It had been almost 30 minutes since Darling had climbed into the ceiling and Morgan hadn't heard from Reid if she was there or not.
He did not like her plan at all from the moment she said that she would be climbing through the ceiling and walls of the prison in the dark to find her way to the basement, re-wireing the circuit to release the lockdown and then getting up to Reid in time to get him out of the other exit before Charles discovered the doors were released of their locks.
Morgan didn't like the fact that the door to his room would be less secure when, and if, she could re-wire the locks for all the doors but he disliked that she would be running through a prison's walls all on her not knowing what, or who, she could run into a hell of a lot more.
"I know what I'm doing, it's all good" is all she gave him to hold onto for comfort before she left- something she quickly was realising was a lie even to herself as she crawled into the pitch black walls.
Darling didn't know where she was going, she didn't know this place, she didn't even know if she could re-wire a literal prison circuit breaker or not but she had to try- and she had finally figured out her timing which both assured and didn't assure her plan.
She knew she would be able to get Reid out in time if she could re-wire the locks, but she didn't know if she could get back to Morgan in time which was when she came up with another plan on the fly as she ran through the walls from the basement after she had surprisingly re-wired the entire prison locks to release on a timed system.
She now just had to hope her timing was right, and her persona more so.
Morgan tapped his foot impatiently as he waited almost an hour later, staring at the time on his phone since he had given Darling his watch to be able to keep an eye on the timing.
"Come on Darl, come on just let me know you're safe" he spoke into the radio to no response, the light wasn't even on but he kept trying- wishing he had paid more attention to what she was doing to re-wire it to work earlier than spending the time watching her work; how she blew her hair out of her face with adorable frustration, how held the torch in her mouth as she worked, how she looked back at him with a smile that almost knocked him off his feet whilst she asked him to get her the duct tape for the wires.
He wasn't sure why he focused on watching her all of that time, why he was breathless from her smile alone- but he didn't want to think about that now, or ever.
He just had to focus on doing what she told him to before she left.
'Stay safe for me okay sugar?'
He wished he had told her that he would, or made her promise that she would stay safe too- but all he said instead was what he always did when she said that;
"You know I hate when you call me sugar."
But at least that made her laugh, and he loved to hear her laugh.
"Reid? Darling? Anyone?" Morgan slumped down next to the radio, holding onto the metal pipe that Darling had given him and speaking into the mic even though he knew it was useless.
He paused when he looked down at the sharp end of the pipe and saw blood on the edge of it, tilting his head at it with confusion before the radio sparked to life and jumped him.
"D...Der...erk" Hotch's voice was barely audible over the static taking over the room.
"M...rga...n... hear... me?"
"Hotch?! Hotch can you hear me?!" Morgan spoke down the radio as the light flickered on and off.
"Oh th...ank...god...yo...okay?"
"I can't hear you Hotch, you're breaking up but listen to me; Darling is unlocking the doors, she's going to get Reid out and you're going to have to start a raid to-" Morgan's sentence was interrupted by an earth shattering scream on the upper floor.
"Darling?!" He looked up in a panic that grew when he heard the slamming against the door to the room he was in stop.
"She's upstairs! Let's go get that bitch boys!" J-bone ordered, their voices getting further away.
"No! Damnit, leave her alone! Don't you even think about touching her!" Morgan dropped the radio ran to the door, immediately dragging the metal unit away from it and going to snap the lock off if he had to once he dragged the giant desk from it.
"Leave that table alone you big oof, it's the only thing holding that now unlocked door up" a familiar voice a few moments later made him turn and spot Darling looking through the gap in the ceiling tile with a teasing smile down at him, "now are you going to be a gentleman and help a lady down or should I just fall and break my legs?"
Morgan couldn't help his relieved smile as he ran over, standing on a chair and reaching up to help her down.
"Phew, I did not think about the amount of spiders that would be up there-" she tried to shake the cobwebs off her but was quickly interrupted by Morgan pulling her into an urgent hug on the chair.
"Woah- careful sugar, I'm covered in cobwebs and dust" she chuckled but nestled her head into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist and letting him hold her.
"I swear to god Darling you're going to be the death of me" he couldn't help his relieved laugh before he looked down at her with a frown, "you didn't radio me when you got to Reid like you said you would."
"Yeah... sorry about that, the plan kind of went off the rails" she chuckled awkwardly, hopping down off the chair with him and bringing the shelfs and table over to block up the door which he tilted his head at.
"What happened? What was that scream up there?"
"That was me in the upper walls, lungs of an opera singer" she joked before turning to him, "don't worry, nothing made me scream- I just knew the door in here wouldn't last when I unlocked it so I had to get the creep team outside the door away from it."
"You screamed bloody murder to get them to go after you upstairs whilst you came down here? That's... that's honestly kinda genius" he stared in shock at her which she smiled at.
"Careful with those compliments or my ego will go though the ceiling tiles too."
"Wait, wait, wait- why are you back down here? You were supposed to leave with Reid and then Hotch and his raid would come and get me- that was the plan" Morgan shook his head, she tilted her head at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you really think I was going to leave you in here alone, defenceless against three psychopaths with an unlocked door? Now what kind of best friend would I be if I did that?"
"A safe one who isn't stuck in here with me now waiting to see if Hotch gets to us before the prisoners do" he rolled his eyes, "you should have gone with Reid."
"And you should shush your mush unless you want said prisoners to stop their search for me up in the infirmary and come back down to get us" she chuckled, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, resting her head back against it and letting her eyes close with a much needed sigh.
Morgan watched her for a moment before walking over and sitting next to her on the floor, "what happened?"
"What do you mean?" She opened one eye to look at him.
"You're upset about something, you do that little sigh when you're trying to hide it. Go on, tell me what happened- did someone hurt you?" He couldn't help his jaw clenching thinking about someone scaring or hurting her.
She chuckled and shook her head, "no, I'm all good. It's just..."
He nudged her arm as the silence stretched before smiling, "come on, remember rule number 3?"
Rule number three; share everything with each other; Food, laughs, secrets.
"You can't use my own rules against me again" she laughed.
"Come on, we've got some time to kill before Reid gets Hotch to start the raid- either you can tell me what's bothering you, or I'll make you play the dreaded 20 questions that you hate so much."
"You're a terrible person" she joked.
"Aren't I just?" He smiled before she sighed.
"Charles, he got into the infirmary office just as I did" she started to explain.
"Did he hurt you?" Morgan asked with a dark expression and fists clenching but she shook her head.
"He had a needle and threatened to jab Reid, now I may not be a profiler and I don't know much about Spencer but given his fear from just the medicine bottles in that room alone I think it's safe to assume he's got some kind of history with drugs?" She said, looking at Morgan who nodded- surprised at her figuring Reid's history out without any profiler knowledge.
"That's what I thought, I couldn't let Charles jab him with the needle so... so I did what he said to do."
"And what was that?" Morgan took her hand instinctively to comfort her when he saw her go to play with the hem of her top like she always did when she was nervous.
"To show him which door to break down that would lead to the stairwell so he could escape."
"And you're upset because you did that and he got away? Darling, that's not your fault-" Morgan tried to assure her but she just shook her head and kept her tear-filled gaze down as she spoke.
"No... I showed him the other door."
Morgan paused before realising what must have happened when Charles threw himself at the thin plaster wall to break it and get through to the stair exit, instead falling the 20 foot drop onto concrete.
"Oh."
"Yeah... oh indeed" Darling stared forward before Morgan brought her attention back by nudging her arm.
"Hey, it's not your fault though- that was a smart decision that anyone would have made if they thought of it, it's not your fault that he's dead" he tried to assure her but her guilt was from somewhere else, hating how she even thought to do something like that anymore, hating that she didn't question it because it was in the name of her plan.
"I think he survived" Darling spoke quietly, "but I didn't stick around long enough to see how long he survived for- I had to get Reid out of there."
"You did the right thing."
Darling looked up at him with a frown, "I might have killed a man Derek, that doesn't seem like the right thing to me."
"He's a criminal Darl, a criminal who got a lot of people killed today by starting all of this, a criminal who would have killed Reid if not for you- you did do the right thing" Morgan spoke with certainty which she paused at, looking up into his eyes and being caught there for a few moments before breaking the gaze and sighing as she led back onto the wall.
"I'm going to sleep for the next 6 months after this, spidermanning around prison wall pipes really takes it out of ya" she chuckled and seemed to brush over the pain she was feeling like usual, hiding behind humour and charm.
"How did you know how to get around back there by the way? How did you know where you were going?" Morgan could tell this but knew not too push her.
"I didn't" she lied with a laugh, "it was purely luck."
"Luck?"
"Yeah" she lied again, "I guess something had to make up for the unlucky shitshow we went through today."
He scanned her face for a moment, sensing that she was lying but not asking any other questions when he saw how tired she looked, when he could tell something else was on her mind.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked.
"Can I ask you something that I've wondered for a while now?" Darling spoke with a serious tone as she looked up at him.
"Anything" he answered almost in a whisper, anticipating a big 'last moments alive' type of question.
"Why do the team all call each other by their last names?"
Morgan couldn't help bursting out laughing at the question and how she asked it.
"Don't laugh at me, this is a super serious question that has baffled me for weeks" she chuckled and hit his arm playfully, "it's so weird that you call each other by your last names- especially yours since 'Morgan' is a first name in itself, I honestly thought that I had been calling you by the wrong name all these years for a hot moment there when I heard them all call you that."
"You're ridiculous" he couldn't help his amusement as he dragged his hand down his face to hide his wide smile, "our possible last moments on earth and that's your finale question?"
"I'm full of questions that I need to know the answer to before I die" she chuckled, "like what is the deal with airline food? I know that's a set up to a joke but seriously, what's the deal with it?"
"God I love you" he shook his head with a laugh at her before watching her for a moment as she rambled on more attempts to make him laugh whilst they waited for Hotch's raid to find them- suddenly hit with a realisation that terrified him from those words he so casually let slip out of his mouth.
Something that had been brewing all day, if he was honest it was something that had been hiding there for years, everything making sense in a suddenly horrifying way;
The jealousy when she was around other boys, the constant adoration of her, the fact that no other woman no matter who they were could compare to how beautiful he thought she was, the childish feeling he had in law school to parade girls he was 'dating' around to make her 'jealous' in a stupid way that he hated himself for and didn't understand, the way his body reacted when she was close to him, the way his heart skipped when she grabbed his arms...
It all made sense now as he said those words and that realisation made him want to jump out of the other door with Charles just to avoid the truth that he knew now and he had been automatically avoiding for years, the reason he had subconsciously pushed her away when he started work and thrown himself into it to avoid this realisation all along.
The realisation that he didn't just love Darling like they so casually always said to each other, a word that became as common as a hello and goodbye for them.
But to avoid the truth that Derek Morgan was, and always had been, hopelessly in love with his best friend.