Firstly, thank you for all the reviews for the first chapter…. And I'm sorry if I didn't reply to you all. Secondly, sorry this took so long…. I really struggled with how to structure this… start at the beginning of their relationship or from the end of the last chapter? Well I decided to start at the end of the last chapter and where I can, do some flashbacks.

Because of the nature of this fic, it could get quite angsty in places just to warn you… Hope you enjoy.

Emily smiled as she walked through the corridor of Quantico upon seeing Garcia tottering towards her in bright pink stilettos, floral knee length dress and the purple ribbon tied in a bow in her hair. She was a sight that never failed to kick start your day.

"Good morning Penelope." The profiler smiled.

"Morning honey pie." Garcia almost sung before cocking her head to the side, pursing her lips and examining her friend.

"What?" Emily asked, a little confused.

"So…. what did you and Anthony get up to on your days off?" She inquired excitedly.

Emily frowned at her friend's to the point questioning, "Nothing. Why do you ask?"

"Sweetie, no one comes to work looking like you do this morning without it being something to do with a man…. Or woman…. Or whosoever you chose to do the horizontal jig with."

"Looking like me?" Emily's tone suddenly a little higher in defence.

"Yes you. Your eyes are bright, your face flushed and you have the biggest grin on your face….. Plus your hair is a mess, if you don't mind me saying. In a rush were you?"

Emily shook her head dismissively and began to walk away cursing herself for not checking herself in the mirror before leaving Derek's place this morning.

She knew she was being followed however, by the tap tap tap of Garcia's heels behind her.

"Er no lady…." The voice rang out behind her, "…. You don't get away that easily. What did Anthony do to you this morning? I need to know gory details." The techie said, leaning into Emily and lowering her voice.

Emily chuckled, "He didn't do anything. Actually, we split up."

Garcia grabbed hold of the brunette's arm, halting her. "Why?" Her tone both concerned and surprised.

Emily shrugged nonchalantly, "It just wasn't going anywhere."

"And you're ok?" Garcia asked, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah I'm good Garcia. Thank you."

"Ok. So now I am confused though." The techie stated.

"Confused about what?"

"Something made you all glowy this morning. Whatever it is you've had, I want some."

Emily couldn't help but chuckle thinking back to her magic medicine this morning…. One healthy dose of Derek Morgan in the shower.

"What are you laughing at?" Garcia asked, smirking as something had clearly tickled her friend.

"Nothing." Emily lied.

"You're hiding something." Garcia accused.

"No…." Emily began, shaking her head, "… I'm just happy to be free again."

Garcia squinted at her friend with suspicion, "Ok. Fair enough. You can tell me about it later."

"So we got a case?" Emily asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. Everyone's waiting at the roundtable."

"We better get going then." Emily said, holding one hand out in front of her, indicating for her blond friend to go ahead of her and she followed on behind.

"Nice of you to join us." Hotch said dryly, without looking up from his papers, as the ladies entered the room.

"Sorry sir…." Garcia said, shuffling her files on the table, "…. We were just talking about what Emily was up to this morning to make her so bright and breezy."

Everyone's eyes shot to Morgan who began choking, trying desperately not to spit his coffee all over the table.

Hotch's brow furrowed, "Yes, well I'm sure that's very interesting, but we need to get started on this case. You ok Morgan?" The Unit chief asked, as the younger Agent was still trying to clear his throat.

Morgan nodded, with his hand over his mouth and glanced sidewards toward Emily who purposely avoided his glare.

"Ok Garcia, What have we got?" Hotch asked, grabbing the room's attention.

"This is Calvin Harris…." She started pointing to the screen, "….and Trey Forrester, both fifteen, both found dead found dead last night by a dog walker in Rock Creek Park."

"Both from the same school?" Emily asked.

"Yes…" Garcia replied, "…. Cleverly High in Park View District here in Washington."

"Anything from the post mortems yet?" Rossi inquired.

"Both killed by strangulation however they think Calvin Harris was killed approximately two days before Trey Forrester."

Reid frowned, "So were they both reported missing?"

"Yes. Harris a week ago, Forrester four days ago."

"So what makes this a FBI case?" Morgan asked.

"Strictly speaking it's not, however a third boy, Michael Whittaker, was reported missing two days ago. The three boys belonged to a gang from the school and there had been rivalries with another gang at the same school for the past few months that have been escalating. The local cops are asking for help in interviewing some of the gang members. The whole of the school has clammed up. No one will say anything. They thought your expertise may give them a break."

"Ok. Pretty straight forward…." Hotch started, "… We'll split into pairs. JJ and I will start with the teachers. Get as much background on the youths as we can. Prentiss you pair up with Rossi. Reid with Morgan. Take one gang each. Garcia you start getting background on as many as you can…." He began to stand up, "…..Let's get to work."

As they all stood, Morgan looked toward Emily, "Hey Prentiss, can you just come to my office. I need you to sign of some case papers real quick. The deadline was today."

"Sure. No problem." She replied, following him out.

He stood inside the doorway of his office, letting Emily pass him by.

"What are you doing?" She asked, watching him shut the door behind her.

"What did you tell Garcia about this morning?" He almost whispered, ignoring her question, and walking to stand in front of her.

Emily laughed, "Look at you mister paranoid."

"Emily…" He scolded.

"Ok… I didn't tell her anything. She just thought I looked a little…. Flushed and glowy this morning. She wanted to know why." She said with a shrug.

"Flushed and glowy…?" He chuckled, raising his brow. "….That's a good thing right?"

"Well yeah. But she assumed it was something to do with Anthony."

"So what did you tell her?"

"I told her we split up of course."

He stared at her with a growing smirk for a few seconds and then took a step towards her, "Ok… So would you like to feel flushed and glowy a bit more?"

A breathy laugh escaped from the back of her throat and she couldn't stop the grin creeping across her face, "What do you mean?"

"I missed you the past few weeks. How about staying with me for a couple of days? Make up for some lost time" He smiled, taking another step and slipping his hands around her slim waist and under her jacket.

"Derek, we're not supposed to be doing this here…." She feebly objected, making no attempt to free herself from him.

He grinned, ignoring her last words, "Well?"

"We're on a case." She said, her coy smile betraying her protesting words.

He leant in and nuzzled into her neck, "We're not away on a case though. It's different." He mumbled in between soft kisses.

She closed her eyes and took a long breath in, allowing herself to take in the feel of his feasting lips…. But only for a few seconds.

She placed her palms around his strong forearms and gently parted their bodies, "Ok…" She smiled, "….I'll come and stay. But I doubt we'll be getting much home time until we find this kid anyway."

"Let's go find him then." Morgan grinned, breaking away from her entirely, grabbing his bag from his desk and hurriedly leading the way out.

~~CM~~

The team made little progress the first day. They learned plenty about each gang, but were no closer to finding the missing boy. Derek and Emily finally made it past his front door at half past midnight. They were too exhausted to talk and that familiar guilt of allowing themselves to rest knowing the boy was still out there - may be alive, may be dead – preventing them from having any thoughts other than how they were going to solve this case first thing in the morning.

Emily shred all of her clothes and just let them fall on Morgan's bedroom floor before crawling naked under the single sheet. She was pretty much asleep before her head hit the pillow and just a few minutes later, Morgan dropped his towel right by her pile of clothes after showering and slowly crept under the sheet with her. He pressed his naked chest up against her back and wrapped his arms around her like it was the most natural thing in the world. That kind of comfort was all they needed tonight.

The following day was the polar opposite. By mid afternoon, Rossi and Emily had managed to crack one of the younger boys. He told them the leader of the murdered boy's gang had turned on them as they tried to break away, so he had taken matters into his own hands and attempted to set up his rivals.

Michael Whitaker was found alive and well and the captor now was now behind bars. They went home that night a little more full of pep and enjoyed a bottle of wine and take out.

~~CM~~

The next couple of days there were no cases, so they had the evenings to themselves. He took her to her favourite restaurant the first night and afterward they strolled along the moonlit river in the fresh, crisp air, as they had done so many times before. She wasn't sure at which point it happened, but by the time they got back to Morgan's SUV, somehow their little fingers and become intertwined.

The second day after work, she didn't even manage to get her jacket off as they entered his place, before he scooped her up and carried her, caveman style to his bedroom. Something he had been waiting for since the moment he had woken up. They spent the rest of the day and evening as one sweaty mass of flesh, exploring every single inch of one another until exhaustion set in and they fell fast asleep.

In the morning, she was the first to open her eyes to the stream of sunshine breaking through the window. He was lay behind her, his chest against her back and his arms around her….. That's how they always seemed to sleep.

As she lay in his arms, she stared out of the window where she saw the familiar family of blue jays that nested in the trees just outside of his bedroom window.

She was happy. She was content and she smiled, knowing she hadn't felt like this in a long time…. Not with Anthony. Not with Charlie. Not with Gregory. Not with anyone but the dark man lay next to her.

She turned her body so she was facing him, not leaving his embrace and he opened his eyes slowly, a big grin creeping across his face as his eyes focused on her. He sleepily pouted his lips until they met hers, too lazy to move his head towards her. She smiled into their kiss, wrapping her arms around his waist, his skin feeling as if it were on fire.

"We have to get up." She mumbled into his mouth without parting their lips.

A groan escaped from the back of his throat and he rolled onto his back, Emily rolling with him, and snugly fitting into the crook of his arm, her cheek resting on his strong chest.

They both began to doze again, but then it happened…. Just as it happened so many times before; Morgan's cell buzzed. He reached over and picked it up, squinting to look at the screen, but she saw it first. As she read the name 'Katie' she felt her stomach begin to tighten. He quickly replaced the cell on the side and pulled the brunette closer into him, but he felt her go rigid. He knew she had seen.

They wouldn't talk about it though. They never did…...

Instead, they got up in awkward silence, and there was minimal conversation as they got ready.

She was glad when she escaped out of his place and was in the safe confines of her own car on the way to Quantico.

~~CM~~

"So you have plans for this weekend JJ?" Reid asked the blond who was huffing and puffing about the mundane paperwork they had done for two days straight.

"We're taking Henry up to Will's parent's for a couple of days. We haven't been for ages. You?"

Emily buried her head as far as she could into her files, dreading the same question being directed at her soon. The only thing she had planned was a dinner and movie night with Derek and as natural as their lying had become, it still jarred her every time she did it.

But she was grateful when she heard an unfamiliar voice interrupt the conversation.

"Excuse me…"

Emily looked up and the timid voice was coming from someone Emily thought she recognised, but couldn't place.

"Yes?" Emily answered the petite brunette with a smile.

"Errr, do you know where Agent Morgan is?"

"Have you tried his office?" Emily offered.

"Yeah. He's not there."

"Ooh there he is." Reid called out, pointing to the dark profiler who was walking towards them.

It took him a second to notice the young admin clerk stood at the desk talking to his friends, but it was too late to turn and walk in the opposite direction and too late to stop the panicked expression on his face.

He forced a small smile toward the girl who was grinning at him, "Derek." She beamed excitedly, earning a smirk from Reid and a raise of the brow from JJ towards Emily, who attempted to look amused.

"Hey Katie…." He muttered, coming to a standstill a couple of yards from her, shoving his hands in his suit pant pockets. "…What's up?"

Emily felt her breath catch in her throat and her face start to burn up. She just wanted to walk away, but was frozen to the spot.

"Well…" Katie smiled, lowering her voice a little and taking a small step toward him, "…. You, promised me a date remember?" She flirted.

Derek quickly glanced around his friends; Reid stood staring at them both with no sense of subtlety. JJ was desperately trying to keep a giggle in and he just caught Emily's eye before she looked downward back toward her paperwork.

"I erm…." Derek started, his palms getting increasingly sweaty.

"You should go to that Mexican place….."

Everyone turned to face Emily who was looking at Katie, desperately avoiding eye contact with Derek, "… that one down town I told you about."

She then couldn't help but look at Derek who was stood with a furrowed brow and a look of disbelief on his face. As his eyes widened towards her, she averted his gaze once again to her desk.

"Well?" Katie asked, turning back to face the profiler who bit his bottom lip and forced another smile.

"Sure, I'll come up and see you to arrange a time. I don't know my schedule right now."

"I do. You're free on Thursday." Reid interrupted with a look of someone pretty pleased with themselves. It soon disappeared however, as Derek turned and scowled at him.

Reid held one finger up, "Or may be I'll just sit down here and leave you to it." He muttered as he sat down slowly and bowed his head into his files.

"I'll come up and see you." Derek said turning to the brunette.

"Ok." She replied cheerily, turning and making her way out of the bullpen.

Derek continued his stare on Emily until he heard JJ's tone, "Well Derek Morgan sure has a little admirer."

He turned to look at the blond who was smirking again.

"C'mon Morgan, it's not like you to be all coy." JJ teased.

"I'm not JJ." He uttered, straining to keep his temper under control.

"She's cute." JJ chuckled.

"Whatever….." He waved away, "… I've got work to do."

He glanced back to Emily as if he were expecting her to say something else, but she just stared at him, her dark eyes wide.

He slightly shook his head and she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes just before he turned away and walked back toward his office slowly.

~~CM~~

For the rest of the working day Morgan locked himself away in his office and didn't come out once until it was time to go home…. Home….. The place he'd spent the last few days so happy and in a split second she had managed to break it all down…..

She cursed herself as she drove back to Morgan's place for leaving her stuff there that morning. What she wanted to do was speed home and forget the day since leaving Morgan's place that morning, with a big glass of red wine. But she knew it wasn't going to be that simple…..

"What the hell was that all about?" Morgan spat out, them reunited in his lounge
"What?" She asked, playing dumb.

"Telling me where to take Katie out on a date."

"I wasn't telling you. I was just suggesting."

"Suggesting…" He laughed sarcastically. "…But why?"

"Because I didn't want you to feel that you couldn't say yes to her because I was there."

He didn't respond at first. She could see his jaw was tense. All she just wanted was for him to say he wasn't interested in Katie. That he wouldn't be taking her out. That's all she wanted. But she knew that wouldn't come. They were as stubborn as each other.

"So you're ok with me going out with her?" He asked, his eyes sad and screaming for her to say no.

"It doesn't matter does it?" She whispered, picking at her fingernails.

"What do you mean?" His voice softening.

"I can't tell you who you can and can't go out with. That's always been the deal."

He swallowed, watching her with her head slightly bow, "The deal…..?" He repeated, the words were soft and broken at the end.

"Yeah. You can date who you want and so can I." She stated.

This was her defence mechanism…. Get in there first.

As she pushed him towards this other woman, one conversation with Reid, just a few months after she joined the BAU, resonated in her head telling her this was the right thing to do;

"Where's Morgan?" Emily asked as Reid climbed into the back seat of the SUV, bandage wrapped around his head.

"He's still inside."

"Well I wish he'd hurry up. I'm starving." She complained.

"I wouldn't bank on that. He was deep in conversation with one of the nurses. He just ignored me." Reid said a little sorry for himself.

Emily frowned, ignoring Reid's whining, "Talking to one of the nurses? About what?" she asked.

"Well, you know I'm no expert on these kind of things, but I think they were, what you people call, flirting."

Reid chuckled at his own joke as Emily's stared at the entrance to the hospital, willing Morgan to emerge.

"Do that a lot does he?" Emily inquired, attempting to appear as if she were just making conversation.

"Do what?" The young doctor asked.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Flirt." She spat out, a little more aggressively than she had intended.

She watched him shrug his shoulders through the rear view mirror, "Don't know really. But you know Morgan, easy come easy go. He's not one for relationships."

"So he's never had a proper girlfriend?"

"Nope…." Reid started, fiddling with the bandage, "…..Not since I've known him anyway."

"Why do you think that is?"

"He says he isn't ready for anything serious…." Reid chuckled, "… I don't know if Derek Morgan ever will be."

Emily knew she should stop her line of questioning, but right now, she just couldn't help herself. She'd heard snippets of his reputation around Quantico, but had never really seen evidence of it herself…. Of course, apart from what they had been up to over the past few months she had known him.

"So, has he dated many girls at work?" She couldn't stop.

"No…." Reid said very sure of himself, "… Morgan said he'd never date a girl that carried a gun."

"Oh…." She almost whispered, spotting Morgan walking towards them.

And that's when the battle with herself started. That one small conversation had convinced her all of these years that they could never be more than just friends with benefits.

And Morgan… well Morgan didn't want to push her. He was afraid if he did he'd lose her forever and that, he couldn't bear.

They'd rather have part of each other than nothing at all. So they would keep going round and round in circles, believing they were seeking what they truly wanted with others, but never really giving hose others a true shot…

To be continued…..

I feel like this chapter sucks… I just want them to be together, but it's going to be a bumpy road… you think you can handle it? ;) Next we will see how they both deal with the 'Katie' situation…. Any feedback or ideas greatly appreciated