"We really deserved this vacation..." Morgan said happy, lying on the beach in Miami, interweaving his finger with the brunette girl next to him "...10 days of nothing but sun, ocean and my gorgeous girlfriend!"
"But mostly without work, hardly believe it"
"Yeah. Let me tell you, I was beginning to be a bit jealous of your colleagues, especially the blond guy sitting at the desk in front of yours"
"Yep. Never underestimate the appeal of Dr. Reid..." Prentiss laughed "...but you're lucky, I'm in love with another colleague of mine. And he has a private office, which is more advantageous"
"Oh. Really? Let me guess...tall, athletic, brown eyes, goatee, smart and damn sexy?"
"Exactly, Rossi is such a charming man"
"Oh, Emily Prentiss, I can't explain you how happy my ego is right now"
"I'm here for that, baby!"
"You haven't told me what did you say to the ladies yet, by the way"
"I just told them that I'd spent my holiday reading at home"
"Well, part of it it's true. My back still hurts for the weight of the suitcase, because of your books...and you're not even reading"
"You know, someone gave me a little busy lately. In 4 days it's the first time that we are out of our room"
"I don't remember that you had complained about last night...or yesterday evening...or -"
"Okay, okay..." she interrupted him "...I got the point"
"And then, I do that also for you, otherwise how would you explain the tan?"
"In that case I'm the lucky one to have found such an attentive boyfriend"
"Yeah. You're so lucky, not all have at their disposal a boy so handsome, clever and attentive"
"You forgot 'modest'..."
"But this modest guy loves you to be crazy!" he reminded her, kissing the back of her hand.
While his lips were still touching her skin, she felt that a smile was growing on Derek's lips.
"What is so funny?" the woman asked
"I was just thinking about the reaction of the team if they could see us at this time...probably Hotch would have a heart attack" he answered amused, but every trace of a smile faded when he noticed the expression on Prentiss' face "What's up? Did I said something wrong?"
"No. I was just thinking how the team might behave when they will know about us...aren't you afraid that they will get angry?" she enquired worried
"Nope. Maybe in the beginning, just a bit, but then they will be happy for us"
"Derek, it's almost a year since we keep the secret"
"Are you scared of JJ and Penelope reaction, aren't you?"
"Exactly. I've never had friends like them and I'm afraid that all the lies I told them to cover our relationship, in the end, will ruin our friendship"
"Are you regretting about that?"
"No, absolutely no. I mean, I'm sorry I lied to them, but the cause of it is definitely worth it"
"Glad to hear that! But the fact is that you have been telling lies to them, right?"
"Are you profiling me or simply I am like an open book for you?" she joked
"According to my point of view, you haven't totally lied, you simply omitted some details..."
"And, according with our job, this 'omission of details' it's like to lie..."
"Baby, look, can we deal with this problem when the time will come? For now, let's think only to enjoy our vacation! When we will come home, we will think how tell the team about us without they get mad, okay?"
"Can you explain me how do you always know what is the best way to behave?"
"It's easy. Because I love you and I just think the best solution to make you happy..."
"I love you too, very much"
"Talking about how to make you happy, what do you think if this evening we have dinner in that little restaurant on the beach?"
"The waiters will be disappointed that we don't order with the usual room service".
As soon they finished their romantic dinner by candlelight, the two Federals returned to their hotel room where they ordered a bottle of Champagne, to celebrate the performance of their holiday and, after a long conventional sex session, they fell asleep.
The following morning, a loud scream coming from the corridor, awoke suddenly the couple. Wearing the first thing they found next to the bed, they went out of the room as quickly as possible to understand the reason of the shout heard just before.
"Ma'am, are you the one who screamed?" Prentiss asked the waitress leaning against the wall in front of their room "What's happened? What did you see?"
The other woman, visibly frightened, merely indicate with a finger the door of the room 503, the one adjacent to the two Agents' chamber.
Morgan, opening the door with his foot, went to inspect the site.
After a quick but careful analysis, returned to his partner, who in the meantime had managed to calm the maid, and added:
"We have to call Hotch, it is a double murder, probably made by professionals"
"Derek..."
"I know baby, I know. Let me call Hotch, then we will find something to not discover our positions".
Some hours later, the unit-chief with the rest of the BAU, arrived in Florida and the first one who they met was the brunette profiler.
"Prentiss, are you already here?!" Hotch said, somewhere between a statement and a question
"Yeah. I was already in the State because of a my mother's commitment, I wasn't that far when I received the call from Morgan. By the way, he has briefed me on what happened and now he's waiting for us in his room"
"The room is close to the crime scene, is that correct?"
"Exactly. While we've been waiting for you, we made clear the entire 5th floor except for the rooms 503 and 501, Morgan's one"
When everyone get in the room on the 5th floor booked by the black Agent, JJ remarked:
"Morgan, I'm starting to think that you have a sort of curse..."
"I'm beginning to think it too!"
"Actually, though it may seem strange, it only is a bizarre coincidence with what happened in Jamaica. To not talking about that curses -"
"Kid, you're not helping" Derek informed him; meanwhile Rossi, approaching Prentiss, whispered:
"Do you know what are they talking about?"
"I've no idea" his colleague responded, making a mental note to ask her boyfriend an explanation of these references to Jamaica.
"Puppy..." Garcia intervened "...who did make you company last night?"
"Baby-girl, may I know what are you talking about?" he pretended to ask amused, but in reality he was feeling a slight sense of panic, he and Emily were been very careful to remove all traces of female presence from the room and they had placed it as if the only occupant in those four days was only him... So how did the technical analyst to understand that he wasn't alone? Feminine intuition?
"Oh, don't even try! Here I can clearly feel feminine scent" Penelope advised him
Every kind of idea or excuse was light years away from Morgan's mind...or Emily's, but luckily Hotch's intervention saved them unconsciously from the situation:
"Fine! Here's what we'll do: Rossi and Reid, find out who booked the room 503 and if it was the same person who occupied it. Garcia, you can put your gear on that table; JJ, could you help her? Thank you. Morgan and Prentiss, have you disclosed something heretofore? Do you know what happened?"
"We don't know a lot..." Prentiss began to say but Morgan broke her off to tell the facts from the starting point:
"This morning, we...err...I mean, I was sleeping when I was awakened by a woman who screamed in the corridor. When I came out, I found the waitress shocked by the discovery of the two bodies, it was then that I called you"
"We need to interrogate this woman"
"I already did it, Hotch...as soon as I arrived..." Prentiss informed him "...Morgan and I had also the time to do some questions to the occupants of the other rooms of the floor, to know if they heard or seen something..."
"Emily, you were very close to here if the two of you have had all this time before that we arrived" JJ pointed out, surprised
"Yeah, less than a hour by car" the brunette replied, hoping no one would notice that she was lying.
"Hotch..." Reid said entering the room, followed by Rossi "...at the reception we were told that the room had been booked for only one person, they don't know who the woman can be"
"What is the name of the man?"
"Hugh Colegrove"
"Garcia, do some research on this man, maybe we can find this woman's identity"
"We could do something more..." Rossi intervened "...the owner of the hotel informed us that a couple of years ago, he installed the cameras on each floor, so we can see everyone who entered and left the room"
"Derek, this means..."
"Yeah, Em, I'm afraid of it. But sooner or later they would have to find out that"
"Sure, but not in this way" she returned, continuing to whisper, while, behind all colleagues, she laced her fingers with her boyfriend's.
"Sir, I have arrived at the time when the magnetic card has been used for the last time to enter in the room..." Garcia said pointing the screen of her laptop, where it was paused the video of security cameras "...so we can also see which of us was right, don't you think hot stuff?" the woman added, while the directly involved strengthened his hold with Emily's hand
"Okay Garcia, go ahead" the unit-chief instructed her.
The video began with Hugh Colegrove who entered in the room. A dozen minutes later, Morgan came in the frame, hand-in-hand with a girl. The Agents didn't take long to realize that the girl was their colleague.
"B-but..." the blonde profiler stammered, looking with more interest, even if she was a bit disconcerted, at the video. Actually, all BAU's components focused more on the recording, as if it was an episode of a soap opera that no one could skip...
"I love you so much" Morgan said, leaning against the doorway of their room, pulling Prentiss in a hot kiss
"I love you too" Prentiss said back when their lips parted, immediately before to have a repeat of the kiss.
"Marry me!" the man said on the spur of the moment
"What?"
"Yeah, let's get married"
"Derek, we've been together for only 9 months..."
"They will be 10 in 8 days" he corrected her involuntarily
"This is not the point. What if in a year from now we find that it cannot work between us?"
"And what if in a year from now we'll find that we love each other more than we already do now? No one has any certainty what will happen in ten minutes, tomorrow or in a month, but the only thing I do know is that I wanna have you by my side, in a month, a year, a century or what it will be, I want to have you in my life permanently. I know, it pretty sucks like proposal, I know it isn't like you dreamed it, but it comes from my heart"
"Actually, I've never dreamed a moment like this because I've never thought that it would be come. But it came, from the man of my dreams"
"So? What is your answer? Or, wait, maybe you need some time to think about it...a week, a month a year, just take all the time you want"
"Derek..." she spoke putting a finger on his lips "...I don't need even a second to think about it, I've already took my decision. Okay, let's get married! But, Derek, I don't wanna do this secretly..."
"Everything you want, babe. And then we could never do it secretly, as my mother adores you, I think she could kill both of us if we don't invite her to an event like that"
"I think the same"
"Wait a second, we need something to seal this moment..." Morgan announced looking for something around him, then he found the solution in front of his eyes "...do you let me?" he spoke dissolving her hair from the close of the elastic; "I like you better with your hair down..." then, tying the elastic around the ring finger of the left hand, the man added "I swear that I will replace it with something more appropriate as soon as I find the engagement ring you deserve"
"Don't even think about it!" she warned him
"No. It's right! I always wanted the best for you, and I would do everything possible to give you the best"
"You are my best. And you are everything I need"
"I think now we have to celebrate. I'm calling the room service to order a bottle of champagne" he declared opening the door and entering in the room kissing his wife to be.
As soon as the door of the room 501 was closed, Garcia put the video in pause and everyone turned simultaneously to the couple. Morgan was running his hand up and down, along Emily's back who hid her face against the man's chest.
Prentiss had faced without fear or shame a lot of situations, the majority of which were by far worst of this, but in that moment, she hadn't the courage to look her colleagues and friends in the eyes.
"Guys, blame me, it was a my idea to keep the secret, Emily has nothing to do with this"
"No, Derek, this isn't true..." the brunette denied turning around to face her co-workers "...it is also my fault, I was also in agreement with the secrecy"
"If we hadn't discovered it in this way, when you would have told the truth about you two? Or better, have you ever had the intention to make us aware?" Penelope enquired almost screaming
"We talked about it every day..."
"And the wedding? Would you have hidden also your wedding rings to not say anything to us?"
"Garcia, you heard that, we wouldn't have ever done it without telling you..." Morgan went on to explain "...it's just that we didn't know how to do it, when to say it. We tried a few times"
"Few times? Few times?! In 9 months -"
"10 in 7 days" the young genius specified
"This is not the moment, Reid" Morgan and Garcia shouted against him at the same time, then the computer technician taken up from where she was interrupted
"In 9 months you tried to tell us only few times? I'm quite sure that we have been more than a 'few' occasions to say it".
Everyone was in his own way surprised by this revelation, but Garcia was the most upset, she seemed beside herself; her behavior didn't help at all Prentiss who, when she could no longer hold back the tears, left the room slamming the door behind her.
"Geez, guys!" Derek exclaimed, like it was a reproach.
He perfectly knew that neither of the two parts was right or wrong, but Penelope's reaction seemed to him a little too exaggerated. He would have expected an outburst by Hotch for breaking the FBI rules, but a similar behavior by his baby-girl...it was a real surprise.
"Hey!" he said after reaching his fiancée outside the room.
She was sitting on the floor with her legs bound tightly to her chest by arms.
"Hey" she said back
"What are you doing sitting there? Stand up" he ordered, handing her a hand to help her and taking advantage of this contact to pull her in a hug "Everything will be fine, I promise you, everything will be fine!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I've you. And as long as I will have you there will never be anything that can go wrong"
"Thanks to have so much patience with me"
"I'm here for you!".
Few after, their private moment was interrupted by Hotch arrival:
"Morgan. Prentiss. I'm sorry to inform you that your work and your holiday here are finished. I'm waiting for you Monday morning at 9am in the meeting room to talk to you two. And of course the same day I will find your report on what happend, truly, before our coming. Now you can go".
The couple returned in the room just the time to pack up Morgan's stuff, among the feigned indifference of their colleagues, and, after withdrew Emily's suitcase from the luggage, the two Federals went to the airport where they took the first flight to Virginia.
As soon as they arrived at Derek's place, the two of them compiled the report immediately and then they went to bed, returning to the following day the discussion of what might happen in the meeting with the head of unit.
"Hey, what about we go to the Bureau to bring the file in Hotch's office and then we just enjoy the Sunday with that picnic we should have done two weeks ago?" the man proposed in the morning, while making breakfast
"Derek, we cannot postpone the conversation forever"
"Baby, I know. It's not my intention to avoid the problem, but it is not even my intention to waste this beautiful sunny day staying at home speculating about what might happen to us..." he couldn't help but notice that veil of concern in his girlfriend's eyes "Honey, I'm worried too about tomorrow, but honestly I'm more afraid that when we discuss the topic we will end up fighting"
"Is it for this reason that you proposed the picnic? Because in a pubblic place is easier to keep the control?"
"Yeah, also"
A couple of hours later, Morgan and Prentiss where enjoying the company of each other in a DC park.
"Can you think that less than 48 hours ago we were lying on the beach in Miami?" Derek asked keeping running his fingers into Emily's hair, whose head was resting on his shoulder
"Yeah. Look how fast things change"
"But something was unchanged, the two of us! Are you still going to be my wife or what happened has made you changing your mind?"
"Are you kidding? Nothing is going to change my mind, nothing. Never. It's only that...aren't you afraid that somehow Hotch's decision may have effects on our future?"
"You mean like separate us?"
"Yep"
"Well, we're going to fight to make known our reasons, I'm sure about this. But, if Hotch decides to keep us apart, I'll accept every decision as long as this doesn't divide us!"
"And what if he moves us in other teams and our commitments prevented us from seeing each other?"
"Listen. I don't think that he will move both of us. In any case, I'm serious when I say that I only want your happiness, so I am also willing to give my resignation, if you want to stay in the BAU. Probably we will not be so unlucky, maybe we will be filled with paperwork to complete from tomorrow to the end of our carreers... You know what? I'm quite sure we are worried for nothing"
"Hope your optimism is right as usual"
"You will see, everything will be fine! Now stop talking about work, let's enjoy this last day of vacation"
"Talking about vacation, is there anything else I should know about Jamaica?"
Monday morning. Derek and Emily arrived at FBI in Quantico 10 minutes before the agreed time. They thought to be ahead of the rest of the team; they were very surprised when, entering in the bullpen, they saw their colleagues in the round table room waiting for them.
Immediately, the two of them deposited their stuff on Prentiss' desk and then headed for the room. Before going in, he took her hand and added with a wink:
"If we must go to hell...".
"Morgan, Prentiss. Take a seat" the unit chief said severely, pointing the two chairs at the opposite side to where he and the team were, standing with their arms crossed over their chest "My first idea was to take alone a decision about the two of you, but then I realized that you haven't lied to me only, but also the rest of the team, the ones you called friends. So we have gathered, we talked about what happened and we have agreed on what I'm going to tell you. You two have always had a special feeling, so it's understandable that none of us have noticed that your friendship has become something more. What surprised us is that two people linked to the importance of trust as you, have decided to betray it for the purposes purely selfish -"
"Hotch..." Morgan interrupted him
"Let me finish, then, if we would like to, we'll listen to your reasons. I was saying, analyzing all this, speaking on behalf of everyone, I am compelled to inform you that ... congratulations on your engagement!"
Now it was the turn of the couple being upside for the surprise.
"What? Aren't you angry with us?" Prentiss asked astonished
"I'm sorry, I freaked out the other day. Sometimes the surprises have a strange effect on me. You two love each other and you are to become husband and wife, this is one of the best news ever!" Garcia announced, running across the table to hug the bride and groom to be. And so did all the others, filling the couple of hugs and congratulations.
It was very rare to see happy moments in that room, but this is one of them; there was so much joy and affection that everyone forgot what was normally used that place.
"I'm so sorry I pretended to be angry with you shortly before, it was necessary for the success of the surprise" Reid explained hugging Prentiss to make her his best wishes
"It doesn't matter, I'm happy that everything is going in a good way" she replied
"Yeah, but are almost two days that she is sick with worry. Isn't it, baby?".
Everyone had questions for the two lovers, like "When it happened?" or "Why you decided to hide this news?" or also "Have you already decided to give birth to other Morgans?".
"Okay, guys..." the black Agent intervened "...give us some breath! By the way, how the case ended?"
"Oh, we found out that Hugh Colegrove's wife, Roxie Colegrove, last month had discovered that his husband had a mistress, a certain Tamara Rohman, so she has hired a man to kill her faithless husband and the other woman during a business trip of him...business trip so to speak, of course" Garcia described, changing the topic forthwith "Why we don't organize a dinner to celebrate this event? Rossi, we could do it at your home so you can enjoy your culinary skills..."
"W-What? Excuse me, why at my place?" questioned the Italian Federal starting a small space with the blonde computer expert, bickering that was interrupted by a question from JJ:
"So, Emily, tell me. Did Derek already replaced the kind of engagement ring that he had tied on your finger?"
"Yeah..." she returned showing the diamond on her finger "...Saturday, as soon as we landed"
"It wasn't easy to convince her, but in the end I made it!" Derek told proud of himself "Have we done with the questions?"
"Nope! I've the last one..." Garcia communicated "...you know, the video resolution wasn't the best, so I was wondering...could we have a repeat of that kiss we saw only registered?"
"With great pleasure!" Morgan replied pulling Prentiss in another fiery kiss which made everyone exclaim with joy.
Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! :) And don't forget to let me know what do you think...if you want to! ;))