Author Note – I wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments, they made a less than brilliant weekend so much better. Just to assure you and myself, the last chapter wasn't the end. I've got a long way to go, Emily's not completely home yet, still just visiting. I've got something else planned for when she does come home. Hope I can continue to do my ideas justice. If you're a minor skip the first part of this chapter. I thought about editing the M rated stuff out, but I hit three-oh tomorrow so I decided to include it. As usual, I've put flashbacks in italics.
Second Chances – chapter fourteen
December 2013
"Spend Christmas with me in Chicago." Morgan asked her through the webcam.
"You want me to meet your family?" Emily's eyes widened as the panic began to course through her.
"Come home with me Emily."
They barely made it through the hotel room door before they started tugging on each other's clothes. They had met at O'Hare and the cab journey and the proceeding elevator ride had been excruciatingly long for both Morgan and Emily. Their lips crashed together, trying to convey how much they had missed each other during the weeks apart. Morgan pressed her up against the wall, placing a kiss beside her ear before whispering, "God I've missed you."
"I love you," Emily responded before capturing his lips with hers again, her hands pushing his jacket off his shoulders then returning to his back to pull his shirt out of his trousers and over his head, her fingers grazing his chest before she started to work on her own clothes. He chuckled at her impatience, and moved his hands to help her. She had left a few days after Halloween and it had been a long eight weeks since; teasing each other through the webcam, and whispering promises over the phone.
"When are you moving home?" he asked partly joking, partly serious.
"You could move here," was her immediate reply. After a moment she asked in a quiet voice, "So kids are a part of our future?" a small smile gracing her features, a spark of hope igniting in her stomach.
"Hopefully," he said with a smile mirroring hers. "Besides, if we can't conceive, then we'll have fun trying," Morgan waggled his eyebrows suggestively, making her laugh.
"That we can," she answered with a laugh. Their gazes locked for a minute in an intense stare and Emily felt the tingle she always did whenever he touched her. She could almost feel his hands on her.
Moving to the bed, the back of Morgan's legs hit the mattress and he stumbled backwards, drawing Emily down on top of him. He quickly divested her of the rest of her clothes, his thumb brushing the small scar on her thigh as he pulled her panties down. Their lips met again as her hands moved to the buckle of his trousers, and she helped him pull them off along with his underwear.
They sighed into one another's mouths as they came together, his hands guiding her hips as she hooked an arm around his shoulders, her other hand coming up to cup his jaw as she kissed him. Emily's sigh turned into a whimper, her forehead dropping to his shoulder, as they set a quick pace as the anticipation that had built in the last few weeks was released in their lovemaking. Morgan moaned, his lips skimming her neck as he felt her nails clawing at his back.
He flipped them over, their movement becoming more frantic. Her legs wrapped themselves around him, pulling him deeper as he continued to thrust into her, her eyes widening at the sensation. He swooped down and covered her lips with his, silencing her whimpers. Morgan pulled back to watch her face contort with pleasure as they drew closer and closer. One powerful thrust sent Emily over the edge, as she screamed his name, triggering Morgan's climax.
Panting as they came down from their release, he kissed her again, gentler than last time. Pulling back he saw the desire in her eyes. "Hi," Emily whispered with a small smile, pecking his lips.
"That's one hell of a hello," he teased and she blushed, her face partially obscured by her hair and he brought a hand up to brush it out of the way. Emily craned her neck to kiss him again.
"I've missed you," she stated. They moved themselves to lie back against the pillows, drawing the covers up over them to protect them from the slight chill, their hands caressing each other lightly, and a comfortable silence overcoming them, their eyes never leaving the others. Emily broke the silence. "Your mom must be mad at you," she stated.
He gave her a quizzical frown before responding. "What are you on about? I'm visiting for a week." They had decided to spend a week in Chicago before flying to DC to see in the New Year with the rest of the team, when Morgan returned to work. Emily had to be back in London by January third.
"Don't you usually stay at home?" She enquired.
"Well I wanted you all to myself for a while before my family gets to you."
"Not that I don't want to miss any time with you, but I don't want them to think that I'm depriving them of time with you. I mean you were saying the other day that your mom wanted us to stay with her."
"Well, she lives in a small apartment with thin walls. And neither of us, and by us I mean you, is that quiet." Emily's mouth gaped at his words, which she couldn't deny.
"I'm not the only one who's loud during sex," she argued.
"Oh really?" His eyebrow rose, issuing the challenge.
"You need to take some responsibility for the noise, considering you're the one making me scream." He laughed at her reasoning, kissing her deeply again, both of them groaning when they pulled back.
"Truthfully, I wanted us to have some space to ourselves. This is a big step for both of us; I didn't want either one of us getting overwhelmed." Morgan lay back on his pillow, placing his arm around her to pull her so she was partly lying on his chest. "I mean I've never brought anyone home to meet my mother," he admitted.
"You want me to come home with you at Christmas? To meet your family?" She clarified.
"You already met them, Em."
"That was years ago, and we were colleagues then not lovers."
Emily couldn't help but feel a bit more relaxed that he was as worried as her. The thoughts that his mother and sisters wouldn't approve weighed heavily on her mind, would they disapprove of their long distance relationship, or her past actions. Emily had replayed in her head the short conversation she's had with Fran Morgan when she had first joined the team a hundred times since Morgan had asked her to come to Chicago with him.
"Don't worry, my Mama loves you," Morgan's voice broke through her thoughts.
"She doesn't know me," Emily argued quietly, trying to push back the memory that most of her friends' mothers had deemed her a bad influence during her teenage years.
"She always asks how you are, ever since you first met. She said you reassured her, reigning Reid in with his statistics, how you were trying to find information to help me," Emily looked down at her hand caressing the skin above his heart, feeling him press his lips to her forehead. "Just be warned that as soon as the baby photos come out, I'm going to be dragging you out of there."
"Baby photos?" Emily started to tease, lifting her eyes to meet his, laughing at his expression and she felt much more relaxed than she had a few moments ago. "There's no way you're dragging me away from those Buddy," she laughed at him, eyes twinkling, she moved so she was lying on top of him, her chin balanced on her hands crossing his chest, moving her legs so she straddled him. Her laugh was infectious and Morgan found himself laughing along with her.
Emily pushed herself to so she could touch his lips with hers, her hips tilting and she could feel him becoming aroused again. Emily moved slightly, gasping as she felt him enter her.
Shooting him a predatory smile, she whispered, "Let's see how loud I can make you be." His groan filled her ears, as he pushed himself up to meet her lips.
The next day she found herself in the Morgan's living room, watching the interaction between Morgan, his mother and his sisters. All too soon for Emily's liking they stopped fussing over him and turned their attention to her.
"So Emily how's your assignment in London going?" Fran Morgan asked.
"It's, uh, going really well. It's been a busy eighteen months, but I enjoy it," Emily replied shyly. She couldn't help but search the older woman's eyes for a flash of disapproval, but found none, only acceptance.
"Have you had much chance to explore the city?" Derek's sister, Sarah, asked.
"A bit," Emily replied, as she tried to calm her own nerves. "My friend drags me around when we're not working."
At the mention of Amy, Morgan's attention turned away from putting their presents under the tree. "How are Amy and Annabel?"
Emily gave a toothy grin in response as she reached into her pocket for her phone. Proudly showing him the picture of the baby in the outfit Emily had bought her for Christmas. "They're good." Fran and his sisters were curious, and they craned their heads to look at the screen. Emily swung it so they could see, as she explained "Annabel is my god daughter."
"You trying to compete with Garcia in the fairy god mother position?" Morgan asked as he joined her on the sofa.
"Not a chance, but saying that, that little bundle has got me wrapped around her little finger," she smiled at him and their eyes locked, a silent conversation between them.
"Do you want children Emily?" Fran asked, putting a voice to the thoughts that were going through both their minds. They swung their heads towards Fran, Emily sputtered as Morgan responded.
"Mama," he drawled, slightly embarrassed, partly warning. Emily felt her palms begin to sweat.
"Don't 'Mama' me," Fran replied. "I want grand babies." Morgan started to shake his head; he had known this was coming.
"I would love to have children," Emily stated, she felt Morgan take her hand and she was reassured by the gesture, giving her confidence, they had already had this discussion. "But we're nowhere near ready for that yet. When we are, I would like to be living in the same country."
Fran heard Emily's hesitation and accepted the answer, letting the discussion drop. She had learnt a long time ago with her husband that jobs in law enforcement didn't allow for much time with loved ones. "When do you have to be back in London?" She asked instead of the one of the other questions running through her mind.
"On the third," Emily replied sadly. Though she was liaising with Counter Terrorism, she was also co-ordinating the investigation and the continued interrogations in London. Morgan's family nodded understandingly.
Fran noticed Emily was still a little uncomfortable. Wanting to talk to the woman who was so special to her son, she looked at her watch, realising the time. "I need you kids to take that cake down to Mrs Smith. She wants to see all of you before you all disappear again. I'm going to stay here and sort dinner." Her three children got up to do as she asked. Morgan looked at Emily expectantly.
"Uh, I'm going to stay and help your mother," Emily told him. Morgan started to laugh and turned to his mother.
"Mama, don't let her near the food. It's a really bad idea."
"I can cook," Emily protested. Morgan laughed louder as she pouted up at him.
"Derek, I think Emily is more than capable of helping me." With his mother's words Morgan stopped laughing at Emily, but he was still smiling.
"It's a really bad idea, Mama," he said as he dodged the hand Emily swung at his butt. He grasped her moving hand and used it to pull her up off the sofa, kissing her lightly, before joining his sisters who were making faces from the doorway.
The door clicked shut and the two women stared at each other for a moment. "So, uh, what can I do to help?" Emily asked breaking the silence.
"You can help me with the vegetables," Fran replied as she led the way to the kitchen. As they got to work, Fran started to talk. "So, can you cook?"
Emily looked into her gently teasing eyes, Morgan's eyes, before confessing, "Only toast."
Fran nudged her elbow gently with hers, leaning conspiratorially. "I won't tell him, as long as you don't tell him I showed you this." Emily followed Fran's finger as she pointed at a picture on her fridge. A young Derek Morgan, about four years old, lay in the bath tub, surrounded in bubbles smiling at the camera. Emily smiled at the sight.
"I won't," Emily replied, her smile becoming a thoughtful look.
Unable to keep her silence, Fran asked. "What's wrong Sweetheart?"
"Uh, nothing," Emily tried to lie. Fran raised an eyebrow, reminding her yet again of Derek, and Emily shook her head. "You're so much like Morgan," Emily told her. Fran smiled at her, a little confused.
"Not many people make the comparison Sweetheart. They say he's more like his father."
"People may say that because he was cop, but he's as perceptive as you are. You would've made a good profiler," Emily told her, not really sure if now was the time for them to have this conversation. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I wasn't lying when I said I wanted children, but I may not be able to have them." Emily allowed that to sink in.
Fran didn't know what to say. Her confusion showed on her face as Emily spoke again. "There was a lot of damage when I was attacked, and when the doctors repaired it they gave me a small chance of carrying to term." A tear escaped as she thought of the smaller version of Derek that she may never be able to provide him with.
"There are other options Em," Morgan had told her when they had the same conversation weeks ago after she had shown him a picture of Annabel.
Fran drew the younger woman into a hug, holding on tight. Leaning back, she took Emily's hands in her own, urging her to raise her eyes up to look at her. "Emily," Fran started, "do you know when I knew Derek was falling for you?" Emily shook her head. "He rang me up; it was a short while after you had been here. I asked how all of you were, and he told me you were Vonnegut fan. There was something in the way he said it, and I knew back then that you were special." Fran reached up and wiped the tear escaping from Emily's eye.
"Now Sweetheart, I would love to have mini versions of you and Derek running around, but if that never happens then you two can have a lot of fun trying." Emily's eyes were wide with embarrassment at the older woman's words, making Fran laugh. "What? You think I don't know why you two are staying at a hotel."