A/N: So Morgan and Reid are finally going to talk to Jordan in this chapter guys... I wonder what's going to happen? And yes, Elle does crop up again too...
Oh, and I still have my poll up on my profile about whether or not I should write a Reid/Morgan mpreg, if you haven't voted yet please do!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters.
When Reid entered the office the next morning, he was fully aware that the eyes of the rest of the team were on him. "It's okay, pretty boy," Morgan whispered. "You don't have to tell them about why you ran out yesterday. You don't have to tell them anything if you don't want to."
"I know," said Reid. "But they're probably going to ask, and you know I'm no good at keeping secrets."
"You managed to keep our relationship a secret from the team until we were ready," Morgan pointed out. "And nobody else knows yet."
"That's a completely different situation, Derek," said Reid. "They all saw me run out of the café yesterday. They all know that something's wrong."
"Spencer, they won't make you tell them what's going on if you don't want them to," said Morgan. "They're our friends, they'll respect that."
Reid was saved from saying anything more by their arrival at their desks, and seeing JJ standing there talking to Prentiss. "Morning, boys," Prentiss said cautiously.
"Oh, good morning, Prentiss," Morgan replied, flashing Prentiss an easy grin.
"Oh, god, you've got that 'I had sex last night' look," Prentiss groaned. "I think I just threw up a little in my mouth."
"Prentiss, don't be so harsh!" said JJ, but with a tone of laughter to her voice.
"She's right, though," said Morgan with a grin and a wink in Reid's direction. "My pretty boy is hard to resist. Yes, I did have sex last night. Several times."
"Derek!" Reid exclaimed, his face turning bright red. "Do you have to tell them that?"
"You know I do, Spence, you know I do," Morgan laughed.
"Okay, moving on," said JJ, "Jordan wants to talk to you two. She's in my office."
Reid and Morgan looked at each other, then back at JJ, their joking moment forgotten. "Did she tell you what she wanted to talk about?" Morgan asked.
JJ shook her head. "She didn't tell me," she said. "She just said she really needed to talk to you guys. She looked like she meant it, too."
"I guess we're going to go talk to Jordan, then," said Morgan. "C'mon, Spencer." He clapped a hand on Reid's shoulder. "Let's talk to her now, before we start working."
Reid nodded, following Morgan across the bullpen and up to JJ's office. Morgan knocked on the open door, outwardly displaying a confidence and an easiness that he didn't actually feel. "Jordan? JJ said you wanted to talk to us?"
Jordan looked up from the file she had been studying, startled. "Morgan, Reid, yes," she said. "Please, come in."
The two men entered the office and immediately sunk into the chairs opposite the desk. "What did you want to talk about?" Morgan asked.
"I… I actually wanted to apologise," Jordan said, shocking both men. "The- the way I acted when you told me about your relationship… well, there's no other way to put it, really; it was kinda mean."
"Jordan, you don't have to-" Reid began, but Jordan cut him off.
"Yes, I do, Reid," she said. "If not for you, then at least for me. I was telling the truth when I said I wasn't against your relationship. I was just shocked, and because of that, I reacted badly. I am truly sorry about that."
"We know you are, Jordan," said Morgan sincerely, and then he smirked at her. "We are profilers, remember?"
Even Jordan had to smile at that. "I do, yes," she said. She fell silent again for a moment, studying Morgan and Reid. "You know, JJ was right," she mused.
Morgan and Reid gave each other a confused look, before turning back to face Jordan. "Right about what?" said Reid.
"She said you were so much happier with each other than you'd ever been before," Jordan answered. "And she was right. Even though I only worked with you guys for a brief period before, I definitely did not see you as happy as this. You two must really love each other."
"We do," said Morgan, squeezing Reid's hand. "And we are. We are very happy, and we are very much in love."
"I don't know how anyone couldn't be accepting of something that could make two people so happy," said Jordan. "And Dr Reid, I am sincerely sorry for every way that I insulted you when you told me about you two. I know my shock at Morgan being with you was an insult, and I'm sorry. The more I thought about it, the more I could see how believable it is that the two of you could be together. I know the way I reacted was wrong, and I'm sorry."
"Thank you for saying that, Jordan, really," said Morgan.
"Certainly makes me feel better after yesterday," Reid added, but immediately closed his mouth afterwards. He'd already said too much.
Luckily, Jordan seemed to realise this, or at least realised she'd done enough damage previously that it wouldn't be a good idea to pry. Morgan realised this too, and rose from his seat. "Thanks for telling us that, Jordan," he said again, looking pensively at his younger lover, worried for him. "It definitely puts us at ease."
"I'm glad you're happy," said Jordan. "Really."
"Thanks, Jordan," said Reid, offering Jordan a smile before rising from his seat and following Morgan out of the office.
When they headed back down into the bullpen, JJ was still there talking to Prentiss, sitting on the edge of her desk. Both women looked up when they saw Reid and Morgan approach them. "What did she say?" JJ asked.
"She apologised," said Morgan. "She apologised for the way she reacted when Spencer and I told her about us. And she said you were right, JJ. When you said we were so much happier now than before we were together. She was really, really sorry."
"Well, I'm glad she apologised," Prentiss spoke up. "Now there's no more tension around here."
"Same here. I'm glad too," said Reid, although he was still rather distracted. Suddenly, he looked up at JJ. "Hey, JJ, you don't have a change of address form or something like that, do you?" he asked.
"Yeah…" JJ replied slowly, looking confused. "What for?"
"Oh, my lease on my apartment is almost up," said Reid. "So I have to move out."
"You found somewhere else to live?" JJ asked.
Reid nodded. "Oh, uh, yeah," he stammered. "A friend of mine is renting me out a place." He shot Morgan a look, seeing he was about to open his mouth.
"Oh. Are you going to be happy living there?" said JJ.
Reid smiled warmly. "Yes, I am," he replied. "Most definitely."
JJ and Prentiss looked at each other, rather confused, but then shrugged it off. "I'll get that form for you, Spence," JJ said, before heading back to her office and Prentiss turned back around to her desk.
"At least that distracted them from yesterday," Morgan whispered in Reid's ear before sitting down at his own desk. "And we're talking later, okay?"
Knowing exactly what Morgan wanted to talk about, Reid nodded before turning around to face his desk. He'd barely managed to start work on the first folder, however, when his phone began to ring. He glanced down at it, confused, when he didn't recognise the caller ID.
"Who is it?" Morgan asked.
"No idea," said Reid, pressing the send button on his phone. "Hello?"
"Reid?" said a voice. "It's Elle. Can we talk?"
"I'm at work," said Reid, his eyes growing wide. "So now's probably not the best time."
"Of course," said Elle. "Can we talk later?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess," said Reid. "Uh, you could probably come by my house later…" He told her his address, while Morgan and Prentiss threw him confused looks. "Can I ask you something, though? Why are you calling me and not one of the others?"
"You were the only one I knew for sure would not have changed his mobile number," Elle replied. "And you definitely seemed to be the most happy to see me out of everyone."
"That's probably true," Reid admitted. "But I don't exactly want to tell you the reason for that over the phone, in the middle of the bullpen."
"I guess I'll see you later then," said Elle. "Bye." And she hung up the phone.
"Okay, pretty boy, spill," Morgan demanded as soon as Reid hung up. "Who on earth was that?"
"It was, uh…" Reid struggled to get the name out; he was so confused as to why she had called him.
"Tell me, Spencer," said Morgan. "Don't make me hurt you."
"Oh yeah, 'cause I'm sure that's a real threat," Prentiss interjected. "He probably wants you to hurt him!"
"Prentiss!" Reid exclaimed, shocked. His face turned bright red again. "I- I don't know how to counter that without embarrassing myself even more," he admitted.
"He means that I'm never so rough as to hurt him like that," said Morgan bluntly, causing both Reid and Prentiss to let out shocked gasps, "but stop trying to change the subject, Spencer. Who just called you?"
"It was Elle," Reid finally managed to say. His two fellow agents fell completely silent, trying to figure out what to say.
"What did she want?" Morgan asked.
"She just wants to talk to me," Reid replied. "She said she called me because I'm the one that was most accepting of her return out of everyone. Prentiss, Rossi and Jordan excepted of course, because they never met her before."
"So she's going to meet you at your house, then?" said Morgan, shooting Reid a meaningful look.
"The house that I still technically live in at the moment, until I've moved out properly," Reid clarified.
Morgan opened his mouth to say something more, but realising that Prentiss was sitting right there and listening in made him stop. No one broached the subject of Elle again that day, or Jordan or Gideon. Hotch did head down from his office at one stage to give the three agents some files, and Rossi came down to ask them some questions for a consult, and both men looked like they wanted to say something to Reid, but after meaningful looks from Morgan both of the older agents said nothing.
When the working day started to draw to a close, Reid finally set aside his last file. Normally he'd have finished a lot faster, but he'd definitely been distracted that day. "I guess I'm out of here," he sighed, rising from his seat. "See you later, Prentiss."
"See you." Prentiss replied. Reid turned to leave, but after a moment turned back around.
"You coming, Derek, or not?" he asked.
Morgan couldn't help but be a little bit stunned by Reid's words. "You still want me to come over tonight?" he said. "Even though Elle's coming to talk to you?"
"I want you there, Derek," Reid confirmed. "It will be easier for me to talk to her if you're there."
"And if she asks questions? About why I'm there?"
"We don't have to tell her," said Reid. "And besides, you drove me into work this morning. Even if you weren't going to stay, you at least have to drop me off."
"Touché, Spence," said Morgan. "Let's go then."
"What time is Elle coming?" Morgan asked when they pulled up outside Reid's apartment.
"No idea," said Reid as they headed up the stairs. "I just know that she's coming to see me tonight?"
"So we have time?" Morgan whispered, slowly closing the gap between him and Reid. Reid didn't try to close the gap himself, but he didn't back away, either.
"She could be here any minute…" Reid warned.
"Baby, I don't give a damn," said Morgan, wrapping his arms around Reid's slender waist.
"What the hell is going on here?" Elle demanded.
Reid and Morgan sprang apart and turned to face Elle, who was standing in the doorway with a look of utter confusion and shock on her face. It was just lucky she hadn't walked in five seconds later, or she would've seen their lips locked and their hands groping each other. As it was they were only hugging, but in a rather intimate way, with their arms around each other's waists and Morgan's hands drifting dangerously close to Reid's ass. The situation she had caught them in would definitely raise Elle's suspicions and probably cause a rather large dose of confusion. They would have to think fast.
"Elle! We- we can explain!" Reid spluttered, looking anywhere but at Morgan.
Morgan, too, was rather unsure. "How did you get in here?" he asked.
"Reid's front door was unlocked," Elle replied. "You've really got to be more careful with that. So what is going on?"
"Nothing's going on, Elle," said Morgan defensively.
Elle didn't believe him in the slightest. "Come off it, Morgan," she scoffed. "I was a profiler. I know you're lying."
Morgan sighed and turned to face Reid. The younger man was still unsure, but nodded at Morgan, shooting him a look that said, she was going to find out anyway. "You're right, Elle," he admitted. "There is something going on between me and Spencer."
"I'll say," said Elle. "For one thing, you just called Reid by his first name. You never did that before. And you were hugging when I walked in. Reid, you never let anyone hug you- especially the way you two were. And every time I've seen you, you two have been together. Have you really become that close friends?"
"More than friends, actually," Morgan admitted. He moved back towards Reid, and laced their fingers together.
Elle stared at them, eyes popping out of their sockets. "No way," she breathed. "The two of you are together?" Reid and Morgan nodded. "Like boyfriends?"
"Well… yeah," said Reid, unsure of what else to say. Morgan gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, and Reid turned and smiled at him.
"This isn't just some joke that Morgan made up?" said Elle.
Morgan shook his head. "No. I love him, Elle," he confessed.
Elle focused her gaze on Reid. "And what about you?" she asked him.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Reid stammered.
"How do you feel about Morgan?" Elle clarified.
"I… if I was being honest with myself, I think I've been falling for Derek since the day we first met," Reid confessed. "I love him more than I ever thought possible."
"This is really serious," Elle realised as she watched Morgan and Reid, seeing how close together they were standing, how they gravitated towards each other without even thinking. "Do the team know?"
Morgan nodded. "Not at first. JJ always knew, and the situation came up where we had to tell Garcia. But eventually we felt it was time for the team to know," he explained.
"How the hell did this happen?" Elle exclaimed, slightly incredulously.
Reid opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again when he saw Morgan's expression. "It was closed off, guarded. "I don't think Derek wants to tell you anymore," Reid realised.
Elle looked confused. "Why?" she asked.
"Because you left us, Elle," Morgan replied shortly. "You gave up that right to know those things about me when you did that."
"Derek…" Reid whispered cautiously, almost timidly.
Morgan turned to look at Reid. "I'm sorry, Spence. I just… I'm not ready to forgive her just yet."
Reid sighed. "I understand." He turned back to face Elle, whose expression was both confused and a little hurt. "Why did you want to talk to us?"
"I wanted to talk to you about Gideon," said Elle, causing Reid to take a step back in shock. "He came to me, knowing that we're both in the same situation. Knowing that we're both trying to work our way back into the team's good books. He wanted my help."
"He wants your help getting back into my good books specifically, doesn't he?" Reid realised. "He should know that it's not going to happen that easily."
"He does know that, Reid," said Elle. "He also knows that you won't accept any calls from him, so he asked me to pass on a message."
"What kind of message?" Reid asked wearily.
"He says he realises he hurt you, and he's terribly sorry," said Elle. "And he knows it make take you some time, but he hopes you can at least talk."
"He's right about it taking time," said Reid almost angrily. "He can't expect me to welcome him back into my life so easily."
"Okay, now I'm curious," said Elle. "You and Gideon were close, Reid. He was your mentor; like a surrogate father to you. What did he do that was so bad?"
Reid just shook his head, looking down at his feet while trying to fight back the tears that now threatened to burst forth. Morgan moved forward and wrapped his arms around Reid protectively, shooting Elle an angry look. "Elle, he doesn't want to talk about Gideon, okay?" he hissed. "Gideon hurt him, simple as that. If you want to know how, ask the man yourself."
"He wouldn't tell me, Morgan," said Elle. "And I don't really feel comfortable hearing that from anyone other than Reid himself."
"Well thank you, Elle," said Morgan, a little surprised. He still refused to let Reid go, however, holding the younger man to his side.
"Can I… can I ask you a different question, though?" Elle asked, a little bit scared by the threatening look on Morgan's face.
"Depends on what it is," said Morgan.
"Why were you so ready to welcome me back, Reid? Why was it so easy for you?" said Elle.
"Because he still feels guilty, Elle!" Morgan exclaimed. "He still feels guilty about the fact that he talked to you that night, before you went out and shot Lee, and he knew something was wrong with you, and he couldn't stop you from doing anything! He blamed himself!"
"Reid, I had no idea…"
"You should have," said Morgan. "You knew Reid. You should have known he would've felt so guilty. Did you ever think about the rest of us in anything that you did?"
"Derek!" Reid cried, gripping his boyfriend's arm and turning him around to face him. "Derek, it's fine. Don't worry about it, please." He turned to face Elle. "I'm sorry about him. He's just trying to protect me. It can get annoying, sometimes."
"He only does it because he loves you, Reid," said Elle with a small smile, that fact blatantly obvious now she had seen the two men in close quarters. "Well, I've done what I came here for. I'll just tell Gideon that you need more time."
"See you later, Elle," said Reid. "Oh, and can you not tell Gideon about Derek and I, please? I'm definitely not ready for him to know just yet." Elle gave them both a small nod and a wave, and turned and walked out of the apartment.
Even after Elle had disappeared, Morgan was still feeling rather angry. Reid ran his hands gently down Morgan's arms, trying to calm him down. He knew Reid was right. He knew he shouldn't have snapped at Elle. But he'd just been so angry that Elle hadn't realised what her departure had done to Reid, that she hadn't realised how guilty Reid would have felt, that he had snapped. He hadn't been able to stop himself from yelling at her; it had been his natural instinct to defend Reid.
"Spencer, I am so sorry," Morgan said after a while. "I shouldn't have gotten like that, I-"
"Derek, it's okay," Reid said again. He reached up and stroked Morgan's cheek gently. "You were just trying to protect me, yeah?"
Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I was," he admitted. "And, well… I was hurt by her leaving, and by what she did… I guess I'm just not ready to forgive her just yet."
"I understand," said Reid. "I think I was rather close to telling her about Gideon, anyway. And I'm not ready to do that."
"We've got to figure something out though, baby," Morgan warned. "They're not just going to go away."
"I know," Reid sighed. "But for now, can we just focus on packing up all my stuff to move it into your house? I have boxes in my study."
"It's our house now," Morgan correct, a huge grin on his face. "But yes, we can do that. I'll get the boxes, and then we can figure out what we want to go in where."
Reid smiled and followed Morgan out of the room, trying to focus his mind on the task at hand, and work as hard as he could to forget about Elle and Gideon, at least for the time being.
A/N: Okay, so now Elle knows about Reid and Morgan, hmm... That's actually not how I originally planned the chapter to go, I didn't plan on Morgan yelling at Elle actually. Stupid muse. Oh well, I think it worked better this way, don't you?
Note from Diamond Cobra: It's late and I apologise for any errors I may have missed. My mind wasn't exactly sharp when I was checking this over. If you spot any, feel free to point them out in a review and call me names. I won't get offended I promise. In fact, that applies to any chapter. Insult me when I screw up XD. (Seriously guys, she beta-ed this at 1 in the morning, when I'd already been asleep for 2 and a half hours...)
Reviews, guys? You know you want to!