Title: Learning the Hard Way.

Pairings: Primarily team centric, but will eventually be Morgan/Garcia

Summary: Morgan is forced to trust that his team will be the ones to rescue him this time, not the other way around, when he is unexpectedly kidnapped out of the blue. Will the team find him before too much damage is done?

A/N: So this is was inspired by what Hotchner said to Morgan at the end of this season's premiere episode. It really got me to thinking what if Morgan was forced to trust his team? And thus the idea for my first Criminal Minds fic was born.

Chapter 1: Hero Complex.

Agent Derek Morgan was both exhausted and deep in thought as he dropped his boss, Agent Aaron Hotchner off. His mind wouldn't get over what Hotch had said to him in New York earlier that evening. And the main reason he couldn't stop thinking about it was because knew his boss was more than right. Morgan knew damn well he still had trust issues, but he had accepted the fact that that was just his nature and that he would probably always harbor trust issues to some degree.

Keep in mind though despite what Hotch had said he still felt more than justified in his actions. Getting that bomb away from the hospital and his team had been his main priority. The team was like his second family and since he knew he had the most experience with bombs; he didn't think twice. Instead he raced ahead of his team and drove that ambulance as far away as possible. What he did regret though was the fact that Garcia was mad at him because of it.

20 minutes later, Morgan killed the engine to his car, after coming to a stop in front of his apartment building. A nice hot shower and uninterrupted sleep were just what he needed. To bad he didn't realize he wouldn't be getting either anytime soon.

He was usually a very perceptive guy but being both exhausted and in deep thought made him completely unaware of the danger he was getting himself into. It wasn't until he felt a sharp stab in his neck that he realized something was wrong. However by then it was too late. The drug his captors had just given him already taken effect. It literally rendered him paralyzed before his whole world went black and that's what allowed the two men who had been waiting for him to carry out there perfectly executed plan.

Unbeknownst to him and the rest his team Mitchell Preston and Kyle Worrick had watching the team for months with nothing but revenge on their minds. You had to give the two evil men some credit because they knew that in order to exact their revenge on the team they had to take out Agent Morgan first and that's exactly what they were going to do. Therefore they both couldn't help but smile manically as they watched the drug render Agent Morgan completely helpless. Once they were sure he was completely out the two men dragged Morgan's body to the dark van they had near by.

Hours later…

Before he even fully opened his eyes he sensed that something wasn't quite right. First off this definitely didn't feel like his bed because if it was he'd definitely feel more rested than what he was feeling at the moment. Second off his head was pounding and that also made no sense because he knew damn well he hadn't had anything to last night. And finally last but not least his body didn't seem to want to move at all. Willing his eyes to fully open despite the pounding in his head he noticed that indeed wasn't in his apartment. Instead he was in the back of fairly large van and the reason he couldn't move was because both his hands and feet were bound.

"Glad you're finally joining us, Agent Morgan," An unfamiliar voice said.

"Who the hell are you?" Morgan asked clearly puzzled as he tried to turn his body in the direction of the voice

"That doesn't matter right now, just know I know everything there is to know about you," The voice replied.

"So then you know kidnapping me is a federal offense, right?" Morgan questioned as he tried to maneuver himself up to a sitting position.

"Sorry to disappoint you Agent Morgan but this is way more than just a simple kidnapping." Was the answer he got before a painful kick to his side haltered all his efforts to sit up. Then everything went black once again as he felt another stab in the back of his neck.

Later the next day…

Garcia awoke the day after the grueling case in New York had come to an end to find messages on her answering machine from all of the team letting her know they were home safe. All that is except for her chocolate Adonis. Hmm… She thought to herself, He probably thinks I'm still mad at him. And well to be completely honest a part of her still was. As much as she loved how strong Derek Morgan was, his hero complex had her constantly wondering when the danger he thrived on putting himself into would finally catch up with him. And it almost had because he'd come to close to being blown to pieces along with that ambulance in New York.

Telling herself to let him stew a little longer she resisted the urge to call and check up on him until well into the afternoon. When she finally did call him she got his voicemail on both his cell and home phone. "Hey it's me gorgeous," She said after the beep, "I'm not mad anymore so you can stop being stubborn and give me a call."

She then spent the rest of the evening trying not to worry as she waited for his call. However it never came that night nor did it the next day.

Monday morning BAU Headquarters…

She knew something was definitely wrong on Monday when arrived at work because he wasn't there. He had a habit of unusually arriving early on the first day back after a case to get an early start on the tedious paperwork he hated with a passion.

By 10am she wasn't the only one that was worried. In fact the whole team was starting to wonder just where their resident macho man was.

"Hey, Garcia," Emily Prentiss greeted as she entered their computer tech's bunker, "Have you heard from Morgan?"

Garcia looked over at the brunette with worry, "No I haven't and I just left my fourth message."

The brunette nodded, "Alright well I'm going to head over to his place."

Garcia nodded before saying, "Wait I'm going with you."

"Alright," Prentiss said knowing there was no way to talk her out of it. With that the two ladies left and head towards Morgan's apartment both weary of what they might find.