It wasn’t often that Fran Morgan got the chance to visit her son in DC so when they got the chance, she and her two daughters always jumped at the opportunity. It was the reason they were currently deplaning, stepping into Washington’s Regan National Airport. And the feelings racing through the mother of three were an interesting mixture of nervousness and excitement. Derek had called the previous night apologizing profusely for not being able to make it to the airport to pick her up. But Derek Morgan wasn’t the type to just leave his mother in the airport. He sent someone else, a name Fran recognized immediately:
Penelope Garcia.
Her son talked about the eccentric technical analyst more than often. Sure, he talked about the other members of his team and often even spoke of both JJ and Emily Prentiss with affection. However, that affection often mirrored the affection with which he spoke of his sisters. Penelope, on the other hand, got a different kind of warmth, one that set off every parental radar in Fran’s mind. She was excited to meet the only woman Fran had ever known to capture her son’s heart so completely.
Now came the part that made Fran nervous: finding a woman she’d never met.
“Mrs Morgan?”
Fran spun to find a blond woman who could only be Derek’s Penelope. She recognized the other dark haired woman that accompanied Penelope. “Agent Prentiss.”
Prentiss smiled broadly. “Mrs Morgan. And please, it’s Emily.”
Where Fran had been apprehensive and terrified the first time she’d met Emily Prentiss, she felt more at ease to be meeting her again on a more personal level. “Then please, call me Fran. You remember Sarah and Desiree?”
Emily nodded and smiled, shaking hands with both young women.
Fran turned her attention to Penelope. “And you must be Derek’s Penelope. I’m so glad to finally meet you.”
Penelope was blushing bright red. ‘Derek’s Penelope’? “Me too,” she agreed shyly.
“You’re Penelope Garcia?” Sarah asked turning her attention to her mother and her companion. She ran her eyes from top to bottom. “He did not do you justice.”
Penelope glanced at Emily as the latter snickered. Fran brought her attention back to the Morgans.
“I can’t thank you enough for everything you do for my Derek. He probably would have burned out long ago if it wasn’t for you.”
The cursed blush was back. “I think you give me too much credit, ma’am.”
“It’s Fran,” she corrected firmly.
Emily could see Penelope was right flustered and couldn’t stop her grin. The vibrating on her hip brought her attention to her phone.
Where are you?
Her eyebrows knit. She’d mentioned the airport the previous day. Picking up Morgan’s family with Garcia. I left my work on my desk if that’s what you’re looking for.
“Everything okay?” Penelope asked, well aware of the demands of the bat phone.
“No idea,” Emily responded, trying for a reassuring smile. “We should probably get going anyway.”
Morgan’s family?
That’s why he looked like he wanted to kill you when you asked him and Reid to go to Richmond for the custodial interview.
Sarah and Desiree took one of Penelope’s arms each. The blond looked a little overwhelmed as both women starting chattering at once. Fran kept pace with Emily.
“Derek said you were injured?”
Emily blinked. She’d assumed Derek talked about Penelope, but not about her. “Almost a year ago,” she agreed.
Fran nodded. “And Penelope?”
The question now made sense. “She and Derek really… bonded over that.”
“He was terrified for her,” Fran said. “I hadn’t heard him that frantic in a long time.”
Emily sure what to say to that. “They’re close.”
“My son is dense.”
Emily laughed.
“And what about Penelope?” Fran inquired.
Emily could feel an idea forming in the back of her head. It would be cruel, but it could give both Emily and JJ a chance to gain some insight on Derek as well as Penelope’s view on it. “That’s a better question to ask her.”
Fran knew a plotting tone when she heard one. She had three kids. “What did you have in mind?”
“Penelope, JJ and I are taking the afternoon off to have a girl’s afternoon because things have been slow around the office. Why don’t you join us?”
Fran considered the invitation. She was there to see her son, but the opportunity was oh-so tempting. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Nonsense,” Emily replied, a gleam in her eye.
Fran had a feeling Emily was a kindred spirit in her battle to find Derek someone special. She felt herself beginning to smile. “I’m sure Derek won’t mind.”
All six women met at Emily, JJ and Penelope’s favourite spa for manicures and pedicures. Sarah and Desiree were anxious to get started. Fran was anxious to understand Penelope. She and Emily managed to manipulate it such that Penelope sat between Fran and JJ. JJ could provide comfort for Fran’s inevitable interrogation.
Fran spent the first twenty minutes or so simply observing the interaction between the other five women. As the eldest and mother figure, these were things she noticed. Emily, for example, was perfectly content the way she was an in her life, even if her fingers continued to fly over the keys of her phone. Fran would bet money on the other end of the texting conversation. She had noticed something different between Agent Hotchner and Emily when they’d been in Chicago almost three years ago.
Penelope was anxious, though Fran knew the presence of her friends made her animated at the very least. The other agent, JJ, on the other hand, was battling with something. She could see it in the woman’s eyes and in the quiet way she conducted herself. The blond hadn’t said much unless she’d been directly spoken to. JJ was internalizing something.
“Is everything okay, JJ?” Fran asked softly.
Penelope turned on her friend. “Jayje?”
JJ tried for a smile, but now that Penelope and Emily were looking for it, JJ knew they’d both see that it didn’t meet her eyes. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s something,” Penelope declared. “You’ve been quiet all day.”
“I’m just thinking, is all,” JJ replied. “I’ve got a couple of press releases to do for a few of…”
Fran arched her eyebrow. Press releases didn’t make beautiful, kind women like JJ look like their cat died. She made a mental note to corner her about it later. Sometimes it helped when it was a third person.
“I thought we weren’t talking about work,” Emily spoke up, leaning her head back, her hands and phone limp in her lap.
“We’re not,” JJ agreed immediately. In her mind, work meant Reid and if they weren’t talking about work, then Reid was off limits too. At least that was her thinking.
“The men aren’t off limits though,” Emily said. They couldn’t be, if they were going to get anything out of Penelope.
JJ winced.
Emily’s eyes gleamed.
“Is there something wrong with that?” Penelope asked innocently.
“No,” JJ said on a sigh. “Not at all.”
“Oh my God!” Penelope exclaimed suddenly, shocking everyone in the room. “New Years!”
“What?” Emily asked sitting up. “What about New Years.”
“When our girl here up and disappeared! The good doctor went after her!” Penelope exclaimed. “I just remembered.”
JJ’s bright red cheeks and panicked expression spoke for her.
“What happened?” Desiree asked, jumping on the band wagon. She remembered Dr Reid from Chicago and she couldn’t seem to think of it as that long of a stretch.
“He kissed me.”
Emily and Penelope’s jaws dropped. Spencer Reid didn’t strike them as the type to make the first move. Emily had had her money on Penelope and Derek figuring things out before JJ and Reid did.
“That’s a good thing, is it not?” Fran asked.
JJ sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted honestly.
“Of course it’s a good thing! Now you know where you stand with our geekily gorgeous doctor,” Penelope replied. She was really just thankful things hadn’t turned to Derek.
“We haven’t talked since.”
Emily cocked her head to the side. She hadn’t even noticed. “What are you going to do?”
“The same thing we all do,” JJ responded. “Keep going.”
“Because that’s worked oh so well for Penelope,” Emily said sarcastically.
“Hey, we’re not talking about me.”
“But we should be,” Sarah argued with a secretive smile. The sisters had mainly stayed out of JJ’s issues more because they didn’t really know the woman. Penelope, on the other hand, was someone they very much wanted to get to know. “So tell me, has Derek finally gotten around to asking you out?”
“I’m not Derek’s type,” Penelope said, trying to bow out of the subject gracefully.
“Yeah right, you’re not his type! Derek doesn’t have a relationship ‘type’,” Desiree responded. “They boy will date anything with a skirt, but the woman who can get him to settle down is one hell of a woman.”
“He’s been in love with you for ages,” Sarah agreed. “He’s just being dense. You’re going to have to slap him up the back of the head to get him to pay attention.”
“Or just jump him,” Desiree agreed with a shrug.
Penelope laughed, though the sound was forced. “He doesn’t want me.”
“That’s not true!” Sarah exclaimed passionately.
Fran shot a look at both of her girls that told them to back off. “Why not?”
Penelope’s eyes opened wide. “How could he?”
“Because you are a beautiful person,” Fran answered, taking Penelope’s hand. “He adores you, Penelope. When you were in the hospital I thought I was going to have to come out here to keep him sane.”
“He told you he loved you,” JJ spoke up softly.
“What?!” Sarah and Desiree exclaimed simultaneously.
Fran shushed them. Her heart was soaring at the thought. “Is that true?”
Penelope nodded slightly, looking completely embarrassed.
The oldest Morgan squeezed Penelope’s hand to get her complete attention. “Derek has a fantastic heart, but he keeps it all locked away. He’s never told anyone outside of the three of us that he loved them. Never, Penelope. He is very careful about who he trusts and who he allows in his life. I know my son and he has never said anything he doesn’t mean.”
“He didn’t mean romantic love,” Penelope said softly. Those words had haunted her for weeks and weeks, months and months. To this day, they still haunted her because she’d meant more, even if he didn’t.
“Honey, Derek doesn’t trust anyone like he trusts you.”
“He didn’t tell me he played football. He didn’t tell me he had a juvenile record,” the blond pointed out, shuffling through nail colours for her toes.
“His childhood is not something Derek often wants to remember,” Desiree said softly. “A lot of things happened that he wasn’t proud of.”
“He’s not ready to settle down,” Penelope argued.
“He hasn’t found that woman,” Fran contradicted. She sighed. “Penelope, I love my son, but he doesn’t always make decisions that are good for him. He thinks of everyone else before he will ever think of himself. He is a very, very private person. But, Penelope, there is one consistent thing in each and every one of our weekly conversations, and that’s you.”
Penelope’s head was reeling. It was a lot to take in and a lot to process. “I can’t.”
JJ snorted. “Now you know my predicament.”
“You guys just need to take a risk,” Emily reasoned. “Jump and never look back.”
“This from the woman who didn’t make the first move herself,” Penelope pouted.
Emily, much to everyone’s surprise simply shrugged. “I didn’t kiss him first, no, but I did fall asleep in his bed first.”
“He made the first move in inviting you to stay at his place while you recovered,” JJ argued. “Still his move.”
“And Reid made the first move for you,” Emily pointed out, tucking her phone in her pocket. Aaron could wait while she got her fingernails done. “Ball is in your court, Jayje. What are you going to do?”
“I thought we were talking about Derek and Penelope,” Desiree butted in, bringing the focus back to the point of the Morgans coming along to begin with.
“Derek Morgan dates a specific type of woman,” Penelope began. “He stayed with me because he is my friend and I was injured…”
“Like Emily stayed with Hotch, right,” JJ agreed sarcastically.
“But he and I…”
“Have faith,” Fran interrupted with soft conviction. “A mother knows, Penelope, and this mother definitely knows her son. He is in love with you and he probably always has been. You just need to show him you love him back.”
“I’ve tried.”
“I’m sure you have, but Derek is dense,” Fran replied, quoting her daughters. “He takes more time than the average person to see what’s right in front of his nose. Be patient with him. He’ll come around.”
Emily used her key to let herself into Aaron’s house that night after they’d sent Fran, Sarah and Desiree back to Derek’s house. He was in the dining room, his back arched over files upon files. She shook her head affectionately as she set her bags down and made her way over to him, sliding her hands over his t-shirt clad shoulders.
“Hey,” he greeted softly and absently.
She allowed her hands to start rubbing at the tense muscles beneath her palms. “Hey.”
“How was your afternoon?” Aaron asked, his concentration wavering with Emily’s massage.
“Informative.”
“Oh?”
Emily felt a smile creeping over her face. “Let’s just say we might not be the only ones guilty of fraternization soon.”
Aaron didn’t need to know who she was talking about. “It’s not technically fraternization,” he pointed out. He’d come to terms with the fact that what he and Emily were doing was against FBI regulations and it became easier to talk about afterwards. “They aren’t on the same team.”
“True,” she acquiesced, her hands still moving on his shoulders, starting to stroke up his neck. “Still.” People often saw relationships with people who worked together as fraternization, even if it technically wasn’t. JJ and Reid was another relationship like that. They weren’t technically on the same team, so there were loopholes in the fraternization policy to deal with that, but the perception of if would be that it was against policy.
“And the Morgans?”
“Fantastic people,” she said, smile obvious. “Fran has a way of getting through to people I’ve never seen before, even with us. Did you know Reid kissed JJ two months ago? New Years.”
“I assumed something happened,” he answered. “They’ve been acting oddly.”
“You take the fun out of it,” she pouted. “How did I not see it?”
“You and Gideon are the only two people I know with a better poker face than Spencer Reid,” Aaron answered, setting down his pen and flipping the file closed. There was no use in bothering when Emily wasn’t working. They both had intense concentration when they wanted too, but they’d also developed the ability to distract the other without much effort.
“But JJ…” Emily said shaking her head. “How did I miss JJ?”
“She’s been avoiding the bullpen,” Aaron answered, tilting his head back to meet her gaze. “That was my first clue.”
Emily shook her head, allowing Aaron to lead her around the chair to straddle his lap. “I see her for lunch so I guess I just didn’t notice.”
He hummed and leaned in to kiss her.
She sighed happily as they pulled away. “That’s such a better ‘hello’.” She looked over her shoulder at the files. “You brought work home?”
“Signing off on case files,” he answered. “Nothing strenuous.”
Emily snorted inelegantly. “In our job everything is strenuous,” she retorted smartly. “Come on, we’ll watch a movie. I have a terrible craving for popcorn.”
Homicide Detective Nick Shaw shook his head as he glanced down at the body of Michelle Pegeen. The twenty-nine year old had been in her final year as a street cop, preparing herself to qualify for the forensics team. He colleagues had spoken highly of her when they’d been investigating her disappearance three weeks prior.
She was the third dead cop they’d found.
His superiors were breathing down his neck to bring down this cop killer. Nick was at the end of his rope. They had no leads. They couldn’t find anything in common between the women, except that they worked in law enforcement. None of them ever shared the same superior and never even shared a department.
He sighed as his phone rang. “Detective Shaw.”
“Hello detective, this is Agent Jareau calling from Quantico.”
Hope soared in his chest.
“We’ll be presenting the case to the team this morning. We should be there by late afternoon.”
He felt a relieved smile cross his face, the first smile he’d shown since the case had begun. “Thanks Agent Jareau. Thank you so much.”