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


Cat

By
N. J. Borba


Emily opened her eyes slowly. As her sight cleared from the fogginess of sleep, she focused on the man in bed beside her. His eyes weren't closed, but aimed downward a little toward his chest where the baby was cuddled. Derek gently rubbed Lulu's back as he glanced over at his wife and smiled warmly. "I thought I told you I didn't like it when you brought her into bed with us," Emily said, scooting herself closer to the two of them. "I've read things about parents rolling over onto their babies while sleeping and smothering them to death."

He simply shook his head. "You worry too much," Derek tried to lean over and kiss her.

She pulled back a little. "It's in the parent handbook to worry," Emily countered. "And it's a very valid thing to be worried about. You're not exactly a small guy, I mean… you're not fat by any means… and Lulu's big for her age, but she's still just a baby and..."

"Okay, grouchy wife," he pouted, pretending to be hurt by her reaction to him attempting to be close. "I just wanted to do something nice for you this morning by getting up with her before she woke you, and I wanted to come back to bed so I could wish you a merry Christmas, but if you don't want…"

Emily finally smiled. "I forgot its Christmas morning," her voice instantly took on a cheerier tone and she leaned in to kiss him.

"How could you forget?" Derek wanted to know. "Kacey has been marking off the days since the first of December. In fact, I'm really surprised she isn't already awake, hounding us about opening her presents."

"Yeah," Emily tried to remain nonchalant. "That is surprising," she agreed.

His eyes slid toward her again, detecting something in her voice that he rarely heard. "What did you do, Em?"

The accusation in his tone was clear and Emily knew she was pretty horrible at lying to him. "I might have slipped a little cold medicine into her hot cocoa last night," she shrugged.

"You drugged our daughter?"

"Well, I wanted her to at least get a little bit of sleep last night. We have a big day ahead of us with brunch at Garcia's and then diner with my parents later. I knew there was no way she'd get any sleep on her own, and it's not drugs really. It's just a little cold medicine. She'll be fine. I doubt she'll sleep in that late even with that stuff in her system. What time is it now?"

"Um…"

He didn't need to say a word, because the child in question came barreling into their room. "Mommy! Daddy!" Kacey's voice broke through the quietness. "It's 5:30 on Christmas morning. I bet Santa was here, can we go see? Please?" Ginger padded into the room behind Kacey, a little less enthusiastic as her human friend.

"Five-thirty," Emily groaned, laying her head back down on the pillow and closing her eyes. "I need coffee."

Derek grinned, even though she couldn't see with her eyes closed. He leaned over and whispered. "This is your payback for drugging her."

Emily made a small noise of annoyance as Kacey protested by jumping onto the king-sized bed and kneeling beside her mother. "No coffee, mommy," she carefully pried her mother's eyelids open and stared down at her. "I think Lulu wants to open her presents right now," the child used her baby sister as an excuse. "She can't wait," Kacey concluded with a confidant nod.

"Oh, Lulu wants to open her presents, huh?" it was Derek who asked, sensing that his wife really was still tired. "Are you sure you're not confused with a slightly older girl in this room," he asked while playfully poking Kacey's belly. "I think it's you who wants to open presents right now," he accused in a playful voice.

Kacey laughed as she tried to squirm away from his ticking hand, but Derek didn't let up. "Okay, daddy… it's me, I want to open presents," she gave in. "Please? I asked nicely," she looked up at him with her big blue eyes and smiled as sweetly as she could to get her way.

Morgan stopped the tickle attack and pulled her over so that she was sitting on his legs. Lulu remained on his chest, half way between being asleep and awake; clearly not carrying about Christmas morning. "Here's the deal," he spoke softly to his older daughter. "I go down first to turn on the lights and get mommy's coffee brewing. You have to wait at least ten minutes up here with your mommy and Lulu, okay?"

Kacey was already bouncing up and down on his legs in anticipation. "I'll try," she honestly replied.

He looked to his wife. "I guess that's as good a promise as any," Derek shrugged as he laid Lulu down beside Emily. Kacey moved toward her mother again, cuddling up on her other side. Morgan kissed Emily's lips one more time. "I'll try to be quick," he promised before darting out of the room.

Emily drew her older daughter closer and was glad when Kacey relaxed just a little bit. "Do you know how much I love you, Kace?"

"Lots," the girl replied as she tickled Lulu's belly the way her daddy had just done to her.

The baby giggled happily, still nestled beside her mother. "More than lots," Emily replied. "Lots and lots and lots," she grinned, thinking about her life. It was hard to remember Christmases past when she didn't have Kacey with her, or Derek, or anyone else to share the holiday with. Now she had the two of them, plus Lulu and even Ginger. She already had the best gifts she could ever want for Christmas.

xxx

It was seven and a half minutes before Kacey couldn't stand the anticipation any longer. She rushed down the stairs, dragging her mother by the hand. Emily grasped Lulu against one side and yawned as she continued to blink away her sleepiness. But when they hit the living room Emily couldn't help laughing as she saw Derek wearing a big white beard and red Santa hat. He greeted her with another kiss and a mug of hot coffee, taking the baby from her arms so she could sit and drink for a moment. By then Kacey was already knee-deep in presents, eyes darting all around as she tried to figure out where to start.

Derek decided it best if he handed out the gifts one-by-one. And Emily discarded her coffee, doing her best to document the morning with her camera. The whole event was over in very short order, ending with Kacey seated on the carpeted floor; everything from clothes to toys mounded all around her. The girl was happily playing with a new art set when Derek asked her if she'd gotten everything she wanted.

Kacey got to her feet and waded through the sea of tissue, wrapping paper and gifts. She crawled onto Derek's lap and hugged him. "It's the best Christmas ever," she smiled, though a little bit wistfully. "Except daddy's not here," she added. "And last year was really, really good too because I got ginger. But this year we have Lulu, so I guess that makes it better." She was quiet for a brief moment. "It's too hard to pick the best Christmas."

He grinned, loving the way she was always honest. "Are you disappointed you didn't get a cat?"

She shrugged. "Nah, I have Ginger," Kacey patted the dog's head as she spoke the words. "And she's the best pet. But maybe someday I can still get a cat."

"Well," Morgan shooed her off his lap. "I think Santa might have left something out in the garage for us."

"What?" Kacey's eyes lit up.

Emily frowned, knowing every gift they'd bought and wrapped had already been accounted for. "Yeah, what?" she asked, not as excited as Kacey, but plenty curious. She noticed the sparkle in her husband's eyes, the same look he'd been wearing before presenting Kacey with her dog and herself with an engagement ring the year before. "Derek, I swear to God if you bring a cat out of that garage…"

Morgan reached for Lulu. He situated the, almost, seven-month-old baby on his left hip and cocked his head. "You'll what?" he asked in a challenging tone. Then he kissed the baby on her cheek. "Come on, Lu. Let's go see what Santa left in the garage. But mommy and Kacey have to stay out here," he pointed his finger to the two other females in his life. "Promise?"

"I promise, daddy," Kacey was quick to agree, desperately wanting to know what was in the garage.

A hefty sigh escaped Emily's lips. "Fine, go get whatever you…" she trailed off, seeing the pointed look Derek shot her. "I mean, Santa, left in the garage."

He and Lulu were barely gone a few minutes when they returned to the living room. Derek still had Lulu at his hip, but he was also carrying a small tan colored animal cage in his other hand. Kacey gasped as she jumped to her feet. Emily rolled her eyes at the fact everything she and Derek had agreed about on not getting a cat seemed to have gone in one of his ears and out the other. But she couldn't help notice how adorable the fluffy white cat was as he extracted it from the cage.

"I cannot believe you got Kacey a cat," Emily finally said. "After everything we talked about."

"I didn't get Kacey a cat," his head shook.

Kacey looked a bit crestfallen at that comment. "You didn't?"

"You didn't?" Emily echoed her daughter's words.

"Nope," Derek maintained as he held the cat closer to the baby who giggled and reached for it. "I got Lulu a cat," he declared.

"Aw, Lulu got a kitty," Kacey seemed happy for her sister, no doubt because it meant the cat was staying and she'd get to play with it as much as her sister. "You got your first pet, Lu," the older girl talked softly to her sister. "And you got her for Christmas just like I got Ginger for Christmas last year. But the kitty needs a name, doesn't she daddy? Is she a she or a he?"

Morgan chuckled. "It's a girl," he confirmed.

"Of course it is," Emily remarked. "You seem to like females, no matter what the species," she teased.

Derek patted the cat, who was content to lay curled up on his lap. "I went to the shelter a few months back when Kacey was lobbying for a cat, just intending to look. Well, I spotted this little thing and the girl working there told me she'd been found in a house with four other cats and two big dogs. The person living there barely fed them so she was deathly ill when she got here, but they nursed her back to health and because she'd lived with other dogs without issue I figured she'd get along with Ginger," he explained, watching as his wife quickly crumbled upon hearing the whole story.

"Does she have a name? Because I think we should name her Cinnamon," Kacey spoke up again, taking it upon herself to name the cat. "Then we could have Ginger and Cinnamon," she laughed at her own silly joke.

"She doesn't have a name yet," Derek replied.

"But I think we should avoid the spice theme," Emily added.

"Then… can we name her blue?" Kacey asked, recalling that she'd wanted an animal to name after her favorite color. She crouched down by her sister again. "What do you think, Lu, should we call her blue?"

Emily looked to her husband with pleading eyes. "Lu and blue?" she asked. "Besides, the cat is white."

"Say blue, Lulu," Kacey was still persistent. "Tell mommy and daddy you want to name the kitty cat Blue. Bllluuue," she slowly sounded out the word.

"Boo!" Lulu made a noise of exclamation as she stared at her sister.

Morgan and Emily both exchanged a wondrous smile. "Did she just try to say blue?" Emily asked, knowing that the baby had been close to saying mama and papa a few times over the last few weeks. It was still pretty early for her to be talking, though.

"Boo," Lulu repeated the last word her mother had spoken. She giggled, as if proud to show off her newfound gift of words. Even if it was a mostly nonsensical word.

"I think she's really trying to say blue," Derek agreed.

"Boo," the baby repeated a third time.

Kacey laughed to hear her sister's tiny-soft voice. "I guess the kitty's name is Boo," she shrugged. "Maybe Lulu thinks she looks like a ghost." The seven-year-old guided Ginger over to meet the cat. "Say hello, Ginger. This is our cat named Boo." Ginger sniffed the small white fur ball and even tried to lick it. Boo just sat there very calmly as she stared at the big dog. "I think they already like each other," Kacey declared.

Derek sat Lulu and the cat on the floor with Kacey and Ginger then he reclined against the sofa. Emily snuggled up closer as they both watched Lulu sitting between Kacey's legs. The cat was slowly tip-toeing around the gift explosion and Ginger was following Boo along with a curious sniff here and there. "You're not mad at me are you?" Morgan asked his wife, kissing her cheek.

"No, I guess not," Emily replied. "But you get to clean up after this one too, if Kacey doesn't."

He nodded slowly as he pulled something out from behind the pillow he was leaning against. Derek placed a small velvet box on her lap. "Looks like Santa forgot another gift he'd been hiding."

Her eyes went wide, knowing they'd already exchanged gifts. "What is this?"

"I believe it's customary to open a gift and find out," he grinned.

Emily pried open the box and found a silver necklace with two stones hanging off it. One was a pearl and the other a peridot charm. "The girl's birthstones," she noted while pulling it free of the box. Emily held it out for him to clasp behind her neck. When it was secure, she ran her fingers along the two stones and smiled gratefully up at her husband. "How can you be such a pest, and yet so romantic?" Emily questioned.

Morgan shrugged. "It's a gift."

"Merry Christmas," she whispered.

"Merry Christmas, Emily," he sealed their sentiment with a kiss.


The End