Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the right to CM.

A/N:This piece is totally and solely dedicated to a dear friend (you know who you are) and her "special" relation to our dear dentists of the world. Du är bäst Len!


Sweet tooth

"Happiness is your dentist telling you it won't hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill." ~Johnny Carson

The team was on their way back to Quantico from an especially long and exhausting case involving not one but two serial killers. The murderers had been able to trick the local PD for quite a long time for one reason only; they were identical twins acting as one person. They may have been identical, but through their victims, the BAU team was able to see some differences in the killing pattern and finally managed to catch them both before taking yet another young girls life.

The flight would take about 3-4 hours and everyone had found a seat trying to settle down the best they could. Hotch sat by himself, already reading into a new case folder and Rossi, grabbing the sofa, almost began to snore the same time his head hit the pillow. JJ and Prentiss played cards and Reid was deep into a new book with Morgan beside him listens to his mp3-player, trying to sleep a couple seats down.

All of a sudden Morgan let out a grunt of pain making Reid almost jump out of his seat and dropping his precious book on the floor.

"What's the matter Morgan?" Reid wondered, his heart still hammering in his chest and fingers clutching to the armrest.

"Toothache…" Morgan said holding his hand to the right side of his cheek.

"It's probably all the candy you always eat." Reid said with an all too knowingly voice if you asked Morgan. "You should really get that checked out."

"Nah, it will probably go away by tomorrow." Morgan answered evasively. "Go back reading your book Reid, I'll be fine. "

Reid didn't press the matter any further but looked over at his colleague and friend with concern, wondering if he was really telling the truth. Morgan in the other hand tried with all of his power not to show any more weakness, as he saw it, putting on his sunglasses and cranking up the volume on his mp3-player, all to avoid Reid's worried eyes.

The rest of the flight went uneventful; with everyone sound asleep (Morgan only after he swallowed a few painkillers) the last couple of hours before the plane began to descend. When it was time to de-plain, Hotch turned and announced that they all should take the following day off and get some serious rest. Reid got hold on Morgan just before he got in his SUV.

"Hey Morgan, I'll come by tomorrow with your clothes all washed up. I can pick up some take away too and we can play some TV-games if you want to." Reid have had the bad luck to get his last clean clothes all thrown up on by the poor girl that they'd just barely rescued from the malicious twins. On the way home he had borrowed a pair of slacks and a t-shirt from Morgan.

"Sure, why not pretty boy." Morgan replied absentmindedly waving everyone good bye.


It was the next day and Reid pushed the doorbell at Morgan's house for the second time, trying to balance the take away and coffee in his other hand. "That's strange…" He could hear Clooney bark on the inside but no one opened the door. He tried the handle and the door swung open and a large dog came jumping up on Reid and almost knocked him down. "Hi Clooney, calm down, where's your daddy?" Clooney made a quick turn into the house looking back at Reid like he wanted him to follow. Reid took a detour into the kitchen to leave the food and followed Clooney into the living room. The TV was on full volume, and on the sofa was Morgan, pain written all over his face.

"Morgan, we must take you to a dentist!" Reid shouted, trying to drown out the TV.

"No! It will pass, I just have to lie down for a while..."

Reid turned the TV off. "No it won't, it will only get worse. I'm looking one up right now."

"I…I don't like dentists." Morgan whispered.

What did you say? Reid looked up from his smart phone.

"I don't like going to the dentist!" Morgan almost screamed this time.

"You… you have odontophobia!" Reid looked astonished at Morgan, hardly believing that his strong and always tough friend was actually afraid of dentists. You have to go either way, I'll take you." Reid persisted. "Come on, get up!" Reid patted Clooney on the head while Morgan reluctantly went upstairs to change. "Don't worry, he'll be all well again in no time." Clooney let out a high pitched whine in response.


While waiting on Morgan, who took an unusual long time to get ready, Reid found a clinic that seemed perfect. They were specialized to handle people with odontophobia and they were able to squeeze Morgan in!

Standing in the waiting room, Morgan looked almost ashamed. "You don't have to come in."

"How many times have you not helped me when I was sick or hurt?" Reid looked at Morgan with piercing eyes and raised eyebrows. "And how many times have you not covered me when we're out chasing a cold blood killer? It's my turn now, my turn to support you. Let me do this!"

Morgan let out a quiet sigh but resigned to Reid's statement.

"Derek Morgan? You're up!" A blond, sweet looking dental nurse said with a big warming smile. "I'm afraid that the only room we have available right now is the one we use to treat children in. By the way, my name is Elisabeth and the dentist will be right with you." She said, showing Morgan and Reid in.

"Oh this is great!" Reid exclaimed as he eyed the room out and directly went to grab the giant toothbrush and tried to brush the enormous teeth on the bench with a big smile on his face. Reid looked so childishly happy that Morgan couldn't help to laugh in spite of his aching teeth. "Look Morgan!" Reid pointed to a picture on the wall, displaying different sorts of orthodontic appliances. "I had this one when I was 12 to 16 years old. If you think being 16 and going to college is hard, try doing it with braces!" Morgan just smiled back, thinking maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have Reid there to disperse his thoughts after all.

"Hello, my name is Alexandra Johnson, your dentist. A woman in her mid 40's greeted Morgan with a handshake asking him to sit down. "You don't have to worry about anything. We take it in a pace that fits you. If you feel insecure, just say so and we'll stop. I will explain everything I'm doing when I do it so there will be no surprises. Morgan nodded and couldn't help but already feeling relaxed by the woman's calming voice and trusty eyes.

"Let's try to get you seated in the examiner chair."

Morgan instantly felt sick to his stomach but did as he'd been told.

"Please lean back and try to relax." Doing so, Morgan could see the entire world of Finding Nemo looking down at him from a blue sea, painted all over the sealing. "I don't remember the visit to the dentist as a child ever was this entertaining!"

"We have learned one thing or two since then." The dentist smiled and continued when Reid nearly stumbled over his own feet trying to take the whole picture above him in. "Why don't your friend take a chair and sit here besides you when I start the examination." Reid turned to a lovely shade of pink as he finally got back his balance, just barely missed to knock over the tray with instruments. "Yes, that's probably not a bad idea…" He mumbled, reaching for the chair.

Alexandra carefully started to examine Morgan's teeth while she told him every step. "You have really beautiful teeth Derek, where do you feel most pain?" Morgan pointed on his right cheek and lower jaw. "Okay. Elisabeth, we'll better take a set of X-rays in the fourth quadrant to see if it show something before we do anything ells. It won't hurt at all." She reassured Morgan.

"It was good that you came here Morgan, it does seem to be a cavity in one of your molars. Elisabeth, write down manifested caries in 46 in his file.

"Oh, do you use FDI World Dental Federation Notation?" Reid immediately asked. "I thought most American dentist used the Universal Numbering System?

Morgan looked at Reid like he was crazy. "Huh?" And before Alexandra got the chance to answer he kept going. "Well, it's different ways to identify which tooth you're talking about. In the UK for instant the still favor the Palmer Notation method. You don't want them to drill in the wrong tooth do you? Reid said jokingly.

"NOT FUNNY!" Morgan punched Reid at the side of his arm.

"Ouch! Sorry! I only wanted to lighten up the atmosphere a bit." Reid looked with his big brown puppy eyes, begging of forgiveness.

"Why don't you use your ramble skills to talk about some more amusing things?" Morgan pouted.

"Time to get back to business gentlemen." Alexandra interrupted. "I really think we should fix this today Morgan, if that's okay with you."

"Right now the pain is worse than my fear so I don't think there's any choice." Morgan said as he pulled a face.

As Alexandra went on and gave Morgan anesthesia before mending his aching tooth, Reid got hold of Morgan's hand and whispered a very comical conversation between Nemo and his friends all the way through the treatment.


"I guess we'd better pick you up some milkshake on the way home. The take-away is all destroyed by now or eaten by Clooney and you would not be able to eat it anyway." Reid gave Morgan a little smirk as he drove him home.

"I guess so." Morgan tried to smile but only the left cheek responded with made Reid laugh. "That look suits you Morgan!"

"Haha, I bet it does… Hey Reid? Thank you."

"Don't mention it; you know I'm here for you." Reid said as he turned into the nearest drive-through.


A/N:I know that there are many cases of odontophobia that are much more severe than what I've had described it. In my story Morgan only had a mild case of it since the story had to go on. Now people, be good girls and boys and brush your teeth carefully and remember to floss!