to have sex and also maintain our friendship, which is as far as I know something that doesn't happen very often. We weren't tiptoeing around each other, " she started explaining, before stopping for a moment and then adding with a smile "Well, at least not more than usual."

That little addition made Morgan smile at her, looks like not all was lost for the moment.

"The bottom line is … after you left yesterday, after that wonderful day we spent I felt … disappointed. I didn't mean to push you in any direction with what I said last night. I didn't mean to indicate anything. All I wanted was … to never let that night end. One way or another. And I seriously wouldn't have cared if it would have been spent having a go at each other, doing it, or just drinking coffee and talking into the early morning hours, cause one thing is for sure, Derek Morgan, I start wondering whether I am not falling in love with you as well." She grinned at him.

It took him a moment to realize what she actually was saying. And in that moment he certainly couldn't be any happier. Putting his coffee down, he took a step towards Penelope, and tilted her chin up with two fingers.

"So tell me, Gorgeous, does that mean you want us to go on another date?" he asked, barely able to hide a grin.

She looked at him for a long moment.

"When we go out on more dates, does that mean we can return to our initial agreement?" she asked with a cute smile, which told Morgan she certainly was no longer interested in just the physical aspect of their relationship.

"We certainly can talk about that." He laughed at her, knowing that with any other date there wouldn't be any kind of sex before they weren't at least more or less in an exclusive relationship, if he was looking for a relationship, but then again Penelope and him were anything but a normal dating timeline. They had been to that stage already a long time ago, before they even were anywhere close to dating.

"Well then, take as many dates as you think you need. I'm game if you're game." She laughed, before closing the distance between him and her and pressing her lips on his, feeling his hands coming up instantly around her neck, pushing her head further towards him, deepening the kiss within seconds.

They had shared quite a high number of kisses throughout the past few months, but none of them felt anywhere close to what this one felt, apart from the one last night, on the Ferris Wheel. It was passion, heat and need, mixed with love and desire, lingering and hope. Scooping her up in his arms with a yelp coming from her, they ended up in his bedroom.

That morning both of them got finally exactly what they wanted and so much more than either of them had dared bargaining for.

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