Savior

Chapter 54

-xx-

Derek chuckled as he walked into the bedroom. After spending almost an hour getting comfortable in bed, Derek moved to the living room and made himself comfortable in the recliner. His movement never once disrupted the brunette laying next to him.

She didn't even bother to get changed when they returned home. She lay face down and if it wasn't for Derek, she would not have had a blanket covering her.

Her flip flops were on the floor next to the bed; they barely made it off when she threw herself in the bed. She relaxed instantly the second she hit the mattress. Cate would never argue with Derek when he said it was the best mattress he had ever purchased.

Derek stepped out of the closet with fresh clothes in hand and smiled at his girlfriend as she began to wake up. He lost track of what he was doing in the bedroom as he watched her stretch out.

For years, Derek never let any woman into his home, let alone having them stay the night. He yearned for Cate from the second he laid eyes on her across the bar; it was a second chance he could not let slip through his grasp. He continually kicked himself for not reaching out to her three years ago. Sometimes his mind wandered to where they could be if he had stayed in touch.

He felt as though the past five months were so fast because they were trying to make up for missed time. Five months that felt like they could be years. Due to his work, he felt like sometimes they had to steal moments. He adored when Cate would video chat with him late at night. There were nights when he did not get back to the hotel until two or three in the morning, but she would still answer.

Cate never complained about his job. He was out of the apartment more often than he was in it lately. Until now, that was. Hotch placed him on leave for at least the rest of the week. Derek was already anxious to get back to the office.

And then he looked across the room at the bright blue eyes as they fluttered open. Derek gripped the gym shorts in his hand as she arched her back off of the mattress to stretch out. He could watch her all day; she played the girl-next-door card really well, but he saw past that. She knew how to be sexy without being over the top.

"Hey you," she said, her voice still raspy from sleep.

That voice drove Derek crazy. "Good morning," he replied.

She smiled and slowly sat up in bed. "What time is it?" She reached for her cell phone that she normally kept on the bedside table. With how tired she was last night, her phone sat on the counter.

"A little after noon," he answered with a smirk.

Cate rolled her eyes. "It's not morning," she pointed out. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood. Derek watched the tank top she wore slide up as she stretched again. "Thank you for letting me sleep in."

Derek nodded. "Of course." Derek crossed the room to plant a kiss to her lips. "It's the least I could do."

She smiled. "I feel disgusting, so I'm going to take a shower." She watched Derek mischievously wiggle his eyebrows. "Alone," she said to his silent question. "Can you do me a favor and throw on the coffee pot, please?"

Derek nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he answered jokingly.

-xx-

Cate stepped out of the bedroom feeling refreshed after taking a long shower. Her wet hair rested in a top knot and her face was bare of any makeup. She wore one of Derek's tank tops with a tie on the side to keep it above her waist, showing off just a bit of skin between the top and her lounge shorts.

She inhaled the aroma of coffee as she stepped into the kitchen. Her eyes lit up as she saw her favorite coffee sitting next to the coffee pot. "You really are the best," she called out to Derek in the living room.

After pouring herself a cup, she sauntered into the living room and took a seat on the couch, making sure to sit as close as she could next to Derek on the recliner. "Did you sleep well? You were out the second you hit the bed."

She chuckled. "I did," she replied softly as she took a sip of her coffee. "I barely slept in Miami and then we had a busy few days." She winked in his direction. Cate placed her coffee mug on the table between the couch and chair and lifted her right arm. She flexed the new tattoo and smiled. "Though I did come out of Miami with a really nice souvenir."

Derek grinned. "It is the perfect addition to the pieces you already have." He watched the smile on her face grow. "How did I get so lucky?"

Cate shrugged. "I ask myself that every single day." She pursed her lips as she watched him attempt to make his arm more comfortable.

He released a content sigh as he fixed the pillow under his arm, helping to keep it elevated. "You didn't even think twice to drop your girl's weekend and fly to me."

Cate shook her head. "A second thought never even crossed my mind," she replied honestly. "I couldn't be in Miami and not know that you were okay."

"It was your sister's birthday," he continued. "And I walked to the ambulance myself, Cate. I was fine. The surgery was precautionary."

She sighed and nibbled on the inside of her lip. "I didn't know that, D. JJ called, and all she said was that you had been shot. Then she hung up!" Cate focused on her nails for a second to calm down. "I wasn't going to go out to some club not knowing what was going on. Sunday was going to be spent lounging on the beach – where do you think my mind would have been? Not on what kind of frozen drink we were going to try next."

Derek ran a hand over his head. "I owe you a trip to Miami," he said with a laugh.

"Let's settle for Aruba," she replied with a twinkle in her eye. "Speaking of that trip, I should probably get some work done."

"If I have to stay home, you can stay home with me."

Cate laughed. "Bills don't pay themselves when you're trying to buy a home!" she reminded him as she stood from the couch. She placed a kiss to his lips as she reached for her coffee mug. "I can't wait to see what my e-mail looks like after a weekend off!"

"You were checking it in the hospital," Derek replied. "It can't be that bad."

"That was my personal e-mail, love. My company one got ignored for five days!"

Cate grinned as she walked off towards the spare bedroom. When she finally moved her things into the apartment, they moved around the second bedroom and set half of it up as a home office for Cate.

Even though moving in with Derek moved her closer to her actual office, she preferred having a place to go at home to work instead of taking over the dining room table or the coffee table in the living room. Derek joked that she liked working from home better because she could drink wine and work at the same time.

As Cate took a seat at her desk and waited for her laptop to boot up, she took a moment to go over the past five days. Four women headed off to Miami on Friday morning without a care in the world. She had only spent about thirty hours in the Sunshine State before travelling to Kentucky. She needed to see Derek in person. After the bruises and cuts he sustained the week before, the last thing on her mind would be Derek getting shot.

She rolled her eyes at how he brushed it off. But she knew first hand the type of criminals they dealt with; she was lucky enough to walk away from her attack sixteen days later. He thought it was hilarious that the gun shot did not keep him from finishing his job.

Cat sighed as her laptop finished turning on and logged on to her e-mail, ready to get back to work.

-xx-