Prompt: Pie
Pairing: Derek/Emily


VII: Pie

Derek's favorite part of the holidays, by far, was his mother's pecan pie. Unfortunately, because the BAU was always busy around the holidays, he never made it home. He'd bought different kinds from several stores and bakeries, but nothing compared. Maybe it was because she had a special ingredient he didn't know about, or maybe just the fact that his mother had made it, but nothing else came close to what he really wanted. Emily knew how much he wanted it and vowed to make it happen for him this Christmas. She called up his mother, and after little persuading, was able to get her exact recipe.

One afternoon, Derek had offered to help Spencer fix something in his apartment, which gave her the perfect opportunity to start baking. She was sure that she had all of the ingredients beforehand, and as soon as he left the apartment and saw his car leaving, got to work. She pulled down all of the ingredients from the cabinets, as well as taking a few other things out of the fridge. In the past, Emily had never been very successful in the kitchen, but she figured this would be the perfect opportunity to turn it all around.

She read over the recipe several times, hoping to retain it. She had to make the dough on her own, which she wasn't overly fond of, considering she'd bought several pre-made crusts at the store, but she'd do whatever it took to make Derek happy. The recipe told her that the crust should resemble cornmeal, but to her, it just looked like a giant blob. Rather than question it, she went along with the recipe, continuing it as if she didn't make a mistake. She also decided to make a few more, because the cooking time was over 40 minutes after the crust, and she didn't have the time to make several consecutively.

After making three separate doughs for the crust, she put each of them into a pan and put them in the freezer to set. She didn't want to call up Mrs. Morgan and bother her with the little details, so she tried to fix everything up herself, and understand the directions the best that she could. Once she set up the racks in the oven, she preheated it and took the crusts out of the freezer, putting them in once it came to temperature. Just as a precaution, she left the oven light on to keep an eye on how they were doing.

While the crusts were cooking, she worked on the filling. Because she made several crusts, she multiplied the recipe times three, hoping to make it a little easier on herself. She boiled the butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup, stirring it and letting it sit for a few minutes. With every single step, she read and re-read the recipe, sure that she was on the right track. She took it off of the stovetop and stirred in the rest of the ingredients. There were no notes on how it was supposed to look, so she figured she was doing a good job. Filling up the pie crusts, she put them into the oven and set the timer, before walking to the living room and turning on the TV, flipping through and landing on a Christmas special.

Derek walked up the stairs to Emily's apartment, slightly amused at the fact that Spencer had needed his help to put together a TV stand and set up his new TV. That had taken him little time, so he decided to get some Christmas shopping done for afterward, grabbing gifts for Emily, his sisters, and his mother. The two of them had been together for a few years now, and it had been smooth sailing. Derek had needed someone to ground him, but not somebody who would put him on a pedestal and treat him as superior. Instead, he needed someone to knock him down when he needed it and bring him back to reality.

He took the keys to the apartment out of his pocket, and could smell smoke. Assuming that Cheryl down the hall had been using incense, he shrugged it off and unlocked the door, stepping inside. He noticed smoke coming from the kitchen and set down his bags, running over. What he found was Emily sitting on the floor in front of the stove, her head buried in her hands, three burned pans of something on top of the stove. Raising an eyebrow, he sat beside her, rubbing her arm.

"Are you okay?"

She sniffed, biting down on her lip and shaking her head. "I tried."

"...You tried to burn down the apartment?" he asked. "If you hated it that much, you just could've moved."

She smiled slightly, sniffing and elbowing him. "No. I know how much you miss home on the holidays, and I wanted to give you something to make you think of home, so I called your mom and I got the recipe for her pecan pie. I made three just so I could pass one off as edible, and they all burned." She exhaled, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry, I couldn't do it."

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head and pulling her into a hug. "Just the fact that you tried to do that for me means the world to me."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "So I guess you won't be marrying Betty Crocker," she mumbled.

He chuckled. "I guess we'll just call on Garcia to make the baked goods when necessary." He reached up on the counter, grabbing the recipe. "You really called my mom?"

She nodded, sighing. "I told her what I wanted to do, and she said that her son picked a real winner if she wanted to try to replicate a Fran Morgan original."

"She definitely doesn't make it easy." He tilted her chin up, giving her a kiss. "How about we send this to my Baby Girl, and see how she does?"

"Sounds like a plan, because three strikes and I'm out."

He rubbed her back. "I'll walk Clooney and you can throw away three pie pans, then go online shopping for a few more, and we can spend our night in with a Christmas movie."

She smiled slightly, nodding. "Sounds great… just don't tell your mother I ruined her recipe so bad that I went right past 'pecan pie' to 'burnt crap'?"

He laughed, standing up and helping her up. "Consider it a secret."