Disclaimer: None of this belongs to me...
A/N: Finally, here's my contribution for the "Dealer's Choice Challenge". The given pairing was Prentiss/Morgan with the following prompts: Truth or Dare, power outage, stuffed pig.
Before we go on with the story, a few introductory remarks:
First of all, a HUGE thanks goes to Kate aka flashpenguin for coming up with the title. My mind was totally blank until she made me see what was right in front of me.
Second, the prompts I was given were quite tricky for me, at least in combination with this pairing, and I apologize in advance to the person who came up with them if this is too far away from what you had in mind, especially since I didn't pair Derek and Emily romantically.
Also, I know the idea of having two people being stuck in an elevator is not exactly the most original one, but having a hard time coming up with anything at all, I decided to go with it before I had to miss the deadline.
But, and that's the good news (for me at least ;)), I did manage to write all three prompts into the story, even if it may sound a bit forced.
All right, enough with the rambling, here's the story!
I Will Come To You
~.~.~
"Where are you going, Morgan? The elevators are this way!" Emily asked, as she and her colleague and friend entered the building where the best witness to the team's current case was residing.
The team had already interviewed the man back at the precinct the day before, but as a few additional questions came up, Hotch had sent Morgan and Prentiss out to talk to him once again. Morgan, who ever since his brief but nerve-wracking elevator experience with Reid always tended to take the stairs, raised his eyebrows.
"Afraid you can't keep up with me, Prentiss?" He teased and winked at Emily.
"Oh please!" Emily rolled her eyes. "When I get going, all you're gonna see is the dust from underneath my heels."
"Wanna make a bet?" Morgan grinned.
"Anytime, Derek, but not today," she smiled sweetly at him. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of your pleasure to interview our key witness again, but I'm afraid I'd be done questioning him by the time you reach the last stair."
"Aw, princess, how very kind of you," Morgan laughed, following her into the elevator. "But you're not getting away with this. We should schedule a race when we're back at Quantico."
Pressing the button that would bring them up to the 10th floor, Emily smirked: "Name the date and the place and I'll be there."
The lift started to move upwards.
"How about -" Morgan started, when suddenly an earsplitting detonation was heard from very close outside the elevator, causing it to stop immediately, but left it shaking dangerously. Morgan and Prentiss struggled to keep on their feet.
Then everything went silent and black.
"What the-" Morgan muttered into the sudden darkness.
"What was that?" Emily asked appalled.
"I have no idea," Morgan answered. "I don't recall being in an earthquake area."
Reaching his hand out to where he remembered the elevator buttons and the emergency phone to be, he frantically pushed a few of them, with no effect. Picking up the phone, he didn't get a signal either.
"Power's out," he stated as calm as he could.
"As if the darkness hadn't already told us as much," Emily snorted sarcastically.
"Hey, no need to get bitchy, Princess. I'm not the one who insisted on taking a ride upstairs," Derek countered in defense.
"I'm sorry, Morgan, next time, we'll walk."
Emily pulled out her cell phone to call for help, but she didn't get very far.
"911, what's your emergency?" was all she heard until her cell phone connection died as well.
"Damn!" She cursed loudly.
"What is it?"
"Cell's out, too."
Derek tried again with his phone, but the result was the same.
"Well, I guess we have to wait until someone notices we're missing."
"Great," Emily murmured. "It's not like we haven't got work to do."
They both sank down against the walls.
"Any idea what we could do until someone realizes we're caught in that damn elevator?" Morgan wanted to know. He was already getting fidgety, although he had to admit that being trapped with Prentiss was a hell of a lot more pleasant than with Reid. At least she seemed to stay calm and collected and didn't fuel his slight claustrophobic tendencies as Reid had done with his frantic jitter.
"Well, how about a few rounds of Truth or Dare?" Emily suggested.
Derek cocked an eyebrow until he remembered that she couldn't see his face and remarked: "Prentiss, you're spending considerably too much time with my Baby Girl."
"Let's hear your suggestion then," Emily retorted.
"I don't have one, or I wouldn't have asked," Morgan replied.
"Then Truth or Dare it is," Prentiss said resolutely.
"And how are you planning on fulfilling the Dares in here?" Derek questioned in amusement.
Emily fell silent for a moment. She hadn't thought this one through, obviously.
Morgan smiled to himself. Without realizing, she'd given him an opportunity he was not going to miss. Slipping closer to her, he whispered suggestively: "You know, I actually have a few very good ideas for the Dare parts."
"I bet you do," Emily commented dryly. "All right, forget Truth or Dare."
But Derek didn't want to give up, not when he had just decided to get serious here. He leaned down to whisper seductively into her ear, his voice low and full of emotion: "Who needs a stupid game anyway. I bet we would have a lot of fun with what I have in mind."
Emily drew in a deep breath and tensed at once as his breath came dangerously close to her face. She liked Derek very much, and their teasing banter and playful flirts, too, but they never meant it seriously, at least she didn't, and up until this moment, she'd always thought he wasn't serious either. But right then she realized that Morgan had obviously not been kidding when he had attempted to get her to go out with him. This is not good, she thought as she tried to come up with an excuse that would stop him before he got the wrong impression and preferably without disappointing him too much.
"Morgan, I can't," she muttered, her tone clearly acknowledging the changing demeanor of the situation.
Derek pulled away and leaned back against the wall. He had felt her tense up and had momentarily realized that he had gone too far. For whatever reason, and he knew he would quickly find out what it was, she was not as interested in him as he was in her.
"Morgan-" she began, but was immediately interrupted by him.
"It's okay, Emily. I get it." He tried to sound cheerfully, but Emily did not miss the trace of disappointment in his voice.
She wanted to see his face, to see what he was really thinking and to make sure he would be okay. Remembering that she had a small flashlight on her key chain, she began to rummage through her briefcase, pulling out her keys after a moment of searching.
"Whoa, what is that?" Morgan exclaimed as the dark cabin of the elevator was suddenly illuminated by the surprising brightness of such a small light.
"Relax, Derek," Emily laughed. "It's just my flashlight."
He tried to override his awkwardness and embarrassment by pointing at the key chain, grinning widely. "I actually meant this."
Taking the keys out of her hand, he played the stuffed pig that was her key holder in his hands.
"What does it look like, Morgan?"
"I know what it looks like, but the question is, why do you have a strangely smirking pink pig as a key chain?" He examined the little stuffed animal further, but did not miss the small smile that crept over Emily's face as she recalled the moment she had received it as a gift, and suddenly it all fell into place for him. And he had to admit that he didn't really like the thought very much, as a wave of jealously rushed through him.
"All right, Princess, who is he?"
"Who is who?" Emily asked innocently even though she knew exactly what he was referring to.
"The one who makes you smile like that. The one, who you're refusing my advantages for. I could go on with the list."
"There is no one, Derek," Emily lied weakly. She knew Morgan didn't believe her, but she and her secret boyfriend had agreed on keeping their relationship between the two of them for the moment, and she had no plans of being the one to break the agreement, especially not when she had always liked to keep her relationships for herself. The team shared so many moments and experiences that it was nice to have something that belonged solely to her and the wonderful man she had had in every part of her life for the last seven months.
"You know, for a profiler, you're an awfully horrible liar," Morgan said.
"Do me a favor, Morgan, and drop it," she pleaded.
"Fine, just one more question: Do you love him?"
Emily's gentle smile was answer enough for him, although it didn't make it better for him. He mentally cursed himself for not having made his move a long time ago, for always chickening out in the last minute, but thinking about it for a moment, he realized that he probably wouldn't have had a chance anyway. She never saw him as anything else but the brother she never had.
"I just want to you be happy," he told her then, leaning over to press a soft kiss into her hair. "But if he ever screws up and hurts you, I'm going to find out who he is and I will make him pay, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Derek," Emily answered sincerely. "Thanks for being such a wonderful friend."
"Anytime, Princess, anytime."
He placed his arm around her shoulder and teased her with the key chain again. "But seriously, Emily, a pig?"
~.~.~
It was several hours later when they finally heard the noises of someone working their way through to them. Another thirty minutes later, the elevator door was pushed open and they were greeted with the sight of a fire fighter surrounded by smoke, who helped them out of their involuntary prison. They had been stuck shortly before the third floor, and were then guided down and out of the building over the fire stairs.
Once downstairs, they noted at least a dozen police cars, ambulances, and fire engines standing around the house, an uncountable number of police and firemen fussing around, going in and out of the building.
"What the heck is going on here?" Emily wondered out loud.
They looked around in amazement, and noticed again the smoke coming out of a few upper floor windows.
Morgan was about to make a remark, when they suddenly heard a voice yelling loudly behind them.
"Emily!"
Turning around, they saw Rossi running towards them.
"Emily!" He called breathlessly, and if she wasn't mistaken, quite frantically and desperately.
Before she could say something, though, he had reached her, and instantly pulled her into his arms, holding her close against his body.
"Emily," he whispered her name again, tightening his embrace around her as if he feared she could disappear again if he let go.
Morgan could only watch in amazement, as the older profiler seemed to be completely oblivious to his presence while burying his face in Emily's hair.
"Dave, what's wrong? What's going on?" Emily asked when he finally loosened his grip, bewildered by his sudden and very public display of affection.
"We thought you and Morgan were-," he began, his voice breaking. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered hoarsely. He captured her lips in a soft kiss.
"What?" Emily didn't understand a word. And were there tears in his eyes? She reached out to tenderly cup his cheek, trying to reassure him that she was okay.
Morgan couldn't tear his gaze away from the exchange between his two colleagues. So Rossi was her secret boyfriend! He almost couldn't believe it. How did they manage to keep this between them for so long? For how long had it been going on, for that matter? And how come no one on the team even suspected anything?
He was almost ready to punch Rossi for being such a sneaky bastard, when he realized the love and admiration for Emily mirroring in the older man's eyes. Remembering his and Emily's conversation back in the elevator, he knew that Emily's feelings for Rossi were mutual. It was obvious to everyone watching them right now that these two people in front of him were deeply in love with each other.
Derek felt a new sting of jealousy, even more than he had earlier, but seeing both of them holding each other, and so clearly happy with each other, he couldn't help but acknowledge that they belonged together, if he liked it or not.
Finally clearing his throat to turn their attention to him, he caught Emily's apologetic smile. Smiling back, he nodded approvingly, making her understand that he would not stand in their way.
"I hate to interrupt, but could anyone please explain to me what's going on here?"
From behind, Hotch, Reid, and JJ approached them.
"Yeah, well, Emily and I are...well, you know," Rossi stuttered.
"Dave, I don't think that's what Morgan was referring to." Emily smiled at him, and nudged her elbow gently into his side.
"Hey, are you guys okay?" Hotch asked as soon as he and the rest of the team had reached them.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded as JJ drew Emily into a tight hug and then proceeded to do the same with Morgan, while Reid simply offered them one of his sheepish grins.
"What happened here? Why does everyone keep asking us if we're okay? I thought we were just trapped in an elevator for a few hours? Who alarmed the whole city?"
Hotch, JJ, Rossi, and Reid exchanged a few knowing glances, and the Unit Chief went on to explain.
"You were gone for twenty five minutes when Reid figured out what was wrong with our profile. Morgan, our key witness was the Unsub!"
Derek's and Emily's eyes widened, and Hotch continued.
"We tried to call you, but both your cell phones were dead. And then a call came in saying that a bomb had detonated in this building. The Unsub obviously knew you were coming and tried to take as many people out with him as possible. He was in the other elevator with two other residents from the building, just a few floors above you two, when he blew himself up. You were lucky he miscalculated the floor you were in, because if your elevator had been next to his, you wouldn't have had a chance."
Derek only stared at Hotch in disbelief as Emily gasped in shock. Had it really been this close? Dave pulled her into his arms again.
"At first, we didn't know anything. No one could give us any information, and when the fire fighters finally managed to get the other elevator open half an hour ago-" Dave's voice cracked and then gave up completely as he still shuddered at the memory of hearing one of the firemen confirming three dead people.
They stood in silence for a minute, watching the number of officers and fire fighters still running in and out of the building, trying to process everything that had happened today. Hotch's ringing cell phone pulled them all out of their thoughts.
"Garcia," he answered the call. "They're okay...Yes, Garcia, both Emily and Derek are absolutely unharmed...Of course you can talk to them."
Hotch gave them one of his rare grins as he passed the phone over to Morgan, who then did his best to calm his very frantic Baby Girl down, assuring her that there was no need for her to board the next plane to fly out to them.
"Baby Girl, take a deep breath and sit down...We will be back home by this time tomorrow...Yes, sweetheart, I promise... Until then you could maybe think of a punishment for Emily and Rossi...Why? Because they kept us all in the dark about their ongoing relationship, that's why..."
Hearing Morgan rat them out to Garcia as well, Emily smacked him hard against his arm. Morgan only grinned and shrugged, before he went on: "You're a goddess, Baby Girl...Yes, that's perfect...See you tomorrow, baby!" He quickly disconnected the call before Emily could snatch the phone out of his hand.
"You're going to regret this, Derek Morgan!"
"Says who?" Morgan grinned.
"Just wait until we get back to Quantico and I win our little bet from earlier. You're going to be at my mercy for weeks, I can guarantee you that," she pressed out, as everyone else faded into loud laughter.
~.~.~
And even if we can't be together, we'll be friends now and forever. And I swear that I'll be there, come what may.
(Hanson, I Will Come To You)