"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
-James Baldwin
SEASON 7 (November)
"Mom, Trinity spilled juice on my homework!" Rebecca whined, picking up her math textbook and worksheet.
"I didn't mean to!" The five-year-old girl wearing braids defended herself.
Shannon Douglas pinched the bridge of her nose as she was putting on her shoes. "She didn't mean to, Becca."
"That doesn't matter!" Rebecca rolled her eyes, and began trying to dry her book and homework with paper towels. "Crap, mister Colson is going to kill me."
Trinity turned around in her chair. "That means mister Morgan can put him in jail."
"Okay," The mother got up after putting her last shoe on. She pointed to Rebecca. "mister Colson is not killing anyone," then to Trinity. "and mister Morgan is not putting anyone in jail. Where's your sister?"
She began to walk around the small apartment. Thankfully, there were two bedrooms, but that unfortunately meant her three girls had to share one room. The living room was nothing more than a couch and box TV, but the small family had a decent kitchen.
"Morgan!" Shannon began knocking on the bathroom door. "Morgan Elizabeth, you've been in there all morning, you're either doing drugs, or you're menstruating!"
Shrill laughter came from Trinity and Rebecca in the kitchen. Soon, the door to the bathroom flew open, and revealed Morgan Elizabeth Douglas with only one false eyelash on.
"I'm actually putting on makeup and getting ready." She said with a straight face. "You know, something you do all the time?"
Shannon couldn't help but smile at her oldest daughter. "I get up early to do that, baby cakes, not at seven-thirty."
"Oh shit," Morgan cursed, slamming the door and going back to put her last eyelash in.
"Hey!" her mother interjected. "I don't like that language, and don't freak out when putting on falsies."
"I know that, mama." Morgan said calmly, carefully putting in her last eyelash.
Shannon sighed, shaking her head. "Don't worry either, I'll take Trinity and Rebecca to school today."
"Oh my lord, I love you!" The fourteen-year-old rejoiced as she put her eyelash in, but also at her mother's words.
Her mother's laughter filled the area as she left to her own room, and Morgan left the bathroom to hastily pack up her bag. Rebecca Douglas, now edgy from her homework being covered in juice, packed up her own backpack. She looked over at her sister, and made a face.
"Yeesh, if I was Charlie, I wouldn't kiss you either."
The older girl pushed her sister without looking up from her bag, and Rebecca stumbled back a bit, trying to hold in her laughter. Little Trinity got down from the chair, and began to put her boots on.
"Morgan, how long have you been dating Charlie?"
"Four weeks," she zipped up her bag, and rushed to the kitchen, taking a granola bar off the counter.
"Do you love him?"
Usually, that would have stopped the girl in her tracks, but she only kept moving around the apartment, brushing her hair with her fingers.
"I like him,"
Trinity scrunched her nose up as she swung her backpack over her shoulders. "You can like your friends, but you can only love your boyfriend."
"Not true,"
"Yeah it is,"
Morgan took a bite of the granola bar. "How would I be able to love you and mama then?"
Rebecca perked her head up from her backpack. "Where does that put me?"
"That's beside the point," Morgan said sarcastically. "go ahead, Trin, tell me"
The little girl's eyes shifted under the pressure. This only caused Morgan to giggle and shake her head. "See? Love isn't that easy to describe, baby."
She shrugged. "I guess,"
"Okay girls," the mother soon came out of her room wearing a coat. "let's go."
"I don't even have my shoes on," Rebecca groaned.
"And who's fault is that?" Morgan challenged, quickly putting on her sneakers.
"Society,"
Morgan perked her head up from her shoes to look at her mother. "Watch out, mama! We have a certified badass on the premise."
It was Rebecca's turn to be laughed at that morning. Soon, the four women were leaving the apartment room, all making sure they had their keys with them.
"Morgan," Shannon asked as they left the building and got out onto the sidewalk. "do you have to work today?"
The girl nodded. "Yeah, but only until five-thirty."
"Good. Rebecca, are you okay with you and Trinity walking back from dance around that time?"
The twelve-year-old smirked "As long she can hold her juice properly without spilling."
"I didn't mean to!" The smallest girl squeaked, and the rest of the girls laughed.
"Hey there," a familiar man's voice greeted. "I thought I missed you."
Morgan Douglas cringed internally. Great. Just great.
It wasn't that she hated Derek Morgan; dear lord, he was an FBI agent, but he was somehow the only semi-normal neighbor of the apartment. It was just that she, in the nicest way possible, wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
Yet, her own mother, Shannon, only smiled gratefully as she took the coffee from him. The Douglas family moved in a little over two months ago from their mother's promotion, and for the past two weeks, Derek Morgan had almost always managed to give Shannon Douglas a cup of coffee at least every other morning before either of them left for work. Which meant her three girls were usually present.
The mother shook her head, jokingly saying. "I was about to lose it in a few if I wasn't going to get my coffee before eight."
Derek laughed. "Well, I have yet to fail you."
"Mister Morgan," Trinity tugged on his hand as he walked with them. Of course, Morgan Douglas walked ahead of them, praying that her mom wouldn't call her out on trying to run away.
The man smiled politely looking down at the small girl. "Yeah, sweet pea?"
"Rebecca says mister Colson is going to kill her, is that true?"
"Hey!" the said girl interjected at her name. "That was just because I was worried about the homework you destroyed."
"I didn't-!"
"-Mean to, yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes.
Shannon looked over at him. "How's everything been going on with you?"
"Traveling," he took a sip of his coffee. "lots and lots of traveling. So much every time I take one step, it feels like I'm on a plane."
The woman chuckled, looking down at the ground. "I'll stick to the ground and not talk to serial killers thank you very much."
Trinity looked up at the two adults with a puzzled look. "Killers don't kill cereal, they kill people."
"Well, Trinity," Rebecca began. "serial killers are the people who kill several people instead of just one-."
"Okay!" The mother interrupted her daughter. "How about we not talk about killers before going to school this morning, alright? Morgan Elizabeth, what do you-?"
Shannon looked up to check on her daughter, but was nowhere to be seen. Visible confusion was written on her face as she looked around; her young daughters following her lead. Soon, a buzzing sensation from her pocket alerted her, and she took her phone out to see a text message from Morgan herself.
"Decided to run ahead. School's not that far, but I just want to talk to people before class. Love you."
The mother pursed her lips before putting her phone back in her pocket. "It's fine, she just wanted to see her friends before school started."
Derek shrugged. "I get that. I think I should go anyway, see you around?"
Shannon grinned playfully. "As long as you don't forget to put sugar in my coffee again, then yeah I'll see you around."
"That was one time, woman!" He laughed. "One time,"
Trinity Douglas stepped forward, still holding her mom's hand. "She is a ma'am, thank you very much."
"Trinity," Shannon whispered, tugging on her daughter.
Derek shook his head, still smiling. "Nah, she's right. Sorry, ma'am, it won't happen again, ma'am."
The mother chuckled, also shaking her head. "Go, before I vomit in the middle of the sidewalk."
"Yes, ma'am." Derek smirked, and turned in the other direction. Not before hearing Trinity's little voice yell 'goodbye!' and he looked to see her waving spastically at him.
He waved back.
Morgan glanced over to her right as she worked on her book report that was due the next day, but because of work she didn't start until fourth period English class. There was Charlie Martin, staring solely at her with a blank look. She grinned.
"Charlie, it's been a week, you still can't be mad at me."
The boy with glasses just shook his head. "I'm not mad, just disappointed."
"Okay then," she laughed, closing her book to look at him. "it's been a week, you can't be disappointed in me."
"You would've made it, Morgan!" He whined.
She shook her head. "Even if I did, one, I have a job where I don't know if I'm working until five or nine, and B, I got two sisters and a mom."
Charlie snickered. "Missus Rogers is flexible with work schedules, besides, you have a beautiful voice."
"You heard me rap Niki Minaj twice, and stood next to me when we had to sing the National Anthem at the homecoming game. How the hell does that equal me being in the winter musical?"
He shrugged. "I somehow got in,"
"You shut your mouth, Charles." She teased. "I could listen to you sing When Words Fail forever."
Charlie cringed, shutting his eyes. "Please don't remind me we're doing Shrek the Musical."
"That is another reason I wasn't going to audition." She took notes about the book she was reading.
"It's not like I would've gotten a good role anyway." He shrugged.
"Shut up," she looked at him. "I'll enjoy looking for fairytale creature number six; he's kind of cute."
The boy smiled shyly at her. "You know, it's not too late to do stage crew."
"No,"
"Come on! It's only from seven-thirty to ten for the first few weeks."
"And then after that?"
Charlie paused for a little bit. "I don't know,"
Morgan shook her head. "Tempting, but no. I'm fine with just buying a ticket. Doesn't the program need money anyway?"
"Touché," He groaned.
The girl smirked, finishing up her notes before turning to her boyfriend. "Tell you what, I'll try out for the spring play."
Charlie's face beamed when he heard her say those words. The girl couldn't help but giggle at him, shaking her head.
"I just said 'try out', that means if I don't get in, I'm just going to keep living my life."
"But when you do?"
"Charlie," she rolled her eyes jokingly, and returned back to her project. "it's not for sure. And, obviously, if I do get in, then that means I'll be a part of your weird cult."
"It's not a cult,"
Morgan turned to face him. "Boy, you don't want to even know how many times my sisters made me sit on my ass to watch High School Musical with them."
"High School Musical is nothing like real life, Morgan." He rolled his eyes.
"Well I'm just going to assume it's weirder."
The boy shrugged. "You got a point,"
They both laughed, not really knowing why. As both of their giggling died down, Morgan's ears picked up someone whispering behind her. On instinct, the girl turned and saw three boys with their desks all pushed together and laughing quietly.
Ah, the three usual shitheads. Steve Cadence, Max Flannigan, and George Mason.
Max peaked his head up to look at Morgan and Charlie, but soon noticed them watching and tapped his friends to stop. In an instant, they all pulled themselves up taller, and fiddled with their fingers as if nothing happened.
"What?" Steve asked nonchalantly after a few seconds.
Morgan shrugged, clutching her pencil. "Just thought I heard something."
"Like what?" Max asked.
"Don't," George hissed at him, avoiding eye contact.
The girl tilted her head. "Naw it's alright. If you want to tell me something, I'd rather you say it so I can hear it."
"Morgan," Charlie whispered, gently holding her arm.
She just simply ignored him, not breaking eye contact with any of the boys. She saw Steve Cadence grin widely.
"We heard that Charlie over there is in the musical."
Oh shit.
"Yeah," she nodded, holding his wrist that was touching her arm. "he is."
"Who are you in it?" Max asked, trying to sound genuine.
Charlie swallowed, but sat up taller. "I'm just in the ensemble, er, the background people."
"So, are you like a witch or something?" Steve joked, causing him and Max to laugh to themselves.
Morgan just simply rolled her eyes, and the two turned around to get back to their homework, but a new voice stopped them.
"Hey, drop it, dumbasses." George Mason scolded his friends. Both Charlie and Morgan looked back at the boy in curiosity. Of course, he took notice of this, and kept going.
"They're not hurting anyone, besides," he looked right at Charlie. "we know he's playing as a fairy."
Max and Steve's faces dropped into shocked smiles, and either buried their faces into the desk, or covered their mouth to smother their laughter. And all George did, was look at Morgan and Charlie with a sly grin.
The bell had rung not long after, and Morgan walked out with Charlie. The boy soon took notice of her stiff movements, and the death grip she had on her backpack straps.
"You okay?" He asked.
Without missing a beat, Morgan Douglas began. "Pieces of shit, I swear if they want to try that again I'll-!"
"Hey, hey," Charlie grabbed her arm, stopping them both in the middle of the crowded hall. "what's going on?"
She tilted her head back to the room. "What just happened. Like…those shit heads!"
The boy pursed his lips, and trailed his hand down her arm to hold her hand. The two began to walk once again down the hall as Charlie spoke.
"Okay look, I went to school with George. He always said that stuff ever since sixth grade, and it wasn't just to me. Okay?"
"Not okay," she shook her head. "he's a piece of shit."
"Everyone knows that, it's just…I'm fine. Let it go."
Morgan looked at him, hesitance written on her face. "Really?"
"Really," he nodded, then smirked. "does someone need a hug?"
The girl bit her lip to not smile, but she shut her eyes and said. "Yes,"
Charlie softly laughed as they embraced each other, Morgan leaning into his shoulder. The girl felt herself immediately calm down, and she sighed gently.
"Tell me if they bother you again." She said.
He nodded, and promised quietly. "Okay,"
After a few more seconds, the two pulled away from each other, and went their separate ways to their fifth period class. Sadly, English was the only class they shared, and they just so happened to have it with the three usual little shits.
The day after that, Derek Morgan didn't show up to give Shannon Douglas her coffee for another three days; much to Trinity and Rebecca's disappointment, but Morgan always volunteered to take her sister's to school on every single one of those days.
Yet, of course, one week later, Morgan Douglas walked into her apartment lobby one Saturday afternoon after a morning shift at McDonald's. As she was groggily dragging herself through the door, her little sister's voice caught her ears.
"Morgan!"
The oldest sister opened her eyes and looked right at Trinity; who was sitting on one of the cheap couches with her doll in her lap. Morgan soon trailed her eyes up and saw that Derek Morgan himself was behind her, trying his best to hold three even sections of hair in his hand.
And then there was Rebecca, sitting on, not in, one of the spare chairs, a pen and worksheet in hand.
Derek smiled. "Hey, Morgan."
She nodded. "Derek,"
The smallest girl looked up at her sister. "I'm teaching him how to braid,"
Morgan couldn't help but smile gently and tilt her head to the side. "Are you now? Did he ask?"
"I have to interview him for class and the baby got jealous that she didn't have his attention, so she asked if he could braid her hair," Rebecca looked up from her paper and grinned. "he didn't miss a beat when Trinity said that knowing how to braid girl's hair would make it easier for him to get a girlfriend."
Morgan Elizabeth chocked on laughter, and looked at the ground to try and make herself stop.
Derek shook his head, looking at Rebecca. "Why'd you have to go and snitch on me like that?"
The sixth grader just shrugged, smiling innocently before looking at her paper again. "Next question, do you get along with your coworkers? If not, explain why. In parentheses, be appropriate."
Derek chuckled, still trying his best to braid Trinity's hair. "Yeah I get along with them."
Morgan, finally recovering from her burst of laughter, sat down on another chair while crossing her arms and asked. "You got any girl coworkers you want to try your braiding skills out on?"
Trinity covered her mouth with both hands to hide her giggles, but Derek just shrugged. "I know one or two who would be impressed. Maybe a guy too."
Morgan and Rebecca's eyes grew slightly at the statement, but soon shrugged it off; okay…was not expecting that. Still, little Trinity Douglas scrunched her eyes up and looked up at him.
"Why a boy?"
He smiled. "He had hair almost as long as yours, sweet pea."
"Ew," she made a face. "boys can't have long hair."
Rebecca squinted her eyes at her sister. "Trin, you don't even know him, that's rude."
"Just saying," she shrugged.
"Nah, but he's a pretty boy all right." Morgan shook his head.
"Not as pretty as me?" Trinity asked.
Before Derek could even take a breath to reply, Rebecca responded with. "Prettier than Morgan, that's for sure."
The older sister just tilted her head to the side. "Which Morgan?"
"Who do you think?"
She nodded. "Okay, it's the one braiding Trinity's hair."
The man just shook his head. "Ouch, my girl."
Morgan felt herself tense up at the nickname. Nope. Not today. No nickname for her. But it's fine. It's fine. She'll just play along, and then shut herself in her room for the rest of the Saturday because Charlie has rehearsal and her other friends are either on the other side of town, or also busy.
This is fine.
"Next question-,"
"-What class is this for anyway?" Morgan asked her sister.
Rebecca looked up from her worksheet. "Social Studies. We have to interview someone who's not our parent about their job. I decided to get brownie points and interview an FBI agent."
Morgan scoffed. "What, do you get a medal or something?"
"Nah, bragging rights."
"Am I doing this right?"
The sisters looked over at Derek Morgan still braiding Trinity's hair. The little girl held up the three sections of her doll's hair.
"Look, it's like leap-frog, remember? One hair goes over the other, and then you take the other one and do that." She said as she instructed how to do it with her doll.
He nodded. "Ah, I get it now. Thanks, sweet pea."
"Welcome," she grinned.
Derek looked back up at Rebecca. "Sorry, what was it, Becky?"
She glanced at her notebook. "Question twenty-three, have you ever killed anyone?"
"Now that's some bullshit!" Morgan laughed.
"Hey!" Rebecca interjected. "There's a baby listening."
Morgan's eyes fell back onto Trinity, who was now covering her ears with both hands.
"Oh shit, oh shit!" She covered her mouth after cursing once again on accident.
Derek and Rebecca just chuckled, both shaking their heads. He looked over at her. "I can't answer that."
"Undecided then," Rebecca scribbled down something.
Morgan shook her head. "That's not even a real question."
"Technically," Rebecca began. "even though it wasn't a written question required for the interview, I asked it because I was curious so therefore it is a real question and-."
"-Get to the point," Morgan groaned.
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "I asked a real question."
Derek simply smiled. "You reminded me of my friend Reid for a minute there. You know that?"
"Who's Reid?" Morgan asked.
"The guy who had long hair."
"Haha," Trinity said mischievously. "Rebecca has a penis."
The room fell silent as all eyes went on the five-year-old girl in the room. Rebecca Douglas' mouth fell all the way to China, while Morgan Elizabeth rose her eyebrows up in amusement, and was obviously trying to hide a smile. Soon enough, she said.
"She's in that phase where she wants to point out the body parts that make boys and girls different."
"That's a phase?" Derek and Rebecca simultaneously asked.
Morgan shrugged. "To her it is."
Derek just breathed through his nose while biting his lip to not laugh at what little girl just previously said. "Well Trinity, the boy with long hair is actually one of the smartest on the team."
Rebecca looked right at her sister. "Haha, Rebecca has a brain, and Trinity doesn't."
"Okay you two," Derek shook his head. "that's enough. Settle down."
Morgan pursed her lips, and decided to test something. "How smart?"
"Huh?" he looked up at her.
"How smart is he?"
"Reid?" Derek asked. "Boy graduated high school when he was twelve, rambles on about the most mundane topic, you could ask him one question about anything in the world and he'd give you an entire history lesson on it."
The girl's eyes grew slightly. "I don't believe it."
"Believe it, my girl." He teased.
Morgan dug her nails into the material of the chair, then spoke up. "Have you ever heard him swear?"
Derek looked up from Trinity's hair with a quizzical look. "Don't think so, why?"
The girl shrugged. "I don't know…I'm just picturing him and he seems like the guy that, when he swears, he sounds like a white girl who practiced in front of the mirror for hours."
Right after she finished, the three girls were left aghast when Derek wheezed loudly, and let go of Trinity's hair to cover his mouth. The Douglas sisters looked at one another in confusion; both Rebecca and Morgan standing up from the chairs, and little Trinity turning around.
"Uh, sir?" Rebecca asked as Derek sunk onto the ground, still laughing. "Are you okay?"
He only responded with more laughter, and odd wheezing. Rebecca looked over at her sister.
"In other news, an angsty freshman in high school somehow managed to break an actual FBI agent. Jeez, girl."
"It wasn't even that funny!" She defended herself, not knowing what to do.
Trinity shrugged. "He thinks it is."
Thankfully, Derek Morgan managed to compose himself after another minute, and looked up at the oldest girl.
"Could I steal that from you sometime, please?"
For once, she smirked, shaking her head. "Uh uh, if you ever want to say that to him, you have to tell him that Morgan Elizabeth Douglas came up with it, and that she's funnier than Derek whatever your last name Morgan is."
The man only chuckled at her proposition, then lazily held his hand up for her to shake. "You got yourself a deal,"
Morgan rose her eyebrows in slight surprise. Oh well, she'd look like a bitch if she didn't shake his hand; and mama didn't raise no bitch.
So, they shook hands, making a deal.
Just then, Derek's phone rang. He let go of the girl's hand to get it from his pocket, and checked the number. The smile returned to his face, and he answered.
"Hey baby girl, it's Saturday what's going on?"
Morgan, Rebecca, and Trinity all looked at each other with puzzled faces. Who was he talking to? Well, Trinity Douglas, being the rambunctious five-year-old, asked him.
"Who are you talking to?!" She asked enthusiastically
Morgan gently wrapped her arms around the little girl, pulling her away. Derek only smiled, then pulled the phone away for a few seconds to look at Trinity.
"Hey, sweet pea, do you want to talk to an actual fairy princess?"
The little girl's face lit up, and she nodded. Derek went back to the phone. "Garcia, I'm going to put you on speaker, just go with it."
So, the man did, and the little girl spoke. "Hi!"
"Hello there, little one!" the woman on the other line greeted. "How old are you?"
"I'm Trinity, I'm five but I'm going to be six in January."
"Five? My, you're practically a lady."
Morgan couldn't help but laugh. What? The Sound of Music is a good movie.
"Oh my, did I hear another little girl laugh?" The woman Morgan assumed was Garcia, questioned.
Derek, with the shitiest of shit eating grins, turned the phone back to him. "You sure did, baby girl."
Morgan shook her head, mouthing 'No' and 'You better not' several times.
"Could I talk to her then, my knight?" She asked playfully.
"I think she'd love that," he turned the phone back over to the girls. "come on, talk to the fairy princess."
Morgan glanced over at Rebecca, and the girl only shook her head. Sighing, Morgan leaned in closer to the speaker.
"Hi," she said, adding a little smile.
"Oh hello there, you must be a big girl! How old are you?"
Morgan stifled her laughter. Well damn, even in high school, she probably sounds like a ten-year-old. She answered.
"Fourteen,"
"Oh,"
There was a pause between the woman on the phone and the girl that just announced her age. Morgan simply smiled and leaned back down to the phone.
"My name's actually Morgan too,"
She heard the woman gasp. "Oh dang! My name's Penelope, how are you?"
"I'm doing just as well as I can," she chuckled.
Rebecca looked over her shoulder, silently asking if she could talk. Derek nodded, and the girl said.
"Hi, I have anxiety."
Morgan and Trinity laughed in the background as Rebecca covered her face in embarrassment. Penelope only chuckled.
"Hello there, I'm anxious as well. You're not alone, girly." She said comfortingly.
Rebecca smiled at her tone, and then said. "My name's actually Rebecca, and could you please tell your boy toy holding the phone to give me a better nickname than 'Becky'?"
Garcia laughed. "Hey boy toy, give Rebecca a better nickname than Becky. Come on, that's the most basic one next to 'Becca'."
Derek chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll come up with one, baby girl. You really scared me for a second when you called, I thought I had to be swept away from these lovely ladies."
Trinity smiled brightly, and buried her face into the couch while Rebecca just chuckled. Morgan on the other hand…
The oldest girl said without hesitation. "That would be a tragedy,"
Rebecca let out a small 'Ooooo!' at her words, and looked at Derek. His mouth was parted just slightly before saying.
"Dang, my girl, now that was ice cold."
Garcia laughed on the other end. "I like this one,"
Morgan couldn't help the smile that was on her face, before turning back to Rebecca. "Are you done with your interview now? I want to go upstairs."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah princess, I basically got everything done."
Derek tilted his head. "Don't you have a few more?"
"Yeah," she shrugged. "but I'll just make some educated guesses. Oh, and sign here and here." She handed him the piece of paper she was writing on, and he signed the places she pointed to.
"Alright," he nodded. And got back up. "it was an honor to be interviewed."
"Sure, thanks for dealing with Trinity."
"Hey!" The little girl sassed.
Morgan took her youngest sister into her arms, and sat her on her hip then looked at Rebecca. "Home, now."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Bye miss Fairy Princess, sorry my sister is a goblin."
Garcia chuckled. "No worries, my sweet friends. And goodbye Derek Morgan, my dragon-headed brute."
Derek smiled. "Bye, Garcia." Then hung up.
Morgan pursed her lips, becoming more antsy every second she wasn't in her room. "Thanks for looking after my sisters,"
He nodded, smiling. "Anytime, Morgan."
She returned the nod, then said to her little sister as she began to walk towards the elevator. "Come on,"
Rebecca rolled her eyes and followed her sisters. Once the elevator doors closed, and Morgan let Trinity touch their floor number, the twelve-year-old smirked and said.
"If him and mom get married, you'll be Morgan-."
"-It's not funny."
"Morgan,"
The eldest sister just shut her eyes and leaned against the elevator wall as her sister kept going.
"Think of it, graduation. The principal's calling out names for people to get their diplomas before being released into the real world, and all everyone in the auditorium hears is: 'Morgan Morgan'."
Morgan Elizabeth sighed. "It's not like it'd ever happen."
"Mommy and mister Morgan are getting married?" Trinity asked.
"No, and they never will." Morgan said matter of factly, and stepped out of the elevator the second it opened on their floor.
Once again, two weeks passed, and life went on.
There were days Derek would be waiting outside the building to give Shannon Douglas her coffee and walk with her and her daughters for some time. The different thing during those times, was that Morgan didn't run away as often.
Sure, he didn't have her wrapped around his finger like he had with her sisters, but she didn't deny that he was a nice guy.
Though, she knew that nice guys weren't always what they are made out to be.
So, Morgan Douglas would talk to him, but always at arms-length, and the girl even made herself control the amount of times she would laugh just so he wouldn't get too comfortable.
Of course, there were days when Derek was gone, and Morgan hated to admit it, but she kind of missed him. Only for the reason he'd distract Trinity and that she wouldn't always have to be carrying her.
It happened on a Friday after school when Morgan Elizabeth Douglas needed him the most.
"Don't you have to go learn the Lollipop Guild or something?"
Charlie laughed, resting his head against the wall as the two sat against the senior hallway lockers.
"I still got five minutes, I can wait with you a little longer."
Morgan smiled, looking back down at her homework. "It usually doesn't take Steph this long to get out of eighth period."
"What's her eighth period?"
"Gym,"
Charlie whistled. "Brian told me he has Calculus eighth period. His room is close to the gym."
"Brian as in the Brian the senior that's Shrek?"
"That's the one," he nodded.
Morgan scoffed. "Why should that matter? Yeah, they're a thing, but why would him and Steph…"
She trailed off when she saw the look Charlie was giving her. The girl froze for a moment, then sighed, placing her head on her knees.
"Why are they screwing each other right now? Charlie, she's my ride to work!"
The boy just laughed loudly, and playfully nudged her. "Have fun with that smell in her car,"
"Oh," she looked up. "you're one to talk. You and like thirty or forty other kids are going to have to deal with Shrek smelling like sex and cheap perfume!"
Charlie's jaw dropped, and he laughed nervously, before realizing something. "Wait…did you just make an In the Heights reference?"
Morgan's face fell and tried to cover up. "In the who?"
"She did!" He cheered. "Someone named Morgan's been listening to In the Heights!"
The girl gave up. "Okay? So what?"
"It means you like musicals." He grinned from ear to ear.
"Did I ever hate them? I just didn't really have any desire to be in them." She shrugged.
"I know it's just…you like musicals!" He chuckled.
Morgan pat the top of his head. "You're a puppy dog, Charlie Martin."
He laughed. "Yeah, but I'm a cute one."
"Damn right,"
The two just sat there for another minute, both content with just sitting there together. All the seniors had somehow managed to clear out of the hallway a few minutes ago, and there were the two kids waiting for Stephanie Kowalski to pick up Morgan so they could go to work.
Of course, with what the two freshmen assumed that Steph and Brian were doing…it would take longer than they expected.
"Alright," Charlie pulled away. "I think it's been five minutes, I should go."
"See you Monday?" She asked as he stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulders.
"Um," he began to play with his hands. "actually, do you want to go ice skating on Sunday? I have rehearsal on Saturday, and I know you hate getting up early-."
"Charlie," she interrupted. "I'd love to."
He smiled. "You'd love to, o-okay! Alright, uh…"
The girl sat there, her face slowly morphing into confusion. What was he doing?
To answer her unspoken question, Charlie stooped down a little, and quickly placed his lips on her forehead; gently kissing it.
Morgan's jaw dropped as she felt it, and he pulled away. The corner of the boy's mouth turned upright a bit, and he turned on his heel to run away. The girl managed to stammer out.
"Tha-thank you!"
Charlie turned to look over his shoulder. "Thank you?!"
It was at that moment, Morgan knew, she f'ed up.
"Shut up!" She yelled back.
The boy only laughed loudly, and turned back to face the front where he was running. And Morgan Douglas sat there in the senior hallway, with the widest of grins on her face.
That is, until she heard a few familiar voices echo through the hall. Voices that made her blood boil. Quickly as possible, Morgan picked up her backpack, and began to walk away in the other direction.
Steph could find her if she decided to come back to the senior hallway. And Morgan wasn't running away from the three usual shitheads either; if anything, she's distancing herself from them so they won't get hurt.
"Hey, was Steph not there?"
Morgan nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Charlie's voice come out of nowhere. She sighed.
"Shit, why aren't you in the theater?"
He shrugged. "I kinda had to use the bathroom. What's up? You seem jumpy."
"Well, well, well,"
Morgan shut her eyes at the sound of Steve Cadence's voice. Turning around, she and Charlie saw the three of them all together. The girl crossed her arms.
"Look Charlie," she said in a monotone voice. "someone watched a lot of Disney movies and thinks he's the badass bad guy."
Max scoffed. "That doesn't even make any sense, Joker."
"Maybe because you're too stupid to get it. Also, are you calling me Joker because you think I'm a psychopathic bitch, or because of the makeup?" She asked innocently. "Because if it's the makeup, screw you, that's rude-."
"You talk too much, you know that?" George Mason piped up finally.
Morgan tilted her head onto her shoulder, then shrugged. "Alright then, we'll leave you alone. Let's go."
She gently took her boyfriend's hand into hers, and walked in the other direction. They didn't even make it ten feet before one of the boys said something.
"Do you want to know how many guys your boyfriend stares at in the locker room every day?" Max questioned.
Charlie looked over his shoulder, with his jaw dropped. Yet, Morgan didn't stop, and she squeezed his hand in comfort.
"Keep going,"
"Maybe if she took off some of that paint on her face, she wouldn't be such a clown." Steve laughed.
Charlie squeezed her hand back as they were now becoming farther and farther away from them. Just one more hall, and they'd be right at the theater. Of course, that was when George Mason spoke up again.
"You wanna know why your daddy really left you?"
Morgan stopped in her tracks, and she felt her soul leave her body. Charlie immediately stood in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Morgan," he quietly begged.
She ignored him, turning around. "How the hell do you know that?"
George smirked. "Everybody knows. Come on, stupid, you did your entire family tree project on mommy's side, but nothing about daddy." He chuckled. "You are an actual petty bitch; you took the B just so you didn't have to say anything about your dad."
The girl walked closer, her movements stiff as she walked. "You say another damn word about him to me ever, and I'll…"
Steve Cadence grinned. "You'll what?"
Morgan balled her hands up into fists, and she felt them beginning to shake. In a split decision, she turned around to walk back to her boyfriend. She didn't get far.
"No, no, no, come back!" Steve grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. The girl let out a yelp as she felt her body collide with his, and she immediately sent her fist towards his face.
Steve Cadence fell onto the ground, clutching his nose with both his hands, and Morgan pulled her hand back, cradling it. Steve looked down at his hands, revealing them to be covered in blood. Him and his friends glared at the girl.
"Okay then, Douglas," George growled. "you're dead."
Morgan backed away as the two other boys began to approach her. Then, a textbook flew out from behind her, hitting Max in the knee.
"Ow, shit!" He hissed.
The girl turned and saw Charlie with his backpack unzipped at his feet. "Go!"
"Charlie-,"
"Run, damnit!" He cursed.
She didn't get the chance to.
George grabbed a clump of hair, and pulled her to the ground. She screamed in pain, and he made her look right at him.
"You really have no idea how fun it is to see you so pissed off, don't you?"
"Go to hell," she hissed.
His fist met her right eye, and she let out another yelp. He practically spat on her.
"That mouth of yours is really getting you into trouble, huh? I think you got it from your daddy."
"Beats having a name that sounds like it belongs to pompous asshole of a grandpa, George."
Steve yelled. "You shut your damn mouth, Douglas!"
George Mason let out a cry as two arms yanked him away from Morgan. Charlie quickly helped the girl up, and tried to drag her away. George and Max soon got them.
Max sucker punched Charlie in the stomach, and George turned to Morgan. Before she could even comprehend what was going on, he slammed her against the lockers.
"Now you look at me, bitch." He got so close to her face she could feel his breath on her skin. "I said look at me!"
George roughly grabbed her chin for her to look right at him. She tried her best to stay stone cold, but the tears forming in her eyes gave it away.
"You're not going to tell anyone about this. I'm going to let you go, and we're just going to walk away. We'll call it even, and nobody needs to know that any of this went down, alright?"
She stared right through him, her eyes nearly hollow looking.
"Are you listening-?!"
Morgan grabbed his scalp, then banged him head-first into the lockers behind her. His grip for sure loosened, and he fell onto the ground.
He didn't get back up right away.
He wasn't getting back up even as Morgan Douglas and the rest of the boys stood there in anticipation.
Morgan's heart leapt into her throat, and she slowly fell onto her knees, getting closer to him.
"You killed him," Steve's voice cracked.
The girl shook her head rapidly. "No, no, lo-lo-look!" She pointed to his moving chest. "He-he's still breathing." She placed her two, shaky fingers onto his neck.
"Morgan," Charlie breathed, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"He's not dead!" She choked out. "I-I have a pulse."
"No," Max shook his head. "we have to call-."
The girl sprung up to her feet, and began sprinting away from the rest of the boys, even as they yelled for her.
Morgan Douglas ran out the school doors and into the bitter cold winter, not knowing at all where she was going.
All she had to do, was keep running.
The poor girl was ashamed to say that she slipped on the ice at least once as she sprinted through the crowds of D.C. She didn't know where to go.
She couldn't go back, that was not an option at all.
Definitely not home. First of all, she left her key in her bag, and it was Friday, so that meant her sisters would be at dance for another three hours, and her mother wouldn't be home until nine. So, all Morgan Douglas decided to do, was sit on a nearby bench, and hide from the world as she cried.
That is…that's what she wanted to do, but the girl soon felt a presence sit down next to her.
"Hey there sweetie, are you alright?"
Morgan hesitantly drew her eyes up from her hands, and was met with a blonde haired woman with glasses, and ruby red lipstick, holding a coffee cup in her hand. Her mouth dropped, and she put the cup down to reach into her purse, taking out tissues.
"Honey, your nose is bleeding."
Without asking, Morgan took the clump of tissues and held them to her nose. She mumbled. "But they didn't…"
The woman tilted her head. "Are you in trouble?"
Morgan began to shake her head, but then nodded, and the tears returned. "Y-yeah, I think I am."
"Okay, okay," she nodded, then placed her hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "my name's Penelope Garcia, could you tell me yours?"
The girl brought the tissues away from her nose, and her mouth quivered as she tried to speak. "Ga-Garcia?"
She nodded, smiling a bit. "That's me."
"I-I-uh," she pointed to herself, "Morgan. Uhm, you-you called my neighbor Derek a few weeks ago, and-and my sister were there."
Penelope's face lit up slightly, and her voice became gentler. "Hi sweetie, oh you look so pretty in person."
Morgan began to laugh, her face turning red. "I-I have blood coming out of my nose! What do-what do you mean?!"
Garcia wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders as her laughter soon turned into sobbing once again. "Okay, okay my girl. You're just in shock, it's going to be okay, you're going to be okay."
The teenager tried to take deep breaths, and shut her eyes tight to not look at the ones of every passerby staring at her. If this was what hell was like, Morgan Douglas promised herself she'd go to church every Sunday from then on.
"Can-," she hiccupped. "Can I talk to Derek?"
Garcia rubbed circles into her arm "He's out on a mission, sweetie. He left yesterday, but he should be back either tonight or tomorrow, okay?"
Morgan only nodded against her shoulder, the tears seeming endless. "What am I going to do?"
"I'll tell you," Penelope pulled away just a little. "I'm going to take you home. And if you don't want to go home, for any reason at all, I'll take you to where I work, and you can call him from there."
The girl wanted to smile; really she did, but her lips couldn't move that much. So, all she did was nod and stand up. Garcia stood up with her.
"What do you need, Morgan?"
"I…my mom won't be back until later, and-and I left my-my keys in my bag at-at school."
Penelope nodded. "Alrighty then, you wanna see where the FBI works?"
She knows that she was cracking a joke to ease her mind, but it didn't really work. Morgan mainly blocked out the journey to Quantico; all she could really remember was that Garcia shielded her from any creepy pervs on the train to the BAU, which Morgan was thankful for because she had her fair share of experiences with odd ones on the train.
"And here is my bat cave!" Garcia spoke happily as she led Morgan into a room after arriving at the BAU.
Morgan looked around; to be honest, it did seem kind of like a bat cave. It was mainly dark, only to be illuminated by several computer screens, but also several colorful little knick-knacks scattered across the tables; mainly being pink.
"It's cute," Morgan managed to whisper, still studying the area.
Penelope chuckled. "It's what keeps me going through this job. Hey, sweet girl, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse."
The teenager managed to smile a little. "No thank you, I don't want your drugs, mister mafia man."
"Thatta girl," she giggled. "by the way, can I be the first to say that your eyes are amazing?"
Morgan laughed. "Thanks, I spent half an hour on them in total. The eyeliner's really expensive, so I didn't want to cry, but shit happens."
"Oh honey," Garcia shook her head, smiling. "that's the motto of the job. Okay, now about the offer, I'll give you five bucks to go out to the vending machine down the hall, and you get us snacks while I work on something?"
She shrugged. "I don't see why not. What do you want?"
"Anything eatable, sweetheart. I like everything."
Morgan grinned, then went to the door. That's when she turned around. "Wait, you're not grilling me on why I was bawling my eyes out in the middle of the street?"
Penelope looked over her shoulder. "I'm not a profiler, first of all. Also, you said you wanted to talk to Morgan, so I assumed you only wanted to talk to him about it."
She gave her a funny look. "You mean Derek?"
"Yeah, yeah Derek."
"I…I don't know if I want to talk to him."
"Why's that?"
There was a slight pause. "I don't know."
Garcia turned around in her chair, smiling softly. "You can stay here as long as you need. Maybe you'll change your mind?"
She nodded. "Okay…anything eatable right?"
"You know it," she smirked.
And so, Morgan Douglas relaxed in a chair for another hour after getting her some snack food. The two girls talked a little about off topics; make up, musicals, sometimes swapping boyfriend stories, etc. But, mainly, it was Garcia working away on her computer, and Morgan slipping in and out of naps.
It was when she heard Penelope's slightly frantic voice, that she was wide awake.
"Sir, I swear, I've tried everything." She shook her head, her fingers typing quickly on the keyboard. "Grandma's name, mom's name, brother's name, hell, even his gerbil's name, I can't get anything!"
"Did you try something that had to do with his interests? Maybe a place he likes to go?" A grown man's voice was heard on speaker.
Morgan sat herself up, adjusting her eyes. Yes, she was still in Garcia's "Bat Cave", but when she looked at the computer monitors, they were all scattered with endless lines of code; all but a small window that read 'Enter Password'.
"Tried those too," Garcia sighed. "nothing worked. Okay, I basically traced back his life from birth to now, and I'm coming up empty."
A new person spoke up now, a woman. "Garcia, he's only fifteen, there has to be something."
Something clicked inside of Morgan's mind.
"My dearest Prentiss, I don't know what to tell you." Penelope shook her head.
"Try 'incorrect'."
Garcia jumped a little at the sound of the girl's voice, and she saw her standing a few feet away from her.
"What?"
Morgan swallowed, scared to go on; but, she did. "If he's fifteen and you've tried everything else, maybe it's 'incorrect'? You know, like when you type something in wrong and it says 'This password is incorrect'? Maybe he's like…a smartass."
Garcia looked at her, then back at her monitor. "O-oaky, I'll try that."
She did.
And it worked.
"Oh my…" Garcia's jaw dropped as her computer was flooded with several digitalized sheets of paper and pictures; all of the boy's dirt he didn't want anyone to see.
Morgan covered her mouth. Holy shit. Did…did she do that?
"Garcia, who's there with you?"
The girl's entire face fell at the sound of a new man speaking. Oh no, he's obviously the one in charge. Frick.
Morgan Elizabeth slowly backed away, trying to slip out of the room quietly. That did not work at all.
"Hey!" She heard Penelope call out to her. "Don't run away, come on, come here."
Sighing, the teenager made her way over to the desk to stand next to Garcia, not necessarily knowing what to do. She glanced at the woman for help.
"Go on, just say your name."
The girl made a small face; Garcia obviously had no idea what to do. To be fair though, this is probably the first time she brought a random girl having a mental breakdown off the street to Quantico. So, the girl swallowed, closed her eyes, and spoke clearly.
"My name is Morgan Elizabeth Douglas, and uh, I'm fourteen."
There was a bitter silence on both ends of the phone. She couldn't even hear if people were discussing something on the other line. That's when she heard his voice.
"Morgan, do you mind explaining why you're at the BAU by yourself right now?"
Oh shit.
"Oh shit!"
She didn't mean to say those words aloud when she heard Derek's voice, but panic took over the girl again, and she felt her feet carry her out of the room even as Penelope was calling for her to come back.
Thankfully, she was too emotionally drained to have another panic attack, but that did not mean she felt good whatsoever. She didn't exactly feel in the mood to hide in the bathroom, but there was no way she was going to go back into Garcia's lair.
Should she have gone home?
The girl looked out the windows and saw that it was already dark outside. Morgan was only wearing the clothes on her back, and she'd left her jacket in Garcia's room.
Back to Penelope's Bat Cave it was.
Morgan slowly cracked the door open, and peered into the room. She nearly ran away once she heard Garcia's voice, but decided to listen; just for a moment.
"Morgan…she just looked completely destroyed." She said sadly. "I think I caught a few bruises on her, and the poor thing jumped when I accidentally slammed the door. She's really a quiet girl, and I have no idea what to do."
"It's okay, baby girl," Derek's calm voice was heard on the other line. "I'll talk to her when we get back. Now, the real question is, which one of us is going to have to explain to Hotch how a fourteen-year-old girl might have accidentally played a major factor in helping us catch our guy?"
Garcia laughed. "I took care of her physically, and hopefully, emotionally, it's your turn to take care of her, period."
There was another slight pause between the two, and Morgan heard him sigh. "Yeah, yeah it is my turn."
Morgan Elizabeth released a breath she knew she had been holding, and felt herself calm down just a little. She heard Derek speak again.
"Alright baby girl, I gotta go now, always nice talking to you."
"My pleasure, you devil. Now, go make your girl proud."
Garcia hung up, and Morgan took that as her cue to enter the room. When she did, Penelope turned in her chair, and smiled gently.
"I was talking to your neighbor just now, I can call him back sometime if you changed your mind?"
Morgan swallowed. "What time is it?"
Penelope looked at her computer for a second, then back at the girl. "Currently six forty-five."
"Oh, I-I need to call my mom."
"Alright sweetheart. Come here, I got a bitchin new phone you can use."
The girl walked over to stand next to her, but didn't move after that. Her entire body went stiff, but her mind was rushing. Only three hours ago, was she attacked by three boys, and only three hours ago, for a moment, she thought she killed one of them.
"Morgan?" Garcia gently asked.
Without thinking, the teen sunk onto her knees and wrapped her arms around Penelope. Shocked at first, the woman soon hugged the girl back. Morgan's body didn't shake with sobs, but when she began to talk, her voice was laced with pain.
"They were going to hurt me, and-and they were going to hurt Charlie."
Penelope pulled away, softly taking the girl's face into her hands. Morgan's look pained.
"I-I didn't know what I was supposed to do."
Garcia brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Everything will be okay in the end, alright? Now, call your mom, baby."
Morgan couldn't help but smile at the nickname. Soon, she reached for the phone, and put the receiver to her ear as she dialed her mother's number. She tapped her fingers on the desk in nervousness, before her mom answered.
"Mama," she said softly. "I need you to pick me up."
A knock on the door alerted Shannon Douglas from her own little word. The woman got up from the couch, leaving Trinity plopped down in front of the TV, and looked through the peephole in the door.
Derek Morgan.
The mother instantly pulled the door open, and greeted him with a slight smile.
"Hey there, coffee page boy." She teased.
He smiled. "Ma'am,"
"Be careful with that," she smirked. "I'll slam your foot in if you say that again. Ma'am makes me feel like an old lady."
Derek shrugged as she let him in. "Well, if I'm mistaken, a little sweetheart told me you were a ma'am. Ah, and there she is!"
Trinity turned around sharply at the voice, and her face beamed. She hopped off the ground, and ran to him. "Derek!"
The man picked her up in his arms, the smile not wavering from his face as he held her. "How's my little sweet pea been?"
"Fine,"
"Just fine?"
Trinity pulled away slightly, still keeping her arms locked around his neck. "Morgan's been no fun, and Becky's just rude."
He chuckled. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Shannon put her hand on her youngest daughter's back. "Hey baby? Could you go and get Becca, we don't want to be late for the movie."
"We're gonna go see a movie?!" Her face lit up.
She nodded. "Yeah, baby. Just Becca though, Morgan has to talk to Derek."
The little girl looked back at the man who was holding her. "Is she in trouble?"
Derek shook his head. "No, sweet pea. I just need to ask her something."
She nodded. "Okay,"
He gave her one last smile before setting her down, and the girl sprinted off into her room. Shannon turned back to Derek once she knew her daughter was out of ear shot.
"I'm sorry she barged in on your friend like that on Friday."
Derek shook his head. "She didn't know where else to go, and besides, Garcia found her on a bench outside of a coffee shop."
"It's just," she sighed, "I should've expected something like this-."
"Shannon-,"
"-Her daddy left when she was ten; you know, it's a funny age for kids. I asked her about therapy, but she always said no. She's been more reserved and I don't always know what's going on inside her head, I thought it was just her being a teenager but…"
Derek sighed, approaching her. "No one really knows what's going on until after it happens. Okay, but I need you to at least tell me a little bit of what happened for her to act like this."
The mother pursed her lips, but soon said. "She and her boyfriend had a run in with three other boys from school. I think she should tell you the rest."
He nodded. "Okay, I'll be gentle, I promise."
The man was about to walk past her to go into the girl's room, but the woman softly placed her hand on his cheek to stop him. He looked back at her, and she slowly smiled.
"Thank you,"
Shannon placed her lips on his cheek, then pulled away; still wearing the same smile. Derek grinned, putting his hand on top of hers, and squeezing it before walking past her.
Just in time, Rebecca and Trinity came out of the room; the smallest one running out in excitement, and the taller one sauntering out with her head low, and her hands in her pockets. She looked up, and saw Derek.
Swallowing she said. "I'm worried about her,"
"I know, Angel." He sighed. "I'll talk to her."
Rebecca smiled slightly, and walked past him as she said. "Good nickname."
Derek creaked open the door, and saw Morgan Elizabeth Douglas sitting on her bed, phone in both hands, and a piece of her hair covering her right eye.
"Hey," he greeted, entering the small bedroom. On one side, there was a bunkbed, obviously for Rebecca and Trinity, and on the other, a single bed for Morgan. He almost had to hold in a chuckle when he saw a small, red line down the center of the room, separating the sides.
Morgan looked up for a second, then back down at her phone. "Hey."
He walked over to her side, and pulled up a chair from the desk before sitting down. He could have started out with a stupid joke, or even straight to the point; but, he had a better idea.
Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a picture of a smiling girl with olive skin, and black curly hair. Morgan looked up at the noise, and then at the picture. She made a face.
"Who is that?"
"Flora Dominic. She's around your age, fifteen to be exact. Freshman, she's getting ready to play her cello at a Christmas concert. And…you saved her life yesterday."
The girl's eyes grew. "What?"
"On Friday, when you told Garcia that a kid's password was 'incorrect', that kid knew who our unsub was."
"Un-what?" She questioned.
"The killer,"
"He…" her voice wavered. "he knew who the killer was?"
Derek nodded. "Yeah. Now, I'm not here to talk about the things I saw, but I just needed you to know that you're a big reason a girl got to go home yesterday."
Morgan just stared at him; then, she shook her head without taking her eyes off of him. "You should be thanking the three assholes that attacked me."
"Why's that?"
She shifted uncomfortably, and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Why do you care?"
"Because my friend called me and said she found my kid neighbor crying on a bench and saw bruises running up and down her arms."
The girl pursed her lips angrily, then sighed. "If I tell you what happened, will you leave me alone?"
"I can't promise I'll leave, but I promise I'll listen."
She sighed heavily, but uncrossed her arms and began.
"I was waiting for my ride to take me to work, so Charlie waited with me. We talked a little, but then he had to go. I heard the voices belonging to the three shitheads-."
"-What are the shitheads' names?"
Morgan had to laugh. "They let you talk like that at Quantico?"
He grinned, shrugging. "I'm off duty, but sometimes. Anyway, names."
Her smile fell, and she went on. "George, Steve, and Max. They didn't 'bully' me and Charlie per say, but they weren't nice at all. So, I uh, walked away when I heard them, ran into Charlie, and there they were."
Derek's eyes trailed down to see her hands balled up into fists, and were beginning to shake. Thankfully, she kept going.
"They were just trying to egg us on, and I wasn't going to stand for that shit, so Charlie and I tried to leave. They said some things, but we kept going until…"
The girl's hand subconsciously touched her right eye as her lips parted at the memory. Derek leaned in closer, but still gave her enough space.
"They're not going to hurt you, Morgan. I won't let-."
"-It's not that," she rushed out. "George he…he just talked about my dad. He uh, left when I was ten."
All Derek did was nod, letting her continue.
"I got up in his face, then tried to leave, but Steve pulled me back and I…I punched him square in the nose. There-there was a lot of blood on his hands, and that's when everything happened. George pinned me to the ground and hit my eye, and-and Charlie pulled him off but Max got him and George got me and pushed against the lockers. I'm-I'm so sorry, but I can't remember anything he told me, but I know that I grabbed the back of his head and lunged him into the lockers…he…he didn't get back up."
Derek swallowed, noticing how her form, once tall and relaxed, shrunk into submission. "Morgan-,"
"-I didn't kill him!" she choked out, shaking her head and causing her hair to fall away from her right eye, revealing it to be a black eye. "Okay, I-I checked his pulse, his chest was moving, my-my mama got a call saying that he only had a concussion."
"It wasn't your fault." He said, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder.
Morgan froze under his touch at first, but then looked right at him. Her breathing wavered, and she felt a single tear course down her cheek as she was trying to hold back more.
"I-I didn't want to," her voice cracked. "you know that?"
He nodded. "I do, baby, I do."
That was what broke the damn. Morgan Elizabeth looked down at her lap to try and hide herself from his gaze, but Derek slowly pulled her into his embrace; giving her time to pull away if she wanted to.
But, to her surprise and his, she didn't. The girl wrapped her arms around him, and sobbed into his shoulder.
Four years.
It had been four years since she'd seen her father, let alone hugged him, and she had no idea how much she missed it until Derek's arms wrapped around her. For weeks, she did not want anything to do with him, sometimes even happy when he was gone…
Yet, here she was, never feeling safer than as he was holding her with a surprising gentleness.
"What was I meant to do?" She asked softly, still vulnerable.
Derek pulled away just a little to hold her face in his hands. Wiping away few tears with his thumbs, he said. "You defended yourself. If I had a little girl, one of the first things I'd teach her, is that if someone keeps hitting her, she has every reason to hit them back so they'll stop. You didn't do anything wrong, my girl."
"I could've killed him-,"
"-You didn't."
"But-but I-I had the power to, I-I never knew I could!"
"Morgan," he said calmly. "there are some things we can't control in life. Okay, and I know you don't want to hear that, but it's true. The point is, that boy is still alive, but I'd rather have you focus on the fact you had the power to save a girl your age."
She surprisingly smiled a little. "Was your boss mad that I dropped the s bomb in front of him?"
"Oh baby, there were more people you dropped the s bomb in front of." He teased.
"Oh crap," she pulled away from him and hid her face in her hands. "what did they say?"
He chuckled. "My friend Emily held her mouth open for a few seconds even after we ended the call with Garcia, Reid was-."
"-The smart kid?"
"Yeah, the smart kid. He just kinda sat down for a few minutes, and I'm just gonna guess he was processing everything that happened."
Morgan shook her head. "I still don't think he's real."
"You don't?" He arched an eyebrow.
"I don't," she smiled.
"Why not?"
"Just how you've described him."
"How I've described him the last two times I saw you?"
She shrugged. "I kind of have a good bullshit detector."
"You have a good 'I can guess the most random passwords' detector, that's what you have."
Morgan and Derek laughed whole heartedly. The girl looked up at him after recovering.
"Does this mean I'm in trouble with the FBI?"
"What?" he asked, still laughing just a little.
"I cursed on the phone with your boss, should I be worried?"
Derek shook his head. "Nah, Hotch understood the second I started talking. If anything, he seemed pretty happy someone finally figured out the damn password."
"What, you mean me taking a shot in the dark?"
"Actually, my girl," he grinned. "you profiled someone."
She gave him a look.
"You figured him out," he clarified. "you pointed out that he was a teenager, and that he may have been a smartass to some level for his password to be 'incorrect'."
Morgan's eyes moved to both sides. "So, does that mean I'm an honorary FBI agent?"
"Sure," he chuckled. "I'll get you your badge on Monday."
"Bitchin,"
His smile only brightened, then he asked. "Hey, so your mom took your sisters to go see a movie."
"They ditched me?!" She sounded offended, but mainly joking.
"Sorry, my girl." He shrugged.
She tilted her head. "So that's my nickname?"
"My girl? Yeah, I kinda like it, but I could change it to baby cakes if you want?"
"First off, ew, my mama's the only one who can call me that, and two, I like 'my girl'. Though, I guess I wouldn't mind 'The Better Morgan'."
He snickered, shaking his head. "Maybe when I'm feeling generous. So, because your mama ditched you, in your words, do you want to go get ice cream? My treat."
Morgan gave him a look. "Really, Derek? It snowed last night, and it's freezing cold out-hell yeah I want ice cream."
Derek sighed, but couldn't contain his smile as she stood up from her bed; a new sense of life filling her body. The two walked out of the apartment, and made their journey to the closest ice cream parlor.
"Hey," she looked at him as they walked. "don't do coffee."
"What?" He smirked.
"If you want to ask my mother out, don't do a coffee date." She shrugged. "Kind of a no brainer if you try to bring her coffee every other day."
Derek did a double take. "Wait a minute, did I just hear you give me your blessing?"
"I mean…" she paused. "I just gave you advice on the first date you shouldn't take her on. So, I'm thinking a walk, casual dinner, or ice skating."
"Morgan," he stopped her. "thank you."
She smiled shyly. Maybe hearing the principal saying "Morgan Morgan" at graduation wouldn't be so bad.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
- Frederik Douglas
Heyyyyyyyyyy
So, like many others, I may or may not have gotten obsessed with Criminal Minds over quarantine; and may or may not have roped my friend into it. So, many of these are a bunch of connected one shots that I wrote for her when she gave me a writing prompt of what Morgan and Reid would be like if they were dads. I'm still standing by that we were robbed of Reid having kids, so you could call this wish fulfillment XD.
I sincerely hope these aren't too long, and that you'll really enjoy these!