•✩•
“Hey princess.” Morgan smiled down at her as he saw her eyes flutter open.
Amari flashed him a sleepy smile and yawned, not even registering the fact that he was carrying her until he put her down gently on the bed. She sighed as she snuggled into a pillow, still not knowing what was happening. She felt him slip her shoes off and cracked one eye open.
“Hi.” She mumbled, her voice heavy with sleep.
Derek’s eyes softened at her tired state, finding her incredibly adorable as she curled herself up in a ball on the bed.
“Baby come here.” He said softly as he got in the bed and pulled her up so that she was in a sitting position. “Arms.” He tugged on the bottom of her shirt.
She hummed as she lifted her arms up and allowed him to slip her black sweater off, tossing it on the floor. He’d left his go bag in her room before they left, he’d returned to put his clothes in it and had just left it in her room, so he was able to pull out a soft shirt of his to wear.
“Arms again.” She lifted her arms up and he slipped the shirt over her head and helped her out her arms through the arm holes. “Lay down for me.” He mumbled.
She did and he unbuttoned her pants and pulled them off gently, folding them up with her sweater and placing them on top of the desk opposite to the bed. He tucked her under the duvet and got up to leave her when he heard her call out his name.
“Stay? Please?” She asked, her voice laced with fear. This case was still affecting her, even though she was still half asleep.
Derek paused, wondering whether he should. He looked over at her, his eyes running down her small frame that was drowning in his grey t-shirt. He nodded and grabbed a shirt from his bag. He quietly unclipped his gun from his holster and left it to the side as he unbuckled his belt, tossing that to the side as well. He slowly slid his jeans off and took his shirt off, slipping on the clean one and getting into bed next to her.
She reached out to him tentatively, unsure as to whether she wanted her to touch him. He grabbed her hand gently with his and let her wrap it around his waist, throwing his arm around her waist and pulling her closer towards him.
“Thank you.” She mumbled, smiling sleepily.
“Go to sleep sweet girl.” He kissed her forehead lightly. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.” He reassured her, pressing his chin against the top of her head as she buried her face in his warm chest, almost cocooning her in his embrace.
—
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, savoring the way the light streamed in through the curtains and listening solely to the beating of Derek’s heart against his chest. She lifted her head up and ran her finger gently down the side of his face, admiring how peaceful he looked, almost as if his worries had melted away, he was just a guy in a hotel room with a girl in his arms. And for a split second, that’s what they were.
Until they opened their eyes.
“Good morning.” Amari smiled lightly as he cracked one eye open.
He breathed in deeply before allowing a smile to form on his perfect face, pulling her closer to him as he did. “Hey.” He said softly, his voice deep and raspy.
Amari almost swooned at his morning voice, but composed herself and snuggled deeper into his chest, not wanting to escape his warmth and the sense of security that he gave her. Him being there was distracting her from every bad thing this world had to offer, and that was enough for her to want him to always be there. At least, she was beginning to feel that way after every second spent with him.
That feeling was short lived when her gaze left his chest and roamed around the hotel room, the events of the day before tearing its ugly head when she saw the file on the desk, next to her neatly folded pile of clothes. That must have been Derek’s doing — she didn’t remember much about last night.
“You should go before Hotch catches you.” Amari whispered after a couple of minutes had passed.
Derek’s face fell before he nodded an unwrapped himself from around her.
“I’ll see you at the jet.” He said softly before quickly getting dressed and walking silently out the door.
Amari felt bad for making him leave, but she needed to be alone. This case was a particularly bad one and there was only so much of human affection she could take before she felt smothered. She sighed before rolling out of bed and going to the bathroom, desperately needing a shower since she hadn’t had one before bed the day before.
The hot water soothed her, running rhythmically down her body, washing away all the pain and sorrow that she was feeling. In order to do her job, she had to forget about this case, move on or whatever. And that is what she did. She compartmentalized, squished every emotion she’d felt over this case into a tiny box and threw it in the deepest abyss of her mind, hoping that it would never be found again.
It worked. It always worked, but she hadn’t let herself be scared over that for a long time. Because it worked.
She met the team outside the hotel half an hour later, all of them were exhausted, mentally and physically. Like Amari, they all just wanted to go home.
“Hey Spence.” Amari grinned as she walked up to her best friend, standing on the tips of her toes to ruffle his hair.
He gasped and started smoothing down his unruly locks, desperately trying to stop it from sticking up. It didn’t work, and his hair just stayed messy, but he looked adorable like that.
“You seem to be in a better mood.” He smiled down at her as he slung his arm around her shoulder and walked with her to the car.
Amari nodded, “I just needed to sleep I guess. Thank you, I remember what you did for me.”
He kissed the top of her head affectionately, “What are friends for?”
They piled into the car, groaning loudly as Amari took the drivers seat.
“Not again.” Emily whined as she got into the back with JJ.
“Mari, maybe you should let me drive.” Spencer said quietly. “Last time, you almost drove us into a wall.”
“Let’s not forget the time she crashed into an old lady.” JJ mumbled amusingly.
Amari looked shocked as she raised a hand to her heart. “How could you not believe in me.” She said dramatically. “Also, I braked before I could hit that old lady. She was in the middle of the road and the light was green!”
“Uh huh. Come on Amari. To the back.” JJ said as she hopped out of the back seat and opened the driver’s door.
Amari rolled her eyes and slid out, joining Emily in the back. “Yes mom.” She pulled a face at JJ while her back was turned and Emily chuckled lightly.
“Just drive.” Emile told JJ when she turned to see what all the commotion was about.
JJ nodded and they entertained themselves with car games while they made their way back to the airstrip.
“Ooh I got one.” Amari exclaimed.
They were playing a word game where the last letter of the last word said is the letter the next word has to begin with. Spencer was making it increasingly difficult.
“Do tell.” Emily drawled, Amari had been telling them the different names of flowers for the past ten minutes.
“Elephant.” She said excitedly.
For some reason, the four of them had been sticking to complicated words ever since Spencer had said meningococcus at the beginning of the game. The word that preceded it was opium — the word that preceded that one was jello. Get it now?
“Oh thank god, I was scared she was going to tell us the Latin name for Daisy.” Emily teased and Amari swatted her shoulder playfully.
“Theophilanthropism.” Spencer said out of the blue.
“I’m out.” Amari sighed.
“I quit.” Emily pushed herself back into the car seat as she gazed out the window instead.
“Does that mean I win?” Spencer said excitedly.
“Yeah Spence. You win.” Amari smiled at the genius, who was laughing happily in the seat in front of her.
“Yes!” He punched the air with his fist and then immediately went back to fiddling with the book he had in his hands.
That boy really could read anywhere.
—
“Drinks! At O’ Keefs!” Garcia bounced excitedly as she met the team at the elevator. “You guys deserve it.”
Amari smiled uneasily at Garcia and Derek noticed.
“Thanks P, but I think I’m going to head home. I’m exhausted.” She rubbed her eyes tiredly.
“Count me in though.” Emily squeezed Penelope’s shoulder as she walked past her, heading for her desk.
“And me.” JJ winked at Garcia.
“I guess I’ll tag along too.” Spencer sighed, not really feeling like reading alone tonight.
Penelope turned to Hotch, Morgan and Gideon.
“I’d love to.” Gideon said after a couple of seconds.
Hotch nodded, “What could go wrong?” He spoke before he too left in the direction of his office.
It was now just Morgan. He smiled brightly at Garcia before his eyes found Amari’s dejected frame at her desk, packing all her paperwork in her bag to do at home.
“I would love to mama. But I really gotta get home, this case took a lot out of us.” He replied softly.
Penelope sighed, “It’s okay my sweet prince. I send you all my kisses.” She flashed him a huge smile and blew him a kiss as she walked away.
He laughed and shook his head as he waved goodbye at her. Derek walked over to his desk and packed up all his paperwork as well, even though he knew it wasn’t very likely he’d do it before they were back at the office.
“You going out with the rest of the team?” Amari asked him from her desk.
Derek shook his head. “I gotta girl who needs some ice cream and cuddles after the case we’ve had.”
Amari frowned, “Who?”
Derek looked around and noted that the rest of the team had vacated from the bullpen, with only Hotch and Gideon in their respective offices. He walked over to her and brought his hands up to cup her face.
“You, silly.” His eyes twinkled as he smiled down at her, kissing her tenderly for a few seconds too short.
She giggled as they separated from the kiss, blushing deeply as he pressed his forehead against hers, feeling his scent wrap around her.
“Then let’s go.” She replied softly, lacing her fingers through his.
His eyes never left hers as they stood there. Amari wondered how on earth they went from hating each other everyday to him being the one to cheer her up after a long case. Maybe it was this invisible pull that drew her to him every time she thought about leaving. Or the way his lips felt against hers; perfect. Whatever it was, she didn’t want it to end anytime soon.
And neither did he.
•✩•
it’s a little short , but I have plans for the next chapter 😉
as always, hope you enjoyed it !!
— J
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