It was one of those rare evenings where the team gathered together for dinner after coming home from a case. Everyone at the table were relaxed and smiling, the conversations were easy and comfortable. Morgan smiled as he watched Garcia tease Reid about the waitress who seemed interested in him when they first entered the restaurant.

He gently squeezed Emily's hand under the table, grinning brightly when they saw a familiar blonde join them at the table.

"JJ!" Emily trilled happily as the blonde slid into the seat next to her. "I didn't know you were coming..."

JJ smiled warmly and said, "You have Miss 'I have the skills to ruin your credit rating and I'm not afraid to use them if you don't show up...' to thank for that," while she glared pointedly at Garcia who smiled sheepishly. She leaned in and gave Emily a hug, wishing her a happy birthday.

JJ's presence at the table added a little brightness that had been missing from their days. No one said anything since she had left, but deep down, they all missed her – it was just easier to lock it away and move on, knowing there was nothing they could do about it."Nice to see you, Jayje. How's the Pentagon treating you?" Morgan asked.

She simply smiled and shrugged. "It's okay. I'm still trying to get used to the new environment and the people there, but it's coming together. Mostly, I just miss you guys a lot. It's not the same without you around." Looking around the table, she raised her brows. "Where's Hotch?"

Everyone looks questioningly at each other, shrugging; no one ever really bothered to question Hotch's lack of appearance at team gatherings anymore. It was Garcia that eventually spoke up, "I don't know, but wherever it is, I'm glad I'm not there... He looked seriously pissed off when I passed him on my way out."

Morgan shared a significant look with Emily, knowing exactly what it was that had left Hotch in such a sour mood. Luckily, everyone else seemed too pre-occupied to notice as the waiter arrived with the bottle of champagne that Rossi had ordered.

After inspecting the bottle and nodding the waiter away, Rossi addressed the questioning look Emily shot his way. "What?" he asked with a sheepish grin. "You only turn – how old are you? Fifty-seven? – once..."

Garcia laughed, "Cheers to that."

Emily merely rolled her eyes, not finding it as funny. Giving a tight smile, she held up a hand in refusal as Rossi offered her a glass. "Thanks, guys, but I think I'll stick with water tonight."

Once again, questioning looks were directed about the table. "Come on, Em," Garcia attempted to persuade her, "It's your birthday – let loose, live a little. You can drink until you forget how old you are..."

"No, really," she insisted, "None for me tonight."

With a steadying breath and a look of confirmation from Emily, Morgan knew that now was as good a time as any. "Guys, we have something to tell you..."

Blood rushing past her ears as if she'd just run a mile, her heart hammering vociferously, Emily lifted their still tightly clasped hands out from under the table to rest in plain sight, saying nothing for several moments to allow everyone to absorb the significance. "We've sort of been seeing each other..." she said slowly and awkwardly, "...for about the last five years."

There was a long protracted period of silence in which the silence seemed to become heavy, laden with shock. Finally, JJ said what everyone was no doubt thinking, "Five years? But that would mean..."

"Pretty much since I joined the team," Emily nodded, finishing her train of thought in confirmation.

"There's more..." Morgan murmured quietly.

"More?" the usually perky tech goddess asked incredulously, looking at the couple pointedly. "How much more could there possibly be? You just dropped a bomb on us, saying you've been dating for the past five years and there's more?" She look at them, upset and confused. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" she asked, "How hard is it to say, 'Hey, Emily and I are seeing each other and we're happy.'? I thought we're a family..." she whispered quietly.

"We are a family," Emily insisted desperately, determinedly telling herself not to burst into tears in front of the team. "But we weren't ready to tell anyone at first – we didn't even know if it was going to become anything serious, so there was no sense risking our jobs over nothing. And then when we were realizing that it was serious, things like Gideon leaving and the Reaper just kept overshadowing the truth. It's not that we didn't trust you guys, we just had a lot on the line..."

Morgan nodded, needing everyone to see that they didn't mean to keep it a secret for so long. "We wanted to tell you. We didn't like hiding our secret from you, but we had no choice. It's a big thing for us and we wanted to tell you at the right time. We tried to find a chance to tell you, but something more important always came up."

The team looked at them with varying degrees of shock, betrayal, and hurt. Rossi shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe this."

"I know it's a lot for you to take in right now, but we have something else to tell you. Just let me finish, okay?" Morgan said quietly, sharing a look with Emily and gently squeezing her hand. "We're telling you about us now because we can't hide it any longer. Emily and I have been married for a little over a year and now, she's pregnant..."

If the previous silence had been awkward, this one was nothing short of excruciating. The longer no one said anything, the more Emily's expression fell; it felt a little like waiting for a bomb to go off, knowing that their friends' response was not going to be a good one.

"That was probably why Hotch was so angry when we left," she added quietly when the silence became too much. "We just told him the news too."

"Well, no wonder he's so pissed!" Garcia snapped and Emily winced a little in response – no one had ever seen her so upset. "How could you not tell us something so important going on in your lives? That you were ready to get married, trying to have kids...did you think we wouldn't be happy for you! You talked about JJ keeping her relationship with Will a secret for a year when you were doing the exact same thing...say what you want, but that's not something a family does."

Emily bit her lip, fighting for control, determined not to shed a tear in front of everyone. Morgan watched helplessly when his wife quickly excused herself to leave for the bathroom, knowing that she was going to cry behind closed doors.

He sighed heavily and turned to look at the team. "Look, I know you're mad and you have every right to be, but don't yell at her. She's pregnant and the hormones are giving her a hard time, she doesn't need this from you. If you want someone to yell at, yell at me, but leave her out of it," he said slowly, keeping his voice calm and even – getting into a fight was the last thing he needed. He quickly took off for the bathroom in search of his wife once he'd said his piece.

After taking several minutes to collect herself and attempt to hide some of the redness in her eyes, Emily emerged from the bathroom to find Morgan waiting outside the door. She immediately fell into his arms, breathing in his comforting scent. "How bad is it?" she whispered.

"I'm sorry, baby..." he replied quietly, stroking her back. "Don't worry about them, okay? You just worry about our babies. How are they? Are they upset?"

"They don't like the yelling... Maybe we should just go home, wait for everyone to cool off a little before trying to talk again," she suggested.

"Alright, let's go home." He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry I ruined your birthday party. I shouldn't have insisted on telling them tonight."

She shook her head. "No, you were right, it's better this way. I didn't really feel much like celebrating tonight anyway. She kissed him gently, sighing sadly.

They returned to the table, hand in hand, to tell everyone that they were leaving. "Guys, I'm sorry – Emily isn't feeling too well, we're leaving. We'll talk again, okay?"

Emily attempted an apologetic smile, but mostly, she just looked like a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry," she echoed quietly, stroking her baby bump, "The twins give me morning sickness at night." It was as good an excuse as any, and not entirely false.

There was another long pause in which Emily's expression became even more downtrodden when the goodbyes and good nights she had anticipated never came. She turned away, sniffling, wondering how something so wonderful could drive such a wedge between her and the best friends she'd ever known...

Reid was the one that eventually broke the silence with an incredulous repeat of, "Twins?"

"Yeah..." Emily confirmed, turning back. Gazing searchingly between the remaining occupants of the table, she remembered that they'd failed to mention that bit of information.

"You're having twins?" Garcia studied them carefully, "Two babies?"

"Yeah. We hadn't planned for twins, it just happened," Morgan replied, unable to hide the thrilled smile that always worked its way up whenever he thought about the babies. He unconsciously rested a protective hand on Emily's belly. "We should go. See you tomorrow; good to see you again, JJ."

As he gently lead Emily out of the restaurant, JJ shared a look with the others, then called out to them, "Wait, you guys."

The couple turned back – Emily with a hesitant and anxious look on her face while Morgan had a challenging glare, daring anyone to say something. Before they knew what was going on, they were engulfed in an unexpected bear hug. "I'm so happy for the two of you," JJ exclaimed, grinning, "Or should I say the four of you."

"You are?" Morgan asked, clearly confused. He looked from JJ to the rest of team at the table as she ushered them back to their seats.

Then Garcia came out and wrapped them in another bear hug. "I'm sorry," she murmured, "I shouldn't have yelled. I'm really happy for you." She grinned, resting a hand on Emily's baby bump, "I'm going to be Aunt Penny again."

"Thanks," Morgan smiled, returning the hug. "What made you change your mind?"

Looking a little guilty, she said, "The look on Emily's face broke my heart. This is probably really big for you guys and we were being selfish; this isn't about us, it's about your growing family." She smiled genuinely, then glanced sheepishly at Rossi. "Besides, I remember what it's like to be freaked out by someone's reaction to an inter-team relationship." A round of laughter circled the table.

Morgan let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks guys." He shared another look with Emily and smiled softly when she seemed more relaxed. "Actually, we have Reid to thanks for all of this..." he grinned, looking at the young genius who now looked confused.

"Me?" he asked, looking at the couple incredulously, "Why me? What did I do?"

The couple grinned when they saw that the rest of the team had the same look that Reid had on their faces. "Kid, remember when you talked to me on the jet, back when Emily showed up with a book and you tried to get me to go out with her? Then you went behind my back and talked to her after we landed?"

"Oh...right," he said slowly, then his eyes widened, "That's why you started going out?" They nodded, smiling gently. He sighed dramatically. "I'm responsible for the two of you getting married and having kids, but I can't even get myself a date!" Another round of laughter erupted at the table.