Disclaimer: I have no affiliation to Criminal Minds or its characters. This is fiction pure and simple.

I started and discarded so many different chapters as I debated where to take this story. Thank you for being patient while I sorted it out – Silverfox588, Medeia456, Irishgirl9, PeoplePersonImNot, IdontdanceIgrind, Jennycrum, SmcdsShipper19, Nannily, Sue1313, PinkHimLacus, Combatcrazy, Delia Cerrano, Wolfpawn, Shematthewholic, AlienTourist, Raeya, SweetTeeTwo, Al and Wolfpawn

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Virgin! Two: One Angel, Slightly Used

Chapter 38

Reid patted the tactical vest covering Morgan's chest. The layers of woven fiber felt too flimsy under the soft pads of his fingertips. If he pushed deep enough he'd hit the hard armor plates. He knew exactly how they were supposed to work, deform the bullet, and absorb its energy slowing its impact before it penetrated the textile matrix. Extensive tests by highly trained scientists had determined that this vest would work – almost. Nothing was foolproof, bulletproof, bombproof…life proof.

"Reid?" Morgan's hand grabbed his, stilling the aimless inspection. "I'm going to be fine."

Making a noncommittal sound Reid pulled free glancing around, he could see JJ and Rossi poring over a map on the SUV's dark pulsing hood; Hotch was deep in conversation with the SWAT team leader. Police officers and federal agents swarmed about cordoning off the unruly panicked crowd and nosy reporters. They stood relatively sheltered at the back of the angled ATV, no one paying them the slightest bit of attention.

The sweltering heat in downtown Jackson Mississippi should have turned away most of the crowd but the sensationalist media had brought out the crazies in full force. And the resultant standoff with the bank robbers had resulted in the death of three innocent bystanders effectively ending the tentative negotiations and the FBI was now gearing up to engage in more excessive force. Morgan was. Reid got to sit on the sidelines and monitor the situation from the outside. If anything happened to him…he chewed furiously on his lower lip returning to his examination of flimsy vest.

"Reid? Look at me." Morgan urged. "Breathe." He ordered when Reid's eyes finally met his. The high-pitched whistle he'd been making through his nostrils slowed then stopped. "I will be just fine. You need to stay out of the line of fire and be here – right here - when I get back."

Reid rubbed at a spot on his chest, his heart wrenching within its cage. If he let it, it might wriggle free and follow Morgan into the depths of the stone building hankering behind them, heck if he let it, it'd follow him everywhere. It was a dumb thing to think, let alone say. Who ever heard of hearts leaving bodies? It was a physical impossibility.

"Huh?" Morgan interrupted his mumbling.

Shaking his head, Reid dodged his question. He wasn't a poet or fanciful by nature, he was however a practical man. Grabbing the black helmet off the truck bed he shoved it at Morgan with an explicit, "I know I constantly indulge your indestructible delusion but you are not Superman. Please be careful."

"You're cute when you're trying to be bossy."

Would he ever take his own mortality seriously? "Morgan…" He grumbled.

"Baby, if you're gonna worry about something, figure out how we are going to fit all our stuff under one roof."

Reid's head snapped up, his darting hands going motionless on the edge of his vest. "Um…" What? One roof? No. "Are you asking me to live with you?"

"Atta, genius!" Morgan said just as softly.

"Wait, this is how you ask me?" He had expected more fanfare, more debate. Out of the corner of his eye, Reid could see Hotch motioning for the team. It was a sudden jarring unwelcome reminder of where they were. "If you're doing this just to distract me…"

Grabbing his elbow Morgan turned him from the crowd, "I'm not messing with you." He whispered urgently. "Not about something this important."

"Oh!" Reid swallowed, elation climbing up his throat. In a daze, he stated the obvious. "I've never lived with anyone before." Morgan already knew his history. Alex. Now him. But it was such an intimate thing the mingling of lives, sharing of space, no safety net across town incase it didn't work out. While he dreamed of commitment and marriage, the realization of those private thoughts threw him for a loop. He was awkward and weird; no one ever wanted him around permanently.

Morgan turned as Hotch called for him. "I gotta go. Just –" He backed away. "Think about it."

Bewildered, Reid's mind had flitted to his overfilled apartment. "You can never have too many books." He mumbled. Mentally packing, he made room for himself in his boyfriend's home, a home that was already bulging with sports paraphernalia, shiny gadgets, a shocking amount of clothing and Clooney. There was no way they'd fit together comfortably. Unbidden his mind stole back to the colonial style home whose kitchen they'd violated so long ago. It had felt like home even then. Reid turned to ask but the troop of heavily armed agents was already disappearing into the distance. He could wait.

xxXxx

There was something about hospitals, Reid mused, the too bright lights or the night staffs dead eyes that inspired a bone deep terror inside of him. Or maybe it was the sporadic weeping that broke out from the islands of misery that populated the dense waiting room. JJ sat by his side, occasionally her hand slid over to squeeze his. It should have been reassuring. She didn't look worried which was good, Reid searched her eyes wishing he could have her conviction but he knew better. Life had a way of trampling him when he thought he was finally happy especially when he had to sit on the sidelines and wait. Boyfriends didn't get information access or health care decision rights. Morgan's family would get a call before Reid did and Fran Morgan hated him. She didn't know who he was but she hated him on principle. He would be low on the 'need to know' list if his partner died.

His eyes dropped to JJ's lips as she spoke. She had talked to him the entire ride to the hospital as well and Reid had nodded even if he couldn't hear a word she said. The buzzing in his head inundated every corner; it started after the loud explosion rocked Republic Bank and Trust and shoved no sign of ceasing. It took everything Reid had to just sit upright and not end up in a mewling ball on the floor. Shivering hard he focused on sucking in one desperate breath after another drawing in the sour smell of disinfectant and death that seeped up from the floors.

When Hotch stopped in front of him, Reid shot to his feet. Interpreting his wordless gesture, he hurried past him took a sharp corner and burst into the examination room. Finally skidding to a stop, chest heaving at the sight of his love seated shirtless on the trolley bed. A black shoulder brace slashed across Morgan's chest almost blending with the dark bruises that covered his sternum and crept down to his abdomen. Brand new lines creased his forehead, soot covering the rest. The nurse who'd been fussing over him took one look at Reid and quickly packed up, leaving them alone like she'd never been there at all.

"It looks a lot worse than it is."

Reid wondered how Morgan could smile at all through the rasp in his throat. How he could still try to soothe him when…his breath hitched sending pain ricocheting through his chest. "I waited." He replied. "I waited and you didn't come out." He wasn't aware of much after the unsub had tried to blast his way to freedom. There was blood on his hands and knees from where he'd searched through the mangled bodies…shaking his head Reid stopped. Breathed.

The reassuring smile slipped off Morgan's face replaced by a painful understanding. "I'm okay."

"For now." Tentative steps brought him to his side. "You're okay for now."

When Morgan yanked him closing the distance between them and engulfed him in a deep shivering kiss, Reid trembled dying to shove up against him so he could believe that this was real. He had survived. They had survived.

"I know you hate it." Morgan rambled. His uninjured hand cupped his cheek, calming him and holding him in place. "I know you still want to quit."

Reid tried to squirm away from the painful truth in his eyes but even incapacitated, Morgan was still a lot stronger than him.

"Baby, your heart is not in it anymore and it is selfish of me to want you around all the time, you know. Maybe that's why I tease you so much. I thought maybe if you had more fun at work, laughed a lil more…" He shrugged then hissed through his teeth at the movement.

"I'm not –" Reid paused at the cusp of his token reply, he could lie, claim he just needed a vacation or time but it wouldn't change the truth. His priorities had changed. The desire for a home and family took precedence. He had a chance to build all that with the man he loved, a chance to have the normal stable family that he never had as a child. Only a fool would waste the second chance he'd been given. "I refuse to be ashamed of the fact that I'm afraid to lose you."

An impasse. At some point, one of them would have to give. He sighed letting go as Morgan found his mouth for a long lazy kiss.

"Let's go home." Morgan smiled. "I could use a sponge bath."