Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and am in no way affiliated with the show or CBS. I do not profit from the story and all creative rights belong to their original creators.

It was a tradition, one that Garcia had come to love over the time that she had been part of the FBI. It was almost as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders every time she heard the familiar ping of the elevator doors, the quiet murmurs of voices floating over the cubicles, closer and closer, until the members of the team had reached their own desks. Another hard day's, or couple of days, work over with.

The part she enjoyed the most of that ritual was when she heard his voice, smooth like velvet, never faltering, quietly excuse himself from whichever conversation he was in and knock on her door, a quiet tap, sometimes two, until he stepped in the room and greeted her.

Not this time though. She oh-so-desperately wanted to be at home, curled up under a duvet on her couch, with some hot chocolate and endless old movies, but the Forensics department had needed her to run some names, and here she was. Stuck.

Garcia contemplated the many different ways she could hide from Morgan. I could blatantly ignore him. Flat out, and simple. Or maybe act like it never happened. Oh, who am I kidding, I'll never stop blushing like the idiot I am. Maybe I-

There it was. The ring of an elevator bell. Oh, crap, crap crap! Maybe she was mistaken, Maybe it was just the cleaners coming in a little earlier than- Nope, that was Reid's voice, rambling about some 1920's scientist. Oh, crap.

The sound of Prentiss' bag hitting the floor as she laughed at something Reid said. The unmistakable tone of JJ's whisper as she exchanged a few words with Hotch. Garcia could just imagine her rolling her eyes at Reid, and him smiling back at her and Hotch. Rossi's chuckle as he called something out to Prentiss and stepped into his office. Garcia anticipated the next sound as it grew closer and closer, the heavy footsteps stopping at the door so the person could knock. One, two taps, then the creak of the door.

"Hey, baby girl."

Garcia made sure that she took a second to paste on a smile, any smile, before she turned to face him. God, she hoped it didn't look as fake as it felt.

And there he was. The fine contours of his face, the sharp jaw line, the warm chocolate skin, and his eyes, oh, his beautiful eyes. They got her every time.

Then came the smile, soft, serene, as if he was really and truly glad she was sitting in her office in the middle of the night. This was her favorite part, the sudden flash of happiness that molded his features into something more perfect than he already was, if possible. It was like reading from a script. Garcia couldn't help but smile back, for real this time, as he took a seat next to her and leaned back.

She suddenly remembered she was supposed to be hating him at the moment, and he expression wavered. This was going to be harder than she had hoped. He looked at her for a little while, and she stared back, practically hypnotized, and she hated him all the more for it. She hated the power he had over her. He could have any woman he wanted, and yet he chose to fool around with her for a little while before going away, leaving her on the ground in a crumpled heap.

Even if he didn't consider her anything other than a plaything, she at least deserved an answer.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

Morgan's eyes narrowed a little bit, trying to read into her question before he sighed. He didn't have the right to ask her for anything more than she was willing to give. "I'm sorry, baby girl. I know, it was a mistake."

A mistake. Everything that happened, everything that he meant to her had led up to that moment and all he could say was it was a mistake?

"Get out." she spat.

The words slapped him in the face, so sudden, so unexpected, that he almost gasped out. She spoke them with such a fierce desire that he wouldn't be surprised if she stood up and threw him out of the cramped office right then and there. He grasped for something, anything, to say that would make her listen to him and let him stay, and he managed to choke something out.

"Why?"

Garcia almost laughed. Why, he asked? It was because he had used her, and then thrown her away. It was because she pined after him, day after day, carefully keeping her distance, and he barely acknowledged it. It was because she loved him, goddamnit, and he didn't care.

She wanted to scream this out loud, say it with such a passion that he felt her pain as well, he could feel it in his gut, but she only succeeded in letting a tear escape from a corner of her right eye, and she wiped it away. "Derek, I was there for you when you needed me. I listened to you when no one else would. I laughed with you, joked with you. I cried for you when you were upset. I was your goddamn best friend, and did you ever stop and wonder why? Why I let you give so much of yourself to me without question? It was because-" she choked out, the tears tightening her throat, "because I loved you. I love you! And you never, ever realized that."

Oh, god, it hurt so much to say it out loud. The quietness surrounding her final words struck both of them, and they sat there, each one having no idea what to do next. Morgan yearned to reach out and hold her in his arms, whisper in her ear, tell her everything was okay, but how could he, when he was the one who caused her all this pain? He could already tell that if he did that, she might crumble, like sand falling between his fingers, too late to catch.

A soft knock on the door shook the both out of their reverie, a lifeline back to reality. JJ's blond head poked in. "Hey, Gar- Oh my god, what's wrong?"

Garcia had been mistaken. She thought she could hold it all in, tell Morgan to leave, and to please avoid her as much as he possibly could, but she was wrong. Releasing another silent sob, she moved past the disbelieving JJ and out the door.

Morgan hadn't even been aware that he was gripping the armrests of the metal chair, but a sudden loss of feeling in his fingertips caused him to look down and release his hands.

Millions of questions were consuming his thoughts, but one shot to the top:

What the hell am I going to do?

A/N: Hey, I just want to thank you guys for reading and reviewing the story. It means a lot when someone takes the time to go over what's been written and comment on how they liked it. So, thanks! I wanted to update as soon as possible, so here it is, but I'm not sure how soon I'll get the next one up, hopefully in the next couple days. Remember, read, review, and enjoy!