Emily both fell asleep first and woke up first. In the morning she slipped out of bed quietly and went to gather her shower stuff so she could wash her hair.

She couldn't help but notice Derek's T-shirt was wadded up on the floor. So she was right that he prefers to sleep without one. His chest and shoulders were partially visible, the covers not completely up to his neck. He looked peaceful, sleeping on his back with his head tipped to the side.

Emily suddenly felt weird for observing him. Sharing a room really wasn't appropriate. She hurried over to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

By the time Emily was done in the bathroom, Derek had started to stir. She could hear him stretching and yawning. She tucked her stuff away neatly into her suitcase.

"Good morning, Emily." Derek's morning voice was extra deep and a little raspy.

"Good morning! I'm glad you're up. We need to get moving," Emily said.

"I'm not up yet." He pulled the sheet up over his face dramatically.

Emily left him alone for a few minutes and used the blow dryer on her hair. By the time she was done, he had made moves. He had gotten up, pulled his shirt on, turned on the news, and was gathering his things.

After a quick flyby of the continental breakfast, they were on the road again.

"How did you sleep?" Derek asked while fiddling with the radio.

"Pretty good," Emily said. "You? Did you stay up late reading?"

"I stayed up late listening to your snoring," he said, a playful grin on his face.

"I do not snore," Emily said.

"No, you do."

"I don't! Not bad enough to keep someone awake at least."

"How would you know?"

"Never gotten any complaints before," Emily mumbled.

"I'm messing with you, Prentiss. You snore about as much as a kitten. It's real soft."

"Sounds adorable," Emily said dryly.

They were making good time to start the day, not seeing too much traffic. When Derek asked Emily about her ear, she no longer acted mad at him about it and just answered honestly. She said it still felt sore, but maybe a little better than yesterday.

Derek was a good road tripper, pointing out funny billboards, roadside attractions, and suggesting different games. The time was going by quicker than Emily thought it would.

"You're pretty good at this," she said. "Do you like driving?"

"I used to love road trips before the BAU jet spoiled me," Derek said. "Growing up our family vacations mostly involved road trips."

"You look comfortable doing it," Emily said.

"I take it you haven't done much road tripping?"

"What gave it away?" Emily asked.

"Just your general grouchiness towards the whole plan," Derek said lightheartedly.

"How's my attitude now? You're not going to leave me behind to hitchhike?"

"No, you're starting to make good company." Derek grinned and caught Emily's eye.

They passed the time mapping out their trip, pointing out the furthest away license plates, and snacking on some more junk from a gas station. It was actually turning out to be pretty fun.

Derek knew it could be. He and Emily always had a good time together. She just had to start feeling a little better to realize she could enjoy herself on this trip.

"So where did you guys road trip to?" Emily asked.

"Tons of places," Derek said. "Minneapolis, St. Louis, Mackinac Island in Michigan, you name it. If it was within a day's drive of Chicago, we were down."

"That's so fun. Such a quintessential American childhood experience."

"Yeah, but you probably got to travel a lot, right? With your parents being ambassadors."

"Yeah, but it's not as glamorous as it sounds," Emily said. "They were usually too busy for us to do much sightseeing. I mean, I had my fun, but not family travel fun."

Derek nodded. He would have assumed it was very glamorous. "Ours wasn't as incredible as it sounds either. After my dad died trips were never the same."

"I'm sorry, Derek. That was probably really hard on your mom."

"It was. She did her very best. But no one should have to raise three young kids alone. I'll never forget our first trip after he died. It was doomed from the start. She was trying to take us camping in northern Michigan, but Dad always dealt with all the gear. Once we got on the road, I remember seeing tears in her eyes, but I pretended not to because I knew it would make me cry too."

"I'm so sorry." Emily placed her hand gently on shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to go through that so young."

"Thanks, Emily. Things got better. But that first year was really hard for my mom."

Conversation eventually moved onto lighter topics. Later, Emily drifted off for an afternoon nap. Derek cranked up his talk radio, not playing it when she was awake because he figured it would annoy her.

When Emily woke, they talked about dinner ideas. They thought about finding a sit-down place, but then decided to opt for fast food so they could press on and do a few more hours of driving. They timed out about how far they thought they could get, found a hotel, then called to book rooms so they wouldn't get stuck in the same situation they were in last night.

It had been a long day. Emily offered to drive a shift after their quick dinner stop, but Derek wouldn't hear it. He said he was happy to. They were rolling through Arkansas, marveling at the beautiful scenery.

"Prentiss, the sky is looking really dark. Can you check a radar?"

"Oh wow," Emily said a few moments later, looking at her phone. "We're about to get slammed with rain."

"How bad? Think we can beat it?"

"We can try."

Derek was driving as fast as he comfortably could without risking a ticket. But there was no outdriving a storm. Eventually the rain caught up with them.

Derek turned the cruise control off and focused intently on the road. Buckets of rain were pounding down on them and the wind was making things that much more difficult. Emily could no longer hear the radio over the sounds of the storm.

"Emily, are we any closer to being out of this?" Derek looked stressed gripping the wheel. A loud clap of thunder rattled them.

Emily pulled her phone back out and stared at the colorful blob growing and hovering over their location on the map. "It doesn't look like it."

A vehicle from the opposite lane swerved across the center line. Derek laid on the horn and swerved out of the way, his heart pounding. His arm flew across Emily protectively and she grabbed on.

The tires skidded a bit because of the swerve but Derek straightened the wheel back out and got back to the center of his lane. A moment later she released her grip and he pulled back his arm, nearly having forgotten it was over her.

"We can pull over," Emily said, equally rattled.

"We need to," Derek agreed. "This weather is crazy. I can barely keep us on the road."

They passed a gas station but there were already so many cars huddled under the canopy so they continued on. Eventually they came to a neon sign with a huge parking lot. Derek pulled in.

"Roadside bar?" Emily asked.

"I'd take anything," Derek said. He put the car in park.

"I'm glad you were the one driving," Emily said gratefully.

They caught their breath a minute while the rain battered the vehicle. Emily checked the radar again.

"It's going to be awhile," she said.

"Might as well go inside instead of sitting here."