Chapter 21

Emily heard the mumbling and the constant tapping of keyboards in the bullpen, but it barely registered. Her mind was on a whole other planet. Since she had found the ring a couple of days ago, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Or the man who possessed the ring.

Derek Morgan. Damn that man. He was going to ask her to marry him after dating for less than two weeks? Who does that? And what should she say when he did propose? While it was true that their relationship had taken an unconventional route and they could tell each other 'I love you' without it being an accident, it was still too soon for them.

And what scared her to death was that she really, really wanted to marry him. Especially after watching him with Henry. Emily already knew that their children would worship Morgan. They would adore their giant of a father, almost as much as he would adore them. She could hear their shrieks of laughter as he lifted them high in the air, convinced that he need only lift them a little higher and they could pluck stars right out of the sky. Her heart ached with love at these thoughts.

She shook her head hard and attempted to concentrate on the paperwork in front of her, but quickly found herself thinking about her personal problems again. She liked her work, loved it, actually. But her relationship with Morgan was a direct violation of its code of ethics. Just being together could get them and Hotch in big trouble. Marriage would immediately force one of them to leave. And if they were married, it would make sense for her to leave instead of him. After all, she would be the one getting pregnant.

Hold that thought. Pregnant. Children. Where had that come from? She couldn't believe herself. Morgan hasn't even proposed and she was already letting her thoughts run wild. Maybe that ring didn't belong to Morgan. 'What would it be doing in his pocket if it wasn't his?' God, this was getting ridiculous.

She sighed and shook her head again. 'Back to work, Emily. Back to work.'

******

Despite the interesting storyline and the talented cast of the movie, Emily couldn't seem to concentrate on anything but the whole ordeal with the ring. It had been a week and Morgan hadn't so much as brought up a conversation that remotely concerned marriage or weddings. The whole waiting thing was driving her up the wall. She let out a sigh that betrayed her frustration.

"Baby, is something wrong?" Morgan asked, looking down at her.

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, unconvinced. "You seem distracted. For the whole week."

She nodded, "I'm just tired."

He didn't quite believe her, but he didn't want to push her. He had learned the hard way that pushing her for information would cause her to close herself up even more. The only thing he could do was to wait for her to come to him. "Alright," he pulled her closer, pressing a kiss on her temple. "You want to go to bed now?"

"Let's finish the movie first," she mumbled against his chest. While they sat in silence, quietly watching the movie, he seemed to need to touch her every few minutes; hugging her gently, stroking her arms, caressing her hair, kissing her forehead. It was comforting yet frustrating.

"Derek, do you think we're moving too fast?" she asked softly.

He shifted to look at her, "Maybe. But it works for us, right? And we've known each other for years before we started dating, so perhaps that's why we're a little faster than other couples."

"Yeah, maybe," she answered pensively. "But I do like where we are now. I don't want anything change yet."

"Don't worry, nothing is going to change between us any time soon," he smiled, "Is that what you've been thinking about all week?"

"Kind of."

"Look, I know we're both kind of new to this whole serious relationship thing, but I believe we're doing just fine," he assured her. "Don't worry, okay? Nothing is going to change."

"Okay." Nothing is going to change? Then what's with the engagement ring? Emily sighed; she could foresee another sleepless night and countless questions with no answers.

******

Emily couldn't take it anymore. She needed to know why he had an engagement ring with him. Two weeks of waiting for something to happen had taken a toll on her. Sleepless nights, thousands of unanswered questions, and constantly having to pretend that she didn't know about the ring was just eating her up inside. She wanted – needed – to know and she was going to make him tell her. She waited until he was in the shower, picked up the jacket, and pulled out the ring.

The moment Morgan stepped out of his shower, he found Emily at the edge of the bed. Their eyes met and he could tell that something was bothering her. Something had been bothering Emily for the past week, but she wouldn't tell him anything. She would pretend everything was fine and simply say that she was tired. Her moods changed faster than usual. It reminded him of when JJ was pregnant with Henry. JJ also said that she was always tired when she was pregnant.

Could Emily be pregnant? He wouldn't be surprised. He had made love to her countless times and they'd never spent a night apart. Is that why she was afraid things were going to change between them? He quickly made his way to her, kneeling down in front of her, he asked, "Baby, what's wrong? Are... Are you pregnant?"

She was like a deer in the headlights. Pregnant? Where did he get that? "No," she managed, "I'm not pregnant. Why would you say that?"

"I don't know," he replied, "You've been acting weird lately and you kept saying that you were tired..."

"I'm not pregnant. I'm sure."

"Okay, then can you tell me what's bothering you?" She opened up her hand, the ring sitting in her palm. She heard his breath hitch in his throat. "How..." he looked at her, shocked, unable to complete his sentence.

"I found it the other day, when we were babysitting Henry," she explained. "Why do you have a ring? Were you going to propose? Don't you think it's a little too soon for us?" She hadn't intended to ask so many questions at once, but she couldn't control her mouth. Those questions had been bugging her for way too long.

"First, it belonged to my mom," he began, "My dad gave it to her and, before we left Chicago, she passed it to me. She wanted me to give it to you. Believe it or not, she started planning for our wedding even before we got together," he laughed half-heartedly. "Second, I'm not going to ask you to marry me yet. And lastly, yes; it's a little too soon for us."

"But why didn't you tell her that?"she asked softly.

"I did, but she wanted me to hang on to it. Just in case," he said, letting their hands intertwine. "Look, I didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to freak out."

"So, you're not going to propose?" she smiled happily; she had got to be the first woman in the world who was delighted that her boyfriend wasn't going to be proposing to her any time soon. She felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders and she was more than ready for a long nap.

"Not yet," he smiled, "So, you're not pregnant?"

"Not yet,"she repeated his statement, yawning.

Morgan smiled and kissed her forehead. He knew she hasn't been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks since she had found the ring. "Sleep, princess. I'll wake you up for dinner."

She nodded, resting her head on the pillow, her eyelids slowly closing. "I love you," was the last thing she heard before drifting into a peaceful sleep.

Let us know what you think of this chapter; we always welcome constructive criticisms. Thanks a lot!