The Unexpected
The rush of the wind made the hairs on her arms, sheened with sweat, give her goosebumps. She slowed down gingerly and stopped in her tracks near a bench to catch her breath. The faint glow of the fall sun made her confetti-colored running outfit glimmer and attract the attention of everyone with a pulse that was in the park. The music blaring in her headphones stopped momentarily as her phone started to vibrate. She took it out of the armband and frowned at the unknown phone number. "Hello?" "Can I speak to Emily, Emily Prentiss?" "This is she. Who is this?" "This is Savannah. Derek's Savannah." Recognition hit Emily and she immediately wished that she hadn't picked up the phone. "Oh yeah. What did you want to talk to me about?" "Is there any way that you could be in the States any time soon?" "I'm actually state-side right now. I'm in Chicago." "That's perfect, so am I. Do you mind if we meet up to talk for a few minutes?" Um okay. I'm in the middle of a run in the park, is City Press Juice & Bottle okay?" "Yes, that's fine. I can be there in the next 15 minutes." "See you there" Emily said as she hung the phone up and tried to shake off the uncomfortable feeling.
Emily arrived at the juice bar and ordered a smoothie before finding a seat and waiting for Savannah. Emily drummed her fingers against the table as she roamed the juice bar once more over with her eyes. Her phone started to buzz against the wood table and she looked down to see that she had 7 unread text messages. She opened one of the message threads and started to reply before a voice startled her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Savannah." Emily got her bearings back and shook the almond-colored hand that was extended towards her. Emily couldn't help but think about how beautiful Savannah was. She expected nothing less from an alpha male like Morgan but she was still awestruck at how pretty Savannah was. "Not to be blunt, but what exactly is it that you want to talk to me about?" "Derek." "I figured as much." "He and I are no longer together."
"Wait what? The last that I heard the two of you were happy and in love." "That means that Derek stopped telling you about our relationship after our 6-month anniversary. I can tell, just by your reaction, that Derek kept his mouth shut about a lot that happened between us." Emily cleared her throat, "Well Morgan obviously felt that it wasn't my business." Savannah scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That's because you ARE the business. Derek and I aren't together anymore because of you. Derek loves you. Derek is in love with you. He settled for me because he couldn't be with you. For the past 17 months, I've heard stories about you nonstop. He could answer every question known to man about you but he hardly knows anything about me. I'm not Princess, you are." Savannah finished with a hellish glare directed right at Emily. Emily sat across from Savannah and tried not to lose it while she was talking. "The demise of your relationship with Derek has NOTHING to do with me. I didn't even know that you guys were together that long. We've barely communicated for the past year. Don't sit there and blame me because you couldn't keep a handle on your relationship. That's between you and him…NOT ME!" Savannah waited until Emily physically calmed down before she reached into her purse and pulled a medium-sized envelope out.
"Maybe the reason that Derek stopped talking to you had something to do with this." Savannah handed Emily a photo. "Whose baby is this?" "Derek's." Emily's jaw dropped at the newfound information. "And yours?" she managed to get out after her shock had worn off. Savannah's expression went from smug to something that resembled disgust. "No. Just Derek's." "Derek didn't just have a baby by himself." "The beginning of the end for our relationship was when Derek made it very clear that he wanted kids. I have never wanted kids. We were careful, but somehow I still got pregnant." Emily's blood started to boil at the crass way that Savannah was talking about her own child so, she tried to deflect. "So, what the two of you are sharing custody?" "No. I've moved on" Savannah said as she handed Emily a folded-up document. Emily snatched it away as her eyes quickly skimmed over the text. "You've signed away your rights to your own son? What kind of mother are you?" Emily hissed at Savannah. She returned with fire in her eyes and venom on her tongue. "I am not a mother! All I did was carry Derek's child. He is not my son! I had no emotional connection or desire to have him in my life before, during, or after I gave birth to him. Derek was the one driving me crazy for a baby. I've never wanted children. Want me to prove it? Look at that." Savannah said as she threw one last document at Emily. "You had a hysterectomy?" "As soon as I could. I should've got one before I even got involved with Derek." "You evil bitch!" "Call me what you want but I never beat around the bush with what I wanted. Derek knew from the beginning that he couldn't change me, yet he still tried. I gave him his child. I'm not fighting for custody. I called you because you knew the least about our relationship and I wanted you to hear it from me and not Penelope or JJ or anyone else." "Why me?" "Because you're what Derek needs. You're what he always wanted. I was never destined to be his wife or supposed to be the woman that had his child. That was always supposed to be you. Now you have your chance. Your welcome." Emily sat at the table staring at the picture of the baby boy for what seemed like an eternity before her phone ringing startled her.
How could anyone walk away from you? Emily thought to herself as her finger traced over the baby's chubby face. Her phone wouldn't stop ringing so she finally picked it up and answered with an annoyed huff. "Yes?" "Emily. Emily Prentiss?" What is this? Strange numbers call Emily day. "This is she. Who is this?" "Desiree. Desiree Morgan, Derek's sister." Un-fucking-believable "How did you get my number?" "It's number 1 on Derek's speed dial. Probably the same way Savannah got it "What can I do for you?" "Derek is missing?" "What?!" Emily was already out her seat and out the door before she finally listened to Desiree. "Not missing like that! Something happened between him and Savannah and he hasn't said much to us. I was wondering if you knew where he could be?" "Is he in D.C.?" "No. He's at home in Chicago. Sarah brought up Savannah and he just stormed out. He's always seemed closer with you than anyone. Do you have an idea of where he might have gone so that I can go look for him?" Emily bit her lip before answering, "I'm in Chicago right now. I think I might know where he went." "Thank you so much Emily." "No problem."
Emily left the juice bar and walked to a nearby coffee shop before jogging back to her car. She got in her red Mercedes G Wagon and drove to the place that she figured Derek would be. 30 minutes later, she parked and got out of her car. She went past the Children's Museum and stopped in-between there and the Shakespeare Theater and spotted Derek leaning over the railing. She walked over to him silently and stood about 5 feet away before making her presence known. "Navy Pier huh?" Morgan jumped out of his skin at the sound of Emily's voice. Yep. Something is definitely wrong with him. "Emily. What are you doing here?" Morgan asked with a mix of excitement and confusion. "Your sister called me. She's worried about you." "How did she even get your number?" "Women have their ways." "So, you just flew in?" "No. I got in my car and drove 30 mins." It took a minute for Morgan to process that information. "That means…you were already here in Chicago." Emily rolled her eyes and gave him a 'duh' face. "Yes genius I was already here" she said as she playfully smacked him on the shoulder. Emily extended the cup of coffee. "Here. I got this for you." Morgan accepted the coffee and took a long drink of the hot liquid. "Nice choice in outfit just to get coffee and go on a Hunt Morgan down mission" he said jokingly as he tried not to be so obvious in ogling her. Emily hadn't noticed his gaze and if she did she didn't let him know that she had. "I'll have you know that I was on a run before my Hunt Morgan Down mission started" Emily quipped back with a smile.
The two friends enjoyed the quiet for a little while until Emily's curiosity got the best of her. "Why did you run off from your mom's place?" Emily watched Morgan's body language while she waited for an answer. His shoulders slumped forward and he clenched his jaw. That was a tell-tell sign to Emily that he was stressed out and sad. She reached out and grip the top of his shoulder—the way she always did when something bothered him—and tugged on it until he step away from the railing slightly. Emily took the initiative and stood in the small space between Morgan and the railing. Morgan's breath caught in his throat the minute that Emily stood in front of him. She had no idea how hard it was for him to be near her sometimes—let alone being this close—without grabbing her and kissing her senseless. "Look me in the eyes and tell me what's going on with you Derek." Derek He loved when she called him by his first name. It wasn't the way his mom called his name either when he was in trouble or when she was happy to hear/see him. It wasn't the flirty way that Garcia said it, amongst other things that she called him. It wasn't the way that his sisters called it, knowing that some sibling torture was coming next. It certainly wasn't the lust filled, and only way, that Savannah called his name. Morgan loved the way Emily said his name. It was always in a gentle way that showed how much she cared about him.
"Hello. Are you in there?" Emily said as she first waved her hand in front of his face before knocking her knuckles on his forehead. "Hey now. No need for violence" Morgan said as he grabbed her tiny wrist and pulled it away from his face. Their eyes locked for a moment and they both saw so much more. Morgan saw himself telling Emily about his son and her leaving his life forever. Emily saw herself being in Derek's life for the long haul, if he let her. Morgan broke the intense contact first and Emily played it off as well. "You were the one off in la la land. I had to bring you back to the present." "Speaking of the present" Derek started as he suddenly became nervous and look past Emily. "I'm sorry for basically cutting contact with you for the past year. I had a lot going on and-" "You didn't think that you could tell me? You couldn't trust me?" Emily asked visibly hurt. Derek felt like an asshole and grabbed Emily face with both of his hands. "No Emily. It wasn't like that. I know that I can trust you. Don't ever doubt that. You understand me?" Emily nodded her head as best she could with her face being cradled by Morgan (something that she found herself secretly loving). "So why didn't you come to me?" "I don't know Em. It was easier to block everyone out rather than to admit that I'd gotten in over my head." "How?" "Believe me you don't want to know." "Try me." Morgan let out a chuckle at the face that challenging and stubborn Emily hadn't gone anywhere.
"The last time I talked to you, Savannah and I were doing great. Reality set in and our little honeymoon phase start to disappear. I brought up the topic of marriage and kids. It didn't go over well; Savannah said that she didn't have a problem with marriage but that kids were completely out of the question. I couldn't let it go and that started to be our main issue. She was convinced that I would only have sex with her to try for a baby. I found out she was pregnant when she had some mail from her job come to the house we shared together. I didn't open it but took it to her because it seemed important. One of the nurses told me that she was in the Chief of Surgery's office. I went there and sure enough she was in his office…on his desk getting screwed into oblivion." He stopped talking at Emily's confused look. "His office was in a pretty secluded part of the hospital and it had partial glass walls. I guess they thought no one would see them; either that or they just didn't care. I burst into the office and it seemed they only pulled away from each other because someone else was in the room. I threw the envelope at her and stormed out. I was almost out to the parking lot when I heard her screaming my name. I turned around and she was pissed. I'm thinking 'she's got no right to be pissed off when I just caught her cheating on me'. She threw the envelope back at me and starting yelling 'You happy now?' I didn't know what the hell she was talking about so I pick it up and it says that she pregnant."
"What happened next?" Emily asked as she now leaned against the railing to listen to Morgan speak. "I told her to have fun raising his kid. She grabbed my arm and said 'I'm looking at the father right now'. I didn't believe a word she was saying because God only knows how long she was cheating on me with him or other guys. She said that her boss was the only person that she was sleeping with besides me. I asked her how could she be so sure that the baby was mine and she told me that she was 100% sure because he was sterile. She said that he had a vasectomy when he was in college and had a follow-up exam when he was almost 30. Our relationship crashed and burned after that. When she was in her second trimester, she started to act happy again and I hoped and prayed that we'd find a way to work through all of this. I told my mom that Savannah was pregnant when she was 7 months along. She was happy that she was getting a grandbaby but even I could tell that there was so much more that she wanted to talk about…so I started avoiding her. I didn't tell the team until she was 3 weeks away from delivering. The only person that pushed the issue was Babygirl and I snapped at her. Things have been so tense at work because of me. I haven't been talking to anybody. Come to find out, Savannah was only happy because her and her boss had patched things up and he still wanted to be with her. She told me that in the delivery room. She told me two weeks ago that the two of them were together again officially. Two days ago, she gives me a wedding invitation. They're getting married in Cabo next month."
Emily bit her tongue and her heart broke when she saw Derek drop his head and a lone tear make its way down his cheek. "Did I do this Emily? Did I drive her to that point?" Emily took a step forward and grabbed Morgan's face, the same way he did to her earlier, until he looked at her through watery brown eyes. "No, you did not. Savannah had every opportunity to walk away from you yet she chose not to. She obviously loved the attention that she was getting from the both of you. You didn't drive her to anything; that's just who she is as a person. That's not on you. Karma is a bitch and she'll get what's coming to her in due time." "Emily, how am I supposed to raise my son with no mother? How am I supposed to answer that question when he asks me why he doesn't have a mother?" Derek said as his voice cracked. She forced him to look at her again; this time her eyes were swimming with tears as well. "YOUR son has an overabundant amount of love. He has his grandmother and his aunts. He has the team. He has your college friends. Most importantly, he has me…and so do you."