False Pretense

Chapter three.

The ride to Lexie's Daycare is a silent one, neither Derek or I want to bring up the topic looming over our heads. There had been a few attempts at small talk but our hearts weren't really in it so the conversations were quickly dropped. After the longest fifteen minutes of my life we pull up to our destination. No one says a word for a few minutes we just sit in silence as if trying to put off the inevitable.

"this really sucks." I mutter under my breath as I begin unbuckling my seat belt.

"yeah. The sooner we get it over with, the sooner you and Lex will be back with me safe at home like it's supposed to be." Derek replies quietly following my lead and undoing his own seat belt Moments later we exit the car and head into the building. We had called ahead to give warning we would be picking up Lexie early so they were expecting us any minute.

As we walk in the door Lexie comes running toward us as fast as her little legs will carry her.

"Mama, Dada." she sequels excitedly. Her hair had fallen out of it's ponytail and now hung loosely around her shoulders. I quickly bend over and scoop her up as she nears me.

"Hey baby girl, I missed you so much!" I tell giving her a kiss on both cheeks which earns me a soft giggle.

"How do you feel about cutting out of here early, princess." Derek suggests to her as he ruffles her hair a little.

"Kay," She agrees Happily reaching for her father. I quickly hand her over to him.

"I'm gonna go sign her out and grab her bag you want to get her in her booster seat." I ask Derek, he nods in agreement

"sure, I'll see you out there in a minute." he replies kissing me briefly before heading toward the door.

'ew' I hear Lexie say as the walk away. Derek says something that hakes her laugh as I quickly sign her out and they head out the door. Right on cue one of the daycare workers approaches me, Lexie's Dora the explorer bag and teddy bear in hand. I quickly thank her and take the items.

"Is everything okay, you usually don't pick her up this early." the daycare worker whose name is Kelly asks in concern.

"yeah everything is fine, boss gave us the rest of the afternoon off. We thought we'd surprise her." I reply with a reassuring smile. "thanks again for having her ready, I really appreciate it."

"Oh anytime, don't worry about it. She really is a precious little girl, we love having her here."

"thanks, there's one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. Derek's mother is here visiting so we won't be bringing her by."

"OK, that's no problem Just come back when you need us!" Kelly replies cheerfully.

" Okay we will thanks again." I turn toward the door.

"bye Mrs, Morgan." she calls out to me, after responding with the appropriate greeting I Head out to the care where my family is waiting.

"How did it go, did you tell them." Derek asks as I get into the car. I hand Lexie her bear with which she immediately begins playing with before answering his question. The anxious tension inside the vehicle is almost suffocating.

"good, I just told Kelly that you mom was visiting and we wouldn't be bringing her for a while." I inform him.

"sounds good. You want to grab something to eat before heading home.?" He asks trying to ease the tension.

"I'm not hungry but maybe we should gab something for Lexie." I suggest knowing he really wasn't hungry either. He turns back to Lexie and asks if she was hungry to which she responds yes so, after a quick trip through the McDonald's drive thru we head to our house.

Once there, I unbuckle Lexie and we head inside. We get Lexie settled eating her happy meal in our bedroom as we begin packing. The task itself I rather difficult since we don't know how long I would actually be gone. So I find myself staring at the empty suitcase and pile of clothes on my bed.

"mamma, what you doing?" Lexie asks innocently, pulling me out of my trance.

"I'm packing sweetie." I answer her as cheerfully as I can as I sit on the floor in front of her.

"why" she looks up at me with the chocolate brown eyes she inherited from her father. She really was the perfect child. She had gotten Derek's nose and eyes, her mouth however was all me and her hair was the same color as mine and fell in soft curls sown to her shoulders. In all it was a perfect contrast with her light caramel skin.

"well, you know how Daddy and I go out of town for work sometimes and you get to stay with you're aunt Sarah." I begin to explain as simple as I can. She nods her head as she take a bite of her chicken nugget. " well this time just mommy has to go on a trip and you get to go with me."

"Daddy too!" she ask hopefully. My heart breaks at the question. This was really going to be hard on her she's so attached to her daddy, what was she going to do if he wasn't there for a a couple weeks.

"No honey, daddy can't come with us, he has to stay here and do his own work." I reply . She looks like she is about to cry and I find myself close to tears.

"no!" she throws her food down and starts to throw a tantrum." want daddy" she cry's tears now dripping down her cheeks. Derek comes over picks her up and sits down on the bed and tries to calm her down I take the opportunity to excuse myself into the bathroom where my tears start to fall as soon as I close the door. After a few minutes Lexie is no longer crying and I had calmed down myself at least enough to call JJ for advice. She picks up right away.

"hey em, How's everything going." she asks her voice laden with concern.

"god, it's horrible JJ." I answer after taking a deep breath and lowering myself to sit on the edge of the bath tub.

"what Happened?"

"I tried explaining to Lexie, and she freaked out started crying. Please tell me I'm doing the right thing. I mean what kind of mother would take her kid away from it's father." I plead.

"you are I know it's hard. You've got to be strong." she tries to reassure me.

"I, god, she was so upset, and she's never been a way from Derek like this, I mean when we're out on cases we call her every night but now Derek can't even do that."

"it'll be fine just keep reminding her that Derek will come visit her, it will give her something to look forward to and hopefully soften the blow a little."JJ says.

"You're right thanks." I begin when there's a knock at the door. "Jayje I got to go Derek needs me I'll call you back."

"okay bye Em."

after hanging up the phone I jump up and begin fixing the mascara that had run down my face.

"Come in " I call to him and begin rinsing my hands in the sink.

"you okay?" he asks coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Yeah" I meet his gaze in the mirror. " where's Lexie?"

"sleeping, cried herself to sleep." he states simply.

"I feel so bad, upsetting her like that." I turn around so that I'm facing him.

"don't be, you handled that great. She's just tired.

" he leans down and kisses me softly.

"you're to good to me you know that." I smile weakly up at him. "i guess I should go pack, jet leaves in 45 minutes and it's going to tale us at least 20 to get to the airstrip." I sigh my semi good mood quickly disintegrating.

" you're right, I got Lexie all packed."

"thanks you're the best."

Exactly one hour later the Jet takes off bringing Lexie and I closer and closer to our temporary home. It had only taken me about twenty minutes to finish packing with Derek's help. After that Derek had Woken Lexie up and put her in her booster seat while I gathered the suit cases. The ride to to the airstrip and our awaiting jet was silent, Lexie had fallen back to sleep moments after we pulled out of the driveway. Derek and I clutched each others hands the whole way as if letting go would mean life or death. When we arrived the team was waiting for us. I quickly said my good byes to my friends, JJ took Lexie to give Derek and I a moment a lone. Our sad good-byes, promises to see each other soon, and a passionate kiss later Lexie and I boarded the jet headed for Toronto Pearson International Airport and our new lives.

There is the next chapter I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know RnR. Thanks!