AN: Sorry I haven't replied to reviews. I normally would have done that yesterday, but I spent the whole day with a massive migraine. Hoping it goes away because my future brother in law's ebook was published today and I can't wait to read it!

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Derek was mad at me. Like really, super, über mad. He hadn't said as much, but he didn't have to. He had stormed out as soon as I'd made my declaration to Hotch and I hadn't seen him since. He hadn't gone to dinner with the team and, for the first time since we'd arrived in Cleveland, he hadn't accompanied me back to the hotel.

I had already showered, slipped into my jammies, and been curled up in bed moping for nearly an hour when he did decide to appear. When I heard the lock click, I rolled away from the door, hoping he'd think I was asleep. I didn't want him to know how much his anger had upset me. And I didn't want to talk to him either.

"I know you're awake, Baby Girl."

Well drat. There went that plan. Oh well. So what if he knew I was awake? Didn't mean I had to answer him.

"Come on, Goddess. You're not supposed to stop talking to me, remember?"

"I can't right now 'cause I'm mad at you." Oh double drat! The words escaped me before I could remember that I was trying to ignore him.

"You're mad at me? What the hell?" Great. Now this was going to turn into a thing and I really didn't think I had the energy to have a thing.

"I'm not going to fight with you, Morgan. So if you would please just leave me alone, I'd like to get some sleep." I yanked my blanket up and over my head. There. Thing deflected.

In the ensuing silence, I actually managed to find a glimmer of hope that he really was just going to drop it. And then, a moment later, my glimmer disappeared, along with the blanket I was hiding under.

He was standing over me, looking very stern and angry and...hurt. Why the hell was he hurt? I was the one who had the right to be hurt! "Go away, Derek."

"Oh no. You don't get to 'Derek' me and I run off with my tail between my legs. You and I, we are going to talk, Penelope." He plunked himself down on the bed next to me.

Now I was really mad. "You don't get to tell me what to do! I don't answer to you."

"I may not be your boss, but I am your best friend. I'd say that earns me the right to know why you are mad at me." He was staring at me expectantly.

I knew there was no way I was getting away with anything less than telling him and I was tired and cranky and tired of being away from home. So, I let him really have it. "I'm mad at you because you're mad at me for no good reason!"

I expected an eye roll. Or maybe a sarcastic come back. I absolutely did not expect Derek Morgan to deflate right before my eyes. Everything softened: his posture, his face, and his voice. "You think I'm mad at you?"

I pushed myself upright, completely lost. "Of course I think you're mad at me! I agreed to go in undercover at the convention and you stormed off and then you wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the day! What else am I supposed to think?"

His head dropped, his gaze settling on the floor. "I'm not mad at you. Parish: yes. Hotch: absolutely. But not you."

"Then why did I get the cold shoulder all day?"

He sat for a few minutes. Still and silent. Tense and withdrawn. All together, very un-Derek like. When he finally replied his voice was soft. "You didn't get the cold shoulder. I was avoiding everyone. I don't like feeling this way, and I sure as hell don't want anyone else to know about it."

Usually I considered myself fluent in Morganese, but we were definitely having a breakdown in communication. "What way is that?"

Another few minutes of silence before a reply so quiet I almost lost it in the ambient noise of the room. "Scared."

Great. Every time he answered a question I was getting more confused instead of less. "Scared? You're Derek Morgan. You're not scared of anything."

He was still staring at the carpet, but he increased his volume to a reasonable level. "That's not true. There's two things I'm terrified of. One is that I'll lose you. The other is that there will come a day that I won't be able to protect the people I care about. You agreeing to go in undercover on this assignment brought those two scenarios crashing together. That's why I reacted the way I did."

Few things were capable of truly shattering my heart anymore, but an emotionally vulnerable Derek certainly did the job. I leaned forward to grasp his hand with mine. "Oh, Pumpkin! Why don't you just tell me these things? I could have told you hours ago that you're stuck with me because I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you and the team will keep me perfectly safe."

His opposite hand came up to cover mine. "I wish I had the same confidence in myself that you do, Baby Girl, but I just don't."

I added my free hand to the top of the pile. "Well then, it's a good thing I have enough for both of us, isn't it?"

There. It was barely a twitch, but a saw it. A smile. "I guess so."

I squeezed both of his hands with mine. "Well I know so."