Both the ringing of the telephone and years of ingrained training, had Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan bolting upright and reaching for his cell in one streamlined movement. Throwing his bed covers off, he pulled himself to the edge of his bed and was wide awake before his phone even made it halfway to his ear.
"Morgan." Although Derek's head was already awake and on alert, the rest his body was somewhat slower to respond. His voice was little more than a sleepy rasp echoing softly into the darkness, forcing him to turn his head slightly away from the mouthpiece and release a small cough to clear his scratchy throat.
"Derek, it's J.J. We need everyone here - now. How quick can you get back to the office?"
Derek knew that the ringing of the telephone in the middle of the night with J.J. on the other end could only mean one thing; a case - one that couldn't wait until morning. He also knew that when time was of the essence, it usually meant a child or children were involved and out of all their cases, the ones involving kids always cut him to the quick and never seemed to get any easier to take.
"Derek?"
His dark thoughts had his gut clenching in apprehension, instantly evaporating any trace of moisture in his mouth and he had to swallow twice before quietly answering. "Sorry J.J., I'm here. A bad one?"
"They're all bad, but yeah Derek, this time it's particularly nasty. Everyone's on their way and I'll brief the team after you all get here if that's okay with you. I really don't want to go through the gory details more times than I already have to."
"Gotcha. Be there in ten."
Snapping his phone shut, he ran his hands slowly down the length of his face and took a deep breath. Force of habit had him sending a quick glance over his shoulder to the mattress behind him. Instead of a body warming the other side of his bed, the sheets although thoroughly tangled, were empty. He shook his head partly in bitter amusement, but mostly in disgust. He didn't know why his heart kept looking something his mind already knew wasn't going to be there and that fact wasn't going to change no matter what his heart believed. He'd been sleeping alone for a good year now and sometimes he still expected to go to sleep at night and wake up and find her beside him, which in turn made the nights bad enough and the mornings even worse. Even though every day was a little less difficult than the day before, he knew he still had a long way to go to get to where he needed to be. Yet after all this time, more often than not, he awoke bathed in a glistening sheen of moisture, his heart racing and heavy with an ache that just wouldn't go away. The thought itself was enough to send a piercing stab of pain straight through his chest like a calloused hand wrapping agonizingly around the centre of his heart, clenched so tightly he could barely breathe. For a few seconds, breathing felt like he was inhaling shards of glass instead of oxygen.
Ruthlessly he shoved the thoughts and his feelings aside as he stepped into the bathroom. He had a job to do and now wasn't the time to dwell in the past. Since time dictated only the most basic morning ritual, a quick wash of his face, brush of his teeth, and a swipe of deodorant had him nearly ready in less than two minutes. Looking in the mirror, he'd decided to forgo a shave for a cup of coffee and seconds later, he was dressed and out the door.