Ok this chapter takes place after the team returns from Atlanta in Revelations. Obviously its AU! lol

Italics denote inner thoughts of the character.

Thank you to all who reviewed. Please keep those coming, they totally motivate me and give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

***

The third time it happened was right after Atlanta and initiating the contact was all on her……

She sat and stared at the images on TV. She wasn't really watching it, just staring at it. She was trying to unwind from the horrific case they had come home from.

While thoughts of Reid and his ordeal were at the forefront her mind, the conversation she had with Morgan before coming home was what plagued her at the moment.

***

One hour earlier….

She tried to focus on the words on the paper in front of her but all kept seeing was Reid convulsing on the floor while Tobias stood there and watched. The team arrived back from Atlanta two hours ago. Gideon took Reid home straight from the airport but the rest of them meandered their way into the office. Even though exhausted, JJ felt more comfortable doing paperwork than being at home with nothing to do to occupy her mind.

If she had just been more forceful with him and gotten him to wait for the others, then he would have been spared all the pain and suffering he'd experienced. It was her fault. Morgan said as much to her when she confronted him in the kitchen.

She wasn't sure what she had expected from him in that moment. Maybe she had expected him to blame her. While she was the one who had prodded him to talk to her, his words stung more than she thought they would. Sure, if she was going to be out in the field more, she would need to develop a tougher skin and be told honestly when she screwed up. Still, it didn't mean part of her broke a little when he turned and walked away from her, never looking back.

Morgan stood outside her office and watched as she internally struggled with what had happened in Atlanta. Usually the first thing either of them did after a case was talk to the other about it so it wasn't bottled up inside. But not this time, this time was different and Morgan hoped to God that his actions hadn't caused him to lose the woman in that room. Wait did I even ever have her to lose? He wondered. Sure they'd had sex twice but that didn't mean anything right? Ack, who the hell am I kidding? All I think about is her and wanting to be with her. And now I've probably gone and screwed it up.

He'd been a jerk in Atlanta. There was no other way to describe it.

He knew she felt guilty for not protecting or stopping Reid. And all he had to tell her was that it wasn't her fault but instead, what popped out of his mouth was some asinine line about one of them being here and other not. Stupid. The look on her face after he said it was something he hadn't been able to bear so he fled the room and left her standing there; alone.

He'd tried to give her a look of reassurance in the cemetery after Reid himself told her it wasn't her fault but she simply looked at him, wiped away a stray tear and walked off alone into the dark. And then today he practically ignored her.

She'd been there for him the two times he really needed her in the last year and the one time she needed him to be there for her, he walked away. Smooth Derek, real smooth.

Sucking in a deep breath to calm himself, Morgan knocked on her office door.

"Hey."

JJ quickly looked up from her paperwork

"Hey." She replied mustering up the best smile she could, given her somber mood.

"I was just getting ready to leave when Hotch mentioned you were still here. Why are you still here?"

She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was concerned. And yet she felt there was something else in his tone along with concern.

"Just finishing up some paperwork"

"JJ…"

"I'm fine Morgan. Really"

Morgan knew she was lying. He could hear the slight tremble in her voice and the bags under her eyes said volumes as to the number of hours of sleep she had missed out on in the last two days. Sure none of them had slept much during that time but he had managed to get a few hours in after leaving the hospital last night. It was obvious to him though she hadn't.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?"

Sighing, JJ dropped her pen on the desk and brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration. Part of her wanted to be alone but another part of her wanted nothing more than for the man standing in front of her to envelope her in his arms and never let go.

"I managed about 3 hours after we left the hospital last night."

It was true. She'd fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. But it was more of a sleep born out of exhaustion than actual real revitalizing sleep. She probably would have slept longer had it not been for a nightmare that made her wake up in a cold sweat.

JJ clamped her eyes shut at the thought of the content of the nightmare. They hadn't gotten to Reid in time and as they stood over the small grave Tobias had made him dig, the whole team pointed their fingers at her and told her it was her fault. And when she tried to turn and run, a dead Reid blocked her path and asked her why he she hadn't helped him and why he had to die.

"JJ?"

"Sorry I was just thinking"

She gave him a weak smile and a look that said "tell me why you are here cause I want to change the subject."

"Are we ok?"

"What?"

"I just wanted to make sure we were ok"

"Morgan…"

"JJ what I said in Atlanta, it came out wrong. And I just wanted to apologize."

End flashback.

***

Moving her eyes from the TV to the half drank glass of wine in front her, JJ mentally slapped herself for being, what she could only describe as a complete bitch to him in that moment. There he was apologizing and she simply mumbled an ok and walked out. But did she deserve the apology? Or was he simply taking pity on her? She didn't know. Lately, when it came to Morgan, JJ's emotions were completely out of whack. So she just got the hell out of dodge.

Now she had two things to feel guilty about. Way to go JJ, really fucking smart.

Finishing off the last half of her glass of wine, JJ rose from the couch and headed to the kitchen to get more when there was a knock at her door. Putting the glass down on the counter she made her way to her front door and without even looking to see who it was she flung the door open.

"Morgan." He was the last person she expected to see. "What are you doing here?"

"You stormed off I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

She walks out on him, is a complete bitch to him and he is asking if she is ok.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah sure sorry" she motioned for him to enter and as he did he brushed up against her sending her already fragile emotions into overdrive.

His arm brushed hers as he stepped over the threshold to her apartment and the surge of emotion he felt was overwhelming. He'd come to make sure he hadn't ruined their friendship. When she walked out on him his first reaction had been anger but as he drove around town thinking about it he realized he deserved it. He deserved her coldness. Now he knew how she had felt in Atlanta and then hit him like a ton of bricks.

She wasn't mad at him for saying what he said, she thought she deserved it. She felt guilty and thought she deserved to be walked out on and blamed for what happened. She probably thought he was apologizing out of pity. He quickly turned his car around and headed in the direction he knew her apartment to be in.

"You want a beer?"

"No. JJ I'm sorry"

She tried to walk away but he grabbed her wrist to hold her in place.

"Stop thinking it was your fault and you deserved the crap I gave you. I know you JJ, probably better than you think I do. You think I came to apologize out of pity but I didn't because it wasn't your fault. I could never blame you."

That last part came out just above a whisper but JJ still heard it. He was about to say something else but instead of walking away as she had an hour earlier, she went in the opposite direction and crashed her lips on his.

Morgan was slightly taken aback when JJ's lips smashed into his but he quickly recovered and kissed her back. She'd been there for him when he needed her and if this was what she needed right now and needed from him, there was no way in hell he would turn her away.

Her hands roamed up and down his chest while their tongues dueled for supremacy. She grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and pushed them back, drawing the garment down his arms and off into a heap on the floor behind him.

Once his jacket was off, she quickly snaked her hands under his shirt and caressed the smooth underneath loving the feeling of his contracting muscles.

"Hmmm bedroom" Morgan managed to get out between kisses.

Without saying a word, JJ began pushing him down the hall to where he presumed her bedroom was. His deft fingers began working on the buttons to her blouse while she worked on pulling his shirt over his head.

He grunted when his back made contact with a wall. He tried to push off of it but JJ would have none of it as she held him there with her body, her hands firmly planted on either side of his head. They stayed in that position kissing for a few moments while Morgan finished unbuttoning the rest of her blouse.

Once her blouse was discarded, Morgan used his superior strength to push off the wall, the rest of their clothes lay strewn on the floor like a trail of bread crumbs that led straight to JJ's bedroom.

They fell back onto her bed in a heap, Morgan on top. Then all of a sudden things slowed, almost to a crawl. It was like being on a bed made it all, the emotions, the sensations all of it more real and serious. Those two times they could shrug off as quickies and just sex because of the raw need they both wanted fulfilled.

Staring into each other eyes as if seeing each other for the first time, Morgan and JJ realized how the other felt. Their lips reconnected in a passionate yet lazy kiss, all the urgency from earlier melted away.

Morgan ran his hand slowly along the length of her body, to ankle then back up, stopping to knead and fondle her breasts. JJ's body shuddered when his hand left her breast and skimmed along her abdomen down towards her already wet core.

"Oh God" she moaned as his hand dipped below her panty line and began caressing her. When she felt two of his fingers enter her she bucked slightly off the bed, moaning out his name, begging for more.

The sound of her moaning his name and begging for more made him speed up the pace of his fingers, occasionally running his thumb along her clit to increase her pleasure. He was incredibly turned on by the sight of JJ's flushed face as it thrashed on the pillow.

JJ was in heaven. She could feel the stirrings of climax beginning to take hold when all of sudden he stopped. Quickly opening her eyes, JJ found her self face to face with the gorgeous brown eyes of Derek Morgan.

"I want to be inside you when you come."

Morgan kissed her deeply as he slowly slid him self into her slick folds. He started off slowly but quickly built up his pace, changing his angle of penetration often to increase their pleasure.

JJ could tell while he was working toward both their releases, he was at the same time holding back because he wanted it to last. "Derek let go."

And he did. He began thrusting wildly into her and she met him at each thrust, their releases on the brink of taking over them. JJ closed her eyes in anticipation.

"Open your eyes JJ"

Their eyes locking, Morgan gave two more hard thrusts and without warning they both fell over the edge screaming out the other's name as they did.

This time when they came back down to earth they didn't separate or move to get dressed. No, this time JJ fell asleep listening to the sound of Morgan's heartbeat as they cuddled under the sheets of her bed.

What started off as something born out of raw need had turned into something so much more.

***

Don't worry I am not ending the story there….I fully intend to continue on. The next chapter will happen during the episode Jones so I am sure you can all imagine what it might be about.

Please remember to review.