The Dictionary of Parenthood

A-Acceptance

May-2010

Derek Morgan looked around the small Brooklyn café. The cool blue painted brick walls where jarring against the dark furniture and Parisian-esque coffee machines. But the place wasn't his pick, not at all.

"Agent Morgan?"

It was her pick.

Derek smiled at a girl he assumed was in her late teens. She was pretty tall and athletic looking, Derek looked her up and down-she didn't fit with the hipsters or the locals of Brooklyn, she looked more of a Cali girl with her baggy ripped jeans, a faded UCLA sweatshirt, and flip flops. Her skin was tanner compared to the others in the city. Derek thought she looked familiar, some bits of her made her think of his mama and him- the shape of her eyes and nervous smile. But her cheek bones where high and her ears big, her hair he assumed would be black and curly if it weren't straighten and dyed red.

"Franklin?" Derek gave out his hand for her to shake. She had a strong grip.

"Frankie, you can call me Frankie if you want."

Derek gave her a lady killer smile, his hands laid flat against the table as he smiled, "Okay Frankie," he couldn't help but take in the state of her- she looked nervous and scared. Derek could see her fingers quiver against the handles of the chair. Her vision shifted, never focusing on him, as if his glance could burn her. He decided to take it easy on for now, considering the email he had received from her, she knew he was a behavior analyst for the FBI. She was writing a report for her senior thesis about the rise of criminalizing men of color who are youths. "I was surprised to get your email, it's an impressive topic some students in college are sort of cautious to pick considering in the field you have some people who are a bit finicky about it." A waitress appeared by his side, asking if Derek wanted a drink and Frankie if she wanted a refill. Derek peered over her cup of what he assumed was a latte, it was still full but looked to be no longer hot. 'How nervous is she about talking to me?'

Derek didn't think to run a background check on Frankie before he had arrived or agreed to meet her four weeks back when he received the e-mail. He thought for a second that maybe she wasn't a student, but a victim who needed help or was a link to a victim/victims that needed help but couldn't reach out. "What made you want to pick this topic?" he asked cautiously, nodding his head to the waitress as she set his cup of coffee down by him.

Frankie closed her eyes for a second, Derek took in her breaths becoming longer, as if she was counting the beats of her heart rate to control her emotions. 'Here we go.' Derek thought as Franklin rested her hands on the table.

"Actually the paper isn't important." Frankie admitted softly.

Derek took a sip of his coffee, "I figured as much, usually when college kids are wanting to meet with me they're more excited or trying to suck up thinking I'm their ticket to the FBI or CSI." He leaned back in the chair a bit, "So what's your game?"

Frankie's posture changed at his tone, insulted a bit that she was trying to manipulate him for gain. The familiarity came back to Derek, but he couldn't place it.

"Do you know a Camilla Rustin?"

Derek's eyes widened, he hadn't heard that name in years. She was a student at the University of Chicago while he was a student at Northwestern. They were a couple for a few months during their sophomore year, but it ended as soon as Camilla transferred to UCLA in the middle of their second year.

"Yeah, why?"

"She passed away two years ago, from cervical cancer."

Derek sighed into his hands, he remembered Camilla for her laughter and her ability to start an argument at the drop of a hat. The idea that she was no longer on earth starting hell for someone else broke him a bit. "I-was it-?"

"She died peacefully." Frankie gulped, her smile wavered a bit. "She became a lawyer." That made Derek smile, he knew how badly Camilla wanted to be a lawyer.

"Criminal justice?"

"Yep, one of the top ranking women in law in SoCal, one of the few black women in California." Frankie stated proudly.

Derek let out halfhearted laugh, "I'm sorry, was she a friend of your? Professor?"

"My mother, actually."

Derek would deny what happened next for years to come. He spat out his coffee, wincing as the coffee burned his tongue and lips. Frankie looked at bit somber as she and Derek gave out their apologies to the staff who rushed over wanting to clean up the mess while cleaning the table. "You're Camilla's daughter?" Derek sputtered, sounding so dazed and out of place. "You're like what seventeen or eighteen?"

"Twenty actually, turning twenty-one in December."

Derek did the math in his head, Camilla had to be pregnant during her second year of college. He knew what was coming next. Part of him knew it was coming, he should have seen it as soon as he saw her eyes. "Who's your father?"

Frankie pursed her lips at his icy tone, Derek could see her eyes fighting back tears. She slid a worn letter towards him, it was written by Camilla two years ago.

"She just told you about me?" Derek asked incensed, he could feel the anger and hate surge through him. He had a daughter that he never knew about, it wasn't as if she where a young child that he still had a chance of raising and guiding. He had a grown daughter who he had never seen before or had a chance to raise.

"She gave me that letter before she passed away." Frankie answered him softly, "She never told about you before or gave an inkling about who you are."

"You never asked?" Derek asked as this where all her fault.

"No." Frankie answered simply. "I had an amazing mom who was always there for me while taking care of her own career and image, not to mention a grandmother who loved me and an uncle who was basically like a dad. I never really thought about it too much." Derek noticed she hadn't looked at him since coming clean. She kept her fingers around or fluttering around the cup of whatever without ever picking it up to drink. "I promised her before she died though that I would find you and get to know you, I guess give you a chance to became part of my life or something?" Frankie finished off unsure as she finally had the guts to look at him. "But I also understand that this is shock Agent Morgan."

Derek tensed at the fact that his biological daughter was calling him Agent Morgan. He knew she did it on purpose, to make the separation feel more real.

"I don't expect anything from you, to be honest I don't want anything from you." Frankie explained, "I promised my mom that I would find you and come clean, I guess for her sake, but just to let her know that I have another parent in my life. But I don't plan to be an inconvenience to you. I know who you are and what you do."

"Is that why she never told me I had a daughter?" Derek growled out in anger.

Frankie extended her arms out in a way that made Derek think of the way he would stretch out in the office. "Sort of. She knew what you wanted to do once you graduated, she thought having a kid-it would destroy your chances of becoming a detective. She told me you're really stubborn about family and that you're honorable. You would have given up everything that made you happy to help and support her, she didn't want you to give up on yourself."

Derek slammed his hands down on the table, "That should have been my choice! Not hers'!" He had to give Frankie credit for not flinching-most likely she was expecting this type of reaction from him.

"I-I know that you're mad, and you have all the right in the world to be." Frankie looked calm compared to Derek, again he couldn't help but feel like that bit of her was all him. "Like I said I don't want anything from you, nor do I expect anything from you. Just for you to know that I exist, if you want to have a relationship with me." Derek couldn't help but notice her smile- it was his smile. "Then that's great, if not, then okay." She breathed out, her voice even and cool. Derek couldn't see a tell on her, she looked confident in her words, as if she rehearsed the so many ways that this conversation could have taken by heart.

Derek rubbed his face wearily, "To be honest I don't know how to feel about this." He glanced down at the letter again, "Why did it take you two years to find me? Didn't Camilla give you my name or anything?"

Frankie nodded, "She did, I- it didn't take too long to find you. Maybe two weeks, just to make sure I found the correct Derek Morgan." She crossed her arms, looking unsure of herself, "Just not an easy confession to make, you know?"

Derek could feel his face darken at that, "No, actually I don't."

Frankie nodded, he had to give her credit for not lashing back at him.

"Sure."

Derek thanked all the Gods he could name when his phone went off. "Morgan." It was Hotch, warning him that they had just been given a case from Albuquerque and the group was on the way already. Morgan had a plan waiting for him at the nearest airport. "Yeah," he tried his best to sound casual. "I'm own my way." He disconnected the call and turned back to look at Frankie.

"Duty calls?"

"Yeah." Derek answered stiffly, he made a show of taking Camilla's letter to him and stuffing it in his pocket. "It was nice meeting you."

Frankie didn't look surprised at all at his tone. "Yeah." She answered simply, she glanced outside, "Good luck out there."

"Thanks."

He was only three steps off when he Frankie called him out again.

"Agent Morgan? I just wanted to let you know, again, that I don't want anything from you. The ball's in your court. I'm fine with whatever you decide." She stated finally before Derek left.

February 2015

"Yes, okay. I just got the notice now. We'll be there in a couple of hours. Bye." Hotch set the phone down and leafed through the case he had just been given. He had heard about the investigation for a while now, considering the mass of people killed he wasn't surprised that his team was contacted. He stuck out his head to find his team "Everyone conference room, five minutes." He addressed before leading the way into the room.

Once everybody was settled in, Hotch started to explain the case. "By now, I'm sure all of us have heard about the DMV sniper." He pressed the clicker to show a montage of pictures of the 7 victims of the sniper that had been haunting the DMV region for three weeks now. "Seven victims, all white, age ranging from seventy-two" he clicked to a slide of a side by side pictures of the two oldest victims, "to nine years old." The next picture was of a little boy. "Unlike the DC sniper case 2003, there seemed to be a clear pattern, but now." He clicked over to the next slide.

It was a picture of a young black male who looked to be in his twenties.

Spencer frowned in confusion, "The unsub broke his pattern." He stated surprised.

"So we have come back to the random shootings?" Rossi asked, "What was there assumption before about the sniper?"

"At first they thought this might have been a motive pushed by racism, but this was before nine year old Mikey Conner and seventeen year old Jillian Forsee where shot." He laid down some of the notes the lead detectives had come up with. "Frankly now, with Ernest Kemps murder, they are stumped. They want us to figure out what the unsub behavior is and if it could lead us to finding out who his next victim is."

Derek leafed through the notes, he knew the case spanned from Virginia, DC and Maryland. "Hotch, we have to work with 3 police departments? How do you think that's gonna go?"

Hotch nodded his head, understanding the confusion and the hesitation that the others were no doubt facing. Working with three different police department, much less 5 different county cops would be a hassle. "Actually we don't have to work with the five counties affected, just one. DC, Maryland, and Virginia all agreed that too many detectives and cops on the case would cause confusion, so there's been a special unit put in place to solve the case. We only have to deal with them. We are due to meet with the unit in P.G county in two hours, there will be detectives from Virginia and DC to meet us, Chief Rice will meet with us before introducing us to the lead detective in charge." Hotch explained as he gathered the notes scattered along the table, "Everybody, let's go."

"At least no planes." Kate mumbled to Reid who looked slightly relieved for the short journey.

Two hours later the group was met by Chief RIce, who had by her side a man that Derek recognized as the police chief of P.G County. The man looked stressed and tired, as did Rainer.

"Police Chief Rice." Hotch called out.

Rice looked only slightly relieved to see the team, as did the other chief. "Thank you all for coming so quickly. I had put a request in early when the body county was four but the FBI still wanted a stronger connection."

Rossi looked forlorn, "Formalities, some of the higher ups are still upset about the botch description and handling of the DC sniper case in 2003." He looked around two see a medium sized brick home surrounded by police tape. "Have Kemp's family or neighbors said anything about seeing or hearing anything off?"

Rice shook her head, "No, this happened five hours ago. Everyone was either at work or getting ready to leave. Whoever this shooter is they are learning quick. They used a silencer on the last two shootings, with Kemp- it's three."

Derek looked around the neighborhood, the all the houses looked the same, green yards and a few high end cars. So far all the victims came from middle to upper middle classes. Kemp was the only person of color so far. "Where was Kemp headed?"

The P.G chief answered, "To class, Kemp was a student at the University of Maryland. He was a commuter. Worked at the campus library." From behind the chief, Derek could see a woman wearing scrubs and a man wearing a suit crying and talking to two women who Derek couldn't see due to their backs turned to him. The crying couple was clearly Kemp's parents. He could feel his stomach drop as Kemp's mother bury her face into her husband's chest.

Both chiefs turned to see what Derek and the others were looking at. "I know this goes without saying, considering all the things you must have witnessed, but this case brings up the rawest memories for all of us. It's going to bring us together but make us weaker at the same time. No one wants to go through this again, we need to get whomever is responsible for this." Rice gritted out, the anger clearly showing as her face turned red and her hands fisted tightly. "We want to catch this person Hotch, we cannot live through this again."

Hotch nodded in agreement, as Prentiss finally broke her sight of the grieving parents. "We'll do everything we can, we promise."

The chiefs nodded in a wordless 'thank you', "Let's get you guys started, we have four detective on the case." She wavered a group of two men and two women over.

The oldest looked to be the men, who introduced themselves as Detective Moore and Detective Habib. Both men looked to be in their forties or fifties, Moore a little more out of shape than Habib, who looked who had a dark complexion and was slightly taller than his partner. Next was Detective Maggie Park, she looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, her hair cut in a pixie cut and wearing a brown leather bomber jacket. She gave the group a closed mouth smile as the chiefs introduced her. "Nice to meet you all." Park's voice was polite and even, she gave a soft shove to the other detective who was a couple feet away from the group, talking on the phone. "Hey chica, intros are taking place.' Park laughed at the other woman.

Chief Rice looked pleased to introduce the final member of the group, "This is detective Frankie Rustin." Derek's head snapped up as his brain tried to catch up with Rice's voice. He let out a soundless "what?" to see it was actually Frankie Rustin standing just a mere five feet away from him. Derek blinked as he noticed Frankie tense once she was introduced to the team. He could feel himself tense as their eyes met for a mere second. Her dark brown eyes were cold, it sent a slight chill up his spin as he was reminded about how his mama and sisters looked when they were upset with him.

"You okay?" Reid asked when he felt the older man tense up next to him.

"Yeah," Derek answered half lying to himself, "I'm fine."

Reid, of course, didn't look like he believed him. "You don't look it."

"I'm fine Reid, thanks though."

"She doesn't." J.J whispered, nodding over at Frankie who had her arms crossed. "Case must be getting to her."

Derek could only nod in agreement, knowing the actual answer had everything to do with him.

"From here on out Detective Habib will lead the detective group." Rice explained, "You all have complete access to any files that you need." She nodded over to the four detectives, "Thanks guys."

Habib and Hotch shook hands before discussing tactics. Each had plans about what to do and where to go from here. While the two were discussing the merging of their plans, the BAU team decided to address the three other detectives, with Derek hanging back and far away from Frankie.

As he and Rossi discussed the ongoing case with Moore, he looked to see Frankie, Reid, and J.J talking. Whatever Reid had just said caused Frankie to smile, with J.J looking a bit confused.

Derek chose to ignore the slight pang in his chest.

"Alright everyone." Hotch called out, "Here's what we have, Detective Habib, Prentiss and I will go to the DC station to review the data and evidence gathered. I want Reid, Moore, and Rossi to head over to the Virginia scenes to talk with the family there, Kate and J.J I want you to head over to Galler's Gun store- see if you can lean on them about any silencer's being sold there recently."

"Rustin, Morgan, and Park, comb out the last two scenes again." Habib ordered them. "Both Kemp and Forsee went to the same high school."

Frankie frowned, "This is the first connection any of the victims have had besides physical appearance."

"Hope it's not just sick copycat." Said Park as she looked back on the Kemp's home.

Habib nodded, "I doubt it, Kemp's shooter and Forsee's shooter shot them both while both were on their way to school. Ballistics won't come back for the at least three days, but we are going to assume that the shooter is the same.

"CSU will follow with you guys." Hotch informed them, "Call us with anything you find." He told the three as he and the rest of the group broke apart.

Derek stood still silently as Park and Frankie stared back at him. Park's glaze was one of interest and admiration, Frankie's looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else.

Derek couldn't blame her one bit.

He would have to work this case with his estranged daughter for however amount of time.

Park was the first to break. "Let's get started."

Frankie was the second to move, she waved her hands over to Derek, "Coming Agent Morgan?"

"Yeah." He followed suit.

He wondered how long he could keep his relationship with Frankie a secret from the others. Knowing how his history went with the team, not long at all.