Chapter Text
It was a first for him, not being excited to come to work. David Hodges started using the process of elimination to help identify the cause of this abnormality. He loves his job and doesn’t have any problems with his work colleagues. Then why is he feeling this way?
Each day, he dragged himself to work, and everyone started to notice his lack of info babble he usually spews when explaining his findings.
“Are you ok?” Russell, who usually is irritated by it, asked.
“I’m not sure….” he honestly answered and forced a reassuring smile that left Russell worried. He called in Finlay, who he deems as a people’s person, and told her about Hodges.
“He will be back to his kind of normal very soon!” Finlay teased. She has always suspecting it, and apparently figured it out before Hodges did.
“How do you know that?” Russell asked, wondering what would unnerve Hodges.
Finlay shrugged, not wanting to divulge it to the boss, and kept her lips sealed. She felt validated when she saw Hodges face brighten up by seeing Morgan return from her one month holiday. It was the first time she took a long break from work, and evidently has affected Hodges.
“Welcome back” Finlay greeted Morgan at the locker room and could see Hodges pace through the hallway towards them.
“Glad to be back. I missed work.” Morgan confessed. She has been traveling with her father across Europe, but she needed to go back to her routine.
“Oh, and work missed you too” Finlay winked at Hodges when saying it and backed away to let the two talk.
“How was Europe?” Hodges asked eagerly, ignoring Finlay.
“Beautiful, but not as beautiful as Vegas” She answered truthfully.
“Glad you’re back” Hodges said it with a big smile, and at that moment he realized the cause of his misery.
The abnormality.. is love?
He got himself flustered thinking about it, and walked away while Morgan was at midsentence, leaving her perplexed at his odd behavior. She brushed it off thinking it was a onetime thing, except it persisted throughout the week to the point where she decided to confront him.
“Are you ok?” Morgan cornered him in his lab.
“Yes” Hodges tried to play it off casually. He thought he was acting normally, when in fact he gets anxious around her.
“You’ve been distant with everyone even with me. You can tell me.” Morgan pushes on, inching closer to him.
Hodges stood still, looking her right into her green eyes, and losing himself in it. The glass walls of his lab forbade him from leaning in for a kiss, which is the only thought consuming his mind.
“Not now” Hodges said harshly. He was not ready to talk about it and needed time to sit with himself and breakdown the pros/cons about them being together.
Morgan backed away, and remained unseen for the rest of the day. He felt bad for pushing her away, and found that he did not push her that far away since she’s waiting for him in the parking lot.
“I’m sorry for earlier” she apologized, feeling that she was being overbearing. “Whatever you’re going through, know that I’m here for you”
Morgan gave him a hug, and Hodges awkwardly wrapped his arms around her. It felt right having her in his arms and he did not want for these feelings to go away. He savored the moment then without another thought, took hold of her jaw, drawing her lips up to his. First she was caught by surprise, then welcomed his lips, running her fingers through his hair, and pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
Morgan always thought Hodges did not hold any romantic feelings for her. Lately, she noticed he was looking at her differently, but chalked it up to wishful thinking. She had a crush on his for the longest time, even before their first kiss in the hospital, and had her feelings crushed when he got engaged to Esabetta. After they ended their short lived engagement, he did not try to advance their friendship into something more even with Morgan’s encouragement. She settled to the fact that he’s simply not interested in her in that way until now.
Then she remembered… “I have a boyfriend” .
“What?” Hodges breathlessly asked and took a large step backwards.
He wished he didn’t hear her correctly.