Chapter Text
Chapter 15
Grand gestures, or even small ones, have not been part of Emily’s life in a long time. Once her father passed, gestures received shrank year over year until no whispers of holidays or birthdays existed in their house. On the other hand, she had gone through life trying to find someone that was worth the hassle of a grand gesture and until recently, Emily had never found one.
Derek Morgan was more than a fleeting relationship or a fun fling, and she wanted to make sure he knew how much he meant to her.
In the past having no definition, no title decreased stress, but with Derek not having those labels had increased it. He was handsome, smart, and one hell of a dancer, and it wasn’t surprising that so many people took notice. Emily knew that people would always take notice, but it hadn’t bothered her until Jordan. It hadn’t bothered her until there was real competition.
The team hadn’t had a pressing case in a week, so all of them were waiting for… something. Practical jokes were at an all time high, and Garcia was a bloodhound for any form of gossip, leading Emily to put off having the talk with Derek. She wanted it to be special, to put in the effort she believed he deserved, but that was hard when they had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
“If you had to fight on horse sized ducks or one hundred duck sized horses, which would it be?” Emily asked as she tossed the mini foam football back to Derek.
“Hmmm. That’s a good one. Probably the horse sized duck cause horses bite and kick, and I don’t want to deal with one hundred vicious things,” Derek responded, chucking the ball to JJ, who nodded in agreement.
“Did you know that ducks had corkscrew penises? It’s to improve likelihood of mating success…” Reid began, looking up from his novel. The face JJ made was beyond comical, and Derek’s face told her that he would not hesitate to hurl the ball at his face. Emily knew this was not going to end well.
“Under no circumstances do I ever want to see a duck penis, let alone a horse sized one. I’ll go with the horses. I feel like if you have a bat and a tall box, you’d be good.” Emily stood up and intercepted the pass to Derek, waving it playfully over his head in order to draw his attention.
Hook, line, and sinker. Derek’s eyes narrowed playfully, watching her jog to the other side of the pod of desks. She stuck her tongue out at him, leading Derek to stand and try and snag her with an arm around the waist.
“Princess, you are asking for war,” Derek warned as she slipped out of his reach.
“Sounds fun,” she retorts, throwing the ball far above his head and to Rossi who had just exited his office and seen the commotion. The agent caught it easily, holding it up to examine.
“Ah yes, office shenanigans. I have taken part in many,” Dave reminisced, throwing the ball back to JJ.
“Only if it involved alcohol,” Emily laughed.
“You may be correct. Unfortunately, this time I will be the one to end it instead of encouraging it. We have a case in Pheonix, wheels up in thirty.”
“You have been avoiding me,” Derek stated, tapping his hands nervously on the wheel of the SUV. The team had landed in Pheonix and split up immediately. Hotch and JJ went to the police station and Dave and Reid went to the first murder location, leaving Derek and Emily to go to the most recent scene.
“I have been,” she admitted, causing Derek to jerk slightly.
“That was too easy. I was expecting a few rounds of back and forth until I could wheedle it out of you.”
“Normally that would be true, but I figured it was time to… grow up, I guess. I think we need to talk,” Emily muttered, facing straight forward but watching the man out of the corner of her eye.
Derek grimaced. “That’s my least favourite phrase, up there with ‘wheels up’.”
“Pffft, you love hearing wheels up. It means we are heading out to make a difference. And it’s not bad. Or at least, I don’t think it is,” Emily said.
Derek nodded at her to go on, pulling into a parking lot a few blocks from the crime scene. “You have my full attention.”
Deep breath in. Hold. Deep breath out. Hold.
“I.. I want to date,” Emily blurted out, not wanting to give herself time to talk herself out of it.
Derek only blinked at her, watching her with confusion.
“I know that it could be awkward with work and the team and with everything that goes on in our lives, but I think it’s worth it. I’ve been thinking all week about how to say this, what to do, and I wanted it to be big. Like, fancy restaurant or a special time and place, but it felt like if I made plans work would ruin them, so I kept putting it off, but I don’t want to put you off. I was avoiding you because I didn’t know what to do-” Emily’s ramblings were cut off by Derek leaning over the centre console and kissing her.
It was sweet and chaste, not his typical style, but that made Emily’s heart warm that much more.
“Imma stop you right there, Princess, before you talk yourself into a panic,” Derek said after pulling away and placing his forehead on hers with a chuckle. It took only a moment for the chuckling to turn into full laughter.
“Thanks, I love being laughed at,” Emily sniped, pushing the agent away from her and reaching for the car door.
“None of that.” Derek pulled her back towards him, placing a kiss on the side of her head. “I’m laughing because I thought we were dating. We see each other at least three nights a week, we bring each other coffee and muffins when things are tough. Baby, I helped you fold your fricken laundry last week. You think I’d do that for just anyone?”
Oh.
Heat spread across her cheeks, embarrassment flooding her.
“God you’re so intelligent but so stupid sometimes Princess. You know what, I’m not sure why I’m surprised. We’ve never talked about this. Us,” Derek declared while holding up their intertwined hands. “I want to be with you. Only you.”
“I want to be with you too.”
“Good. Now, I may be out of practice at this whole relationship thing, but I think that makes you my girlfriend,” Derek asked hesitantly, squeezing her hand. Emily only nodded before pulling him in for another kiss.
This one was longer. Deeper. Hotter. Dereks fingers slipped from hers to trace small shapes on her hip and lower back, sending shivers down her spine. Breath was stolen from her lungs, and she only pulled away for a moment to catch her breath.
He took that moment to kiss from his chin to her ear, then slowly down before sucking on the spot where her neck and shoulder met.
“Morgan,” Emily said, barely able to get his name out. “We’ve got to go, they’re expecting us.”
Derek let out an aggravated huff but moved back into the driver’s seat. “Fine, but when we finish this and catch this son of a bitch, you’re mine. I think you owe me some quality time after dodging me.”
“Deal.”