Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Limited outdoor comfort

Darling had a complex relationship with the outdoors.

She loved it, she craved it, she felt at home in it.

But at the exact same time she despised it; she feared it, she wanted nothing to do with it.

Morgan found this out later on in their friendship on the fourth day of their road trip a few months after he joined the BAU.

There wasn't a motel for miles, it was getting to sunset and she had convinced him to go hiking all day to find a waterfall spring area she swore google maps said was there.

They wouldn't make it down to their car and get the camping tent, of which Morgan luckily had the smarts to pack before he rushed out on this more than last minute trip, before dark if they continued to go up the cliff Darling seemed hell bent on reaching the top of.

"Come on Darl- it's so hot, can't we just turn back and accept that your googling skills might not be as good as you think they are?" Morgan peeled up his top slightly, wishing desperately they would find this body of water he was getting more convinced was a fake yelp review just so he could cool off from the middle of summer heat that was burning even as sunset grew.

"Stop being an impatient goose, it's around here somewhere, you just gotta- holy moly-" Darling turned to brush him off, almost tripping over her own footing when she sat him dabbing his sweaty forehead with the bottom of his shirt, revealing an equally as gleaming set of abs she didn't quite realise he had.

She had seen him shirtless before at pool parties and summer barbeques his family threw- but they were teenagers then, and although he had always been toned and undoubtedly muscular, he had never looked like that before.

His physic was something like a carved Greek god's statue compared to what Darling had somehow thought it would be- not that she had thought about it too much of course...

Or maybe it had always been like this and she had squashed any thoughts about it when they entered her mind when she caught a glimpse of his biceps threatening to burst out of the seams of his t-shirts or how his thighs looked strong enough to crush a person's head with a simple squeeze.

"You okay?" Morgan lowered his shirt with a confused eyebrow raise at her wide eyes and suddenly darkened cheeks that she cleared her throat in attempt to hide.

"Y-yeah, yeah of course- never better, great, so good" she nodded, turning and mouthing 'oh my god' to herself at the memory of a half shirtless Morgan she didn't couldn't quite get out of her head and wasn't sure why she almost didn't want to forget.

"You sure? You seem flustered- you don't have heatstroke or something do you?" The concern in his voice as he followed her certainly did not help the weird attraction that had hit her.

You're just tired, that's it- tired and warm and clearly delusional, she assured herself before smiling over at her shoulder at him.

"I'm good, just looking for this gosh darn spring- holy shit-" she took a step without looking where she was going, her foot and the rest of her threatening to fall down the hill into said body of water they were looking for- but luckily someone caught her before she could.

Morgan yanked her hand quickly, the counter balance throwing them both backwards as he stumbled back and fell to the floor- accidentally dragging her with him.

"Woah-" he laughed as they thumped onto the ground, his arms automatically wrapping around her to stop her slamming into anything else but his body as a sort of cushioning for her.