****Spoilers for 10x13 "Nelson's Sparrow"****
Disclaimer: Do not own Criminal Minds or anything related to it.
"Prentiss," she answered, her voice thick with sleep.
"Em." It was all he managed to choke out. The whole case he'd managed to stay strong. Be the rock. Hold it together for Reid, Garcia, JJ. They'd need someone to lean on, to hold their hands, to return their hugs. But now...
"Derek?" She was instantly alert. If the late hour hadn't told her something happened, the tone of his voice certainly did. "What's wrong?"
"Em," his voice cracked again. "We found Gideon. He's dead."
"Gideon? Derek, what happened?" She could feel his pain across the phone line.
With broken sentences and uncensored tears he managed to tell her everything. Not just the case, not just that it was over, or the details or how the team was, but how he was. She was the only one that he could let down his guard to; that he could let himself admit his own pain and emotions and not try to hold them back.
By the time he was done, she was openly crying, too. Her own pain at losing Gideon just as real, despite the distance. But instead of having to support her, Derek could mourn with Emily, and that's what they did.
It was the middle of the night for him when he hung up, and must have been well past the time Emily would normally have gone to work, but she'd never made any comment. They talked until they could breathe again and though the pain was not gone, it was bearable.
It wasn't until he'd set down his phone and laid down in bed, trying to relax enough to sleep, that Derek truly understood how much he missed Emily.
A/N: Just couldn't get it out of my head after watching this ep, that someone would have to tell Emily, and this just happened. This is my first CM fic ever and the first fic I've written in years, so rusty is an understatement, but I couldn't get this out of my head. I have thoughts of continuing it, but they are still percolating atm.