AN: This story was born from the fact that I always wondered how the whistle ends up in Reid's pocket at the end of LDSK. Here's my take on it.
SSA Derek Morgan, Acting Unit Chief in the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, finished the last report for the second case he had lead his team on, and leaned back. He definitely had a new respect for how easy Hotch had made this job seem. The things that the other team members could have been handling but that Hotch shouldered so that they didn't have too. The same things he was now trying to do.
Morgan leaned back in his chair and looked around his office. ~My office. It still seems weird to think of it that way, ~ he thought. It was nice to have the added privacy of the office at times and at other times he missed the companionship of having a desk in the bullpen. Though the office wasn't the only thing that was setting him apart from his other teammates. Being in charge created its own kind of isolation from the rest of the team. ~I'm starting to understand Hotch a whole lot better.~
Leaning forward again, he opened one of the desk drawers, the one that Garcia had called the Secret Fun Zone. He took the photograph out once again, smiling as he looked at the funny picture the blonde had taken of herself. He placed it on the desk. One by one, he took out the toys that she had put in there, curious to see exactly what his Baby Girl had included to help him deal with the stress. As he took things out, he pulled out a whistle with a blue cord.
~Now why did she put this in here?~ he wondered, looking at the whistle.
There was a knock on the door. Looking up he saw Garcia standing in the doorway.
"I saw the light on and wanted to know if you wanted some company if you had to stay much later," the technical analyst said, stepping easily into the office.
"I won't be much longer," Morgan answered. Morgan held the whistle up, letting it dangle from the blue cord. "Though maybe you could tell me why you put this in the drawer. The only time I have ever used a whistle is during my self-defense class and that whistle is in my gym bag."
"Sugar, you would know better than me what that whistle is from. When you asked me to help you transfer stuff from your old desk to this one, it was in one of the drawers. I figured you had it in there for some reason but it didn't seem to fit in with anything else so I just added it to the Secret Fun Zone drawer."
Morgan flipped it up and caught the silver whistle in his hand, looking at the small metal object and wondering what it had been doing in his desk drawer.
"Well, I'm going to head home then. I've got a bubble bath waiting for me," Garcia said, before blowing Morgan a kiss. "Don't work too late."
"I won't," Morgan told her.
Morgan watched as Garcia left the office and headed down the hallway. After she was out of his sight, Morgan placed the whistle back on his desk. Reaching out, he took a stack of folders out of his inbox, planning on making sure there wasn't anything urgent in the pile before calling it a night. He started glancing at the items, glad to see that it all seemed to be stuff that could be put off. On the bottom of the pile, the papers in the folder caught his interest. It was notification that as soon as he was cleared to do so, Reid needed to do his requalification.
~He'll be so happy to get that reminder, ~ Morgan thought, thinking about how nervous the younger agent got every year around the time he had to re-qualify. On a couple of occasions over the years, Reid had to do the qualification a second time because the score wasn't high enough the first time.
Morgan's eyes fell on the whistle sitting on his desk and he smiled as he remembered the significance of that particular whistle. It was the whistle that he had put around Reid's neck the first time he had failed a qualification. He had told Gideon that he wouldn't say anything about the failed qualification attempt, though he had never intended to actually do that. As soon as Reid had shown up and Morgan had checked to make sure Gideon was out of sight, Morgan had grabbed this whistle from his desk drawer and went over to Reid's desk.
~"Hey, we're all here for ya. I'm serious, if you ever need anything," he had said seriously to Reid, pausing to put the whistle around the younger agent's neck and giving it a quick blow. "Just blow on that."~
~Man he was so not amused at that gesture, ~ Morgan thought, remembering the look on Reid's face as he had taken the whistle off and thrown it down on his desk. He also recalled the events that had followed. The events that had led him to keeping the whistle, though he had forgotten that he had put it in his desk drawer upon returning from Des Plaines. He hadn't kept the whistle for its own sake, but because of the significance it had in his relationship with Reid.
Four years ago . . .
Following the briefing on the LDSK's victims, Morgan, Elle and Reid had made their way back to the bullpen before they were to leave for the airstrip. All three agents had done their last minute preparations before leaving the building. As they started to leave, Morgan had walked over to Reid's desk and picked up the discarded whistle.
"Hey Reid, you forgetting something?" Morgan asked, as he grabbed the whistle off the top of the desk. He dangled the whistle from one finger, letting it swing slightly in front of Reid who was standing only a couple of steps away.
Reid didn't say anything but the storm cloud that his face became told Morgan all he needed to know. Morgan took a step closer to the younger agent, taking the cord of the whistle in both hands as if he was going to drape it around his neck again. He didn't get much further though as Reid snatched the whistle from his grasp.
Morgan smiled as he watched the younger agent turn and storm toward the elevators, stuffing the whistle into his pants pocket as he went. Reid passed by JJ without acknowledging her greeting. Morgan looked away from the retreating agent when he felt a swat on his arm. Looking in that direction, he found Elle glaring at him.
"Pendejo," the brunette told him. Though he had no idea what she had just said, he could tell from the tone of her voice and the expression on her face that it hadn't been anything good.
"Oh come on, I'm just teasing him," Morgan told her. "It's just a little harmless fun."
"And if you happened to fail your qualification when it comes around, how would you feel about people teasing you about it."
"That's one thing I don't have to worry about. I'm not ever going to fail a qualification," Morgan replied confidently, as he headed in the direction Reid had gone in at a slower pace.
"What's wrong with Spencer?" JJ asked, pointing her thumb over her shoulder in the direction that the other agent had disappeared in.
Morgan didn't have a chance to reply, before Elle, who was a couple of steps behind him, spoke up. "Morgan is giving Reid a hard time about failing his qualification," she supplied, which resulted in a punch in the arm from the blonde media liaison, who looked even less amused than Elle had.
"I thought we had agreed not to mention that particular subject," Gideon said, coming down from the steps and up behind the others.
"Man, doesn't anyone in this place have a sense of humor," Morgan said, continuing toward the elevators.
"We do, but sometimes your type of humor borders on just mean," Elle told him before she and JJ walked off in the direction that Reid had just gone.
Gideon followed the two women leaving Morgan standing alone in the bullpen. He had enough of a conscience to feel a slight pang of guilt which he quickly dismissed. He was only messing with the kid after all.
It was late when the agents of the BAU finally left the Des Plaines Police station that night. Following the shooting at the café, they had gathered back at the station and quickly finished putting together the profile, which was presented to the cops on duty. Following that, they had started planning the reenactment of the third shooting that would be carried out the following day. There was a lot that would need to be set up to go through the third shooting at Franklin Park.
Leaving the station, they followed the directions given to them for an all night café. As tired as they were, they also hadn't taken a dinner break, having only grabbed snacks from the vending machine. At the café, Morgan, Reid and Elle sat down in a booth. After a brief conversation with Hotch and Gideon, who were at a nearby table, JJ came over to their table, and slid into the booth next to Reid.
After they had given their orders to the waitress, JJ passed out key cards to her three teammates. "While you all were planning for tomorrow, I went over to the hotel and made sure everything for our rooms were in order," the liaison told them.
"Good. I'd hate to get over there just to find out they didn't have rooms for us. I am so looking forward to taking a hot bath and climbing into a bed," Elle commented, as she took the keycard from JJ.
"You're not the only one looking forward to a bath," JJ informed her.
"Women and their creature comforts," Morgan commented with a smirk.
"It's hard work trying to keep ourselves looking pretty for you men," Elle replied.
"You've been slacking off lately, huh?" Morgan quipped, earning him an elbow in the side from the dark-haired agent. "Ow! Hey watch it! Those elbows of yours are pointy."
"You want pointy, come hang out with me next time I'm wearing heels," Elle told him evenly.
"Okay, you two," JJ said, jumping in. "Play nicely or I'll have to go tell mom and dad that you two can't behave," she told them with a nod in Hotch and Gideon's direction, the comment earning laughs from both Elle and Morgan.
The conversation grew more serious as it drifted to their current case, Reid joining in. The waitress brought their orders, and the profilers continued the conversation as they ate. Almost an hour after walking into the café, the group began to leave. JJ and Elle left the table first, the two women walking toward the entrance of the café with Gideon as Hotch headed to the register to deal with the bill. Reid grabbed his bag from where he had wedged it between the wall and his body, and slid out of the seat. Quietly, he followed Gideon and the women.
Morgan reached out and picked up his glass, downing the last bit of his soda, before getting to his feet. As he started walking away from the table, he caught a flash of light being reflected off of something in the seat that JJ and Reid had been sharing.
Morgan paused and took a closer look, wanting to make sure that neither of his co-workers had lost something important. The object reflecting the light was wedged between the cushions of the booth seat. As he pulled it loose, he discovered it was the whistle that he had given Reid back at Quantico.
~Nice try, Kid, ~ Morgan thought, as he straightened up, the whistle laying in the palm of his hand.
As Morgan turned to follow the rest of his co-workers out of the restaurant, he stuffed the whistle in the front pocket of his jeans. He knew if he gave the whistle back to Reid tonight, the said object would never leave the hotel room with him. Instead, the dark-skinned agent decided he would wait until the following day to give the whistle back to Reid. Already he was trying to think of a good time to do just that.
Two thirty the following afternoon found the BAU agents and members of the Des Plaines police force gathered in Franklin Park getting ready to start their reenactment. Detective Calvin, Sgt. Weigart, Gideon and JJ were gathered in the mobile command center, where they would monitor the reenactment. Crime scene tape marked off the area in which the three victims had been shot, and Des Plaines officers were spread out along the perimeter. A car had been parked in the handicap spot created by the UnSub. The trunk to the car was wide open and office Sean McCarty stood nearby with a rifle, ready to play the part of the UnSub when the reenactment began.
"Everyone clear on their roles?" Hotch asked, as he looked around the circle at his other agents, as they stood in the parking lot next to the car.
Elle, Morgan and Reid were all set to play the roles of the victims in the reenactment. The three agents would be at the places where each of the victim's fell, the cameras that each of them held feeding information back to the screens in the mobile command center to give those watching the video feed an idea of the view that the victim's would have had. The agents would also be able to determine what the victim's may and may not have seen on the afternoon of the shooting.
All three FBI agents nodded in response to Hotch's question. The reenactment had been planned out extensively and reviewed by all participants several times.
"Go ahead and get in position then and we'll get ready to start," Hotch informed them.
As Elle, Morgan and Reid headed into the grassy area marked off by the crime scene tape, Hotch remained where he was. He took off the lens caps on the binoculars he held and placed them in his pocket.
Taking the position of where Jerry Rittleton had been shot, Elle separated from her two teammates. Morgan waited for Elle to put a little distance between them before he decided to take this opportunity to return the whistle back to Reid.
"Hey, Kid," Morgan said, as he walked beside Reid. The younger agent looked over at him. "I think you forgot something at the restaurant last night," he said, as he pulled the whistle out of his pocket, the camera held in one hand.
The whistle dangling from the cord, Morgan began to try slipping it over Reid's head. The younger agent ducked his head out of the way.
"You can keep it," Reid told him.
"I don't know, Reid. We're kind of out in the open, here. You may need it if a squirrel or a sparrow attacks you," Morgan told him with a grin, dangling the whistle in front of Reid's face.
Reid shot the grinning agent a look that clearly said he was unamused.
"Is everything okay out there?" Hotch inquired, his voice coming over the radio.
"Yeah, fine," Reid replied, coloring a bit as he realized they had at least attracted the attention of their unit chief. He reached out and grabbed the whistle from Morgan just to get the other agent off his back, stuffing the object immediately into his pocket.
Morgan was chuckling as he lengthened his steps a little, as his position for the reenactment was further out than Reid's. Reaching his assigned position, Reid turned his back to Morgan and focused his attention on Hotch and the car where they believed the UnSub had taken the shots from. It was bad enough that the lack of the gun he normally carried had him feeling self-conscious and here Morgan was rubbing it in. Reid planned on getting rid of the whistle at his first opportunity.
The reenactment began and Reid tried to focus on it instead. He tried not to look behind him, where Morgan was located, knowing that if he did so, he would see the older agent still grinning at his little joke.
The scenario played out without incident at first. Even when McCarty popped the trunk of the trunk, Reid couldn't see anything from where Tim Riley had been flying his kite. Morgan's first indication that something wasn't quite right was when he saw that Gideon and JJ had come out of the mobile command center. Then he noticed that Hotch left his position by the car and headed for the command center with Detective Calvin. Morgan could tell that Reid hadn't noticed that anything was amiss as he didn't seem any more vigilant. Morgan glanced to his right and noticed that Elle seemed just as unconcerned though as she had stated that tree branches blocked her view of the car, it didn't surprise him. When he saw Elle answer her cell phone, Morgan knew for sure that something was going on. He checked on Reid's position again, making sure that he knew exactly where the younger agent was, and then looked for the closest cover to both of them.
Though he still wasn't sure what was going on, when Morgan noticed SWAT officers moving toward the UnSub's car, he went on full alert. He prepared himself to move into action, as soon as anything started happening. When the smoke from a gas canister began to rise into the air, Morgan sprang into action, quickly closing the distance between him and Reid.
"Reid, get down," Morgan said, even as he reached him and started pulling him in the direction of the tree he had picked for cover.
Surprised by Morgan's shout and action, Reid stumbled, falling down to the ground. Still confused he felt himself being pulled to his feet by his teammate and half stumbled in the direction that Morgan was pulling him.
"What's going on?" Reid asked, when he was finally sitting with his back against the trunk of the tree. Beside him, Morgan was crouching as he peered around the tree back toward SWAT and the car.
"Not sure, but they've brought in SWAT team members," Morgan replied. "Just stay down," he told him, glancing quickly to his left just to reassure himself that Reid wasn't going anywhere. Though he always felt protective of his teammates, especially Reid, the fact that Reid was unarmed just increased that feeling.
Peering back around the tree, Morgan saw that SWAT had somebody in custody. As they had moved in on the car, Morgan assumed it was McCarty. Though things looked to be under control again, he stayed where he was, waiting for someone to give an all clear. The next thing he was aware of was the sound of a gun going off. Morgan ducked back behind the tree, his right hand instinctively going to the gun on his hip.
Almost fifteen minutes later, and with absolutely no clue as to where the single shot had come from, Detective Calvin determined the scene to be secured. Whoever had killed McCarty was clearly no longer in the area. Behind the tree, Morgan got to his feet as the all clear came over the radio. Reaching down, he helped Reid up. Even his sense of humor wouldn't allow him to make reference to the whistle he had given back to Reid right before this had all started.
As he saw Hotch walk away from Reid and the ambulance, Morgan started in that direction. He wanted to make sure Reid was really okay. Though he had only seemed shaken as Hotch and a paramedic had helped him walk out of the hospital to the ambulance as the crime scene was cleared of people, Morgan needed to be sure.
Morgan was almost at the ambulance when Reid started walking away himself.
"Hey, Reid, you okay?" Morgan asked, as he stopped a short distance from the younger agent.
Reid didn't reply as he reached into his pocket. Taking something out, he tossed it in Morgan's direction. The dark-skinned agent easily caught it and looked down to see the whistle. He smiled, getting Reid's intent with the action. The younger agent felt that he had proved he could hold his own out in the field. That he didn't need Morgan or anyone else to always come rushing to his rescue.
"Touche, Kid," Morgan said, his hand closing around the whistle and a smile coming to his face. Reid had always just taken his teasing without saying much, his only reaction being an expression of annoyance. Tossing the whistle back at him was the first statement of any kind that he had gotten from the younger agent, and Morgan got the message loud and clear, even though he knew it wouldn't stop him from teasing Reid from time to time.
Present Day . . .
Morgan reached out and picked the whistle up from where it laid. ~I think it's about time this whistle changed ownership one more time, ~ Morgan thought as he grabbed a piece of paper. Writing a quick note on the paper, Morgan got to his feet. He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, and with note and whistle in hand, left his office.
Instead of heading for the elevators, Morgan made his way into the bullpen and over to Reid's desk. The federal agent placed the note on the desk, where he was sure his co-worker would see it and then placed the whistle down on top of the paper. With a final glance at his handiwork, Morgan smiled and finally headed toward the elevators. He had a feeling that Reid would see the humor in the gesture this time around.
The following morning, Reid slowly made his way from the elevator to the bullpen with the aid of his crutches. He was counting the days until he would be free of them, though at least he had been cleared to travel with the team. Hanging out at wherever the team happened to be working out of was much better than being stuck back here with him and Garcia getting in each other's way. ~And though she's too nice to say it to my face, she's probably happy to have me with the team herself, ~ Reid mused.
Reaching his desk, Reid lifted his bag over his head even as he noticed a whistle sitting on the desk. Confused, he let the bag settle on the floor and then reached for the metal object.
~This wasn't here last night when I left, ~ Reid thought as he picked the whistle up. Beneath it, he saw a message had been written on the paper on which it sat. Reading the words, he smiled.
Let's hope you won't need the whistle this time around.
"What's that?"
Reid looked up to see that Prentiss was now standing at her own desk.
"A reminder from Morgan that my requalification is coming up," Reid replied, still smiling.
"I don't get it."
"It's a long story," Reid told her as he sat down at his desk. "Though maybe I'm not in such a hurry to get off of these things now," he commented as he propped the crutches up off to the side and out of the way.
Instead of discarding the whistle in annoyance as he had done, the first time Morgan had given him the whistle, he instead reached down and tucked the metal object into his bag. In a way he was surprised Morgan had hung onto the whistle all these years. ~Though I really shouldn't be. This whistle has been like a boomerang since that first day, seeming to find its way back to me, even when I tried to get rid of it, ~ he thought.
Reid already had plans on sending it back to its original owner, but for now he would hang onto it.