I'm working on a sequence of stories that belong together but still stand for themselves.

Thanks to Flames101 for Beta Reading. You are a great help!

Criminal Minds is not mine.

What is home?

Emily tossed the newspaper into the garbage can and sighed, completely frustrated. She had been looking for a new apartment for the past few weeks. After she had spent the night at Derek's he had refused to let her move out of his spare room, at any rate, not before she had a new place. That was two weeks ago. At least her suitcase had been found in Singapore; who knew how it had gotten there. The important part was that she almost has a complete wardrobe now.

Emily didn't like to dwell on it, but living with her colleague worked surprisingly well, which made her a little more comfortable with the whole situation. But, really, she needed to get out of there.

She sighed again and headed to the counter to refill her hot chocolate, as JJ entered the break room.

"You okay?" her friend asked instantly, sensing her frustration.

"You are getting way to good at profiling," Emily praised, as she gave her a smile. Her comment earned her a smirk.

"Besides the fact that my life still consists of living out of a suitcase, in a place that is not mine, I'm fine." The brunette leaned against the counter taking a sip of her chocolate.

Her colleague smiled sympathetically, seating herself on the chair Emily had occupied a few seconds ago. "I guess it's hard coming back from the dead. I'm sure you'll figure it out, though. We're all here to lend a hand, too, don't forget."

"Thanks. I just need to get out of Derek's guest room," she stated earnestly, pausing when JJ's expression told her that her sentence had not come out the way she'd intended it to sound.

"It's just," she hurried to correct herself. "It's his home, not mine… and all the silverware is in places I would never put it; the couches are arranged horribly…" she trailed off, sighing, realizing that she just sounded even more ungrateful. " But, then again, he did save me from another hotel room and really that spare room is more of a home to me than anything I've been in this last year."

She sighed again.

"Some things just take time and it's not like there are no openings out there. You are just…" the blonde began, mincing her words; she met her gaze and finished, "…picky, which might be a sign that the shared place with Morgan can't be that bad of a situation."

"I never said it was bad. It's not mine, that's what's bothering me."

JJ laughed at the expression on her friend's face, when her phone went off. She glanced at the caller ID and then smiled her apology. "It's Will." She was about to leave to find a private place but Emily gestured for her to stay, getting up to leave, giving JJ the privacy of the break room.

Later that day, Hotch sent them home early since they weren't on call and the reports were done. She was lying on the couch, in Morgan's living room, with a book open across her chest. But she was too restless to do more than skim the pages. When she heard Morgan on the stairs, she automatically glanced towards the hallway, surprised to see him in a pair of overalls.

"What are you up to?" she asked curiously.

He grinned back at her. "Fixing up a place a few blocks from here. I've let it go for a while now, it probably looks horrible." To be exact, he hadn't touched the place since the whole Doyle issue had entered his life.

"Do you mind if I come?" The question was out of her mouth before she really thought about it and his face showed his incredulity. "Never mind," she quickly added.

His surprise faded away quickly and he shook his head. "If you really want to, of course you can come. But you might want to wear something older than that," he said, pointing at her new sweat pants.

Her excitement was obvious when she basically ran up the stairs to change. When she came back down a few minutes later in an outfit that was clearly not much older than her previous one he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't have old clothes," she said, shrugging her shoulders in a 'what are you going to do about it' gesture. "Mother thought it was a great idea to donate them when I died."

Although, mentioning her death made her shiver, she couldn't resist the joke. JJ and Hotch had been able to save most of her possessions, but her mom had insisted on donating the clothes. He, too, shrugged, an amused smile playing on his lips. Without another word he turned around and headed to his car.

The small driveway seemed a little crowded now that her new car was parked next to Morgan's SUV. She sighed, thinking again about the impossibility of finding the right place.

Climbing into Morgan's SUV, they rode in silence; though, the ride wasn't long, just a short two blocks from his place. As soon as they got there Emily found out why he needed the SUV.

Morgan opened the trunk to reveal that it was full of buckets of paint, tools, even a small ladder. He handed her a bucket and then grabbed two of his own, carrying them to the house.

"Just put them in the hallway", he called back behind him, while he disappeared into one of the rooms.

Emily chuckled, the hallway was a mess and she couldn't imagine why someone would even think about fixing this place up.

"You are crazy," she called back as she headed back out to get another bucket of paint. A few trips later, the trunk was empty and the door closed behind her. Trying to catch her breath, she realized she really needed to get back into the habit of working out.

"Morgan?"

She hadn't seen him since he had disappeared into the rooms. Rolling her eyes, she stepped through one of the door frames and stopped. She couldn't even believe they were in the same house. The room was painted in a creamy mocha color and the old wooden floor was shining under its new glaze.

Her mind's eye was already in the process of placing her couch in the center of the room. Hopefully, it was still in storage along with her little coffee table. Even the way too big rug her mother had given her a couple of Christmas' ago was in the picture. Again she hoped that her mother hadn't taken it back after her death.

She turned around suddenly and headed for the door to her left. Opening it, it was another really neat room; the floor in this one looked like he had replaced it, but Morgan had done a good job with his choice. The walls were white save for one with colorful wallpaper—the accent wall, she knew from her interior decorating show watching days. She smiled to herself; never had she thought of Morgan as this creative.

Emily proceeded to the next door and ended up in the kitchen of the house which was already furnished with new cabinets. Out of one of them she saw Morgan's legs. Upon closer inspection she realized that he must have been working on the sink.

"Never thought you had a talent for this," she teased him.

He poked his head out to bestow her with a huge grin. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know; you look like the type to spend your free time playing sports not something like this."

She was stereotyping him and she knew it, but it was honest at the very least.

"Well, I need my secrets, too, right?" He got to his feet. "I was just checking the pipes down here, since I haven't been here for a while. They're fine. All the work is upstairs."

He smirked like he had a secret to tell and then headed for the hallway.

"We should get the rest of the stuff inside," he commented.

Derek didn't see her grimace because she was trailing behind him, but he grew silent when he reached the hallway to see that it was filled with the new paint.

"You didn't have to do that," he said, his tone apologetic.

"Well, too late for second thoughts."

He smirked and then grabbed two of the buckets. "How about you take the ladder and brushes," he suggested before heading upstairs.

He was not about to let her carry all the paint upstairs, as well. He headed for the master bedroom down the hall and put the buckets in there. Emily slowly entered behind him.

"Did it look like this downstairs?" Her face showed disbelief and he had to smile.

"Actually, it looked worse. I had to get rid of all the carpets and there was a lot of wallpaper especially in here." He grimaced at the memory of the work; a serial killer was nothing compared to stubborn wallpaper. "You can paint in here. The peach is for those three walls, and the darker one for this one." He pointed it out easily like he had planned the room ort. "And no worries about the floor, there'll be carpet over this."

Derek helped her open the buckets of paint before going downstairs for the rest. When he checked in on her a few minutes later he found her already at work and her rather new gray pants sprinkled with paint.

They worked in different rooms for the rest of the afternoon, until the sun set and painting was basically impossible. Back at his place, both of them took showers before meeting in the kitchen, starving for a good dinner.

"Pizza or Chinese?"

Her gaze went from the rather empty fridge to him. "Pizza."

He seemed surprised but didn't complain and made the order.

"Thirty minutes," he finally said, after hanging up. He went to the living room and sunk onto the couch, finding Emily's abandoned book. "Good one," he said with a look at the cover, before putting it on the table. She smiled and sat down on the other side.

"What do you do with the places you fix up when they're done?" she just had to ask. Although there was a lot to do, she had fallen in love with the place and wanted it.

"Sell them. Its good money," he answered. When he heard her sigh he opened his eyes and smirked at her. "Why?" The grin was already forming on his lips, he had an idea where the conversation was going.

She blushed since he read her face like an open book. "Well, it's a really nice place. And I would love to live there, but I can't afford to buy a place like that." She paused a little sad about that fact, but then added, "It's too big anyways. A whole family could live there. It would be a waste for Sergio and me." She glanced at him, seeing the big grin on his lips. "What?"

He sat up, his grin changing to an amused smile. "You could just ask me. There should be a way to make a deal with a friend. You can just pay it off, like paying rent."

She instantly shook her head. "It's way too big."

"So? You always wanted a spare room for a library and one room can be dedicated to Sergio, a guest room and how about a room for Pilates. Of course, you would have to start Pilates for that…"

She sat there, staring at him silently, ignoring his teasing about Pilates.

"Are you sure about this? It will take forever to pay you back."

"It's paid for. A monthly rent and whatever you can come up with as a down payment works perfectly fine for me." It was clear to him that her heart was already settled on this new place, so it was only her mind he had to persuade. "Just go through your finances. It's not going on the market for the next month or so."

The doorbell rang and he headed for the door to get the Pizza while she stared after him in amazement. This could really be her new home. It would take a little bit, obviously, but that would give her the time to bring together the money for the down payment. She smiled when he returned.

"It's about time. I'm starving." She reached for the box.