Savior
Chapter 21
-xx-
Cate readjusted her laptop on her lap as she worked on the balcony of Derek's apartment. Since he left for work earlier that morning, she gave up on trying to fall back to sleep in a lonely bed. She had her coffee next to her on the table, and a view of the city that most people could only dream of.
Derek had called her to inform her that the team was heading to the West Coast for a case. She hoped it wouldn't be a long case, as they had plans that weekend to move her condo into a storage space. Cate was going to head to her condo later in the day to start packing after she took a couple on a tour of a new home.
The brunette took a deep breath and let it out slowly. In just over four months, she found someone she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. It scared her that she could feel so strongly for someone so quickly, but in her heart, she knew it was right.
She would admit that she wasn't the easiest to deal with, but her walls fell down whenever Derek was around. He was the protector she never knew she needed.
Her cell phone dinged with an incoming e-mail from her mother. Cate chuckled to herself. She asked her mother a week prior to help them start their search for a home to call their own. The couple was in no rush, but when Helena Johnson was put to work, she was quick and thorough about it.
Cate had sent her a list of their requirements, and laughed as she used her own lists that she would put together for a potential customer. It was something Cate learned from her own mother. She had a file on every client, and knew what they liked, and what they didn't know they liked, better than they did.
Derek explained his desire for a gourmet kitchen, to which Cate agreed, though he looked at her strangely when she wrote her request for three or more bedrooms.
She would be lying if she said it wasn't to fill with babies, but she knew that would be difficult. The brunette casually explained that she wanted to have a guest room as well as her own office at home, especially if they moved further away from her office than his apartment was.
Cate stood from her seat and stretched as she overlooked the city. She would miss the view, but wanted to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city to potentially raise a family.
Her future was looking up, and she was so madly in love with the man making her dreams come true, that she thought it may all just be a dream. If she pinched herself hard enough, she'd wake up, and be alone in that hole-in-the-wall bar, watching the Nationals game and politely declining offers from the locals to buy her a drink.
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Cate finished sealing the last box from the kitchen and sighed. Whatever was in the fridge stayed, minus the bottle of wine on the counter, and just the essentials were left behind in the cabinets and on the counter. Otherwise, it was all packed up to either donate or move into storage for the time being.
The brunette grinned at the stand mixer sitting on the counter. It brought her back four months to her first date with Derek and their dessert at her place afterwards. To their first kiss in the corner of her kitchen, and subsequently the first time she let a man stay overnight in her condo.
She bit her lip as she looked towards her cell phone. Country music blasted from the speakers set up throughout the kitchen, but never once stopped for a message from Derek.
She fought every fiber in her being to call him, but reminded herself that he was away for work and did not need to be distracted. Cate just wanted to hear his voice, and knew she would be falling asleep soon.
As if he could read her mind from across the country, her music was interrupted with strains from Kane Brown's "Heaven". Cate grinned as she reached over the boxes, tape and bubble wrap on the floor to grab her cell phone.
"Hi," she answered excitedly.
"Hey you," came the voice from the other side.
Two words were enough to settle her anxiety from not hearing from Derek after their plane took off that morning. "I miss you," she blurted out, and inwardly groaned at how needy she sounded.
It was almost as if she could see his smile through the phone. "I miss you, too, baby." Cate rested back against the island and stretched her legs out on the tile. "We may be here for a few days," he started, fighting his own feelings on the matter. "It's not as cut and dry as we thought this morning," Derek explained, referring to their phone conversation that morning.
Cate nodded, but knew full well he couldn't see her. "I didn't realize how much stuff I had," she began, trying to change the subject. "I'm almost out of boxes and I just finished the kitchen."
His laugh brought a smile to her face. "We'll take care of it when I'm home."
Home. One word made all the difference in the world. Home was with her; it didn't matter where their home was, but what mattered was that they were together.
"I have to head back in. Emily and Reid should be back here shortly." Cate pursed her lips and fought the lump in her throat. "I love you."
"I love you, too, handsome."
"Get some sleep," he offered from the other end, "You sound exhausted." She rolled her eyes at how well he knew her. "I will talk to you in the morning."
She bit her lip, "Stay safe."
Cate could hear him take a sharp breath. "Always, baby."
The two disconnected the call, and Cate stood from her spot on the floor. She reached for her glass of wine on the counter, and finished the remainder of the glass. The brunette placed the bottle back in the refrigerator and started off towards her bedroom.
She flicked off every light on her way. After a trip to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, Cate entered her bedroom.
She had left herself a pair of shorts on the dresser to wear to bed, and removed her tank top. After she was situated in her shorts and sports bra, Cate threw her hair into a quick braid before lying down in her bed.
The brunette flipped through the channels on TV and ended up leaving a movie she had seen several times before on, and turned the volume down. After setting the timer, she curled up and fell asleep.
-xx-
JJ and Derek sat in the conference room going over photographs from their first two crime scenes. Jennifer sighed as she pushed the folder away from her. She reached for her coffee cup, but noticed it wasn't where she had left it.
When she looked up, she saw it sitting next to Derek's across the table. "Morgan," she started, "give me my coffee."
The black man chuckled. "You're the one who said you're trying to give it up."
"No, I explained that I'm trying to drink less every day." He shrugged and began to push the Styrofoam cup across the table. "its 1:02 am, I think I deserve my coffee."
"That's why you and Cate get along so well," he mused.
The blonde laughed. "Because we both love coffee and wine," she began, as her eyebrow rose in Derek's direction, "and we both tolerate you?"
Derek placed a hand over his heart. "If I didn't know you, that may hurt," he teased.
The twosome always got along well and professionally, but when JJ came to Derek for self defense training after the Tobias Henkel case, they became very good friends. Jennifer was the first person Derek reached out to when he reconnected with Cate.
The blonde gave him a smile. "She's moving in," Derek stated. JJ's eyes grew wide at the admission.
"Really?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she fought to find the words. "That's what you want, right?"
The Pennsylvania native knew him almost better than anyone else, and as a profiler, she could read his facial expressions, too. "It is," he replied softly.
"Wow," JJ whistled softly. "Who knew there was a woman out there who could tame the infamous Derek Morgan?" It was a joke between the two of them; JJ had told Derek all the time that he needed to settle down. Being a playboy at almost 40 isn't flattering. But she never expected that it would happen so suddenly. She would agree there was a change in his demeanor since Cate came back into his life.
"She's amazing, Jayje," he stated, a smiling crossing his features. "She is seriously," he began, and was cut off by his cell phone beeping on the table next to him.
JJ lifted an eyebrow in his direction. It wasn't like Derek to get cut off like that. "What is it?" she asked as his face became distorted as he stared at his cell phone screen.
On the screen was a photo taken from Cate's bedroom, of her sleeping.
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