London Calling Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

A/N – Emily gets some much needed prodding.

"Well, what's wrong with this one?" Derek asked as they left the latest property that Emily was sure to find fault with. It was the tenth home they looked at in as many days. At first he took her concerns to heart and thought they were legitimate, now he was seriously beginning to wonder.

"The baby's room faces the east." She commented her nose scrunched in thought.

He blew out a breath and told himself not to get angry. "O-kay." He wondered if Barnes and Noble carried a pregnancy translation book because lately she'd been saying a lot of stuff that he just didn't get.

Emily just smiled and decided to let him in on the perceived problem. "The sun comes up in the East. The baby will never sleep in if the sun is always shining in the room."

"That's what window treatments are for." He responded patiently. "We can get the windows tinted, put up blinds, curtains; there are a lot of options that can correct that problem.

"I'm driving you nuts, aren't I?" She winced.

"You're certainly not making this easy." Derek agreed.

Emily sighed and turned to look back at the house they just exited. It really was beautiful. The nicest one they'd looked at so far. "I just want everything to be perfect."

"Nothing is perfect, Princess."

"If it helps, I liked this one the best out of all of the ones we've looked at." Emily offered.

"Okay." Derek reached over and joined their hands. "What did you like best?"

"The kitchen." She answered, promptly. "Keep in mind, I can't cook, but I'm going to learn. JJ's already taught me spaghetti and meatballs." She beamed at the accomplishment.

Derek just grinned. "We won't starve. I can cook." He shook his head at the pretty brunette who managed to surprise him daily. "Okay, what don't you like about the house?"

Again, she didn't hesitate. "It's, like, half an hour away from JJ's house, that's, like, an hour in traffic, probably more."

Derek bit back a groan. He loved JJ, truly he did, but he really needed to break Emily's dependency on her. "What are you going to do if JJ and Hotch ever manage to get it together enough to get together?" They'd finally managed to get rid of Hotch's old girlfriend when Jack started acting up. He liked JJ well enough, but he didn't like that Henry liked Hotch. The idea that he might have to share his father with another kid was not going over well.

Emily stopped and turned to Derek. "Are you jealous of JJ?"

He paused for a second before answering, "Yeah, a little bit I am." He leaned forward and tugged at the chain around her neck. "Maybe I wouldn't be so bad if you could help me understand why this is around your neck and not on your finger?" He groaned as the tears began to well up in her eyes. "Emily, don't – Emily. Ah, come on." The wobbling of the chin was his undoing. "Come on, Sweetheart, I'm sorry. Don't cry. You know I can't stand it when you cry."

"I know. That's why I do it." Emily blubbered. "I'm not trying to be difficult. I've got all this stuff going on." She raised watery eyes up to her fiancé. "You know what happened today? I got a stretch mark." She started to raise her top only to have him stop her. "Do you know how hard it is to have a baby?" She glared at him. "No, you don't. You know who does?"

"Let me guess, JJ?"

"Yes, she does and when she mocks me it's not meant in a mean spirited way." She snapped.

He held in a sigh as he watched the changing of her moods. Surely someone had a book on how to navigate this? He was glad that she had been noncommittal when he suggested having more than one kid, he wasn't sure that he was going to survive this one. "Why don't we go home and I'll rub some cream on your stretch mark?"

There was the chin wobble again signaling a fast change. "Would you? That would be really nice. I'd like that. JJ says that cocoa butter really does work if you're diligent."

Emily repeated the story to JJ the following day. Derek had been called in on a case. They'd been very fortunate to have a couple of local requests for the services of the BAU.

"So clearly he's going to hate me." JJ commented as she sipped her iced tea.

"I don't know what comes over me. I see it coming but I'm helpless to prevent it from happening."

"Pregnancy brain." JJ sympathized. "A lot of people think it's just a myth."

"I feel like I'm trying to sabotage this relationship before it even starts." Emily admitted.

JJ shrugged. "Maybe you are?" They were sitting at lunch. Emily had started her job with the local Interpol office and JJ was currently on loan to the State Department until she decided what it was that she really wanted to do.

"Why would I do that?" Emily asked, "I want this to work."

"Then stop holding back." She reached forward and tugged the chain around Emily's neck much the same way that Derek had. She let out a deep whistle when she saw the ring. "Go all in."

Emily stared at her in surprise. "How did you know?"

JJ smiled. "You pat it every so often to remind yourself that it's there." She held up the ring. "It's too pretty of a ring to hide, Emily. And what you have with Derek is too special to keep hidden away. You should be celebrating. You should be buying that house you loved and moving in together. We should be planning a wedding."

Emily let out shudder. "Let's get through the birth first."

"Oh come on, where's your sense of adventure?" JJ grinned wickedly. "Dave loves to throw weddings."

"Aren't you funny?"

JJ giggled. "I am, truly I am. Here's what you need to do…."

Derek sighed as he opened his front door. He'd hoped to be spending the evening with Emily but her phone kept going straight to voicemail. It was scary how quickly he adapted to being used to seeing her daily. He paused as he caught a scent of something that smelled really good coming from his kitchen.

"I let myself in. I hope you don't mind."

He smiled at the vision she presented. The 'Kiss the Cook' apron that Rossi had given him one year for Christmas was now splattered with what he was going to guess was spaghetti sauce. "I wouldn't have given you a key if I minded." He moved into her space and lightly kissed her lips.

"I made you dinner." She said with a touch of uncertainty.

"It smells good." He was puzzled by her mood. That in itself wasn't exactly odd though. He returned her smile as she gestured for him to go into the dining room.

"I thought maybe I could spend the night." She said to his back.

That stopped him in his tracks. "Okay." He turned to study her, now seriously wondering what was going on. She'd always been a mystery but she was pulling out all the stops today. "Again, you're always welcome here. I told you that before, I want you to stay here always." He moved in front of her and reached down for her hands. The sight of his ring on her finger, rather than on the chain, knocked him for a loop.

"I put an offer on the house we looked at the other day." The words tumbled out.

"Come again." He looked at the ring then back to her face. "You did what?" He watched as she took a deep breath and blew it out.

She'd rehearsed the conversation so many times trying to imagine what he would say the only thing stuck with her was, "Listen, I love you and you love me, we're having a baby, don't you think it's time that we lived together?"

The grin split his face. "I think that argument may have originally been mine."

She looked adorably confused. "Oh, I wondered where I heard it." She smiled back. "It's a pretty good argument."

"So you bought me a house?" He questioned.

"I bought us a house." Emily clarified. "Well, maybe. I put an offer in." It was a huge and scary big deal, but it felt right.

He laughed as he leaned forward and kissed her. "Do you have any more surprises for me?" He wasn't sure how much more his heart could take.

"The night's young, I'm sure I can come up with a few more." She winked rakishly at him suddenly feeling light and happy.

"Is that right?"

She remembered one of JJ's more interesting pregnancy facts. "Did you know that women in their second trimester are more aroused? Something about the blood flow…." She trailed off as his eyes flared, obviously not having heard anything after the word aroused.

"Is dinner ready?" He was already reaching for her.

"We can always order take out." She laughed as he scooped her up.

Later as they lay in bed Derek couldn't help but ask. "Not that I'm complaining but what brought on this change?"

"I told JJ about the house and how I have a tendency to say things that I really don't mean." At his raised brow she chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know how I came up with the sun rising in the East." She rolled her eyes. "I'm so close to getting everything I ever wanted that I didn't even know I wanted that it really freaks me out sometime."

"Everything that you wanted that you didn't know you wanted?" Derek looked at her questioningly.

"I like kids, I adore Henry and Jack, but I never considered that I wanted one for my own." She looked over at him, looking like a GQ model. "I sat across from you for years. I always appreciated your," her she gave a wicked smile, "let's just say your whole package," she giggled, "But I never would have crossed that line while I was working with you."

"But you wanted to?" His grin had her smiling back.

"Yes." She answered honestly. "There were times that I really wanted something more. We were becoming closer and I started to see you had so much more going on than just that pretty boy thing."

"Thank you, I think."

"When you surprised me in Paris I told myself that everything was going to be okay and everything was going to work out. I realized that you loved me. You really loved me."

"I do really love you."

"I know, but then the fantasy ended and we came back here."

He looked at her in confusion. "What exactly ended, Emily?"

"It was just so surreal. You were there and confessing your love for me in the most romantic city in the world, you asked me to marry you and I accepted and we made love and stayed in a little happy bubble, then we came back to reality. I had to start a new job. I had to find a place to live, and I got a stretch mark." She frowned down at the stomach that continued to expand.

He smiled down at her and ran a hand over the silvery barely noticeable mark. "Hey, we're still in that happy bubble. We can be here as long as you want."

"I know." She looked at him with watery eyes. "That's kind of what JJ told me."

"I'm really glad that JJ is such a good friend to you." He truly realized the truth in that statement.

"I hope you still feel that way after I tell you what else I did today." Emily replied cryptically.

Derek linked their hands together. "I've liked all of the other surprises you've thrown my way. What else you got for me, Princess?"

She smiled sweetly at him and said, "Did you know that Dave can throw together a wedding in a matter of hours?" She'd been surprised at how quickly David Rossi acted when she called him to discuss the possibility of getting married. She was kind of convinced that he was a serial romantic.

Derek was still for so long that Emily was worried that he was angry until he started to laugh. "I've gotta call my mama."

"I called her this afternoon." She bit her lip.

"You really go all in when you decide to take charge." He leaned forward and captured her lips with his. "God, I love you."

"So you're not mad?" She said in between the drugging kisses he was plying her with.

He shook his head. "Why would I be mad? I want to marry you." He laughed. "One thing for sure, life with you will never be dull!"

Thanks for reading! And as always thanks for the reviews and follows. I'm really glad that people are still reading!