A/N: Totally new to the Criminal Minds section of this site. This idea has been plaguing my mind for a few days now, so here we go. Kind of short, but I think if I keep chapters around this length, I'll get quicker updates out.

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do, however, own Gabrielle Helena del Zotto, and the del Zotto family.

Heart of Glass

Smile
tho' your heart is aching,
Smile
Even though it's breaking,
When there are clouds in the sky- You'll get by,
If you
Smile through your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through- For you
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide ev'ry trace of sadness,
Altho' a tear may be ever so near,
That's the time you must keep on trying,
Smile- What's the use of crying,
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you just smile.

"Smile" Charlie Chaplin

November 2011

Placing her palms down on the tiled countertops, Gabrielle del Zotto glanced at her reflection in the mirror. From the loose chestnut brown tendrils framing her face, they were pieces of her long locks that slipped out of the hair clip blended into her hair. To her pale, make-up free face, complete with a handful of dark brown freckles adorning the soft skin. The diamond stud pierced through her nose sparkled in the overhead lighting whenever she moved.

The dim green eyes staring back at her startled her for a moment, until she recognized them as her own. Two eyes who used to hold such a vibrant color seemed burned out, almost dead now. Eyes she gazed so lovingly at her husband with never caught the same happiness anymore.

As she slowly ran her hand over her expanding waistline, the potential of a smile etched across her lips. Her pursed lips slowly started to trek upwards. Hope glimmered in her eyes, though a tear slid down her porcelain cheek.

Upon hearing the bathroom door click open, she turned her head to take a slight glance over her shoulder. As he stepped behind her and protectively wrapped his arms around her growing waist, she took a deep breath and eased into his embrace.

"Hi," she whispered as his fingers crept onto her stomach.

His perfect smile reflected in the mirror over her shoulder. "Hey pretty girl," he replied, all while resting his head on her shoulder. "What'cha up to, momma?" Derek Morgan asked.

Her eyes left his face, and traveled down to where his fingers were rubbing back and forth over her t-shirt. "Just thinking," she answered.

"About anything in particular?"

He nuzzled the side of his face into her bare neck, causing goose-bumps to cross her arms at the tingle his stubble caused. "Everything, I guess." He took note of the somber mood she seemed to be in. "You stink, though, babe," she explained, a slight smirk taking residence on her soft pink lips. When he just shrugged, she placed her left hand atop his on her stomach. "How was class?"

Morgan had been against teaching his self-defense class that day when Brie practically drifted through the day at work. With no on-going cases, they took the day to catch up on the ever-growing stacks of paperwork taking up their desks. "Same old, same old. But don't try to change the subject on me. What's goin' on in that head of yours?" he asked, true concern coating his words.

Her raspy voice floated through the bathroom, "Just thinking about how we got to where we are. Marriage. A baby," she stated, though the last sentence barely seemed happy. "I know we didn't plan for a baby this soon, but," the brunette paused, catching her husbands gaze in the mirror. As she choked back sobs that fought desperately to escape her lips, Morgan kissed her shoulder before standing up straight behind her.

Carefully he turned her to face him, though her downcast eyes brought a frown to his face. "Hey," he coaxed, trying his best to get his wife to look up. "I know it's hell right now, baby, but everything will get sorted out." He noticed her swallowing the lump in her throat, and she concentrated on the white tile gracing the floor. "This is not a matter of whether or not that's my baby. I will love that child, and their momma no matter what," he stated.

The conviction in his voice almost brought her to a breakdown. Licking her suddenly dry lips, her hands caught onto his t-shirt as she placed her forehead to his chest and let a few silent tears slip out. "I'm so sorry, Derek."

"Brie," the taller brunette began, "this is in no way your fault at all. You hear me?"

She slowly nodded against his firm chest, though the confirmation did nothing to cease the tears leaving her eyes.

"What he did to you, baby," Morgan began, only to lick his own lips and take a deep breath to keep himself in check, "you did not deserve that."

She slowly backed out of his embrace, though his large hand rested on her hip. "Neither did those girls," she stated. He nodded.

With his other hand, he placed it to the side of her cheek and brushed away lingering tears with his thumb pad. "And there's always a very good chance that's my baby." Brie exhaled the deep breath she didn't realize she was holding and looked up into her husbands deep brown eyes. As his thumb resting on her hip bone - covered only in her t-shirt, due to her wearing a pair of Morgan's sweatpants, which sat very low on her hips - rubbed in a circular pattern, she felt herself easing into his touch.

"I know that, D, but it's just," she struggled with the right word to use, "tough. I want to believe whole-heartedly that this child is yours, in blood, but the pessimist in me is making me think about everything." Gabrielle paused long enough to try to read Morgan's expression. "It's just," she started, as a new batch of tears began their descent down her face, "it's really hard sometimes to stay positive."

As she nibbled on her lower lip, Morgan desperately searched for the right words to say to her. "I will be right here, every single step of the way, baby. You know that. Whenever you need me, I'm here." He began brushing away the new tears. "I'm not goin' anywhere, pretty girl."

Her lips turned up at the nickname he started using close to five years earlier. Running a hand over his cheek, she couldn't contain a full-blown smile any longer. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, Derek Elijah Morgan. But I'd do whatever it was all over again."

He smirked in her direction before placing his lips to her forehead. She closed her eyes on contact, to relish the several moments his lips lingered on her skin.

The truth was, when she first found out she was pregnant, it seemed like the light at the end of a very, very dark tunnel. After being held captive for four days, and raped several times in that time span just a month and a half earlier, she smiled for the first time when she saw the results of her first at-home test.

Morgan was the one who brought up the possibility of George Turner being the father. He had struggled with the idea for almost a week before bringing the topic up to his wife. Derek could still remember they had been in the living room of their apartment, and she was updating the collection of photographs on the wall with her nephew's new school photo.

The old frame slipped from her fingertips as Derek told her what he had been thinking and shattered at her feet. As blood slowly rose to her skin through a few shallow lacerations on her calves and ankles, her body rocked with sobs. Morgan rushed to her side and swallowed her up into his arms. He could remember how tightly she wrapped her arms around his neck and wept.

The thought had crossed her mind in a fleeting glance before, but it wasn't until it was spoken out loud that she broke down.

"We're a team, Gabs. Forever, baby. That's what we've got here," he stated as he ran his fingertips over her stomach. "The three of us." She fought to smile through her tears. "Whatever happens, Brie. Either way, no one can take that child away from me."

She nodded.

He pecked her pale skin again. "He's never coming back. He'll never hurt you ever again, baby. I promise you that."

Gabrielle nodded again. As if on instinct, she remembered watching Derek fire two shots into Turner's chest through half closed eyes from the cold cement. Every time it replayed in her mind, it was slow motion, causing her to see each bullet enter and his body buck backwards at impact.

She never expected a marriage and children to come from a quick work friendship, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't happy about it. In her mind, Derek Morgan was the best thing that ever happened to her.

The brunette had only admitted it to JJ, but she worried that if this child was fathered by George Turner, she didn't know if she was capable of loving her baby. Deep down, she knew, that no matter what, she would always love him or her, but she didn't want to remember the abuse she endured every time she looked into her child's eyes.

Hoping that in three months she would be gazing into soulful brown eyes like her husbands when she saw her baby for the first time got her through the darker moments. Knowing that no matter what, the three of them would be a family, made everything worth while to Brie. That no matter what, Derek Morgan still loved her as much that day as the first time he told her he loved her. As much as the day he popped the question. As much as their wedding day. And as much as every single time he told her after she had been rescued.

When he pulled her frail body to his, and showered her with kisses and reminders that he loved her so much. To every moment he spent at her bedside for days afterwards.

She knew she was his for the rest of her life, and the smile that came with that knowledge was overpowering.

xXx