Note: You're welcome. And, I'm sorry. ;;
Beta-readers: Bardicfaerie.
Chapter summary: Things click in Morgan's head.

Chapter 10

Morgan got up early as he did every morning and went to help Ashley with breakfast again. He settled into his new routine fairly easily. He'd just managed to wake Reid when Garcia barged into the tent. "Morgan, Reid!" she yelled. "We have company!"

They rushed outside. As soon as they stepped out of the soundproof tent, they could hear a noise that reverberated all around the steep cliff faces until it sounded like thunder was exploding all around, under and over them. "What's that noise?!" Reid asked, covering his ears.

Morgan saw Ashley turn around and freeze. He glanced back. Damn, he'd forgotten about the mask and voice modulator. Apparently, so had Reid. Oh well, there was nothing for it now. "I don't know," Morgan said, moving so the girls (and Reid) were between his back and the tents.

"Horses, I think," Garcia said. "The echoes make judging their numbers hard."

"The Barbarillos?" Morgan asked. Jordan moved next to him and took a gun out from under her pant leg where a holster was strapped to her calf. he didn't have time to be impressed.

"Probably," Garcia replied, looking frightened.

Derek took out his guns, the one at his belt and the one in his boot both. "Okay, anyone else know how to shoot?" he asked, holding up one gun. The other three shook their heads. "Damn. Okay, Doc." He gave Reid one of the guns. "You and Jordan cover Ashley. I'll cover Garcia." Reid nearly dropped the gun, but then there was that quiet strength that Morgan had just started to notice recently, and the young doctor nodded and moved to the other side of Jordan. They held up the firearms.

When the would-be bandits came into view, three successive shots sounded and two men fell off their horses. Then, things turned slightly chaotic. There was the sound of hooves, the sound of guns firing, screams, yells, horses neighing and throwing their riders. Morgan was a damn good shot and every single person he fired at, fell. He saw some bandits go down, that he knew he hadn't aimed at but he didn't know who, between Reid and Jordan, had fired the shots that had felled them.

Then, a dozen men or so were strewn in front of them and there were only three marauders left. Seeing how they were clearly no match for three guns, they turned their horses around and started running for it.

"Oh no, you don't!" Morgan called out after them. He sprinted forward, but he couldn't outrun horses. He slowed down and took the time to grab one horse whose master lay dead at its feet. He heaved himself up and the horse neighed and shook its head. "C'mon, man. Go!" He dug his heel into its flanks and the horse bounded forward.

"Morgan!" he heard Reid call after him. "Don't!"

Morgan ignored him and urged the horse on. The three human rats before him were still going too fast. He aimed at the one closest to him and fired. The sound of the shot echoed and spooked the horse. It reared up onto its hind legs suddenly, neighing in terror. Morgan had never actually ridden a horse before. He was easily thrown off of the frightened animal. He fell, hit the ledge of the platform they had been camping on and kept going, right over it and into the ravine below.

"Morgan!" he heard Reid yell in panic, and felt intense pain as the sharp edges of the rocks ripped into him.

There was this short moment where he thought the fall was going to be the end of him, but then, just like that, it was over. He was at the bottom, in a sort of puddle of loose sand, about two metres below the platform. He took a minute to just breathe, relieved that he was still alive, and still in one piece. His right shoulder, back and side hurt, but nothing appeared to be broken. He was lucky as hell that there was a cushion of sand to break his fall. He pushed himself upright with a groan, then got to his feet and took a few more seconds to sigh in relief, then he raised his left arm, waving in the general direction of their little campsite. "I'm all right," he called out. "Well, I hurt like hell, but I'm alive." He heard running footsteps. Jordan peeked over the side, then Garcia, and finally Ashley.

"Need a hand up?" Jordan asked.

"I'm good," he said. He climbed using the same rocks that had hurt his back on his way down. They were sharp and it was painful, so he was glad he only had a short distance to climb. Soon, he was standing on the platform once more, with an armful of Garcia. "Okay," he said, "that was an adventure." He patted Garcia's head. "I'm okay, I really am."

"You scared the hell out of me!" She squeezed him tighter.

"I know, I know," he said. "I'm sorry." He turned towards their camp and saw Reid just sort of standing there, looking frozen in place. When their eyes met, the young doctor jerked, his lips tightened in a thin line, and he turned away. A moment later, he disappeared in their tent.

Morgan let go of the techie. "Sorry, girl," he apologized and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'll just go see if he's all right, okay?"

Garcia nodded and took a step back. Jordan exclaimed, "Morgan, you're bleeding!" The girls started fretting, but Morgan waved them off. "Just get me a first aid kit, I'm going to check on Reid."

"Penny, you could have told us he had a husband, not a wife!" he heard Ashley say. "Why lie about his gender like this?"

Garcia sighed, "It's a long story. Is the first-aid kit in the luggage car or our tent?"

Morgan ignored them after that, not really wanting to know how Garcia would explain the whole situation. Things were already awkward enough as it was. He jogged back to their tent and up the steps. He pushed the door aside roughly and stepped in. The young doctor had his back to him. "Reid," he began.

The younger man turned to him. "Why are you such an insufferable ardipithecus?!" he asked, somewhat shakily. He started pacing back and forth, twisting his hands. Even when he was insulting him, Reid had to use words that seemed to come straight out of a dictionary, fresh and never once used before in the history of mankind. Morgan thought it was an insult, anyway. He had no clue what ardipithecus meant.

For some reason, Reid's reaction bothered him. Sure, they had gotten closer in the past few weeks, but he didn't think it was quite so much that the younger man should start yelling at him like this. "Morgan," Reid stopped right in front of him and Derek could smell strong coffee on his breath. "Morgan, you could have died!"

"Yeah," Derek was totally taken aback by the strength of his gaze. Hazel. "Yeah, I could've. I guess that was pretty reckless, huh."

"Reckless doesn't even begin to cover it! What if you had died, Morgan?! What about–" His voice broke and he turned away from Derek, who stood there, not knowing what to do or how to react. He didn't get what the big drama was. So what if he had died?

He'd much rather be alive, of course, thank you very much. For one, he had a mother and two sisters he cared a lot about, even though he didn't see them nearly often enough. He didn't want to cause them grief. And maybe, just maybe, Reid would be a little bummed out for a bit if he died, but he was brilliant. He'd get to the ship and get off this god-forsaken planet. He would probably be able to work the ship even better than Morgan, actually. Maybe with that big brain of his, he'd understand all of the intricate details that made it defy the laws of physics or whatever it was that made the ship so impossible.

He shifted from one foot to the other, clenched and unclenched his fists, and still, Reid was just standing there, with his back to him. He didn't seem to be crying. There was no sound; he wasn't even moving. He just stood, straight as an I. Morgan cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head, resisting the urge to sigh noisily. "Listen, Kid, uh..." He didn't know what he was supposed to be saying. "Reid," he tried again, taking a step closer and gently put a hand on his shoulder. Then he took another half-step closer. "Spencer." Reid finally turned his head a fraction towards Morgan, so he tried again, "Spencer, I'm sorry I freaked you out, okay?" He kept his voice soft, and was rewarded by Reid finally pivoting and looking at him.

They were close, much closer than Morgan felt comfortable with. Reid's right shoulder was brushing against his left, though his other side was angled away from him, and when the young man turned his head towards him, it brought their faces only inches apart. But as Morgan started moving to take a step back to a more adequate distance, Reid's gaze just sort of locked onto his. Like it had that night on the sand dune. He was vaguely aware of the thought that if Jordan meant to interrupt them again, now would be a damn good time. Only, he suddenly really didn't want anyone to walk in, for some reason.

Reid's eyes slid down to his mouth, and the younger man's lips parted. He seemed about to say something, but ended up licking his lips instead. And then he just closed the distance between them and molded his mouth to Morgan's. And all Derek could think was, 'Oh.' Suddenly, so many things clicked into place. 'Oh.'

He should really move away. His hand even came up to push Reid gently away, only the order seemed to have short-circuited on the way, when his hand was somewhere around the height of Spencer's shoulder. It kept going up until it cradled the side of his head for a moment before burying in the soft waves and curls. Reid shifted, turned the rest of the way, and he gripped Morgan's sides, hands tightening into fists, twisting the light fabric of his tunic. Morgan was a bit surprised at how totally okay he was with the sudden turn of events. And he was. More than okay, really. His free hand landed on Reid's hip and pulled him closer. The young doctor made a soft sound in the back of his throat and Morgan's head started spinning a little. He changed the angle, pushed his tongue forward and tasted strong, very strong coffee and those weird cubic sweets Penelope was always giving them.

"Oh hey, Derek I – Oh, my." Speak of the devil.

Morgan took a step back, away from the younger man and those damn intoxicating lips that made him lose his head for a bit, there. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and realized his eyes were boring into Reid's, though he wasn't sure what he was looking for. He cleared his throat again and turned away.

"Hey Garcia," he said, his voice a little tight, "you need something?"

"No, my lovely Adonis," she replied with a wicked grin, "I believe it is you who needs something." She held up a bag. "First aid kit? I was going to offer to patch you up, but it seems you'd rather let your wife," her tone had an edge of teasing laughter underneath, "do it for you."

"Now, Baby Girl, that ain't..."

"Ah-ah-ah." She wiggled a finger left to right and right to left in front of his nose a few times. "No use in denying it. You had your tongue in his mouth and I saw it." Reid made a little strangled sound behind him and he didn't need to turn around to know the young doctor was hiding his face in his hands. Hell, if Garcia hadn't been right in his face, he might have done that himself. "And if you guys are comfortable enough around each other to intimately check the compatibility of your immune systems, he can take care of your wounds." She pushed the kit into his hands.

"Garcia," Morgan pleaded, "Princess, stop teasing."

"I tease because I love," she answered breezily, then looked past Morgan. "Boy Wonder, he's all yours."

Then she turned, and with one last wave, she walked herself out. Derek took a deep breath, counted to ten, and turned towards the young doctor. Their eyes met for a split second before Reid looked away.

"That... was mortifying," he said a little shakily.

Morgan couldn't help a laugh at that. "Hey, now, it wasn't that bad."

"Mortifying," Reid repeated and let himself fall gracelessly into one of the seats.

"Pretty Boy," Derek walked over and put the kit down onto his lap, reminding him, "you kissed me. If anyone should be freaking out here, I think it should be me."

"I'm not freaking out."

"Good," Morgan patted him on the arm, "cause I need your help with this." He started undoing his belt, and suddenly realized that, in view of what had happened between them, standing in front of Reid while removing his tunic would be beyond inappropriate. He wasn't too sure what was going on, but they were definitely past the point of casual undressing around each other, but not yet to the point of not-casual undressing.

He was starting to give himself a headache.

His pause made Reid look up at him and damn if Morgan had never noticed how large his eyes were and how perfect his mouth looked for, whoa there. Not going there. He cleared his throat and turned away so he could remove his belt and top without feeling like he was about to snap and ravish the young man. Once he was dressed only in his loose-fitting pants, he picked up one of the chairs and pulled it so it was next to Reid's.

"Okay, Doc. Do your thing."

"You do realize that I am not a medical doctor, don't you?" Reid asked him, and Morgan nearly jumped out of his skin when the young man placed the tip of his fingers on his shoulder. Damn, they were cold. How could anyone have icy fingers in the middle of the hottest desert in the entire galaxy was beyond him. "My degrees are in physics–"

"Can you disinfect and bandage a wound?" Morgan interrupted, not really caring to know what Reid had studied. He felt stupid enough just trying to communicate with the kid without hearing about his long list of scholarly accomplishments.

Reid faltered a bit, taken aback by his sudden brusque manner. "Uh, yeah," he said a little uncertainly, "I can do that." He leaned in to take a closer look. "I see a few cuts," he said after a moment, "but mostly abrasion of the skin. It looks worse than it is because of the sand."

He rummaged through the bag and Morgan forced himself to take a deep breath and slowly let it go. He could still taste sweet coffee. And he never used sugar in his, so he knew exactly where the taste had come from. He turned his head to look at Spencer. "Reid," he said and waited until the younger man looked up briefly in acknowledgement, but the hazel eyes soon slid away and Reid went back to rummaging through the first aid kit. "Reid, what was that?"

"Abrasions are damage to the skin that go no deeper than the epidermis–"

"I know what abrasions are, Reid." Morgan said with a sigh. He watched him wash his hands with an antibacterial solution, then take a disinfectant vial and break it open. The sudden acrid smell nearly made him gag. Reid poured the transparent liquid onto a cloth and started cleaning his shoulder, making Morgan suck in a breath. "That's not what I'm talking about," he added once he got used to the burning sensation of the disinfectant, "and you know it."

"Yeah," Reid replied, somewhat testily, "I'm a little busy at the moment. Perhaps you might want to reschedule this talk."

"So you can avoid me for another week again?" Morgan asked, and felt vindicated enough when he saw Reid wince a bit. "I'm serious, Kid," he insisted. "I want to know what goes on in that big brain 'o yours. What was – Ow! That hurt, Reid!"

"I told you, I'm a little busy, now can you please shut up and let me clean out your wounds?"

His voice had a pleading quality to it, so Morgan looked at him for a moment, then sighed. "All right," he said, "but you will talk about this." Reid's hazel eyes flicked up, met his, then returned to Morgan's shoulder and back. This was probably as close to an answer as he was going to get, so Derek let it drop. A few moments went by in silence, broken only by Morgan's sharp intakes of breath when Reid did something that was painful on his broken skin. He let the young doctor reposition his arm as needed to get to where one cut curved around the side of his upper torso.

Then, finally, Reid snapped the kit shut and placed it back in its bag, "There, I've finished with it. You can put your clothes on now."

Morgan pushed himself up and picked up his tunic. "I guess this would be slightly less awkward if I had some clothes on – Reid?"

By the time he had straightened up and turned towards the door, Reid had already left.