Okay, so I stole lines from F.R.I.E.N.D.S from when Chandler and Monica were sneaking around, but I just really pictured it like this in my head, so deal with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Friends or CM. I wish I did, but sadly not. If I did, I would probably have a swimming pool of money. H&R Block can tell you that's just not true.


Chapter 1 – Morgan Knows

"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept." - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Derek was just dropping JJ's lunch order on her desk, since the blonde wasn't there. At least, that was what he was planning to do.

Instead, he found himself answering her phone. In retrospect, that was a bad decision. \

"Agent Jareau's office, Agent Morgan speaking." Idiot. What was he? Some fifth grader answering his teacher's phone? They would have undoubtedly called back later or left a message and JJ could have gotten back to them. But he just had to stick his nose where it didn't belong.

"Hello, Agent Morgan, this is Brad Burns from Holiday Inn. I was just calling to inform Agent Jareau that one of your agents left some personal affects in their room."

"Okay, which room? I can get a hold of the agent and they can figure out what to do."

"Room 234. According to our records that's Aaron Hotchner's room. Hmm. That can't be right."

"Why not?" Derek made a face. He was pretty sure that was right. Hotch's room was two down the hall from his and Reid's. He and Reid were room 236.

Brad let out a sigh as if Derek should know better than that. "Because Housekeeping found an eyelash curler in the en suite bathroom. I highly doubt your Agent Hotchner needs an eyelash curler. Not that I judge if he does, but-"

Brad Burns didn't get to finish as Derek dropped the phone back into place with a smirk, Well, what do you know? Garcia was right. Hotch was getting something something from someone. But, who? Who did Hotch know in Boston like that.


"Hey, man."

Aaron Hotchner looked up from his paperwork to see Derek Morgan leaning against his now closed office door with a smile that usually never meant anything good.

"Yes?" He asked.

"The hotel we stayed at in Boston just called." Derek's smile widened.

Hotch was confused. How would anything they would have said put a devious smile like that on Morgan's face?

Figuring the statement wasn't rhetorical, Hotch replied. "And?"

An evil chuckle escaped the Profiler. "Someone left an eyelash curler in your room."

Normally Hotch would have made a remark about the overuse of emphasis in Morgan's sentence, but he was too flustered at the moment.

She said she got everything! He thought.

Thinking he could throw his Agent off the trail, Hotch thought maybe answering with a question would be confusing to the other man.

"Oh?"

Brilliant, Aaron. You really sounded like the law school graduate you are.

Almost as if he could smell the fear on his boss, Morgan's smirk grew impossibly wider. "Yep. So...?"

Hotch had to stifle the urge to gulp like a cartoon character. "So, what?"

The other man's face instantly went from cocky to exasperated.

"Man, c'mon, who is she? You can tell me."

Seeing no point in denying that he had shared the company of a woman in Boston, Hotch simply trampled down the panic and pushed his distant boss persona to the forefront.

"None of your concern, Morgan. Now get back to work."

The look he got reminded him of that of a petulant child, being shut down for asking questions his parents just didn't want to answer.

"Fine. I'll drop it, for now. But, I'll figure it out, Hotch. Just you wait. I'm a profiler, remember?"

And with that, Morgan left the office, closing the door behind him.


The BAU very well could be single-handedly keeping "The Whistlestop" in business. It was where Aaron Hotchner's team always met for a Post-case drink. Now that Hotch was single, no one on the team had a spouse or family to go home to, unless you counted Emily Prentiss' cat, Sergio. Which, while she, Garcia and JJ did, none of the guys really thought that counted.

Laughing at a joke Rossi had made at Reid's expense, the team was having a good time. Even Hotch, who had stopped worrying about Morgan's nosiness as the younger profiler seemed to have let it go, for now.

As the ladies stood up to go to the bathroom (Though, why they always insisted on going as a pack, the guys didn't understand), Emily fumbled around in her purse.

"Jayje, can I borrow your eyelash curler? I can't find mine."

Derek's head shot up and he started gasping as if trying to speak. Pointing exitedly between Hotch and Emily, confusing all but his boss, who hurriedly stood up and grabbed the younger man's shoulder.

"Morgan, can I talk to for a second?!"

Not giving him much of a choice, Hotch practically dragged Morgan out the door or the bar.

"What the hell was that?" Reid asked no one in particular.

"I don't know," Emily answered him quietly, fearing the worst. "But, I'm gonna go find out."

The dark haired agent rushed out after her colleagues as Hotch pushed Morgan down on the bench outside.

"What's going on?" Emily asked them, panicked for the safety of her secret.

"You?! An-and You?!" Derek yelled, pointing between the two again.

"Shh!" Hotch tried to quiet the flailing man.

"Shit!" Emily called out. Looking to her boyfriend, she asked, "Morgan knows?"

"He does now," The older man sighed. "You left your eyelash curler in my room in Boston."

"When did this happen?" Morgan asked, finally having taken a breath and calmed down.

Emily scrubbed her hands down her face as Aaron answered the question.

"After Milwaukee."

"Milwaukee?!" The agent began to yell again.

"Shh!" His colleagues tried to shut him up.

"Yes," Emily said. "After Hailey left, Aaron came over and we got talking. Nothing happened for months, though!"

Morgan sighed. Hotch and Emily? Hotch and Emily! This was big, this was huge! Morgan had known after the call that Hotch had met with a woman in Boston, but it hadn't occurred to him that she wasn't from Boston. Hotch's lady friend had traveled with them there. Hotch's girlfriend was Emily!

"I gotta tell someone!" Derek tried to stand, but his friends pushed him back down.

"No!" They said in unison. Emily continued, "You can't tell anyone! If Strauss finds out that Aaron and I are together, we'll be fired so fast, our head's will spin. There are rules against this kind of thing in the Bureau, you know that!"

Keep this a secret? From the Higher-Ups, of course. But, from the team? The team were their family.

"But-"

"But, nothing, Morgan," Hotch stopped him. "This has to stay between the three of us."

Derek wanted to protect his family, but he wasn't going to do it for nothing if things didn't work out. He had to make sure the guilt of keeping this bombshell from everyone else would be worth it.

"This is serious? Your relationship, I mean. This better not be some fling. The whole team cares way too much about the both of you to come back easily if something happens to split the two of you up."

Emily smiled. "Yes, things are serious."

Hotch walked around the bench and took her hand. "It's been six months. Trust me, if we didn't care about each other, we would have stopped this a long time ago."

Derek nodded. Of course things were serious. This was Hotch and Emily they were talking about. He knew those two as well as they knew themselves. Neither were the type to have flings. Especially one that could run into professional issues were it to go South. And Derek had to admit; Now that the shock had worn off, he was genuinely happy for them.

"Ok. I got your backs. I just don't like keeping things from everyone else."

"Neither do we," Hotch said with a frown. "But, if we can continue to keep things strictly professional at work, then if things keep going as well as they have, we can use some connections to report our relationship so that it's out in the open. Just keep this quiet till we tell everyone else."

"Yea," Em continued. "We want them to know just as much as you do, but the more people that know, the more likely it is to get out and we can't have that just yet. We've talked long and hard about this a lot. We want to wait just another few months and then we'll tell the team and then the Dragon- I mean Strauss."

The men smirked. Two of their own were getting busy in their off hours, but really, nothing else had changed. They were still gonna have drinks after a case and bash their Section Chief.

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." - Sarah Dessen


Fairly short, but the chapters are going to get longer as they progress, I just really like to get the 1st chap up quickly after the prologue. Second chap's started, but nowhere near ready. As soon as I finish my outline and figure out a posting schedule, you guys will know :)