- morgan and karadec have already been married for a few months before the pilot starts, but absolutely no one at the precinct knows
- the reason? karadec's mother had been pressuring him nonstop to settle down, get married, and start a family meanwhile, morgan was a struggling single mother of three trying to keep everything together while juggling cleaning jobs at night
- they met through a mutual friend. karadec initially saw the arrangement as practical: a wife to satisfy his mother, and in return he would provide financial stability for morgan and her kids. he proposed a contract
- morgan agreed because she needed security for her children
- over time, the marriage became strangely comfortable
- while morgan worked nights, karadec often stayed home with the kids but despite this, he still kept his apartment and occasionally stayed there whenever work became overwhelming or when they needed space from each other.
- because the marriage started as an arrangement, they never really involved themselves deeply in each other's careers. they only exchanged vague details about work. karadec knew morgan danced and did side jobs. morgan knew karadec worked somewhere in law enforcement. neither asked too many questions
- one morning at the precinct, karadec notices the whiteboard for an active case has been altered overnight. whoever changed it corrected the profiling details and connected evidence everyone else overlooked
- annoyed and curious, he checks the cctv footage and sees his wife
- daphne and oz immediately notice his reaction and ask if he knows the woman on screen
- karadec pauses too long before saying, “...she’s someone i know”
- meanwhile, morgan is at home getting the kids ready while karadec quietly calls ludo to babysit (yes ludo is still in the picture)
- when morgan is brought in for questioning, the second she walks into the precinct both of them freeze
- the argument starts almost immediately. karadec is furious she tampered with an active investigation while morgan is furious that the detectives were following the wrong lead in the first place. and at the end, she's right
- soto is impressed despite the chaos. morgan profiles the suspect faster than the team did in days and she offers her a consulting position on the spot. but morgan immediately refuses. then she stops, thinks about the paycheck, and says: “i want a twenty percent raise, guaranteed childcare, and flexible hours. you figure the rest out.” and somehow, soto agrees
- to karadec's absolute horror, soto assigns morgan as his new partner
- at home that night, the argument continues.
- karadec insists they need to disclose the marriage immediately because it violates protocol and could jeopardize both their jobs if discovered later
- morgan argues the exact opposite: if they tell everyone now, the department will treat them differently, question every decision they make, and possibly separate them professionally. karadec keeps quoting regulations but morgan keeps winning the argument anyway and eventually, karadec reluctantly agrees to keep the marriage secret temporarily
- the next morning, they leave for work separately like strangers
- morgan keeps her wedding ring hidden on a chain around her neck while karadec still wears his openly, but nobody has ever questioned it because he never talks about his personal life.
- at the precinct, they act like reluctant new partners who barely tolerate each other
- meanwhile, everyone around them slowly starts noticing how strangely domestic they act without realizing why such as karadec automatically takes morgan's coffee order without asking or morgan fixes his tie mid-argument without thinking, they bicker like an old married couple because they literally are one
- the team becomes convinced there's unresolved tension between them
- they discarded that thought when a new case appears
