Thank you everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it's very much appreciated. This chapter is I suppose sort of an interlude, I'm not sure why, it just felt necessary. The team Christmas party is up next.


December 15, 2010

"Look Addy, Daddy is on TV." Emily shifted the baby sling to point her to the screen, and pointed at the figures on the screen.

They were a a fresh crime scene in Center City, Philadelphia; the unsub had dumped the girl in an alley off Market street, Philly's second major vein of traffic. CBS was trying hard to get a shot of the body, but succeeding only in gathering hostile glares from the local cops and Hotch. This was their third day in Philadelphia, investigating an unsub who brutally beat young college girls to death, one of whom turned out to be the mayor's niece. The team had been battling the press since they arrived, and the unsub's declining time between kills meant they were probably working around the clock.

They certainly looked it. She could see the guys and JJ standing at the scene, moving around, studying everything, discussing, examining the body-at least she assumed that's why Reid was crouched down. They looked like hell. Dark bags under their eyes, faces drawn and severe. She wondered when the last time they'd slept or eaten, and had a sudden maternal urge to drag them all home and feed them. Instead, she shifted Addy to lay on her chest, and picked up the phone.

"Supreme tech goddess at your service," Garcia answered cheerfully, though even she sounded a bit tired.

"Hey, are you still at work?"

"Em? Hi, yeah, they just found another body. Why, do you need something? Are you and Addy okay?" She was immediately on high alert.

"We're fine, Pen. Do you have the news on?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've been switching to whoever is running stories on the case."

"They all look like hell. What's going on?"

The tech sighed. "It's a hard case, and you've looked like hell right along with them a few times. In fact, you've looked worse then hell a couple of times. Some sleep and real food after the case is over, and they'll be alright."

"I know, I just...worry I guess." This was new for her, being anxious when she knew they could handle whatever was thrown at them.

"And, you feel guilty because you belong in the trenches with them, right?"

Emily bit her lip, glanced down at Addy who was gumming a plush rattle, and sighed. "Yeah, I do."

"You miss being in the field?" Garcia's voice was soft and curious, not judgmental.

She considered that. That she missed the team was a given, but did she actually miss the work? The crappy hotel rooms they barely saw, lousy cop coffee, barren crimes scenes and bloody corpses, and trying to get into the most disturbed, warped minds humanity has to offer. She thought back to something she'd asked Hotch years ago, after getting slammed in the head with a 2x4, and asked Garcia almost the same thing. "Is it weird that I do?"

"Honey, you happen to work in a profession most people don't understand. That vast population that encompasses 'most' probably would think it's weird, but they've also never done what you do. Weird is relative. I personally think drinking your savior's blood and eating his body is weird, but millions of people do it every Sunday. We've also had a couple cannibal cases, so that might have something to do with it," Garcia suddenly stopped her rapid babbling. "The point is, what other people consider weird is irrelevant to you. Got it?"

Lips pursed in thought, Emily released a breath. "Did you know that I got so bored and so overwhelmed by all the babyness in my second month on maternity leave, I made Morgan bring me a stack of consults so I'd have something non-baby to do?"

"Emily, it's been so secret over these years that you prefer action and have trouble keeping your ass still for long periods of time. That's why Hotch pairs you and Derek up so often, gets you both busy and out of his hair. It doesn't surprise me that you got bored after two months of normalcy."

Emily offered nothing but a long sigh. She still wasn't sure she was going back to the team, but she didn't want to resent Addy if she made the decision not to.

"Em? Are you okay, sweetie?"

She instantly snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I guess it's just what you said, I don't like being on the sidelines while they're all out there."

Garcia made a small, amused noise. "Well, don't worry you'll be out there with them again soon enough, chasing after the bad guys."

Emily nodded absently. "Yeah...sure..."


Morgan sighed tiredly and ran a hand over his head, tossing his pen aside for the moment. JJ was across from him, hair coming out of her ponytail, and her eyes drifting closed and snapping open as she woke herself back up. Reid was next to him, flipping through papers at warp speed, and seemingly immune to the exhaustion sweeping the team. He'd also been peeing every fifteen minutes from all the coffee he was ingesting. For a skinny frame like his, that just couldn't be healthy. And, Rossi and Hotch were explaining to a nice couple from Vermont that their daughter was dead. The killer left her ID on her, they'd have to confirm it with DNA, but the hair color, eye color, height and weight all matched her Vermont license.

"Hello, hello? Anyone there?" Instantly they perked up, and focused on the laptop on the table.

JJ leaned toward it. "Garcia, if you're about to tell us you found the killer, I'll buy you a quartet of beautiful men to cater to your every whim."

Garcia looked sympathetic. "Sorry Jayje, I only know as much as you. I do have something that's going to make one of you happy though. Where's my beautifully sculpted chocolate delight?"

He walked over to beside JJ. "Right here, babygirl, what's going on?"

Garcia nodded to someone off screen, and turned the screen. Emily was there, Addy in her arms, and he felt himself instantly brighten. "Hey," he greeted, then frowned. "Shouldn't she be down for the night?"

"She's been fussy all day, well except for her afternoon nap, she'd tired herself out by then," Emily said.

"So, you completly altered her schedule by taking her for a drive to Quantico?"

"Yeah, happy to see you too," she muttered. "Addy is being fussy because she wants to know where the hell her daddy got to, so I brought her to Quantico to borrow Garcia's software so she could see her father."

Garcia poked her head in. "Yeah, when you get back, I'm setting both your laptops up with Skype, that way you don't need to go through the Bureau's system to video chat."

"Thanks, Garcia…do you think she knows it's me?" He asked Emily, not sure Addy would understand the concept.

"She knew it was your voice, did you see her head turn when you spoke?" Emily asked.

He hadn't seen that. "Addy? Can you tell it's me, sweetheart?"

Emily brought her to the computer, and Addy looked toward his voice, but didn't seem to get the video. "You want to say hi to daddy, sweetie?"

"Hey beautiful girl, you've got to be good for your mama now, I'll be home…well, I'll be home eventually," he said. He saw her looking right at him, she reached her little arm out, and tried to touch him. When her hand hit the screen, she looked startled and began to cry.

"It's alright, baby, it's alright," Emily cooed to her. "Daddy will be home soon."

"I guess that wasn't such a good idea," he said.

"No, I guess it wasn't." She sounded frustrated, as she let the baby sling take Addy's weight and used her hand to rub her back up and down. "She'll get over it. Good luck with the case."

Garcia offered an apologetic look then. "I'll call you guys when cross-referencing turns up something." Then she cut the feed. Morgan instantly deflated.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, just wish I could have comforted her," he said. Addy was upset and missing him, and he was in Philadelphia chasing after some sick bastard.

JJ squeezed his hand. "You get used to it, at least the guilt over not being there."


December 17, 2010

Morgan yawned as he shoved his key in the door, and tried to quietly enter the dark house. It was after midnight, but the plane had only gotten in about an hour ago, and he'd run over to his apartment to shower, change, and repack his go-bag. He'd been burning it on both ends the last four days, and just wanted see Emily and Addy, and then pass out into oblivion.

He took his boots off by the front door, padded to the stairs in his socks, and dragged his tired body up them with as little sound as possible. Her door was open, so he crept inside, and stood between the bed and basinet. Addy was tucked into a sleep sack, laying on her back, arms out on either side of her cap-covered head, looking for all the world like a little cherub. He slumped slowly onto the edge of the bed, careful not to wake Emily, and watched his little girl sleep. Morgan ran a finger over her cheek, and watched her little movements as she stirred, contracting her little body, pressing her pink lips together.

"Hey there, beautiful girl," he whispered softly. At his voice, Addy uncoiled her body, and relaxed back into peaceful sleep.

"Morgan?" A sleepy voice croaked his name.

He turned to see Emily pushing herself up, looking at him. He could see the new cast on her arm, pure white and absent of Garcia and JJ's colorful decorations. Emily had insisted she wasn't ten, and Garcia had insisted they needed to make the cast less ugly. Apparently, they hadn't gotten around to decorating this one yet. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay. I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow..."

He offered her a grin, but with his exhaustion it lacked some of his usual easy charm. "Couldn't keep myself away."

"You sound exhausted."

"A little. It was a hard case."

Emily pushed herself up further, so she didn't have to lean on her arm, and took his hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Morgan shrugged. "Just the usual horror show."

She wiggled his hand to pull his attention from the floor. "Hey, I can tell it's more than that...what's bothering you?"

He sighed and ran his free hand over his head. "These weren't party girls, they weren't involved in drugs, didn't sleep around, the lowest GPA among them was a 3.55...they were good girls going to school to make something of themselves, and this guy...they looked like a rugby team attacked them. They were completely unrecognizable. Half their teeth were knocked out and their jaws were in such bad shape, all the IDs had to be made with DNA." He shook his head, unable to understand it.

"So, what made the unsub so angry?" Emily asked, voice patient.

"The same damn story as always. He had mommy issues, and grew up with two over-achieving sisters." He made a sound of disgust. "I grew up with two sisters who were much better academically than I was, but I did not grow up to hate women."

"No," she said softly, "you grew up to love them."

He nodded. "I talked to some of the parents, and the confirmation of the IDs, it just about destroyed some of them. We've seen it on other cases, losing a child you don't ever completely survive that, and I," he cut himself off and shook his head. "Addy is going to be at college one day, mixing with all those kids, how do we protect her? How do we keep her safe from men like that?"

"Oh Derek, don't start down that road. If you start worrying about threats that aren't even real yet, you'll never stop worrying, and if you continue that way, Addy will end up locked in a tower, wearing a chastity belt, and scratching angry poetry into a notebook."

He was not amused. "Don't you worry?"

Emily sighed. "Of course I worry. But, I reserve my worries for the most immediate threats, like she's not gaining weight fast enough, or I'm going to accidentally give her a concussion with this damn cast. Focus on baby troubles right now, we've got 18 years before we need to worry about serial killers at her college."

Morgan nodded slowly. She was right, especially since their most immediate worry was Addy currently stirring in her bassinet, disturbed by their voices. Emily stroked her head, and whispered to get her back to sleep. He looked at her. "I think it's bed time for us too."

Emily tugged on his hand when he tried to get up. "Stay with me."

He nodded at her, and removed his pants and socks, before climbing into the other side of the bed. She was still curled on her side, and Morgan had a momentary debate in his head about shifting closer. They hadn't shared any romantic intimacy since that kiss, and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He decided to go for it, moving so that he was nearly touching her. Emily shimmied back to meet him, and Morgan held her close, his face in her neck.

"Mmm, you smell good," she said, sleepily.

"I showered before I came over."

"Freshly showered Derek Morgan, they should bottle that."

He chuckled, then turned suddenly serious, holding himself up on an arm. "Hey." Emily turned to face him, and he gently ran a finger along her jaw, before mingling his lips with hers.

It was slow and sensuous, and Emily gave a little moan. "Mmm, you taste good too."

He rested his head against hers. "You want to bottle that too?"

"Nope, that's all mine." She kissed him deeply, then rolled over, pressing her body further into the curve of his.

"Good night, princess."

"Good night," she muttered, already halfway to sleep.