An Earful

Disclaimer: I still don't own Criminal Minds. Never have, never will.

Summary: What happens when you wake up one day to hear what other people can think?

A/N: I swore to myself I'd never do a story like this because its just way too out there for me. Might be the only one I'd ever do like this. I'm not going to be writing Morgan as a main character anymore, I just can't get into writing him.

Two shot for AllieDJ. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading, please remember to leave a review.

"You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know. Oscar Wilde

Morgan awoke in pain. Pain that couldn't be described by anyone known to man. No one could ever have felt this much pain, outside of a woman giving birth, he thought with a wry chuckle that made the man grasp on to his pillow pulling it on top of his aching head.

Nothing could deter the man from his self-pity, not the sound of his cell phone's incessant ringing. But that's not what was troubling the athletic agent.

Nor was it the sound of his dog, Clooney, scratching at the back door. Howling to be free to chase after the neighbor's cat undoubtedly.

No, it wasn't any of those things that bothered the dark agent and kept him from his much-needed, but very deprived, precious and sacred sleep.

What was it that had the man in trouble? It was the accident that happened the previous night.

As much as Derek Morgan prided himself on being a ladies man, a manly man, there was one thing that no one knew about the profiler. The one thing that he liked to keep to himself because if anyone knew, they'd tease him beyond all mercy, and after all he had a reputation to protect.

He was a romantic underneath.

He knew that it wasn't really such a big deal to most. Especially to the people that he cared about.

But the one thing that he had prided himself on since moving from Chicago to join the BAU was that he'd never be the one to put his heart on the line first. He'd be the one that would let the ladies sweep over to him.

And that's just how it had been for nearly ten years, but now with the people on his team and watching them day after day pining after the ones that they wanted but not initiating the first contact? That drove him up the wall.

He knew that if anyone of his friends knew this nugget about him, they'd tease him mercilessly, after all he has a reputation to protect.

Rolling over on to his back, he lifted his head when he felt a sharp pain rush through him.

'It still couldn't be... could it?' he wondered as he sat up, 'Oh God, yes it is.'

The dark agent slowly but surely got out of his bed and wandered over to the bathroom. Flipping on the light, he shielded his eyes from the onslaught of the light.

Grasping on to the bathroom counter, he slowly reopened his dark brown eyes only to be dumbfounded by the reflection looking at him.

'How in the hell?' he wondered, not caring that he looked like an escaped mental patient with the intense stare reflecting back at himself.

As he peered at his own reflection, wondering how he got a massive bruise on his forehead which he still had no idea how he had gotten.

Placing his hand on the massive abrasion, he winced in pain while rubbing at the new addition when he nearly doubled over hearing the ringing coming from his cell phone.

Grumbling he stumbled over to the ringing device and mumbled out something unintelligibly that managed to sound like a "What?"

"Morgan?" Garcia's perky voice rang out over the receiver.

"Yeah?" he asked, rubbing his tired eyes as he tried to form a coherent thought, "What do you want?"

"Wow, I am feeling the love here, my milk chocolate man candy" Garcia said taking a deep breath.

"Garcia" the man said, trying not to exacerbate his already pounding head, "What is it?"

"Oh" the blonde chuckled, "Just calling to see how your head was doing."

That made him raise an eyebrow, "How my head..."

"You know you dinged it pretty hard on the table..." she trailed off, "And I totally understand if you want to yell at me for it."

"Why would I?" he started then felt a flash hit him, causing him to sit down on the edge of his bed while a series of events played out in his mind.

He went out last night with Garcia and the girls on the team. A decision he soon regretted.

"God, why the hell isn't he answering me?" Garcia's tone clipped out in annoyance, "Is this asshat really that mad at me?"

"WHAT?" Morgan barked out, lifting his head then instantly regretting that again, "What did you call me?"

"Call you what?" Garcia repeated, "Derek, are you alright?"

"I think I'm going to be sick" he muttered, "I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache followed by a bruised forehead. Mind telling me how I ended up with this?"

"You were an ass that's what" Garcia replied.

"I was what?" he asked, giving his cell phone a sharp look only to realize she couldn't see him.

"I said that you got it from tripping" Garcia told him slowly, "Derek, why are you acting so weird?"

"I think I hit my head a little harder than anyone realized" Morgan started only to hear Garcia cut him off.

"Dear God, he's losing his mind right?" Garcia asked.

"I think I'm already there" Morgan muttered.

"Excuse me?" Garcia asked, "Derek, do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No" the man sighed, "Is that all?"

"We were called in for an emergency consult" she informed him, "We need to get down to the BAU right away."

Letting out a frustrated sigh, "Ok."

"Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, "You're not in the throes of a breakdown are you?"

"What?" he asked.

"I asked, 'Are you sure you're ok?'" she repeated, "Derek, what is wrong with you?"

"I don't know" he muttered, quickly ending the call.

As Morgan pulled into the parking garage of the BAU he turned off the car radio before shutting off his engine.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but he could've sworn that he was hearing people all around him. Shaking his head of that thought, he rubbed the aching bruise on his forehead.

This had to be some weird side effect of hitting his head, right? That's what he told himself, and that's what he was choosing to believe, otherwise the alternative couldn't be pretty.

After all, if he went around repeating that he was hearing thoughts, his team would be knocking themselves over to lock him up.

And after all there was no such thing like mind reading, right?

"Right" he murmured to himself exiting the car and heading for the service elevator. Sighing to himself, he knew today was going to be one of those long days.

As the elevator descended onto the BAU floor then opened, he paused looking around. It was unusually quiet and empty in the bullpen.

That was something that never happened at the BAU. That made the man stand on guard, 'Where was everyone?'

Quickly scanning the lower floor, he dropped his go bag beside the staircase of the catwalk and turned around again.

"Where the hell is every..." he muttered only to stop when the pounding sensation returned to his head again, "God."

"There he is" a feminine voice scoffed, "Decided to grace us with his presence?"

"Finally showed up?" another female quipped, "Like he's some gift from God?"

"Or the second coming since..." another woman added, "Who the hell is hot these days? Oh Alex O'Loughlin."

Morgan turned at that, only to see the three women look away. He paused, he could hear them, but...

He shook his head, 'God I really am going insane.'

"Hey my chocolate covered man" Garcia greeted cheerfully linking arms with him, "There you are."

"Where else would I be?" he grumbled out.

"Ooh, someone woke up on the wrong side of an empty bed?" Garcia's perky tone chirped out, then paused at the sight of his withdrawn demeanor, "Derek, what's wrong? I know something's wrong."

Exhaling, he tiredly ran his hand over his face as the two paused on the catwalk. He turned to the worried blonde, and tried to flash his brightest smile.

'Oh God' he heard Garcia whimper in her mind, 'He's dying? He dying and he's trying to let me down easy. That's so sweet and totally messed up.'

"Baby Girl" he tried to soothed the panic looking blonde, "There's something that I need to..."

'Wait, if he's dying would he actually come into work?' she thought, 'No, he must be seeing someone, right? Is he dying or seeing someone? Wait, what?'

"Garcia" he said, trying to get her attention on him.

'No, please tell me what the hell is wrong with him' she quickly rushed in her mind, 'Dear God please don't let it be something bad... wait what if he's leaving the BAU? We just got Gumdrop back from Interpol again, we can't lose him too.'

"Garcia" he said, his head pounding at the muddle string of words.

'I can't deal with another newbie on the team' Garcia's tone said in annoyed frustration.

"GARCIA!" Morgan said louder, shaking the blonde.

"Yes?" she replied, her confused eyes meeting his.

"I need to tell you something important" he told her, looking around the now semi-active bullpen. He wondered how it got so full while he wasn't paying attention.

"Oh God, what is it?" she asked, following him into the break room. Her eyes narrowing at seeing the brief moment of levity on his face before he rubbed his temple, "Derek, what is it?"

Taking a deep breath, he not only saw but heard the panic written across her face.

'Please don't tell me you're dying' he read her thought, 'Oh gosh, I never thought this was how he'd go out. I always thought... well it'd be something different... Ok, I thought he'd get gunned down by a jealous husband.'

"Garcia I can hear you" Morgan blurted out.

That made the blonde analyst's head pop up, "Excuse me?"

"I can hear your thoughts" he told her, watching her face scrunch up in confused bewilderment.

"What?" she scoffed, dismissing his statement, 'Ok, so he's not dying, he's having some sort of delusional breakdown. Ok, I can live with that.'

"I'm not having a breakdown" he said, watching her eyebrow raise at that.

"Ok" she slowly replied, deciding it was best to placate him, 'Clearly this is a bad situation. Oh, why do the cute ones have to be the nut jobs. Find Emily and the boss man and tell them about my tall, dark chocolate...'

"Baby Girl" Morgan said, slowly wandering over to the once bubbly woman and placing his hands on her shoulder, "Trust me when I tell you that I'm not having a breakdown."

"I believe that you believe it" she said, looking around, 'Where the hell is a butterfly catcher when you need one? Ok, slowly disentangle myself from him and... shoot, how am I suppose to get some help?'

"How about asking Rossi or Reid?" Morgan said, looking her in the eye.

"What about them?" Garcia asked, turning her attention on him.

"Do you really want me to prove this to you?" he asked, watching her sigh but nod relenting, "Think of a number between one and a thousand, and if I guess right then will you believe me?"

"I don't know" she said, taking a deep breath, "But I will try to hear you out."

"Ready?" he asked her, watching her roll her eyes but nod.

'Five hundred and twenty-three' she thought to herself, 'No wait, five hundred and fifty. Ooh, that reminds me I need to finish reading Fifty Shades of Grey.'

"I heard the book sucked" Morgan said, "And you were jumping between five hundred and twenty three to five hundred and fifty."

That made the woman stumble back, "Are you punking me?"

Morgan shook his head, "God I wished this was some horrible... can you please stop the inner ramblings? I haven't had any aspirin and my head is still splitting from whatever happened last night."

Garcia nearly doubled over at that, "Are you serious Morgan?"

Morgan nodded, walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out a bottled water, "Unfortunately I am, Garcia."

The blonde leaned against the break room table, her mind pondering over this information, "Huh, that's odd."

"What?" he asked, taking a seat beside her trying to tune out her thoughts only to find it difficult, "Can you please...?"

"Sorry" the blonde gave a sheepish grin, "I'll try and think of something else."

"So you believe me, right?" he exhaled, "You don't think I'm crazy?"

Garcia tilted her head to the side, "Well there are degrees of crazy, but I do believe you."

The man could hear the sincerity in not only her tone but her mind as well, he watched her face grow from relief into mischievous.

He gave her a once over, "What do you have planned?" the grin on her face told him all, "Crap, you're really gonna want me to hear that?"

Linking her arms around his, "Now have I ever let you down?"

"I don't need to read minds to know that" he muttered, rubbing his head, "I really wish I stayed home today."

Garcia rested her head on his shoulder, "Oh come on, I'm not asking you to do something that I know you wouldn't want to do any ways."

"Meaning?" he asked as the two stopped in front of his office door.

"Meaning, my tall, dark and chocolate Hershey kiss that underneath this whole tough guy, Alpha male bravado that can kick down a door faster than Superman can fly is a whole other side" she said winking at him, "And you're all heart."

Morgan chuckled at that, wrapping an arm around the blonde, "Just don't let it get out."

"Yep, you've got a rep to protect" she finished as the two approached the door, "Now sit next to me and tell me what they think."

"Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler." Friedrich Nietzsche

To Be Continued...

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