Elysium, 7/21
Title: Elysium
Rating: NC-17
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Morgan/Prentiss
Genre: Romance/Angst
Summary: They thought that it was only going to be one night. They were wrong. An unexpected pregnancy leads Emily and Derek to reevaluate their lives.
Author’s Note: Next chapter, things start getting a little more…interesting.
Chapter Six
‘How did it go?’ Reid asked, as Morgan set his bag underneath the desk. For one brief, horrifying moment, Morgan wondered whether Emily had been lying, and he’d been the only member of the team that didn’t know what had happened to her in Italy.
That’s stupid, his mind rationalized. Reid wanted to know how the obstetrician appointment went, not how the discussion of long hidden secrets had impacted the day.
In spite of himself, he broke into a grin. ‘It went well.’ He dug around in the front pocket of his bag, and found the ultrasound image. ‘What you’re looking at there is the offspring of Derek Morgan.’
‘Technically,’ Reid started, ‘The process of conception utilizes the DNA of both the father and the mother.’ He had that smug smile on his face that let Morgan know he was joking.
‘And it’s a good thing, too,’ Emily said, as she entered the bullpen. ‘Could you imagine a carbon copy of Derek Morgan running around? It’d be terrifying.’ She was smiling, which meant that she didn’t really find the idea too terrifying. That comforted Morgan just a little.
Emily didn’t stay at her desk long, grabbing a manila folder from the top of a pile, and claiming that she had to go over a file with Hotch. There was a small, kind of paranoid part of him that wondered whether maybe she was intentionally avoiding him after yesterday’s revelation. He felt bad for reacting so negatively, but the news had come from out of nowhere. Considering their circumstances, he got the feeling that it wasn’t the last secret to be spilled over the course of the next few months.
Whether he liked it or not (and really, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it) the pregnancy was drawing them closer and closer together.
If that’s the case, he thought to himself, then you really need to learn how to cook.
How the hell am I supposed to do that?
‘In species that reproduce sexually, the offspring’s chromosomes are passed on by both the mother and the father.’
‘Reid,’ Morgan interjected, stopping the diatribe before it really even had a chance to start. The day before yesterday it had been the history of bacon. Today it was chromosomes.
Morgan found a thought brewing in his mind.
‘Hey Reid,’ he said slowly. ‘Do you know how to cook?’
Reid’s words took on a tone that was a little more somber than his “information dump” voice. ‘I mostly cooked for myself growing up.’
Morgan could have kicked himself. He really needed to stop bringing up sore topics. ‘I’m sorry, Reid, I didn’t mean to…’
‘It’s alright,’ Reid assured him. ‘My mother did have her lucid moments, but on the whole I found it more beneficial to learn myself. It also gave me a chance to put the books I’d read on French cuisine to good use.’ There was a slight lilt to his voice now, and Morgan knew that he was being toyed with, if only slightly.
‘Do you think you could…I don’t know…teach me?’ He gave a quick glance up to Hotch’s office, where he could see Emily through the open blinds.
‘Teach you?’ Reid frowned.
‘Not like…an intense course or anything. It’s just…’ He hesitated. ‘I don’t want my kid eating pizza every night because I don’t know how to make meatloaf.’
‘Well you could also make pizza,’ Reid pointed out. ‘Typically, anything you order from a fast food restaurant has a lot more fat and processed ingredients than what you could make in your own home.’
Morgan frowned. He wasn’t exactly sure whether that was supposed to be a yes or a no. With Reid it was a little hard to tell sometimes. ‘So is that a yes?’ Morgan asked, just to clarify.
‘Yes,’ Reid said, adding, with a slight frown. ‘I don’t really do that much in my spare time anyway.’
‘Now that needs to be amended,’ Morgan grinned. ‘I’ll tell you what. You teach me to cook, and I’ll show you how to renovate a house.’
Reid stared at him. ‘You mean with…powertools?’ He frowned. ‘I don’t know…I mean - aren’t they kind of dangerous?’
‘Not if you know how to use them,’ Morgan said. ‘It’s not like we’re going to be juggling chainsaws. Besides,’ he added with a wink. ‘Chicks dig a guy that knows how to use a drill.’
Reid didn’t seem particularly keen on the idea, so Morgan dropped it momentarily. If nothing else, he’d found someone to teach him how to cook. The conversation came to a halt as Emily returned from Hotch’s office.
‘Hey,’ she said, perching herself on the edge of Morgan’s desk. ‘I’m going to go show Garcia the picture - you want to come?’
‘For back-up?’ Morgan queried.
‘Of course,’ Emily replied with a grin. ‘If you think I’m going into Garcia’s lair with a picture of a child without someone watching my back, then you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll suffocate from all the hugging.’
‘Oh my God, it’s so cute,’ were the first words out of Garcia’s mouth, as she wrapped Emily in a tight hug. Morgan shot Emily a glance, noting the part amused, part terrified look on her face.
‘He’s not even an inch long yet, baby girl,’ Morgan reminded his friend. ‘Cute’s probably not the right word.’
Garcia shot him a look. ‘Not cute? I’ll tell you what I see when I look at this picture, Derek Morgan. I see you rocking your tiny baby to sleep. I see Emily dressing her up in the perfect pink dress that I found on sale. I see him blowing out the candles of his fifth birthday cake. I see you both crying at graduation-’
‘Garcia,’ Emily interjected, before the technical analyst could get any further. ‘It’s okay. Trust me, we are both definitely thinking those things. Just…maybe not in quite so much detail.’
I think someone needs to warn Kevin of his inevitable impending fatherhood, Morgan thought to himself.
They excused themselves before the squeeing got too out of control, and Morgan couldn’t help but echo Emily’s sigh as they headed back towards the bullpen.
‘I love Garcia,’ Emily said. ‘I really do. But now I kind of understand how JJ feels.’
‘Maybe we should have saved the presentation until the end of the day, when she was a little more exhausted.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Emily scoffed. ‘We would have been hunted down and ambushed if we didn’t show up by ten.’
‘You’re probably right.’
It was the team’s last day off rotation - as soon as they came back to work on Monday, any active cases were fair game. For today, though, it was more paperwork.
Morgan was almost looking forward to Monday, even if he knew Emily wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. Like him, she preferred being out in the field to sitting around the police station going over victimology.
At the very least, though, it made it feel as though some things were slowly making their way back to normal. Even if other things would be changing permanently.
…
Derek Morgan adjusted his tie in the mirror for what felt like the hundredth time. As per Emily’s request, he was wearing his best suit, with a charcoal gray shirt and black tie. It was the kind of outfit he’d worn during his time as interim Unit Chief, only somehow it seemed so insignificant. Instead of an experienced FBI agent, he felt very much like the kid from a poor Chicago neighborhood that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Emily Prentiss was everything that he wasn’t.
Her mother would see that, and Morgan was pretty sure that all of his charm wouldn’t be enough to stop the disapproval.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Emily had told him, when he’d expressed his doubts about meeting her mother for dinner. ‘She might be an Ambassador, but she isn’t elitist.’ The words hadn’t comforted him in the least, especially considering the way she wouldn’t quite look him in the eyes when she’d said it. Especially considering the fact that she hadn’t even mentioned her father, beyond saying that he would be there too.
‘What do you think, buddy?’ he asked Clooney, who was lying by the door to the bathroom. The dog looked up at him, oblivious to the severity of the situation.
Morgan checked his watch, noting that it was getting close to 7. He was picking up Emily, and they were meeting her parents at the restaurant for an 8 o’clock reservation. It was a far cry from the evening when Emily had met his own mother. That had been casual, informal. Now, Morgan had that awkward feeling in the back of his mind that was going to be sent off to a firing squad if he didn’t prove worthy.
The drive to Emily’s condo was short, thanks to the light traffic. When he knocked on the door, he heard a hurried, ‘Just a second,’ from inside. In Morgan’s experience, “just a second” often meant “I’ll be ready in half an hour” but when the door opened thirty seconds later, Emily was fully dressed.
Morgan stared. She was wearing a black, strapless dress, with her hair pinned to one side. The fabric hugged her body tightly, and he could see the small baby bump that nobody would have noticed unless they knew it was there.
‘You’re staring,’ Emily said.
‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘You look…amazing.’
‘So do you,’ she smiled, the expression turning to a slight grimace after a few seconds. ‘Are you ready?’
‘When you are.’
‘Alright,’ Emily nodded. ‘Just let me grab my bag.’
They were in the car and on their way in less than ten minutes, which felt like some kind of record for Morgan. He didn’t put Emily in the same category as he did his previous dates, which was mostly due to the fact that they weren’t technically dating. In all honesty, though, part of him kind of did want them to be dating.
‘You should have worn a bow tie,’ Emily said suddenly, with what sounded like a laugh in her voice.
He was driving on a straight stretch of road, so he took the opportunity to shoot a confused look at her. ‘I thought you said it didn’t matter if I didn’t wear a tux.’
‘I know,’ Emily shrugged. ‘It doesn’t. Bow ties are just cool. I’m buying you a bow tie,’ she said decidedly.
Morgan frowned. ‘Is this some nerd thing again?’
‘Absolutely,’ Emily said with a grin.
‘Uh huh. Care to enlighten me?’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
‘You’re evil, you know that?’
‘If I was evil,’ Emily said. ‘I would have told you that it was going to be a Hawaiian shirt dinner.’
‘Touché.’
A few minutes of silence followed, before Morgan finally asked, ‘So what’s your Dad like?’ In his peripheral vision, he saw Emily freeze. ‘I mean…’ he continued hastily. ‘You’ve never really talked about him.’
‘There’s a reason for that,’ Emily said, and Morgan couldn’t quite interpret her tone. It seemed like some mix between sadness and bitterness, with the slightest hint of regret. Maybe he was completely off base.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quickly, not particularly wanting to open another can of worms. ‘I didn’t mean to…’
‘No, it’s nothing like that,’ Emily assured him. ‘It’s just…with his job, he was never exactly around. He was never really a father to me. In fact, I’ll be surprised if he even shows up tonight.’
‘What does he do?’
‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you,’ Emily deadpanned.
‘Would you really want to do that?’ Morgan asked, a smile creeping back onto his face.
‘No.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘Who else is going to rub my feet?’
‘Well,’ he reasoned. ‘Reid has magician’s fingers, and I’m sure he’s read a few thousand books on the proper foot rubbing techniques.’
‘The magic touch isn’t something that can be learned from books alone,’ she assured him. ‘It’s like the Force - you have it, or you don’t. Not just anyone can become a Jedi foot masseur.’
‘Well I guess we’ll have to find out whether or not I have the “magic touch.”’
‘I guess we will.’
Morgan could sense that Emily was trying to lighten the mood, but he still couldn’t prevent that feeling of uneasiness that grew inside of him as he parked the car.
‘Morgan.’ Emily stopped in front of him, and he couldn’t quite help but think how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. ‘You are one of the best men that I know. You…kick criminal ass.’ Her hand brushed his cheek. ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. My parents aren’t idiots.’
Her face was just inches away, and it seemed like it would have been the easiest thing in the world to just lean in and kiss her. But he didn’t. Of all the possible times to change the status of their relationship, this was probably one of the worst.
The restaurant was probably the most extravagant one that Morgan had ever been to. It wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t afford it - while he didn’t renovate houses to turn a profit, he still usually made one - more so that black tie and cocktail dress affairs weren’t really his thing. The closest he ever really got was the FBI Christmas parties.
The maître-d’ directed them towards a table near the back of the restaurant where Emily’s parents were already seated. Morgan recognized the dark-haired woman that had once come to the BAU for assistance - tonight, she look far less frazzled than she had on the occasion of their first meeting. In a long black dress, he could see the resemblance between mother and daughter - they both had the same slim body type, the same perfect posture.
The grey haired man stood, holding his hand out for Derek to shake, as Emily greeted her mother with a kiss to the cheek. ‘Victor Prentiss,’ he said, adding, ‘Emily’s father,’ as if it wasn’t obvious. He was about an inch taller than Morgan, and he had Emily’s dark eyes.
‘Derek Morgan.’ Morgan took the hand, shaking it firmly. Then, he moved around to Emily’s mother. ‘Ambassador Prentiss. It’s nice to see you again.’
‘And you, Agent Morgan.’
All things considered, dinner went smoothly. There were no embarrassing revelations, or improper cutlery usage, or accidentally choking on appetizers.
Not long after she’d finished her main course, Emily stood. ‘I’m going to the bathroom,’ she announced, in an apologetic voice that made it patently clear that she’d been holding it in for as long as possible to avoid leaving him alone.
‘I think I’ll join you,’ the Ambassador said, and Emily’s expression shifted to what might have been horror. Whether that was horror at the thought of having a conversation with her mother, or the thought of leaving Morgan alone with her father, he wasn’t quite sure, but he had his money on the latter.
The other man’s behavior was calm - almost subdued - and yet there was an air about him that suggested if they were to somehow get into a fight, Morgan would get his ass kicked, black belt or no.
‘I find myself asking,’ Victor said, fingers curling around the step of his wine glass. ‘What your intentions are towards my daughter.’
‘I will be there for her,’ Morgan replied automatically. ‘And I will be there for our child.’
‘Do you intend to marry her?’ Victor asked, with an intense gaze that reminded him so much of Emily’s.
Morgan hesitated. ‘I’m not sure she’d have me,’ he said eventually, which was technically the truth. In addition to that, though, he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready for marriage.
Apparently, though, the answer was acceptable. ‘Emily’s a smart girl,’ Victor said. ‘And yet somehow she’s always had terrible taste in boyfriends.’ He gave a small smile. ‘I’m glad she’s finally gotten it right.’
Emily’s parents didn’t linger - they both had work to do, apparently, though they left in separate cars. Morgan hadn’t asked about the status of their relationship, and no revealing body language had presented itself over the course of dinner.
‘Did you want to get ice-cream?’ he asked Emily, as they walked out into the night air.
‘You are a mind-reader, Derek Morgan.’
‘Well, it doesn’t really take a profiler,’ he joked. Emily rolled her eyes.
They sat together in one of the booths of the blindingly white ice-cream parlor, and Morgan felt a little out of place in the suit and tie.
‘So,’ Morgan asked, pretending to ignore the spoonful of ice-cream that Emily stole from his sundae. ‘CIA?’
She gave a slight grimace. ‘Yeah. He didn’t threaten to waterboard you, did he?’ Her voice was deadpan again, and he wasn’t entirely sure whether she was joking or not.
‘Has he done that before?’
‘Actually waterboarded someone? Hell no. Threatened to? On several occasions. He’s never really approved of any of the guys I’ve dated.’
‘He said as much,’ Morgan told her, to which Emily’s eyes widened.
‘He didn’t…’
‘He said he was glad that you’d finally gotten it right,’ Morgan said, quickly. The evening would have gone from success to disaster if Emily had committed patricide.
She stared at her own ice-cream - Rocky Road - almost distantly. ‘Sometimes,’ she said. ‘Sometimes, I think that if I’d ever told him about what happened in Italy, he might have done it for real.’
‘I wouldn’t have blamed him,’ Morgan said immediately, and Emily gave him a dark, sad look.
‘John and I…I haven’t forgiven him for what he did,’ she told Morgan. ‘But I don’t exactly blame him, either. I did something horrible to escape my situation, and I hate myself for it every day.’
‘That doesn’t make it okay,’ Morgan said resolutely. ‘You deserve to be loved, Emily.’
She gave him a teary smile. ‘So do you.’ Their hands met in the middle of the table, fingers intertwining.
Morgan was almost positive that they were both thinking the same thing, but he said nothing at all.
They finished their ice-cream in silence, and then he drove Emily home.
‘I had a nice time tonight,’ he said, standing in the doorway of her condo.
‘Me too,’ she smiled. ‘They’re good people, when they’re around.’ There was a pause. ‘I’ll see you Monday.’
He wanted to kiss her cheek, but in the end settled on a semi-awkward hug.
‘See you Monday.’
Rating: NC-17
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters/Pairing: Morgan/Prentiss
Genre: Romance/Angst
Summary: They thought that it was only going to be one night. They were wrong. An unexpected pregnancy leads Emily and Derek to reevaluate their lives.
Author’s Note: Next chapter, things start getting a little more…interesting.
Chapter Six
‘How did it go?’ Reid asked, as Morgan set his bag underneath the desk. For one brief, horrifying moment, Morgan wondered whether Emily had been lying, and he’d been the only member of the team that didn’t know what had happened to her in Italy.
That’s stupid, his mind rationalized. Reid wanted to know how the obstetrician appointment went, not how the discussion of long hidden secrets had impacted the day.
In spite of himself, he broke into a grin. ‘It went well.’ He dug around in the front pocket of his bag, and found the ultrasound image. ‘What you’re looking at there is the offspring of Derek Morgan.’
‘Technically,’ Reid started, ‘The process of conception utilizes the DNA of both the father and the mother.’ He had that smug smile on his face that let Morgan know he was joking.
‘And it’s a good thing, too,’ Emily said, as she entered the bullpen. ‘Could you imagine a carbon copy of Derek Morgan running around? It’d be terrifying.’ She was smiling, which meant that she didn’t really find the idea too terrifying. That comforted Morgan just a little.
Emily didn’t stay at her desk long, grabbing a manila folder from the top of a pile, and claiming that she had to go over a file with Hotch. There was a small, kind of paranoid part of him that wondered whether maybe she was intentionally avoiding him after yesterday’s revelation. He felt bad for reacting so negatively, but the news had come from out of nowhere. Considering their circumstances, he got the feeling that it wasn’t the last secret to be spilled over the course of the next few months.
Whether he liked it or not (and really, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it) the pregnancy was drawing them closer and closer together.
If that’s the case, he thought to himself, then you really need to learn how to cook.
How the hell am I supposed to do that?
‘In species that reproduce sexually, the offspring’s chromosomes are passed on by both the mother and the father.’
‘Reid,’ Morgan interjected, stopping the diatribe before it really even had a chance to start. The day before yesterday it had been the history of bacon. Today it was chromosomes.
Morgan found a thought brewing in his mind.
‘Hey Reid,’ he said slowly. ‘Do you know how to cook?’
Reid’s words took on a tone that was a little more somber than his “information dump” voice. ‘I mostly cooked for myself growing up.’
Morgan could have kicked himself. He really needed to stop bringing up sore topics. ‘I’m sorry, Reid, I didn’t mean to…’
‘It’s alright,’ Reid assured him. ‘My mother did have her lucid moments, but on the whole I found it more beneficial to learn myself. It also gave me a chance to put the books I’d read on French cuisine to good use.’ There was a slight lilt to his voice now, and Morgan knew that he was being toyed with, if only slightly.
‘Do you think you could…I don’t know…teach me?’ He gave a quick glance up to Hotch’s office, where he could see Emily through the open blinds.
‘Teach you?’ Reid frowned.
‘Not like…an intense course or anything. It’s just…’ He hesitated. ‘I don’t want my kid eating pizza every night because I don’t know how to make meatloaf.’
‘Well you could also make pizza,’ Reid pointed out. ‘Typically, anything you order from a fast food restaurant has a lot more fat and processed ingredients than what you could make in your own home.’
Morgan frowned. He wasn’t exactly sure whether that was supposed to be a yes or a no. With Reid it was a little hard to tell sometimes. ‘So is that a yes?’ Morgan asked, just to clarify.
‘Yes,’ Reid said, adding, with a slight frown. ‘I don’t really do that much in my spare time anyway.’
‘Now that needs to be amended,’ Morgan grinned. ‘I’ll tell you what. You teach me to cook, and I’ll show you how to renovate a house.’
Reid stared at him. ‘You mean with…powertools?’ He frowned. ‘I don’t know…I mean - aren’t they kind of dangerous?’
‘Not if you know how to use them,’ Morgan said. ‘It’s not like we’re going to be juggling chainsaws. Besides,’ he added with a wink. ‘Chicks dig a guy that knows how to use a drill.’
Reid didn’t seem particularly keen on the idea, so Morgan dropped it momentarily. If nothing else, he’d found someone to teach him how to cook. The conversation came to a halt as Emily returned from Hotch’s office.
‘Hey,’ she said, perching herself on the edge of Morgan’s desk. ‘I’m going to go show Garcia the picture - you want to come?’
‘For back-up?’ Morgan queried.
‘Of course,’ Emily replied with a grin. ‘If you think I’m going into Garcia’s lair with a picture of a child without someone watching my back, then you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll suffocate from all the hugging.’
‘Oh my God, it’s so cute,’ were the first words out of Garcia’s mouth, as she wrapped Emily in a tight hug. Morgan shot Emily a glance, noting the part amused, part terrified look on her face.
‘He’s not even an inch long yet, baby girl,’ Morgan reminded his friend. ‘Cute’s probably not the right word.’
Garcia shot him a look. ‘Not cute? I’ll tell you what I see when I look at this picture, Derek Morgan. I see you rocking your tiny baby to sleep. I see Emily dressing her up in the perfect pink dress that I found on sale. I see him blowing out the candles of his fifth birthday cake. I see you both crying at graduation-’
‘Garcia,’ Emily interjected, before the technical analyst could get any further. ‘It’s okay. Trust me, we are both definitely thinking those things. Just…maybe not in quite so much detail.’
I think someone needs to warn Kevin of his inevitable impending fatherhood, Morgan thought to himself.
They excused themselves before the squeeing got too out of control, and Morgan couldn’t help but echo Emily’s sigh as they headed back towards the bullpen.
‘I love Garcia,’ Emily said. ‘I really do. But now I kind of understand how JJ feels.’
‘Maybe we should have saved the presentation until the end of the day, when she was a little more exhausted.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Emily scoffed. ‘We would have been hunted down and ambushed if we didn’t show up by ten.’
‘You’re probably right.’
It was the team’s last day off rotation - as soon as they came back to work on Monday, any active cases were fair game. For today, though, it was more paperwork.
Morgan was almost looking forward to Monday, even if he knew Emily wasn’t quite as enthusiastic. Like him, she preferred being out in the field to sitting around the police station going over victimology.
At the very least, though, it made it feel as though some things were slowly making their way back to normal. Even if other things would be changing permanently.
…
Derek Morgan adjusted his tie in the mirror for what felt like the hundredth time. As per Emily’s request, he was wearing his best suit, with a charcoal gray shirt and black tie. It was the kind of outfit he’d worn during his time as interim Unit Chief, only somehow it seemed so insignificant. Instead of an experienced FBI agent, he felt very much like the kid from a poor Chicago neighborhood that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Emily Prentiss was everything that he wasn’t.
Her mother would see that, and Morgan was pretty sure that all of his charm wouldn’t be enough to stop the disapproval.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Emily had told him, when he’d expressed his doubts about meeting her mother for dinner. ‘She might be an Ambassador, but she isn’t elitist.’ The words hadn’t comforted him in the least, especially considering the way she wouldn’t quite look him in the eyes when she’d said it. Especially considering the fact that she hadn’t even mentioned her father, beyond saying that he would be there too.
‘What do you think, buddy?’ he asked Clooney, who was lying by the door to the bathroom. The dog looked up at him, oblivious to the severity of the situation.
Morgan checked his watch, noting that it was getting close to 7. He was picking up Emily, and they were meeting her parents at the restaurant for an 8 o’clock reservation. It was a far cry from the evening when Emily had met his own mother. That had been casual, informal. Now, Morgan had that awkward feeling in the back of his mind that was going to be sent off to a firing squad if he didn’t prove worthy.
The drive to Emily’s condo was short, thanks to the light traffic. When he knocked on the door, he heard a hurried, ‘Just a second,’ from inside. In Morgan’s experience, “just a second” often meant “I’ll be ready in half an hour” but when the door opened thirty seconds later, Emily was fully dressed.
Morgan stared. She was wearing a black, strapless dress, with her hair pinned to one side. The fabric hugged her body tightly, and he could see the small baby bump that nobody would have noticed unless they knew it was there.
‘You’re staring,’ Emily said.
‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘You look…amazing.’
‘So do you,’ she smiled, the expression turning to a slight grimace after a few seconds. ‘Are you ready?’
‘When you are.’
‘Alright,’ Emily nodded. ‘Just let me grab my bag.’
They were in the car and on their way in less than ten minutes, which felt like some kind of record for Morgan. He didn’t put Emily in the same category as he did his previous dates, which was mostly due to the fact that they weren’t technically dating. In all honesty, though, part of him kind of did want them to be dating.
‘You should have worn a bow tie,’ Emily said suddenly, with what sounded like a laugh in her voice.
He was driving on a straight stretch of road, so he took the opportunity to shoot a confused look at her. ‘I thought you said it didn’t matter if I didn’t wear a tux.’
‘I know,’ Emily shrugged. ‘It doesn’t. Bow ties are just cool. I’m buying you a bow tie,’ she said decidedly.
Morgan frowned. ‘Is this some nerd thing again?’
‘Absolutely,’ Emily said with a grin.
‘Uh huh. Care to enlighten me?’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
‘You’re evil, you know that?’
‘If I was evil,’ Emily said. ‘I would have told you that it was going to be a Hawaiian shirt dinner.’
‘Touché.’
A few minutes of silence followed, before Morgan finally asked, ‘So what’s your Dad like?’ In his peripheral vision, he saw Emily freeze. ‘I mean…’ he continued hastily. ‘You’ve never really talked about him.’
‘There’s a reason for that,’ Emily said, and Morgan couldn’t quite interpret her tone. It seemed like some mix between sadness and bitterness, with the slightest hint of regret. Maybe he was completely off base.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quickly, not particularly wanting to open another can of worms. ‘I didn’t mean to…’
‘No, it’s nothing like that,’ Emily assured him. ‘It’s just…with his job, he was never exactly around. He was never really a father to me. In fact, I’ll be surprised if he even shows up tonight.’
‘What does he do?’
‘If I told you, I’d have to kill you,’ Emily deadpanned.
‘Would you really want to do that?’ Morgan asked, a smile creeping back onto his face.
‘No.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘Who else is going to rub my feet?’
‘Well,’ he reasoned. ‘Reid has magician’s fingers, and I’m sure he’s read a few thousand books on the proper foot rubbing techniques.’
‘The magic touch isn’t something that can be learned from books alone,’ she assured him. ‘It’s like the Force - you have it, or you don’t. Not just anyone can become a Jedi foot masseur.’
‘Well I guess we’ll have to find out whether or not I have the “magic touch.”’
‘I guess we will.’
Morgan could sense that Emily was trying to lighten the mood, but he still couldn’t prevent that feeling of uneasiness that grew inside of him as he parked the car.
‘Morgan.’ Emily stopped in front of him, and he couldn’t quite help but think how beautiful she looked in the moonlight. ‘You are one of the best men that I know. You…kick criminal ass.’ Her hand brushed his cheek. ‘You don’t have anything to worry about. My parents aren’t idiots.’
Her face was just inches away, and it seemed like it would have been the easiest thing in the world to just lean in and kiss her. But he didn’t. Of all the possible times to change the status of their relationship, this was probably one of the worst.
The restaurant was probably the most extravagant one that Morgan had ever been to. It wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t afford it - while he didn’t renovate houses to turn a profit, he still usually made one - more so that black tie and cocktail dress affairs weren’t really his thing. The closest he ever really got was the FBI Christmas parties.
The maître-d’ directed them towards a table near the back of the restaurant where Emily’s parents were already seated. Morgan recognized the dark-haired woman that had once come to the BAU for assistance - tonight, she look far less frazzled than she had on the occasion of their first meeting. In a long black dress, he could see the resemblance between mother and daughter - they both had the same slim body type, the same perfect posture.
The grey haired man stood, holding his hand out for Derek to shake, as Emily greeted her mother with a kiss to the cheek. ‘Victor Prentiss,’ he said, adding, ‘Emily’s father,’ as if it wasn’t obvious. He was about an inch taller than Morgan, and he had Emily’s dark eyes.
‘Derek Morgan.’ Morgan took the hand, shaking it firmly. Then, he moved around to Emily’s mother. ‘Ambassador Prentiss. It’s nice to see you again.’
‘And you, Agent Morgan.’
All things considered, dinner went smoothly. There were no embarrassing revelations, or improper cutlery usage, or accidentally choking on appetizers.
Not long after she’d finished her main course, Emily stood. ‘I’m going to the bathroom,’ she announced, in an apologetic voice that made it patently clear that she’d been holding it in for as long as possible to avoid leaving him alone.
‘I think I’ll join you,’ the Ambassador said, and Emily’s expression shifted to what might have been horror. Whether that was horror at the thought of having a conversation with her mother, or the thought of leaving Morgan alone with her father, he wasn’t quite sure, but he had his money on the latter.
The other man’s behavior was calm - almost subdued - and yet there was an air about him that suggested if they were to somehow get into a fight, Morgan would get his ass kicked, black belt or no.
‘I find myself asking,’ Victor said, fingers curling around the step of his wine glass. ‘What your intentions are towards my daughter.’
‘I will be there for her,’ Morgan replied automatically. ‘And I will be there for our child.’
‘Do you intend to marry her?’ Victor asked, with an intense gaze that reminded him so much of Emily’s.
Morgan hesitated. ‘I’m not sure she’d have me,’ he said eventually, which was technically the truth. In addition to that, though, he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready for marriage.
Apparently, though, the answer was acceptable. ‘Emily’s a smart girl,’ Victor said. ‘And yet somehow she’s always had terrible taste in boyfriends.’ He gave a small smile. ‘I’m glad she’s finally gotten it right.’
Emily’s parents didn’t linger - they both had work to do, apparently, though they left in separate cars. Morgan hadn’t asked about the status of their relationship, and no revealing body language had presented itself over the course of dinner.
‘Did you want to get ice-cream?’ he asked Emily, as they walked out into the night air.
‘You are a mind-reader, Derek Morgan.’
‘Well, it doesn’t really take a profiler,’ he joked. Emily rolled her eyes.
They sat together in one of the booths of the blindingly white ice-cream parlor, and Morgan felt a little out of place in the suit and tie.
‘So,’ Morgan asked, pretending to ignore the spoonful of ice-cream that Emily stole from his sundae. ‘CIA?’
She gave a slight grimace. ‘Yeah. He didn’t threaten to waterboard you, did he?’ Her voice was deadpan again, and he wasn’t entirely sure whether she was joking or not.
‘Has he done that before?’
‘Actually waterboarded someone? Hell no. Threatened to? On several occasions. He’s never really approved of any of the guys I’ve dated.’
‘He said as much,’ Morgan told her, to which Emily’s eyes widened.
‘He didn’t…’
‘He said he was glad that you’d finally gotten it right,’ Morgan said, quickly. The evening would have gone from success to disaster if Emily had committed patricide.
She stared at her own ice-cream - Rocky Road - almost distantly. ‘Sometimes,’ she said. ‘Sometimes, I think that if I’d ever told him about what happened in Italy, he might have done it for real.’
‘I wouldn’t have blamed him,’ Morgan said immediately, and Emily gave him a dark, sad look.
‘John and I…I haven’t forgiven him for what he did,’ she told Morgan. ‘But I don’t exactly blame him, either. I did something horrible to escape my situation, and I hate myself for it every day.’
‘That doesn’t make it okay,’ Morgan said resolutely. ‘You deserve to be loved, Emily.’
She gave him a teary smile. ‘So do you.’ Their hands met in the middle of the table, fingers intertwining.
Morgan was almost positive that they were both thinking the same thing, but he said nothing at all.
They finished their ice-cream in silence, and then he drove Emily home.
‘I had a nice time tonight,’ he said, standing in the doorway of her condo.
‘Me too,’ she smiled. ‘They’re good people, when they’re around.’ There was a pause. ‘I’ll see you Monday.’
He wanted to kiss her cheek, but in the end settled on a semi-awkward hug.
‘See you Monday.’