Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Thanks for my beta RoseLaurel and for the reviews. I know I don't update regularly so a big thank you to anyone who still find time to read (and review) this fic.
The FBI agent lashed out at Cooper again, but the young man blocked his fists and hit Morgan's jaw so violently that he crashed into Reid's desk.
"Son of a bitch! I'm going to kill you." Morgan yelled spitting the blood of his mouth but before he realized it, Reid's boyfriend pinned him against the desk and hit him again.
Cooper was stronger and faster than the BAU agent initially thought. Despite his judo black belt, Morgan couldn't use any self-defence moves he knew and took several punches in the face until the other BAU agents present in the bullpen pulled them apart.
As soon as he was free from Cooper's grasp, Morgan grabbed him by the collar and was ready to punch him but Hotch's anger laced voice, caused him to freeze in place.
"Morgan, what the hell is going on!?" yelled the Unit Chief from his office door, glaring down at the guilty agent.
Somehow Morgan managed to calm down quickly and, looking Hotch, he began to explain "Look, Hotch. He..."
"Save it. Go clean up and report to my office in 15 minutes!" the unit chief ordered, leaving no room for discussion. Begrudgingly Morgan follow his superior's command.
While he was cleaning himself, Morgan started to freak out as he realized this little display could cost him his job. Picking a fight in front of his boss' office (even if he had good reason from his anger) wasn't very smart move. Plus, Strauss will eventually know what happened to her assistant and she'll demand punishment.
He knew that Hotch would anything to protect his subordinates but he also knew that he could be merciless if they were messing with the Bureau's image.
Morgan knocked at Hotch's office door and anxiously opened it when his boss asked him to come in.
"Sit and explain yourself." Hotch ordered.
"I think Reid is in an abusive relationship." Morgan said as he sat then talked about the verbal fight he witnessed, how Cooper refused to let him see Reid afterward and finally, the bruises he saw on his friend's torso the night before.
Hotch carefully listened to his subordinate's story and asked intrigued "And how did you see them?" He had shared a room a few times with the genius in the past, so he knew that Reid wasn't the kind of guy who walked around half-naked.
"When I came in our hotel room, Reid was on the phone with O'Neill and I partially heard what Reid was saying. He was saying that it 'wasn't his fault' and all the bullshits you hear from the domestic abuse victims. Then I noticed the bruises."
"What did Reid said about them?"
"I didn't ask him… I knew Spencer was just going to cover for him. I'm sorry, but I lost my temper when I saw him with Cooper. I guess I wanted to teach him a lesson." Morgan grimaced kneading his hurt jaw.
"And how did that work out for you?" Hotch sighed looking at Morgan's swollen lips and the dark bruise forming on his jaw.
"Look, Hotch. I was worried about Reid. I just wanted to talk to O'Neill but when I saw them together I lost my temper, that's all." Morgan apologized
"It's not true and you know it." Hotch stated. Morgan opened his mouth but the Unit Chief cut him off "When you saw Reid's bruises, you could have told me about it but instead you waited until you came back here and assaulted O'Neill. You wanted to hurt him and I can't tolerate that. Give me your service weapon and credential."
For few seconds, Morgan stayed speechless but he quickly put himself together and begged. Even he wasn't above begging when it came to his job "Hotch, please, don't suspend me-"
"What do you want me to do, Morgan? Look at it this way, you assaulted a federal employee in a federal building. Your exploit is on tape." Hotch paused then let out another sigh "Even if Reid is in an abusive relationship, you have no excuse for what you did. We're FBI agents, not vigilantes."
"How long?" Morgan asked defeat as he got up and put his weapon and credential on his boss' desk.
"I don't know yet. I'll call you later."
Morgan could only nod before leaving Hotch's office. Then it was Reid's turn to be called up…
"What?" Reid yelled incredulously.
"Is Cooper violent with you?" Hotch repeated calmly.
"Of course, no. Let me guess, It's Morgan who tell you that and that's also why he attacked Cooper." The unit chief could see the anger flaring in his youngest subordinate's eyes, but he needed to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.
"So he's lying when he says that you have bruises on your body? Tell me the truth or I'll ask for a medical examination." Hotch threatened, sure that Reid was hiding something.
For a moment Reid was wondering how Morgan could have seen his bruises, and then he remembered that he had left the door of the hotel bathroom slightly open. He had thought that he was alone. Obviously that wasn't the case because Morgan managed to see him and concluded that Cooper was beating him.
He let out an exhausted sigh and said "You remembered the case in Montana." Hotch nodded "You made me stay at the police station while all of you handled the hostage situation. That night, I realized that I didn't have the same status than the rest of the team."
Hotch was a little hurt by his subordinate's statement. As a Unit Chief, he tried to treat everything fairly and equality but he had to recognize that he sometimes treated Reid differently because of his age and inexperience.
"Listen, Reid. I never.."
"I understand, really. It makes sense that you would prefer Rossi, Morgan or Prentiss to have your back than a guy who failed his firearms qualification in the past. Anyway, I guess it was a wake-up call for me. I'm a profiler but I'm also a FBI field agent. I decided to focus on the physical aspects of the job. I have been spending more time at the firing range and Cooper introduced me to a Krav Maga club. During one training session, one of the guys went a little too far and that's how I got my bruises. You can check with the E.R, if you don't trust me."
The events Reid detailed made sense, but there was still one thing Hotch didn't quite understand "Why did O'Neill blame himself? If he had nothing to do with your bruises why he felt the need to apologize?"
The young agent's anger subsided for a moment as a gentle smile took its place "That's the problem when person hearing half of a conversation, they tried to fill the blanks and usually they're wrong. Cooper felt guilty because he was the one who introduced to the guys. Can I go now or do have another questions?"
"No, you can go."
Back at his place, Morgan spent the rest of the day pacing and waiting for Hotch's call. His job was his whole life and couldn't imagine what the hell he was going to do without it.
When he heard his phone ring, he could feel his heart racing in his chest and he eagerly picked up.
"It's Hotch.. I talked to Reid and he denied been in an abusive relationship."
"And you believed him?" Morgan asked, wondering how his superior could be so easily lied to.
"He explained that he got his bruises because he was taking self-defence class. I checked his story with his self-defence instructor and the ER, he told the truth. O'Neill wasn't even in town when it happened." As Hotch explained, Morgan could feel himself deflating.
"What's going to happen next?" he simply asked ready to face Hotch's decision, whatever it may be.
"You're lucky, O'Neill doesn't want to press charges. But you are still suspended for three weeks without pay, and when you get back I want you to see someone for your anger management issue because if this even happens again, I fire you, understood?" Hotch warned and hung up as he heard Morgan's meek consent.
Morgan knew he had dodged a bullet, and decided to use his "vacations" to clear his head and go to Chicago to visit his family, but first he needed to apologize to Cooper so he went to Reid's place. No sooner had his friend opened the door Morgan was confronted with an angry glare.
"What do you want?"
"Can I talk to O'Neill? I want to apologize for my behavior." Morgan replied, his embarrassment clear on his features.
"He's not here. He decided to go for a run. He does that when he's upset, I guess that being accused to be an abusive boyfriend can be entered in that category." Reid stated.
"I'm sorry, I made a mistake. I just wanted to help you."
"Help me? You humiliated me! Do you realize how embarrassing it was to see you hit my boyfriend in front of all my co-workers because you thought he was beating me,and to talked to Hotch about my private life? You're not the only one who cares about his professional reputation. It took me years to make people forget about my age and now, thanks to you, I became the damsel in distress." Reid growled, somehow managing to keep from yelling.
When it came to gossip and rumors, FBI agents could be worse than the High School teenager so Morgan understood why Reid was upset, especially because who was bullied in the past. It was then it dawned on him just how harmful his actions were, not only he was wrong but he had also put his friend, his best friend, in an awkward position "Look, I'm truly sorry. I thought.."
"You thought that the man I love was hitting me? Cooper has never laid a hand on me, and even if he had, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself like I always did. The worst is that despite all of your experience as a profiler, you used wrong facts and convinced yourself that he was a bad guy but you were wrong. Sure, he has his flaws but he always treated me with nothing but respect, and I honestly can't say the same about you." Reid snapped before slamming the door in Morgan's face.
Morgan decided to wait for Cooper on the stairs. The more he thought about Reid's words, the more he had to admit that the genius was right. He didn't like Cooper so he made wrong assumptions about him without looking the facts objectively and felt ashamed for it.
He was doing the exact same thing he himself had suffered when he was younger. Many people assumed he was a gangster just because he was a black man living in a tough neighborhood and he swore to himself he would never judge someone basing on prejudice or his personal beliefs.
Morgan had been waiting for almost an hour when a taxi stopped in front of Reid's building and Cooper came out of it. He got up from the stairs and walked towards the waiting man.
"Agent Morgan, what's a nice surprise. You came for a second round?" Cooper asked sarcastically.
"Actually, I came to apologize. I thought that you were hurting Reid. Obviously I was wrong and I'm sorry about that. I also want to thank you for not pressing charges against me." Morgan apologized sincerity. He knew that if Cooper had pressed charges he would certainly lost his job.
"I accept your apologizes but tell me, your insane theory about me hurting Spencer was a pretext to attack me, right?" Cooper challenged looking in Morgan's eyes to let him know that he didn't buy his bullshit.
At this point, there was a little voice in Morgan's head telling him to go. After all, he did apologize like he intended so why stick around any longer? The thing was that he was curious to know that Cooper was implying.
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, you didn't attack me because you're concerned about Spencer's well-being. You attacked me because I'm with the man you want. Maybe there was a part of you who thought that he was going to jump in your arms for saving him from me. I recognize it was a good plan, except that I never hurt him." Cooper stated, a faint amusement showing through his words.
"You're crazy. I'm not gay." Morgan scoffed clenching his fists.
"I know damn well that you and Spencer were more than friends at some point and I'm pretty sure he wasn't the only man you slept with..."
Cutting Cooper's sentence and hiding his inside panic, Morgan stepped forward, throwing a threatening glare at the man before him "I don't know what Reid said to you but don't repeat that to anyone or I'll.."
This time, it was Cooper who cut him off, grinning "You'll what? Hit me? I think we already established that I can handle you. I never gossip about someone else's life so don't worry, your secret is safe with me. The funny thing is that you accused me of hurting Spencer when in fact it was you who hurt him and I guess I should be grateful for that because thanks to you, I'm dating the most wonderful man I ever met and I'm going to do everything I can to keep him by my side. Anyway, I have to go. Goodnight, Agent Morgan" then with that, he walked toward Reid's apartment, leaving the startled agent dumbfounded on the staircase.