Holy fracking cow. Derek Morgan was kissing her. And oh, the man could kiss. His hands were in her hair, his body pressed against her. She had no idea how long he'd be kissing her, or how long she'd been kissing him back, but she hoped he'd never stop. But eventually she would need to breathe again. When the kiss ended, Morgan skimmed his nose along her neck, then rested his forehead against hers.

"Umm, so there's that," she said softly.

"That," he said gently, "has been a long, long time coming baby girl."

She smiled. "What took you so long then, handsome?"

He sighed. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her to the couch again. He sat, then pulled her against him.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time, but it became more . . . urgent after Maeve died."

"Uh, that was a month ago, hot stuff," she pointed out. She looked at his tired face, and saw the sadness that hid permeated his being the past few weeks was still there. They had just shared the most amazing kiss, and he looked devastated. He looked down at her coffee table, avoiding her gaze. Taking both hands, she placed them on the sides of his face and turned his gaze up to meet hers. "Talk to me, baby," she whispered. "Please."

"Reid, Hotch, Gideon . . . " His voice sounded so pained, it brought tears to her eyes. "Have you ever thought about it, Baby Girl? Other than me and Rossi, every single man who has worked in the BAU since in the past decade has lost a woman they love, in a horrible way. Rossi and I haven't even had anyone permanent . . . odds say if we did, the same thing would happen again."

"Derek . . ."

"I keep having this dream. Every night since watching Maeve die, since seeing Reid's face. I get a call from Foyet, and I listen to him shoot you over the phone." Her mouth went dry. Oh. "I'm trying to get to you but I can't get there fast enough. Then only after I see you on the ground . . ." He took a deep breath, placing both of his hands over hers as she held his face. "Only after I see you there does it all shift and you are in the same position as Maeve. Then I watch it again."

She didn't know what to say so she kissed him again. She didn't know how to fix this, how to make it better. Suddenly something occurred to her, and she stopped kissing him. Then she slugged him in the shoulder.

"Really, baby?" He asked incredulously.

"Is that why you got all weird lately? Because you were worried something would happen to me?" She was livid.

He looked confused. "Um, yeah, I watched Reid watch his girl's brains get blown out, so you can maybe see where I'm coming from." She cringed at his blunt choice of words. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Penelope, I just can't even explain it to you. Do you have any idea what it's like? To worry that someday someone might want to reach out and hurt you just to hurt me? It's what happened to Hotch. It's what happened to Gideon. And with what happened to Reid too . . . I'm not sure I want to play those odds, baby. Not when the price is your life."

She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. Because she was getting full on mad now.

"Do I have any idea what it's like?" She hissed. "I'm sorry, which of the two people sitting on this couch drove an ambulance loaded with explosives all around New York? Which one of us got pushed through a plate glass window by that psycho from your dream?" She took a calming breath, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "I have to worry every damn day you walk out that door that you aren't going to come back, but there is no way in hell that I would turn my back on you if I thought we had a chance, D. How stupid can you be!" And then damn it, she was kissing him again. "Is it really worth missing out on this based on what ifs?" She whispered. "Every time you walk on to that plane, I have to face the very real possibility that you won't come back. The likelihood of you being killed by a skeezy psycho is far more likely that something happening to me."

"There was Battle," he pointed out.

Indeed, there was that, she thought. But what were the chances of something like that happening again? "There, see," she said almost cheerily, "I've already had my quota of drama for this life time."

He chuckled, leaning his head against hers again. "I just can't bear the thought of something happening to you, Baby Girl," he whispered fervently.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, hot stuff. I'm tucked away safe in my lair most of the time anyway." She kissed him gently on the lips. "And it goes both ways, you know."

He smiled down at her, and it almost reached his eyes this time. Almost. She supposed it would take him time. She'd never met a man who was harder on himself than the handsome, kind man before her. He took everything in the world so personally; it figured that he would find a way to be guilty about love. She was almost positive that if she gave him time to adjust, to see that the world would not catastrophically end because he had spoken his heart, that eventually she would see his eyes glow again when he smiled.

"I love you," she told him. "Always have, probably always will."

He plucked her on the nose. "It goes both ways, you know." He said repeating her words.

"Now shall we watch our movie?" she asked. "We can assign each BAU member roles. I'm pretty sure Reid is Dr. Bruce Banner."

Derek chuckled. "Reid as a big green guy who can't control his temper? I don't see that at all!"

She hit play and curled against him as the movie started. Just as she had for years.