A/N: So, you all, it's Friday. Which means that it's time to update this newest baby of mine.

First, though…! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you amazing reviews and listings! This story is a bit different from my usual 'CM' ones so it feels really good to know that there are so many of you eager to see this continue.

Awkay, because I have a feeling that you want to move on with the story already… Let's go! I really hope that you'll enjoy the ride.

Territorial Disputes

Four weeks later

The past month had been one of the longest in Spencer's life. Especially when he had to face Derek every day. The others were bound to notice that something was off and tried to ask them about it but neither gave them any answers. The cold war between him and a man that was once his best friend was taking its toll on Spencer. The constant pressure over the decision he'd have to make alone and never ending morning sickness weren't exactly helping matters, either.

What he anchored himself on was work.

Their latest case was a kidnapped five-year-old Danielle Harris, whose abduction was quickly connected to the murders of six other little girls. But as it turned out they weren't fast enough to catch the killer first. By the time they found their suspect, Oliver Wesley, from a long ago closed school the man had been brutally murdered and Danielle was still missing. Yet not far. Following the girl's screams with a very subtle camera they discovered that she was in the same building, only two rooms away. Accompanied by a armed man who was identified as James Harvey. He was the father of one of Wesley's victims. And he was intently calling Danielle Bianca while waving his gun around absentmindedly.

"I'll go and try to talk to him", Spencer announced after the situation had been cleared out. Seeing the expressions on the others' faces he tightened his jaw. "Harvey's a Alpha, right? Right now a Omega is the most pacifying option for him. We need him to calm down to be able to talk him out of this." Harvey wouldn't harm him, especially if the man sensed the life inside him. But of course he couldn't blurt that out loud.

Derek stared him with heated eyes that were almost enough to scare him. "Reid. No!"

Aaron Hotchner frowned, clearly hesitant. The man gritted his teeth before finally coming to a decision. "He's armed, possibly dangerous. We'll be monitoring every move."

Spencer nodded sternly. "And I'm wearing my vest." It wasn't fool's proof but it was a start.

Derek cast a wounded, furious look at the unit chief. "Hotch! You can't be serious!"

Aaron sighed. "Reid's right. This is our best option to save Danielle." The man cast a sharp look towards him, clearly not liking the idea any more than Derek did. "Be careful, alright?"

Spencer swallowed, willing his wildly beating heart to slow down, then stepped into the criminal's view. His ears were deaf to Derek's continued snarls of protest. All he saw was the bald, middle aged man with horrified brown eyes. And the five-year-old with even more scared, tear filled blue eyes and messy blond hair. She seemed physically unharmed. Nothing irreversible had taken place yet. The gun held at her head did complicate things, though.

"I'm Spencer and I work with the FBI", he told the tense man, trying to keep his voice calm. He made sure that his hands were visible. "Is it… alright, if we talk for a while?"

James nodded slowly, then gun not lowering but his hand growing more hesitant.

Spencer decided to press on now that he'd seen an opening. "I'm truly sorry about what happened to Bianca", he stated softly and earnestly. "But that girl in front of you… Her name is Danielle. And her real parents are outside, waiting for their little girl to come back to them."

James shook his head with the despair of a drowning man. But his hand was even more unsteady than before. "No…!" came a tormented whimper, crawling out from some deep spot in the tormented man's throat. The sound was heartbreaking. "Please don't take her away again!"

The little girl was crying even more heavily than before, clearly on the verge of screaming. "She's scared", Spencer informed James. "She doesn't understand what's happening and all she wants is to go home." He dared to take a step closer. "Let Danielle go, James. It's what Bianca would want you to do. It's the right thing to do."

James stared at him for the longest time, as though wondering if he was serious. The man's hand trembled so badly that for a moment Spencer was truly afraid. Then it was moving.

Spencer knew that the man was about to drop the gun but somebody else didn't.

There was a flicker of movement, along with shouts that Spencer couldn't hear properly. And one of the police officers standing by had already fired a bullet. It whistled right past Spencer's ear, narrowly missed Danielle's head and found a home from James' chest. From there on it was utter chaos.

James was dead long before he ever hit the ground, dragging a hysterically screaming Danielle down with him. There was blood everywhere. A few drops of it traveled down Spencer's ear. It wasn't until then he realized just how close the bullet had come and how much he was hurting. The pain radiating from his ear made him emit a deeply pained, breathless cry while he slammed a hand at the injury.

His yelp didn't go unnoticed. Before he could make a move or emit another sound to stop it Derek had slammed the police officer that fired the disastrous shot down. The look on the larger agent's face spoke murder.

Spencer swallowed. This wouldn't be pretty… "Morgan…!"

Derek wasn't listening. The man's eyes gleamed hazardously while staring into the unfortunate police man's. "What the fucking hell did you think you were doing?! Do you have any idea what you could've done?"

The officer swallowed. "I… I was trying…"

It wasn't fast enough. Or enough anything. Derek's fist slammed at the man's face like a ton of bricks. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

That was when Aaron seemed to decide that he'd have to do something. "Morgan, stop! Right now!"

A command from another Alpha was the last thing Derek needed. Both agents' eyes were pure lava when they clashed, something truly dangerous lingering in the air between them. There was no telling what would've happened if Jennifer Jareau hadn't stepped in, hissing orders.

Spencer had seen enough. He recognized a territorial, protective Alpha when he saw one and he really didn't need Derek to pretend that role. He refused to be belittled and objectified like this. So he walked away, ignoring the fact that he could barely stand from the pain throbbing in his ear.

Ignoring the voice calling out his name was harder than it should've been.

/ Spencer expected Derek to react to his news in a lot ways. Screaming, shouting… Those were high on his list. He didn't expect the man to shut down completely.

When the silence had lasted the total of two minutes he swallowed hard, shifting with discomfort. "I, uh… It'd be nice if you'd say something."

Derek inhaled a long, loud and deep breath. Then, finally, looked towards him like it'd been a chore. "But… Didn't you… I thought you were on…"

Spencer's left eyebrow twitched. And here he'd imagined that one contraception discussion a day was enough. "I was in a heat, Morgan, in case you didn't notice. I… I forgot a couple of pills, I guess, which was stupid and irresponsible. And… Well." They both knew the results already.

Derek blinked twice, slowly. "When you texted me I thought…" Was the older agent… blushing? "I've… never been with a Omega before. I… guess I imagined that it was supposed to be… like that."

Spencer really, honestly couldn't remember texting Derek. It wasn't a impossible thought, though. He hoped that if he'd ever hit another heat he'd have no access to his cell phone. That was hardly relevant at the moment, though. He snorted a bit more bitterly than he'd meant to. "I was waiting for you naked and…" 'Already hard' was something he just couldn't bring himself to say. "Did that seem like my usual behavior?"

Derek looked at him wryly. "We'd just caught a killer who hunted men that looked just like you. When we got him he already had a picture of you in his collection. Nothing of that time was exactly usual."

They sat in absolute silence for a while. Derek was the one to break it. "So… What are you planning on doing with…" The Alpha nodded towards his still very much flat abdomen. "… that?"

Spencer felt his heart drop. His mouth went very dry all of a sudden. "I… was hoping that you'd help me decide." It's your child too, you know?

A helpless, nearly desperate look appeared to Derek's eyes. There was also a sickening amount of fear. "I… If you want to keep the child… I'll always be there, in its life. I'll help in every way I can. But… Reid, I can't be the father. Not now."

Spencer felt like someone just poured a bucket of ice cold water on him. Yes, Derek would be there. But as a uncle, nothing more. If he'd go through with this his child would only have one parent.

The frosty silence had lasted for a remarkable time until Derek finally frowned. "Reid?" One of the man's hands sneaked closer.

Spencer jumped from his seat like he'd been burned, ignoring the dizzy spell that went through him. His mouth opened until he sensed that they were no longer alone. He turned his head and in a few moments he felt even colder than before.

A very beautiful woman who'd clearly woken up moments earlier had just appeared to the doorway. She gave Derek a sleepy smile, then glanced towards him with some confusion. "I… didn't know that we had a visitor."

Derek cast a pleading look towards him. Spencer felt like someone had torn his heart to pieces although he couldn't understand why. "Sorry if I woke you. I… I was just leaving." It took his all to keep his expression neutral when he looked at Derek. "See you at work." With that he left as fast as he possibly could, disappearing into the rain.

And although Spencer was on his way home he'd never felt so lost in his life. /

Still held back surprisingly firmly by JJ, Derek watched with helpless rage how Spencer walked away without as much as a backwards glance. His heart was thumping so hard that it scared him and it felt like fire was spreading absolutely everywhere into his body. He'd never experienced anything quite so all consuming.

"Derek." JJ's voice managed to pull him back to the present. There was a great deal of understanding, if not a hint of worry, in her steel hard eyes. "Whatever you're thinking right now… Stop. Focus on me and stop. Immediately."

It took Derek a while to understand her demand. That was until the low, very dangerous rumbling sound found its way to his ears. His eyes flew wide and the sound died into his throat.

He'd been… growling.

Clearly seeing that he was returning to his wits JJ took a breath of relief. Some of the firmness faded from her eyes. "Good. Now try to stay with me, okay? Let's get out of here."
Well, to that Derek agreed happily. He nodded, falling perfectly into step with her. Without saying another word they fled the scene, neither seeing the looks of confusion, startle and disapproval aimed his way.

He already thought that he was safe from interrogations until they made it to a car and JJ spoke. "You do realize that behavior like that won't go unnoticed, don't you? You'll face questions." She glanced his way while taking a turn to the right. "I may be the friendliest face you'll get to talk to."

Derek knew that it would've been sensible to share it all with her. It wasn't like he would've done a horrible crime. Instead he focused on the traffic and gritted his teeth. "I don't want to talk about it right now." Not before talking to Spencer. Before clearing his head. Before overcoming all those infuriating urges that'd taken over his mind and body.

How could a single night lead into such a mess?

/ Derek stared with helpless rage how Spencer slipped out of his apartment, so fast that the tall Omega nearly tripped on his own feet. His heart was thumping and he felt like he didn't quite fit into his own skin anymore. So many words dangled on the tip of his tongue but none of them fell out. It would've been too late for them, anyway.

"Derek?" There was well justified confusion on Savannah's face. "Was that Spencer?"

Derek nodded stiffly. At the moment he couldn't make himself meet her eyes. "Yeah. He's…" He swallowed hard. The lie died into his throat.

"He's pregnant, isn't he?" The question, or perhaps rather statement, came so out of the blue that Derek couldn't help but stare at her. Savannah shrugged. "You did tell me that he's a Omega, remember? And although he may have missed it I saw how his hand moved to protect his stomach when my arrival startled him." She sighed, glancing towards the apartment's door. "I take it his mate wasn't exactly thrilled."

"No." There was a bitter taste in Derek's mouth that wouldn't go away. "He wasn't."

"No wonder the poor thing seemed so shaken." Savannah didn't ask anything further, for which he was glad. Instead she kissed his shoulder. It didn't make him relax like her touches usually did. "Now come back to bed. We'll have to get up soon."

They did return to the bed. But even with her sleeping soundly in his arms Derek didn't manage to find any rest. Not with all the questions, uncertanties, fears and hazardous urges circling around in his head. /

Section chief Mateo Cruz sighed while looking away from the very extensive report and focusing on Aaron instead. "Look…", he started slowly, wondering how to proceed. "Your team… It was unheard of from the start. An experiment, really. Never before had two Alphas been allowed into the same team. And adding a Omega… I'd imagine that it was something a lot of people frowned upon."

Aaron nodded, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Strauss… wasn't pleased with the idea. There was a great risk of it all going horribly wrong. But Reid is exceptional. And Morgan is a very skilled, valuable agent. With Reid on suppressants we've managed to make it work." Which didn't mean that it would've always been easy. He'd long since lost track on how many times he'd clashed with Derek when the younger man's dominant side lifted its head. But most of the time they did work well together.

"Until now", Mateo pointed out. The man's eyes were hard. "If you hadn't interfered there's no telling what agent Morgan would've done to officer Anderson. And if agent Jareau hadn't come between you two there would've been a physical confrontation. So, I'm forced to ask… What the hell happened?"

Aaron's jawline tightened. He thought for a long moment before giving the only honest answer he had. "I don't know." And he hated it.

"Then find out and get it sorted fast. Before there are any further complications." Mateo sighed. "I'm suspending agent Morgan for two weeks, until this matter is handled further. As for you… Consider this a official warning." The section chief's eyes left no room for arguments. "Your team is definitely something exceptional. Get this matter out of the way before it's damaged beyond repair."

After being checked over by a doctor Spencer really, truly tried to focus on the report that he was forced to write. But it wasn't easy when the new life growing inside him made him want to throw up and his thoughts were running into a million directions all at once. The feel of Derek's eyes glancing towards him every five seconds didn't make concentrating any easier.

Spencer groaned, rubbing his face roughly with one hand. He was in a desperate need of a break. Eventually he hauled himself up and headed off.

When Spencer withdrew to the toilet he wasn't able to do so alone. He was just splashing cold water on his face to force down a wave of sickness when the door opened, then closed again sharply. Tense steps went through the whole space as the arrival checked each booth to make sure that they were alone. Spencer had to work hard not to snort. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach definitely didn't ease.

So Derek chose this as the first time they'd really talk since his big revelation, after weeks of not calling even once, after barely saying a word to him and downright avoiding him?

"What the hell were you thinking?" Derek growled. Sounding so much like a protective Alpha that it worsened the whole situation. "Facing the suspect like that…!"

"What I was thinking of…", Spencer answered through firmly gritted teeth. He was squeezing the sink so hard that his knuckles were white. "… was doing my job."

"You're pregnant!" Derek bellowed back, something almost desperate to that tone. There was loud breathing before the older agent spoke again, much more quietly. "Aren't you? Still?"

For some reason rage flared through Spencer, like that'd been the worst insult he'd ever heard. His eyes flashed. "Yes, I am", he growled dryly, with venom he couldn't fully understand. "I didn't get rid of it."

Derek groaned with visible annoyance, running a hand down his scalp. "Reid, come on. That's not what I…"

But oh, Spencer wasn't done. There was fire in his eyes while they met the older man's. "I appreciate your concern. But you're not my Alpha so stop treating me like one. I'm not made of porcelain. If you really want any part in this… being's life be my friend. Help me or leave me alone and let me handle this." With those words he stormed out of the room, leaving Derek standing there with a expression of sheer frustration.

Half an hour later Spencer was sitting, or perhaps hiding, in the bureau's break room, gloomily staring at a regrettably full mug of coffee. Oh, how much he would've given for his stomach to be able to handle it! He jumped a little when the door was opened all of a sudden but relaxed upon discovering that it was just Penelope Garcia.

She gave him a small smile. "Hey. I thought you'd gone home already." She then frowned, clearly observing his unhealthily pale face. "Rossi told me what happened at the scene. Are you okay?"

Spencer nodded slowly. Well, he didn't feel like throwing up or starting to scream out loud anymore. Wasn't that something? "Yeah. Just thinking." He wrinkled his nose at the drink before him. "There's something wrong with the coffee."

"Nope, there isn't." There was a knowing look on Penelope's face. "Maybe the little one just doesn't like caffeine."

Spencer's heart took an extra leap when realization flowed through. His hands began to shake while he stared at her with open disbelief. All of a sudden the nausea he'd already defeated was back, with vengeance.

Seeing his obvious distress Penelope took the chair next to his and grabbed his hand. "Hey, it's okay! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." She tried to give him a reassuring look. "Our team's Alphas may be too blinded by testosterone to realize it but I noticed." She glanced towards his entirely too flat belly with a fond look in her eyes. "So we'll be greeting a mini genius soon, huh?"

Spencer stared at his stomach as well. It was still surreal to imagine that there was a actual baby in there. A child with his genes that was and would be entirely dependent on him. Even the thought… "Yeah, I guess", he whispered. And finally, not daring to meet her eyes, he managed to voice the biggest of his worries. "What if… What if I won't know what to do with it? If I'll be a horrible parent?" He didn't exactly have the perfect role models.

To his surprise Penelope chuckled. He was almost insulted until she spoke gently, softly. "Oh, sweetie… Of course you won't know what to do. I've heard that it's a part of the magic. And you'll make mistakes." She squeezed his hand. "But don't doubt yourself for even a second because you'll be a fantastic daddy. That kid is lucky to have you."

Spencer tried to speak but even a sound wouldn't make it through his throat. Moisture filled his eyes, forcing him to blink rapidly, and for the millionth time he cursed the hormones overloading his system. At the moment the only 'thank you' he managed was allowing her to hug him fiercely and returning it. He hoped that it was enough.

Breaking the embrace after what felt like ages Penelope wiped her eyes and grinned at him. "Alright. It's a deal, then. I'm taking you home and I'm going to cook you the best meal you've ever had." Seeing his mouth open she narrowed her eyes. "And no objections. I'll be damned if I don't get some meat on those bones."

At that point Spencer did something he hadn't managed in a long time. He smiled and it came from his heart. Suddenly he felt lighter than he had since that fateful day at the doctor's office. Perhaps this was all going to work out, after all.

It was merciful, really, that he didn't know that the journey only just began.

TBC

A/N: Oh yes, there's going to be a long, tough journey before this journey's over…

I've really gotta get going now. It'd be fantastic if you'd leave a note before doing the same. What can I say? Hearing from you makes my day.

Until next time, you all! I really hope that you'll all join in for that one.

Take care!

tymbur1: I'm VERY happy to hear that you feel so! I really hope that you'll be just as pleased with the story to come.

HUGE thank yous for the review!

justsaying: I'm sorry to hear that you find that thing irritating. I've been using those for so long that I barely notice them anymore. I'll try to keep them to the minimum from now on, though.

I'm thrilled to hear that you like the story thus far, though. I really hope that you'll keep finding it captivating.

Thank you so much for the review!