DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Criminal Minds franchise, any character seen in the series is the sole property of the creators. No copyright infringement intended. Happy reading!
Guide to the story: anything in unbolded italics is a flashback, and anything in bold, straight-faced font is current.
Non-Criminal Minds characters, this chapter (the ones I made up) : Trinity Lucille Morgan, Ethel, Macy
Extra Tidbits That Might Have Some Benefits: In the show Emily Prentiss is like 41 years of age, but I made her a decade younger. So this would make Derek Morgan a year older than she is. And all the other characters will have three to five years taken off their age to be fair.
"Lost In Paradise"
Chapter 6
{"Anything I've done up till May 27th 1999 was kind of an illusion, existing without living. My daughter, the birth of my daughter, gave me life." -Johnny Depp}
Life was as normal as being an FBI agent could offer. Declan was content going to Ethel's house while Emily was at the office, and on occasion he would join her and quietly drew or read a book in the empty desk next to his mother's. Emily was now nine months pregnant and she was glowing. During lunch breaks, Derek would go out and buy her a small pineapple pizza, it was her craving, along with vanilla ice cream and pickles and of course strawberries. Making Emily as happy and as comfortable as possible in the final weeks of pregnancy was Morgan's most important priority
"Hey um, JJ could we talk about Em's baby shower after work today?" His blonde friend nodded and offered one of the chairs in front of her desk in the private office she was given. Derek gingerly closed the door and sat down. "She's been waking up every night for three days straight now." He was obviously concerned, "and I'm scared at the shower she might breakdown." JJ set her paperwork to the side and thought for a second. "Well, when I was about due with Henry I was a hormonal mess. I had these weird dreams that he would claw his way out of my stomach and already be walking and talking. It could be her hormones, getting ready for the birth. I wouldn't worry, she's happy now, she's safe. Doyle is still in Dublin, we've been tracking him. He hasn't left Europe and so far doesn't have any plans to. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know Em adopted Declan and as far as I'm concerned that boy is happy and content as can be and he's definitely looking forward to Trin's birth. He's healing Emily, like Emily is healing him. Declan remembers his father...remembers what job he did. Em is his saving grace and the only sanity and stability he ever knew." Derek nodded and smiled. "Thanks JJ...guess I'm just being a little paranoid." He chuckled a little, "Daddy mode is overriding every other sense." "Has she been having any Braxton Hicks?" Derek flashed a wide-eyed expression. "Last night in the shower actually. Scared the HELL out of me. Trin is really eager and it's driving Em up the wall." JJ laughed and looked over out of the window of her office into the Bullpen where Emily was inhaling her vegetable Lo Mein from the local Chinese restaurant. Emily was laughing and joking around with Reid and Garcia. "She seems fine Morgan, don't worry...I'm not." He chuckled, and got up from his seat. "Thanks JJ, it really means a lot." The blonde nodded. "Now go and spend time with your baby 'mama."
-The Baby Shower-
The sun was hanging just above the horizon when the first guests arrived, including Emily's mother. After finally working up the courage to tell her of the impending arrival of her first grandchild, Emily was shocked when her mother was ecstatic about it instead of yelling at her, and claiming to disown her. The gift she bought was rather large, large enough that Derek had to go outside and get it out of the back of the car and place it in the section of the gazebo outside just for the gifts. "How've you been feeling? The second you told me, I took some time off from the embassy in Athens." Ambassador Prentiss took and held her only child's hand. They were sitting at one of the tables outside at the orders of Derek when he noticed it was paining Emily to stand. "I didn't think Braxton Hicks could hurt that bad. I'm eating everything under the moon...even peanut butter." Emily made a disgusted face. She didn't like peanut butter because of the consistency and texture of it...the fact that it would stick to the roof of your mouth and send you running for a glass of whatever to drink. Emily would rather eat razor blades than peanut butter, but she would do whatever to make Trinity from kicking her. Even in the womb her child was already spoiled. Ambassador Prentiss chuckled, "are you still working? Surely you've been put on maternity leave?" Emily shook her head. "Nope, Hotchner and Strauss both have the paperwork ready for me to sign for the few months off, but I couldn't ever picture myself not working and sitting on the couch eating chips and watching soap operas to pass the time." Suddenly a piercing shriek that could only be that of Garcia's could be heard coming from the house. "Emily! Where's my favorite piece of angel food cake?" Emily just rolled her eyes, and turned slightly in her chair. "Out here Pen!" The bubbly blonde followed Emily's voice to the table where she was sitting. At the sight of Ambassador Prentiss, Garcia immediately bottled up her excitement so she would appear more professional. "Oh Ambassador...I didn't know you would be here." She took a seat next to Emily after setting her gift down in the gift area. "Kevin bought a gift of his own, he insisted on it." Garcia smiled and gave Emily a hug. "I'm so happy for you and Derek." Emily smiled back at her friend. "I do have one important question, concerning Trin." Emily made an expression that made Garcia worry a little. "You ok Honeyfish?" Emily nodded, "Strong kick, anyways! Derek and I have been thinking, and we wanted to know if you would be Trin's godmother...?" Suddenly all the excitement and energy the blonde was able to conceal in front of Ambassador Prentiss erupted into a rather large smile and she began waving her hand in front of her face like she was fanning herself. "Oh my goodness Em! Yes! I would love to be Peaches' godmother." Emily smiled again but cocked her head. "Peaches?" Even Ambassador Prentiss expressed a questioning look. "Nickname, I can call her Peaches right?" Emily chuckled and nodded, "Yes of course Pen." Garcia hugged Emily once more. Kevin arrived with Declan helping him carrying his multiple gifts. "Wait, all of those are from Kev?" Garcia nodded. "Take it as a thank you for all the carrot cake he's gotten from you. 'Carrot Cake Fridays' are practically a holiday for him every week." Ambassador Prentiss chuckled, "Emily sure does make one hell of a carrot cake." Her mother's comment made Emily's face flush with red as she blushed. Elizabeth Prentiss was never known for flattery and praise. When JJ and Will arrived with Henry in tow, the little child ran up to his Aunt Emmy and hugged her rather large stomach and smiled. "Hi baby Trin. I'm 'cited to meet you soon" The toddler looked up and smiled sending Emily into euphoria. She imagined her child. Would she be as sweet as Henry? As polite? But most importantly, would she be ostracized for being the product of an interracial relationship even though Derek was part white himself? Would she have those milky amber eyes of her father's? She tried not to guess her child's personality and appearance too much, there was literally millions of genetic code that would make Trinity unique, and even if she were to be born with only one leg, or with Down's syndrome Emily would love her just the same.
As the baby shower got underway after Reid's, Hotchner and Jack's, Ethel's and even Strauss herself made it to Emily and Derek's home, Emily was taken aback by all the attention she was receiving. Even though this party was planned just for her, attention was something that made Emily an awkward mess. As the night drew to a close Emily made an attempt to stand and hug each of her guests and to thank them. Garcia was the last to leave. "Em are you sure you're up for working? I mean from how you've put it, Peaches is really eager to make her appearance." They sat in the kitchen sipping tea. "My due date isn't for another two weeks, I'll be fine. I promise Pen. I'm not going to break, promise." After Emily's endeavor with Doyle, Penelope was always careful with how she handled her conversations with Emily. She didn't want to upset her, or make her cry. "Ok momma if you insist." She hugged her best friend and left. Derek had gotten everything inside in the sitting room by the kitchen and all the trash up with the help of Ambassador Prentiss. It wasn't too great a mess but he wasn't going to leave trash in the back yard for animals to get ahold of. "So, how is Emily holding up?" The older woman looked over at her future son in law. "She's holding together pretty well. With the due date getting closer, she's more focused on Trin than anything. It's keeping her mind off of the past." He paused. "She's glad you're here Ambassador. It means the world to her." Elizabeth nodded, "I've never really been a good mother to her, and I was too consumed by my job. Even on my days off I would be in the office in the house working on paperwork, and didn't even bother to take just five minutes out of the day to make her lunch or ask her about her day. She doesn't know I have knowledge of her abortion when she was a teenager, I understood then as I understand now. She was scared. I don't want Trinity feeling the same way towards Emily. She'll be a great mother; she's always been phenomenal around kids." They had a quiet understanding between each other. Emily appeared in the doorway after her shower in shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back but draped over the front of her left shoulder. "Ready for bed Em?" Derek asked as he took in her figure. Even at nine months gestation, she retained her figure. The pregnancy glow only made her complexion even more angelic to look at. "Oh yeah, I'm pretty exhausted." She walked over to her mother from where she was leaning against the door frame and hugged her once she stood. "There are towels in the closet in the hallway if you want to take a shower really quickly and fresh sheets and everything on the guest bed." Her mother nodded, and they bid goodnight to each other. When she climbed into the large California King, relief swept through her body. Her back was sore, and feet a little swollen. She loved being pregnant but the physical toll that weighed on her body was borderline torture. She closed her eyes for a mere second before she felt Derek's figure crawl in beside her, and his warm hand gently roll up her shirt. His nightly ritual...he always said goodnight to Trin. "Did you enjoy the shower Em?" She reached down and placed her hand on his head. He was letting a little hair grow in and he currently had fuzz and she loved the texture of it. "Oh you mean the two cribs, the cradle swing...all the pink?" She grimaced, and Derek chuckled. "Yes, I enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you Derek, for everything." She smiled at her soul mate while keeping her eyes closed. His lips were soft and warm when he placed a gentle kiss where Trinity was kicking and the infant quieted. "Never ceases to amaze me how you can make her calm down like that." Derek fixed Emily's shirt and returned back up at her side and kissed her forehead. "What can I say? She's a daddy's girl." He laughed. "Goodnight Beautiful." Emily wrapped her arms around Derek's neck and kissed him. "Goodnight Handsome"
The next couple of weeks went by smoothly. Declan was always a constant presence at Emily's side when she wasn't at work…Derek, along with the rest of the team, were the same way at the office. Her due date had passed, and Emily was getting more anxious about finally meeting her daughter.
The team had been given a case from the other side of the country, in Sacramento, California, and Derek was reluctant to go. "Derek, babe go. If she hasn't come yet, in three days I highly doubt she'll come. Go, the team needs you." Emily kissed his cheek and hugged him as closely as possible, "Besides, Pen will be here with me in case of an emergency. She's staying at the house too…I'll be fine." He couldn't help but smile, his Emily was surely a strong woman. He loved her more than anything on the planet as he did their daughter. "Ok, but promise me if you do go into labor that'll you'll call or text." She nodded at him. "I promise you'll know, don't worry." They kissed and Derek grabbed his 'go bag' and turned back to Emily. "You know my number right?" Emily rolled her eyes. "Yes! Now go on before they take off without you." He laughed. "I can deal with that." Derek kept laughing and made his way towards to tarmac.
When she got back to her desk, Penelope came out with their lunch. "They leave?" She asked as she placed Emily's BBQ sandwich and fries from the local café down in front of her, and in an haste and impatient manner Emily took the sandwich and bit into it and nodded back at Penelope. "Peaches hungry?" Emily laughed, "She's acting like she's being starved." The two women both laughed and got to work with case paperwork.
-On the plane-
"Hotch, I really don't feel comfortable leaving Em when she's so close to giving birth." The worry in Morgan's voice made the older man soften his expression. "Well she did say she'd be fine right?" Morgan nodded. "Then listen to her. You're underestimating her personal strength. When Haley was due with Jack, she didn't take too kindly to me always worrying about her. She worked right up to the day before Jack's arrival. She went into labor while she was getting ready the next morning. She's going to be fine. Prentiss has made a remarkable recovery from the Doyle incident." Morgan sipped from his bottled water and nodded, "Yeah, she'll be fine" he reassured himself.
-Back at the BAU-
"Don't worry Em; the ambulance is on its way!" Penelope sat next to her friend whose water broke only minutes ago. "Maybe Derek shouldn't have gone, urgh! I was so stupid to tell him to go!" All Penelope could do was hold Emily's hand and offer comforting words until the paramedics arrived. She had sent Derek the emergency "Emily is in labor" text of 911 to his IPhone from Emily's, knowing he was more than likely connected to the jet's Wi-Fi.
As the EMS put Emily in the back of the ambulance, Will arrived with the hospital bags Penelope had asked him to get from the house. Ethel had also been told and to bring Declan to the hospital once everything cooled down. Penelope sat in the back of the vehicle with Emily while Will followed in his Tahoe. The pain with each contraction was almost reminiscent of the pain from the stake Doyle had stabbed her with, and it sent Emily's heart racing as memories of the ordeal ran through her mind. "Em you need to try to calm down. Please? For Peaches?". Tears ran down Emily's cheeks and she tried her hardest not to scream out as another rippled fast through her. The contractions were rapidly occurring, and as she was rolled into the delivery room from the ambulance she could feel the pressure of Trinity's head against her pelvis. She felt as if her body was splitting into two pieces, and all she could do was think of Derek as beads of sweat pulsed down her forehead. "Does Derek know! Where's my mother!" Penelope stayed right by Emily's side and held her hand. "Yes, and she's on her way." The blonde gently eased the stray piece of bang that had been caked to Emily's forehead from the sweat, behind her ear and smiled. She knew it was too late for any kind of pain reliever for Emily to take to ease the contractions just a little. She would be delivering naturally.
-On the plane-
"Son of a bitch!", Derek flung his IPhone into the seat next to him and held his head with his hands. JJ walked over to her friend with concern in her eyes, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?". She could feel the tenseness of his back muscles and knew instantly. "Emily is in labor isn't she?" All the man could do was nod. "Morgan we'll have the jet fly you back once we land so you can be by Emily's side. We'll have Rossi accompany you." Derek looked up at the unit chief, "Thank you Hotch." Derek tried to hide his emotion and worry and knew he was failing. He was worried about Emily. How would she handle him not being there? Will she still be in the early stages of labor, enough so he could see his daughter enter the world? But most importantly, would both Emily and Trinity be healthy after the ordeal a mere few months ago?
The entire way to and back from Sacramento, Derek bit his nails but to Rossi's dismay. "Morgan, if you keep doing that you're going to have stubs as fingers. Have a little faith. Everything will be alright." His voice was soothing, a type of fatherly reassurance. When Derek saw the familiar outlying of Quantico, he grabbed his 'go bag' quickly and impatiently stood by the door of the jet waiting on it to land.
-At the hospital-
Emily bore down with all of her strength that was left in her body. Trinity was a little more than halfway through the birth canal and all that was left to pass was her shoulders. Garcia was offering words of encouragement as a piercing cry of that of a newborn's rattled the air. Emily eased up on pushing and gasped for breath as a nurse raised Trinity up to show the new mother. "Congratulations Ms. Prentiss. She's beautiful!" Emily stared at amazement at the child she had just delivered after carrying her for nine months. She was perfect. All ten fingers and all ten toes; on top of her head was a patch of obviously silky soft ebony hair. As she was being carried off to the table near the bed to be cleaned and weighed, Trinity opened her eyes and both Penelope and Emily were taken aback at the vibrant baby blues that peered back at them. "Wow" is all Penelope could muster. "Wow is defiantly right. Little Trinity Lucille here weighs 8lbs and 4oz." the nurse handed Trinity back to Emily as tears of joy strolled down her cheeks. "Peaches is beautiful Em. Definitely a momma's girl." Penelope was right. Everything about Trinity was a mirror image of her mother, the only distinguishing feature of Derek's that Trinity had were her toes, the rest…all Emily. But those blue eyes had to be those of Derek's mother.
A little under an hour had passed since Trinity made her big debut, and Penelope had fallen asleep in the guest chair next to the bed while Emily had fallen asleep with Trinity closely tucked against her chest. Their breathing in sync and rhythmic; the pastel pink delivery room had calmness about it, a sort of sacredness that bringing a new life into the world brought with it.
Will had quietly snuck into the room and snapped a photo of the newborn and her mother while they slept and sent it to the team in Sacramento. He had also called and informed Ethel to bring Declan to the hospital, and mere minutes later Ambassador Prentiss arrived with pink and white roses and a balloon. Will and Derek had been texting each other and the new father was expected to arrive at any second. When his voice could be heard coming down the hallway of the labor and delivery unit, Will met up with him and Rossi and directed them to the room Emily was in. As his eyes lay upon the image of his fiancée and daughter, Derek's eyes grew misty. Penelope had awoken and got up from the chair to give the new family some bonding time alone. "Go in there Papa, Em will be ecstatic to see you when she wakes up." She smiled up at her friend. "How much did Trin weigh?" Derek couldn't take his eyes off of his girls. "A healthy 8lbs, 4oz" Penelope chuckled quietly. "That's how much I weighed…she looks so much like Emily." The blonde nodded, "but wait until you see those eyes of hers. Woahdang that child is certainly blessed with beauty. Now get in there." Derek obeyed his friend and walked towards the chair she had just left, but not before Emily opened her eyes. "Derek, babe, when did you get here?" Emily whispered after checking that she didn't awaken the sleeping child in her arms. "Just walked in; Hotch sent me back with Rossi. How're you feeling?" Derek sat down and just stared at his daughter, her sleeping figure slowly rising and lowering with every breath she drew in and out. "Like I just pushed an abnormally sized bowling ball out of me…the second my water broke she was practically sprinting to get out." Emily smiled. "I love you Babygirl." Derek placed a soft kiss on Emily's forehead. "I love you too Derek"