L A Y L A ' S P O V

As I expected, Derek's appendix was apparently a mere minutes away from bursting.

After a very rushed and panicked drive over to the hospital, I got him inside and he got seen to and a quick scan later, the doctor confirmed our suspicion.

We're now in a hospital room while he gets prepared for emergency surgery to get it removed.

Now that the situation is under control and his appendix isn't going to rupture and kill him, Derek now needs to worry about me killing him for insisting he was fine for three days. The only thing that's keeping me from doing so right now is the doctors presence in the room and the fact that it's not socially acceptable to attack someone while they're laying in a hospital bed.

"Mrs. Morgan?"

I look up at the doctor. "Yes?"

Yeah, for hospital purposes I am now Derek's wife. I didn't want to be sitting out in the waiting room, not being told anything because I'm not family so I told a little white lie when we got here. Sue me.

The doctor hands me some paperwork to fill out and I quickly jot down all of Derek's details before I hand it back to him.

The doctor looks towards Derek. "I'll be right back and we'll get you prepped for surgery."

The second the door closes behind the doctor, Derek starts poking his finger into my cheek in an attempt to get me to smile at him.

"Come on Mrs. Morgan." Poke. Poke. Poke. "Give your husband some attention."

I frown when I cross my arms over my chest and finally look towards him. I have to stop myself from laughing at how tiny he makes the hospital bed look.

"I'm so mad at you. You could have died tonight." Am I mad at him for the situation? Obviously not. Am I mad at him for being an idiot and waiting until he was on the verge of death before asking for help? Yes.

Derek clicks his fingers at me, shooting me a winning wink. "But I didn't."

I frown even harder at the thought. "But you could have."

Derek's eyes soften when I don't make any attempt to joke about the seriousness of this situation. "Layla," He says softly, guiding me to sit down on the edge of his bed. "Thank you for worrying so much but I'm going to be okay."

"Anymore, if you even have a pain in your baby toe you're going to the doctor."

"I will."

"Good."

Derek's face breaks out into a grin when I finally smile at him for the first time since we got here. "Now kiss me like I'm going to die on the operating table."

"Shut up," I laugh, leaning over and connecting our lips in a deep kiss.

Derek pulls back a few seconds later and points his finger at me. "Okay, I said kiss me not turn me on."

I follow his movements as he shifts in the bed and takes one of the pillows from behind his head. I snort when I see the tent in his hospital gown what he uses the pillow to cover.

Good timing because the door opens and the doctor comes walking back in and thankfully his head is in his chart so he doesn't notice.

I move back to my previous position of sitting in the chair at the bedside while the doctor rhymes off details about the surgery and honestly most of it goes over my head, except that it's only going to take about an hour.

"I'm going to give you some general anaesthetic now," The doctor explains while the slow, steady beeps from the monitors fill the room. "You'll feel loopy for a few minutes before you fall asleep but don't worry, it's totally normal."

I squeeze Derek's hand. "I'll be here when you wake up."

Derek squeezes my hand back, his lips quirked up into a small smirk. "You better be. You're my ride."

I love that even in a tense situation like this, Derek can still make me laugh.

Derek grins when he taps two fingers to his wrist, holding his arm out to the doctor. "Alright, let's get me all drugged up— what?" I nudge him on the shoulder and he shrugs. "Legally."

The anaesthetic is inserted into Derek's IV and a couple of seconds later I can practically see the haze wash over his eyes.

"Woah," He says, blinking heavily as he looks around the room, fighting off sleep. "That's some good shit."

I laugh and then Derek laughs. This grown man who refused to admit that he needed help only a couple of hours ago is now in a hospital gown, giggling with me. You can't not laugh.

Derek's laughter soon dies down and his head shoots up in a panic. "I'll be up and running by later tonight?" He asks, his face growing more and more concerned by the second when he looks at the doctor. "Right?"

"No," The doctor says slowly, his eyes floating between me and Derek, trying to figure out what he's so concerned about. When I shrug, the doctor takes a step closer. "You'll be on bed rest for at least two weeks, Derek."

"No, I can't. I need to be okay," Derek rushes, pointing a shaking finger in my direction while he continues to talk to the doctor. "Do you have any idea what she's wearing underneath that dress for tonight?—no. You don't get to know. Only I get to see because she's mine. But let me just tell you—"

Oh. My. God. "Derek?" His hazy eyes float to me. "Stop talking."

Derek's face breaks out into a sleepy grin, arm stretching out to touch my face. As you could probably guess, he's about as graceful as a drunk toddler right now. "You're so pretty."

I giggle, kissing the pads of his fingers. "You're pretty too."

He shakes his head, cupping my chin in his hand to get me to look at him in the eye. "No, you are the most beautiful girl in the world. The universe. The Milky Way."

I look towards the doctor. "Can we keep him on this stuff forever?"

The doctor laughs at my request but when I look back to Derek, he's out cold.

-

The wheeling the patient off to the surgery room thing is much less dramatic when the patient is unconscious.

I watch with relief as Derek disappears behind the surgery room doors, knowing he's going to be okay and is in the best hands possible.

I start to make my way down to the waiting room and I pause when I hear a familiar voice. One thing about Penelope is that more often than not, you can hear her before you see her.

Sure enough when I round there corner there she is at the front desk, rambling with her hands frantically moving around her head while the confused receptionist blinks at her.

"Penelope?"

Penelope turns at the sound of my voice, her face washing with some level of relief. "I came as soon as I could," She breathes, pulling me into a tight hug. "Is there any news?"

I'm still surprised she's here considering I haven't even got a chance to call anyone yet. "How did you know what happened?"

"I'm Derek's emergency contact," Penelope says, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "The hospital called me and muttered the word surgery and I just ran."

I guide her over to the waiting area and we sit down beside each other in a row of seats. "It's his appendix," I explain. "It's fine. He's fine. He's in surgery now to get it removed."

Just what I was fearing, the confusion grows in Penelope's eyes. "Did you come with him? How did you know? Why are you in a dress? A very cute dress, by the way."

"I was on a date with some guy when Derek called me," I lie, placing my purse down on the table in front of us as a way to avoid eye contact. "Said it was an emergency. I drove him here."

"Oh, okay." Penelope is either too worried or panicked to pick up on my lie but either way, she doesn't call me out on it. "Well, I need some water. I saw a vending machine down the hall, you want one?"

"Sure," I smile, nodding at my purse. I lean my head back against the wall, letting my eyes fall closed for a second. "There's cash in my purse."

"Thank god, I never carry cash anymore—" Penelope cuts her sentence off midway through a word with a dramatic gasp.

My head whips up, my brows lowering. "What?"

"Nothing," Penelope says, trying to conceal the obvious excitement on her face when she gently places my purse back down. She stammers. "You just, um, have a lot of ones in there."

"I'm a stripper on the side. You didn't know?" The real story that I got twenty dollars change from a store in one dollar bills is much less interesting.

"You know what? You are so funny!" Penelope says, wide eyed and shaking her head as she slowly makes her way to the door. "I love you and I love being right. I love everything—"

Why is she suddenly acting like a crazy woman? "Are you on the anaesthetic too?"

Penelope releases a breath, looking like she just won the lottery. "No, but I'm high on disbelief."

I watch her in confusion as she leaves the room with a certain pep in her step that I can't pinpoint. Was any of that conversation meant to make sense to me?

-

Considering Penelope called everyone to let them know what happened, it wasn't long before they all showed up to anxiously await the all clear on Derek's surgery.

Spencer, Rossi and Hotch didn't ask much questions other than if Derek was okay. Averie didn't either, although she did give my outfit a once over, shrugged her shoulders and said, "A little formal for the ER, but okay."

When I wasn't asked, I conveniently left out the part of the story on what we were doing before we got to the hospital.

JJ and Emily though, who did know my plans for the night, have been eyeing me suspiciously and amusingly from across the waiting room the past thirty minutes. I've been trying to avoid talking to them and they haven't said anything.. yet.

My luck runs out when Averie gets up from her seat beside me to go to the bathroom and I'm now an open target. It's Emily who crosses the room and plants herself in the seat beside me and I can practically feel the amusement radiating off her.

She nudges my leg, leaning into me and lowering her voice. "So.. how was your date?"

"Good until Penelope called me about Derek and I rushed over here." I cross my fingers behind my back, hoping none of the many stories I've made up tonight come back to bite me in the ass.

The amusement only grows in her eyes. "Sure."

"For Derek Morgan?"

My sigh of relief from being pulled from this conversation is audible and I look up at the voice that just entered the room. It's a different doctor than we were dealing with earlier and thank god he didn't call me Mrs. Morgan in front of everyone. That would have opened up another can of worms.

"Yes," Penelope says, standing up. "That's all of us. Is he okay?"

"The surgery went perfectly. He's waking up now." The doctor smiles. When all eight of us stand up, eager to see Derek, he winces slightly. "Visiting hours ended a while ago but since you've all been waiting, I'll allow you guys in for a few minutes."

We all follow him down the ward to the last recovery room in the hallway and the doctor points to the right door before he leaves us. I'm first through the door to see Derek awake laying in the hospital bed, adjusting his pillow.

His face brightens when he sees me, but not for long as everyone filters into the room. "Oh god," He groans, hanging his head in his hands. "Why is everyone here?"

Spencer throws his hands up, shaking them teasingly. "Wow, sorry that we care about you."

Derek parts his fingers and peaks out through the gaps. "This is so embarrassing."

Penelope's love is shown in all different ways, but I couldn't agree with her more when she slaps the side of Derek's head. "Why would this be embarrassing? you could have died!"

Derek gawks at her, gesturing to his hospital gown. "Exactly! I could have died in a dress."

"Priceless," Averie snickers from behind her phone. She snaps another photo of Derek. "I'm getting these printed."

Hotch heaves an amused sigh, patting his hand to Derek's shoulder. "I guess I'm going to have to kick down the doors now until you're back in the field."

Despite the fact that Hotch is joking, Derek frowns. "At least two weeks I'll be out."

Rossi arches an eyebrow in his direction. "A small price to pay for still breathing, no?"

"Damn you and your wisdom," Derek mumbles, pursing his lips.

Penelope perches herself on the side of Derek's bed, clicking her fingers. "Care basket item requests, go." Derek opens his mouth to protest but she quickly cuts him off. "I don't care. You're getting one so tell me what you want in it."

The doctor enters the room again and tells us that it's time for everyone to leave. I don't care if I have to sneak mission impossible style back in here, but I'm staying here tonight. But I need to grab some things from home first.

"Can I catch a ride home with one of you?" I ask, looking around as everyone is saying their goodbyes.

I like that Derek and I can have a silent conversation when we share a single look.

I cast him a quick look. I'll be right back.

Derek's eyes soften. You don't have too.

My eyes narrow slightly. Shut up.

Since Rossi's house is on the way to my apartment, he ends up being the one to give me a ride home. It was a quick drive and most of it was spent talking about the thanksgiving dinner he's planning for the whole team in a couple weeks.

When I got into my apartment I changed into some comfy clothes and packed an overnight bag for the both of us, making sure to pack some essentials and before I know it, I'm back at the hospital.

I push open Derek's room door and my face falls when I see him standing up, taking a shaky step back towards his bed. Dropping everything in my hands, I rush towards him and wrap my arms around him to help him back to the bed.

"What the hell are you doing up?" I don't even know how long ago he got out of surgery but he definitely shouldn't be up yet.

Derek winces slightly as he eases back into bed. "My bladder doesn't care that I just had surgery."

"So inconsiderate."

Crossing the room, I grab my disregarded overnight bag from the floor and plop it down at the foot of Derek's bed.

"What the hell did you bring?" Derek laughs, shifting to sit up slightly. "That bag is bursting at the seams."

"Just the essentials. First...fluffy socks," I grin, pulling the pink and yellow floral pattern socks from the bag. "I picked you the girliest pair I could find. You're welcome."

Derek opens his mouth to protest but the second I slip them onto his feet his mouth snaps closed. His eyebrows raise in approval when he wiggles his toes. "Okay, I can get behind these." He says. "They're so soft."

Derek listens to me as I explain the reasoning for everything else in the bag. Our toothbrushes and fresh clothes obviously, the cosiest throw blanket I had because the one in the hospital is scratchy, a decent pillow and a hot water bottle I filled in case he's still in pain from surgery.

"I read somewhere that it could help," I say, passing it to him. "Worth a shot."

Derek looks at me with so much gratitude it makes butterflies erupt in my stomach. "Thank you, Layla." He smiles softly, reaching out his hand. "Now come here and kiss me please."

I slip my hand into his and take a step closer until I sit myself down on the edge of the bed. With a smile that stretches ear to ear, I dip my head and connect our lips in a gentle, but all too urgent kiss.

Now that the hectic mess of today is over and Derek's okay, I can appreciate the fact that it's cute that he tried so unbelievably hard to stick out our date when he realistically should have been rushed to hospital hours before. Even though we barely made it through dinner and the night is ending in the ER, it's still the best date I've ever been on.

A beat of silence echoes between us as our kiss dwindles to a close and I rest my forehead to his. "I'm so glad you're okay," I breathe in relief.

Derek's thumb brushes lightly over my cheek and our eyes meet. "Me too."

Pressing another quick kiss to his lips, I turn my attention to the arm chair beside the bed and pull it as close as I can before I start setting it up for me tonight.

Derek clears his throat from behind me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Getting comfortable here." I attempt to fluff up the hospital pillow that is paper thin and curl up into a ball to fit my body on the chair, draping the scratchy blanket over myself.

"The only place you're getting comfortable is in here with me," Derek says, patting the space beside him in the bed. "Get in."

"But—"

"Now."

My lips fold into a thin line, trying to disguise how much I like the dominant tone in his voice. And the dominant look in his eyes as he challenges me with his stare. The man just had surgery, who am I to deny him what he wants?

"I don't want to hurt you," I say, making sure to create some distance between us when I climb into the opposite side his surgery was on.

"I'll be fine," Derek murmurs, pulling me flush against him until I'm tucked underneath his arm and my head is on his chest. I feel him press a kiss to my head before he nuzzles his cheek to my hair and relaxes against me. "More than fine now."

Derek turns the lamp off but we don't fall asleep right away, but we don't say much either. I'm happy feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath my head, the moon light illumining through the window to cast a gentle glow in the room, watching where Derek is intertwining our fingers on repeat.

Derek, who clearly knows I'm not asleep yet, presses another kiss to my head. "So.." He says teasingly. "Are you going to take care of me when we get home?"

"Mhm," I grin, trying not to dwell on the fact that he implied his house was our home. "Two weeks of sponge baths and one slutty nurse costume coming up."

"Hey, would you look at that," Derek says with a slight smirk, lifting his head from the pillow. He tilts his head down in the direction of his crotch towards the second tent it has created tonight. "My dick still works."

-

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)