Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.

Spoilers for CM7.16: I Love You, Tommy Brown… but this piece also follows sometime after my previous story, Pact.

Promises

By
N. J. Borba

Clooney grunted as the cat swatted his tail again.

"Sergio, stop bothering him," Emily admonished, shooing the energetic feline off the sofa. Thankfully the old bulldog seemed only mildly annoyed by the pestering black cat. She sighed, turning her attention back to Derek and the baseball game they weren't really watching. "Sorry about Sergio," Emily apologized. "Normally he's pretty mellow, but he does have a mind of his own. And he's never been around other animals. Maybe it was a bad idea bringing him here this weekend."

"You've been spending a lot more time here," Morgan pointed out as he pulled her back to his side. They were both stretched out on his sofa, though allowing Clooney his spot at one corner where their feet resided. "I'm sure Sergio gets lonely being at your place on his own. And Clooney doesn't let too much bother him."

Emily relaxed again, resting her head against Derek's warm chest. She snuggled up even closer when his arm circled her waist. Their rare Saturday and Sunday off had been spent being as lazy as possible, sleeping in late, making love slowly, watching way too much TV and eating in bed or while lounging on the sofa. "I just wish they could get along," she voiced, watching as Sergio crept about the living room, carefully inspecting every inch of the new space.

"You know what they say about cats and dogs," Derek shrugged.

"Hmm…" she aimed her eyes at him. "And what about dog people and cat people getting along? We seem to do pretty well," Emily grinned.

He kissed her briefly. "We do," his agreement was genuine. It had only been a few months since they'd become more than friends, but it felt much longer since they'd known one another for years. And they'd been through a lot in the last year; her fake death, his guilt, and then nearly losing her again several weeks ago when an UnSub pushed her through a glass skylight in a warehouse. That event had finally cemented things for them.

Her good mood faded as thoughts overcame her.

"What's wrong?" Derek noticed the shift.

"Just thinking about Penelope and Kevin again," Emily revealed. "She really said no when he proposed?"

Derek nodded as one hand caressed Emily's shoulder. "She did," he sighed. "I kind of though if anyone could make marriage happen it would be those two," Morgan paused. "Never realized how much she enjoys her freedom." The TV light flickered, casting a red and blue glow about the room. The baseball game was rather slow and neither of them was really invested in it. "What are your feelings on marriage?" Morgan asked abruptly.

"Um… I…" all she could do was stutter for a moment, not having expected such an inquiry from him. Emily thought the question might have been different if there'd been a table between them, expensive wine and a fancy meal. Maybe some classical music playing and Derek down on one knee with a diamond ring in his outstretched hand. But she shook those thoughts away because they scared her more than his probing question. "Well… I…"

Morgan felt bad for putting her on the spot. She appeared to be partially stupefied and somewhat ready to bolt for the door. "Any thoughts at all," he gently prodded, finding he was much more curious about her answer now than he had been a minute ago.

"Yeah, of course…" she nodded, still stalling, still trying to wrap her head around the prospect of marriage or even just talking about it.

He swallowed nervously, his concern growing by each second that passed without a proper response to his question. "You know what, forget I asked. I guess Garcia's reaction just took me by surprise. She and Kevin have been dating for four years now, it seemed like the obvious next step to me," Derek expressed.

A sigh escaped Emily's lips. "I don't find it all that surprising," she finally revealed. "Take us, for example… I think what we have is great," Emily ventured a bit further, wondering just how much truth he really wanted, or could deal with. "I just don't think we need to ruin it with marriage."

That was not at all the response he'd been expecting, and he wasn't afraid to let her know. "I've always been of a mind to think that marriage isn't something that causes ruin," Morgan freely expressed his opinion.

"Except almost eighty percent of marriages end in divorce," Emily countered.

Feeling a possible fight on the horizon, Derek wondered if he should just drop the subject. But he couldn't. "If I wanted marriage statistics, I'd propose to Reid…" he trailed off a moment, worried that he'd taken the subject too far. But as he glanced down at her and recalled the events of the past year, Morgan knew that marrying Emily wasn't the furthest thought from his mind. "Emily, why wouldn't you want to get married?

As she gazed into his questioning eyes, Emily wondered the same thing. Her very first instinct had been to say that marriage was a wonderful thing and that happily ever after was something she'd dreamt about as a girl. But her head and mouth had hesitated, because life had soiled her one too many times in the love department. "Love, honor, cherish… people make those promises to one another every day, thousands of people… and then they break them so easily, so casually," she revealed.

"Emily, any promise I make to you would never be broken easily," Derek insisted.

His words hit their mark, but she was still hesitant. In some ways their relationship had already lasted for years, and in other ways it was still just an infant. His assurances made her heart feel safe, but it was her head that always ruled over her heart with an iron grip. "You say that now, but things change…"

"You're speaking from some kind of experience now, right?" he persisted. "Doyle?"

"My parents," she countered, though Doyle always had a way of sticking sideways in her thoughts when it came to contemplating her past relationships. "They got married so young, had me straight after college, and then they had work and traveling… it all contributed to them growing apart."

He nodded in understanding. "But they're still married," Morgan pointed out.

"Yeah, in paper," Emily agreed. "But I really don't think there's been a lot of love there for a while."

His fingers trailed down her arm and wrapped around her palm. Derek squeezed reassuringly. "That doesn't have to be us," he vowed.

"What about Hotch and Haley?" For some reason her doubts had suddenly become an argument. "They clearly still loved one another, but they couldn't make it work."

Morgan sighed, but he did his best not to get upset with her. He didn't know why he was still pursuing the topic, but he decided to argue the other side. "My parents loved each other and they stuck it out through a lot together. I'm pretty sure they'd still be together today if he hadn't been killed."

"Which brings me to the next matter of our job," she immediately jumped on the topic he'd brought up, pretty much forgetting about Garcia and Kevin where the issue of marriage was concerned. "We both put our lives on the line day after day and could be killed out there in the field at any time."

"You think I don't know that?" he replied with a hint of exasperation. "I lived for seven months thinking you were dead, Emily. And just a few weeks ago I watched you dangling from a skylight, wondering if that would be the end for real. I worry about you every time we're in the field. And that's not going to change if we're married," he insisted. Morgan took a quick breath and turned things around. "If I died and was just your boyfriend would you be any less upset than if I was your husband?"

That was an easy answer for her. "No, not at all," Emily replied.

"Okay…" he cracked a small smile, sorry for the heavy subject. "I'm seeing a lot of holes in your argument, which makes me wonder if this isn't all about something a little deeper?" He waited a moment, hoping maybe she'd offer up a suggestion to confirm his belief. But Derek could see that wasn't going to happen. "Fear, perhaps?"

She bit her bottom lip and finally nodded confirmation. "I just don't want to be the one who breaks those promises, the one who causes it all to fall apart," Emily confessed.

"That's a very valid fear," he had to admit.

A slow smile spread across her face, lighting her eyes. Derek always had a way of speaking plainly, cutting to the heart of things. He could get her to open up like no one else, which was amusing to her given the fact that it took a sledgehammer to open him up most of the time. "And you're willing to live with a woman, possibly marry this woman someday, who has openly admitted to her fear of commitment?" she questioned. "You'd take that risk?"

"Isn't marriage always a risk?" Morgan countered. "Emily," he lovingly caressed her hand, brushing his dark fingers across the tiny scars on her pale skin. "We are very different in some ways, but we're also a lot alike in others. We fight, we laugh… isn't that life in general - the ups and downs? I know it's a heck of a lot more fun having you in my life to do those things with than not having you there," he concluded. "Marriage wouldn't make a bit of difference to me, except it would be permanent. No turning back."

Emily felt her heart pumping a little faster. "Why does it feel almost as if you're proposing?" she tried to laugh it off.

"What if I was?" he daringly questioned.

"Would you promise to be patient with me?" she inquired, finding herself taking the matter serious.

Morgan chuckled. "Aren't I already extremely patient with you?"

Her smile returned. "I suppose."

He tenderly kissed the back of her hand before looking her in the eye again. "So, if I asked you at some point in the future if you wanted to marry me? Do you think you might be more willing to say yes than you were before we had this talk?"

"Yes," she nodded.

Derek beamed contentedly for a long time until a nasty thought entered his head. "But the whole point may be moot if Hotch decides to say anything about what he saw on that warehouse roof. I'm actually surprised he hasn't brought it up yet."

"He will," Emily was confident of that fact. "But it won't make any difference, will it? He can dictate our jobs, but not our lives."

"Now who's the optimistic one in this relationship?" Morgan kissed her slowly. "No matter what happens, no turning back?" he whispered.

She kissed him again. "Now that's a promise I can keep," Emily concurred.

The End