Darling and Morgan looked at each other with pure panic in the bathroom, Darling unable to hear the footsteps from the literal pool of blood clogging her ears but sensing something was wrong by how tense Morgan got- unware of when her bloodied hands hand automatically found their way onto his arm for safety but quickly pulling them away as she pulled the window shut after yelling at Luke.
"Go get Hotch- quick!"
"What?! What about-"
"Just go!" She yelled, already running back into the bedroom and trying to drag the dresser in front of the it but giving up quickly and grabbing one of the knives, jamming it into the key lock to keep the door locked shut.
"What are you doing?" Morgan ran in after her from the bathroom.
"They're trying to come back in!"
"Let them! We have knives now! Don't just trap us in here!"
"We're not killing anyone Derek! We'll just climb out the bathroom window and wait for Hotch now that we have more time before they get into the room- shoot!" Darling yelled as she walked back into the bathroom and tried to open the window, but it was locked again, and this time it was jammed too.
"Great" Morgan sighed before mumbling, "that's just... great plan."
"What was that?"
"Nothing" he ran his hand across his face.
"No, what did you say? You know I can't hear good' right now on account of the brain fry I just sat through- why are you muttering under your breath?"
"We don't have time for this, we need a plan" he shook his head, "I need to get you out of here."
"We need to get out of here" she corrected.
"I'm not the one bleeding out of my ears Darling, you need medical attention-"
"Oh and you'll just what? Wait here with the therapist twins? Maybe book another session in with them?" She mocked before not being able to keep it in anymore and blurting out her anger that had been building all night, "god Derek why don't you trust me anymore?!"
"Now isn't the time for this conversation Darling- and I've never said I didn't trust you."
"I think it is bloody well the time- you didn't trust me in there when I was trying to think of plans for us to get out of her little quizzes" she shook her head before looking up at him, "fine, if you really say you trust me then I believe you- but why are you acting like you don't trust me? Not just with whatever this is- but with everything?"
"With everything?" He quizzed.
"Yes with everything" Darling's voice started to raise the more fed up she got, "stop making me repeat myself- it's hard to tell what volume I'm speaking at right now!"
"I just don't understand what you mean, I never act like I don't trust you-"
"Derek you do it all the time! You might not mean it, you might mean well or be trying to 'protect me' but you really do nothing but doubt me when you act like that."
"I don't doubt you, I respect and believe in you massively, I just think sometimes it's hard to trust or understand what you're trying to do when you haven't shown what it is-" He poorly tried to explain.
"Why does my trust have to proven when yours is automatically given?!" She suddenly snapped, "Why do I have to explain my theories in cases to you? Why do I have to ask permission to put forward a plan and watch you look at Hotch to see if it's good enough first? Why do I have to justify working how I do to you for you to trust me enough for me to follow through with it?"
"Because I'm not you!" He suddenly argued back without realising what weight his words carried, "I don't go off for weeks at a time with no answers, I don't have private conversations with Hotch constantly, I don't flirt with every single person I see-"
"What the heck?!" Darling scoffed, "are you kidding? You've got to be kidding right-"
"You asked me to explain, I'm explaining how I feel-"
"I asked you to give me a valid reason not for you to pick apart my harmless actions just because of your egotistical jealousy!"
"I can't help being jealous!"
"And I can't help being hurt by it!" She yelled back before shaking her head with a hint of a crack of pain to her voice as a sense of pure honesty coming out, "I've had men be jealous around me before Derek, scary men, men who's jealousy turns my simple laugh with a waiter into a bruised cheekbone. I understand that your jealousy might be harmless and a normal thing to you but I won't have it, I can't have it anymore. I treasure you dearly, you mean the absolute world to me and I would rather eat my own arm than ever lose you or what this could be but I... I will not put myself through that again. I will not make myself smaller to make you more comfortable. I will not be with a man in any way who makes me dampen any part of myself all because he does not feel secure enough to not make his own weakness my guilt, I won't do it again, I can't and I-"
"Okay" Morgan suddenly stepped forward, taken aback by not only her words and how her voice shook with the tears in her eyes, her voice unable to help trailing off into a panic, an utter snapping point in her expression down at the ground before looking up as he stepped forward with such an intense care in his eyes, a quiet listening that she had never had from a person before.
Not an argument back, no manipulation, no screaming or crying in the middle of the argument like she was used to with others, no big build up before going to bed angry or some grand gesture took over and brushed past the problems- just a listening and understanding even when he himself was angry, he would never be too angry to listen to her.
"W-what?"
"You're right."
"I'm... huh?"
Morgan couldn't help but chuckle at her genuine confusion, and then a wave of pain hitting him from the look on her face and realising she didn't trust that that was all he was going to say; that she couldn't understand why there wasn't any condescending mocking or pettiness to his voice like she had been used to before, that there was no consequences to expressing herself with him.
"I meant what I said before; I can't help my jealousy, but you are right; I shouldn't be making it your problem. I shouldn't be distrusting you and doubting you as a person or in work, even not on purpose, because I want to keep you safe or protect you- it's selfish of me" he explained with a sigh as she tilted her head.
"I... I don't understand- what kind of game is this? Are you trying to guilt me or something?"
"What? Oh god no- of course not" he shook his head sincerely before looking deeply into her eyes, "I never want to be the reason you explain yourself Darl, I never want to be the reason you cry or worry if a hint of jealousy could get you hurt like it did before- I never want to make you feel like that, you don't deserve to feel like that and I'm sorry I didn't realise what I was doing before- I'll do better, I'm sorry Darl, I promise you."
"I..." she was speechless, she didn't understand what was happening, "I don't understand."
"Okay I'm saying- shit, please don't cry" Morgan chuckled apologetically, softly wiping a tear from her face, "I'm apologising, I'm sorry Darl."
"Huh... that's new."
"I'm sure that I've apologised at one point in my life before" he laughed at her confusion.
"No, no, no I don't mean you-" she couldn't help chuckling, "I just mean having a boyfriend who apologies."
"A boyfriend huh?" Morgan raised a teasing eyebrow at her, "is this your way of asking me out then Darling? In a bloodied bathroom next to the room you just got tortured in whilst we wait for our boss to come and save us? How romantic."
"What?" She paused when she realised what she said, "oh shoot- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume that we were anything dating-y, that you didn't want to be or-"
"Shhh, I'm only teasing you" he chuckled.
"Did you just shush me?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"My bad, will never happen again" he joked.
Darling was overwhelmed, not just from the fact she had almost had her hearing blown out moments ago but from how different Morgan was to anything she had ever experienced before, realising now that she wasn't taking in what he said fully because she almost didn't trust or believe that it wasn't some kind of ploy or trick to hurt her or manipulate her- which was when it hit her, that wasn't Morgan who would do those things.
She had been trying to read into every one of his actions or word he said but she didn't need to, he had never made her feel like she had to- she had just done it automatically just as he had with not meaning to distrust her, both of them forgetting that behind the romance or fluttering of feelings, they were still them as they always had been.
She leant forward and rested her head on his chest as she closed her eyes, feeling his arms wrap gently around her automatically.
"I'm sorry" she whispered.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"I'm sorry that I've been holding you to his flaws" she spoke simply before looking up at him with a speckle of tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry I haven't been seeing you as you- you were right, I do know you, and I'm so lucky to."
Morgan was silenced for a moment with an overwhelming warmth in his chest from her, going to speak before the door suddenly burst open in the motel room.
Morgan automatically pushed Darling behind him, going to slam the broken bathroom door but pausing when he saw who it was who was walking in with a surprising lack of shock into the bloodied room.
"Well what's happened in here then?" The manager from reception before, now in his pyjamas and looking rather grumpy, spoke before spotting Morgan and Darling.
"Someone likes it rough it seems" he stared in shock at the blood on Darling- not noticing how her eye twitched with anger at him.
"You son of a-" she went to hurl herself at him, Morgan catching her mid attack and pulling her back.
"You beat up the misogynist later, we've gotta get out of here Darl-" he led her towards the door but the man stood in their way.
"Now don't think I'm letting you two just leave this room like this" he folded his arms.
"Excuse me?" Darling scoffed.
"You heard me missy, you've gotta clean this up- I can't rent out this room like this."
"We've clearly been tied up and tortured; I'm bleeding from my god damn ears and eyes, you walked in as we were trying to climb out of the window- and you're saying that we have to clean this up?"
"Rules are rules, you booked the room, you're responsible for what goes on in here- I don't ask what happens in these rooms, I just expect people will clean up after themselves."
"You do realise that's assisting in numerous crimes that happen in here, right?" Darling couldn't comprehend how dis-interested he was.
"Talk to my lawyer sweetheart" he shrugged.
"Now that was a mistake" Morgan shook his head, spotting the twitch in Darling's eye from him calling her sweetheart such a condescending manor.
"A mistake?" The man quizzed.
"Huge one" Darling stared at him, going to give him a piece of her mind before a piece of his literally exploded onto her and Morgan as a bullet shot through his head.
"Holy shit-"
"Jesus fuck-"
Both Darling and Morgan exclaimed in shock, clutching onto each other automatically as the man slumped forward onto the floor with blood pouring from his head, the blonde woman standing behind him with utter disinterest of the man she just murdered.
"Now look what you two made me do" she shook her head, lazily gesturing the gun at Morgan, "come on then, tie her up and I might let you go instead."
"No" he shook his head, "I won't leave her."
"Oh stop it now, it's not like you're her husband-" she paused when she realised the 'husband' was missing and her eyes grew to a rage behind them.
"Where is he?"
"Where is who?" Darling played dumb.
"Shut up you, where the hell is he?" She stormed over to Morgan, placing the gun to his forehead.
"Get away from him!" Darling pushed her with all of her might and stood in front of Morgan before he could stop her.
"What are you doing?!" A voice called from behind the woman where the brother stood with their takeout, dropping it and running over to her, "you can't shoot them!"
"The husband is gone! The whole thing is ruined!" She suddenly cried, manically pulling at her hair and going into a full meltdown that none of them expected.
"What?" He asked, trying to hold her up and looking around frantically before looking at Darling and Morgan "why would you do this to her?!"
"What?"
"She needs this!" He yelled at them, straightening up his sister and looking at her, "look at me Lo Lo- Lo, look at me."
"It's all ruined! It's all ruined and I'll never fix anything-" she cried out.
"It's not ruined Lo, we can find others!" He tried to assure her.
"These ones were so good! They were so messy! They were just like the real thing!" She gestured at Morgan and Darling who stood awkwardly at the whole thing.
"Then we'll go find her husband!"
"He's not my husband" Darling spoke, seeing how fragile the woman's cracks in her mind were and coming up with a plan on the fly.
"What are you doing-" Morgan whispered down to her but she gave him a 'trust me' look that he forced himself to listen to after their conversation despite his worries.
"He's not my husband, his name is Luke Alvez; he's an FBI agent" Darling spoke the truth, stepping closer to the woman and subsequently closer to the dressing table.
"What?" The woman snapped her head to Darling, tears and snot mixing on her hysterical face.
She nodded, "and so are we both- Lo, we've been lying to you. This whole time, we've been lying to you."
"No... no, no, no- that's not true" she shook her head, "you couldn't do that to me."
"We did- and do you want to know why we did?"
Darling took a breath, hating what she was about to have to do and say but knowing it was the only way to break the woman down enough so they could hopefully leave without anyone getting hurt, "we lied because you don't deserve the truth- because we wanted to laugh at you, because it's hilarious to watch you try."
Morgan stared in shock at Darling before understanding what she was doing, still being taken aback by how quickly she shifted to being able to figure it all out and implement a plan.
"Don't listen to them Lo" the brother shook his head, "no one is laughing at you."
"We were" Darling lied with a nod before fake chuckling, "do you know how pathetic it was to hear you rambling on about how you were a councillor when you so clearly need the therapy yourself?"
"S-shut up-"
"Hell, the only reason you're doing all this in the first place is to punish people who remind you of yourself- isn't that therapy worthy enough?" Darling said overly casually, leaning on the dresser to hide the fact she had picked up one of the knives and was handing it back to Morgan who stood close behind her to take it just in case.
"T-that's not true" the woman shook her head.
"Oh sweetie, now who's the liar?" Darling tilted her head at the woman; both anger and sympathy swirling through her for the woman who had tried to deafen her and given her the most intense pain she had ever experienced, but also who she saw a lot of herself in.
"Kill them, it'll make you feel better" the brother interrupted, placing the gun back in his sister's hand and an anger in his eye at Darling, a sudden switch in his demeanour from earlier when she assumed he would be eager to let them leave safely.
"No" the woman sighed, clearly defeated and sighing and turning to leave, "we should just leave."
"What? Lo you have to finish their counselling- you love it!" He tried to say but she shook her head, dropping the gun and walking to the door.
"It's over, I failed- just like I failed to save mom and dad's marriage, I can't do it."
The brother paused for a moment before shaking his head, "no, no don't say that- we can do it!"
"No we can't George, I can't do it, I'm not good enough to... and maybe I shouldn't be trying to be."
"Look what you've done" the brother suddenly snapped at Darling who was surprised at how quickly the woman switched- and how quickly the anger transferred to her brother, "you've broken her! She was doing so much better!"
"I-"
"If you won't believe that you can do it... then I will, starting with dad's replacement!" The brother suddenly swept up the gun and went to shoot the gun into Morgan's chest, but before he could Morgan hurled the knife towards him- not before a hand stopped the knife as it swiped down.
Darling's scream of pain as the blade stabbed through the palm of her hand was met with a similar scream from horror from the brother who stared in shock at what he had witnessed before an elbow flung into his nose from Morgan to send him to the ground before both he and Darling just stood there screaming in shock at each other.
"Holy shit, Darling! I stabbed you!" Morgan exclaimed at what had just happened, holding her up from behind her before she turned and yelled with almost comedic outrage.
"You stabbed me!"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"You've left the god damn knife in there!"
"I-I don't wanna pull it out! Why did you hold up your damn hand- what were you thinking would happen!?"
"I wasn't thinking! I was trying to stop you from getting shot! My bad- next time I'll just a man murder you!" She yelled sarcastically before jumping up and down as she gripped her hand to hype herself up.
"Okay, okay I can do this, this really hurts, okay-"
"Do what? Darling what are you- Oh my god!" Morgan exclaimed as he watched her yank out the blade just as the motel main doors burst open with the team and a SWAT unit running, most of the team still in their pyjamas with their FBI vests over their robes.
"Freeze FBI!" Hotch yelled as he entered the motel room, pausing in utter shock at the almost comedic scene of Morgan trying to wrap a swearing Darling's bleeding hand whilst a woman rocked back and forth having a mental breakdown on the floor next to the dead body of the motel manager as the brother kept trying to shoot the empty gun at Morgan from the floor.
"I swear to god Derek if you've hit a nerve in my hand and I can't can't my nails done I'm going to be so pissed off at you-" Darling shook her head, Morgan apologising profusely over and over again in the background, the brother sobbing and saying some kind of forgiveness prayer as he continued to shoot the blank gun- all pausing in a sort of freeze frame at a wide eyed Hotch by the door.
Darling tried to think of what to say, not being able to think of anything coherent and instead looking down at his shoes with a raised eyebrow.
"Are those bunny slippers?"
"Reckless... I stopped a man getting stabbed but yeah sure call me reckless Hotchner" Darling mumbled to herself sarcastically, sitting on the hotel bed the next day with her freshly bandaged hand and cotton balls stuffed in her ears to help the sensitivity to sound and cope with the intensity of her hearing coming back hours after leaving the motel.
She had been at the hospital the rest of the night into the next day, the doctors demanding she stay the night there but Hotch telling them they had a jet to catch- which was when they informed the team that Darling wasn't allowed to fly for at least 3 weeks with what happened to her hearing that was seconds away from bursting her eardrums entirely if the noise hadn't stopped when it did.
With her ear pressed fully to the door and hearing coming back, she overheard Hotch talking with Rossi outside the hospital room as she packed to spend the next night at a hotel whilst the rest of the team flew home and she would drive home a few days later, listening to Hotch telling him how reckless he thought she acted and how he was having to bite his tongue to stop himself from telling her off.
She walked out before she could hear what he was going to say which was that he was afraid of her getting hurt, that he couldn't live with himself if she took a risk because he wasn't there to protect her and it got her seriously hurt or worse, that he wanted to keep her safe which was why he was so hard on her for taking risks like a father stopping their daughter going out late at night.
"It's not like I could possibly ever know what I'm doing and it be a calculated risk, no of course not- I make one little mistake and I'm just known as the fool who got herself stabbed in the hand" she continued to mumble sarcastically to herself, not bothering to unpack her bag and just pushing it onto the floor as she slumped back onto the bed and went to let her eyes slowly close with much needed sleep before she spotted a motion from the door.
"In your defence, it was a different 'fool' than you who did actually stab you in the hand" Morgan chuckled, leaning on the archway.
She looked up with confusion and sat up, "hey you- what are you doing here?"
"You left the door unlocked, I tried to knock but I don't think you heard me" he walked over and pressed pause on her full blasting music on her phone with an amused smile at her.
"Ah yeah sorry for the loud Dolly Parton at 10pm- the whole having your eardrums almost exploded thing makes it a little hard to listen to music at a normal volume" she chuckled, "I thought you were the room service people then, I got excited."
"Sorry to disappoint" he chuckled, sitting down on the bed next to her- both looking at each other for a moment with words they both wanted to say but didn't know quite how to.
"Wait- why aren't you back in Virginia with the others? Didn't the jet leave like an hour ago?" Darling quizzed instead.
Morgan raised an eyebrow at her, "you didn't think I'd really let you drive across states on your own, did you?"
She paused for a moment, a feeling of warmth in her stomach from him wanting to drive with her and staying behind off the jet to do so- especially when she knew how much Hotch wanted them all to be on the jet and would have put up an argument for Morgan staying to drive with Darling since they technically would have to both be paid for it.
"Thank goodness, I thought I'd have to find a different terrible singer to keep me company the trip back" Darling joked past the genuine appreciation for him that was full in her chest, noticing Morgan laughing before his gaze fell on her intensely bandaged up hand and his laughter turned to pain in his eyes.
"Hey-" she nudged his arm with her elbow and a soft smile, "-don't give that sombre sour puss expression, it'll be good as new in a few weeks."
"Darling it's not fine, I stabbed you in the hand" he sighed and shook his head at himself, "god I'm so sorry Darl-"
"Oh grow up" she rolled her eyes and made him pause with confusion.
"Did you just tell me to grow up for apologising for stabbing you?"
"Yup" she smiled before shuffling closer to him on the bed, "you didn't mean to stab me, it's not like you meant to do it-"
"No but I still hurt you, even on accident-"
"Well I'd be pretty darn offended if you did it on purpose" she joked before seeing his half-hearted chuckle, still obviously feeling incredibly guilty about the whole thing.
"Look, you said you'd start trying to trust me more- right?" She turned to him fully, criss crossing her legs sat on the bed with a smile, "so trust me when I say that it's okay, it's not your fault- things just happen sometimes. Plus, do you not remember when I gave you that concussion in freshman year? I'd say you got your own back now."
Morgan couldn't help his chuckling at her usual light-hearted humour, "I wouldn't quite compare stabbing you fully through the hand to you tripping me up and making me dizzy for a few hours when we were kids."
"Well I do- been feeling the burden of that guilt for 18 years, thank god you finally stabbed me in the hand to even the field" she joked, nudging his arm with a smile, "really Derek, I'm okay."
"I know you say that Darl but-"
He was interrupted by a knocking at the door and Darling excitedly hopping up, running over to the door to let the room service waiter in.
"Here you go mam, your two portions of the steak dinners, red wine and I doubled it to two cokes in case you wanted me to stay to give you some company- the booking said that it was just going to be you so I thought you wouldn't want to eat all that alone-" he smiled, wheeling in the tray table and pausing when he saw Morgan sat on the bed, clearing his throat and standing up straight.
"Sorry mam, I didn't realise you had company."
"No worries Greg" she smiled, "oh wait there whilst I grab you a tip, I think I have some cash in my bag-"
She turned before finishing her sentence and realised he had quickly left, an amused Morgan left laughing on the bed after seeing the flustered state of Greg who clearly had taken a liking to Darling after she waltzed down to the hotel restaurant and asked for room service, of which they didn't normally do but he made a request for after a delightful conversation with her.
"It's hilarious when you do that" Morgan chuckled.
"Do what?" Darling shut the door with confusion.
"When you're clueless to how your absurdly good looks and spunky attitude make people act like awkward school boys" he shuffled to the end of the bed, raising an eyebrow at the tray of food.
"Don't you judge my plates- if it wasn't for my appetite you wouldn't be eating dinner tonight mister, a dinner you're paying for by the way."
"Oh so I'm buying this dinner then am I?" He joked.
"Did you really think I'd let you stab me and not buy me dinner? What kind of a gal do you think I am?"
"This is certainly some first date" he smirked.
"First date?" Darling quizzed before a realisation, hitting his arm excitedly, "oh my god! This would so be our first date!"
Morgan burst out laughing at her reaction, "I don't think I'd exactly call this a date-"
"No it absolutely is" she joined in the laughter, "how the hell do we spend 18 years of friendship having hundreds of date-worthy moments together and then our 'first date' ends up being semi-cold hotel food and passing out at 10pm?"
"Very romantic" Morgan chuckled, "at least there's wine- not that either of us enjoy it."
"I didn't even order that, I just think Greggy boy got his hopes up" she shrugged, popping open the cork with one hand, "can't say I'm complaining though, adds to the date atmosphere."
"You're really going to class this as our first date?" He raised his eyebrow.
"Of course- or would you like to class the interrogation session with the twins as the first date and this the second instead?" She joked, already feeling more comfortable and 'like herself' with him like she had their whole friendship but now in this new situation than she had before their conversation in that bathroom, still knowing they needed to expand on that conversation but enjoying how she felt more of herself now with him.
Morgan paused with a smile before getting up, "okay then- close your eyes."
"What?"
"That doesn't sound like you closing your eyes" he chuckled, looking over his shoulder with a cheeky smile at her, "trust me, I'm going to make this a great 'first date.'"
"Is that a promise? Because you know the rules about promises..." Darling teased, closing her eyes as he laughed and moved around the room, opening the large window too.
"Speaking of rules- I feel like we might need new ones" Darling rambled like usual into the silence, wiggling towards the back of the bed and leaning back on the pillows to get comfortable as she heard Morgan moving about.
"Gasp! New rules? That's blasphemy- teenage Darling is going to hex you" he joked before smiling at her as he took the duvet off the bed.
"Yep, we made our rules at the start of our friendship- we have to make new ones at the start of... uh, whatever this is I guess."
Morgan's laughter almost made Darling open her eyes just to see his bright laugh but she just smiled and lent her chin on her knees.
"'Whatever this is'? Once again I say; How romantic."
"I don't know what to label this weird 'friends with sex thing' that's going on here" she laughed before hearing Morgan stop moving for a moment, a contemplation taking over him before he couldn't hold it back anymore.
"I don't... I don't want this to be a 'friends with sex' thing anymore Darl."
"Oh?"
"Yeah... I know it might make it a bit awkward to say, but I just... I don't want to stay in this situation that we're in at the minute- if that makes sense."
A silence swept the room before Darling spoke with a pit in her stomach, "oh... I mean yeah of course, if you just want to go back to being friends that's totally fine, I should just uh go-"
"Wait what?" Morgan paused and turned when he saw her get off the bed and quickly try to leave, walking in front of her and almost bursting out laughing when he saw her eyes were still closed.
"Honestly Derek it's absolutely fine, I understand if you don't want to, uh, sleep with me anymore I guess like it's fine-" Darling felt a bubbling of embarrassment and tears building in her chest, a pain from the thought of him just wanting to forget about the last few months and her thinking this was more than just two friends sleeping together.
"Woah, woah, woah-" Morgan hushed her with genuine confusion, "what are you talking about?"
"Wait- what are you talking about?" She looked up at him with her eyes still closed.
"Wait, did you think I was saying that I wanted to just go back to being friends with you?"
"Is that not what you were saying?" She tilted her head at him, a slight pain to her voice she couldn't hide, "you're not saying that you wanted to just be friends after getting to, uh, ya know- sleep with me? Or that maybe you didn't enjoy that aspect or-"
"Of course I'm not saying that" he said with almost shock that she would think that, "I was trying to say that I want to turn 'whatever this is' into something certain and if I'm honest something more than that- and I most certainly do enjoy 'that aspect' of it" he couldn't help his slight smirk at the thought.
"I- Wait what?" She quizzed.
"Darling I'm asking you out" Morgan couldn't help his amused laughter.
"You're... you're asking me out?!" She couldn't help opening her eyes in shock before quickly closing them but his warm laughter at that made her open them slowly again with a slight smile.
"I'm asking you out Darl" he chuckled, "like our friendship- with the added bonus of the great 'sex thing' that we've had going on, but with the 'relationship things' too."
"Oh" she realised what he meant before now with 'I don't want to stay in this situation we're in at the moment' and smiling at him as he nodded with an understanding of what she was thinking.
"I want to do all the things I've kicked myself for dreaming of doing with you for years Darling" Morgan began, "I want to be able to hold your hand not just when we're afraid to say goodbye, I want to take you out and not lie or pretend to laugh when people assume we're together or hide how great that idea has always felt to me, I want to wake up next to you and not wonder if you're waiting for me to leave before you can open your eyes, I want to watch you without caution- I want to love you openly like I've always wanted to."
Darling felt the kind of joy that you only think you'd feel in a daydream of what you imagine someone saying but it never happens- but this did happen.
He looked down at her in a way she realised now that he always had, but now she knew what it meant; what she had thought every time she had looked at him-
I am utterly in love with you.
"That... that would be really nice" Darling couldn't think what to say, the blush on her cheeks very much prominent as she tried to hide her smile but Morgan couldn't help laughing at her.
"'That would be nice?'" He teased as she laughed and hit his arm before looking past him and pausing when she saw what he had created.
"Oh yeah, ta da" he chuckled, moving out of the way and gesturing to the fire escape where he had placed the large duvet as a seating area with the food and wine placed on a stool and fake battery powered candles from the hotel bathroom lining the area.
"It's basically a 5 star restaurant, I know" he joked, walking over to the free hotel robes and turning around to hold it open for Darling- pausing when he saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.
"Are you okay- woah!" He stumbled back with a chuckle as she ran at him with a huge smile, launching into a kiss as he caught her, smiling breathlessly as their lips parted.
"You're, and I mean this in the most enduring way possible, the biggest loser I've ever met."
"If being a loser gets a reaction like that then I'll gladly be a loser for the rest of my life" he chuckled, stepping back reluctantly and holding out the robe for her as she took off her jacket and slipped her arms in before he put his on and smiled down at her.
"There, now we both look like losers."
"But comfy losers" Darling smiled, taking his hand as he led her out onto the fire escape.
"I promise you that I'll do something better for our second date other than shitty robes and a view of a dumpster alleyway" he chuckled, sitting down as she stood on the terrace for a moment, staring up at the stars before smiling down at him with a sense of sincerity to her voice that made time itself stop moving.
"It's perfect."
He couldn't help his almost teary warm smile at her as she sat down next to him, enjoying how he could brush his hand on her thigh or arm without worrying if he was overstepping a line.
"But it's pretty bold of you to assume you're getting a second date before the first one is even up" Darling added with a teasing joke, enjoying Morgan's belly laugh next to her.
"My bad, I just assumed the girl who confessed her love for me in the most movie trope situation in all of history weeks ago would be down for a second date" he teased.
"Okay first of the new rules; no reminding me that I have sappy movie feelings" she chuckled.
"Ah yes, what are these new rules going to be then? Do I need a pen and paper? A contract? Fine print I need to go over with my lawyers?" He teased, taking a bite of his food as she did hers with a laugh, both falling into a pure kind of comfort with each other than they had always had- but now it was elevated by something else, not just the love that had always been there but something else that made them fall into each other and 'whatever this' was becoming without caution or concern;
Acceptance, recognition- truth.
Thus began a series of laughter and playful bickering back and forth the entire night they sat and watched the stars like they had spent the majority of their friendship doing, but now it was different, now they didn't have to pretend that they were watching the stars when they really wanted to just watch each other.
Now they knew the truth that that the other would be watching them back.