Chapter Text
“Morgan,” Karadec said quietly, trying to wake her up. They stayed in the precinct ‘til past 3 am so he gave her a ride home but she ended up sleeping in the car. “We’re here.”
She opened her eyes and looked around
“Oh, yeah… yeah, i’m awake…” she said, fixing her posture. “Thank you, Adam.”
She rarely called him Adam so every time she did, it caught him off guard. It had only happened once at his apartment and once at the precinct when she was mad at him.
“Yeah, thank you for staying up this late, i mean, i would’ve spent all night trying to crack this case and wouldn’t have gotten half as far as we did together, so… good work, partner,” he said.
She gave him a big smile. “Aw, look at my guy, his frozen heart is melting!” she teased him and he rolled his eyes.
Their eyes meet and it’s like they can physically feel the sparks and the silence between them.
Morgan started fidgeting with her fingers and looking at him in a way he knew very well.
“You can tell me,” he said gently.
“What?” She looked confused even though she wasn’t.
“What you wanna say… You know i know when you wanna say something. You can’t hide from me, Morgan Gillory”
She gave him a small and hesitant smile and started choosing her words carefully. “Ludo and the kids are at his place this week and i’m by myself, so i guess i just miss having company… plus i haven’t been able to sleep before 2 am ‘cause i’ve been worrying about Roman’s case so much and i…” she looked down, trying to fight tears. “I thought i wanted to know everything but i don’t know if that’s true anymore…” She continued, then looked at Karadec “Why hasn’t he reached out once during 15 years…?” She whispered.
There’s a pause.
“I’m sorry,” he said gently and Morgan sadly smiled
“Thanks”
“Well… you know i always want some company”
“That’s such a blatant lie, i don’t even know what to tell you,” she said wiping her tears, laughing.
“Okay, i always want your company,” he corrected himself.
“Hmm, that’s a tiny bit more like it but still a lie” They both laughed.
“Just go get some clothes for the week, i’ll wait here,” he said.
“Okay.” She smiled and left the car.
Karadec had his eyes on the road and helplessly on Morgan for the whole ride home, but at some point Morgan seemed to be really fixated on whatever was out the window.
“Karadec!” Morgan said excitedly.
“What?”
“The flower! Oh god, how did i miss it?”
“I don’t follow…”
“That fake flower on that porch?! When we were searching Howerton’s office this morning, i noticed a flower, which i thought was weird ‘cause that type of flower only grows in Asia, but i let it go ‘cause at that point we didn’t know Valen was in Bali recently–“
“Fuck, so Valen really is involved in the case”
“Uhuh”
Morgan went on and on about the case for the rest of the way while he pointed out things she was missing and helped her with her line of thought. The case was basically solving itself at that point.
The halls of his apartment were already familiar to Morgan.
“I’m gonna go take a shower,” Karadec said
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be over here assaulting your fridge.”
“Okay. Do that.”
Oh god, he’s so awkward, she thought.
She looked at every book and every vinyl displayed until she stopped in front of the same blue rose drawing she saw a few weeks back. Adam’s engagement. Why does he still have it up?
A few seconds later he stood in the periphery of her vision and raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, hi there… i’m not going around your place like it’s a crime scene, i promise.” Lie.
“Right,” he said.
She kept looking at the painting with an innocent face.
“Turning off the lights, Gillory,” he said as he was making his way to the TV room switch. He was sleeping on the couch and she got the bed, as it had happened before.
“Please rest,” he continued
“Will do. Good night, Adam”
Second “Adam” in one night.
She’s doing it on purpose, he thought.
“Night, partner”
Two can play this game.
In the morning, Karadec woke up earlier to make breakfast. Morgan thought it was just psychopathic that he could make an entire breakfast and the kitchen looked perfect afterwards. About 15 minutes later, she stepped out of the room in a pink outfit, without the shoes because Karadec’s place was a “shoes off” home. He thought it was funny how shorter she was when she didn’t have her boots on.
“Good Morning!” she said walking over to the counter.
“Good morning,” he replied, less excitedly.
Morgan tried not to talk to Karadec much in the mornings, which was greatly appreciated by him, although he was starting to get used to it.
At night, the precinct echoed 3 familiar voices: Soto, Oz and Daphne. Karadec left early to get some rest and the rest of them waited until everyone else was gone to dig roman’s case, which they did for solid 2 hours before sitting down to chat and play cards.
“Oz, you suck at this,” Daphne said.
“That’s unfair, i never even really learned to play this game!”
“What did you do all those years in college, dude?”
“Studied?” he said and everyone laughed.
“The college students failed you, Oz,” she continued.
“I didn’t have many friends, okay?”
“Well, now you have us, so watch and learn”
The night felt like what Morgan dreamed life would be when she was a child but it still wasn’t something she was willing to admit. She was scared that if she even thought about it, she would jinx it. And admitting that she thought she had finally found her place in this world knowing that it could all end one day just felt unbearable.
This was one of the only places where her brain didn’t feel like an imposition. In most past relationships and jobs, she was made to feel like she was either too big or too small for the table — except for this table with these idiots and these badges that gave her days a new meaning.
So she mentally vowed not to screw this up.