Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Montauk at 8:00
Wear something nice. :)”
That’s what the note on her desk had said. Now, she was getting ready for her… date? Or were they just circling back to what had happened, like they’d said?
She had been doing her makeup on autopilot until she realized she actually needed to make choices. She ended up doing white eyeliner, a lighter lip color, and a very highlighted base.
She wanted to look fancy, but not too fancy. A bit casual, since she didn’t even know if this was considered a date, but not too casual. Maybe a short dress? No, too much leg. Long dress? Too formal.
She had gone through multiple options before she decided on something. A black satin tube top, white bubble skirt, and black high boots. Sure, maybe it seemed a bit revealing, but she would pair it with leggings (which were barely visible, but just enough so you couldn’t see her leg tone) and thick necklaces, sort of covering her collarbones. Along with that, she put on a bunch more jewelry. Bangles, rings, anklets, big earrings, you name it. She knew that she would be fidgeting with her jewelry tonight, so why not prepare?
She also knew that he would probably notice, but that’s a problem for later.
She started thinking about the fact that she had already been getting ready for an hour, and Wagner probably hadn’t even started to get ready. Men have it so easy.
It was now 7:00, and if she wanted to get there on time, she had to leave at 7:15. LA traffic sucks.
She fixed her hair a bit and decided that she actually wanted to do a half up, half down hairstyle. She had recently dyed it a platinum blonde, and she thought that color made her look more vibrant. It brought out her eyes.
Then she touched up on some perfume, grabbed her purse, and left. She had ordered an uber since she wanted to be able to drink. Her sole intention definitely wasn’t to get drunk, but two or three drinks may help with the conversations she knew she was going to have.
Speaking of that uber, it was here. She hopped inside and they started driving to the restaurant.
It’s 7:53. She’s a bit early, but that’s okay. She was just happy to get out of that car. The driver kept talking about random things. What were those random things? She had no idea. She just tuned him out, smiled, and nodded. The worst part was that he kept slightly hitting on her every 10-or-so minutes. That part, she did hear. But then she had mentioned her kids, and he shut up.
Now she was at the restaurant. She was there to talk. Talk to her boss. Talk about things you shouldn’t talk to your boss about. She took a deep breath, and walked inside, quite literally forgetting to exhale.
Once she got inside, she looked around but didn’t see him. Maybe he wasn’t here yet, though he does seem like the type of person to be weirdly early to everything.
Then Morgan felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped and turned around quickly.
“Hey. Sorry I scared you.” Wagner took away his hand.
“Oh.” She laughed nervously. “Hey. Uh, how… are you?” She blurted, not knowing exactly what to say.
“I’m good now that you’re here. Let’s get a table.” He put his hand on her back and directed her to the Host. "Table for two, please.”
He didn’t seem even slightly nervous. Not just to the normal eye, but to Morgan’s too.
The Host lead them to their table as Morgan realized she may need more than three drinks tonight.
They both sat down.
“You look really good.” He said after a good 30 seconds of them just sitting in silence.
“Thank you, you don’t look bad yourself.” She said, dragging out her words.
“Have you tried this place before?” He asked.
“Not really in my range, but I’ve heard about it.” She replied, trying to sound casual.
They talked for a while, mostly small talk. They may have been avoiding the actual reason they were there.
After around 15 minutes of talking and ordering their food and drinks, there was a moment of silence as they stared anywhere but at each other.
Morgan stared at her nails, again.
Nick fixed his tie, again.
She looked up at him, “So.”
He nodded.
“I think-” He started.
“Let me-” She started.
They both said at the same time.
“You can go first.” Morgan said, smiling at him nervously.
“Okay. Morgan, I really like you. I think you’re amazing, but I don’t want to put any pressure on this. I think we should just try, and see how it goes.”
“I agree.” She shrugged.
He just stared at her for a second, “…But?”
“I do want to keep this on the down low…Don’t really want the whole station knowing about my private life just yet.” She stated quickly.
“That’s fine with me.” He agreed.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly. They got their food, ate, drank, and managed to keep a study conversation for the remaining part of the evening.
“And then, I figured out that Ava had added in a lip gloss. It wasn’t even a nice one either.” Morgan chuckled.
Nick laughed, “That’s funny.”
Morgan saw their waiter walking past, “Excuse me, could we get the bill?” They’d already been there for over an hour and eaten, and she figured they didn’t have to leave immediately after they paid.
“Uh-” The waiter started, confused, “He already paid.” She walked away.
“Oh.” Morgan turned to Nick, “When did you pay? We could’ve split it.” She said with a frown.
“I paid when you were in the bathroom.” He laughed a bit. Morgan gasped exaggeratedly.
He continued, “And I invited you here, why would you pay anything?”
“Well, thank you.” She smiled at him, tilting her head.
After they both decided that they were ready to leave, Nick joked, “Ingrid might be getting a bit mad I’ve left her for so long.” He laughed.
Morgan grinned at that, “Luckily, my kids are with Ludo, so I don’t have to pay Ava to babysit.”
He looked back at her, “Oh, they are?”
“They are… If you want, I can come with you? Make sure Ingrid is doing well?” She implied.
“I think she’d like that.” He replied.
Before she knew it, she was at his house with her legs wrapped around him and their lips on each others.
Morgan woke up, and rolled over. Then she realized that the person she was rolling over to, wasn’t there.
She opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around. He was probably in another room.
She got out of bed and realized that it is freezing in this house. She tried finding something to wear, definitely not wanting to put on her dress from last night, and sure enough there was a stack of t-shirts on the dresser. She walked over to it and put on the largest one she could find.
After dressing, she walked out of the room, out to the main part of the house.
“Goodmorning” Nick was making breakfast.
“Morning” Morgan replied back as Ingrid jumped on her. “Well good morning to you too!” She said in a high pitched voice.
“How’d you sleep?” He asked.
“Didn’t get much.” She looked up at him.
He laughed.
“What are you making?” She asked.
“Eggs, toast, and fruit. Just what I have in the house.” He replied.
“Mmm” Morgan goes to sit down on one of the stools infront of the counter. “What time is it? I have to go into work today.”
“7:15.” He looked at his t-shirt and laughed at how big it was on her.
“That’s plenty of time. Your house is freezing by the way.” She laughed, making an excuse for the shirt she now had on.
As they were eating, Morgan realized she didn’t have any clothes there. So after they finished their food, she mostly got ready there, and he drove her back to her house to do everything else.
About twenty minutes after he dropped her off and left, she saw his car back in her driveway. She had already been outside and about to leave.
“Hey.” He said, stepping out. “You left your phone in my car.”
“Oh! Thank you. I didn’t even realize. I was just about to leave.” She said, though she might’ve not been leaving so soon. “I think something is wrong with my car though. It’s not starting, and the gas is full.”
After Nick inspected her car for about 5 minutes he said, “There’s a problem with your ignition. I can’t fix it though, you’ll need to take it into a shop.”
After Morgan had a nice moment of cussing, Nick said, “Come on. I’ll drive you.”
“Well I would ask you if you’re sure, but I kind of have no other options…” Morgan said, honestly.
They both hopped into his car and drove to the department.
After they (mostly Morgan) talked about the history of tribalism for 30 minutes, they were finally there. How did that get brought up? She had absolutely no idea. But she had watched a ton of documentaries about it that week, so she had a lot of brains to spill.
Once they parked Morgan asked, “Do you think anyone would know… from you giving me a ride?”
“Your car broke down, I gave you a ride to work. That’s all they can assume.” He reassured her.
“Okay…” She got out of the car, and he followed.
Morgan’s phone started ringing.
She checked who it was, “Hey, Karadec.”
“Hey, you almost here? We got a body about 45 minutes out. I could drive us if your close.” Karadec said.
Nick looked at Morgan with curiosity.
“I’m actually walking in right now, see you in a minute.” She hung up.
Morgan sighed, “There’s a body 45 minutes out.”
“Okay, I’ve got some work to do here. I’ll see you later?” He said.
“Alright, bye.” She said with a smile.
Morgan walked into the precinct, seeing Karadec. She sat on his desk.
“Hey. Are we going?” She asked
“Yup.” He dragged out the word.
As they drove to the scene, Karadec explained the case. Apparently a high schooler was asked to see a dead body, and well… it was dead. The problem with this case was that they had no idea how many people had seen it. Especially with the high school gossip train. The only comments from witnesses were confusing drama spills, with ten names for each answer.
They had gotten to the scene, inspected the body, and decided to go check out the victims home. He was a 46 year old middle school teacher, so there wasn’t a lot to inspect. Though he did have a girlfriend.
While snooping around the victims house in a comment of silence, Karadec said to Morgan, “So, why did you and the Captain come into work together in the same car this morning?”
Morgan paused, her eyes becoming wider. “Oh. He- uhm. I-” Oh my… “My car broke down this morning and he gave me a ride to work. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” He asked. “Morgan, his house is the opposite way from the department. Why didn’t you just call me or ask Ludo? There are many people who are much closer than he is.”
Morgan went quiet.
Karadec tried saying, “You oka-”
“We slept together.” Morgan blurted, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her face with her hands right after.
“Oh!” He said. She couldn’t tell if that’s what he expected or not… Probably not.
They kept silent for a while, still looking around the victims house.
Then Morgan found a secret compartment with a bunch of notes in it and a pair of sunglasses. The notes seemed to be love notes to an ‘Izalia’.
“Hey, I think I found something.” Morgan said.
After Karadec saw the notes he said, “Let’s get them back to the station as evidence. Maybe we can also find this Izalia.”
“Wait.” Morgan blurted.
Karadec looked back at her.
“Please don’t tell anyone.” She told him.
He nodded, meaning they would keep it between them.
When they got back to the station, Morgan decided to go to Wagner’s office.
“Hey. Whatcha doing?” She said, walking in and sitting on his desk.
He looked up at her and smiled, “Going over the Roman investigation. I feel like we’re missing so many pieces.”
“Yeah. There are definitely more people involved. Willa and your dad can’t be the only ones.” She observed.
“I agree.” Nick said.
Morgan looked down at her nails.
“We’re gonna find him, Morgan.” He reassured her.
She looked back at him and nodded, not fully believing what he was saying.
“Hey, Captain. We Soto wanted me to tell you-” He looked up from his paperwork and saw Morgan. “Oh. Morgan.” He just looked at Wagner and Morgan for a second.
“I'm gonna go work on the case.” Morgan walked out quickly. When she was out of the office, she got curious. So she didn’t walk away.
“Soto wanted you to tell me…?” Wagner asked him to continue.
“Yeah, uh. Soto wanted me to tell you that they found new information on the Roman case. She doesn’t want to tell Morgan yet but she needs you to check something first.” Karadec said.
Morgan’s heart dropped.
“Okay, tell her to send me the details.” Wagner replied.
She quickly walked away. Not knowing what to do about it, she just went into the precinct and started going over the case again.
it was quiet in the car with Morgan and Karadec, they were heading to interview the suspects girlfriend.
He had tried talking to her about three times, but she just responded dryly. “Yeah”, “Sure.”, and “Okay.” Seemed like the best response she could think of.
“Okay. Spit it out, whats wrong?” He asked after a long time of silence.
“I’m fine.” She responded.
“Morgan-”
“Right. You know my silences.” She said in a mocking tone. “Apparently you also know what’s good for me, what I should be told, and what I shouldn’t.”
“What are you talking about?” He asked.
“What did Soto find out about Roman?” Morgan asked, wondering why it was meant to be kept from her.
Karadec sighed, “She mught’ve found the FBI agent who kept the whole Lyla and Roman scandal at bay.”
Morgan swallowed. “And why did she need Wagner’s help with that?”
"Were you listening in on our conversation, Morgan?!” Knowing he didn’t even have to ask to know the answer.
“Yeah. Well, whatever!” She stating raising her voice back. “Why weren’t you going to tell me?”
“We knew you would want to see him, even if we said no. He's dangerous, Morgan. We already know what he could’ve done to Roman, we can’t let anything happen to you or your kids.” Karadec said.
Morgan just got angrier at the mention of her children, “Do you not trust me?!”
“Morgan, I don’t think you trust us.” He said firmly.
Morgan got quiet at that. She’d entrusted her team, especially Karadec, with everything about Roman. This was her life, not just another case.
“Okay.” She said, choking back all of the words she wanted to say. And there were a lot.
After interviewing the girlfriend of the victim, Morgan definitely had her suspicions. But that wasn’t what she cared about right now. Karadec and her had talked twice since that arguement three hours ago. Both times were to share things about the case that they suspected. Once she got back to the department, she went straight to the bathroom to pull herself together quickly. Then she went to Wagner’s office.
“Hi...” She walked in.
“Hey.” He looked up and smiled at her. Then his smile faded, “What’s wrong?”
He was surprisingly good at reading people for someone who was so hard to read.
“It’s fine. Uhm, can I partner with you for a bit?” She asked, not even knowing if it was prossible.
“Sure, I could make that work. Did something happen with Karadec?” He replied.
“Just a little argument. It’s fine. Thanks.” She smiled at him, her eyes barely squinting. Then she walked out.
For the last three days, Morgan had been working with Wagner. It was definitely a change, but she just wouldn’t look at Karadec after that argument. Eventually they would both apologize and they’d work together again, but now was not that time.
Her and Nick had also been seeing eachother since then. It had been going good. Too good. Morgan’s mind never let her be in any relationships for long. She wondered why it hasn’t struck yet.
The team went to the bar once a month for drinks. That night was tonight.
If she was being honest, she hadn't been doing so good after her argument with Karadec. She had cried multiple times. Not over him, but just over the situation. She didn’t even think it was that serious, but the tears flowed and she didn’t do anything to stop it.
After a decent day of work, she was getting ready to go to the bar. They finished the case about the teacher today. It had ended up being his girlfriend who killed him. She was plotting for quite a while. Apparently the teacher had killed her daughter a few years back and the girlfriend had started stalking him, plotting from the beginning.
Morgan was wearing a black skirt (with built in shorts which was amazing), a dark pink graphic t-shirt, and navy blue boots. She added on a bunch of fun jewlery and matching press on nails. Then she did her makeup, she decided on blue eyeliner and kept her hair down.
They were expected there at 7. It was 6 now, and with LA traffic she would be there at around 6:30.
She decided to just leave early, though that’s definitely a once in a lifetime thing for her.
KARADEC’S POV
He was sitting at a table with Oz, Daphne, and Soto. Wagner was at the bar, ordering a drink. He’d been there for a while now. Karadec turned around to check if he was still there.
He sighed. Wagner was sitting with Morgan. Adam didn’t trust Wagner. There was something off about him, and he especially didn’t like that he was always around Morgan. But what could he do? Morgan didn’t want to talk to him or see him. She’d come around at some point. Right?
As the night passed by, he noticed that Morgan was drinking more than usual. Usually, she'd only have one or two beers, but now there were three and a half empty bottles next to her.
After about an hour of them all being there, he saw Wagner and Morgan walk over to a hallway at the front part of the bar, out of sight.
Karadec was starting to get concerned but then only Wagner had came back.
“What do you keep looking back at?” Oz asked him.
“Oh, uhm. Nothing. Sorry.” Adam replied.
“He’s probably looking at Morgan.” Daphne said in a teasing tone.
Not even thinking about what they were saying to him, he just wondered where Morgan had went. Maybe she had left?
He decided to follow her out and hopefully talk and apologize to her.
Karadec laughed awkwardly, “I’ll be right back.”
MORGAN’S POV
She had just pulled Wagner into a hallway to quickly kiss him goodbye. He thought she was too drunk to go home alone, but she said she'd get an Uber. She knew he wanted to stay anyways. So she left.
As she walked outside, she ordered an uber.
She was walking along the street.
A hand from behind her covered her mouth.
She felt a poke in her arm. A needle.
She hit the ground.