Okay here we go. This new story is set at the very beginning of season 4. They are back from their New York case, but I will spread the time between the cases a little bit so everything between now and well you will see, is filled between The Angle Maker and Minimal Loss. The show was unspecific about time at the beginning of this season so I used that for my advantage.

Criminal Minds is not mine, but Avery is and I'm very proud of that.

Lots of Love to Lovelover7891 and the fact that this was the very first chapter I ever forced you to read for me. :D Thanks for sticking with me since then.

"What I really want to tell him is to pick up that baby of his and hold her tight, to set the moon on the edge of her crib and to hang her name up in the stars." ― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

Adjusting

It had all started about halfway through their last case. He had taken a phone call and after that something had changed. She couldn't quite put a hand on what had happened and he refused to talk to her. That was a week ago and she hadn't seen him since then, being told by Hotch that he had taken some personal time off. It had taken her all afternoon to come up with a plan to approach him. During the past two years, they had gotten close. He was the one person she would trust not only with her life, but more importantly she knew she could talk to him about anything. With that factored in, his behavior irritated her even more – especially when he refused to admit that something was wrong.

She drew a deep breath as she knocked against his front door. He took a very long time to open the door, making her doubt her plan again. The hand holding the six-pack sank back down to her side, almost hiding the drink behind her.

"Emily?" His face clearly showed the surprise of seeing her.

Completely lost for words she lifted the beer back up and put a helpless grin on. His eyes wandered to her hand and then back to her face. Her own eyes took in his features and she felt like he looked more tired than after a long case, but he hadn't been at work for days.

His eyes spun back into the house before taking in her sight again. Her instinct was telling her that he was hiding something and if he had been an unsub this would be the moment when her hand grabbed for the safety of her gun. But since he was her partner and one of her best friends she was just getting a little more worried. What could possibly be so bad that he would be afraid to have her know about it?

He finally sighed and opened the door wider so she could step in. She glanced at him but followed his invitation. When she was about to head into the living room, he stopped her and redirected her to the kitchen. She had a hard time to hide her irritation about that. While it had only been her imagination, it was now clear: He was hiding something.

"Are you okay?" She finally asked, after he had opened one of the beers handing it to her. Her eyes narrowed as he sat down without taking a bottle for his own.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, but kept quiet and took a sip of the cold liquid rather than asking more questions. Only her plan didn't work out. He didn't speak a word and she wasn't sure what to think.

"Hotch said you took some personal time." A question was clearly hanging in the statement but he simply nodded. She placed her bottle back on the counter. What was supposed to be a fun night with some alcohol to lighten his mood had changed nothing in him, but she felt more frustrated than ever. She couldn't help herself for feeling left out. Yes, they had their secrets, but personal time meant that something had happened. Something you would tell your partner, because it was influencing your work together.

"I should probably go."

"I guess."

She swore that he sounded relieved, which made her feel even worse. Trying to not show her disappointment, she grabbed her keys that had also been abandoned on the counter and began walking to the door. As she passed the living room she tried to glance in, but suddenly he was by her side closing the door. She turned her head away, again to hide the hurt and increased her walking speed to make it out of the door faster. On autopilot, she opened the door and stepped over the threshold without saying anything else. She was about to slam it shut, when a loud cry made her stop in her movement. As she swung back around she almost ran into a frozen Derek. The crying settled into a constant cry that sounded like one from a baby; only he didn't have any children.

He saw in her quizzical look that she was not about to leave and decided to take care of one problem at a time. He left her at the door to make her own decision and sprinted upstairs. In his former spare bedroom, he leaned over the new crib and pulled a little girl into his arms. Just like every time he had done this the last week, but his touch and hug would only further her hysteria. She was scared to death and he did not know what to do about it.

"It's okay." He tried to sooth her quietly, but she wouldn't calm down. He wasn't sure how long he had been holding her when she suddenly got quiet. He could feel the soft touch of Emily's hand on his back, and turned in surprise. So did the little girl in his arms, content to keep her eyes on the strange woman.

"How did you do that?" He was puzzled at the quietness that had spread between the three. Emily's eyes wandered from the girl to him as she shrugged.

"I don't know. Luck I guess."

He nodded slowly.

"What's her name?"

"Avery. Avery Rose." He couldn't stop the proud smile from coming to his lips. He could see in his partners face that she had about a million questions, but to her credit she didn't ask.

"She turned one three weeks ago." He offered as she took one of the little hands in hers.

"Oh did you sweetie?" He watched her hand go to the little face and carefully caress the rosy cheeks. Then something happened that neither of the adults had expected; Avery reached her little arms towards Emily clearly indicating that she wanted to be held by her. As neither of them reacted he could feel the little feet push against him impatiently.

"Would you?" He asked, not sure if she was okay with the situation.

His question brought her back into motion and she opened her arms. She had barely made her move when the little girl almost jumped into her arms.

"Well hello!" She couldn't stop herself from laughing at the eagerness of the baby. She took in the features of the little face. She had already noticed that the little eyes resembled her partners and so were many other features. The features were softer of course and her skin seemed just a slight bit lighter than Derek's. She grimaced as the little hand rose into her dark curls and grabbed a bunch of them.

"Those are mine, sweetie." She carefully removed the little hand and then made sure that her hair fell back behind her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." Derek stepped forward, unsure how to help, but she just shook her head smiling at him.

"My bad, I should have thought about that before taking her. Everyone knows that one year olds like pulling hair."

He took a step backwards.

"Did she have dinner?" Emily felt like it was time to investigate the reason for the babies crying.

"She refuses to eat most of the time." It was hard to admit that. It had been hard enough to call the nurses in the hospital to ask for help, but their advice had not helped a lot.

"Well let's see what you have." She had noticed how uncomfortable he had been telling her this last piece of information and so she decided to give him a break. She made her way back downstairs and began searching the kitchen for something toddler approved. Finally, she sat Avery on the counter and filled her hand with cereal. The little girl didn't look too fond at all.

"I guess we are doing this the hard way." Emily sighed and put the cereal down, reaching for the banana she had set her eyes on and opening it up. She broke of a little piece and then held up both the banana and the cereal. In some seminar years ago, she had heard the children needed a choice. Indeed, after considering her option for a little while the little hands wandered to the cereal.

Still chewing on some of them Avery's eyes went to the door where Derek stood and a giggle came over her lips. Focusing her eyes back on Emily's hand, she filled her hand with cereal again and then stretched towards him.

"Oh you think daddy needs something to eat too?" The girl glanced at her for a moment, before concentrating on the man again, shaking her little arm in his direction. He came closer and opened his hand to catch the cereal. Satisfied with her accomplishment the little hands now reached for the banana.

"How did you do that?"

"Psychology seminar and a little bit of luck I guess." She smiled at him, before concentrating back on the child and feeding her.

An hour later Avery had not only eaten the banana and a small amount of cereal but also hunted after her ball in the living room long enough to be tired again. While Derek took her up to her crib, his friend started collecting the toys that were spread all over the room and putting them into a box. At least now, she knew why he didn't want her in the living room. The mess of toys would have been a dead giveaway.

"Want to finish your beer?"

She looked up from where she had positioned herself on the couch and shook her head.

"That's probably warm."

He laughed und sank into the couch beside her. Silence spread between them, although this time it was more comfortable. She was still curious, but she was sure that now he would tell her whenever he was ready.

"Her mother was killed in a car accident four weeks ago." He watched as her mouth opened in surprise, but again she didn't say anything. "I didn't know that Avery existed until I got that call from the hospital. Apparently, her mother was kind enough to leave a will and explain that I am the father. It took them a while to find me, but they did. I was offered testing to confirm I'm the father and then I got custody."

"Just like that?" She stared at him with disbelief. One would think they made sure that custody was given to someone caring.

"Well they checked that I bought the basic supplies two days ago, but apparently being an FBI agent is enough for the background check and after all I am her father."

"When were you going to tell us?" Although she hadn't intended to as soon as the words slipped her mouth she realized how hurt she sounded and both knew that she really meant me instead of us. It didn't matter to her when he told the rest of the team.

His mouth opened and closed again, staring at the wall behind her. Finally, he shrugged as he did not know the answer to the question. "I guess whenever I felt like I had things figured out better than a not eating, hysterical baby."

"I'm sure you are doing great."

He glared at her, not convinced by what she said.

"I'm serious Morgan. I've seen you with children before on cases. You are doing great. She needs time to adjust; I'm sure that is all. At her age babies are really attached to who they have known before, so as soon as she is used to you, she will be fine."

He nodded slowly, still not fully convinced from what she had said and looked back up when she stood up next to him.

"I should go. You look like you need sleep even more than that tired little girl you took to bed a few minutes ago."

As he got up and walked after her, he was almost desperately trying to find an excuse how he could make her stay. Just because Avery had eaten once for Emily didn't mean she would do it again for him. However, as she turned at the door to say goodbye, he just couldn't come up with a valid excuse.

"You know, you can call me. Always." She said quietly, as if she had read his thoughts and the panic slowly rising in him.

"Thanks." The first honest smile came to his face in days, as he noticed her usage of his phrase for her: always.