//Darling's outfit Inspo above for the latter part of this chapter//
"-Get off me you freak" Morgan burst out laughing, pushing Darling off him as she launched onto his bed.
"I have school tomorrow, let me sleep" she playfully fell limp onto him.
"We both have school tomorrow, idiot" he laughed, sitting up and pushing her up too, "and we have important school projects due- hence the reason you're here to help, instead of me being a personal bean bag for you."
"But you're such a good bean bag" she joked, brushing her hair out of her face and wiggling her legs to sit criss cross on the bed, "fiiiine then, what do you need help with?"
"The project" Morgan said as if it was an obvious statement, making Darling roll her eyes as she folded her arms.
"I know that, what part of the project do you need help with? How far have you gotten?" She shuffled over and opened his laptop, pausing at the empty word document and raising an eyebrow at him as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
"So when I said I was struggling with a part of it, I really kinda meant..."
"You haven't done any of it?"
"I've been busy!" He defended.
"Doing what? You've hung out with me almost every day the last two weeks of spring break" Darling laughed in shock.
"Yeah! Exactly, I've been busy being a good friend- if anything it's your fault that I forgot about this project that's literally due tomorrow" Morgan joked, sitting down with a sigh next to her, "seriously though... I could kinda use your help Darl."
Darling looked at him for a moment before hiding her own sigh from the fact she almost knew what he was going to ask given it was the thing that all of her classmates asked when they invited her over seemingly to 'hang out' before a big project was due after finding out about her advanced intelligence that she tried hard to hide, "you want me to do your project for you then I suppose?"
"What?" Morgan tilted his head with genuine confusion "that's so much work- I wouldn't ask you to do that."
"You... you wouldn't?"
"Of course not Darl" he chuckled at her shock, nudging her arm, "I'm your friend for more than your secret giant brain."
"My brain's not giant" she laughed, trying to brush past the flutter in her stomach of not just relief from him being almost outraged that she thought he would be using her just for her to do his work.
"Mhm, and I'm not the greatest friend in the world" Morgan said sarcastically, passing her a tub of ice-cream and a spoon he had brought as a 'thank you' for turning up on a Sunday when he knew she always usually had plans, although he wouldn't know until years later what they were.
"Cookie dough ice-cream? You sure know how to spoil a gal" she chuckled, opening the tub and taking a scoop before nudging his arm, "so what do you need me to do if not your work?"
"Okay don't laugh" he sighed, "but I need you to... uh, watch me."
Darling paused mid bite of her ice-cream and raised and eyebrow at him, "watch you?"
"Yeah, watch me work- just sort of, I don't know, stop me from not doing the whole writing thing" he said with a hint of awkwardness to his voice that Darling didn't quite understand until she realised that she hadn't known him to do school work alone before- it had always been with her or a study group he was apart of, confusing her as to why he would pull out his laptop when they would hang out at his in the evenings watching movies, now realising that it was because he couldn't concentrate when he was on his own, needing someone there to explain his thought process before he would write it down, a part of his brain that needed to be shared to be trusted.
Darling connected the dots fast and nodded as Morgan rambled an attempt at a joke that she could leave if she was bored of him, patting his arm to comfort him.
"Sorry sugar, you're stuck with me and my annoying company" she chuckled, nudging the computer to him for him to work.
"I hate when you call me sugar" he lied with a chuckle, giving her a small grateful smile.
"Hush your mush and start your project then before Mr Robbinson breaks in here and catches you in the web of lies about having the project done weeks ago" Darling teased snatching his spoon off him to take another bite of ice-cream.
"Hey- I was going to have that!" Morgan laughed.
"Ya snooze, ya lose" she smiled before looking up and thinking out loud in attempt to find a better rhyme, "loser snoozer? Snoozer loser?"
"None of those make grammatical sense" he laughed, already finding it easier to type when she was there talking to him.
"You don't make grammatical sense" she mocked as she took more spoonfuls of ice-cream, not noticing his genuine warm look over at her as he paused typing momentarily, such appreciation for her that he held onto to fight the oddest feeling in his stomach to follow the spoon to her lips with his, shaking his head at the strange thought and the even stranger awareness of how casually beautiful he thought she looked.
Her slightly oversized velvet crimson jumper was placed on top of a wrap tweed styled skirt in dust 70's colours, all paired usually with her black lace up chunky boots underneath it but now her fluffy socks took their place as she discarded her shoes immediately when entering the house despite Morgan telling her multiple times that it didn't matter if she wore them in the house.
Her hair was tossed behind her shoulders, her makeup slightly smudged under her eyes and fresh concealer on her cheekbone which revealed more about her having to sneak out of the house to meet him earlier than she would say.
"What happened to your cheek?" Morgan asked before he could stop himself, making her pause as if almost immediately knowing what he was talking about before he even glanced over at her with that knowing look of his.
"Oh I just bopped it on my desk in my room when I dropped my pen" Darling lied well, too well- but she often forgot how well Morgan knew her over the last 4 years of being friends as he raised an unconvinced eyebrow at her and got up from his desk where he had taken his laptop to, leaving it there and sitting next to her on the bed.
"Mhm, sure- and where's this one from then?" He pointed to the bruise on her upper thigh that was slightly exposed before she pulled down her skirt more.
"Stop trying to distract yourself from your work by pointing out my klutziness" she joked to brush past lying further, "have you even started your opening sentence yet?"
"I'll start my opening sentence when you tell me who hurt you" Morgan turned to her with a hint of seriousness to his voice that he couldn't hide, a hint of threat to whoever had lay a hand on her.
Darling rolled her eyes and stood up with a shrug, casually strolling across the room to where her water was sat on the dressing unit, taking a sip before speaking as she turned from him.
"Stop with the 'if they touch you I'll kill them' protective guy thing, that trope is old as hell- I don't know what to tell you Der, I'm fine" her voice was sincere, it was convincing enough to anyone- except the end of her sentence.
There was a slight waver.
A waver Morgan had never heard outright before, but now as he sat there he realised when he had heard it- every time she had said 'I'm fine' and he shouldn't have believed her, every time he saw a bruise or cut that had a perfectly put together explanation that he should have read through more.
"Darling, who's been hurting you?" Morgan stood up, the seriousness to his voice taking over.
"Ooo, stern Derek is coming out" she joked, still facing away from him as she fiddled with some papers for his project.
"Was it one of your brothers?" He continued to quiz.
"Don't be ridiculous, Tobs or Duncan could never hurt me- I'm pretty sure I could take both of their dumb-asses in a fight. Now come on- do your work-"
"Was it your boyfriend? What's-his-name?"
"One; his name is Brandon, great memory by the way- and two he's not my boyfriend, we literally kissed once ages ago-"
"Then who was it?" Morgan had gotten up and was walking over to her, "just tell me and I'll stop bothering you about it-"
"I told you, it's literally nothing-"
"I've seen more bruises on you in the last week than I have before, and that's saying something with how many bruises I usually see on you on the regular that you brush off-" Morgan walked closer, confused as to why she wasn't looking at him and going to place a hand on her shoulder but before he could, she quickly walked to the door.
"I, uh, just remembered that I was meant to meet up with some friends like half an hour ago- sorry I gotta run-" Darling rushed to grab her bag and coat, spilling her water on her jumper as she jumped up and mumbling a series of curse words and apologies as she tried to leave.
"Wait what?" Morgan followed with confusion, "don't run off Darling, I just want to make sure you're okay- you don't have to lie about having to leave, come on, we tell each other everything- let me grab you a new shirt-"
"I know, I know, and I do- I just really have to run for this group meet up-" she lied with an overly 'okay' tone, gathering her things quickly she had spilled onto the bed with her face away from him still.
"Hang on a minute, just tell me what's going on-"
"I'm fine-"
"Well you're clearly not so stop being so stubborn and just tell me-"
"Can you just like stop, I've got to go-" she suddenly snapped and tried to leave but he walked around her, noticing a shift in her voice and a genuine irritation appearing that he knew came from a place of not wanting to talk, a place he didn't like seeing her in because he knew what came next was her closing off completely.
"Hey, hey, hey- look at me Darl, you don't have to tell me if you don't want, I believe you- okay?" He placed his hands on her upper arms with a pleasant smile as he crouched down slightly to meet her eyeline, "it's fine, we don't have to talk about that if it's going to make you upset or leave."
"You just don't want me to leave because you want me here to do your work-" she mumbled, looking up with surprise at Morgan's amused laugh.
"Darling, if that was the case do you really think I'd be trying so hard to get a chatterbox like you to talk instead of just making you do my work in silence?" He raised an eyebrow at her before pushing her hair over her face in an annoying teasing way.
Darling couldn't help her slight smile at him through her hair as she nudged his arm and wondered over to the desk to look at his writing- of which he hadn't started yet.
"Scoot over, I've got work to do" Morgan nudged her to get her off the chair but she started typing.
"Let me get you started and then I'll take a nap on the comfiest bed in the world- your mom literally treats you like a Prince you know, if I was you I'd never move out" she chuckled before raising an eyebrow as she typed at a speed he almost couldn't comprehend, "why do you have your automatic font as comic sans by the way?"
"I think Desiree set it as that, I don't really use my computer" he shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed watching her- noticing now the slight hand imprint on the back of her neck as she tied up her hair out of her face to concentrate.
Morgan wasn't sure what made him think of what he said next, but he said it nevertheless.
"I've seen your bruises after your dad has come home from work trips before."
The clacking of the computer keyboard stopped for a second and Morgan thought Darling would say something, but then the typing started again.
"You don't have to say anything, and I promise to not talk about it again if you really don't want me to" Morgan added, "but I can't sit by watching you hide bruises and cuts behind turtlenecks and concealer anymore Darl. I want, no, I need you to know that you don't have to hide it from me, you don't have to lie to protect someone. If you really don't want me to say anything then fine, I won't- and you don't have to say anything- but you need to know that I am here, and I care about you enough as your friend to care that you are hurt. You're good at hiding it, but you should know that there's someone you don't have to lie to, someone you don't have to trick into thinking you're not hurt, that there's someone who doesn't want you to be hurt I guess- and someone who is still going to be here when the smiles are gone and you can't lie anymore."
There was a long moment of silence before the typing continued again and Darling cleared her throat- unsure of this new sincerity, trust and care that Morgan was trying to add into their friendship that they hadn't had fully before within their banter, a trust and care that would grow their friendship into the beautiful seemingly platonic bond that it would be for years to come.
"There, one shiny new opening paragraph done- now it's time to reward me with a nap and snacks" moments later Darling turned to him with a smile, seeming to completely brush past everything he had just said, getting up and walking over to sit on the bed where Morgan sighed and went to get up, pausing when he felt her hand on his keeping him sat there next to her even if she didn't look up at him and just stared forward.
He looked down at her, expecting to see that same fake smile that was almost convincing, but he didn't see it, he saw anything but it.
That was the first night Darling revealed a part of what living at home with her dad was like, a suspicion Morgan had already had for a while confirmed more than he would ever know.
He vowed to himself from that day on that he would do everything in his power to get her away from that place, away from that man, away from that hurt of her father and protect her in every way that he could.
"So, what do you think then?" Darling quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and gestured to the computer after a while of talking, clearing her throat and clearly wanting to change the subject.
"Of?" Morgan quizzed, wanting to get her to talk more about what happened at home since all she said at first was mostly just 'dad gets angry, sometimes drunken angry, sometimes just normal angry which is worse' as an explanation of the bruises, the reveal of the severity of more than just him hitting her slowly coming out the rest of the night as they talked more and ended up both led side by side on the bed staring up at the ceiling, hand in hand in support as Darling tried to hold back her tears.
"Your shiny new opening sentence" she turned her head to him with a cheeky grin that he couldn't help smiling at as he sat up and walked over to the computer, bursting into laughter at what she had written.
'In this essay I will be presenting the results from the test that Derek Morgan is both the worst and best person in the world with his ability to nag people until they talk to him because he has no friends...'
He turned to her with a smile at how she knew before he had even spoken that he would get her to talk, "it worked, didn't it?"
"Yes Derek, congratulations- you get an A+ in being a colossal pain in my ass" she rolled her eyes with a laugh, getting up and walking over to him, "unluckily for you- I did this project weeks ago, and I know the end result."
"And what is that?" He raised an amused eyebrow.
"Darling Dawson is far more of a pain in the ass than you are" she teased, falling limp onto him once again just to annoy him as he burst into laughter.
"-Get off me you freak" Morgan laughed, pushing Darling off of him onto his bed again years later- but this time, he fell with her.
"Stop looking at me like that" Darling chuckled up at him as he scanned her face, brushing a piece of paper out of the way from the files that were spread all around them.
"You know, there are better things we could be doing in this bed than filing out my reports" Morgan leant back onto his side next to her and looked over with a raised eyebrow as she forced the file back into his hands, led next to him and rolling her eyes with a chuckle.
"Do you think about anything other than sex?"
"When I'm with you? Never" Morgan joked, leaning towards her lips and relishing in the fact that he got to do that now; that he was led in his bed with Darling, legs intertwined together after spending most of the weekend wrapped around each other in said bed- and at some points the rest of the apartment...
"Someone's feeling energetic tonight" she laughed, "you know, when I told you I should come over and help you with your files for work, I really meant for you to do your files that you're 3 weeks behind on- it wasn't just a ploy to get into your pants."
"I don't have a problem with you trying to get into my pants" he teased, leaning forward to her ear and whispering as his hand brushed her thigh just below the hem of her yellow frilled pyjama shorts, "in fact, I quite enjoy it."
"I don't think Hotch would approve of what you're wanting to do on these files" Darling chuckled, unable to stop herself leaning forward towards him.
"I don't exactly think Hotch would 'approve' of any of this if he knew" Morgan laughed, intoxicated by her lips so close to his but noticing the amused smile falter slightly with a re-realisation that they both knew and kept remembering in-between the magic moments of this new change with them;
Hotch's rule.
Unlike Darling's 'rules' of friendship that she made Morgan agree to 17 years ago, Hotch's rule was backed by the FBI's handbook.
Although it wasn't technically against the rules to date a co-worker, it was very much frowned upon and those who seemed to try to do it ended up 'quitting' or breaking up and moving teams a few weeks later after a meeting with Hotch.
That's why Darling and Morgan hadn't had the conversation of what 'they' were now; even after almost 4 weeks had passed since that first night together, because they knew if they did label it like they both desperately wanted to and let people know, then it would be out there for people to judge, for the rules to get in the way of, for it to end.
So they were stuck in this strange stage neither of them understood, not officially 'together' like they both wanted to be, but also not not together in a kind of way; spending nights intertwined and lips locked onto the other's, but spending every other moment seemingly as they were with their usual banter and back and forth which gave a strange impression of 'friends with benefits' that neither just wanted to be.
"Well... Hotch can suck a lemon" Darling gave a cheeky smile after a moment of silence, both thinking the same thing about the dread of the situation to come but both choosing to ignore it.
"Suck a lemon?" Morgan couldn't help his amused eyebrow raise as he leaned to her, her lips placing on his before he got the chance to be the one to start the kiss.
Her hands found their way to cup his face as she rolled, still in the kiss, on top of him with her legs either side of his hips resting on her knees as he led on his back with his hands automatically placing on her hips to bring her closer to him.
"Mhm, suck a lemon" Darling said mindlessly in-between deep kisses that filled Morgan's stomach with fluttering butterflies every time she did it.
"What happened to getting back to the files?" Morgan teased as she lowered herself down towards his pyjama trousers, pausing midway down and looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.
"My apologies Mr employee of the month- I'll just let you get back to your work then, shall I?" She said sarcastically with a chuckle, playfully going to wiggle off but he pulled her back onto him with a laugh.
"Don't you dare" he teased, cupping her face and brushing the hair off her cheek as she placed her hands on his chest and looked down at him with a smile.
"And what are you going to offer me to entice me staying here then?"
"Hmm... let's see" he brushed his hands up the back of her thighs underneath her shorts slowly, making Darling's eyes widen and a shocked but amused expression appear on her face that Morgan couldn't help wanting to kiss all over to savour.
"That's certainly a compelling offer" she chuckled, leaning down towards his lips but just skimming them at the last minute to go to his ear with a whispering tease.
"What else have you got sugar?"
Morgan wasn't sure why or what that sparked inside of him, but from the shocked laughter from Darling when he flipped her onto her back under him suddenly, it she enjoyed that spark too.
Morgan couldn't help his smile down at her as he scanned her face.
"What are you looking at you freak?" She asked, automatically pulling his shirt towards her to try to get to his lips.
"You're just so beautiful" Morgan spoke with a sense of sincerity and earnesty that made Darling pause for a moment, the compliment meaning more to her than she could ever express.
"You're not so bad looking yourself sugar" she cleared her throat and smiled up at him with a teasing tone to cover up how affected she was by his casual but sincere compliment.
"Wow, you should be a professional compliment giver" he joked, leaning down to her lips as her hands wrapped behind his neck again- which was when Morgan noticed the cut on her upper forearm as her oversized t-shirt sleeve rolled up.
"Hey, what's this?" Morgan pointed at the relatively fresh, quite deep cut, pulling away from the kiss slightly and taking her wrist gently to look at her arm.
"Huh?" Darling opened her eyes, dazed by the kiss and wanting more before realising what he was looking at and the fact she hadn't bandaged it up.
"Oh shoot- I, uh, snagged it at work yesterday" she didn't technically lie, she had 'snagged' it at work in a way, except it wasn't her snagging it.
"We didn't have work yesterday" Morgan pointed out, confused at how he didn't notice the cut before since they had been together the morning and most of the day before Darling got a call and had to leave for the night with an excuse of having to pick up Addie from a sleepover when in fact she was heading into work- of which was meant to be a secret.
Shit.
Darling had forgotten that she wasn't meant to tell him- which was hard considering they usually told each other everything in their friendship, or were supposed to.
"Uh, yeah I know- I just had to run back in after picking up Ads to drop off some files for Hotch and caught my arm on the filing cabinet" she lied quickly, surprising herself with the lie and more so that she hadn't originally thought of a lie to cover up her arm injury before now- clearly knowing that Morgan would see it given how much of each other they had been seeing lately.
Morgan raised an unconvinced eyebrow at her, going to say something but the doorbell rang to both of their surprise.
"How many people did you send an invite to my bedroom filing 'meeting'?" Morgan raised a teasing eyebrow that Darling rolle her eyes at with a chuckle.
"The whole team- you're down for that, right?" She joked, standing up as Morgan got off the bed and helped her stand up, smiling at her pyjamas that consisted of one of his old oversized t-shirts he had given her years ago back in high school when she came to his to help him study and ended up spending the whole night helping him after he gave her a top to wear and convinced her to talk to him about her dad.
"You kept the shirt" he couldn't help saying with a warmth in his stomach of her in his oversized ET film faded white t-shirt.
"What?" She turned to him from the doorway of the bedroom with confused eyebrow raise before looking down at her shirt and chuckling.
"Oh yeah, are you convinced I really wasn't coming over here for anything more than to do your filing now that you see what amount of effort that I put into my attire for the night? Super sexy of me" she laughed, doing a joking twirl but pausing when he was right in front of her looking adoringly down.
"You still look gorgeous."
Darling didn't know why that hit her so hard, it wasn't like Morgan had never complimented her before in their years of friendship- but this felt different, more earnest, more sincere, it felt like the words he had forced himself to swallow behind careful smiles and gentle gazes at what she wore.
"O-oh, uh, thanks" she stammered after a moment.
"Wow- have I really found out that in order to make the ultimate chatter box, Darling Dawson, stunned to silence is to compliment her?" Morgan laughed, making Darling roll her eyes with a chuckle and push him away but he caught her hand and pulled her close to him with one hand on her lower back, seemingly getting lower which made her blush grow all the more.
"You know, this doesn't seem like the kind of thing that 'just good friends' would do" she teased as Morgan full on belly laughed before brushing a hair out of her face and leaning down to whisper in her ear when a knocking came from the door again, making a very tired Clooney on the couch start to bark.
"Morgan? Are you in there?" Hotch's voice surprised both Darling and Morgan.
"Shit" they said at the same time, looking at each other with a realisation that Darling was also 'in there' with Morgan in her pyjamas- something that wasn't uncommon before given how close they were as friends but felt strange pretending it was nothing more than Darling overstaying her welcome now.
"You can't respond! Pretend your dead!" Darling whispered much to his amusement.
"Coming Hotch" Morgan called out instead.
"Dude!" She mouthed.
"I'm not telling our boss that I'm dead, for one he would definitely would find out it was a lie when I'd go into work on Monday very much not dead."
The knocking continued for a moment before Darling suddenly dropped down to the floor, crawling behind the sofa as Morgan walked to the door- pausing and looking back with puzzlement at Darling.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"Hiding" she popped her head up momentarily before dropping back down, Morgan having to cover his mouth to stop his smile turning into a full fit of laughter as she army crawled over to the bedroom.
"You know he's in the hallway, right? A windowless hallway in an apartment building- he can't see you crawling like a mad woman right now" he pointed out and Darling paused before smiling over her shoulder at him.
"I like a flare for the dramatics."
"Oh trust me, after 18 years I think I know about your dramatics" he teased, earning an attempted kick from Darling before she scurried off into the bedroom as Morgan laughed and opened the front door.
"Hey Hotch- everything okay?"
"One second, I just have to call Darling" Hotch held his hand up, phone to one ear as Morgan's eyes widened with a panic of the fact Darling's phone was in the bedroom and would ring out if Hotch called her, of which he was already doing.
Luckily just as the phone rang, Clooney let out a huge bark at the bedroom door.
"Sorry, he, uh, gets cranky when he's tired" Morgan thought of a cover up that wasn't the truth of his dog having an attachment to Darling, slightly opening the bedroom door so Clooney could run in and accidentally hitting Darling who was sat against the door trying to get Clooney's attention under it so he would bark as the phone rang, impressing Morgan with how she organised it all so fast.
"Shit I'm so sorry that I hit you with the door-" he said before lowering his voice and clearing it, pretending to talk to Clooney as Darling held up her finger to hush him, attempting to pick up a now quiet and content Clooney and running into the bathroom with her phone as she answered it.
"Heyo Hotch-"
"Dawson, sorry for waking you up but we have a case- I'm sending Morgan to pick you up in 10" Hotch's message was simple and short like usual, hanging up before Darling could even respond.
"So we have a case?" Morgan shut the bedroom door as he walked back over to Hotch.
"We do."
"And I'm picking Darling up for work?"
"You are."
"Okay... so why are you here? Why didn't I just get a call like the others- not that I don't enjoy our very full and vibrant conversations" Morgan joked, being able to could tell Hotch was here for another reason but not sure what it was- pausing when Hotch sighed.
"I need... I need you to check on Darling for me, to talk to her."
"Check on her? Is she okay?" Morgan tilted his head with confusion.
"She's been taking more risks lately, with work- and not in a good way, not in a healthy way."
"What do you mean? She's barely been out in the field properly on cases in the last few weeks- I think it's pissing her off actually with how much profile and filing work you're giving her instead" Morgan added, noticing a look in Hotch's eye like he wasn't telling him something, debating letting out the truth of where Darling had been going during the nights and days where she would go missing and come back with bruises and cuts that she always seemed to have an excuse for in front of Morgan but Hotch knew the truth of.
"Just... just keep an eye on her for me and see if she will talk to you, you're good for her to be around. I have to go collect Garcia because she is refusing to drive out in the cold but we'll meet on the jet in 30" Hotch said as he turned and left before Morgan could say anything, letting out a confused sigh before shutting the door behind him and turning to the bedroom.
"Okay, he's gone- you can come out now super spy."
A silence came from the bedroom and bathroom.
"Darling? Hotch is gone" Morgan called out again before another long silence that was interrupted just as he went to open the bedroom door, being pushed back by a now fully awake Clooney who ran full force at the now closed front door as if only just realising there had been someone there.
"Good job Cloon, guard dog of the year" Darling laughed at the dog, poking her head around from Morgan's closet.
"What are you doing in there?" Morgan walked over with amusement, "judging my clothes again?"
"Not this time- your sims looking outfits are safe... for now" she joked, "but I do need trousers since I won't be able to run back to mine without explaining to Hotch why I'm late- got anything other than farmer jeans in here?"
"Farmer jeans?" He laughed, walking over and shaking his head at her usual teasings of his clothes before pausing at the fact she was half naked in just her underwear and t-shirt, shorts chucked the other side of the room.
"Oh! Look what I found!" Darling exclaimed with glee, standing on her tippy toes to reach the next railing up and just being able to grab the only pair of non-jeans or black dress pants in the wardrobe.
"I'll just wear these- if that's okay with you, unless you wanna break rule number 3 by not sharing everything with me" she chuckled and held up a pair of dark green subtly striped suit pants Morgan had from years ago when Garcia wanted him to go as the 'sexy Joker' with her for Halloween but a case call out luckily made it so Morgan escaped the green pants and lack of a top that Garcia had in mind for his 'costume.'
"Those are mens trousers Darl, they'll be too big for you- I think you should just go like that to be fair" he pointed out and joked at her absence of clothes which she rolled her eyes at with a chuckle.
"I've got some thick thighs and hips, they'll be fine on me" she smiled, patting her leg.
"And what about your little waist and lack of leg length then? I think you're over-estimating your thighs ability to hold up trousers all by themselves here" Morgan couldn't help his amusement at her and her eyebrow raise at him,
"That's what cuffing and belts are for, smartass- and leave my little legs out of this, my thighs are plenty strong enough to make up for the lack of height I've been cursed with."
Morgan held up his hands in a joking defence, "point taken, no more comments about your totally super long legs."
"Thank you" she chuckled smugly as she pulled on the trousers that were most definitely too big for her given the fact they were made for a man twice her height, "now pass me those scissors so I can add more holes to the belt of yours that I claimed years ago."
"You mean the one you stole for a night and then said that if I die you would get it?" Morgan chuckled, taking the belt and adding more holes into it for her.
"Yup that one- the one with the snazzy buckle" she smiled, looking back into the wardrobe, "can I borrow a top too?"
"Sure, knock yourself out" Morgan tried to hide his smile at the idea of her wearing his clothes.
"Ah ha! I've found the only shirt that isn't some shade of beige" she pulled out a light t-shirt, walking into the bathroom to change into it which confused Morgan for a moment given the fact they had seen a lot more of each other recently.
"Everything okay?" Morgan called out to her.
"Hm? Yeah of course, you okay?" She poked her head out of the door with a smile before going back into the bathroom where her tote bag and jacket were thrown, finishing getting ready for work with what little stuff she had there.
"I'm good" Morgan smiled, getting dressed himself into a white Helmy French tucked into a dark pair of straight legged jeans- looking up from his boots he was tying as Darling walked out of the bathroom and having to do a double take at her.
Her trousers were pinned with safety pins she found at the bottom of her bag to be extra high waisted and snatched in with the belt to make the pant legs look purposely wide legged instead of it being because of the fact they were made for a man, the t-shirt was tied into a knot at the back and tucked in with her checkered vintage blazer coat she had worn over her pyjamas when she arrived.
Her long dirty blonde hair wasn't its usual 70's/90s influenced floof since she hadn't put in her rollers but it had a hint of its natural waves as she tucked it behind her ears with a smile at Morgan through her plump lips that were coated with a gloss that she found.
"God bless this bag and the endless shit I've thrown in it over the years" she chuckled, pausing at his expression, "why are you looking at me like that?"
"You just... you just look really great" he couldn't help being flabbergasted by how gorgeous he thought she looked, giving her a sincere smile, "and it feels almost equally as great to be able to tell you that now."
Darling's eyes widened in an almost shock, she did not expect him to say that at all, staring at him for a moment before clearing her throat and chuckling to hide her blushed cheeks.
"Well they're your technically clothes so you get the credit for this outfit."
"I'm not talking about the clothes or the outfit" he smiled, standing up and walking over to her, "you look great."
"I-"
"Nope, shush, don't try to deflect or made a whitty comment to distract both of us from the fact you can't take compliments" he smiled, placing his hand over her mouth, "just take the compliment you gorgeous idiot."
"Did you just call me an idiot?" She said into his hands with an eyebrow raise.
"A gorgeous one, if that makes it any better" he chuckled, moving his hand from her mouth and wrapping his arms around her to pull her into a hug with his chin resting on her head.
"Why are you being all snuggly all of the sudden?" Darling laughed but wrapped her arms around him too, resting her head on his chest.
"I could ask you the same thing" he chuckled.
"This isn't me being snuggly, not at all" she shook her head, "I'm being held captive in this hug."
"Oh yeah? So if I stepped back then you would be free then?" He raised an amused eyebrow at her.
"In this hypothetical world, yes- but you wouldn't do that to little ol' me, would you?" She looked up at him with a teasing pouty face, pausing at the sincerity that crossed his face as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and spoke with certainty and more meaning than she thought she would hear.
"I never would leave you Darl."
"Sorry, sorry we're late- totally my fault, I left my hair dryer on and had to run back" Darling lied as she ran onto the jet almost 30 minutes late with Morgan following behind, slightly dishevelled after the real reason they were running late.
"Nice outfit, did you just get out of clown school?" Luke teased her from his seat where she would normally sit.
"You're back!" She smiled, unable to stop herself throwing her arms around him in a hug that he laughed at before hugging her back.
"Yeah, that Ashley girl pulled out of work again this week apparently and I was in the area so here I am" Luke shrugged as Darling sat next to him.
"Is she alright? She hasn't been in for a few weeks" Darling turned to Hotch to ask, ignoring his concerned glances at her that Morgan noticed and didn't quite understand.
"She didn't say why but it's coming up to the anniversary of her father's arrest and death so I didn't want to push her to come in" Hotch explained, Darling giving a sympathetic nod which confused the group who assumed Darling didn't like Ashley given their disagreements and Ashley's clear dislike to her.
"She's taking some time for herself I think, she's going to her mom's" Reid spoke quietly, the closest of the group to Ashley.
"Right" Rossi nodded with a teasing tone, "and you would know this how?"
Reid began to shake his head to hide his eye roll, going to shut down Rossi's teasing but Darling did first with a chuckle.
"Oh leave the poor boy alone, just because he talks to the girl doesn't mean they're going to get married- not everyone's as obsessed with weddings as you" she joked, Rossi bursting into laughter which was enough for him to delve into yet another story about his various divorces long enough for everyone to stop teasing Reid about Ashley.
He looked over with a grateful smile at Darling who gave a knowing wink to him and mouthed "tell me everything later."
"There's nothing to tell" he mouthed back with a chuckle before turning back to his file.
"He's right, there's nothing between those two" Luke said quietly from next to Darling, not so subtly listening in to their convo as the rest of the team continued the briefing conversations amongst themselves- however Morgan couldn't quite help himself from noticing how close Luke and Darling were sat to each other, hating that he was noticing that and forcing himself to turn his attention to Hotch whilst Luke and Darling's conversation carried on.
"What do you mean there's nothing going on between those two? They're always around each other" Darling pointed out.
"Trust me, she's not into him" Luke shrugged, going over his file but Darling tilted her head at him, quickly figuring out what he wasn't saying and eyes widening.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed before lowering her voice, "you slept with her, didn't you?!"
"What?" Luke turned to Darling, "with Ashley?"
"Oh my god, you did! Luke! You perv!" Darling whisper shouted, hitting his arm, "when did this happen? Was it at that dinner party? Oh my- is that why she hasn't been in the last few weeks? Because she's embarrassed?!"
"Why would she be embarrassed of sleeping with me?" Luke folded his arms with a chuckle of amusement at how Darling was trying to figure it out, "anyway, we didn't sleep together- she just got too drunk and tried to kiss me at the dinner party when everyone else left, I said I would call Reid to help her with that and she said that she would prefer it with me so I took that as she wasn't as into Reid as everyone thought she was."
"Or she was just drunk" Darling pointed out.
"Are you saying that women have to be drunk to want to sleep with me?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Absolutely" Darling joked.
"That's not what the woman I had sex with after the dinner party said the countless times she's called me to hook up again" he bragged.
"First of all, ew at you bragging about that" she laughed, "and second of all, is she still phoning you? You told me about that like weeks ago, she's not taken the hint yet?"
"Nope, I even texted her like you said to do."
"Very classy of you to not ghost her" Darling joked, "what did you say?"
"That I had a great time but I wasn't looking for anything."
"That's... surprisingly nicely put" Darling raised a suspicious eyebrow, "you didn't send that though, did you?"
"Damn you and your correct low judgement of me" he laughed, "no, I didn't put that- I should have, but instead I wrote what I usually write."
"Which is?"
"You're just gonna call me a dick if I tell you."
"Well at least you're self aware" Darling chuckled, "come on, you have to tell me now."
"I replied... 'round two? Friends with bens maybe?'"
The laughed groan of judgement Darling let out, along with the rant of how inherently sexist that statement was, could be heard all over the jet- making Morgan smile as he read his file and enjoyed her rambling at Luke who tried to justify it before sighing and just apologising.
"-and not to mention you're assuming she'd want to have sex with you again after she simply text you to ask how your day was and you replied asking for friends with benefits as if she asked you to marry her out of the blue and you were compromising-"
"Okay I get it, I'm a terrible person" Luke laughed, "can you skip to the part where you help me now?"
"You want me to help you ghost a girl you wanted to just use for sex? Absolutely not-"
"You make me sound like a monster, I didn't just use her for sex" he rolled his eyes before a cheeky smile came to his face, "she also make me breakfast the next morning so- ow! I was joking! Stop hitting me!"
"You're lucky I don't call every woman in the world and tell them to avoid you and your stupid penis after what you just said."
"Don't call my penis stupid" he laughed, "you haven't even met it."
"I don't want to meet it thank you very much" she couldn't help her laughter too, starting to look through the file in front of her and pausing at the assignment briefing outline page.
"Well, I guess you'll be meeting it sooner than you thought" Luke joked, also reading the same part- just as Morgan did too and looked up with confusion over to Hotch.
"Why are Darling and Luke going undercover as a couple?"