Morgan had been having a good night; he'd danced for a while, shared some laughs with his team and now he was enjoying a drink with his best friend. 'The perfect way to relax after a hard case' he thought with a smile. 'Well... almost perfect...' His gaze found his co-workers on the dance floor and he couldn't help but think that it really would be perfect if he had her on his arm.

'You see? This is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't go more than 15 seconds without looking for her. I never thought I'd say the day when the great Derek Morgan was not only completely enamored with a girl, but too scared to approach her! Honestly, you're a profiler – even if she feels the same way Hart's too shy to make the first move, so if you don't then you're going to lose her to someone who will. And you know it.' Reid smirked across the table at him challengingly.

'I know kid, believe me I know. I just... look I've never been in this position before. All of the girls I've been with have been for one thing by mutual understanding, and rarely more than one night. this? Hart? It's so much more... and that terrifies me.' Morgan shook his head and laughed. 'Look Reid, I will tell her – I just need to find the right time to talk to her about it. Invite her over after work one day or something? I dunno... But I will, I have to – this is driving me mad.'

Reid laughed, 'yea, no kidding! Oh watch out, incoming.'

Seconds later the girls approached their table to say their goodbyes and headed towards the exit. Morgan's eyes followed them, ignoring Reid's blatant amusement at his obvious display. Frowning he noticed some guy harassing them at the bar as they attempted to pass by, and smiled as he saw Hart's wholly unimpressed demeanor. He was incensed as he watched JJ and Garcia accept shots from the dubious stranger, silently applauding his girl when he saw her throw hers onto the floor – at least she was being sensible. 'Honestly' he thought in exasperation – to be so naive in their line of work, alcohol or no, was beyond unbelievable. At least one of them would be able to look after the others if he had spiked them.

As they finally left the bar he relaxed, watching the man shrug slightly and order another drink. 'Good, he didn't go after them. Asshole.' he thought.

'You're like a jumped up guard dog. It's hilarious!'

'Nah, I'm just making sure they didn't do something stupid. Not much good though – JJ and Penelope just accepted a round of pre-bought shots from a stranger, and he didn't exactly look trustworthy. Thank god Hart didn't - she noticed something was off about him!'

'You sound like a proud mother ha – my Hart, the clever girl - I can't believe the other two though, don't they realise how dangerous that was? I mean at least 63% of –'

'No Reid. No stats on a night out, we've been through this before.'

'Fine' he grumbled good-naturedly.

At that the two friends simply sat and watched the other patrons for a while, each lost in their thoughts. Finally Reid decided it was getting late enough to leave and asked Morgan for the time as his watch was currently being repaired. Pulling out his phone to check, Morgan paused. 'That's strange. I have a text from Hart...' Suddenly Morgan's eyes widened considerably and he jumped up and ran for the exit, pushing people out of his path as he went. Shocked, Reid rushed after him – concern flooding his body as he considered what could have caused such a reaction.

As they reached the bar's entrance Reid demanded to know what was going on, watching confusedly as Morgan frantically searched the dark area. Rather than providing an answer Morgan simply thrust his phone into Reid's hand, moving forward to talk to a group of girls smoking near the doors. The voices faded into silence as Reid read the text message.

'Girls drugged. He's coming. Outside now. Need help.'

'No...' Reid gasped loudly drawing Morgan's haunted gaze back to him. The girls hadn't seen anything but had offered to call the police upon realizing the desperation in the agent's eyes.

'Morgan, she sent this 12 minutes ago... she... he could have taken them anywhere by now...'

'I know kid, I know. We have to find them – wait, did you hear that?'

Over the bustle of the smoking groups there was a dull thud followed by what sounded like a yelp of pain.

'You don't think –' Reid trailed off suggestively, looking over at Morgan. He surveyed the parking lot once again, still unable to catch sight of any movement in the darkness.

'I think it's definitely worth checking out. There's a chance if she wasn't drugged that Hart had enough time to get the girls safe.' Reid started. 'Of course! Her car! Come on, she parked over here.'

Just as they began to swiftly make their way across the gravel, a pain-filled shout echoed towards them and they began to run.

'Hart?!'

'Hart? Is that you baby girl? Hart?!'

As they moved closer to the cars they could hear a man's voice, taunting and angry. Morgan's sped up and promptly tackled the attacker to the ground, brutally pressing his face into the stones before practically throwing him towards a newly arrived police officer. Rushing back to where Hart lay injured and barely conscious, Morgan pulled her gently into his arms. He was horrified. 'That bastard' he thought furiously.

'Can we get a medic over her please?!'

He could see that she was struggling to stay awake, and with possible concussion that was not good at all. Looking up at him Hart gave a soft smile, 'you came' she whispered before her eyes fluttered closed and she fell limp in his arms. Morgan's heart almost broke at those words.

'Yeah, just not fast enough... I'm so sorry baby girl, so sorry...'

The EMT's arrives and took Hart away on a stretcher along with the two drugged agents from the back of the car. Reid had managed to find the keys on the dark floor and checked on the girls while Morgan focused on Hart. Luckily, they both seemed to be stable and simply passed out. The men rode along to the hospital with the girls after agreeing to answer the police's questions once there – Morgan had refused to leave Hart's side, becoming extremely agitated when they attempted to take him to the station for questioning. He would speak with them at the hospital and nowhere else.