Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: So sorry for the delayed update.
"That's my baby boy!" Fran Morgan exclaimed as she opened her door and hugged her son.
"Mom, please. I need to breath." Morgan smiled.
"Alright. Alright." releasing her embrace a little, Fran suddenly noticed the bruises on her son's face "Where did you get those?"
"Don't worry, it was just a stupid bar fight." he dismissed quickly.
Though Morgan had an amazing relationship with his mom, lying to her was like a second nature.
"Can I fix you something to eat ?" she asked, pretending to believe him.
"No, thanks. I really need to sleep." He said kissing her cheek.
After his nap, as he was checking his phone, Morgan found a dozen of missing calls and voice mails from Garcia and Prentiss, but decided to not call them back. Not yet, at least.
Instead he showered, changed his clothes, and joined his mother in the kitchen where she was making lunch.
"Can I help you with something?" he asked.
"I'm almost done but you can set up the table." she said handling him the plates "By the way, why the sudden vacation and how long are you staying?"
"Few days off. I have to take them or lose them." he replied and added smiling "Am I already annoying you ?"
"No, of course. I was planning to see a friend in Portland this weekend but I can cancel the trip if you're staying."
"Don't worry about me. Do what you have to do. I'll be here when you get back." He said a little sad.
A couple of days later, after dropping his mother in the airport, Morgan decided to stop by the youth center The weather was perfect to toss some balls with the kids.
He greeted the teenagers who were practicing and headed to Antwon Carpenter's office, the man who was running the center since Buford's arrest.
Antwon was a six foot black man in his late thirties who grown up L.A. At fourteen, he joined a gang and started selling drugs. At twenty, he was sentenced to seven years for drug trafficking. He thought he was a tough guy but in jail, he realized that this world wasn't for him. Since then, he never broke the law again and helped kids like him to avoid the mistakes he made.
"Hi Derek, it's been a long time. How are you?" Antwon greeted shaking the agent's hand.
"I'm good. You ?" Morgan replied.
"Given the circumstances, yeah" Antwon sighed.
"What circumstances?" Morgan asked confused.
"It's not official yet. The City Council sold the land where the center is built to a group of investors. We have to move out before Thanksgiving. I don't know how to announce the news to the kids." Antwon said defeated.
"And you did nothing to stop them ? You should have called me! We could have worked something out together!" Morgan yelled angrily taking the news pretty hard.
What were the kids are going to do without the center Join a gang? End up dead or in jail? No matter how he felt about Buford, this center saved his life.
"I know how much the center means to you but it's not an excuse to talk to me like that. You didn't come here in a year and you want to tell how do run things. I know you have a demanding job but for me, this center is my top priority. You don't know how hard it was for me to convince parents to let their children come here when they learned that my predecessor was a chomo and a murderer ? A mother even told she rather have a son selling drugs than get raped here. She wasn't the only one who thought that way. Believe me, it took me time to make them change their minds and trust me. I begged the City Council to give us more time but they were eager to sell. The only thing they gave was an old gymnasium." He stated angrily then he calmed himself "I promised the boys I'd play with them… you coming ?"
Even if he didn't have the heart to play after such news, Morgan nodded and followed Antwon in the field.
For the tenth times, Sarah Morgan tried to call her little brother. They were supposed to eat together but he was running late. Though she knew that her brother wasn't the punctual kind of guy, he was never that late and it started to be worried so she drove at her mother's to see what's going on.
As soon as she entered the house, she heard loud noises coming from the TV and saw her brother passed out on the couch. She turned off the TV and as she leaned to him calling out (in vain) his name, she smelled alcohol on his breath which it wasn't surprised giving the amount of empty beer cans on the coffee table.
"Derek, wake up." Sarah called giving him a slap to fast the process.
"What ?" Morgan slurred.
"You've got to be kidding me. What the hell is going on here?" she asked angrily motioning the cans.
"Why are you yelling? I drunk a few beers and forgot our dinner. It's not the big deal." he defended himself.
"You're lucky Mom isn't here." she sighed
"What differences does it make ? She's seen me drunk before." He argued. Okay, their mom wouldn't be pleased to see him like that, but he was a grow man, and it wasn't a big news for her that he drinks alcohol.
"Yeah but it was before." she snapped immediately regretting her words.
Even with the frog caused by the alcohol, Morgan felt that something was wrong and asked "What changed?"
"Nothing. You should sleep. I'll stay here for the night." Sarah said biting her lips nervously.
Morgan knew his big sister was lying. But about what ? "You're hiding something so tell me what. Now." he insisted angry.
"You're drunk and not in the right state of mind to talk to. Go rest and we'll talk in the morning." she said not leaving room for discussion.
Morgan nodded and headed to his room. After an half an hour torturing his mind about what his sister was hiding, the alcohol knocked him out.
In the morning, he took a shower and joined Sarah in the kitchen where she was drinking a cup of coffee. He greeted with a small good morning and poured himself a coffee.
"How is your head?" she asked gently.
"Painful but I've been worse... About last night, I know you're hiding something about mom. I need to know what."
"It's not my place to tell you what I know." Sarah replied embarrassed.
Yesterday, she said something she shouldn't and now she had to face the consequences. She knew that her brother wasn't going to leave it go. As much as she hated to betray her mother's trust, the truth needed to come out "A few years ago, Mom had some issues with alcohol. She fixed her problems but I'm always afraid she relapses. That's why I was angry when I saw you bring beers because if Mom was here she could have…" she said with a broken voice.
Morgan was in shock. His mother an alcoholic. It couldn't be right. Yes, she enjoyed the good wine but she never abused it.
Then he remembered that last year, as he was spending Christmas with his family, he noticed that his mom wasn't drinking any alcohol (something she usually does during holidays' celebration). Surprised, he even asked her why and she vaguely replied something about not be allowed to drink because she was on high blood pressure medication.
Obviously, it was a lie but why she didn't tell the truth ? Alcoholism wasn't something you openly talked about but she could have just tell him the truth, he was strong enough to handle it. Unless, he was the reason why she started drinking in the first place
"She started to drink after Buford was arrested, did she?" He asked with a shaking voice.
"Please, don't go there. It isn't your fault. Mom didn't tell you or Desiree because she didn't want to make you're worried." Sarah tried to reassure him but she could see guilty in his eyes.
"But she told you ?" he snapped bitter.
Sarah shook her head "No, I found her one morning heavily drunk on her bed and I knew it wasn't the first time. We talked a long and she finally admitted her problem. I know you're upset but she beat her addiction and that all is matters."
"I'm not upset. I just want to understand how she could keep this from me and Desiree."
"Mom is a proud woman, you know that. She didn't want to let you down again."
"Let me down ?" he repeated out loud. That was ridiculous! Fran Morgan was the best mother a child can ask for. Even with her jobs, she was always there for her kids.
"When I learned what that man did to you, I wanted to kill him then I started to blame myself. I kept wondering how I could not see my little brother's suffer, why you didn't trust me enough to confine in me… I don't know… Maybe if I wasn't been so focused on my dancing career, I should have seen something was wrong... but for Mom, it was worse. For years, she sent Christmas cards to that monster thanking him for putting you in the right path. She was devastated when she realized that during all this time, she was thanking the man who raped her son and I guess she tried to find a way to escape this reality."
Morgan never really thought about how the revelation about his years of sexual abuse would affect his family. His mentor finally in jail, he put this painful part of his life behind him and moved on.
For his mom and sisters, it wasn't that simple. As BAU agent, he knew that with child abuse, the family takes years to process their love ones' trauma but as the said victim, he refused to acknowledge the repercussions of that kind of revelation.
The siblings stayed quiet few minutes then Sarah, feeling that his brother needed to be alone, left him with the promise that he would call if he wanted to talk.
"Mom, can I talk to you about something?" Morgan asked as they sat on the couch watching a soap opera.
"Yes, of course." Fran replied noticing his son's serious face.
His mom got back a couple of hours earlier and while she was talking about her trip, he tried to find the courage to honor his resolution.
Since Sarah told him about his mom's addiction, he realized that he needed to stop lying about the important things of his life. Starting about why he was really in Chicago.
He cleared his throat and said " I lied to you. I'm not on vacation, I was suspended for three weeks."
As a cop's widow, Fran knew that there must happened something real bad to be suspend this amount of time and demanded to know what had happened.
"At the office, I started a fight with someone. Hotch caught us and suspended me."
She was a little shocked by the news. She knew that her son could be impulsive but she couldn't believe he would ever done a such stupid thing in his work's place.
Except if it was a matter of heart. In High School, her son hit one of his classmate during a practice because the boy insulted the girl Morgan liked very much so maybe the history repeated itself and asked "It's about a girl?"
Morgan thought about lying but he promised not to. He took a deep breath and replied "The man I hit, is gay and I think I'm in love with his boyfriend."
A/N 2: Thanks for your reviews and to my beta RoseLaurel. I wrote this chapter, a long time ago, before I even watched or heard spoilers about "Restoration"
I wanted to write about Morgan returns in the youth center and Morgan with his family because in the show, they never talked about how Morgan's family took the news. I know Morgan's mom alcoholism seems cliche but I think it's a logical response for a mother who didn't have an easy life and thinks she failed to protect her children from evil.
Plus, it could also explained why he wanted to help Strauss with her addiction.