Fic: Zeroes and Ones 15/? (Criminal Minds, Morgan/Reid, NC17)
Title: Zeroes and Ones 15/?
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. This diverges from canon directly after 4x01. When Derek's offered the job heading up the NYC field office, he takes it for the good of his career. He expects to leave the BAU and everyone he knew in Virginia behind, but some people are easier to let go of than others.
Hotch hasn't gone off the deep end, and look at everything he's been through.
Derek frowned down at Spencer's text for a second before he answered. He'd been doing this all morning, sending Derek texts at random intervals, outlining arguments against Derek's insistence that working for the BAU too long was bound to take its toll on anybody. So far he'd tried using Emily as an example, which they both knew was bull, because she'd barely been there a year. Then he mentioned Garcia, which he probably thought was his trump card, but Derek had just rolled his eyes and texted back to point out that she didn't spend any time in the field, so she didn't count.
Now I know you're pulling my chain. We are talking about Aaron Hotchner, right? He barely sees his own kid. The job's taken its toll, Spencer, trust me.
A knock on his office door distracted him and Derek looked up, snapping his phone shut and dropping it on his desk. "Yeah."
Agent Sanchez stuck her head in his door, her mouth drawn down in a tense frown and a piece of paper clutched in one hand. "Boss, we've got a fresh tip. Sounds like they're getting ready to make a move."
Derek took the paper she was holding and scanned it. "Damn. Let's go."
He picked up his phone and shoved it in his pocket without checking for messages, then he headed out to the bullpen to pull his team together. His job these days was to stay behind, to coordinate from behind the scenes -- behind the safety of a desk and a title -- and let his agents put themselves on the line. But that had never been the way things worked in the BAU, and Derek still hadn't gotten the hang of delegating. He figured it would start to feel a little less weird after awhile, handing out assignments and reporting back to Quantico instead of holstering his gun and rushing into the action like he'd always done before. So far it mostly still felt like he was walking around in somebody else's shoes.
"Sanchez got a tip on a possible situation," he told his team once they were gathered in the bullpen. "If this lead is accurate, they're planning a city-wide assault on the traffic control system. One of the techs at the city found a hacker coming in through a back door into the city's system, and our guys are working on tracing it back to the source. At best we're looking at a city-wide traffic jam and a huge mess for the cops. At worst we're looking at a distraction to keep us occupied while something bigger goes down."
Derek paused and looked around the room. A couple of the agents who'd worked under Agent Joyner were gone now, transferred or, in one case, opted for early retirement. But most of his guys were here for all that, and a few of them were even here for 9/11. So they knew what he meant by 'something bigger', probably a lot better than he did, and he felt the tension in the room ratchet up a few notches as he started handing out assignments.
"Nobody says a word to the press," Derek warned as his team split up. "There's nothing to tell, and the last thing we need is a panic over nothing."
He watched his team disperse and headed back to his office to pick up the land line, dialing a number he'd learned by heart in his first week and leaving a message with his supervisor's secretary. When he was finished he reached into his pocket for his cell and flipped it open, frowning down at the text from Spencer for a second before he pressed a button to open it.
So what about you?
For a second Derek figured maybe he'd missed another message, and he scrolled back through his texts to make sure. But he hadn't missed anything, which meant Spencer was asking a question Derek wasn't sure he could answer. The truth was he'd been okay with staying at the BAU; he wasn't looking for an out when this job offer came up, anyway. But that job had a way of making them all too close, too dependent on each other even though they never said it. None of them ever asked for anything from their teammates -- except Garcia, and she still didn't count -- at least not with words, but ever since Gideon and then Elle, Derek had been giving more and more to Spencer without even realizing it. And he had it to give, so that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that sometimes it scared him, how easy it was to read what Spencer needed and just give it, and how easily Spencer took without ever questioning why Derek would offer in the first place.
None of that would fit into a text message, though, and anyway Derek didn't have time for this game, not today. He pressed reply and typed a quick response, frowning at the screen and hoping Spencer would just do what he said and ask questions later.
When you're done today get a cab and get them to drop you off at the Federal Building. Don't get on the subway, Spencer. I mean it.
He frowned and glanced out at the bullpen, wondering just how many of his team members had sent pretty much the same message to their families. How many of them had the luxury of telling the people they loved just to stay inside today where it was safe, because a cab wasn't going to keep Spencer safe if the traffic control system was hijacked. He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck, then he shoved his phone back in his pocket and headed out to the bullpen for a status report.
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Derek Morgan/Spencer Reid
Rating: NC17
Summary: AU. This diverges from canon directly after 4x01. When Derek's offered the job heading up the NYC field office, he takes it for the good of his career. He expects to leave the BAU and everyone he knew in Virginia behind, but some people are easier to let go of than others.
Hotch hasn't gone off the deep end, and look at everything he's been through.
Derek frowned down at Spencer's text for a second before he answered. He'd been doing this all morning, sending Derek texts at random intervals, outlining arguments against Derek's insistence that working for the BAU too long was bound to take its toll on anybody. So far he'd tried using Emily as an example, which they both knew was bull, because she'd barely been there a year. Then he mentioned Garcia, which he probably thought was his trump card, but Derek had just rolled his eyes and texted back to point out that she didn't spend any time in the field, so she didn't count.
Now I know you're pulling my chain. We are talking about Aaron Hotchner, right? He barely sees his own kid. The job's taken its toll, Spencer, trust me.
A knock on his office door distracted him and Derek looked up, snapping his phone shut and dropping it on his desk. "Yeah."
Agent Sanchez stuck her head in his door, her mouth drawn down in a tense frown and a piece of paper clutched in one hand. "Boss, we've got a fresh tip. Sounds like they're getting ready to make a move."
Derek took the paper she was holding and scanned it. "Damn. Let's go."
He picked up his phone and shoved it in his pocket without checking for messages, then he headed out to the bullpen to pull his team together. His job these days was to stay behind, to coordinate from behind the scenes -- behind the safety of a desk and a title -- and let his agents put themselves on the line. But that had never been the way things worked in the BAU, and Derek still hadn't gotten the hang of delegating. He figured it would start to feel a little less weird after awhile, handing out assignments and reporting back to Quantico instead of holstering his gun and rushing into the action like he'd always done before. So far it mostly still felt like he was walking around in somebody else's shoes.
"Sanchez got a tip on a possible situation," he told his team once they were gathered in the bullpen. "If this lead is accurate, they're planning a city-wide assault on the traffic control system. One of the techs at the city found a hacker coming in through a back door into the city's system, and our guys are working on tracing it back to the source. At best we're looking at a city-wide traffic jam and a huge mess for the cops. At worst we're looking at a distraction to keep us occupied while something bigger goes down."
Derek paused and looked around the room. A couple of the agents who'd worked under Agent Joyner were gone now, transferred or, in one case, opted for early retirement. But most of his guys were here for all that, and a few of them were even here for 9/11. So they knew what he meant by 'something bigger', probably a lot better than he did, and he felt the tension in the room ratchet up a few notches as he started handing out assignments.
"Nobody says a word to the press," Derek warned as his team split up. "There's nothing to tell, and the last thing we need is a panic over nothing."
He watched his team disperse and headed back to his office to pick up the land line, dialing a number he'd learned by heart in his first week and leaving a message with his supervisor's secretary. When he was finished he reached into his pocket for his cell and flipped it open, frowning down at the text from Spencer for a second before he pressed a button to open it.
So what about you?
For a second Derek figured maybe he'd missed another message, and he scrolled back through his texts to make sure. But he hadn't missed anything, which meant Spencer was asking a question Derek wasn't sure he could answer. The truth was he'd been okay with staying at the BAU; he wasn't looking for an out when this job offer came up, anyway. But that job had a way of making them all too close, too dependent on each other even though they never said it. None of them ever asked for anything from their teammates -- except Garcia, and she still didn't count -- at least not with words, but ever since Gideon and then Elle, Derek had been giving more and more to Spencer without even realizing it. And he had it to give, so that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that sometimes it scared him, how easy it was to read what Spencer needed and just give it, and how easily Spencer took without ever questioning why Derek would offer in the first place.
None of that would fit into a text message, though, and anyway Derek didn't have time for this game, not today. He pressed reply and typed a quick response, frowning at the screen and hoping Spencer would just do what he said and ask questions later.
When you're done today get a cab and get them to drop you off at the Federal Building. Don't get on the subway, Spencer. I mean it.
He frowned and glanced out at the bullpen, wondering just how many of his team members had sent pretty much the same message to their families. How many of them had the luxury of telling the people they loved just to stay inside today where it was safe, because a cab wasn't going to keep Spencer safe if the traffic control system was hijacked. He sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck, then he shoved his phone back in his pocket and headed out to the bullpen for a status report.