Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, Criminal Minds.

Full Circle
Part 15

By N. J. Borba

Morgan opened his eyes and stretched his arms above his head as the last remnants of sleep slowly escaped his body. He blinked against the soft strands of sunlight that filtered through the window behind his bed. The golden light cast patterns across his emerald green comforter, dipping and weaving with the folds of fabric. Despite the relaxed setting, Derek felt like something was wrong. His heart suddenly seized up as his eyes darted around the room. Emily wasn't there, not in his bed or anywhere in the small loft bedroom. He pushed back sheets and got to his feet, clad in only his dark grey boxer briefs. Morgan wondered if he'd dreamed everything that had happened the night before; Emily agreeing to stay, making love, falling asleep with her wrapped in his arms. It had felt very real, but the fog of sleep was leading him to question it all, until he glanced down over the wood rail and spotted his little girl asleep in the bed that was still wedged in his living room.

"You're awake," Emily called to him.

He spun around to see her standing in the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom area. She was wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts, a dark blue one that hit her mid-thigh. His heart slowed and a smile quickly formed. "I am," Derek breathed easier. He walked toward her slowly, like a wild animal stalking his prey. Then he moved in for the kill, though it was a gentle kill given both of them were still rather sore from the kidnapping ordeal. He tenderly embraced her and moved their union toward the bed. Morgan kissed her once, quickly. Then again, slower, languishing in the delightful act.

Emily certainly enjoyed the kiss, but it felt a bit frantic to her as they scooted toward the head of the bed and settled under the covers again. Her heart ached as she regarded him, watching his eyes practically bore a hole through her. It was almost as if he didn't want to look away, for fear she might vanish in a puff of smoke. "Did you think I'd left?" she asked him.

"What?" he tried to pretend that her words had no effect on him. "No, of course not."

She bit her lip, easily identifying the lie beneath his false facade. "Derek..." Emily sighed. "You did think that, didn't you? I'm sorry, I was just..."

"It's okay," he stopped her. Derek took a deep breath, deciding not to keep any truths from her. "I did think that for a second, but that's just my own little issue I'll have to work past." Morgan drew her closer, wrapping his arms about her waist as she snuggled with her back against his chest. He kissed along her neck, reminding himself that she really was still there in his apartment, and most importantly, in his life. "You know, I was thinking that if you wanted to return to the team and are worried about having one parent with Beth at all times, I could be a stay-at-home dad," he offered.

Emily turned and cocked her head to look up at him. "Are you serious?"

"Completely," Derek nodded. "You really were amazing this past week, climbing through air vents and ripping off duct tape with your teeth. Kind of like an action hero."

Her lips curled upward. "Even though I put myself in the path of a bullet for you?"

"Yeah, even though," he agreed. "I just want you to be happy, and I kind of feel like it's my fault you took off and left the bureau."

"We're both to blame for that," she reminded him. "And your offer is wonderful. I really do want you and Beth to spend lots of time together, but..."

"You still can't stand the thought of being away from her for more than a few hours, hmm?" he guessed.

She shook her head. "Nope. I guess it will have to happen one of these days when she goes off to school. But until then, you can be my bread winner," Emily winked.

"How very 1960's of you Ms. Stewart," Derek chuckled.

Emily cringed. "I have to tell you, I kind of hate that name. I think I'd like to be Emily Prentiss again; be myself again. And I'd like Beth to have your last name."

"Really?" he asked. "Now that is very old-school of you."

"I know," she nodded. "But we've done just about everything in an untraditional manner so far, and that's one thing I'd like to rectify."

His pleasure at the news came in the form of another kiss that started off as a small thank you, and grew into a rather steamy entanglement. Eyes closed and lost in each other, they didn't hear or see who was creeping up on them until the bed shifted and the two-year-old crawled between them. Derek laughed, not at all upset by the interruption. He snatched up the little girl, who was clinging to her stuffed duck and dressed in only a t-shirt and diaper. Morgan held her at arm's length as she sat on his stomach. "You really are a little monkey, aren't ya? And quiet as a mouse, too," he noted.

Emily sniffed and wrinkled her nose. "A stinky little monkey-mouse," she noticed, leaning over to give Beth a good-morning kiss. "Stay with daddy, stinky. I'll be right back." Emily took off down the stairs and returned shortly with the diaper bag. She plucked Beth out of the bed, sat back on her legs and went about removing the pull-up diaper as the girl stood in front of her, holding on to her shoulders. "We really need to work on potty training some more, don't we?" Emily asked. "I think you're getting way to big for this diaper business." She pulled out some wipes and noticed Derek propped on the bed, staring down at her. "What?"

"Nothing, you just look... cute," he grinned. "Watching you be all mommy-ish, it's sweet. And sexy as hell, too."

Her eyes widened as she attempted to cover Beth's ears. "Don't use the H-word. You know how she likes to mimic everything,"

"Sorry," Morgan apologized. "But it's true."

"Derek..." Emily shook her head as she finished up with Beth. "If watching me change a dirty diaper turns you on... that is one messed up kink."

He shrugged. "Oh, yeah? Is it a deal breaker?"

"Yep, I'm afraid it's a definite deal breaker," she teased, depositing a clean Beth back onto the bed. Emily watched as the girl snuggled up beside Derek again. As she walked to the bathroom to dump the dirty diaper and wash her hands, she could hear Derek telling the girl a story. Emily stood in the doorway after her task was complete and listened to the end of the familiar fable about the prince who caught a fallen star for his fair maiden. She crawled back into the bed, kissing Beth on her forehead as she eyed Derek. "You stealing my material now?" she asked.

"Just borrowing," he replied. "You know, it's not weird, me finding you attractive when you're doing the mom thing. I just love seeing how much you love her, enough to willingly clean her bottom."

She looked over at Beth. "That's what you do for your kids, because you love them so much that you never want to see them hurt or be uncomfortable in any way."

"Well, I do love her an awful lot," he agreed. "But in this case, I think I'll vote with you on getting aggressive about potty training."

Emily chuckled, recalling the potty seat he'd purchased. "Yeah, we can start back with that once we get settled into our new house. Which I really hope has a lock on one of the bedroom doors."

"You want to lock our daughter in her room?" he asked, holding a hand to his heart and feigning an overly dramatic look of shock.

She rolled her eyes at his silly-business. "You know I meant for our room," Emily lightly slapped his shoulder.

He certainly liked the sound of that, them sharing a room in a house where they would live together with their daughter. "I think that can probably be arranged," Derek nodded. A thought came to mind, something that made his eyes light up as he carefully extracted himself from the bed. He kissed Beth's cheek. "You stay here with mama for a second, okay?" Morgan hurried down the stairs and reached his desk. He opened the top drawer where he'd left something the day before. Something he hadn't been sure he'd ever be able to gain the courage to give her. But now seemed like the perfect time.

Back upstairs, Emily watched him appear again; moving around the side of the bed with one hand behind his back. "What've you got there, Morgan?" she asked.

Derek wore a serious face as he climbed back into the bed, Beth laying between them again. The girl was rambling softly to her toy duck about something, not paying much attention to her parents. He held his right hand out to Emily, revealing the small jewelry box. "It's not..." he paused, unsure of what to call it. Morgan decided to just open the box and pull the ring out for her to see. "It's something I wish I could have given you when Beth was born. And I kind of stole the idea from JJ. See," he pointed to one of the three birthstones in the silver setting. "That's mine, and there's yours," he tapped the one furthest from his. Then his index finger settled on the small ruby in the middle. "And that's our baby girl there nestled between us."

Emily reached out and took the ring, a tear glistening in the corner of her left eye. "It's really beautiful. Thank you," she gulped.

"You can, uh... wear it on whatever finger you want." He was a little nervous about the whole thing, not wanting her to feel pressured. Their reunion was still so fresh that he wanted to take it slow. Or at least as slow as one could after pinning for a woman three long years.

She nodded, understanding what he meant. Emily was grateful of his patients, but the ring seemed to have a mind of its own, only managing to fit on the very last finger she tried; her left ring finger. A smile chased away her tear. "I think I'd like for it to be a promise ring," she finally told him. "The promise that we will always love our daughter and each other, no matter what. And that we'll never hide our true feelings again, being open and honest about what we want out of life. And what I want is to love you and Beth all the remaining days of my life. That's my promise to you, Derek."

"That's my promise to you too, Emily," he took her hand in his and kissed the ring finger. Then he kissed her palm the way he had the night before. Slowly his lips moved upward, along her arm and eventually reaching her neck. They kissed the soft, warm skin beneath her ear, where he whispered even softer words, "I love you." Finally his lips found their favorite target; an equal and opposite pair. They danced together for a moment.

"Feed the ducky?" Beth's voice interrupted, making them aware that she was still there.

Morgan glanced down at her toy. "He's just a stuffed ducky. What's he going to eat? More stuffing?"

Beth giggled. "Feed ducky!"

"Oh, maybe you mean we should feed you, little ducky?" Derek asked the child. "Do you like pancakes?"

"Feed duckies!" Beth squealed loudly.

Emily smoothed a hand over her daughter's dark hair. "Shh... not so loud, sweetie." When she looked up and caught Derek's eye, Emily attempted to explain the point she thought her daughter was trying to get across. "It's Saturday."

"Yes it is," he nodded, not quite following her.

"Beth knows we usually go feed the ducks on Saturday," Emily concluded.

"That's right," Morgan's head nodded more vigorously as he remembered his first real meeting with his daughter. He scooped his little girl up and kissed her cheek several times in rapid succession. "You really are my smart girl, aren't you?" Beth smiled, holding her duck up so he would kiss the stuffed animal too. "Well, since the only thing I really have down in my kitchen is some stale bread, it seems we need to find ourselves a new duck feeding spot."

xxx

After coffee and pancakes at a nearby diner, Emily and Beth had gone back to her parent's place to collect their few belongings, while Derek went to the store to buy groceries and treats for their picnic. Then they drove out to see the house he had in mind for them to live. Emily loved it and they spent nearly two hours there, picking out colors to paint each room and finding the perfect tree for Beth's new swing. Now, with a large blanket spread out in a grassy area of the park, the three of them relaxed and soaked up the sun. The park Derek had chosen was bustling with activity on the warm, spring afternoon. It only had a small pond, but he'd seen plenty of ducks there in the past, on his jogs around the trail that circled the park.

With Emily lounging on her stomach, and Beth just woken from her short nap, Derek reached into a bag and pulled out two cookies. He passed one to the girl seated in his lap and they munched their treats, but not quietly enough. Emily sat up, spied the cookies and shook her head at him. "You really have a thing against Oreo's, don't you?" he asked, his mouth still half-full of cookie.

"I didn't until I ate about a million of them while I was pregnant," she replied. "And now I know I have your DNA to thank for that craving."

Derek shrugged. "Sorry?" He wasn't sure if she was upset or not, but tried a different tactic. "It's a special occasion."

"That was last night," Emily countered.

"So, you can declare a special occasion, but I can't?" he challenged. "Well, I've declared the whole weekend a special occasion."

She chuckled. "Of course you have. And is this going to be an every weekend sort of special occasion?"

He nodded, leaning in to kiss her. "I hope so, at least every weekend that I can be here with my two favorite girls."

"Two favorite?" a female voice interrupted their kiss. "I think I've been insulted, regulated to the back of the bus, pushed aside like a worthless piece of..."

Emily looked up and spotted Garcia and Kevin walking toward them. "Penelope," she got to her feet and greeted the woman with a friendly hug. "Thanks for looking out for him all this time," Emily whispered, clearly in reference to Derek.

The tech grinned as she pulled away. "It was nothing, my dear."

Morgan and Emily welcomed Kevin and introduced him to Beth. Garcia added another blanket to the picnic area and the four adults were chatting amiably when Reid approached them. It was Beth who first noticed their newest guest. "Hi, weed!" she exclaimed.

Spencer sat down beside the girl. "We're going to have to work on that," he told the child.

"Aw, but I like it," Emily teased him, feeling at ease with all her old friends again.

Just a few minutes later a young boy came running up and plopped himself down in Garcia's lap. His blonde hair and aqua eyes were all Emily needed to peg him as JJ and Will's son, Henry. "Hi, Auntie P," he wrapped his arms around Penelope's neck and hugged her.

"Who's my favorite Godson?" Garcia asked him.

"Me!" the boy answered.

"Hi there, Henry," Reid reached over and tussled the boy's hair as Will and JJ finally caught up and planted themselves on a corner of Garcia's blanket, dropping the large duffle bag they'd brought along. A chorus of welcomes ensued.

Morgan held a hand out to Henry, palm-up. "How you doing, buddy?"

Henry gave him 'five', slapping his hand. "Good. Is that Beth?" he asked, pointing to the girl still sitting on Morgan's lap. "Does she like to play ball? Daddy brought my soccer ball and we could play. I'll be careful cause she's littler than me," he promised, looking to his mother for an answer.

"Why don't you ask her," JJ encouraged her son.

The boy grabbed a green and black soccer ball out of the bag his dad had been carrying. He walked over to Beth and kneeled down in front of her. "Hi, I'm Henry. I'm four and almost a half. I like trains, but mommy said we couldn't bring them to the park. I bringed my soccer ball instead. Do you wanna play?"

"Yes!" Beth replied.

Emily was impressed by the way her little girl took off after Henry, leaving her stuffed duck behind. "JJ, he's so verbose," she noted.

"I know, it seems like every day he comes home from pre-school with several new words in his arsenal," JJ said, wearing a proud smile. "Will keeps telling me I'm going to have to train him to do my job some day. He thinks Henry will be a natural at dealing with crowds and the media, a chip off the old block," she chuckled.

"Oh!" Garcia sprang to life. "Wouldn't that be funny if all our kids ended up being the next generation of BAU team members. Henry could definitely be the cool-headed media liaison. Beth would be kicking ass and taking names. And Jack..."

She paused and then they all spoke in unison. "Team leader."

"Did I hear my son's name mentioned?" Hotch asked as he approached the group. Jack had already broken away to join the kids. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with a plastic baseball bat slung over one shoulder, the man looked very relaxed. He sat down on one of the blankets, looking to the outside world like a normal guy who took his son to the park every weekend. The team leader glanced Garcia's way, doing his best to join in on the fun. "If we're repopulating the BAU, you and Kevin need to get started on the ultimate technical analyst," he quipped.

"And who's going to take over the veteran position when I'm long gone?" Rossi asked as he strode toward them all.

Morgan pointed to the man seated beside him. "That'll be Reid."

Dave chuckled and glanced around. "I think I may have accidentally been invited to this shindig," he looked down at the dog on a leash beside him. "I didn't have kids to bring, so I brought Mudgy instead. He's good with kids. Better at duck hunting, though."

Emily glanced over to make sure Beth was well out of ear-shot. "In the future, maybe you could not mention the whole duck hunting thing," she held her daughter's stuffed toy up to make her point.

Mudgy lunged for the toy, but Rossi held him back. "Right," Dave nodded.

JJ looked a little guilty as she glanced up at Rossi. "I'm sorry, I must have hit the BAU group-text button on my cell after Derek called and asked if I could get everyone together. Sort of a reflex, I guess."

"Don't worry, Kevin and I don't have kids or a dog," Garcia tried to make him feel more at ease. "And we're glad to have you here."

"Hey," Derek caught Penelope's attention. "You guys can use Reid to fill that position for you today," he suggested.

Spencer frowned. "As what, their kid or their dog?" he asked, not thrilled by either option.

Laughter filled their small corner of the park as they enjoyed the rare time off away from their stressful job. They made small talk, avoiding work topics at all cost, and watched Jack and Henry take turns helping Beth kick the ball. Both older kids were very gentle with her, but before long Beth was running circles around them and stealing the ball with her hands, right out from under their feet. They had a heck of time keeping up with her, too. But the girl finally got tired of that and returned to her parents, asking about what she'd come to the park for in the first place. She tugged on her daddy's shirt sleeve. "Feed duckies?"

Derek hefted the girl into his arms as Emily grabbed their bag of old bread. "Excuse us, folks. We have a promise to fulfill," she said before the three of them slipped away from the group. Morgan and Emily sat on the gravely bank while Beth ran right up to the water's edge. "Please, don't step in the water, baby," Emily warned as they watched the girl toss bread into the pond. "Look, sweetie," she pointed as a family of ducks came swimming up. "A daddy, mama and baby duckies."

"Baby duckies," Beth giggled and threw more food to them.

Emily sat back, letting her daughter do all the feeding. She leaned against Derek. "They're so fuzzy and cute," she told him.

"Does that make you want another one?" he asked.

"What, a baby duck?"

He smiled, turning a little so they were facing one another. "A baby."

She instantly shook her head. "Um, no. I'm sorry, Derek, but this baby making factory was open for a one time only production. Even that was a huge surprise, given that I was on birth control at the time and the extra precautions you took," Emily waved a hand toward his lap.

"Which means we could have another surprise," he replied.

"Don't even think it," she looked him in the eye, sensing that he was actually entertaining the idea. "I'm serious, Derek. I already freaked out enough carrying Beth, worrying about being too old and everything that could go wrong."

His face relaxed, not sure if he'd been serious or not. "I wish I'd been there for you," Derek kissed her cheek.

"I wish you had too," Emily still felt a pang of guilt over it all, but she could see Derek was dealing. There was no longer blame in his eyes. "Now that I think about it, though, I guess she was really meant to be in our lives."

"She was," he easily agreed. "And I suppose one is good. They do say you should stop at perfection."

Emily looked up, realizing she hadn't been keeping a close enough eye on their daughter. "Yep, she's perfect all right. Perfectly like her father," she nodded her head toward the child, who was splashing knee-deep in the water. Emily jumped to her feet. "Doesn't follow orders very well and to heck with the consequences."

Morgan followed her to where Beth was. "Oh, we're going to blame that all on my genetics?" he asked.

"Yes, we are," she nodded, glancing down at the girl. "A love for Oreo cookies and innate stubbornness, she definitely gets those qualities from you." Beth stared up at her mother, clearly aware that she was in trouble, but she tried to smile her way out of it. "And that, how-could-you-dare-stay-mad-at-me-for-long, smile. That is all you, Derek Morgan," Emily pointed to the girl.

Without warning, Derek scooped Emily up off her feet and carried her toward the water, like a new husband with his bride about to cross a threshold. "Who promised me just this morning to always be honest, wasn't that you?" he asked, ignoring the slight throb in his left shoulder. "Now you must be punished for your dishonesty," Morgan made a move to toss her in.

"Derek, I swear to God, if you drop me, I'll..."

"What?" he playfully taunted her. "Take it back and I'll set you down."

Emily pursed her lips, but finally recanted. "Fine, I take it back. Beth gets her pig-headedness from both of us," she sighed in defeat as he put her down. "Living with the two of you is going to be an adventure."

"But I promise it'll be a good adventure," Derek replied with a confident grin, amazed by how much had changed for them in just a week's time. Instead of feeling like he would only ever be a part-time participant in his daughter's life, here he was pledging his love and devotion to the newly formed family of theirs.

She couldn't help smile. "Yes, I think it will..." Emily carefully bent down and fished their daughter out of the water. She handed the soggy child over to Derek. "The best adventure yet."

Morgan pulled Emily close again, smashing the wet toddler between them as they sealed that final promise with a kiss.

The End

Thank you all for enjoying this story!