CONNECTIONS

Chapter 18

On Friday, his last work day before his vacation, Morgan found himself singing along with the radio on the drive into Headquarters. Even the heavy traffic and his lack of sleep, couldn't affect his mood.

It was late when he walked Penelope out to her car and they said "good-night." Earlier in the evening, he had offered to take her out to dinner again, but she looked disdainfully down at her outfit and made a face when he suggested it. Oops, he hadn't realized she was self-conscious about her appearance. Even in his tee shirt and sweatpants, she looked pretty to him. Instead, she offered to make dinner for them.

"Babe, I don't have much that you don't just nuke. I don't cook very often." He called to her, when she went into the kitchen to see what he had. From the odds and ends she found, she managed to make them a pretty good meal. They finished with a bottle of Cabernet that someone had given him for Christmas, which had long been forgotten on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Derek was still humming to himself when he parked his car and walked to the elevator. On the way to his office, he passed Erin Strauss. There was something "off" about her appearance, he noted. Strauss was always impeccably coiffed and dressed, but today she looked a little…unkempt? Interesting? She was wearing dark glasses. "Agent," she nodded, formally, as she passed him.

"Ma'am." He replied, still trying to assess what was amiss.

At the coffeemaker, Rossi was hanging out with the same rookie agent, but today, she would brush his arm with her hand when she laughed at his jokes. Morgan was amused at the progress he was making. "Yeah, go on, Old Dude," he thought, but would never have said to Dave.

He was mixing his coffee when Rossi paused from his flirtation. "Want to meet me at O'Reilly's tonight?"

"Sure," Derek replied, juggling the coffee, his briefcase, and a couple of cookies, as he headed down to his office.

The day went by quickly despite a heavy caseload. Hotch, in his typically humorless fashion, had questioned him when he went into the morning brief. "Did you take care of your emergency?"

"Yes," he said, sharply. He had never taken an unplanned day off before, and he wasn't about to make explanations for yesterday.

Several times during the meeting, Derek and Garcia glanced at each other and smiled, very slightly, not to betray to the others that they may be thinking of something more than the work at hand.

When he left his office for the day, Morgan was confident that his work was entirely up to date. He pulled out of the parking garage, delighted to be officially on vacation.

xxxxx

"I'm surprised that you wanted to have dinner with me tonight," Derek told his co-worker. "Shit, I thought you'd be hangin' with that cute rookie you've been trying to charm into bed."

"She's Saturday night." He grinned, and then turned serious. "Did you get your business taken care of yesterday?

When Morgan called to ask him to cover for him, Rossi knew there was more to it than the "something's come up" that he mumbled about, but he didn't embarrass him by asking for details. Also, he didn't tell Morgan that he saw Erin Strauss leave his office just before he called.

"Yeah, I did. Thank you." He spoke quietly, and didn't elaborate.

Rossi made a little small talk about the game that was playing on the overhead TV monitor before he told him. "I had dinner with Erin Strauss last night."

Morgan's eyes narrowed, suspiciously. "Oh?" For the moment, he felt betrayed.

"After five White Russians, she agreed to see a psychiatrist and to get some help."

"Did you talk to her about me?" Suddenly, he was angry, assuming the implications of what Rossi was saying. He didn't need "daddy" fighting his battles for him.

"No, absolutely not!" Rossi assured him, quickly. He explained. "Derek, what she did to you was out of character. She has always been driven, ambitious. Hell, she's a controlling bitch. But, for her to commit a criminal act? Uh-uh, the more I thought about it, I knew something had to be very wrong." He saw that Derek's anger abated as he listened.

"I got enough alcohol in her to get her to loosen up and talk to me. She's gone through a nasty divorce. She came home one day and caught her husband doggin' the nanny, some twenty-two year old over here on a French visa. In spite of his affair, he got custody of their kids. He used Erin's career aspirations against her, saying she was never home, didn't have time for them, et cetera. Maybe some truth there, but hey, she loves her children. She's not a complete monster. So now her ex is shacked up in their home with his little Mademoiselle, and she feels like she's lost everything. Anyhow, that was her 'stressor.'"

He watched Morgan's reaction. It was important to him that Morgan understood his motivation for seeing her. He went on. "I don't expect you to forgive what she did to you. It was outrageous. I am only explaining her to you. You're nice looking, Derek. You're younger than she is. In her distorted reality, I think she thought having you would make her feel better about herself."

Morgan didn't answer at first, digesting what Rossi had told him. Finally, "I'm glad you persuaded her to see someone," and then he smiled. "So that's why she looked so ragged this morning, eh? She was hung over."

"Oh yeah," Rossi nodded. "I'm sure she was." He leaned in to tell Morgan more truth about his encounter with Erin. "Look, I want you to know that I never mentioned you, or anything to do with you. I told her that I was worried about her. When she was drunk enough, she started to spill her guts about what happened with the divorce."

"How do you know she'll follow through on seeing a shrink?" Morgan asked.

"I told her outright. I said I thought she was psychologically unfit for her position with the Bureau right now. I told her gently, but I fucking told her. She knows I am going to check on her, and she knows that if she doesn't follow through, I'll have to make my concerns known to the hierarchy." He sat back in his chair, confident of what he was saying. "I have 'connections,' too."

Rossi was honest with Morgan, but he did leave a few details out of his story. He didn't mention that Erin was too drunk to drive, so he took her back to his house to spend the night. He didn't tell him, that when she talked about the things that had happened with her, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably, and how long he held her to comfort her. Morgan didn't hear about the kiss, or that they have a date next week.

Rossi knew better than to get involved with Erin again. He was just going to take her out to dinner on Tuesday…for old time's sake.

xxxxx

Morgan watched Rossi swirl his favorite peach brandy in the glass before taking a drink, a ritual he had seen him perform many times before. Dave leaned back in his seat, savoring the flavor as it went done. "Damn, that's good." He said, commenting on the drink. "Now, if I could light up a Havana Honey, the evening would be perfect."

"I presume you mean the cigar, not a hot Latino chick?"

"Of course," he replied, taking another drink, "but then, I wouldn't turn down either one."

Morgan shook his head in amusement. "Dave, you know those cigars are bad for you?"

"Unfortunately, most of the things I enjoy are bad for me. So, what time's your flight on Sunday?"

"Nine twenty-two."

"Tell me about your trip. Is this a singles thing, or what? Are you looking to meet someone, maybe get a little action?"

When Morgan booked the trip, he was mostly thinking of lying on the beach, doing some scuba diving, and just getting the hell away. It was a plus that Barbados has an active night life, and he wouldn't have minded meeting someone, but now that Penelope was single, he wasn't interested. "Nah, I don't think so."

"Geeze, that doesn't sound like much fun, taking a vacation alone. Why don't you invite someone to go along with you?"

Morgan laughed. "If you're hinting that you want to go to Barbados and lie on the beach with me, I gotta tell you. You're not my type."

"No, I was just thinking you should take someone. You know, I heard Garcia is a free woman. She broke up with that Lynch guy. Heard he took a position in Europe. Oh, and in case you never noticed, she's crazy about you." Rossi had never missed any of their little sidelong glances.

"Right," he said, sarcastically. "I'll just call her up on a day's notice and see if she wants to drop everything and go to Barbados." He shook his head. "That's crazy, Dave."

"Not so crazy. I'll bet she'd go. Derek, you're too planned, too organized. When was the last time you did something spontaneous?"

"This from the man who color codes his notes?"

"That's work. This is fun. Why don't you invite her?"

"Well, there wouldn't be a problem with the accommodations. I rented a beach cottage. But, what about the flight down? She may not even be able to get a seat on the same plane."

"Take a different flight."

"It would cost a bundle to change plans now, or even to get her on the same flight."

"You make a good living."

"Dave, even if I asked her, and she said 'yes,' and okay, say I got her on the flight down, our vacation requests have to be put in two weeks ahead. Shit, I'm leaving in thirty-six hours."

"Morgan, the girl could hack the U.S. Missile Defense System if she wanted to. Slipping her backdated vacation request into the system would be a piece of cake for her."

Morgan just kept shaking his head, amused at Rossi's ridiculous proposal.

xxxxx

It was Sunday night when David Rossi picked up the phone and called.

"Erin…Dave Rossi," he told her. "Look, I'm going to have to cancel Tuesday night."

He had been toying with the idea of calling her for the past couple of days, finally deciding it was the right thing to do. He'd thought about lying, and telling her that something came up. No, he needed to be upfront about it, and so he said: "I don't think it is a good idea. You're vulnerable right now. I don't want to cause any complications." She didn't say anything and he continued. "Did you make your appointment yet?"

He was glad to hear that she had her first session tomorrow night. He was afraid it would take her several weeks to get an appointment, so he recommended Dr. Phillip Addison. He and Phil played golf together once in awhile, and had been his advisor on several cases. He trusted the man's judgment and thought he would be good with Strauss. He'd put in a call to Phil on Friday asking him to bump her to the front of the list. Dave would owe him a favor.

"Erin, good luck." He told her, sincerely. He would be watching.

xxxxx

Derek and Penelope sat on lounge chairs, watching the sunset on Crane Beach. The soft breeze that whispered through nearby palm trees, was the only sound on the beach except for the rhythm of the breaking waves. Wordlessly, he reached over and took her hand.

It had been incredibly hectic getting here. When he showed up at her condo late on Friday night, asking her to go on vacation with him, she thought he'd gone insane. "Why, I couldn't possibly be ready," she'd told him.

"C'mon, Pen." He was as excited as a child on Christmas morning. "You know you want to." It had been a long time since she'd seen the playful side of Morgan, and she was thrilled to see it again. He had become so dark and serious in recent months.

Penelope spent Saturday shopping, especially for a bathing suit. She didn't want one that would make her look enormous. She finally found a suit that emphasized her cleavage, which she hoped he would focus on, rather than how her butt looked as big as a barn.

After they got settled into the cottage, they quickly changed into their swim suits, and ran out to the water, playing in the surf like a pair of kids. She was dazzled by how good Derek looked in his bathing suit. "How the heck does he find that much time to work out?" She thought, almost annoyed by his well-defined abs. It made her self-conscious, and she tried to keep her belly sucked in, until he smacked her on the ass.

"Lookin' good, Baby!"

She was ecstatic. "Oh, okay, guess I picked the right one." She thought, happily.

When dusk approached, they ordered drinks, and sat by the water watching the reflection of the setting sun. It created gold and russet sparkles that danced on the gently rolling surf. They were still holding hands when it grew dark, and a billion stars began to decorate the sky.

Although he hated to break the spell of the evening, neither of them had eaten since early in the morning, and he knew she had to be hungry. "Want to go get some dinner, Babe?" He asked.

"Sure."

They were still holding hands as they walked up the beach to their cottage. Just before they reached the door, Derek stopped, drew her close to him, and kissed her. It wasn't the brotherly kind of peck he had given her a few times before, or the Merry Christmas kiss that he gave all the women at the office party. This was a slow, deep, passionate kiss that sent a surge of electricity through her whole body. Wow! She never felt like this when Kevin kissed her. She was breathless when she asked him, "are you sure you're hungry right now?"

Derek only laughed and kissed her again. His kiss was as sweet as she'd always dreamed it would be.

~THE END~