[Real-Estate] ... and a new apartment

[freshoffthefarm]

Wings and beer. A night spent at Derek's. A day without underwear followed by Mac & Cheese Night at her sisters. A night with her family and her new... friend where she got to see everyone interact. Danielle winked at her repeatedly with a goofy smile on her face and her nieces tried to climb Derek like a tree. Seeing him take it all in stride made

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[derek_morgan]

He had spent a better part of the day wondering if he should have made plans to take Annie out or set them together. His co-workers had noticed an immediate change in his demeanor. He hadn't been so visibly happy in a very long time. There was no denying something good was going on in his personal life. Especially not around a bunch of profilers.

Like Annie, Derek admitted nothing more than having taken out a friend. He had refused to even give out her name. Not yet. As happy as she made him, the last thing he wanted was to jump to conclusions and have everything blow up in his face. His trust was slightly shaken from Emily's departure but at least not all hope was lost.

He had finished close to half an hour on the heavy bag that hung in his basement when his cell began to ring. Derek smiled from ear to ear at the name on the caller id. "To what do I owe this honor?" he asked playfully before setting the call on speakerphone to unwrap his hands.

[freshoffthefarm]

The tone of his voice immediately made her smile and she was sure that smile was evident in her tone when she began to speak. "I'm having a party," she told him. "It's a party for two and since I'm already here, that means that you're the only missing from the guest list."

It the most blatant she could make her invitation and she had a feeling that he wasn't going to turn her down. To ensure it, she added as an explanation, "I finally finished unpacking and I figured I'd have a mini-housewarming party. Since I don't really like actual parties, I thought I'd just invite you over for dinner or a movie or something. Nothing big."

Except she knew that it wouldn't be just dinner or just a movie and that was fine with her.

[derek_morgan]

"Say no more!" Derek said happily in reply. He finished taking off the tape on his hands from the boxing session and picked up his cell phone. "I'm already late for the party so text me the address while I get a shower and I'll take the bike over. ...Unless you want me to bring something that wouldn't sit right in the saddle bags, then I'll take the Tahoe..."

She could probably hear him climb up the stairs. Clooney was outside and Derek decided to bring him in then leave him out for the night once he left to Annie's. It wasn't but half a minute to walk through to the backdoor in the kitchen and let the dog in. Another half a minute to return and climb the last flight of stairs. He considered asking if Danielle and the girls would be there at all but was more than ready for some alone time with Annie so ultimately decided against the question.

[freshoffthefarm]

"You're already very late," she laughed as she heard him move through the house, "but you don't have to bring anything. I have it all."

By 'all', she meant dinner for the two of them, a couple of beers and a bottle of wine. Oh, there was a bottle of scotch, too, but that wasn't for Derek. He didn't come across as the scotch type and it was something she'd brought from the safe house that Clay had given her.

Everything else was new, even if it didn't look like it. The apartment actually looked lived in, for the most part. The belongings didn't look new, except the furniture had a vague IKEA look to it. Nothing at all would give off the impression that it hadn't come from another apartment.

"Text forthcoming, I'll see you soon." Once she hung up, she sent the text to him. Address wasn't far from Georgetown, but far enough to have been inconvenient that morning. Nothing to make her a liar.