Author's Note: Okay...there's nothing I can say other than I am so sorry for keeping you all waiting. A lot of things have changed for me in the last few months and I've been ridiculously busy, but my schedule should be pretty stable for a while, so I'm hoping to update more. My goal was to update this story and one other this weekend. I also have next weekend to myself which is amazing! Considering that I have classes most weekends. Anyway, I'm really nervous about this chapter, so I hope you like it. It's much more than I had expected to stay with Fran and the girls. I promise the next chapter will be much more Derek-centric. Please let me know what you think.

Without any conscious awareness of what she was doing, Fran silently plopped down in the nearest chair, her eyes wide and mouth open slightly in shock.

"Oh my god." Her voice was nearly a whisper. "H-How?" she asked, her eyes already misting over.

"We were on a case in Iowa. Spencer was trying to talk down our unsub when the man shot Spencer just above the neckline of his vest. He lost too much blood before help was able to arrive."

Rossi sounded like he was reading softly from a cue card. She was no profiler herself, but Fran suspected the man on the other end of the line kept his tone level to keep his own emotions in check.

Her hand holding the phone began to shake. She could picture the tale Rossi was describing perfectly. Spencer, being who he was, wanting to talk down a dangerous criminal, rather than cause any more unnecessary death. His voice calm and soothing. Doing his best to reassure the man with the gun while also protecting his team. The bullet entering-

Her thoughts were cut off by Agent Rossi's voice. As she began to once again listen, she heard her daughters approaching, both noticing their mother's shaking hand.

"We have some things we still need to do here, but we think it would be best for Derek to leave. Perhaps he could stay with you for a while while everything is handled on our end?"

"Of course," Fran responded. "You don't even need to ask."

Rossi nodded, though he knew the woman wouldn't be able to see. "Alright then. I'll be flying back with Derek. We'll stop in Virginia to pick up Jeremiah and some of their things, then I'll bring the two of them to you. We should be there tonight."

Fran covered her mouth with the hand not holding the phone, her eyes sliding closed.

She hadn't even thought about Jeremiah. Fresh tears came to her eyes as she thought of the little boy.

"Yes." She cleared her throat. "Yes, Agent Rossi. You do that. I'll be here."

"Thank you, ma'am. We'll see you soon. I'm…I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

"Yours too," Fran worked around the lump in her throat.

As the shrill sound of the dial tone pierced her ear, she hung up the phone, looking up to see two worried faces and one very confused one.

"Mama…what's wrong? What happened?"

Fran took a shuddering breath before answering Sarah's question.

"It's Spencer. Spencer's gone."

Both girls gasped, Sarah covering her mouth in shock and tears instantly coming to Desiree's eyes.

"…What?" Desiree finally squeaked out. Her boyfriend, Sebastian, looked down at her clearly heartbroken face in both sympathy and confusion. He had no idea who this 'Spencer' guy was, but he clearly meant a lot not only to his girlfriend, but to her sister and mother as well.

As Fran explained what she had been told, the two young women began openly weeping.

When she told them that Agent Rossi would be bringing both Derek and Jeremiah to Chicago, both girls looked up.

"Did he say how Derek was doing?" Sarah asked. She couldn't imagine how her brother was feeling right now.

"No," Fran answered honestly. "He didn't say anything, but I can guess."

Sarah nodded. "And Jeremiah. My god. It's not fair."

They were all silent for a moment before Desiree quietly spoke up.

"Just like Pop."

Fran's eyes snapped up to her youngest daughter. "What, Desi?"

"Spencer. He…" she struggled to find the right words. "He went out the same way Pop did."

Needless to say, that brought fresh tears to all of the women's eyes.

They all moved back to the living room and just sat together quietly before Sebastian finally felt brave enough to speak.

"I-I know this must be hard for all of you, but who is Spencer?"

Both Sarah and Fran looked at him in surprise before turning their gazes to Desiree.

"I haven't really told him much about our family. We've only been officially dating for a little under a month. All I've been able to tell him so far was that I had a mom, a sister, and a brother, and that Pop died when I was a kid. Actually…" she began as the realization hit her. "I don't think I even told him Sarah or Derek's name until today." She finished her explanation with a small, embarrassed laugh.

Fran could see how uncomfortable her youngest daughter was at not having really told her boyfriend anything about her family until now, and she understood. She knew how busy both of them were.

"It's okay, sweetie. I know you both have busy schedules." She turned her gaze to the young man sitting on her couch, her eyes warm yet bloodshot with tears.

"Derek is Sarah and Desiree's brother, and Spencer is his husband. Jeremiah, their little boy, is 10."

"Oh! Okay." Sebastian tried to not sound too awkward at not having known any of this. He did have to admit that he was a bit surprised that Desiree had a gay brother, but it didn't bother him at all.

"Do you want to see some pictures?" Desi asked softly.

"Yes." He let out a relieved breath. He'd finally be able to put these names to faces.

Desi took his hand and led him to one of the walls, which was filled with family pictures. There were several of the three Morgan siblings when they were children, their parents, some of Sarah and Desi as adults, and several that included a large, muscular man who was clearly Sarah and Desiree's brother, a slightly taller but rail thin white man who seemed to almost always be dressed like a college professor, and a little boy, clearly mixed, much like the Morgan siblings.

Desi pointed out one of the photos. "That's my brother, Derek, that's Spencer, and that's Jeremiah."

Sebastian stared, taking in every detail.

"What are you thinking?" Desi asked quietly after a few moments.

"They just seem so…different…from each other."

Sebastian turned as he heard his girlfriend giggle softly, her first small smile since hearing the news.

"Yeah, well, Derek and Spencer were pretty much the epitome of opposites attract. But they also had a lot more in common than meets the eye. It's not all about outward appearances. You'd be surprised how smart Derek is, or how strong Spencer is...was."

He rubbed her back gently in sympathy as her words sank in. He knew Desi was great at that. Getting to know people for who they really are, not just what she'd been told or how someone appears.

He nodded in understanding before a thought came to him. He tried to think about how to word his question without sounding rude.

"Can I ask how…I mean…their son…did they adopt him or…?"

Desi shot him a small smile. "You can ask; it's okay."

It had actually been a very heated topic of discussion at the time. Once Derek and Spencer decided they wanted to raise a child, they began discussing the various methods with which they could accomplish this.

Derek was adamant. He wanted them to go through a surrogate with Spencer being the biological father. When asked why that was so important to him, he had told his husband that he wanted a piece of Spencer to carry on into the world, and that he couldn't think of anything better than watching a mini-Spencer run around the house and grow up through the years.

Spencer's argument was that he was terrified of passing on his mother's mental health issues. He thought adoption was the safer route. "After all," he persisted, "the planet is vastly overpopulated. Why bring another child into the world, especially when he or she can turn out to be schizophrenic?"

It had taken Derek quite a number of conversations, filled with pleading, the best puppy dog eyes he could muster, and most importantly, his assurances that he would love their child no matter what, for Spencer to relent, under one condition. He wanted them to choose a surrogate that was half Caucasian and half African American, just like Derek. That way, the baby would at least somewhat look like both of them.

A little under a year later, Jeremiah Morgan-Reid came into the world and neither of his fathers could be happier.

As Desiree gave her boyfriend the cliffs notes version of the story, he couldn't help but notice how emotional she got when talking about Spencer.

"You and he were pretty close, weren't you?"

Desi silently nodded as her eyes went from one photo to the next.

"Yeah. You'd understand if you'd met him. He was just…the nicest person you could ever meet. Really. He was compassionate and generous and sweet and funny. He was super smart, obviously." At this point she turned to Sebastian. "Really. He was a genius. Like a super genius. He had an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and could read 20,000 words per minute. He graduated high school at 12 and had more degrees than I can remember." Her voice went back to normal after the excitement it got when talking about Spencer's accomplishments. "But he could be silly too. And never made anyone feel like they were inferior due to his intelligence."

Sebastian watched, captivated, as he followed the path of a single tear as it glided down her cheek.

"He was the one who inspired me to go back to school. And he encouraged me the whole way. Derek would call me, all grumpy in the morning, because I would call Spencer in the middle of the night and he would help me understand my notes when I was cramming for a final."

She pulled herself together, roughly wiping her eyes.

"Sorry," she whispered. Sebastian shook his head. She had nothing to apologize for.

"You would have liked him."

As they walked back to where the other two Morgan women were sitting, Sebastian turned back to look at one of the photos of the tall, thin white boy and knew that yeah, he would have.

TBC

Author's Note: I promise to give you Derek feels in the next chapter. I hope this was okay. Thanks for reading!