A/N: Basically this is where the plot sets off. Well, kind of. It's a bit odd though especially since I'm not quiete sure about what the status of women and african americans was like bacl then... well, especially the women's status is what gave me troubel. there's gonna be Reid in the next chapter! Just saying... :D

Thanks to everyone who has read this so far!

I noticed that I forgot to mention that I don't own Criminal Mind and the main characters featured in this story. So... if you went of fanfiction and thought something like "no disclaimer... she owns Criminal Minds, how cool is that?!" I'm sorry to disappoint you.

So - I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review, maybe?

If I'm gonna go down I'm gonna do it with style.

You won't hear me surrender, you won't hear me confess

cause you've left me with nothing but I have worked with less.

- Ani Di Franco

"Hey sweeter, up for some fun?" Derek Morgan didn't respond to the blonde woman but gave her a tired look. Every muscle in his body was aching and he had taken the opportunity to put in some paid overtime, which was good since his room's rent had been due yesterday, but the soup kitched had already been closed. Spending some of the freshly earned money on food wasn't an option he had though, so it would be whatever old, forgotten leftover victual he would hopefully find and the rememberance of the taste of his mother's Gumbo.

Maybe she would just back off and leave him alone - the only thing he wanted was his bed and by that he really only meant just his bed without anybody else in it waiting for him. And something to eat. Why did she went hooking in this part of DC anyways? She couldn't realistically expect to find any well-heeled customers anywhere around. These were smart to stay as far away as they could.

But she didn't let him alone; it was the only way to get what she wanted, too. He almost understood it well enough to feel pity for her. "Hey you, I don't take much-"

"I don't want your, ehm... services."

"So you're married?" As Morgan began to walk faster she kept up with his pace. The night was still young and she needed to earn as much as possible. Not that it was her fate which she was worried about. Lord, she wouldn't be willing to do this job night for night if she still cared about herself. But she didn't and so this night was worth a try. "Doesn't matter, I'm married too but my husband doesn't care much... well, I don't think he does, wherever he is."

"Look, I'm sorry if he left you and you're needing money but I'm really not in the mood for this."

"Oh come on, you look like you had a rough day and-"

"Do I look like I had enough money to pay you?", he hissed and she ducked slightly, causing him to feel guilty right away. He didn't mean to scare her, no matter how annoying she was. The decent, tempting smile returned to her face only seconds later. The corners of her mouth were slightly shaking though; with inexperience, probably, or maybe just fear, danger, shame, the loss of an old life... whatever. Morgan sighted and turned around to look at her. "I honestly don't have any money to give you, as much as I'd like to help."

"Please, I don't need money!"

"You don't?" He laughed. "Now what's next? You'll tell me you're offering yourself to strangers for free and call it welfare?"

"I have a son. He's only five."

"Just stay the fuck away from me!" This time Morgan was yelling at the top of his lungs on purpose but she didn't react as she had done earlier.

"What? No! If anybody ever touched my son he'll pay for it with nothing less than his worthless, dirty life!" The anger is her eyes was honest and Morgan let out a relieved sight. This whole conversation had just become a whole size too creepy for his liking. But he knew it had happened before. They had found a dead kid around the area only a week ago and even though nobody seemed to know anything exact... it happened. This wasn't a safe place for good people wich made it all the saver for criminals, perverts and the human scum that found no other place. And people like him, who couldn't find a better place to stay either.

"Then what do you want?" The moment he said it he cursed himself for asking. She had problems, that was obvious for he highly doubted a young mother went out to have payed intercourse just for fun; but he had enough trouble dealing with his own fair share of life. Dang it, he wouldn't make her problems some of his, too. His life, her life... her son's life... He sighted inwardly. There it was. Compassion, worry, protective instincts... Fuck.

"We don't have a home since yesterday and he can't spend another night out on the streets. I'll do everything you want if we can spend the rest of the night at your place. We won't need anything, we'll just sleep somewhere on the floor." She pulled a light blonde strand of hair behind her ear and quickly blinked away a couple of tears. "I just... he's too little for these problems and I... we have no place to go... and I have no idea how to do any of this..."

"Where is your son now?"

Her voice wasn't more than a whisper. "I have a friend at a homeless shelter."

"Can't the two of you spend the night there?"

"No, it's... we've been staying there yesterday and now she's watching him but that place if aweful. He's too scared to sleep and so am I. There aren't only people like us there."

She choked off and Morgan wondered what kind of shelter the woman's friend was working at if staying on the floor of a complete stranger's place whom she intended to pay with sex was a less concerning thought. He abandoned the thought quickly and resolutely shook his head. He couldn't invite strangers to his place just like that... heck, she was a prostitute and he couldn't afford to wake up robbed and alone in the morning.

"How do you wanna know my place is any better than that shelter?"

"Must be."

"I could be sleeping underneath a bridge."

He was surprized to hear her laugh. "You? No way. First of all you're not clean but you're not really dirty either. I mean... you're kinda sweaty but at the same time you're obviously coming home from work. Also, you have no stuff with you which would indicate you're not having a real place to stay at and sure, you're african american, but while you're obviously badly off I've seen people around who have it worse so you're probably working in assembly line. You're not pofiting of the emplyoment-creation measures so... well...", she shrugged and slightly scrunched up her nose, "I can't really tell... you're just not looking like you have no home."

"You're smart." What sounded like a statement, not even suggesting any further interest, really implied the question behind it. You could be elsewhere, why are you not?

"I am." Her voice seemed to become colder, even though the warm kind of undertone stayed. He was disgusted by it and could tell that so was she. "But... I can be more."

"Yes, I bet you could do pretty well in most, ehm... real jobs."

"Sure, if you tell me where I could possibly get employed I'd be glad to work there."

"You learned anything?"

"I've been a farmwoman; but a nurse before." She scrunched up her nose and smiled at the same time. "It's interesting and I'm good with people."

"So what ha-" He quickly shook his head and turned away from her, reminding himself of how she was none of his business. "Look, I've had worse conversations today that is for sure... but we should each go our own way now."

He actually meant it. This whole situation was damn awkward, especially for he couldn't fully convince himself that she and her kid were nothing but the stranded, criminal remnant of a broken family. Yes, she seemed to be smart... but more than that he found her to be fascinating, interesting -intriguing- only after a couple of minutes of superficial talking.

And exactly this wasn't going to happen. Not the night for social bondings.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to answer, something bumped right into him, let out a short yelp and spun around, just to run against the woman about a second later. Only at a second glance did Morgan realize that it was a child. As if tonight hadn't been hard enough already. He instinctively stretched out a hand to grab the child; he was so not in the mood for this... His finger collided with ice-cold, female skin instad.

He tried to get between her and the kid in an instant. A farmwoman was appearently too naive to survive on these nightly streets. "No, no! Don't go anywhere near him, these kids are nothing but nasty little pickpoc-"

The blonde, however, had pulled the boy, not hesitating as long as a second, into a tight embrace, instinctively stepping between him and Morgan as she was ready to defend whoever this was against whatever there might be coming. Her natural courgage amazed him, that he had to admit. Yes, despite living quiete a poor life himself, he was looking down at the woman who was selling her body... but she didn't mind taking a risk though. It still was a stupid, rash risk to be taken but he had always admired bravery and that she definitely had.

It wasn't until he took a second look that Morgan noticed the boy was wearing nothing but his pyjamas. These, in addition, appeared to be pricy and were made from a shiny, expensive looking fabric. This again was soaked with a remarkable amout of deep red blood which took his breath away for a second. This wasn't a kid that belonged in this neighborhood and for sure not a pickpocket... the tought that he should be angry at himself for jumping these kind of conclusions rather than for just being wrong occured to him, but he had learned to ignore the small voice of justice.

"What the h-"

"Hey!", she interrupted him before he could even finish the curse, "you can either be quiete or get lost right now!"

"Okay, sorry", he mumbled, "I was only thinking... the blood, he's full of blood..."

She didn't pay attention to the man. Possibly finding a place to stay at or caring for the rather disturbed child... it wasn't hard to decide where to set her priorities.

"Hey you, what are you doing here?"

The boy gave no answer but silenty burst out into tears before he slowly began to return the hug. The street lamps shed a dark kind of light in which his skin looked chalky white. She felt how he shivered and pulled him closer to herself, trying to protect him from both cold and fear. He was too young to walk these streets and feel the way she felt. He needed to be safe... and as long as this wasn't quite possible he needed to be with her.

"My name is Jennifer." Morgan felt the heat rising in his cheeks as he realized how he hadn''t even bothered to ask for her name. She hunkered down next to the boy to encouragingly look him in the eyes. "But my friends call me JJ. Can you tell me who you are?"

"Jack." The boy's voice was incredibly shy and by now practically drowning with tears. JJ softly wiped them away with her thumb, this time only since it was a motion that had become one of her reflexes. He cried the way Henry sometimes did, she had sometimes done... "Jack H- H-... Jack."

"Jack? Why, that's a beautiful name. I have a son, Henry, who I think might be a little younger than you are. How old are you?"

"Seven."

She gave him another encouraging smile. "Wow, you're old. Big, huh?"

Jack gave no response.

"I guess you already know where you live, too?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Can you tell me where that is?"

This time he didn't hesitate to answer. His voice lost its shyness for a second, too and became firm and determined. "No."

"Look, Jack... I know you're probably not supposed to talk to strangers and especially not tell them where you live but I promise you that I'll just help you getting back home and everything's gonna be fine. Cross my heart, okay?"

He shook his head, shyly bititng his lower lip. "No."

JJ thought for a moment and decided to accept it. There wasn't much she could do about it anyways. After all, she wouldn't trust herself is she was him either. "That's alright, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Would it be alright if we found a nice police officer to carry you home instead?" There just had to be many of them around, JJ hoped. What really worried her was the fact that she didn't exactly looked like she came home from a hard working day and that while there was much crime everywhere around she seldomly saw anyone fighting it. Not that anybody exactly fought for them kind of people anyways... but she couldn't leave him alone even though she didn't know where to go in the first place. "You'll get to drive in a real cop car, I bet that'd be pretty cool."

Again, no more than a shaking of his head and a short mumble. "I can't ever go back."

"Jack... where did you run from?"

"Home."

Her eyes fell on the blood on his PJ's and she shivered. Sleepwear, blood... the pure fear and dragging pain in his eyes. She knew very well what this could mean but was hoping for it to be different though. Afraid to ask the probably essential question her voice was shaking slightly. "Did somebody at home hurt you?"

"No" His voice was weak, quiete, barely audible; and sounded overall more like a guess than a true statement.

"If somebody did it's okay to tell others because they'll help you. You know that, don't you?"

"No."

"But now you do and it's gonna be okay, yes? I'll help you with whatever there might-"

"He hurt my mom."

"Who did?" JJ literall felt how the, sadly, most natural following question Your father? wanted to burst through her lips but she bravely chocked them back. It wasn't always the father; she couldn't ask this kind of question as it would almost imply that he did something. Which could end badly and, still more, unjust, too. "No matter who did it - you can tell me. I'll do everything I can to help you."

"I... I don't know." All of the sudden he threw his arms around JJ's neck and, practically smashing into her, bursted out crying. She felt his shoulder blades and vertebras stand out under her hands as his tiny, somewhat fragile body was shaking in her arms. "I c-can't go back, mommy will be there and she's not waking up... I can't go back, I can't..."

"Hey, it's okay, you don't need to go back if you don't want to."

She looked at Morgan who was still standing next to them, as if paralized. He had no idea what to do but shivered at the thought of what could have happened to Jack. If it did... well, he had still not found out what exactly one could do. Maybe Jack would find someone who cared, whom he could turn to... But not taking him home? What the hell was she thinking? What did she think would anyone who might happen to see them with a bloody, wealthy kid assume? That they were trying to care for him? As if. Crazy lady.

"This man here - he'll help you, too. If you came with us and we found you some place safe to stay at and then some help... would that be okay, Jack?"

Jack gulped and looked in their eyes, first JJ's, then Morgan's. He didn't seem to be afraid of the huge dark-skinned stranger, even though they both had reason to assume that he hadn't met anyone like them before -which was applicable for both, african american low-wage workers and homelesssingle-mom prostitutes.

"Who are you?", he finally whispered, "are you a friend of hers?"

"My name is Derek and, ehm... yes, I am. JJ and Henry are staying at my place."

"Are you married?"

"Hah, oh no kiddo, we're just plain friends; she's my buddy like you and the kids you're going to school with."

"Can I stay at your place, too?"

"You know... your folks are probably going to miss you and we should really find somebody related to you."

"Just please don't send me home..."

Morgan sighted and Jack's eyes widened, the fear of being rejected brightly shining out of them.

"No, don't worry... JJ said you didn't have to go home if you don't want to, right? We could..." He thought about the coins in his pocket and the rent which needed to be paid but after all his landlord was one of the nicer men. He could probably pay it next week or as soon as he had the money; these problems had occured before and it had always been fine... hard, but eventually alright. "You know what? You're probably hungry and I know a great place to grab some food at. So what about you take my jacket so you'll stay warm and then the three of us pick up JJ's son, go there, have something to eat and then we'll see what we can do. Just don't worry, everyhting's going to be alright... I promise."

As they walked down the street, Jack clinging to JJ's hand in an astonishing trustful manner, JJ and Morgan exchanged looks but failed to actually communicate. After a while JJ decided it was time to sort out matters; it was for her own good.

"I'll pay you. I always pay off my debts; I promise you that."

Morgan only shook his head. "Don't even think about it." He smiled and stretched out his hand, which she hesitatingly grabbed to shake it shortly. Her hand was tenuous and quivered as his big, coarse hand clasped hers. "Then, ehm... it's probably about time to introduce myself. Derek Morgan, nice meeting you."

"Jennifer Jareau; same here."