Playing Games by JuliaBC

A/N: This is my second chapter of the day! Please make sure you didn't miss that one. :)

And we still have the issue of Reid's roommate! I'm serious, that time skip messed up everything. So we'll take two chapters for the time skip? I promise I'll factor Reid in more.

Savannah opened the door. "Hey, it's you guys!" She exclaimed.

Kate could not help checking out Savannah's stomach, wondering if Savannah would start to show as quickly as she did, but...considering Savannah's tall, lithe frame, she doubted it.

"Hi," Kate greeted. "It's been so long since I've seen you."

"I know, we should get together more often," Savannah said, and peeked down at the baby carrier. "Especially now."

"I know," Kate said. "Congratulations, by the way. Isn't it beyond amazing?"

"Yes," Savannah said. "It still astounds me, sometimes. I was going to be a career woman, you know? Kids, sure. Someday." She smiled, placing a hand on her flat stomach. "But then I met Derek. Someday became anytime. Anytime...became now."

"I think it's the right sign in a relationship when you get careless enough to stop using protection," Kate reflected. "If that's what happened. Not sure why I'm talking about this." She flushed, but Savannah was grinning.

"You know, I'm going to agree with you," she said softly. "I'm not sure but I think I can pinpoint the night...whoo, Kate." She fanned her face and the two women burst out laughing.

"Hey, what are you laughing about?" Derek asked, coming into the room. He still looked a bit...not robust, not his usual self, but his smile was completely there when he saw Kate on his doorstep. "You came!" He exclaimed.

"I did," she said. "Me and Savannah were just talking about babies."

"What about babies? You giving her traumatizing birth stories?" Derek asked, slinging an arm around his fiance.

"That can wait, but I can definitely clue her in," Kate said.

"I've assisted in births, thank you so much," Savannah said. "Believe me when I say that I have seen it all."

"You haven't felt it," Kate said rather succinctly and Savannah snorted.

"That's the truth," she said, leaning into Derek.

"But wait," Derek said. "Let me in on the joke."

Savannah glanced at Kate, and Kate merely raised her eyebrows.

"I'll tell you later," Savannah laughed.

"Come on in," Derek said, taking the baby carrier from Kate. "Whoa, has he gotten bigger in the past week?"

"I don't think so, but who can tell," Kate laughed. "I guess babies are pretty much growing all the time."

"Especially now," Savannah said, as they all reached the living room.

"Hey, what's this?" Kate asked, at the gaming system set up in front of the TV.

"Derek is not supposed to be lifting weights yet," Savannah said, and playfully whacked his bicep. "But he's so stubborn, he refuses to stop workout altogether, though what's a week or two going to do?"

"Hey, you want me to lose that six pack you love so much?" Derek teased.

Kate grinned to see their interactions.

"No, but I don't want you injuring yourself," Savannah said. "Anyway, his doctor suggested running. I decided to find something a little more fun. Show her, Derek."

"Aw, Savannah, I'm not good enough yet," Derek complained, as she turned the TV on and activated the gaming system.

Kate, intrigued, took her jacket off.

"Is this what I think it is? Wii fit? Tennis, football, what?" She questioned.

"Oh, you're not ready for this," Derek said, crowing.

"What?" She asked.

"Just Dance," Savannah said.

"You're kidding," Kate said, as the logo flashed onto the screen and confirmed that it was, indeed, Just Dance.

"She's not," Derek said. "I've only got one song even remotely down."

"You're kidding," Kate repeated. "Oh, wow, this game is ancient. I remember getting it for Meg. We only played it, like, once and then decided it was stupid."

"You did not just insult my favorite way to exercise," Savannah said.

"Really?" Kate asked. "Your favorite?"

She grinned slyly. "My favorite way to make Derek exercise," she amended. "No, you two go. I wanna see this."

"You should too," Kate said but she shook her head resoundingly.

"Baby on board," she scolded, but her eyes danced, showing that she knew she was being ridiculous.

"Oh, damn," Kate said, and slipped her wedge heels off. "Okay, Derek. Pick a song."

"There's only one I've been practicing," Derek hedged.

"What?" Kate asked, noticing that Savannah was laughing again.

He hit Beyonce's Crazy in Love. "Step up," he told her. "And stop laughing. That remote is yours, I can't do the one on the left."

"Okay, okay," Kate said, hurrying up.

Savannah had taken Jamie out of the carrier; she was holding him close as Kate and Derek readied themselves.

"You know how to play, right?" Derek said. "You'll be able to keep up?"

"Yeah, I've done it before," Kate said.

"Like, once," Derek tossed her words back at her. "I'm going to crush you, Kate. You're seriously going down."

The first move was a spin. Kate thought she nailed it, but noticed her score for the move and frowned.

Derek had it down quite well. He'd obviously done this one before; he was starting the moves before they begun.

The booty shake was quite interesting. Kate clung hard to her remote, trying not to laugh and mess herself up. She spied Derek nailing it and raised her eyebrows, meeting Savannah's gaze. Talk about hot nights. She wasn't surprised.

The song was harder than she'd thought. The dancer on the screen was waving her arms wildly and Kate couldn't remember if it was something that Beyonce did or not.

She was spinning again, stepping. Derek was getting all the moves right, and she was feeling slow and out of step and finally the song was over.

"Whoo, that was hard," she panted, as Derek lifted his arms in triumph.

"I mean, I told you that you'd go down," he said, not apologizing as he gave Savannah a resounding kiss. "Hey, you wanna hold Jamie for a few more minutes? I wanna talk to Kate."

"No problem," Savannah said. "I'll take him up to our budding nursery; see what he thinks."

Once she'd gone, Kate raised an eyebrow at Derek.

"What's on your mind?" She asked.

"I know how you felt," he said simply. "After Parkett. When you kept investigating. I never thought...I always thought I'd just go to Hotch, just railroad him into investigating any case I felt there was more to. Or I thought that Hotch would just...already be investigating."

"But?" She asked.

"We're not officially doing anything," Derek said. "I know that Hotch wants to, that everyone does, and Reid and JJ and Garcia have been unbelievable this past week. But I can already see the trail running cold."

She began to nod, seeing where he was going.

"I can't let that happen," he said frustratedly. "I can't. I won't. Like you, after California."

"I just hope you have better results," Kate said. "Really hope. I don't want your search to start with a disaster and end with another one."

"It as a beautiful disaster," Derek sighed. "We got Meg back, right? And baby Callahan turned out fine. So did you." He met her eyes. "You told me first, Kate."

"No, it was after Reid and Hotch," Kate began, before pausing. "Oh, Derek."

"After I catch this sonofabitch who did this," Derek began. "After it's over...I'm stepping down. I'm going to have a desk job for a few months. I'm going to use that time to investigate and learn all that I can. Then maybe I'll start going on cases again. But Kate? I can't imagine being away from my son for as long as those cases take. I can't imagine losing all that time with him. I just can't."

She pressed a hand to her mouth. "Derek, don't hesitate," she whispered. "Don't hesitate at all. It's going to be hard, but...this is right."

He pulled her into a quiet hug. "I can't imagine telling the team yet either," he said. "I'm gonna put that on hold as long as humanly possible. Aw, Kate. Thank you."

"For what?" She asked.

"For being here," he said simply. "For knowing. For being the first person I can face telling."