"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

They had been doing this, whatever it was, for a few months now. After a particularly bad case, Emily would come over with some beer, or liquor of her choice, and they would unwind. First, it started with just liquor, then sex. They were never supposed to fall in love.

He knew it after the case with Dale Sharder. She was concussed, cut up, and so god damn stubborn. After they found Sharder and his partner, they headed home.

"You scared me there, Princess." He said as he helped her wash her hair, still small pieces of windshield glass stuck in it.

She looked over her shoulder and gave him a weak smile. "I'm fine."

"You might be, but I'm not." He replied, pressing a soft kiss to her neck. "I'm not sure what I would do if I lost you, Emily."

She turned in his arms. "You'd find someone else to work tension out with."

"There's only one Emily Prentiss, so I doubt that."

They stood there until the water turned cold. He knew right then and there that he had fallen in love with her. With her smile, with her passion, with her energy, even with her impulsivity and stubbornness. Even if she would never feel the same way about him, he knew that he was in love with her. They laid in bed after, her skin soft, warm and sweet smelling. Maybe one day he would tell her, but not today. Not tonight. He didn't want to wreck what they had. One day he would tell her.

Fran looked over at her son and gave a small nod. "So, when did you tell her?"

Rolling his eyes, Derek sighed as he pulled into the parking spot. "Not until after I carried her damn coffin. And even then, it was a few months after she came back that I finally told her that I loved her." They walked into the maternity store and Derek looked around feeling completely out of his league and overwhelmed. "I can only say that I'm glad that I finally did."

His mother nodded in agreement. "You wouldn't be here otherwise." She reasoned. "Okay, now let's look at some lounge clothes for Emily. Things that are comfy. We can get some for while she's pregnant and then some for when she's in the hospital, after she's given birth."

Derek looked around and frowned. There were so many different options and sizes. The look of panic must've given him away because a young woman quickly walked up to him. "Need help?"

"Uh...yeah. My wife is pregnant with twins." He mumbled softly. "I want to get her some nice stuff. She's still working a high stress job, so I want to get her stuff for when she gets back."

The girl nodded. "Alright so clothes? Pyjamas? Both?"

"Both I guess." Derek shrugged as he followed her around the store. "My wife is pretty tiny...like size six normally. And she's still small but with twins and stuff…" He started to ramble.

The woman smiled softly as they walked through and she grabbed different things. "So what kind of colours does your wife like?"

A smile crossed Derek's face and he tried to shrug it off. "Uh...she looks really good in red." He mumbled softly. "She wears lots of blues, blacks, greens, and purples...but she looks really good in red."

Fran walked by and shook her head. "My son is a lovesick fool." She commented, taking a few of the items out of Derek's hands. "There are dresses over there." Pointing to a corner of the store. "I'm going to buy Emily a sweater and a pair of pants, I'm going to head to the baby store after this, just text me when you're done."

He nodded and headed over to the dresses, looking through them. A red one caught his eye and he pulled it out. He knew Emily usually wore a small or a medium, but he wasn't sure about maternity sizing. Hoping it was the right size, he grabbed it before venturing over to the lingerie section. He found a sexy number in black and went and gathered the rest of his purchases and brought them to the front. Paying for them, he gave the clerk a smile before heading out of the store. Sitting down on the bench outside, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Emily.

Hey Princess. Thinking of you.

His lips turned up into a smile as he saw the telltale three dots appear on his screen.

Thinking of you too. Gonna be away for at least a day, maybe more. Heading to Texas.

He sighed, the toughest part of the job right now was being away from her.

Alright. Love you and stay safe.

Love you too.


Emily leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. Her phone buzzed and she smiled, knowing it was Derek. Tara looked at her boss and her eyebrows arched.

"Okay, so this has been bothering me FOREVER." Tara started dramatically. "So tell me the EPIC love story between Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss - now Morgan."

JJ dropped in the seat beside Tara and stared at her friend. "Yes Emily, do tell. I mean, we all kind of figured out that you guys were in love with each other...but you two were too dumb to figure it out."

Sighing, Emily looked at her phone. They still had a few hours in the air before they arrived in Texas. "Okay, well, we were never supposed to fall in love. We weren't even really dating just having sex. Really really good sex."

JJ nodded. "You guys were really good at hiding it. Like you hid it from a bunch of profilers for how long?"

Smirking, Emily shrugged, her hands rubbing her belly. "Two years." She said. "At first we just did it after a hard case, then it became a constant. And then...Doyle happened."

"Emily was undercover. Doyle was an international terrorist and he came back for revenge on Emily. We almost lost her."

Emily nodded. "Yeah that's when I knew."

"Emily, baby. Stay with me." His voice broke through her subconscious. Her eyes focused for the merest second on his face, on his soft brown eyes. Use your voice Emily. She chastised herself. Only blood bubbled from her mouth instead of words.

Her vision swam and she went limp in his arms, the effort of staying awake, of staying present, too much energy. She could hear his panicked cries, feel his cheek against hers. There was nothing more than she wanted, right in that moment, than to tell Derek how much she loved him. Instead her body twitched as she struggled for breath.

She awoke in Bethesda, crying for Derek. But she was dead. For all intents and purposes, she was dead. Legally dead. JJ and Hotch came to visit her and tell her about their plans. She was dead. She could have no contact with anyone. Her life as she knew it was over.

Once she was healthy enough to move, she was on her way to Paris. She loved Paris. She and Derek spoke about some day going together. Making love with the Eiffel tower in the distance. She was back here. Alone.

She got brave enough to look up the team on social media. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, wanting desperately to send Derek a message. Anything. Each time was so painful, too painful. So she stopped. She had settled, had accepted that her life was never going to be with Derek. JJ kept her up to date with the team as best she could, but Emily asked her to stop. Their lives moved on. Hers had stopped.

Then JJ messaged her. She was able to come back to DC. She was alive again.

In his arms, she was home. His scent surrounded her. His warmth covered her. She was finally safe. After seven months of being alone and torture, she was finally safe.

"I love you." She whispered, into his chest. So soft she wasn't sure he even heard her. His grip tightened and she knew.

"Jesus, they could make a movie about your guys' love story." Tara said, shaking her head. "Seriously. Killed by an international arms dealer then comes back from the dead."

"You forgot the love of your life hunting down the international arms dealer to seek vengeance." JJ added. "For seven months, Derek tracked Doyle so he could kill him himself."

Emily shrugged and looked out the window. "We kind of fell back into old patterns before we admitted that we were more than just…"

"Fuck buddies." Tara supplied. "That you were soulmates."

Rolling her eyes, Emily made a face to her friends. "Yeah thanks for that." Their conversation slowed to a lull and Spencer walked by, giving Emily a small smile. "What can I do for you, Reid?"

He placed a small bottle of pills in front of Emily. "I was doing research and it says that with pregnancies with multiples, women need more folic acid. I'm unsure if your OBGYN told you that. Folic acid is one of the most important vitamins during gestation." He blushed and gave Emily a small shrug.

"Thanks Spencer. I'll be sure to take an extra one." Emily gave him a wide smile and squeezed his forearm.

His face lit up and he sat down in the row beside them. "I also created a list of risks that are common with multiples. Things from preeclampsia, to anemia and gestational diabetes."

Emily nodded, her hand protectively over her abdomen. "Yeah, I'm already anemic." She told the younger agent. Nothing terrible right now but I'm supposed to keep an eye out and try to eat more iron rich foods."

"I'll make you a list of iron rich foods." He said with a smile. "That way you don't need to rely on supplements that are harder on your system than the natural source."

Tara and JJ exchanged glances and smiled as Spencer rambled on about the healthiest forms of iron for expectant women while Emily listened intently, rubbing her baby belly.