Chapter 04

Derek Morgan grinned, today was a good Saturday. He'd stopped at the place he was working on to put up the latest coat of paint this morning, gone over to the Y to coach the kids in the afternoon, now here he was waiting with the guys for his baby girl and the surprise guest she was bringing with her so they could get the party started. "First rounds on me." He said.

"If you insist." Matt replied with a grin. "I'll go get them. What are you having?"

"What's on tap." Morgan always liked Matt, the guy was stand up. Always there for the kids, never missed a practice, and when he wasn't coaching them he was helping them with their math homework. Definitely one of the good guys. Just then he caught a fluttering flash of bright colors at the door. "Hold up, they're here." He pulled over the new menu to see if anything was really new.

"Oh yeah?" Matt turned and Morgan felt him come to all kinds of attention. "Who is that?"

"Who?" They had a new pizza, might check that out.

"Dark hair, dark eyes, built like a…" Matt gave an appreciative sigh.

Huh? Morgan looked up and felt the good Saturday become a damn good Saturday. "Emily!"

Max's hadn't changed. Max's would never change. Screw the proper British pub, Emily thought; give me a friendly neighborhood bar/pizza joint any day. "Now isn't this better than sitting home?" She asked Spencer.

"Yeah, probably," he replied.

Emily rolled her eyes. She'd missed all of the Maeve saga, something she deeply regretted now. If she'd been here for him to talk to…well, there was no way to know now.

Then Garcia stopped, blocking traffic. "Oh Morgan has been holding out on us."

Emily turned and looked in that direction. It must have been one of the other coaches sitting with Morgan. About his height, pale skin, ink black hair, bright blue eyes that could not be normal, a build that rivaled Morgan's, just whoa. "He has to be gay."

Then their eyes locked and you could have just knocked her over. She could just drown in those eyes.

Somehow she felt herself floating to the table, Morgan giving her a hug of welcome home. "Emily Prentiss," She heard dimly. "Matt Star."

Oh boy.

At the appropriate hour, in an appropriate uniform, Sarai presented herself at the door to the Admiral's quarters, which opened to let her in at her touch. She took up an appropriately neutral stance a few feet away from the Admiral's desk. "You wanted to see me Admiral?"

Admiral Nox was old enough to be her father, although he had kept himself up as they say. He looked her over in a way that clearly stripped off her uniform to see the figure underneath. "Yes, please." He gestured to a table in the other room, set with a lavish dinner for two, real food, not processed rations, not far from his bed, and moved in that direction.

Sarai didn't move, not even at the sight of mik-mik fruit or what had to be a pot of rinan. "Is my performance in question Admiral?"

He stopped. "No."

"New orders for me or my crew?"

"No."

"Reassignment?"

He smiled patiently, chuckled a little. "No."

"Ah. Then apparently there's been some mistake. I won't take up any more of the Admiral's valuable time." With a polite smile she turned to go.

"I asked you here for dinner." The Admiral sounded a bit surprised.

She turned back slightly. "Thank you, Admiral, but I'm not hungry."

"It's real food."

"I see that. Good evening Admiral."

He took a step forward and Sarai felt a coil of power, thin and weak but there, working its way into her mind. "Stay."

She brushed the attempt away like she might brush dust from her uniform. "Good evening Admiral." She repeated and started walking to the door.

A heartbeat and he was grabbing her arm and turning her around, trying even harder to get into her mind. "I said stay." Well fine, if he wanted to play it that way.

A moment later the door opened and the Admiral's guards ran in. "Sir?"

"What?" He snapped.

"You called for help sir."

The Admiral looked at them in confusion, and then back at Sarai. He tried one more time to send that thin, weak thread of power into her mind. This needs to end, she thought, so for just a moment she let him sense what she could send back. He immediately let her go, stepped back, and straightened his uniform and his dignity. "That will be all pilot."

"Yes, Admiral. Good evening." She nodded to the guards as she walked out the door.

"Hey Matt." Spencer was honestly surprised to see him there.

"Spencer!" But he wasn't looking at him, he was looking past him. "I didn't realize you and Derek worked together. Who is this?"

"Oh, Penelope Garcia, Emily Prentiss, Matt Star."

"Hi." Garcia purred. Nope, Matt really wasn't looking at her either. "So you know Spencer and Derek? There's a coincidence for you."

"Yeah, Derek and I coach junior high football over at the Y on Saturdays."

"Did you play?"

"Yeah, college, till I screwed up my elbow."

"Wow. So how do you know Reid?"

"Oh, I've been kicking his ass in chess for a while now."

"Hey!" Now that couldn't stand, "Only about half the time."

"True."

That left the rest of the table blinking. "Wait, you beat Reid in chess?" Garcia asked, not flirting.

"Yeah, he's a really good player." Nope, Matt had yet to take his eyes off Emily.

"Jinkies. Ever try Go against him?" Garcia asked.

Matt finally made the effort to look away. "You play Go?"

"Yeah, and that will be our next tournament." Now it was past challenge to point of pride. "Who wants what?" Spencer got up to go get the first round of drinks.

"Um, I'll go with you, help carry." Matt said, rising as well. At the bar Spencer ordered three beers and a coke. "Two cokes." Matt said. Spencer turned an inquiring eyebrow his way. "Allergic to ethanol." Matt explained. "It's not pretty." The way he said it made it honest. "So who is she?"

"Who?"

"The woman you came in with."

"Emily? She used to work with us, transferred to a European agency a few years back. They're closing her office, budget cuts."

"Ouch. Is she single?"

Huh? "Um, as far as I know."

"So tell me about him?" Emily said as soon as the guys headed to the bar.

Garcia grinned. "I'd say tell us about him, but he couldn't take his eyes off you. And you can't seem to take your eyes off him either."

"Can you blame me?" Dear god that man had the tightest ass.

Morgan was just chuckling. "He's in his 30's, played at UCLA for three years, now he's teaching math out at St. Alban's."

"High school math teacher," Garcia grinned. "At least he's gainfully employed. Not exactly adventurous type though."

"Worse than that," Morgan was still grinning. "He still lives with Daddy."

"No!" Garcia was shocked.

"Not like that. I get the feeling his parents were older when they adopted him; old man's got some health problems or something."

"Adopted?"

"Yeah, his old man looks a lot like mine. He said that he was a close friend of his fathers, so after his parents passed he took him in."

"Awww." Garcia said, "That's sweet. He sounds like a real stand up guy."

Morgan nodded his agreement. "Yeah, he's one of the good ones. I just didn't know he was some kind of genius or something."

"You think?" Emily asked. Maybe that's what it was about his eyes, the intelligence in there. She hadn't met anyone that intelligent in Europe, or before the BAU. Maybe her teammates had spoiled her for guys you could really talk to.

"If he's beating Reid at chess." Morgan shook his head. "Only guy I ever saw do that was Gideon."

"Good point." Then Spencer and Matt were coming back with the drinks. Yeah. Emily turned on her best smile. Maybe this was the adventure she was looking for.