Thirteen: Derek.

11x16 | Derek.

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"You know, you seriously didn't have to drive me home, Reid." Julia told as she and Reid began to walk up her porch. The two had just stayed back at the BAU, finishing up their paperwork and then Julia announced that she was leaving for a month or two but would be coming back in no time.

At that news, Reid had decided to ask how she was getting home. And Julia said she'd probably walk since it wasn't so far but Reid didn't like her being out so late and by herself at that — despite the fact that he knew she could take care of herself. But he was a gentleman and he offered to drive her home. He was lucky enough that he brought his Volvo Amazon P130 with him today.

"It's okay, I wanted to." Reid assured as they walked up the porch and Julia turns back to him. "Well, for your chivalry, I'd like to offer you a cup of coffee before you leave, if that's alright." Julia stated and Reid nods with a small smile on his face, "Yeah, I'd like that."

Julia unlocked the front door, Einstein rushing towards the door and rubbing up against Julia's legs as she looked down at her cats. "Hi, Einstein!" She said in a baby voice and placed her keys down on the table and her coat over the couch.

Einstein had then rubbed himself up against Reid's leg and Reid watched intriguingly as he did so. Einstein had grown keen to Reid since they first met, Newton — not so much. Reid had actually found himself wondering where the car was but remembered that Julia said Newton always had various hiding spots.

         Reid walked in, taking in the view and smell. It'd smelt fresh, like she'd spray Febreze softener all over the place before she left. (Which she had). He removed his satchel from around his shoulder and took notice of the full plastic black trash bag in the living room.

        "Sorry about the mess, Rossi helped me clean up a little bit before we left." Julia said, finally noticing that Rossi had actually washed her dishes. There must've been at least over fifty dishes in here, she thought.

"I'd hate to see what it looked like before he got here," Reid attempted to joke and Julia chuckles with him. "Oh, you would've gone full housekeeper on the place if you'd seen it." Julia said, getting her coffee maker ready.

          Reid looks at the woman as he decides to take a seat as Julia offers him one on one of the talks seats next to the marble counter. "You're sure you're okay?" He decides to ask, his voice trailing off after every word because he doesn't want her to be offended by his wording.

           "Yeah, yeah," Julia says, somewhat convincing, hands perched on the counter. "I, uh..." She looks down. "It's not everyday you find out that your dad... you know." She doesn't finish but Reid knows what she means.

           Reid nodded at her. "I kind of get it." He tells, Julia's head snapping up at that. "A little over eight years ago, I, uh, thought my dad had been responsible of a boy that I... guess I didn't really know named Riley Jenkins. I later ended up finding out that a man who'd come in contact with me as a child was responsible for it. That was, uh, a hard day, I guess." He explained.

           Julia sighs, at least in the end, Reid found out his father wasn't responsible — unlike her. "I can imagine that I wasn't the easiest person to work with that day." Reid said, a sly chuckle escaping his lips as he pulls a strand of his loose hair behind his ear. "For good reason." Julia added.

            "I guess what I'm trying to say is that — what you're feeling right now is... valid. It's not an easy thing." Reid told and for some reason, Julia felt as if he understood her.

           And that if she were break down in front of him right now, he'd assure to her that it was okay to feel that way. It felt as if there was no judgment or ill will in him.

           Instead of turning it on into something serious like she had been for the last few weeks, she decided to say what came across in her mind. "Well, you certainly know how to make a girl fall head over heels for you in an instant." She smirked at him and Reid smiled a bit at that.

          He wondered when the next time she flirted with him would be — not that he like intensely thought about it or anything.
           
           Reid looked at the woman, a thought emulating in his head and growing more and more as she smiles. And Julia looked at him, heart-filled eyes and her breath catches in her throat. She continues her gaze on him and for some reason, Reid feels domestic, the gaze was enough for him to make him feel like home. And she was a savior, she got his mind off of the negative in his life for once. And for Julia, he seemed to be the same for her. Everything in her life at this point was a negative after a negative and always talking to him was a positive.

         But the gazes were interrupted when suddenly, Reid's cell phone rings. They jump up and Reid pulls his cell phone out of his pocket. "I should-I should take this." He holds the phone to his ear and he turns his back to Julia — who's silently gathering herself and grabbing a quick glass of water to just take a sharp breath for a second because why was he looking at her like that?

"Hello?" Reid's back then suddenly tenses. "What?" The person on the other line continues, causing Julia to tilt her head at him as she sees him nod his head. "I'll be right there."

Reid hangs up and turns back to Julia with a slight panic on his face. "What's wrong?" Julia asks. "It's Derek. He's..." Reid swallows for a second. "He's missing." Julia's jaw drops and her eyes widen at this. Derek? Missing? "That was Garcia, they—they need me there."

"They need us," Julia corrects, grabbing Reid's hand. "They need us there. We gotta go back to the BAU." She told, gathering her things in a hurry.

"But... but your time off—" Reid tries but Julia shakes her head — "Screw my time off. Morgan's in trouble." Julia told and Reid knew not to talk her off the ledge because if it were him, he'd come back in a heartbeat for Morgan.

Julia could give two shits about her time off. This was Morgan they were talking about. And she knew that this was an all-hands-on-deck thing. And she knew that Hotch was going to need all the help he could get.

On the drive back to the BAU, her mind couldn't even wrap around the fact that Morgan was missing. Derek Morgan — who kicked doors down for a living, afraid of no man — missing? It didn't make any sense. She has just talked to him on the jet and at the BAU, he chattered about going to the store before heading on home because Savannah needed something.

When they got to the BAU, Hotch had ordered for JJ and Reid to go to where Morgan last went missing and for Julia and Rossi to talk to Savannah, who was at the BAU and pacing in Rossi's office. Julia had seen her doing so, she didn't look scared, like she was putting on a brave face. Hotch had also informed Rossi and Julia that she had heard the whole thing over the phone until the line went dead.

          Now, Julia and Rossi were standing in front of an anxious Savannah, who's pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

"You know what the worst part is?" Savannah started as Julia held a cup of water towards her. "What?" Rossi asked. "I live with a profiler," Savannah answered. "So I know things I shouldn't. Like if they--if they wanted him dead, he'd already be dead. Right?" Her breathing was shaky, but it was as steady as it could be.

"That's right." Rossi nodded as Julia also nodded sadly. To be fair, it was the truth. And it was something she was recently learning, too.

Suddenly, there's a soft knock on the door and Reid's head peeks through as he speaks softly, "Garcia needs us."

Rossi and Julia exchange a glance as Rossi offers to her, "You can stay here. Whatever we find out, we'll tell you." Savannah nods in understanding and Rossi and Julia leave the room.

"She's putting on a brave face," Julia spoke as she and Rossi walked towards the conference room. "She's trying." Rossi nods, "She's taking it easier than I would've."

          Once they enter the conference room, Garcia begins to debrief the team on what she's found so far. "This is the block Derek was taken from. That blue dot is him. And then at 9:23, we lose him. So I checked all the other cell signals in the area. They're all legit, aside from one that I was only able to find thanks to some technology no one outside this room needs to know about." She explains.

       "What is that?" Reid asked.
       "An encrypted signal most likely bouncing off a satellite." Hotch answered.
       "I know we're thinking this would be tied to our Darknet investigation, but satellite encryption is much higher in technology than most online crime." Reid explained.
       "That's true, but the hitmen are still our best lead. We need to exhaust that before we move on to other theories. JJ, you, Cortez and Garcia will take an armed agent to Savannah's house and get her to pack a bag." Julia nods over at JJ.

       "Yes, sir. Absolutely. But why me?" Garcia asks. "Because while she gathers her things, we're going to see if they were under surveillance." JJ informs and Julia added with a nod, "Whoever's behind this has been planning this for weeks, if not months."

       "We have no time to catch up. Let's move." Hotch tells and as the rest of the team heads on out, Julia sees that Garcia is in her same spot, taking a deep breath and muttering to herself, "He's gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay." As if it's a mantra to herself, saying it as a reminder.

         Knowing Garcia needs some reassurance, Julia decides to add — "Penelope..." The woman looks up at her. "He's gonna be okay. And right now, we need to be okay for him. Because he'd be okay for us." Julia stated and Garcia nods grateful that someone else said it, "Thank you."

        Truth be told, Julia was just as anxious about the whole situation, if not more. And telling Penelope that he was gonna be okay, served as a reminder to herself as well.

        As Julia headed out of the conference room, Hotch's voice echoed in her ears as she stopped in her tracks. "Cortez—" He started and Julia turned his way. "Yes?" 

       "I know you requested to take some time off. And I understand if maybe you want to take it—" Almost immediately, Julia shook her head and cut him off — "Not a chance. Not until I know Morgan's okay. You really think I would just take my leave after this?" With that, she walked away.

And of course, Hotch knew better. He knew that any member of his team would've given up their time off in a heartbeat until they knew that one member was safe.

So, Julia, JJ, Garcia and Savannah all headed back to Savannah and Derek's homes and a few officers were standing by and guarding the place as Savannah was grabbing a few things. JJ and Julia had just finished up talking to a few neighbors.

       "Hey," JJ started as soon as both her and Julia spotted Savannah. "So we just talked to your neighbors. They didn't see anything, and we didn't find anything forensic outside."

      "So, they weren't peeping on us through our windows?" JJ shakes her head. "Thank God for that, I guess." Savannah sighs and Julia and JJ share a knowing glance that this is taking a toll on her.

      "That leaves you, Penny." Julia tells as they walk into the kitchen and see the woman at the kitchen table with her laptop. "Finishing my diagnostic now. I think I have something." She turns to Savannah. "Do you have a wireless router on your DVR?"

      "Uh, I think so." Savannah answers and Garcia nods, "Okay. They used it as their back door. And then the encrypted phone call, this is the hacking version of that same thing, and-- Oh, man, they were all up your business."

       Julia furrows her brows as she looks over Penelope's shoulder. "Was it the same unsubs?" She asked. "My money says yes, but what what's weird is they used an intranet." Garcia told.

      "What is that?" Savannah asks.
      "An intranet is a private closed system. They use a portal to a public page." Garcia explained.

      As Garcia opens the page, her jaw drops once she sees what's on her screen. A public page belonging to the CIA. Julia's eyebrows raise in shock and JJ grabs her cell phone as she turns away to call someone.

     "Will someone explain why the CIA would abduct Derek?" Savannah questions.

      Julia looks at the woman, "Trust me, we're wondering why, too."

       "Hey, Bob? It's Jennifer. I need a big favor." JJ says into her cell.

        As Savannah goes back upstairs, obviously even more stressed than anything, Garcia tries to go and speak with her but Julia decides to volunteer herself, knowing Garcia needs to do everything she can to find Morgan. And right now, JJ was trying, too. Julia felt useless, knowing her skills couldn't possibly be put to use unless Morgan was strapped to a bomb — which, for obvious reasons, she was praying to God he wasn't.

        Julia knew her best skill — besides dealing with bombs and medical examining — had been her heart and her ability to feel things deeply. And she knew Savannah probably needed a little bit of reassurance right now.

        Once she walked up the stairs to check on Savannah, the woman was sat on the bed, looking like she was trying to keep her cool about the whole thing.

        The floorboard creaked beneath Julia and Savannah tilted her head up, noticing the woman walking into the room. Seeing who it was and knowing it was something Derek didn't know too well— much less her — she took a breath. And she knew it was better to spill secrets to a stranger than a person that already knew her too well.

       "I— I'm really trying here, but... I can't help but let my mind wander, you know?" Savannah told, keeping her eyes on the ground and Julia nods, "No one blames you for how you're feeling right now. Obviously, it's not an easy thing to go through." Julia kneels in front of her before she continues.

        "But believe me when I say — I hardly know this team too well but I know enough to know that Derek... he's gonna be okay. He's strong. He's gonna make it and he's gonna do it with you at his side when he gets back." Julia makes it known that she says 'when' and not 'if'. Saying if Derek gets back is implying that he won't make it, but saying when Derek gets back implies that when he can and he will — it sounded better than the alternative.

         Savannah nods, "I know." She sniffles. "It's just not that easy." Julia nods in understanding with a sympathetic smile, "I get it. It's okay to crash down...but you're handling it better than I could. Because if I were in your shoes right now, I'd be panicking." Julia assured.

         Garcia quickly comes upstairs, telling her that they were getting ready to go and for Savannah to grab whatever else she needed before heading out. Savannah had one last bag to grab and Julia had decided to help her with packing.

        "Hey, uh, in that drawer, could you grab an extra pair of socks in there?" Considering she didn't know how long she was gonna be, Savannah needed to pack her essentials. Julia nodded as she pulls out the drawer and goes to grab the socks when she noticed something else in there and her eyes widen in shock.

      "Uh, Savannah?" Julia asks, keeping her eyes on the object in the drawer like it was going to move on its' own. "Yeah?" Savannah asks.

      Julia grabs the object and holds it in her hands. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say — I wasn't supposed to find this?" Julia turns around, looking at Savannah with the object in her hand and Savannah's eyes widen in shock and of course, Julia wasn't supposed to find the positive pregnancy test in the sock drawer.

        "Uh, this might be a stupid question but... is this yours?" Julia asks and Savannah sighs, taking a breather for herself for a second. "You guessed correctly." She nodded. "I was gonna tell him... when he got home, I—" Savannah trailed off and all of a sudden, it made sense to Julia as to why Savannah was trying her best to keep her calm this whole time.

        She wasn't trying to do it for herself, she was also doing it for the baby growing inside of her — a baby that also belonged to Derek.

        Julia's mouth is slacked open in shock and her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Wow... uh..." She doesn't know how to react. "I can assume that... I wasn't supposed to be the first person to find this, huh?" She asks and Savannah nods, "Yeah..."

        "Well, then, okay! I can just put this back and pretend I didn't come across it and grab the socks that you initially asked for." Julia puts the test back in the drawer and grabs the socks that she was supposed to hand to Savannah in the first place.

         The silence lingers in the air and Savannah can cut it with a knife. "Alright, say it." Julia squeals quietly after getting permission and smiles widely, "I'm so happy for you!" Savannah smiles back, grateful at least somebody knows now.

        "And if you couldn't tell anyone about this at all..." Savannah tells and Julia shakes her head, "Say no more. This is between us." With that, they head out of the room and now, Julia has something else to think about for Derek and how she and the team need to work on getting him back home in one piece.

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They headed back to the BAU, where Garcia was doing much more digging and JJ had called one of her CIA friends to help. Julia sat in the conference room with Garcia, nurturing a cup of coffee in her hands to try and stay awake.

Finally, JJ walked in with news. "My contact at the Agency told me the guys who took Derek are freelance contractors and not on our side." She stated.

"So they're ex-spooks?" Rossi asked and JJ shrugged, "Mostly foreign, a few domestic. These guys have figured out how to piggyback on existing infrastructure to hide their tracks. My contact thinks it might be this group."

JJ nods up towards the screen that Garcia had just pulled up the photo on the screen. "It's hard to sync out who might be hitching a ride on their computer traffic. Fortunately, one of the CIA versions of me is trying to crack their encryption signatures." Garcia explained.

"What do we know about them so far?" Reid asked. "A six-man team. They do dirty work for the highest bidder." JJ stated. "What kind of dirty work?" Rossi asked.

"From what we can tell, disappearances. If you need someone politically inconvenient to disappear, these guys make that happen." JJ told. "Then, why would they want with Morgan? What did he do that royally pissed... whoever sent them... off?" Julia questioned.

Hotch had then noticed the picture on the screen and had pointed something out on the photo. "Garcia, can you zoom in on the tattoo on his forearm?" He asked.

Garcia does so and Rossi then speaks up, "Morgan's in more trouble than we thought." Julia reads off of the tattoo on the man's arm. "'Who Dares Wins'. What the hell?" Julia asked.

It was the motto of the British Special Air Service. It was the first survival course — also known as SAS — it was enhanced interrogation techniques. Torture, to make it simple. Rossi was right and Morgan was in deep shit right about now.

It'd taken Garcia some time but eventually she found a hit. "I--I may have a line on him." She announced, rushing in with her laptop in hand. "I just got notification from Fort Eustis. That encrypted SAT phone, it became active again and we managed to pin down one side to here."

        Garcia pulls the map up on the screen. "It is a 20-mile radius in Virginia. The other side was to a contractor who didn't even bother not to use his own cell phone."
      "Arrogant," Rossi said. "He thinks we can't find him."
      "And he would be wrong if he'd met our very own Penelope Garcia sooner." Julia said, gesturing to the woman.

     "Yes and he being John Bradley, not SAS as we had suspected. Bradley and Mr. Who Dares Wins tried to become SAS, but they couldn't cut it, not to mention people who are SAS don't get tattoos saying SAS because SAS is covert. That is the point. But apparently people who are dishonorably discharged from the British Royal Marines do get that tattoo." Garcia explained.

       "Your last ping has him in Derek's direction. He's probably on his way to him now." Reid stated, looking at the map. "We've got helos on the roof standing by for immediate transport." Hotch informed.

      "Any way we can narrow down the search?" JJ asks and Garcia nods, "Yes. Their encryption algorithms are dust. If and when that SAT phone connects, I've got him." Garcia told.

      And within a second, Garcia gets something. "Sir, it just went live."

      And they had him.

      Reid is the first one out the door, rushing towards the elevators and holding them open for the rest of the team following behind in a haste. Garcia stands at the entrance to the bullpen and Reid nods at her, assuring that they're going to bring Derek back.

       The team head to the roof with FBI vests on their chests and to the helicopters, Reid and Hotch in one and Julia, Rossi and JJ in the other, ready for anything. They flew down to their destination, landed to where they needed to and surrounded the area to see if their main man, John Bradley, would be around.

        And they had arrived on time because Bradley had been standing over an injured Morgan, a knife dug into his hand on a wooden desk.

Julia stood behind Reid, gun held tightly as Reid waited to make his move. And Julia could tell he was waiting for it.

      "It's time to die." Bradley spoke and Morgan glares up at him. "Not yet."

       Reid finally took the shot, shooting him multiple times as Hotch, Rossi and JJ come bursting through the door after the fact.

Julia came out of her spot behind Reid as he approached the man he just shot to check for a quick pulse as Julia quickly headed to Morgan. "Get medical in here." Hotch orders over his mic and Reid, JJ, Julia and Rossi follow and back up as the EMTs help Morgan and carry him out on a gurney once they get the knife out of his hand.

       After they did that, Morgan then gets carried out of the house on the gurney as Reid follows closely behind with the EMTs, staying close to Morgan. "Dad..." Julia overhears Morgan spew out as she follows along with them. "What is it, Morgan? What is it?" Reid asks.

"I'm scared, Pop." Morgan spews out, heading to the back of the ambulance. Julia turns over, looking over at Reid, who has a scared look on his face. She hadn't seen that look since they'd dealt with Cat Adams. It hurts her to see.

So, Julia looks up and rushes towards one of the EMTs. "Excuse me, could I ride with him?" She asks and the EMT nods at her. Julia turns to Reid and looks at him with careful eyes. "I'm gonna go with him, okay?" All Reid could do was nod.

Julia had done this, not only for Reid, but for Savannah, as well. It was the look on Reid's face that had confirmed her actions. She knew he'd felt better if maybe someone had gone with Morgan, since he was so scared for him.

And it was probably a better choice, considering she was taking a leave. Julia climbed in the back of ambulance next to Morgan. "Derek? I'm right here, alright?" She'd assured, grabbing his hand comfortingly and hoping to God he'll be okay by the end of this.

And after that, it'd been a long three days. But the doctors were sure Morgan would make a speedy recovery.

At first, Julia was scared. He'd flatlined in the ambulance and it terrified her. The thought of having to be the one to tell the team and Savannah that Derek didn't make it, that he took his last breath was scary. But the machine began to beep once more and that indicates that Morgan was fighting to stay alive.

Julia couldn't find it in herself to leave his side after that. So, she, Garcia and Savannah had stayed by his side at the hospital for the three days. He hadn't woken up yet and of course, the team had all stopped by every day, checking in as much as they could.

And then finally, on the third morning of Derek being in the hospital, he finally woke up.

hey lovelies!
so in honor of "sailor song" hitting 10k, i updated 🤭
thank you all for your love and support, i really do love and appreciate it in so many ways! so thank you all!

and i am so not ready for the next two episodes oh lord
but it'll be okay 😃 right guys? 😃😃
i mean it's not like it's my first time writing this storyline 😃😃😃

anyways
thank you all for reading
i'm excited for what's to come 🤗
love you all
-mya <333