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"Don't be scared, I've done this before."
"Yeah, I know. Why do you think I'm scared?"
"Mom, it'll be fine!"
"You said that last time too, and it was months before the landlord came in and fixed the burned carpet section."
"Yeah, well that landlord sucked anyway."
"OK, but honey, you know the goal is to get the security deposit back when we move out, right?"
Ava rolls her eyes. "Turn around. You're talking a big game when I'm the one with the hot curling iron."
"Just watch where you point it. I'm not looking to spend date night in the hospital." Morgan turns away from Ava and goes back to carefully painting thin coats of electric blue across her nails. Ava runs a comb through her hair, tugging the ends away from the back of Elliot's borrowed desk chair, dragged in front of the bathroom counter.
"Please." Morgan can hear this eye roll, too. "It's not like it's the first time you've spent the night hanging out in an emergency room together." Ava pulls at a section of her hair, wrapping it around the wand.
Morgan freezes.
She's right — they'd all kept vigil in the waiting room, waiting to hear any updates on Oz. Ludo and the kids had brought dinner, fast food burgers they ate dressed to the nines (except Adam, who sat in borrowed scrubs with his soggy tuxedo in a bag next to him).
It had felt wrong to admit how nice the company was, but all Morgan could think about was how she'd never really had people worth waiting around at the hospital for.
"Sorry." Ava breaks the silence, like she finally realized what she'd said.
"No, it's … it's fine. You're right, but I really don't want to end up there again. Besides, that wasn't a date. It was a work event, if anything."
"Sure, OK. I'm just saying, nobody else in that waiting room was looking at you like he was."
Again, Morgan goes quiet. But this time, it's because she's thinking about what Ava said.
Because Adam is always watching her. Somehow, it's never once felt creepy to look up and realize he's already staring at her, eyes narrowed like he's trying to figure her out.
He's definitely trying to figure her out, but it's not like he's trying to gain the upper hand. He wants to know how her mind works so he can help where he can. So he can tell uniformed officers to buzz off, give her some space, she's solving a murder. Or bring her a cup of coffee, half-watery with break room ice, because he knows caffeine has the opposite effect on her and she hasn't slept in two days.
Or tell her she looks nice, even when she knows there are still Cheerios stuck in her hair from Chloe's insistence on feeding herself breakfast, but really seem to mean it.
It's not that she's never had anyone take care of her before. Roman did, and Ludo does. But too often, she feels like a chore. Fold the laundry, wash the car, run a household with my ex, go grocery shopping …
Adam doesn't make her feel that way.
He did, sure, back at the beginning. She was the consultant, someone he was forced to drag along on his cases, the annoying younger sibling along for the ride.
Nope. Probably shouldn't be thinking about him like a sibling. She doesn't know where he's taking her for dinner tonight, but there is nothing brotherly about the way he'd asked if he could take her on a date.
Point is, everything has changed since those first few weeks. They're partners now, and hopefully about to become the kind of off-duty partners that's worth risking her life by letting a teenager near her neck with a hot metal rod.
"Hey, promise me something?" Morgan says, like she's changing the subject.
"Yes, I'll make sure Chloe eats a vegetable tonight."
"No," Morgan laughs. "Well, yeah, OK. Promise me two things?"
"What?"
"Promise me that you'll never settle for a man who wouldn't stare at you across a hospital waiting room."
It's a weird sentence, but she trusts that Ava will understand what she means.
"I won't, Mom. Trust me. He's set a high bar."
"Good. You deserve the best, my smart, beautiful, wonderful daughter."
"So do you." Ava passes her a mirror and spins the chair around so she can see her reflection from behind. "My smart, beautiful, wonderful mom."