Returning from their night in the woods found both Hotch and JJ and Morgan and Emily in a cheerful mood, but Rossi and Reid decidedly not. Their midnight misfortune had resulted in a spur of the moment attempt to patch the hole in the tent using the duct tape Rossi had luckily had in his pack. But the tape had refused to stick to the sodden canvas so, as the rain started to beat down again, they had hurriedly unpegged the tent and dragged it under the trees to stave off some of the water. And, as anyone who has ever attempted to sleep on root-laden ground knows, it made for a very uncomfortable night. Their story was met with much laughter, which only served to further annoy the two.

It was almost noon by the time all of them gathered outside the main cabin with Ally and Neil. They were all half asleep and barely heard a word as they discussed what they had learned from the day's activity. When they were finally finished, Ally suggested, "Why don't you take a few hours wash up and rest and then meet us back here around five."

As he dragged his backpack heavily along the ground, making his way back to the cabin, Rossi grumbled, "I'm going back to bed..."

Dropping her backpack on the floor by her bed, Emily examined her mud-splattered legs, a result of the heavy night rain on the dirt trail. "I call first shower," she announced to the cabin at large.

"Not if I get there first," JJ retorted.

"Oh, I don't think so!" Emily called, taking off at a sprint out the door. Hotch, Morgan, and Reid laughed as JJ dashed after her; Rossi was already sound asleep.

*****

While Reid and Hotch had also invested in their spare time by napping, Morgan had chosen to wait until the shower was free. Evidently, Emily had made it to the shower first because a few minutes after their race, JJ had came trudging back. She sat on the porch with Morgan to wait, but had soon fallen asleep leaning against the wooden wall.

Grinning slyly, Morgan quietly made his way to the bath house. Finding the door open he tiptoed in, careful not to make a sound. For a moment, he just stood there smiling, watching Emily twist her hair into a french braid. He quietly stepped up behind her and, because of the condensation covered mirror, she didn't see him until he hooked a finger through her belt loop and spun her around to face him.

Smiling, he leaned down to capture her lips with his. For a moment she gave into the kiss, her knees buckling out from under her, but she was knocked sharply back to reality as Morgan ever so slightly forced her backwards, ramming her back into the counter. "Oww..." she yelped softly. She felt his laughter against her lips as he gently lifted her onto the counter. She allowed for another moment of indulgence before she pulled back. "We can't... We could get caught..." she said softly.

Between kisses, he whispered, "I could... lock... the door..."

With much self-discipline, she carefully lowered herself back to the floor. "Not now..."

"There's still hope for later then?" he asked, smirking.

Laughing, she headed towards the door and quipped, "The shower's all yours... And don't worry, I used up all the hot water..."

******

"You guys seem a little sleepy," Ally noted as the hiked along the trail, "Why don't we sing a few rounds of Black Socks to wake everyone up?"

"That's a great idea!" Neil said enthusiastically. Turning to the team trudging along behind them, he explained, "This is a really fun song! You've gotta start out really quiet and get louder with each verse until you're shouting. Does anyone know the song?"

"I do..." Hotch admitted, quietly.

"Awesome!" Ally said, "Why don't you lead us."

Hotch glared at Morgan who was snickering as he began, "Black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear them the stronger they get."

*****

Not that any of them would ever admit it, they actually did enjoy singing Black Socks. As the trail came to its end at the edge of a clearing, they were all singing at the top of their lungs, "Sometimes I think of the laundry, but something keeps telling me 'No, no, not yet!'"

By that time the cerulean afternoon sky was already fading to dusky grey and the pale ghosts of the moon and stars hinted at night's imminent arrival. A very large campfire crackled in the centre of the clearing and other campers were milling about.

"Welcome to the Pine Tree Jamboree!" Ally announced happily.

"Oh God..." Hotch muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

"This is a chance for you to get to know some of the other campers and just blow off some steam."

As Ally and Neil walked off, leaving them to their own devices, the team shared a look clearly saying, you've got to be kidding me...

"Well, let's make the best of this..." JJ sighed.

Ever the camping optimist, Reid gave a gasp of excitement as he looked towards the fire. "They're making s'mores!"

Laughing as Reid went to join those already roasting marshmallows, Morgan called after him, "Go easy on the s'mores this time!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Reid retorted.

"I need a drink," Emily groaned, "I really hope they have alcohol..." With that, she made her way over to where some of the counsellors were serving drinks, purposefully skirting the vicinity of the fire.

******

Standing apart from the campers clustered around the fire, drink in hand, Emily was startled by the sudden voice next to her. "Do you believe in love at first sight... or should I walk by again?"

She almost choked on her sip of hot chocolate. "Excuse me?" she asked incredulously.

The man laughed, "I'm really sorry, my buddies dared me to do that." He paused to give an exaggerated wave to the group of men standing several yards away laughing uproariously. Turning back to her with a charming smile, he asked, "But seriously, what's a pretty thing like you doing all alone?"

Smiling at the compliment despite herself, she pointed towards Reid and said, "See the guy almost vibrating from the sugar high, roasting like six marshmallows at once? Well, I'm making sure he doesn't overdose on s'mores..." The man laughed genuinely and she elaborated, "He's new to the whole camping thing and he's annoying enough as it is..."

"I'm Shane, by the way," he introduced himself, extending a hand.

"Emily," she reciprocated.

Instead of shaking her hand as she had expected, he brought it up to his lips and tenderly kissed it. "Pleased to meet you."

*****

From the other side of the fire, Morgan felt his blood boil as he watched him kiss the back of her hand. His grip on his mug tightened, sloshing its contents over his hand. He kept hold of her hand several moments longer than was altogether necessary. He stared at her with a lust in his eyes of such an intensity to make a father clean his rifle...

Morgan decided to give him a piece of his mind and tell him to stay away from her if he wanted to live to see his next birthday. He stepped purposefully towards them when his progress was interrupted by Neil who struck up a conversation. "Damn it!" he hissed under his breath as he watched him place a hand on her arm.

*****

Shane laughed, "I'll bet it wasn't that bad..."

"You don't even understand... The noodles weren't so much noodles as a paste... The entire team went hungry rather than eat it," she smiled as she described the disastrous attempt at cooking dinner.

"So..." he said after a slight lull in the conversation.

Emily started to feel slightly uncomfortable with all the attention he was focusing on her, not that it was anything she couldn't handle. She knew he was angling to get her number, something she had no intention of giving. She didn't know if whatever was happening between her and Morgan was going to amount to anything, but this guy was nowhere near the same caliber as him and she certainly wasn't going to take the risk of losing him.

But before she could shoot him down on her own though, Morgan beat her to it. Having side-stepped Neil, he stomped purposefully towards them and pulled Shane aside with a forceful grip on his upper arm.

Emily gave a startled cry and hissed, "Morgan, what are you doing?"

Ignoring her for the moment, Morgan growled, "You stay away from her!"

"What?" he asked slightly warily, but not one to back down.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from her!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Shane challenged.

"You don't want to find out..." Morgan said, his voice dangerously low.

Before things could get out of control, Emily interrupted. Grabbing Morgan's wrist and twisting it behind his back until he squirmed in pain, she forced him to be quiet. To Shane, she said, "I'm really sorry if I lead you on, but I never had any intention of taking this beyond a casual conversation..." With an apologetic smile she lead Morgan away, only releasing her grip on his wrist when they reached the trail leading away from the clearing.

******

The entire walk back to the cabin Emily didn't say a word, but Morgan could sense that she was silently fuming. He didn't try to break the silence by talking her down, knowing that would only make it worse. Only when they had reached the cabin did she allow her anger to explode. "You had no right!" she hissed.

"What?"

"You had no right to treat me like property!"

"You're right, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I was out of line..."

"Out of line?" she repeated incredulously. "You were so far past the line..." she was too furious to come up with an end to that sentence. "It's not your place to decide who I talk to! We kissed twice," she reminded him.

"I know..." he said softly, not daring to meet her eyes, "I just thought..." He paused and, seeing the annoyance in her eyes, finished quieter, "...it meant something."

Clearly that had been the wrong thing to say because her glare became icy. "I can't believe you just said that!" Tears began to sparkle in her eyes, "That you would even think that it didn't mean something to me..." The end of her sentence caught in her throat. Before she broke into tears, she turned on her heel and went into the cabin, slamming the door behind her.

Morgan winced at the slamming of the door against the frame. He allowed a few minutes to pass before he came in after her. She was lying in her bunk, seemingly asleep, but he could tell from her soft sniffling that she was only pretending. He had really screwed up this time...