A/N: How-do! I love Hotch/Reid stories, as you might know, but I started reading some Morgan/Reid stuff and came up with this one. I hope you'll provide some feedback since the pairing is new to me. I don't own Criminal Minds, nor do I infringe. We're off…

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Chapter One

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Derek Morgan was sitting in his office working through the budget projections for the next year, wishing he was doing anything else. Hotch was back as Unit Chief, and Morgan had agreed to split the paperwork with him so the Unit Chief could get more time at home with Jack after the internal affairs inquiry cleared the team of mishandling the Foyet case. In reality, it wasn't so much a hearing as an excuse for Strauss to perform a witch hunt, but the team persevered.

Morgan needed to stretch his legs, so he walked down the hall with his coffee cup to get a little more fuel so he could finish the budget report to leave it for Hotch's review the next morning. He walked to the catwalk around the bullpen, seeing the lights in the room were off except for the green, reading lamp on Reid's desk.

Morgan saw the break room lights were on and decided to get one more cup of coffee. When he entered the room, he was surprised to see Reid sitting across from one of the interns or new hire's from another unit. The guy was new to the Bureau. That was all Morgan remembered.

Both men were concentrating on a very rudimentary chess set Morgan knew Spencer kept in his desk drawer, and Pretty Boy appeared to be staring at the younger man…though not much younger than Reid, himself…while the guy contemplated a move.

"You don't have it, Lucas," Reid told the kid with a sexy smirk Morgan had never seen.

The young man, who was pretty handsome as far as Morgan could see in the dim light, looked up with a cocky grin. "If I have it, what's my reward, Dr. Reid?" Morgan could hear the innuendo in the younger man's voice, so he stayed hidden to see how Reid handled it.

After a minute, Morgan saw the doctor look up and smile. "If you have it, I'll agree to go dancing with you on Saturday night. If you don't have it, you have to go with me to the lecture at The Smithsonian on Sunday afternoon," Reid demanded and then smiled again, "…and you have to let me take you to brunch before, my treat."

If Morgan didn't know better, he'd swear he just heard Reid setting up a date with the guy. He wished to hell he could remember who the kid was, but when the guy was being introduced, Morgan was busy watching Spencer fidget around the new hires. Morgan remembered thinking the doctor's body language was unusual at the time, and he made a mental note to question his friend later.

As Derek stood in the kitchen area of the breakroom watching Reid, a man he'd known for many years, Morgan thought it was as if the young man were trying to seduce the younger man, Lucas. It couldn't be, could it? Morgan thought. Was he witnessing Spencer Reid actually showing attraction for the guy?

Morgan had pondered Reid's sexuality for a while, nearly as much as he'd pondered his own. He played the ladies' man when he was out with the group, but truth be told most of the women he'd slept with were a means of release…which didn't always happen…and he didn't call them again. Once and done. It wasn't gentlemanly, but it was what people seemed to expect from him, and far be it for him to disappoint those who felt his sex life was their business.

He'd also spent a lot of his down time surveying the men around him, always weighing whether he thought he could take the guy to bed or not. He'd been doing it since his days back in the high school locker room after football practice. It evolved into experimentation in college that never went beyond mutual hand or blowjobs with his roommate. Unfortunately, after college, they never spoke again.

Morgan always wondered if his history with Carl Buford came into play, but when those thoughts would surface, Derek would beat them down and move on with his life. He knew he was gay before Carl Buford ever fucked up his life, but he was sure the few people who knew about it would likely peg it on his past-abuse.

His mother hounded him regarding when he was going to settle down and give her grandchildren. He was nearly forty. It was the same question he asked himself when he made a date with a woman to whom he was remotely attracted. It always started off so well, but after he took off the condom, all interest faded.

Of course, as he stood watching and waiting for Lucas What's-His-Name to make his move, Morgan wasn't sure how to gage the whirring in his ears and the pounding in his chest. His breaths had picked up as well, and it was totally unsettling.

He watched the guy make a move and Spencer's giggle drew his eyes up from the board to see the two of them looking into each other's eyes. "Check," Lucas stated quietly with a killer smile on his face.

As Spencer lifted his hand, Lucas grabbed it and held it aloft. Morgan watched Reid look up and smile. "How about this compromise before you bury me? If you checkmate, we do both. You go dancing with me Saturday night, and I go with you for brunch and a lecture on Epigenetics. If you don't check mate, I'll leave you alone. I've only been chasing after you for a month, Spencer."

When Morgan saw the sly smile on Reid's face, the bottom fell out of his gut. "Checkmate!"

Instead of making his presence known, Morgan snuck out the side exit of the break room, went to his office to e-mail the report to Hotch before printing out a hard copy, slipping it into a folder, and sliding it under Hotch's door for the morning.

He took the stairs out of the building so as to avoid the bullpen, and once he reached his vehicle, he drove home with his thoughts scattered. He wasn't sure how to feel, having witnessed Reid interacting with young Lucas. As he thought about it, he knew it was something he needed to consider, but first, he needed more information. He knew where to get it, as well.

The next morning, Morgan stopped at a bakery on his way to the office and picked up a pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Garcia was working out and getting herself healthy, he knew because he'd helped her design a fitness routine that worked for her, and he'd also been teaching her self-defense.

If Penelope Garcia hadn't become like a sister to him in all the years the two of them had worked together…and if he was attracted to women in the first place…he'd have gone for her. Her personality and unconditional love for those she perceived as her family would have been the most appealing attribute to him, but her lack of an appendage he'd become fond of over time led the two into friendly territory. Instead of becoming lovers, the two had become best friends. That's why he knew he could count on his baby girl to help him out.

Morgan knocked on the door and waited to be invited inside. It was the middle of October, and he knew how much Garcia loved the fall, so the cupcake would make her smile. Years past, he'd have brought pumpkin cheesecake, but with Garcia's healthier lifestyle, he knew the cupcake would be a great substitute. "Entre'," he heard from inside.

Derek walked into the room and closed the door, happy to see Penelope with a bright smile on her face. She had pumpkins and Halloween decorations spread around her space, and she was dressed in a sexy dress with tiny candy corns that looked like polka-dots on a black background. She looked amazing.

"Baby girl, you look damn good. I brought you a treat. It's not lo-cal, but a little treat every now and again is good for the soul," he told her as he handed her an orange box tied with a black ribbon. She hugged him and set the box aside, taking her seat.

"This is very sweet, my Mocha Latte, but why are you bringing me treats," she opened the box and pointed it toward him, "…with a marzipan jack-o-lantern? You want something, Derek, so spill it," she demanded.

"Pull up footage from the break room last night at eight o'clock. I want to know who that guy is with Reid," he told her.

She smirked, he noticed, before she schooled her features. "Why, pray tell?"

"I don't know who he is, and you know how Reid doesn't have the best ability to judge someone's character. I think the kid's an intern, and I think he's trying to coerce Reid into giving him a recommendation for permanent placement. I don't want the kid to get in over his head," Morgan explained.

"By kid, I'm assuming you mean the intern, if indeed he's an intern, because Reid just turned twenty-nine, and I'd never consider someone that age was a kid, Morgan. I'm thirty-one. Do you see me as a kid?" she appeared to challenge.

Morgan laughed, trying to fend off the feeling of frustration. "No, Mama, I'd never see you as a kid. You know how naïve Reid can be. I just don't want him to get duped. You wouldn't either," Morgan offered.

Garcia laughed and turned to her computer. Her fingers flew over the keys, and after a minute, she crooked her finger at Morgan. "Come take a look, Sex God. Is this the guy?"

Morgan walked over to the monitors and saw the guy sitting there. He was about six-three, two-ten, at least. He had blonde hair, cut short, and he was clean shaven. He looked like Mr. All-American Dreamboat as Morgan observed the two of them playing chess without sound.

"That's him. No sound?" he asked.

She laughed. "We use the cameras for security, Morgan. We're not spying on our employees. The guy with 187 is…" she taunted as she punched keys on her computer. "Uh, Lucas Wayne Cook. Oh, he's an attorney who's here on loan from Justice for a year. He's twenty-six. He graduated from Georgetown Law at the ripe-old age of twenty-one. I can see the draw for Jr. G-man," she stated.

Morgan walked up behind her and reviewed the man's CV. The guy, much like Reid, had a very high IQ and had gone through his schooling in record time. He had a master's degree in Criminology at the age of eighteen. He'd graduated Georgetown Law with a specialty in Constitutional Law and was recruited by the Justice Department after graduation, much like Spencer and the Bureau.

Hell, for all Morgan knew, the Bureau could have paired them up for Spencer to be a mentor to the kid while he was on staff, but when Morgan observed his slick behavior, he knew Lucas Cook had traits Spencer didn't possess. Cook knew how to work the system. He was in it for himself. Reid was nothing like him.

"Thanks, Garcia. You know I love ya," he told her as he kissed the top of her head. He hurried out of the room and down the hallway to his office. He pulled up his training schedule for the month to see Lucas Cook would be in his classes starting on Monday afternoon, provided they didn't have a case. All he had to do was make sure Spencer wasn't able to meet the guy over the weekend. Once he had Cook in his clutches, he'd make sure the guy didn't fuck with his Pretty Boy.

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E/N: I hope to hear from you. This story is finished, so it will be posted to completion. Thank you for reading! ML