**There is a very non-explicit sex scene in the beginning of this chapter - just a warning**

"When it's gone, you'll know what a gift love was. You'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it."

Ian McEwan, Enduring Love

Derek sighed as Emily slammed the door. The baby shower was going to be held at Rossi's and despite Garcia stating that it was a costume party, Emily refused to wear a costume.

"I'm not fucking wearing it." She said through the door. "It's my party and I can wear whatever I want."

He looked helplessly at Fran who just shrugged. Slowly he opened the door and slid into their bedroom. Emily was sitting on the bed, the costume beside her. "It doesn't fit, okay?" She whispered softly, her head in her hands.

Sighing Derek sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "You can wear whatever you want. As long as you come." He said, pressing a kiss on her shoulder.

After a while, Emily finally looked up. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I need a shower." She said softly.

Derek nodded and pressed a few soft kisses on her hair. "Sure. Do you need help?" As the pregnancy progressed, there were things that Derek had started doing for Emily. She hated asking for help, hated needing help.

A shrug and a pink colouring her cheeks. She got to her feet and headed towards the washroom, Derek following close behind. She turned on the shower and stepped in, the steam filling up the room. Derek stripped his clothes and left them in the corner before walking into the spray of water. He watched as Emily changed and he extended his hand to her. Carefully she walked into the shower, they were both so thankful that they had a separate bathtub and shower, and that their shower was large enough to hold both of them and still have extra space. His arms wrapped around her, his fingers lacing together and gently holding up her belly. He knew that the extra weight was starting to pull on her joints and she spent a lot of time in pain. If there was anything in the world he could do to take away her pain, he would. They stood together under the hot spray until Derek moved his hands. He reached for the shampoo and rubbed it through her hair. His fingers massaged her scalp softly, before kissing her wet skin. Rinsing her hair, he massaged some conditioner in before moving her out of the spray of water. They had been together long enough that he knew her hair care routine. His hands ran down her sides, Emily leaning against him. One arm wrapped around her tightly, holding her against him, his other hand sliding down her body. She rocked against him, his other hand tightening around her waist. The pleasure came quickly and he held her up as it washed over her like the warm water. He slowly moved her back under the water to rinse out the conditioner out of her hair. They stayed under the water until their fingers and toes started to wrinkle and a shiver ran through her body. Gently, Derek helped her out of the shower and wrapped her in a warm fuzzy towel. He led her to their bed and smiled. "We still have some time before we have to go to the party. How about you take a quick nap?"

Emily blinked and nodded without argument. She crawled under the covers and Derek slid on a pair of sweats and a hoodie before grabbing his phone and slipping out of the room.

Dropping on the couch, he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to the team. Emily isn't wearing a costume to the party. Don't ask. Don't comment.

He sighed and leaned against the couch cushion.


"EMMY!" Noah ran up to Emily and wrapped his little arms around her as best he could, pressing his head against her belly. "I fink I fee' da babies." He commented with a smile.

"They're giving you a high five." She replied, nodding as Derek scooped up the little boy. "I see you're Spiderman."

"I 'Piderman." He said emphatically.

Mackenzie walked by and gave the two of them a shy smile. Since the attack the younger woman had pulled away, isolated herself, but recently the smallest sliver of the old Mackenzie shone through. Noah looked at his mother and shook his head. "Mama 'piderman mom." He said seriously.

The younger woman had her hair back in braids, her face free of any makeup. She was wearing a pair of grey leggings, with a long turquoise tunic style shirt. Her baby bump was barely visible Emily noticed. Mackenzie smiled shyly and rocked back on her heels.

"You look great, Emily." Mackenzie said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Pregnant with twins." She laughed softly. "How about you?"

Mackenzie shrugged and picked at her nails. "Alright. Back to work now full time." Her dark eyes were downcast and she took a step back. The nervous energy from the young woman was thick enough to cut, her hands twisting in front of her.

"That's great." Emily said, laying a friendly hand on her shoulder.

The younger woman gave a shy smile and nodded, her hands brushed over the front of her sweater. Turning to Noah who was happily in Derek's arms, she gave her son a look. "Noah, are you excited about having a baby brother or sister?"

Noah shook his head. "No. I want Emmy baby not Mama baby."

"Why not buddy? You can have your own baby brother or sister?"

"I no wanna 'are." Noah explained. "I mama and umi 'pecial boy"

Derek hiked him higher on his hip. "You're always going to be Mama and Umi's special boy." He gave Mackenzie a smile, but stayed a respectable distance away. He understood trauma, and he wanted Mackenzie to come around on her terms. "Anyway, we should probably head inside." Gently putting Noah down, he wrapped his arm around Emily's waist. He knocked at the door and Rossi opened it with a wide smile. He took their jackets before leading them all inside. The dining room was filled with gifts, their friends and family standing around. Rossi gave Emily a grin and shrugged. "È per te e per i bambini, bellissima."

She knew that there was going to be a baby shower, but in true Penelope Garcia fashion it was over the top. Green, yellow, and grey streamers and balloons hung from the ceiling, a huge cake in the same colours on the table and a mountain of gifts. Emily looked around at the room, before twisting her hands in front of her. Tears welled in her eyes and Garcia rushed towards her, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"Mama! Don't cry!"

Sniffling, Emily shook her head. "Hormones. She mumbled, using the pregnancy to hide her real emotions. She looked up and gave the group a shy smile. "Thank you everyone. This is...too much. Amazing, but too much."

Tara laughed and shook her head. "You know we don't do too much." She chuckled. "And come on, these two are TRUE BAU royalty. We have to go over the top."

Luke pulled up a chair for Emily and helped her sit down. "Come on, Boss." He said with a wide smile. "Take a seat."

"We were told that under any circumstance, we were not to be playing any games." Garcia said, handing Emily a mocktail. "So instead of filling our time with fun games, we can open presents! And then Rossi ordered food from an amazing place and we have cupcakes, and I know that you guys don't know the gender and I was going to hack in and try to find it but then I decided that I would be just as surprised as you guys…" The blonde said in one breath. "Come on, Mama, all of this is for you and your babies."

Emily looked around the room. Everyone was there, even her mother, though she looked highly uncomfortable. Gifts started to be passed around and Emily grabbed Derek, pulling him down on a chair beside her. "They're your babies too." She reasoned with a shrug.

Their babies were going to be the most spoiled little humans on the planet Emily decided after working their way through gifts. "We're going to need a bigger vehicle to take all this stuff home in." Emily commented, shaking her head.

"I have our SUV." JJ piped up with a laugh as she passed Emily a plate of food. She sat down next to her best friend and watched as Derek looked through their pile of gifts, shaking his head slightly. The BAU had pooled the money together to get two convertible cribs, but then had all decided to buy their own gifts on top of the cribs. Mackenzie and Taala had given them a twins running stroller, with two spiderman stuffies in them. Overwhelmed was an understatement. Emily dabbed at her eyes as she started to pick at the food on her plate. Her mother disappeared quickly, handing Emily an envelope before giving an excuse of a meeting that she HAD to go to.

Derek gave her a tight lipped smile and watched her open it. Two cheques fell out. One for $50 000, the other for $25 000. In the memo of the first one, it just simply said "for the babies". On the second it said, in stiff block lettering, "For your needs."

$75 000 was more than Derek had ever held in his two hands at once. He looked down at Emily who seemed to be sitting in a stunned silence. "Em?"

"My mom is terrible with emotions." She said slowly, deliberately choosing her words. "This is the best she can do. And it's not to buy us off, it's her way of making sure that her grandkids have whatever they need."

Derek stared at the cheques. This was more money than his mother would earn in a year working as a nurse. He glanced back at his wife who seemed quite apathetic to the whole thing. Most of the time their different upbringing wasn't a big deal. Most of the time they didn't even remember how different each one of them grew up. Then something like this would happen and it would hit them both in the face. Emily didn't even seem surprised or impressed by the amount of money. To Derek, it was astounding.

"Uh...what do we do with the cheques?" He asked folding them up carefully in his wallet.

Emily frowned and took a bite of the food. "We put them in savings accounts." She said as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "The babies will have a college account."

They weren't hurting for money by any means, but her family was RICH. She and Derek were well off. There was a difference. Derek put his wallet back in his pocket and swallowed hard. This money, in 18 years could help their kids through college. Reaching down, he placed his hand on her belly. He felt movements under his palm and he smiled proudly. Those were his babies. Emily smiled up at him, her smile lighting up the room. Despite the room being packed with their friends and family, his focus was on Emily. He pressed a few kisses on her lips, each one deepening slightly.

"Stop." JJ whispered, nudging her friend. "There are other people here."

Emily had the good graces to blush. Derek on the other hand just gave the blonde a smirk and walked away to go chat with Matt and Luke.

It took their SUV and JJ's to haul everything back to their house. Derek, Luke, and Rossi started carrying the larger boxes in, though Rossi mainly delegated and visited with Fran. Luke dropped the last box that held another crib.

"Guess you guys are gonna have to start looking at doing the nursery." He commented looking around. The room was full of boxes, minus the dresser and change tables.

"Yeah, guess so." Derek mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. Things were happening so fast it made his head spin. After making sure everything was in, they walked back to the main room and found JJ and Emily on a tablet, giggles shared between the two women. Rossi and Fran were on the back porch, each with a glass of scotch in their hands.

"We have lots to do before those two come." Emily piped up, easily reading Derek's mind. "You know, if we paid for a contractor to finish the granny suite, that would be one less thing to worry about. And we can pay someone to do the nursery." She reasoned.

Derek's face darkened and he crossed his arms over his chest. "I can do it."

JJ and Emily exchanged glances and Emily propped her feet up on the ottoman. "Trust me Derek, we know that you can do it. It's just a matter of time. With both of us gone all the time on cases, we literally do not have enough time to do everything. Our babies are going to be born and they're going to be sleeping in boxes."

Her husband's face darkened, creases running over his forehead. Emily looked up and reached for him. Once he walked over, Emily pulled him down for a soft kiss. "Just let other people in, Derek." She whispered. "We're a family. Let other people help."

Derek shrugged, but returned her kiss softly. He knew she was right, that with their jobs and their schedules made it hard for them to do everything.

A few hours later, they were in bed together, Emily cuddling up with the pregnancy pillow that she finally reluctantly purchased.

"Do you have your list of names?"

Emily struggled to sit up, but finally pulled herself up. "Yeah, I do." They had decided to pick out names separately and then look at them together. She reached for her phone and traded it with Derek's. They had quite a few of the same names, but there were some that stuck out. They wanted their names to be meaningful to carry something deeper than just names. She pointed to a few on his list. "I think these go well together for a boy." She said softly.

"I really like those for a girl." His face lit up as he started to write them together. He said the names out loud, the combination rolling off his tongue.

They made back up names, so that if they had two boys or two girls, they would all have names. Emily put her phone back on the end table and cuddled up against Derek best she could. "Guess our babies won't be nameless." She said with a smile.

"Guess not." He rested his hand on her abdomen, smiling as he felt some soft kicks. "Want to get those babies dancing in there?"

Emily laughed, her head back the soft gentleness of the freeing motion softening her face. "Y'know how I said that you were lucky that I don't just lie there and make you do all the work?"

His eyebrow arched and he propped himself up on one elbow. "Yes…"

"Well my gorgeous husband of mine, if you want to feel them dance, you're going to have to do the work."

It was his turn to laugh as he stripped off his shirt. "My pleasure, Princess. My pleasure."

Shaking her head, Emily struggled with her top. "No, it's going to be my pleasure."