This will probably be a two-shot… inspired by a prompt given to me from a follower on Twitter. Thanks to Sara Nublas for the little pointers. Hope you enjoy…..

The two profilers sat giggling in the dimly lit bar of a hotel in Detroit that had been home for the past four days. Finally the case was over and they could relax.

"Emily, Sergio cannot be a surrogate for a guy forever." JJ laughed looking over to her friend tracing the rim of the large wine glass in front of her.

"What?"

A deep voice behind the two women caused them both to whip their heads round to see Morgan looking at them with a perplexed raised eyebrow.

JJ looked at Emily and smirked.

"Nothing." Emily waved away, not taking her attention away from the drink.

"Ok, if you say so." Morgan muttered casually, "So what can I get you ladies to drink?"

"Oh nothing for me. I'm beat." JJ sighed.

Emily shook her head, "Come on JJ, it's early and the jet's not leaving until eleven tomorrow."

JJ let out a small laugh looking from her slightly tipsy friend up to Morgan, "Someone's in the mood for a party I think."

He looked down to Emily and smiled, "Well a party for one is never fun. I better stay and keep you company."

Without turning to face him she replied, "Ok, seeing as you're catching up, the first few rounds are on you."

He could hear the cheeky smile in her voice.

"Whatever the lady wants." Morgan said, setting himself down on the stool next to her.

"Ok guys. I'm off to bed.…" JJ started as she stood up and went to walk away, "I'll have the aspirin and coffee ready in the morning."

As JJ disappeared, Morgan signalled to the barman, "Bottle of whatever that is please." He said pointing to the glass of red wine Emily was nursing, "….and one more glass."

He then swivelled on the bar stool to face the brunette, "So, what were you talking to JJ about before I came in? Sergio is your cat right?"

She glanced at him with an embarrassed smile and then looked back to the glass of red liquid in front of her, "Nothing….." She sighed.

He raised his hands in surrender, "Ok, ok, if you don't want to tell me….."

Taking another sip of her wine she looked at him and he just raised his eyebrows back at her.

"You'll just think it's stupid." She said shaking her head.

He still said nothing, just shrugged his shoulders continuing to stare at her with a smirk. She hated when he did this. Offering her an ear when he knew she needed it. Then pretending not to be bothered that she wouldn't confide in him, when she knew he was.

After sitting in stubborn silence for a minute or so, Emily finally gave in, "We were talking about dating…." She relented.

"Ok." Morgan said, nodding at her, willing her to carry on.

"A long time ago I was talking to JJ about Mick Rawson. He gave me his number. She said I should call him."

The mention of Rawson's name earned a grimace from Morgan, which Emily only acknowledged with a small smirk and continued, "I said I basically couldn't start anything with him because of our work schedules and joked I should get a cat instead and give up on dating…." She paused looking down to the bar laughing to herself.

"…..And you got the cat." He said chuckling.

"How pathetic am I?"

He nodded his head slowly, "Pretty pathetic."

"Oi!" She said turning and jabbing him in his stomach.

"Ok, go easy, you didn't let me finish."

"Go on then." She said looking at him quizzically.

"I was going to say, about as pathetic as me."

"Eh?" She scrunched her face at him.

"Guess when my last date was."

She shook her head, "I have no idea."

"Guess."

"I don't know… couple of weeks ago?"

A blast of air escaped his nose as a sarcastic chuckle passed his lips, "Not even close. It's been well over… well months. So long I can't exactly remember."

"Really?" She said with genuine surprise.

In reality though she shouldn't have been that surprised. She knew he'd spent several of the past few months grieving for her and hunting down Ian Doyle. But she'd been back five months now and things appeared pretty much back to normal… well almost.

"You think I date a lot?" He queried.

"I just can't imagine Derek Morgan going without ... female company for long."

In truth, Emily had no idea of the dating habits of Morgan. Sure, people joked about the amount of women that he dated and he had lived off that reputation since she joined the BAU, but over the last few years she'd seen very little evidence of 'ladies man Derek Morgan'. She figured he just kept it to himself….. Exactly the way she did.

"May be the old Derek Morgan didn't. But not now." He stated.

"Why?"

"Got boring." He said with a shrug.

"So walking into a bar and taking your pick of whichever 'honey' you want to take home got boring?" She said laughing.

"Oh ha ha…." He said sarcastically, "…..Actually, yes it did….. Well actually, the last time I woke up next to someone who I barely knew the name of kind of got me thinking. Gets to the point where you want more right?"
He wasn't sure whether he was telling her that's what he wanted or asking her for reassurance….

"And you don't have the time for that." She stated.

"No. You know that."

She nodded in agreement. One thing she had always admired, and quite frankly never understood, was JJ's ability to maintain a relationship and raise a child in their line of work. Emily barely had time to do her grocery shopping, something evidenced by the contents of her fridge… half a bottle of wine, sour milk and a block of mouldy cheese.

She pondered that thought for a second and then turned back to Morgan,

"What about that Tamara Barnes?"

She was feeling brave. The wine slowly breaking down the walls that were usually standing strong…. For both of them.

Morgan's eyes widened in slight shock at the mention of her name, "You knew about her?"

"Are you kidding me? You do remember who works with us right? A certain gorgeous, blond techie who cannot keep her mouth shut."

He closed his eyes and shook his head smiling, "That woman…."

"So. What happened to her?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "She was nice enough. I probably shouldn't have gone there though should I?"

"What, because she was related to a victim?"

"Yeah. Not my best idea. I guess I just needed…. I don't know, I just needed someone at the time. It was when I was acting unit chief….."

He suddenly checked himself, not ready to discuss or admit to his insecurities from back then. He shook his head and continued, "… Anyway enough of that. We're supposed to be talking about you… Well done for deflecting the topic of conversation off you missy."

She grinned at him that beautiful toothy grin, looking pretty pleased with herself. That was until of course he uttered the next few words, "So, come on then. What's up with the dating thing?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"When was your last date?" He asked, nudging her playfully with his elbow.

She paused before answering him, "A few weeks before…. You know before all the Doyle stuff started."

Doyle's name still bought a sense of awkwardness and intensity to the atmosphere and he didn't want tonight to be about that, so blatantly ignoring the mention of him, he continued with his line if questioning.

"So, you couldn't hook back up with the mystery man then again?"

"He was no mystery. I only saw him twice. The first date I didn't get close enough to notice the bad breath…."

"But you did on the second?" He said raising his eyebrows at her.

She looked him in the eyes and laughed, but he saw a slight twinge of sadness in her face.

"So you got your sights on anyone else?"

As soon as he asked the question, he felt himself tense up in anticipation of the answer, not sure he wanted to hear it and uncertain of why he had just reacted that way.

"Not all of us can take our pick Derek." She said tiredly.

"Are you kidding me?"

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head, "You have no idea do you?"

"About what?"

"The effect you have when you walk into a room."

"What are you talking about?"

"Listen, you think I can take my pick… you can take your pick. Believe me."

"Whatever Derek. You don't know what you're on about."

"Yeah I do. I'm a guy and I know what guys are thinking. You could have anyone you wanted."

As soon as the last syllable left his lips he turned away and looked down to his drink.

She continued to look at him, a little lost for what to say next, but relaxed as she saw him shift uncomfortably on his stool, probably a little embarrassed at how that last sentence came out.

He felt himself burn up a little and could see her out of the corner of his eye staring at him. He then saw the smile creep across her face, "So….." She started, him hearing the playfulness in her voice straight away, "…if you saw me in a bar, would you chat me up?"

He turned slowly to face her and chuckled, shook his head and took a deep breath, "Probably not."

She opened her mouth and widened her eyes, the sarcasm not lost on him.

"Do you know why?" He said leaning in toward her.

"No. Enlighten me." She said, closing the gap a little more.

"Because, Emily Prentiss, I would think you were well out of my league."

She scrunched her nose, "What?"

"I'd know just by looking at you that you're not the kind of girl to fall for a cheesy Derek Morgan line."

"What and using anything but a line would be too much like hard work?"

"For the old Derek Morgan, yes."

"And the new?"

"Uh uh…." He said shaking his head, "You're not turning this into a Morgan interrogation again….. My turn."

She couldn't help but giggle, "Go on then. Ask away."

"So, if your work schedules… "He said mimicking inverted commas in the air, "….. weren't so conflicting, would you have gone on a date with Rawson?"

"May be." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"You serious?" He exclaimed.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I wouldn't have thought he was your type."

"What a hot British dude with a sexy accent, badge and gun… to quote JJ."

She laughed.

"That's not your type." He said as a matter of fact.

"How do you know what my type is?"

"Well if Rawson is your type, obviously I don't have a clue. But I didn't think it would be him."

"He did save my life."

"Er I've saved your life a tonne of times." He said playfully.

"True." She smiled.

"So let me get this right, your type, is a guy with a gun and a badge, that saves your life and has the same work schedule as you?"

"A sexy one… yeah." She added.

"Ok." He smiled at her, eyes widening.

She shook her head and scrunched her eyes, realising what she had just confessed to.

She opened them to find him still grinning at her, "Right….." She started picking her glass up and holding it out to him, "…Enough of that. There's drinking to be done."

Without breaking their gaze, he took hold of the half empty bottle and poured her a full glass and topped up his own.

"Of course." He smiled, clinking his glass with hers, "To us…. Two lousy daters, propping up a bar in a small town in Detroit…. May it long continue."

"I'll drink to that." She said, taking a big sip of the red liquid.

Another bottle and half later, they walked out of the elevator and down the corridor on the fifth floor of the hotel. As they approached Morgan's room, Emily slowed down expecting him to stop, but he kept walking,

"This is your room right?" She asked.

He stopped and turned, "Yeah, but I'm walking you to your door."

"I think I can find it Morgan."

"I know…. Stop being so…." He pursed his lips in sarcastic annoyance.

"So what?"

"So independent."

She went to open her mouth to protest but he put one finger on her lips, "Shhhh…" Escaped quietly from him, "Come on."

As they got to Emily's door she stopped and turned to face him, "Well, thank you kind sir for walking me the twenty paces from your door to mine." She said with a mischievous grin.

"My pleasure…. Goodnight Emily." He said as he took one of her hands in his, lifted it upward and leant in to kiss it. "Sweet dreams princess."

He winked and turned.

She just stood, wide eyed, watching him walk away. She wasn't sure what that just was. Was he playing with her, or was he just being Derek Morgan? She cocked her head to the side, somehow this making it easier to think in her wine induced hazy state. Could what she needed be right under her nose? She wasn't sure, but all she knew was she was feeling a fire in her stomach she hadn't felt for far too long to think about without getting depressed and Derek Morgan may have just charmed the hell out of her.

She shook herself out of her mini trance…. No Emily, this is the wine talking. Get to bed and sleep it off…. And with that she unlocked her door and slinked into her room.

Morgan threw his shirt on the solitary chair in the corner of his room and went into the bathroom. His head was whirling a little from the wine, so he splashed cold water on his face and dabbed it dry with a towel.

Walking back toward the bed he just about heard a quiet, hesitant knock at the door…...

To be continued very soon if you want to know what happens…..