Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.
Anniversary
By
N. J. Borba
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a full flight this morning so please move out of the aisle as soon as you've reached your seat in order to help speed our boarding process.
Emily fastened her seatbelt as she listened to the calmly-stern voice of the flight attendant through the overhead speakers. She was thankful of her frequent flier club status which had allowed her to be one of the first to board. The only trouble was that it gave her a few extra minutes to worry about her last-minute trip to DC. Things between her and Derek had been affectionate and fun the last two months since his visit to London, but the distance aspect of their new romance was trying.
When they spoke of it, Derek was always supportive of her staying on in London.
But she couldn't shake the feeling that he was just humoring her, biding his time until she decided to move back to DC.
Realizing she had just a few minutes left before take-off, Emily pulled out her cell phone. It was a little past midnight in DC but she began the text anyhow, knowing he wouldn't receive it until morning. And by then she'd almost be there. What do you have planned this weekend? She typed the banal message. They often exchanged such idle chatter, curious about each other's daily life since they couldn't be there with one another. Hope you'll be around for my surprise. Love you.
Her thumb hovered over the send button, uncertainty clouding her thoughts. Finally she pressed down. It was sent.
Emily then quickly powered off the mobile unit in preparation for the flight. With a sigh or uncertainty, she closed her eyes and drifted off even before the flight departed.
"Excuse me…"
As the heavy fog of sleep slowly began to lift, reality started to return. She was on a flight to the states, probably half-way over the ocean now with no way to turn back. Emily could feel the gentle rumble of the airplane she was on. A baby was crying somewhere behind her. And her neck was stiff from the upright position she'd fallen asleep in. She cracked an eye open and spotted a young girl staring at her from the first-class seat beside her. A smile came as she fully opened her eyes. "Hello," Emily greeted the child.
The girl smiled in reply. Her blue eyes sparkled and a head of dark hair framed a face that Emily guessed to be eight or nine. "They're serving the meal soon," the child informed her. "I thought maybe you'd want to eat. But if you don't then I'm real sorry I woke you."
"No worries," Emily assured the girl. "I am hungry," she sat up straighter, massaging the kink in her neck from resting her forehead against the window.
"I'm Molly," the girl introduced. "And I figured you'd probably want the meal, even though plane food isn't all that great. But it's one of the few perks of longer flights. I know most of the short flights in the states don't give you anything but drinks now." She shook her head. "When I visit my grandparents in Australia last winter they took me all around the country and we went on these really short flights that served us a full meal. It was lovely," she concluded.
Finally finding a moment to speak Emily gave her name as well. They shook hands just as the flight attendant dropped off their breakfast.
"Do you live in England or the states?" Molly asked as she forked a bit of scrambled egg.
"London," Emily replied as she tried to casually look over the girl's shoulder, thinking she might see a set of parents nearby.
Molly nodded. "Me, too," she sipped her juice. "With my mom. I'm on my way to visit my dad right now. He was born and raised in the states. Then he took a job in London for a while, which is how he met my mom. They got married, had me and all that. Then he decided he hated London. Mom didn't want to move to the states, so they got divorced and I became the child of a bi-coastal divorce. Or something like that," the girl shrugged.
There was another small pause and Emily was about to say something, but Molly spoke up first.
"Why are you going to the states? To visit your family? You don't have much of a British accent so I bet you grew up in the states like my dad?"
"Actually," Emily was finally able to jump into the conversation. "I grew up in several different countries. My parents were ambassadors. But the states are most like home. And I'm going to visit a friend of mine there this weekend."
"Is he a boyfriend?" Molly immediately inquired.
"Yes," Emily munched a piece of fruit. "He is my boyfriend," it sounded a bit silly to call him that. It still seemed foreign to her at times. And yet she couldn't wait to see him and spend actual time with him rather than virtual time.
The girl ate silently for a moment, but the quiet didn't last long. "I bet he's really cute. You're very pretty so I bet you have a real handsome boyfriend. Do you have a picture of him?"
After another forkful of melon, Emily fished her phone out and pulled up a shot of Derek that she'd taken during his London visit. His hands were covered in varnish from working on her bookcase, but he faced the camera with a goofy grin, the corners of his eyes bunched the way she loved so dearly. "This is Derek," she presented.
"He is cute," Molly nodded. "I approve."
Emily chuckled at that, powered down the phone again and resumed her meal.
"Are you going to marry him?" Molly didn't last long in silent mode, not even while she was eating. "If you do, make sure you really want to spend the rest of your life with him because if you have kids they deserve to have two parents in their lives at all times. It's not so much fun when they split up."
"We haven't even talked about marriage," Emily revealed before covering her discomfort with food.
Molly promptly dropped that subject matter but she did manage to talk Emily's ear off for another half hour before finally excusing herself to the bathroom. A flight attendant stopped by while Molly was indisposed. "I'm sorry about Molly. I know she's a bit of a talker," the woman apologized as she leaned toward Emily and cleared their food platters. "But we try to move her around so she doesn't bother our other frequent fliers who've complained about her."
That news made Emily feel a bit sick to her stomach. "She's really no trouble at all," Emily insisted. "Our chat has helped the time fly."
In fact, the last three hours of the long trip did indeed zoom by with Molly's talkative company. Emily learned all about the girl's three cats, her all-girls private school education and how much she still hoped for her parents to reunite. Emily even walked Molly to the arrival gate along with the flight attendant. And they exchanged contact information before Molly rushed into her father's waiting arms. The girl waved as she took her dad's hand. "I hope Derek is happy to see you!" she exuberantly exclaimed before disappearing into the crowd.
With a happy grin, Emily rolled her carry-on toward the taxi station outside.
She decided to take a page from Molly's energetic and hopeful outlook on life, so she hailed a cab and anxiously awaited her arrival at Derek place.
xxx
With his go bag slung over the right shoulder, Derek dutifully marched up the short set of steps and entered the BAU jet.
He yawned and stuffed his bag into one of the storage compartments at the back of the jet. It only took a quick glance around to see that he was the first member of the team to have arrived for the early morning take-off. He spotted the laptop already set up on the small table and slid himself into the window seat at the table. Derek knew Garcia's lovely face would soon greet them all to go over the case details. But there was one face he wanted to see more.
Morgan pulled out his phone and re-read the message that Emily had sent - the one that had been waiting for him upon waking up:
What do you have planned this weekend? Hope you'll be around for my surprise. Love you.
Another groan escaped, the same as it had upon first reading the message. It was Halloween in two days and she always liked to tease him about the holiday. Every year since she'd discovered his distaste for the holiday, she managed to surprise him in some way that never amused him. Once it had been to place a plastic snake in his BAU gym locker. Another year she'd arranged for his alarm clock to wake him up to classical music at 3am. He still wasn't sure how she'd pulled that one off, though he guessed Penelope had helped.
Last year she hadn't pulled a Halloween prank on him. Instead, she'd come to him on the day and apologized again for the way she'd led them all to believe her dead.
Derek was past that, though. Way past it. Part of him dreaded any Halloween prank she might try to pull, even from across an ocean. But part of him longed for it dreadfully, because he knew it would be another step in healing the past. Being teased by Emily Prentiss was the best gift he could hope for, short of her arriving on his doorstep.
He finally took a moment to compose a reply text message:
Only plans this weekend are work. The team is headed to San Francisco this morning on a last minute case. Aren't they always? But I'll be checking behind all my doors when I get home, you little sneak.
And of course he had to add: Love you, Jo. Always. It had become his standard farewell to her.
"Who is Jo?"
Derek actually jumped and nearly fumbled his phone. He recovered quickly and turned the phone off to hide the message. But Reid was staring down at him with a curious gaze that let Morgan know he wasn't likely to drop the subject matter until he replied. "No one you know."
"Is it a woman?" Spencer persisted.
By that time JJ and Rossi had boarded the jet, and clearly heard enough to pique their interest. "A woman?" JJ inquired. "Is Morgan dating someone?" she eyed Reid, knowing she could get him to spill just about any secret.
The genius shrugged. "He won't say."
"Maybe he'd actually like some aspect of his life to remain secret," Rossi spoke up as he and JJ sat down at the table across from Reid and Derek.
"Thank you," Derek relaxed a little.
The laptop in the center of the table sprang to life and Garcia's image slowly solidified. "What secret are you all talking about?" she asked, clearly having overheard some of the conversation long before she'd made her visible presence known.
"Derek has a girlfriend," Reid was quick to point out. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Penelope darted her eyes about the table, searching via her small web cam window for some morsel of information. "What does that mean?"
Spencer shrugged again. "I just saw part of text message with something about the words love and the name Jo."
JJ watched Morgan and felt bad for her initial interest. She knew better than some how hard it was to keep a private life in the mists of the BAU team. They'd all become family over the years, and they'd been through so much together, but she understood that some things you didn't even want to share with family or best friends. Some things you wanted to keep all to yourself, at least for a little while. "Leave him alone, Spence," if anyone could throw the genius off the hunt it was her.
Garcia was another issue all together. "Jo…" she echoed the name. "Could be short for Josephine, Joan, Joanna… Joy…"
"It's short for: none of your business, Miss Nosey," Morgan finally laid down the law.
"Could just be a typo of Joe," Reid added. "The male version of the name."
Silence filled the jet for several seconds.
"If that is the case you can tell us," Garcia insisted. "You know you can tell me anything. I would never judge y…"
Morgan shook his head. "All I will tell you is that Jo is very much a she. And I don't want to share her existence with any of you just yet. Okay?"
"Fine with me," Hotch's voice echoed through the cabin as he strode down the jet's center aisle. His words shut them all up. "We're about to take off, Garcia," he promptly stowed his bag and sat on the long bench across from the rest of the team. "Let's get started on breaking down this UnSub," he concluded.
xxx
When the cab driver parked alongside the curb Emily felt like a little kid, butterflies dancing in her stomach.
She stepped out of the vehicle, wrestled her rolling bag out of the back seat and then paid the driver. The cool end-of-October air sent a shiver through her. As she trekked down the concrete walk and then up the three steps to Derek's porch, Emily couldn't wait to be wrapped up in his warm embrace. It was just after eight in the morning by the time she came to knock on his front door. She knew his routine, up at 7:30 and straight into the shower, coffee by eight, out the door by eight thirty.
One day he'd texted her before each step of his morning routine.
That memory, coupled with the fact that he hadn't answered the door yet, prompted Emily to fish the phone out of her bag. She noticed then that she hadn't switched it back on since landing in DC. The first message to greet her was a reply from Derek: Only plans this weekend are work. The team is headed to San Francisco this morning on a last minute case. Aren't they always? But I'll be checking behind all my doors when I get home, you little sneak. Love you, Jo. Always.
"Damn," Emily sighed, realizing her surprise trip had just fallen through.
xxx
Working as fast as she could, Garcia willed her keyboard to figure out the identity of their UnSub. The lights in her lair were intentionally low in an attempt to offset the glow and hum from various pieces of technology. "Yes, sir, I found the link to the other three victims," she spoke to Hotch via speaker phone. "But all I have is his face, no name. I keep hitting a road block with the facial recognition software. It's like the guy doesn't exist, except I have this picture which means he does exist, but…"
"Garcia, just find me something," Hotch hung up abruptly.
The tech nodded. "Yes, sir, of course… I'll just pull a name out of thin air. Or conjure it with magic…" she babbled. "What does he think I am, some sort of…"
"Miracle worker," Emily supplied one option for her friend.
Penelope spun around so fast that her overly coiffed blonde hair whipped against her face. "I don't know who you think you are, but do not ever sneak up on me like that agai…" the tech's initial anger soon dissipated when she realized who the intruder was. "Emily?" even then she was shocked to see her dear friend standing just a few feet away.
"Well, at least I managed to surprise one person with this visit," Emily grinned, though it wasn't the person she'd hoped to see.
After several hours of shopping and sitting at a café lamenting her horribly timed surprise, and also the BAU's nasty propensity to ruin any fun plans, Emily had sucked it up and decided she might better expel her energies in a useful manner. Thus she'd ended up at the BAU to see if she could be of any use to the team. Granted, her motives were swayed slightly toward the prospect of getting Derek back to DC before she had to head back to London in a few days.
Garcia jumped up and squashed Emily in a bear hug. When she finally stepped back she smiled from ear to ear. "This is a lovely surprise," but the words were barely out of her mouth when her smile faded. She slid back into her chair and focused her gaze on the computer screen. "Except we've got a real bad one out in San Fran and I have no idea how to track this guy down… he's like a ghost, which is kind of funny considering that Halloween is tomorrow."
"I know that guy," Emily stepped closer to the computer monitor. The real reason for her visit promptly faded from thought as she eyed the man's picture. His sandy hair and green eyes had come across her desk in London recently. "He's part of the drug trafficking ring in Russia that I've been working on," she relayed as Garcia listened. "Pretty sure he's running the whole damn thing, but the guys we captured a few months ago only spoke of him as 'Stone King' and never gave a real name."
"Well, if he is the same guy…" Garcia pulled up a series of pictures of several dead women. "He's changed his game. Three young girls dead in as many days have been found in San Francisco alleys. All had drugs in their system and had been raped. And at least twice that many have been reported missing in the last two days. Teenagers, eighteen, nineteen," she relayed. "They're not runaways or prostitutes. I'm talking good kids, in school, excellent grades…"
Emily chewed her lip. "I need to make a call," she slipped out of the tech's lair and did just that. She returned in under twenty minutes. "Still not sure of his real name, but he entered the US two weeks ago under the name of Anton Vanko."
"How did you…" Penelope stared in awe at her friend. "You know what, never mind…" the tech pounded on her keyboard and found all the information she needed in a matter of seconds. She was on the phone immediately. Derek answered. "Our UnSub is traveling under the name Anton Vanko. He came here via a container ship, the OFSC Matochkin, which is docked at the Port of Oakland. If I was a betting woman, I'd say he's probably planning to leave the same way - most likely with a container full of human trafficking cargo."
"You are the best, mama," Derek remarked.
"Normally I'd be happy to have such praise heaped upon my shoulders. In this case, however, I was helped immensely by a super-secret deep throat informant who shall forever remain nameless," Garcia gave Emily a quick wink.
The call was ended but Emily still wore a happy grin to have heard Derek's voice. "Now that the team will be returning soon," she aimed her smile at Garcia. "I'm hoping you have keys to the home of a certain male colleague of yours?"
Penelope's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. Then they went wide. "Oh my goodness, do you by any chance occasionally go by the name Jo?"
"It's a term of endearment," Emily was sure her cheeks had flushed a deep crimson as she revealed the truth. Her relationship with Derek was never meant to be a secret, but it was something they'd both decided to keep close to the chest for a while – something they wanted to savor for as long as possible.
Garcia shook her head, "Why that sneaky little… you're both sneaky," she noted without malice behind her accusation. "I never thought either one of you would act on it."
"It?" Emily questioned.
"JJ and I talked about it a few times, even Rossi mentioned it to me once," the tech still hadn't said much and she could see the question lingering on Emily's face. "You know… your attraction to him and his to you. Well, it's always been very subtle and you two were far too professional to act on it, or so we all thought."
"Nothing happened between us until after I left the BAU," Emily defended. But she realized she didn't have to be stealthy about the issue any longer. "You all really talked about us, about the attraction between Derek and me?"
With a hand to her heart, Garcia opened her eyes wider. "Derek? You've been talking about Derek? I thought you were talking about Reid all this time."
Emily easily detected that her friend was joking. "Do you have a key to Derek's place or not?"
"Why, yes, I do," Garcia beamed. "But I'm afraid I can't help you if you're planning something nefarious?"
"Just a few dozen lit candles in his bedroom," Emily explained her plan. "And me laying on his bed dressed in… well, nothing…"
"In that case I shall find you the key straight away," Penelope eagerly chirped.
xxx
Wind gusted and swirled around Derek's neck as he moved swiftly from the driveway to the front door of his house.
It was cold outside, to say the least. A fierce fall storm was brewing. But that didn't seem to stop the throngs of children bustling up and down his street to trick-or-treat. They were dressed in a multitude of costumes - from superheroes, ghosts and witches to historical figures and even a few fruits and vegetables, much to Morgan's surprise. All he cared about, though, was making it into his house without being seen. He'd never been fond of the holiday and didn't pass out candy most years. Of course most years he was off on a case.
Thanks to Garcia's sleuthing he was home within thirty-six hours of leaving for San Francisco; a quick cross-country case for sure.
And he was ready for a good night's sleep, but not before sending Emily one more text to see if maybe she was awake. It was nearly five o'clock in the morning London time and he knew she was sometimes up that early. Even seeing a short message from her would help him sleep happily through the night. And he was still curious about her surprise, though he didn't want to rattle that cage too much. Derek was hoping to fall asleep before any Halloween prank could befall him.
Only halfway to the door that hope crumbled as he glanced to the second floor of his house. The two-story colonial was the newest on his list of fixer-uppers over the years. And, while he often left cans of paint, brushes and other tools lying about the place, he was always sure to turn off lights when he left. Except for the front porch light for security reasons. But currently there was some sort of flickering light coming from his bedroom window. Possibly a flashlight.
"Shit," he swore softly under his breath. He hoped it was Garcia helping Emily out and not any actual thieves or Halloween prankster teenagers.
Derek keyed his lock as quietly as possible, dumped his bag just inside the door and then crept silently toward the stairs. The second floor of the house was dark and the wind whistled through the old un-insulated walls. It was already a scene from a bad Halloween flick before he drew his weapon and pushed open the door of his bedroom. "Hello?" he ventured inside, immediately checking behind the door. "My name is Derek Morgan, I'm an FBI agent and this is my home you're intruding in," he warned.
First thing he noticed was candlelight, not a flashlight.
There were at least a dozen small tea lights set in clear-glass votive holders that he was almost certain he did not possess. His eyes narrowed with confusion and curiosity. It didn't seem likely teenagers would break in to light candles. But he'd seen enough odd things on the job that he wasn't ready to dismiss the idea just yet. Of course tons of other scenarios were also playing out in his head; some girlfriend from the past with a sudden bunny-boiling obsession, or a disgruntled loved one of an UnSub he'd helped take down.
He also couldn't dismiss the possibility of someone connected to a recurrent UnSub such as The Reaper or Ian Doyle.
Morgan tried to shake those thoughts. "Garcia, I swear if you…"
When a set of hands covered his eyes Morgan reacted as anyone in his position would. He struck back, defensively slapping the offending hands away. He spun around and aimed his weapon on the intruder. Morgan was nearly ready to shoot first and ask questions later, maybe, if the burglar was lucky enough to be alive. Thankfully he took a split second to look his intruder in the eye. She was wearing some sort of Zorro-type mask. But more noticeable than that was the fact she wasn't wearing anything else.
"Dang it, Emily…" his sigh of relief was angry and pleased all at once. "You know I hate Halloween." Derek finally let the gun in his hands slip to his side. But his heart still raced.
"Really?" she wore a grin; clearly unaware of how close she'd just come to having the man she loved shot her. "Even though I'm standing here in front of you as the naked bandit? Even though it's our two month anniversary today?"
"Naked bandit?" Morgan couldn't help chuckle at that. But his heart ached a little upon hearing the last part of what she'd said. "It's our anniversary?" He tried to think of a way out of the dog house, but he was too tired. "I completely forgot," Derek confessed.
"I figured." She wasn't upset at all as she moved in closer. Her lips pressed softly against his as she reached for his gun and disarmed him. The kiss ended abruptly as she walked across the room, intentionally giving him a good view of her backside. "It's only two months," Emily spoke again while stowing his weapon in the top dresser drawer. She turned around to face him again, leaning against the dresser and removing her mask. "Hopefully we'll have more."
He watched her as she remained several feet away, taunting him. Derek knew she knew she was torturing him. And he was too weak to care. He stalked across the room in a few short strides and lifted her effortlessly. "Many more," he whispered the words against her lips as she wrapped her legs about his hips. Derek moved her toward his bed. "As long as you promise to never try to scare me on Halloween again." He laid her down upon the soft comforter.
She sat up, reached out to touch his chest, run her hand along his broad shoulders. Emily was about to begin the, hopefully quick, process of undressing him when Derek's hand stopped her. Her face was drawn into lines of consternation. Emily eyed the pout that marred the usually handsome ruggedness of his jawline. "What?"
"You have to promise," Derek stood firm.
Emily was impressed by his restraint given that they hadn't made love in months. It was a small price to pay, though. And pay she did. "Promise," the word had barely rolled off her tongue before he pounced on her. Shrieks of laughter, desire and love followed long into the night.
xxx
While the sun was still asleep early the next morning, Derek grudgingly got out of bed and crept to the bathroom.
Emily protested with a grunt as his warm flesh retreated from hers. Her eyes were barely open as she watched him pad naked across the hardwood floor, which was no doubt chilly to the touch. With a school girl crush of emotions she waited impatiently for the three minutes he took to finish in the bathroom and reemerge. As he started back toward her Emily made silent plans to ravage his body again, at least once more before any breakfast touched her lips.
Only halfway across the room he stumbled and nearly fell. Derek swore and hopped on one foot while rubbing his twisted ankle. All the while he wore a face that was half frown and half smile. And she wondered if her heart could handle another separation from his crinkly-eyed grin. "You okay?" Emily finally let some concern shine through.
"I suppose I'll live," he groaned, glancing down at the item he'd tripped over. The bag's store label caught his attention. "You bought shoes? You've barely been in town long enough."
Her smile was only slightly apologetic. "I was disappointed you weren't here. I had to console myself with a bit of shopping."
"They've certainly got soles," he teased.
Emily laughed and held a hand out to him. "The shoes only comforted me for about an hour, tops. Then I went to the BAU to figure out a speedy way to get you back home."
Derek pondered her words, but he didn't have to think on them very long. He stood at the edge of the bed starring down at her, holding her proffered hand. He caressed it and kissed her palm. "You wouldn't by any chance sometimes be known as: super-secret deep throat informant who shall forever remain nameless?"
She shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
It was a doge and he knew it. But he didn't care.
As Derek slipped back into bed beside her he was still in awe of the fact that she was there in his bedroom. That they'd spent the whole night together. He let the fact be known in the way he clung to her again, head rested against hers, a hand protectively splayed across her bare belly. "Just so you know… if you were a super-secret deep throat informant, you helped save fifteen young girls from being illegally transported out of this country. You could be very proud of yourself."
"I'm just glad you were there to stop the bad guy." Emily let her eyes close, trying to block images of what those poor girls must have endured for even a short time. "I wish all of our cases worked out as well as it did this time."
He watched her for a long time, wishing the very same thing. But a more important wish came to mind. "You know what I wish?" he asked, kissing her neck. "I wish there'd be a sudden snow storm today so we could get snowed and you wouldn't be able to fly back to London. Ever."
Her eyes opened. "I have to fly back the morning after the morning after today."
"So two whole days?" he was at least brightened by that notion.
"You can take time off?" she hoped.
Morgan kissed her lips. "I'll quit if that's what it takes to get the time off."
xxx
Walking hand-in-hand through Dulles International, Derek and Emily silently prepared for the separation that was to come.
They knew it would be worse than the last time.
Their two days together had passed far too quickly, even though they'd spent most of their time in bed, on the sofa or soaking together in Derek's Jacuzzi tub. The brisk fall air had continued its howl and taunting storm routine. There had even been a bit of snow fall. But not nearly enough snow had fallen to trap them for good, or even a few days. Now, as they strolled slowly toward the security checkpoint, they each had heads full of unspoken words and hearts full of longing.
"Maybe we should plan our next visit," Emily finally broke the silence.
Derek squeezed her hand. "Or… you could just promise you'll stay," he suggested. "Right now, stay with me?"
"I can't," she wore an apologetic frown.
"Please?"
"Derek, no…"
He sighed and drew her hand to his lips. "Promise, please," Morgan persisted. "Just say you'll stay. It's that easy."
"No," she chuckled softly. Emily knew it wouldn't be easy even if she could stay. "You're behaving rather childishly right now. Is this a tantrum?" Emily tried to lighten the mood. "I've always admired your persistent nature, like when you will stop at nothing to track down an UnSub. But I'm not so sure I like this begging side of you."
Morgan leaned toward her as he spoke, "You liked it last night when I begged you to…"
"Hey!" she shushed him, her eyes darting around the busy airport. "Let us not speak of such things in public."
"Stay with me and I'll make that promise," he said.
Emily sighed, somewhat frustrated but mostly sad. "I can't, you already know that."
"Then marry me?"
"N…" she stopped herself short as the full force of his words hit her. "What?"
For several moments they could each only hear the hustle and bustle of the busy airport. The collective thrum of rolling suite cases, the garbled voices over loudspeakers, the low rumble of a nearby escalator and the constant chatter of patrons young and old. "I can't think of any other way to get you to stay here with me," Derek finally said.
Her eyes narrowed. "How very romantic of you."
"I'm sorry." And he truly was as he looked her in the eye. "I didn't mean it to sound like… look, Emily, this isn't how I planned it."
"You… uh…" her mouth went dry suddenly. "You've been planning a proposal?"
"Sort of, in my head at least," Derek confessed. "Though it was never meant to be in an airport or in the heat of the moment. It was meant to be in a nice restaurant or on a beach or in my living room with a fire crackling in the background." He sighed. "I was also supposed to have a ring on me and I haven't gotten that far either." His shoulders sagged a little. "But one thing about my proposal is right, and that's the fact that I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
The airport hum filled their ears again for a seemingly long time.
"It's too soon, isn't it?" Morgan asked, unable to take the silence for a moment longer. "Except it doesn't feel too soon to me, it feels right. For the first time in my life I know what I want. I want to be settled, with you."
Emily was still in a mild state of shock despite the sincerity of his words. "Can I think about it?" She feared that the words sounded as horrible coming out as they had in her head. But she let them settle between them, hoping he wouldn't misinterpret her hesitation.
It was certainly not the response he'd been anticipating from her. But he loved her enough to know it was better than an outright no. "Sure," Derek nodded, still hoping for a chance to persuade her. There was once a time in his life where he would've run far and wide from marriage. That time had evaporated the second Emily first confessed her love to him. "But maybe you could have an answer for me by December? Because I'd really like to take you to Chicago for mama's birthday this year. And I'd like to introduce you as my fiancé."
"Derek, I'm not saying no. And I'm not saying yes right now, but not because it's too soon or a lousy proposal, but because…" she sighed. "Because I've jumped into so many things in my life and messed them up big time. When I joined the BAU I was hiding from my past, from the debacle of what happened with Doyle. Then I met you and you shook my hand that first day and you made me feel welcome. It wasn't love at first sight but it did change my life. You changed my life. I came to trust you like no one before."
She smiled for him, hoping he wasn't upset with her. "I love you so much, Derek. And that's why I don't want to rush into this. I need some time to wrap my head around the idea of marriage and what it will mean for us. I want to make the right decision, because I never want to hurt you. I never want to mess up what we have," Emily confided.
"Okay," he effortlessly agreed, touched by the way she'd just poured her heart out to him. "I'm sorry I ambushed you like that. I never meant to pressure you. I just really miss you when I'm not with you," Derek kissed her gently. "Can we make a plan like you mentioned? Will you still go to Chicago with me in December? It doesn't have to be as my fiancé, just my friend," he assured her. "Please?" he was still not afraid to beg.
To that request she found her response much easier to say, "I'd like that."
The End