Title: Against all odds

Pairing: Morgan/Garcia

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to CBS. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time.

Summary: Written for the MorganGarcia community on LJ. The prompt was first kiss.

Set after 'Limelight'. Getting a first kiss can be harder than it sounds.

warnings: none

He couldn't forget about the conversation they'd had on the phone before they'd been interrupted by her computer telling her that it had found a result. He had stayed with her until the pain and the nightmares had been over and he'd been sure she was okay. Now he felt like he'd missed how bad it had been. He felt like he had failed to protect her again.

"Hey, gorgeous." Penelope greeted happily and turned her chair around to face him. "I didn't know you would be dropping by here before you went home." When she noticed the worried expression on his face her heart beat faster: "Derek, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing, baby girl." Derek assured, hurried over to her and caught her in his arms. "I'm just… sorry."

"For what?" she wanted to know and raised her head to lock eyes with him.

Derek caressed her cheek and replied: "That I wasn't here when this case reminded you of being shot and that we were interrupted when you wanted to talk to me."

"It's okay." she smiled. "The case was more important."

"No, goddess." Derek objected and cupped her cheek with his hand slowly stroking it with his thumb. "Nothing is more important than you are."

Giving him a watery smile Penelope softly replied: "There wasn't much more I wanted to tell you. I just don't like being reminded of how it felt to be shot."

Derek wrapped his arms tighter around her when he noticed her shiver. Leaning his head against hers he whispered: "I promise I'll never let that happen to you again."

"I know." Penelope nodded and closed her eyes. Derek had taken good care of her, stayed with her and protected her – first from Battle and then from the nightmares. He'd made sure she took all her medicine. He'd done everything for her – even cooking – so she didn't have to move around too much.

"Shall I take you home?" Derek softly asked after a while.

"It depends." she whispered without looking at him.

Derek cupped her chin with one hand and locked eyes with her: "Baby girl, you know I'll hold you whenever you want me to." When he looked into her beautiful brown eyes Derek felt this sudden urge rising up in his chest again. The urge to kiss her full ruby lips. This time he decided to give in to it. They had become very close after the shooting and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before they crossed that final line – so why not today?! Slowly he bent forward and his heart started pounding like mad.

Penelope could feel his heart racing in his chest almost reaching her pulse. This couldn't be true. Derek wasn't about to kiss her. She must be dreaming. Sighing Penelope closed her eyes and leaned up in order to meet his lips when suddenly the door to her office flew open.

They jumped apart and Penelope turned back to her computers so that the visitor couldn't see her blush.

"Oh… um… I… I'm sorry." Kevin Lynch stuttered. "I didn't expect anyone to be here anymore… I… Have you seen my jacket?"

Mumbling something not understandable Derek handed the technical analyst his jacket. At least he still had the prospect of taking his goddess home – and maybe finishing there what had been so abruptly interrupted here.

Penelope hurried to shut her computers down her heart still trying to jump out of her chest. If Kevin hadn't interrupted them she would have gotten a kiss she had been craving for more than three years now. She wasn't sure if Derek would ever make such an attempt again.

Twenty minutes later they both arrived at her apartment. An awkward silence had developed between them. After their almost kiss neither of them knew what to say to ease the tension.

"I will change the bedding." she stated without looking at him. "You can take a shower in the meantime."

Derek blocked her way and put both his hands on her shoulders: "Baby girl, I don't want us to feel embarrassed now because I really wanted to kiss you – and I had the impression that you wanted that too."

"I did." she nodded and blushed a little. "I mean… I do… if you… still want that."

Smirking Derek took a step closer and pulled her against his body. "Most definitely." he smiled and leaned down in a second attempt to capture her lips with his. His heartbeat sped up again and he closed his eyes. It was a little ridiculous, he felt like a teenager who was just millimeters away from getting his first kiss.

Penelope took in a deep breath when he leaned closer. Their hearts were racing again, she could feel his heartbeat and almost hear her own. Derek was so close that she could smell him – and she was only a second away from tasting him. A shiver ran through her body and the next second… she let out a disappointed sigh when she heard his cell phone ring. She let her head drop against his chest for a second.

"Damn it!" Derek swore fishing the phone out of his pocket and yelled at the caller without even looking at the ID: "Morgan?"

She saw him frown and knew what that meant. They had to get back to the Bureau for another very important case. It also meant there would be no cuddling tonight – and definitely no kissing. Someone obviously had an objection against that.

Giving his baby girl an apologizing look Derek said: "We have to get back to the Bureau as fast as possible. Someone has abducted and killed young women in Dumfries, six victims in the past twenty-four hours and two more are missing. They need a profile and a background check to find a link between the victims.

Penelope just nodded.

"Hey" Derek softly said and smiled at her, "you know that first kisses are never perfect."

"Not perfect is not exactly the same as not happening." she sighed.

"It will happen, I promise!" Derek assured her and gently pecked her cheek.

The only good thing about that evening was that after an exhausting case it took them less than five hours to find the link and with that a suspect who perfectly fit the profile. Arresting and questioning him was the job of the local police. If only every case went like this! At around three a.m. they were all heading back home.

"Do you still want to come over?" Penelope asked in a low voice while she waited with Derek at the elevator.

Grinning he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close and whispered: "I'm rather sure you know the answer."

"Yeah, but I'd like to hear it." she giggled.

Derek smiled and his face became a little darker as he breathed: "Baby girl, there's nothing in the world I want more."

Her heart sped up again when she saw the longing expression on his face and she drew in a shaky breath at the sound of his deep voice. Penelope desperately wanted to kiss this dream of a man come true.

He caressed her cheek and nodded slightly when he saw the question in her eyes. The third time was always the charm, right? He couldn't wait to feel her soft lips on his!

She looked around to make sure no one was watching them and then leaned closer to Derek the exact moment the elevator arrived with a loud 'bing' and they heard Reid calling: "Wait for me!"

A disappointed growl escaped Derek's lips. They were never going to make it this way.

"Hey, are you coming with me or what?" an impatient Reid asked standing halfway in the open elevator looking at the couple in front of him.

"We'll take the stairs." Penelope stated, grabbed Derek's hand, pulled him into the staircase, pretty much slammed him against the wall and kissed him fiercely.

The surprised sound that escaped his lips and was swallowed by Penelope's mouth that suddenly met his quickly turned into a satisfied sigh. Finally he was getting the kiss he'd wanted much too long. Derek wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close against him.

Her body pinned his against the door and she willingly opened her mouth to deepen the kiss. It had taken them four attempts to finally get so far and this first kiss might not have been perfect – although it was very close – but at least it was finally happening.

"Wow" Derek gasped when she eventually had to break away from his lips for air, "I swear I'll kill the next person who interrupts us. This is much too good."

"Then why waste the time talking?" she giggled.

"You are a goddess." he grinned and kissed her again.

"Did you ever doubt that?" she panted when they had to break the second kiss.

"Not once." Derek chuckled. "I just feared we were never going to make it."

"Me too." Penelope whispered and leaned up to kiss him again. After they'd finally found a place where they were left unimpeded she didn't plan to stop kissing him anytime soon.