Morgan hadn't heard the front door open, but he could just faintly hear her in the living room. Her words were inaudible, but the hushed and gentle tone of her voice reached his ears. At first, he thought she might be on the phone with someone— a coworker perhaps. However, as he came down the stairs, it appeared that was not the case. Seated next to a little figure on the couch, Emily was tossing the dark curls of Elana's son.

He watched as she then, laid him back, placed a blanket over him, and cut on an animated movie for him to watch. Leaning over once more, the brunette whispered something in the little one's ear. Morgan assumed the words she spoke must've been about when or how to turn the television off. Of course, since he was so young, Emily would likely return and do the task for him.

Not a moment after straightening up did she notice him approaching. Morgan was careful to move with leaden steps so as not to disturb the scene too much, but before he could enter into the living room, Emily's hands flew up. With palms facing out, she gestured from him to stop in his tracks. Albeit, confused, Morgan obeyed. He paused where he was standing while he waited for her to meet him.

Rounding the couch corner, she moved towards him. Then, in a continuous and swift motion, she reached for his hand and began leading him up the stairs, back to the bedroom. Once they were both inside (and presumably far enough out of earshot), Emily softly guided the door to close. Her back against the wood frame, she gazed across the room at Derek, but spoke no words.

"I'm definitely waiting for an explanation, but I feel like you're waiting for a reaction." Morgan broke the dead silence.

"It's coming, I know it is." Emily said, her position and expression seeping with expectancy.

"Well…"

In truth, he didn't know where to begin. Obviously, he wasn't angry, but there were several questions swirling around in his head. And even then, none of them seemed quite right for the moment. So, he pushed down every inquiry from "Is this what it looks like?" to the common "Why?" Mostly, he was worried. It was hard to see the child of an active case in this home, and not think about how his whole family was just targeted in a residential explosion— this morning. The kid should be in witness protection and they should be hunting the killer.

But perhaps, his biggest concern was not that Emily couldn't handle this or the risk, it was that she was doing too much.

"Emily…" He began, and watched her jaw clench at the very specific use of her name,"You have a lot going on right now."

"I know, but I'll be fine." She insisted coolly.

Morgan had come to learn that the indifference in her response was almost always meant to make him worry less, but what she had yet to learn is that it actually made him worry more.

"I'm not saying, that you won't," He continued lowly,"But don't you think this is a bit much?"

"It won't be a lot if you help me," She said, suddenly grinning a cheeky smile and batting her long lashes.

Morgan raised one eyebrow,"We both work."

"We can alternate. Garcia can chip in, too." She proposed confidently. It made it harder for him to protest, because it sounded like she'd full-proofed all her points before even having this conversation with him,"And you won't have to worry about this being too huge an undertaking for any of us. He'll be here for the week, then after that he'll be overseas with his father."

Morgan paused as he considered what she was telling him. Although not completely practical, it was doable. Moreover, the fact that she was taking the time to get on the same page with him, placated his most of his concerns and answered his unsaid questions. In the long run, this was her decision to make, her path to travel. And, as he saw it, he could either make this event harder on her or pitch in and share the load— even if he didn't fully comprehend her reasoning.

"If I could just ask one question, though, I think I need to ask why." Morgan allowed himself to release a single inquiry, in hopes that she could offer a little more clarity,"I mean, is this about work? Because you're doing great — If all the hours you're working is any indication, you're doing more than great. I saw you on the job today, you're amazing."

"Thank you, but it's not at all about the job." Emily replied, "Yes, this position is more administrative than on the ground, but this is what I signed on for."

Morgan sighed internally. She wasn't going to offer up anything freely.

"Okayyy, so is this about Elana?" He tried again.

At the mention of the agent's name, the gleam in her eyes dimmed, almost immediately being replaced with a regretful sadness.

"Emily?" Morgan said her name, as her gaze fully fell to the ground.

"I should've given her a protective detail…" She said hollowly.

"Now, see, don't do that," The man advised, "It was early in the case, you didn't know enough. There's nothing you could've done different."

"Exactly." She declared, frustration hidden in the tone of her voice, "I can't do a damn thing for her now, but this— I can do."

And finally it clicked. To have someone seek you out, to make big promises, to promise solving their case and a happy ending — and to fail on all accounts? It was a heavy burden. One that was hard to get free from. And as the Spicer's resurfaced in his mind, Morgan couldn't deny that he understood her situation exactly. It was now evident to him that she was more than hurting. Emily was suffering a wound that could only be healed by extending care to the living and avenging the dead.

Right now she didn't need his logic or his criticism, she needed assurance that she was doing the right thing.

"Alright…" Morgan exhaled,"Let me know what you need."

"Come downstairs to meet him?" She said. It didn't take long for the sparkle to return to her eye, "He's a sweet little boy."

Without any lingering hesitation, Derek nodded. Promptly, the two exited her bedroom and headed back down the stairs, reentering the living space where the little boy was still sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket. Instead of watching the movie, however, his eyes were transfixed on the high ceilings and Emily's starburst chandelier. But when he noticed them coming to sit on the couch with him, he sat up and looked directly at them.

"Teddy, this is Derek," Emily gestured to the man as he took a seat closer to the kid than she did, "He lives here with me, and he's gonna help me take care of you while you stay."

"Hi, Derek." Teddy said and lifted his hand out from under the cover to wave.

"Hey, buddy," Morgan greeted him with a smile.

"Are you going to be my parents now?" The question tumbled off the 5 year old's lips so innocently and so abruptly.

Morgan flashed a panicked glance to Prentiss and she offered one of shock back. It was late in night for both of them. The hours of exhaustion were creeping in, and they both knew that a heavy question like that needed to be handled with lots of time and care. But of course, they also couldn't lie to him, or pretend like he never asked a thing. Thus, Morgan gave the simplest most concise answer he could.

"No, kiddo. We're not." Teddy nodded, and this seemed to answer the boy's question for the moment. But to keep the conversation pushing before any other questions arose, Derek pointed to the graphic tee he noticed peeking from under the blanket,"Hey, is that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt you got on?"

Teddy pulled the blanket down more and stretched out the shirt, "Mhmm, I like Michelangelo. He's funny."

"That's awesome." Derek remarked, "When I was young, I liked Leonardo. He taught me all about being a leader."

"I don't know how to read the comics yet, but I like to watch the cartoon," Teddy continued, "And when I went to the big police office today, Imani let me watch TMNT on a computer."

"Oh did she?" Morgan mused as he shared an overly-intrigued look with Prentiss, who was still seated behind his broad frame on the couch,"What was the episode about?"

"Um, the turtles were working with a caped crusader and broke into a warehouse and…"

As Teddy went on about his favorite show, Derek patted Emily's leg and gave her the okay to leave the two of them alone to get acquainted. Given the tired look under her eyes, he could tell she was ready to escape upstairs once again to shower off the long day. And hopefully after, she would crawl into bed and get some rest. Without objection, she left the two boys chatting away about their cartoon turtles.

The kid was smart. Certainly, a lot more animated than when the man had last seen him a few hours ago. Morgan noted that the resilience of children never ceased to amaze him. Even if this boy had ways go until true recovery, for the moment, he seemed to be doing well. And as he continued to speak with him, it didn't take much for Derek's heart to open up further, his willingness to shelter him for a few days becoming more concrete.

Before long, it was an hour later into the night. Having talked for most of time, Teddy's energy dwindled and he slowly grew tired. Only when Morgan suggested that the two turn their attention to the screen playing the last few minutes of the movie, did he fall silent, then unashamedly, fell asleep. Morgan pulled the blanket over him once again, turned off the TV and dimmed the living room lamp.

Leaving his new little buddy behind to snooze the night away, he tiptoed and made his way back up to the room, where he expected to find Emily equally as knocked out. But when he arrived, he was hardly surprised to find her wide awake, sitting criss-cross on top of the covers.

"What am I looking at?" He asked (more rhetorically than anything) as he goggled the display of Emily in her PJ's, with random paperwork scattered across the bed and a case file in her hand.

Her gaze shifted up, "Teddy's asleep?"

"Yea," Morgan responded with a shrug,"We talked about the Ninja Turtles til his eyes got heavy."

Emily tilted her head with endearment,"You two got along so well."

"He's easy to get along with…" Morgan said vacantly. He had approached the bedside and was now dually focused on just what type of material Emily felt she needed to splay out all over both sides of the queen-sized bed.

"Thank you… for doing this." She breathed.

The inquisitive frown that settled upon his face dissolved as the sincerity in her voice redirected his gaze to her,"You don't have to thank me, Princess."

"But I do." Emily pushed,"You're so selfless… sometimes it kinda freaks me out."

Morgan snickered, "And you too. You do so much for everyone around you. I just want to help give a little bit of that back to you from time to time."

Emily's lips curled with a smile; the gentle, appreciative smile that accented her face with dimples, the smile that he adored and which was all for him. His line may have been a little corny, but sometimes Derek couldn't help himself. He felt so damn lovestruck all the time, the things he'd end up saying because of it were just— stupid. However, naming it and claiming couldn't feel more right.

He loved her, probably longer than before he knew. And being here with her, only encouraged him to do and be more. As far as personal relationships were concerned, he didn't used to be as selfless. Selfishness, on the hand, was a more accurate description. This was not to say that he treated anyone terribly or without respect, but that in the end, every finesse, every hookup was for his pleasure only. Now long past his player days, Derek was deeply enthralled to have found someone who brought out the best in him. And he was very nearly reaching the point where he wouldn't dare give up who he was with her— or what they were together for anything.

Instinctively, Morgan reached for the top cover in order to climb into bed, but was quickly reminded of how disruptive a task that would be for Emily. And the likelihood of a paper-cut prone, uncomfortable end result for him. He glanced at the paperwork, then at Emily, and noticed that she had diligently returned to scanning the various files in front of her. Meanwhile, he remained awkwardly at the bedside.

"Hey, Em?" He requested her attention,"Can we go to sleep now, too?" The man casually gestured to her layout, and then mimed his intention to sleep between the sheets and not on top of them.

Suddenly, realizing how inconsiderate and oblivious she'd been, Emily began to hurriedly stack together the files that decorated his side of the bed and moved them over to her's, "Sorry, I need to go over this info on the Foster's that Mitchells gave me earlier."

"Anything useful?" He asked as he gratefully pulled back the covers, and slid underneath.

"Everything and nothing." She sighed, "What I really need to find is more evidence and background on her brother."

"The missing one?"

"Maybe…" Emily's wheels were turning,"When we did the cognitive earlier, Teddy recalled a stranger came to the house this morning, and Elana hugged him."

"Someone she knew, but Teddy didn't…yet. What're you thinking?"

"Well, the visitor was a man. His arrival happened mere days after Elana was convinced she mysteriously saw her long lost brother. She embraced him, but didn't introduce him to her son. There were 2 bodies and not 3 found at the scene." Emily connected the dots,"It's a long shot, but I'm wondering if this person— the bomber was her missing sibling?"

"So her abducted brother from 20 years ago, comes back to set off a bomb and kill his sister?" Morgan raised incredulously.

"I know it sounds insane." Emily resigned, falling back onto her pillow.

"It does," He agreed, then seeing the opportunity, he added,"All the more reason to set it all aside until morning."

"I suppose you're right…" She replied as she shook her head at the disappointing mess of confidential material in front of her.

"Oh, I am." Morgan insisted as he playfully yet purposefully dusted more of her files away from him and into a disorganized pile in her lap,"No more paperwork. Tidy up. We've gotta wake up early, so we can be "parents" in the morning."

Catching onto his joke, Morgan was please to hear Prentiss laugh at his reference to Teddy's question from earlier. While he buried himself deeper under the covers, and faced his back towards the light of her lamp, she finally gathered all her papers off the bed and tossed them into her briefcase. A few minutes later, lights were out, he felt the cool draft of her side of the covers lifting and the sheets stirred while she, too, huddled under the comforter. The bed rocked slightly as she moved nearer to him, the warmth of smaller body spreading across his back, spooning him.

The couple laid like that, in peace, in soft darkness and in silence for a few good minutes. Morgan didn't know whether it was the need to sleep or the determination to get up and do the paperwork in the morning, but for the first time in a couple weeks, Emily made it to bed in time to fall asleep with him. He could never guilt her for working hard or even putting in over-time, but he could savor moments like this one.

"If we're parents now does that mean, I can call you Daddy Morgan?" Emily whispered out of the blue.

Morgan scrunched his neck. Her voice was low and teasing in his ear, her chin obnoxiously jabbing into his shoulder. He glared over his shoulder, leaning back on her a little bit,"What do you think?" He murmured.

"I don't know… Daddy." A chill raced down Morgan's spine. She he was trying to bait him, and in the low light that was creeping through the blinds from the street lamp outside, he could see a Cheshire cat grin on her face, daring him to do something about it.

"You kinky little… How would you like it if started calling you Mom Prentiss?" He threw out the question as he flipped over and scooped his arms tight around her. Deconstructing their spooning position, Morgan made it so that her arms were bound to her sides and he was relentlessly tickling underneath her ribcage.

"Stop, that sounds terrible!" She squealed through uncontrollable laughter whilst trying to get free of his hold.

"Alright, what about Ma Emily— or Mommy Em?" He toyed with her, now gripping her closer so that he could tauntingly bite and kiss a trail from her ear all the way to her lips, "Mother Prentiss?"

"God, no. That's worse." She giggled, and pushed him away, her voice rapidly hushing into a whisper. Too quickly, they'd both forgotten there was another person asleep in the lower regions of the house, and that they should probably be on their best behavior,"I like my nickname for you better."

"Of course you do…" Morgan shook his head, but let her have this one.

Once they both calmed down and readjusted their positions in the bed, he pulled her close to him once more; their foreheads touching while their breathing deepened and they drifted off to sleep.

Even though they were clowning around, tomorrow the couple would wake and play a role that they hadn't before. By no means was being a caretaker-type liaison to a child until he reached a permanent home exactly the same as caring for him long term— but the short term responsibility that came with it was no less potent. If anything, he was confident that both he and Emily would go above and beyond to fulfill their duty to that little boy.

And Derek could admit he was a little bit excited. Teddy was a great kid, and taking care of him would be a pleasure. But what he was looking forward to most, was sharing this experience with Emily. There was something so primal in the way he enjoyed seeing her assume a nurturing role, even professionally. Plus, after their last case together, and the twisted way in which those unsubs had demanded a family from the two of them, it was hard to say that the idea of them… having a child together didn't dance across his mind from time to time.

But never too seriously. They were only about a month into this relationship and, of course, this was not their child. Derek could and would remain as objective in that respect. Nevertheless, this was new territory, for the both of them. And having Teddy here would inevitably change their dynamic. It would momentarily make an artificial little family out of them three.

A/N: Okay! Thank you for reading this word-juice I squeezed out of my brain. I'm excited about these next chapters I want to write. It'll be more Teddy with MxP, so HOPEFULLY (schedule willing) I can give y'all some more in the coming weeks rather than... in the coming months :,,,,,) Til next time! xoxo