Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Not always

"Now that was certainly interesting to watch" Garcia's teasing voice made him look out from under the covers at her stood by the inner bathroom door with a grin, "tell me everything."

Morgan avoided Garcia's prompting teasing gaze as Darling walked onto the jet after trying to convince her all morning that he did not have a 'thing' for Darling like Garcia was now constantly accusing him of- of which he most certainly did.

"Oh hey Pen, what are you doing out of the Batcave?" Darling smiled with surprise at her and took a seat next to her since Morgan had sat next to Emily the other side of the plane instead of leaving a seat for Darling next to him like he normally would.

"They occasionally let me out when they need an extra pair of hands- Rossi is off in Spain on holiday for the week" Garcia answered, unable to help her glances over at Morgan, trying to spot him checking out Darling's outfit again like she had spotted him doing when Darling entered the jet.

She was wearing a pair of yellow wide legged high waisted corduroy jeans with a simple white vintage graphic t-shirt tucked into it with a layer of dainty golden necklaces and an oversized white trucker styled 80's jacket along with a pair of 70's chunky heeled square toed boots.

Morgan almost hated her for how good she looked, hating himself more for the urge to glance at her slightly wavy, but not blown out like it usually was, hair for a little longer with how her clout sunglasses pushed her curtain bangs back.

He cleared his throat and tried to focus on Hotch who was continuing the briefing as the jet started the short flight.

"Like I mentioned before, this case is following the disappearances of three male joggers recently that the local PD think are connected to four other male jogger disappearances last year."

"Why didn't anyone flag up 4 men disappearing in the same place last year?" Emily asked.

"Because they're men in their early to mid 30s; no close family in state, no partners to report their disappearances, the police just flagged it as them skipping town" Hotch explained.

"So what's making them think it's more than that and is connected to these new disappearances?" Darling asked, noticing Hotch turn and give a unusually warm smile at her- he had been very concerned when Morgan told him everything that happened in the prison and then heard from Reid what she had to do to save him. 

He kept that concern with him as he drove her to the hospital to get her leg stitched up 5 days after the prison case when he found out she hadn't gone to get it checked out by the medics the despite her saying she was fine, a conversation being brought up by him on the way back after sussing out something about her for a few weeks and seeing her try to message her brother on the car ride who still had her blocked...

"Family isn't just blood related" Hotch broke the silence of the car ride home as Darling fiddled with the hem of Morgan's over-shirt shirt she was still wearing from the prison.

"What?" 

"You're allowed to choose your family, and you're allowed to be mad at your real family- you're allowed to hate them even" he said knowingly, glancing over at her, "you are allowed to not love certain members of your family- especially if they've hurt you."

Darling looked down at her hands fiddling with her shirt to avoid his knowing gaze.

"My father was also abusive when I was a child" Hotch spoke before she could brush over the conversation, Darling just looking over at him again with a quiet shock.