They had just finished up yet another tough case, and were on the plane back home to Quantico. Even though it was barely seven at night, most of the team was asleep, since they had been up for at least forty-eight hours straight while trying to find a missing child. Eventually they found her - thank everything for that.

Beep. Beep.

Reid's phone went off, but the young genius didn't even notice. He was fast asleep.

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It was a very groggy team that walked off of the plane two hours later. Dr. Spencer Reid yawned slightly before turning to look at the man who had quickly became one of his closest friends.

"Hey Morgan, you're sleeping at my place, right?"

Derek Morgan nodded. "Yeah, my place's still being fumigated." he answered.

"Okay, cool." the young genius said, and that was the last thing either one of them said until they got to Reid's apartment building.

The rest of the team was too tired to puzzle over Reid's choice of words.

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Nelson Stone looked up from behind the desk as the door of the apartment building opened. The elderly doorman smiled at the familiar face that walked in - but paused when he saw the rather large man following behind him.

"Evenin', Dr. Reid." Stone said, continuing to look at the tall black man suspiciously. "Who's yer friend?"

"Oh, uh, hi Mr. Stone." Dr. Reid said, giving one of his awkward little waves. "This is Derek Morgan. We work together, he's just staying for a night or two while his apartment is being fumigated."

The doorman smiled at that, relaxing as he learned that the other man wasn't any kind of threat. Not that he was being racist, it was just that Nelson Stone was very overprotective of any of the people who lived in his building - like the young Dr. and Mrs. Reid. And speaking of Mrs. Reid….

Nelson Stone stopped Spencer and Morgan right before they got into the rickety old elevator. "Dr. Reid, I almost forgot!" he said quickly. However, as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Because it wasn't very often that he got to have a laugh at someone else's expense, and the look on Dr. Reid's face when he found out….

"What is it, Mr. Stone?" the young genius asked, crossing back over to the front desk. But the older man just smiled at him.

"How many times have I told you, boy?" Stone said, pretending to scold the other man. "Call me Nelson."

Dr. Reid just looked confused, but he smiled anyway. "Alright then…. Nelson." he said, and a small smile quirked on his face.

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Morgan waited a moment as Reid fumbled with the keys to his door. Then he noticed the confused look on the kid's face.

"What's up, Pretty Boy?" Morgan asked.

"The door was already unlocked." Reid said quietly. He carefully unlocked the door - having accidentally locked it the first time - and looked at his teammate. Morgan had a grim look on his face. Both of the men were now awake - maybe not completely, but more so than they were before.

With practiced ease, the two men drew their weapons and entered the dark apartment, checking each room in turn.

Reid checked the master bedroom and the hall closet before going to check the kitchen.

It was only when Reid saw the empty carton of teaberry ice cream sitting on the kitchen counter that he finally put two and two together.

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Morgan's P.O.V.

I had just gone into the living room to clear it when two things happened:

I heard Reid start racing towards me, yelling, "Morgan, stop!"

And a groggy voice spoke from the couch. "Babe, 's that you?"

I spun around quickly, instinctively aiming my gun in the direction of the voice.

That was when Reid burst into the room, his gun still in his hands.

"Morgan, drop your gun, now." he ordered. His voice was cold and had a deadly edge to it. I did as he said, but only because he was freaking me out too much for me to do anything but listen to him.

As soon as my gun was away, the kid was running for the couch. He practically collapsed on it, and that was when I was finally able to fully make out the outline of a person on the couch.

"You gave me a damn heart attack." he scolded gently, as he ran a hand through the other person's hair.

They hummed sleepily in response, trying to sit up. "Wha's goin' on, Spen?" they asked as they reached up and turned on a lamp sitting on the end table next to them.

My mouth dropped open in surprise when I saw the person that Reid was still clinging onto for dear life.

She was probably gorgeous, but at the moment she was still being smothered by a skinny genius so I couldn't exactly see her face. In fact, all I could see was her legs covered in a black blanket, and a bit of dark brown hair - so dark it was almost black - that had managed to sneak its way out from under the kid.

"Spencer Reid, let me up right now!" the woman said, trying to sound stern.

"No." Reid said, sounding more stubborn than I had ever heard him. "Not until you promise to stop leaving the door unlocked."

"Oh really?" she said. "And how are you gonna make me promise that, hmm?"

This was something I had definitely not been expecting from our boy genius. And it was also definitely something I wasn't planning on watching.

"Hey kid." I said, making Reid jump. He looked over his shoulder at me, and I almost burst out laughing at how red his cheeks were.

"Who're you?" the girl asked, finally sitting up right. Now that I could see her fully, I knew that I had been right. This girl was smokin'. She had dark eyes - that were still halfway closed from sleep - and brown-almost-black hair that went halfway down her arms. She wore a black tank top, and when she pushed the blanket off of her, I saw the black-and-pink plaid pj shorts she had on. The strangest thing about her, though, was her tattoos. She had a row of colorful flowers tattooed on each arm, which I definitely wasn't expecting from anyone who knew Reid.

"I'm Derek." I said, holstering my weapon. "Who're you?"

The girl looked at Reid nervously for a moment, and they seemed to have a silent conversation before she turned back to look at me. "I'm Ariel." she said nervously. "Ariel Reid."

I crossed my arms, slightly confused. "Okay…?" I said, wondering if she was the kid's sister, or… but that didn't make sense, considering how she had reacted to him…

"Morgan, Ariel's my wife…" Reid said, trailing off