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Chapter 8: The Perfect Family

Derek awoke to a loud thud and a squeaked curse coming for the master bath. He was parched which was typical after a long night of drinking and his stomach felt slightly off, but he didn't have the pounding headache that usually accompanied his hangovers. Then he remembered why; when he'd been drifting in a post-coital stupor, he'd been shoved four pills and a bottle of electrolytes. He hadn't resisted much especially when she threw back four similar pills and the disgusting orange drink. When he questioned her, she'd murmured something about an alcoholic aunt and a hangover cure but missing the cereal so who knew if it would work. He remembered being slightly amused that she had had the presence of mind to grab the remedy, but he'd also wondered if it was a comment on his performance or just her motherly instincts and self-preservation. After downing the cure, she had promptly cuddled into him, little spoon fashion, and fallen asleep. While he had enjoyed the previous night immensely, he didn't know if he wanted to face her naked. He pulled on his boxers and pants and sat on the edge of the bed.

She appeared her hair dripping down the front of her sweatshirt. She looked pensive but not disgusted and/or deceived. Her lips quirked in a half smile when she saw him and she leaned against the door jam. He looked at her carefully trying to communicate the words he couldn't quite say. She cracked the knuckles on her hands and looked uncertain.

Finally, she broke the silence with a spewed whisper, "Derek, I don't think last night was such a good idea." His heart wrenched at the words and she held back the tears that might have made their way down her cheeks and given her true feelings away.

"Is this about Hotch?"

"Aaron?" Her voice wobbled with raw emotion and confusion. Yet, he couldn't quite see through his envy to recognize the feelings there.

"Yes, is this about Hotch?" He hissed again.

"No, no, I, I ," she stuttered.

"He can give you a replacement son and you can be his replacement wife. O, and he gets a bonus daughter. You'll be the perfect family. I understand completely," He taunted, his resentment accentuating every word.

Her face flashed with indignation and a deep sorrow, before her stony mask was set into place. He was too busy wallowing to see the change: to understand the implications. She moved purposefully over to chair where his shirt had been discarded. She wadded it up, whipped it at him, and murmured, "Sometimes you're more like Jerry than I ever realized. Get out."

Derek's head whipped up at this comment, but she'd already strode out of the bedroom. He could hear her feet patter down the stairs. He gathered the rest of his stuff and looked a mixture of wistfully and disdainfully, at the bed, before following her down the stairs. He could hear her talking on the phone softly to Sophia about something wonderful the small girl had done with her cousins. He shut the door to the sounds of her tinkling laugh. He was halfway to his place when his phone buzzed loudly, Garcia.

"Hey, Hot Stuff, we've got a case."

"Ok, Baby Girl, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

When he arrived at the BAU, he was still fuming from Ashley's rejection. He couldn't help the glowers he sent to his Unit Chief during round table and later as they prepped. As they were preparing to leave for the airstrip, Hotch stopped him.

"Morgan, did I do something," Hotch asked with confusion knitting his brow.

"I hope you and Ashley are happy," Derek remarked before briskly stridding away.

Derek didn't wait or turn to see Hotch's brow knit further in confusion. If only Derek had known the drastic mis-profiling he had done. If he had just stopped to look at the reactions of his word-vomit victims, he would have realized that Hotch and Ashley's relationship was merely platonic.

Later, after the team had briefed and Hotch had handed out assignments, Hotch tried to breach the subject with him.

"Morgan, Ashley and I are," Hotch started but Morgan cut him off with his hand.

"I really don't want to discuss your personal life, Hotch," Morgan replied before sliding on his headphones and closing his eyes. Hotch was thoroughly off-put and slightly pissed. He wasn't use to being treated in such a brusque manner. There were many times that Morgan had become angry with him, but he rarely treated him so rudely or interrupted him so briskly. To top that off, Hotch wasn't exactly sure what there was to be angry about. So, he sat down in one of the chairs and contemplated what the hell could've set Morgan off.

Ashley heard the door click and she let out a little whimper before covering it with a cough before her daughter guessed something was wrong. She tried to listen intently to her daughter's story, but the most response she could deliver was some half-hearted murmurs. Thank goodness her daughter was so excited that she didn't realize her mother was on the verge of tears. After she confirmed that she'd be picking her daughter up later that afternoon, she hung up the phone and slid down onto the hard tile-floor. She covered her face and had an overwhelming want to cry, but she couldn't she just sat there for fifteen minutes. She sat there thinking what the hell had brought that on, who the hell did he think he was, and what the hell was she going to tell Sophia when Derek no longer came over. As the last thought crossed her mind, she wailed uncontrollably. This would kill Sophia and it definitely wouldn't be a walk in the park for her either. They had become so reliant on Derek that she couldn't imagine their lives without him. She didn't want to think about the devastation she had just caused her daughter with one fell swoop. One drunken night of sex had led her to this heartbroken world. She laughed self-deprecatingly, tears unceasingly flowing; when the hell would she learn not to get utterly sloshed and sleep with someone because she was weak. This was even worse than the first time, at least, the first time it hadn't been with someone as important in her as Derek Morgan.

"In the whole round of human affairs little is so fatal to peace as misunderstanding." -Margaret E. Sangster