“So that’s it, you don’t want to talk about this and try to work this out?” She asked as she followed him from her bedroom to her bathroom where he was gathering his belongings.
“There’s nothing left to say, nothing to work out. This was a mistake and I should have listened to…” He quickly stopped talking not wanting to agitate the matter further by mentioning Garcia’s name.
“Listened to who Penelope?” Tamara asked as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “That fat bitch told you to dump me?” Morgan moved to her so swiftly that she actually hadn’t known he had moved until he was right in her face. His fists clenched and the muscles in his jaws twitched. She stared at him in fear, afraid she had gone too far and he was going to strike her. “You want to hit me don’t you?” She asked through trembling lips.
“Yeah I really do and I’ve never even thought about hitting any woman, before this moment. That’s a clear sign to me that ending our relationship and staying away from you is the right thing to do.”
“Because your precious Penelope said so?” She spat out at him.
“No, because I’m finally seeing you for the crazy ass bitch that you are,” Morgan said and then stormed from the bathroom and then out of the house, not once looking back.
“Well I can see her point,” Kevin said as he and Garcia snuggled together on her couch.
“What?” Garcia exclaimed as she lifted her body upright from where it had been laying against his.
“Kind of, I mean she was totally out of line confronting you guys at work the way she did, but…” He paused because he could see that his words were riling Garcia up.
“But what?”
“But I don’t think she was being unreasonable to want an explanation, I mean obviously Morgan wasn’t as open and honest with her, like you’ve been with me. Put yourself in her shoes what if I had been spending nights with a female friend of mine and I never mentioned it to you, and you found out about it the way this Barnes lady did you’d be pissed and seeking answers right?” Garcia couldn’t argue with such a sound point.
“You’re right, now I really feel like crap,” She pouted as she slumped back against Kevin’s body, and rested her head on his shoulder. “Maybe I should talk to her and explain things.”
“No, honey I don’t think that’s such a good idea, it’s really not your place anyway. That’s something Morgan should handle, you should just stay out of it.”
“But she thinks I’m sleeping with Morgan, as in, having hot monkey love with him.”
“It doesn’t matter you and I know the truth, and the truth is you only have hot monkey love with me. Well not as of late but I hope tonight we can remedy that,” Kevin stated and then flashed her, his traded mark smile. As she smiled back at him she couldn’t help but notice that his smile, a smile she once thought to be charming and cute, suddenly just looked goofy. Before she could put further thought into what that meant a knock came at the door. “Who could that be?” Kevin asked as he glanced at a nearby clock on the wall which flashed 11 pm. “You expecting anyone?” He asked as he moved from the couch to answer the door.
“No, it’s kind of late for visitors.” Garcia replied from her spot on the couch as she looked over it at her front door. She watched as Kevin peered through the peep hole and then noticed his shoulder droop a bit. “Who is it?” He responded by opening the door and greeting the person on the other side.
“Agent Morgan,” Kevin said cheerily and Garcia could tell the insincerity in it and knew from the discussion they had had earlier in the night that Kevin was not at all happy to see Morgan at her doorstep.
“Uhm, sorry I didn’t know you had company,” Morgan spoke directly to Garcia who stood and made her way to the door.
“Oh don’t worry about it,” Kevin cut in before Garcia could speak, he knew that there would be no way of getting Garcia into the mood after Morgan’s visit. “I was just leaving,” He moved back to the couch and grabbed his coat.
“Kevin,” Garcia called out to him but was really at a loss about what to say. She knew she ‘should’ probably tell Kevin to stay and ask Morgan to come back at a more reasonable time, but she also knew she ‘would and could’ never turn Morgan away.
“Look I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Morgan threw out to the younger man who stepped past him, and exited the apartment.
“Don’t worry about it I understand that you two have your traditional nights, so I’ll just go home and read a book or something. Bye Pen.” Garcia watched with sad eyes as Kevin disappeared around the corner. She frowned a bit and catching the look on her face Morgan began apologizing again.
“Hey babygirl I’m really sorry I ruined your evening, I can probably still catch him.” He offered.
“No that’s ok,” She said as her brow bunched into a scowl. She shook off the thought she was having about Kevin and why she was so relieved to see him go, and so happy to have Morgan with her. “Besides we’ve spent the entire evening talking about you anyway, guess we talked you up.” She said around a smile. She finally noticed the large overnight bag he was carrying. “Planning on moving in?” She asked with a chuckle as she nodded her head towards the bag. He followed her gaze and chuckled himself as he realized what she was referring to.
“Would you turn me away if I said yes?”
“I think you know the answer to that, Mon Cherie,” She replied with tongue in cheek, as he sent her a playful growl of warning. He had told her about speaking French that it drove him wild, but she had never taken him seriously and continuously teased him with the language of love.
“I just ended things with Tamara,” Morgan stated as he entered the apartment and dropped his bag by the door. Garcia moved to the open door, closing and then locking it before focusing back onto her friend, who was plopping down on the couch. Already making himself comfortable he slouched on the couch with his head resting against its back.
“I’m sorry,” She offered as she took a seat beside him on the couch. When he looked at her he realized that she was only wearing a black satin slip like night gown, and that it seemed to mold to her in all the right places. He felt a sudden and completely unexpected stir in his loins and quickly clamped his eyes shut as he rested his head against the couch and tried to think of the most non-stimulating things. After a long pause he spoke again. “Don’t be sorry, it had been coming for a while.” These words made Garcia silently sigh her relief she was happy to hear that she had nothing to do with the breakup. Morgan must have seen something in her face because he reached out and tugged on her red tresses to get her attention. “Our break really didn’t have much to do with you, at least not for me, she was just becoming too clingy. But Tam was very jealous of you though.”
“Me…why, she’s gorgeous and I’m…me so what reason does she have to be jealous of me?” Garcia asked truly stunned by his words.
“Hey, what did I tell you about putting yourself down like that?” Morgan chastised which caused her to roll her eyes dramatically at him.
“I’m not putting myself down, believe me I’ve made peace with my body image a long while ago, all I’m saying is I see no reason in the world for her to be jealous of me.” He looked at her for a moment longer and then let on a contented sighed and closed his eyes again.
“Probably because she knows I’d rather spend my nights in your bed instead of hers.” Morgan said calmly and honestly. The shock of his words didn’t hit him until a moment later. His eyes shot open and locked onto Garcia’s face. He could tell by the crimson blush that was spread across her chest and neck, that she had equally been affected by his words.
“Oh…uhm,” She stammered. “But you did explain to her that when we sleep together, all we do is ‘sleep’, right?” He sat silently regarding her as if it were the first time he was seeing her.
“Contrary to what you may think or may have been told, you’re a very beautiful and sexy woman, babygirl,” He spoke as he reached out a hand and let his fingers ghost across her satin covered thigh before resting his hand beside her on the couch. “So it didn’t matter what I told her because that’s all she thought about.”
“That I’m beautiful?”
“Yup.”
“And sexy?” He only nodded in reply. “Uh huh, Morgan have you been drinking?” He couldn’t stop the laugh that bubble from his lips and she could help giggling along with him.
“No sweetness, I’m not drunk, but I’m starting to realize that I’m a stupid fool.” He said becoming serious once more, and Garcia threw him a confused look. “Since puberty I have been chasing a certain type of girl, my ‘perfect girl’, back then I was totally hormone driven, you know. And I had a certain criteria, my perfect girl had to be ‘black’, no ifs ands or buts about it. Which is odd considering the most important woman in my life during that time was my ‘white’ mother, I’m sure Freud would have a field day with that. My girl also had to have a bang’n body I’m talking big breast, and a fat booty all in a size two.” Morgan continued with a far off look in his eyes, never noticing the hurt expression on Garcia’s face. “Now here I am a grown man and I’m still searching by the same criteria, even though I know now that ‘that’ girl isn’t my perfect girl, she’s not what I want anymore.”
“She’s not?” Garcia asked unconvinced.
“Nope.”
“Honey, are you sure you’re not drunk?” she continued teasing him.
“No, I’m just finally realizing that it’s more important to me that my perfect girl be smart, funny, kind, caring, and understanding as well as beautiful and sexy. After having a string of flings and very bad attempts at relationships I now understand that the packaging really isn’t as important as the contents, you know.” He said with such conviction that it warmed Garcia’s heart to hear it. She understood that this was a huge milestone for Derek Morgan the ‘playa extraordinaire’ and she also knew him well enough to know that if she let him dwell on this revelation and the fact that he had disclosed it to her it would only embarrass him and cause him to run off, and she didn’t want him to leave. So she opted to lighten his mood.
“Aww sugar you should make that into a hallmark card, ‘the packaging really isn’t as important as the contents’,” She jokingly mocked his words and as she expected he roared out his laughter. “Seriously, you could make millions.”
The car had been parked outside Garcia’s apartment building for nearly four hours. The passenger knew which window belong to Garcia having seen the resident close the shading right before the lights had been turned out nearly three hours before. So the passenger just sat watching the darkened window of Garcia’s apartment, with a growing hatred.