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𝑬 𝑽 𝑬 𝑹 𝑮 𝑹 𝑬 𝑬 𝑵
❝ 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚎? ❞

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ㅤ"𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍..."

The lyrics to AC/DC's You Shook Me All Night Long was blasting through May Black's headphones as she bopped her head to the beat, trying her best not to think about the fact that she was now tied to Derek Morgan for the rest of their lives.

The first question that came to her mind the second she imprinted was a simple: What the fuck do I do now?

Because how does one explain what imprinting is? And how does one explain what imprinting is without telling the whole history of the Quileutes and how they have magic? And, how does one tell the whole history of the Quileutes and their magic without sounding completely and utterly insane?

The second question that came to her mind was: How will this affect my work?

Basing all her knowledge off of rumors and stories, she knew that imprints were sacred, and that it's law to every person in the pack that imprints are protected. It's basically the imprinter's duty to protect the imprintee with their life. But with their dangerous work, how can she do this without seeming like she was high off something? How would she be able to resist shifting the second she feels he's in danger?

The third question was: How will everyone react to this?

Revealing tribe secrets is currently off the table. But she was sure that her actions will speak louder than words in this scenario. She'd always want to be close to him, to be near him, and to have all her senses invaded by him in a not-that-weird way. She'll always want him in her line of sight to make sure he's safe and happy.

But she can't do that without acting weird or strange in the eyes of, well, everyone. Spencer knew she wasn't one to fawn over men, especially Derek Morgan. The girls, especially Elle, knew that she never really gave Derek much attention other than when she responded to his flirting. Penelope will most likely be the first to even notice her change in behavior.

Just thinking about what Gideon would say made her cringe and want to cry in frustration. That man knew her inside out, being her pseudo father and all, as well as her mentor and closest confidante when it comes to all things emotional. He'd know immediately that something was off.

And finally: How will Derek feel?

Now that he was essentially her number one priority, she really didn't want him to feel uncomfortable in any way. She was glad, though, that he already had feelings for her in way, so it wasn't like he was going to be forced into the imprint bond.

But knowing who he is, would he still be into it when he eventually—and inevitably—finds out the truth?

May wanted to slam her head against the wall in frustration, and nearly dropped her head onto the table in front of her in annoyance, but Hotch's face made her pause. Sitting in front of her was the man himself, and in between them was the only "table" in the jet.

On their way to their newest case—this time in New Jersey—after finishing their usual debriefing, May found herself sitting across from the senior agent. While May, of course, contributed to the conversation, she immediately closed herself off right after by putting on her headphones as loud as possible. Of course, Hotch was concerned.

She had just gotten back, and was quickly thrust into a new, risky case. Normally, she'd interact with the others before listening to music, and the fact that she hadn't was a cause of concern for not just Hotch, but also Gideon.

Giving Hotch a questioning look, she moved her headphones so that one ear is exposed, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You okay?" Hotch did not answer the question, rather, he threw another one right back at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I meant," Hotch tilted his head slightly, a habit of his when his curiosity surged. "How was your trip?"

May couldn't help herself from smiling a little. "It was actually pretty great," she admitted, pulling out her iPod from her pocket so she could turn it off. When she started to speak, the others quickly focused their attention on her, wanting to take their minds off the case for just a little bit. "I've made peace with my dad, and I'm on my way to do the same with my baby brother Jacob. I reconnected with some childhood friends...and yeah, pretty productive trip."

"And your illness?" Gideon wondered, turning his body to face hers as he sat on the seat directly beside her but on the other side of the aisle.

"Disappeared into nothing," she grinned. "I guess I just needed to go home and breathe some fresh air. And, you know, relax. Reconnect with nature. All that."

"Well, we're glad you're better," JJ grinned, blue eyes alight with genuine curiosity. "But Spence told me you adopted a dog?"

"Oh yeah," May laughed. "I wasn't supposed to, not really. But he clung to me. He's gotten really big now, actually. So he takes care of dad, but is allowed to go out and about. My friends make sure he's safe."

"Go ahead and ask her what she named him," Spencer butt in with a playful role of his eyes.

Elle looked towards him with a frown. "What do you mean?"

That's when Derek jumped into the conversation, the simple sound of his deep voice causing flutters in May's heart and her ears to redden. Luckily, her hair was down, making her red ears practically invisible to everyone.

"You know her long enough, you'll realize that she'll name anything after a Harry Potter character," Derek laughed; and it was deep, rich laugh that made May felt like she was floating on air. "If I had to wager, she named it Remus."

"Ding ding ding," Spencer grinned. "We know you too well, May."

May scrunched up her nose in fake disgust. "I'm gonna have to get a new obsession now. Or aa hobby."

"Yoga?" JJ offered.

"Doing it currently," she admitted, earning herself raised eyebrows. "Hey, don't look at me like that! Apparently, it helps. In a lot of different ways."

"Who got you into it?" Elle laughed. "Not that we don't think it could be your idea, but..."

"Knowing you, you probably wouldn't have taken it up as a new hobby if not for peer pressure," Spencer followed up.

"This guy, Sam, got me into it," she shrugged. "Used to babysit him when he was a kid. Got a special place in my heart because of it."

"Aw, May's actually soft for someone," JJ teased.

"I will revoke your cuddle rights."

"Why does she have cuddle rights and not me?" Derek frowned, his eyes full of mirth as his lips quirked in a subtle smirk. This made May bite her for a second, but it was a second too long in Spencer's opinion, who actually did frown, made a face, and settled for an inquisitive gaze.

JJ, none the wiser, shrugged nonchalantly. "You're not her favorite."

"Excuse me--" Spencer immediately jumped in, but May quickly cut him off.

"I have no favorites!"

"Liar," Elle laughed.

"I hate all of you."

Wearing a black shirt underneath a gray windbreaker, paired with black pants and white sneakers, May walked alongside Spencer, Elle, and Derek through the hospital halls to meet up with Hotch and Gideon, who had observed and spoken to the distraught Jack Fisher, who was their current person of interest.

Along with several other people, Mr Fisher was poisoned with LSD so potent that it caused some terrible consequences. In Mr Fisher's case, he beat his own son to near death.

"Well, he's raw, broken, and seriously pissed off," Gideon said to Hotch just as May and others merged towards him.

"He didn't hurt the son to get back at the mother," Hotch guessed.

"Not consciously, no. Rage was real, but understandable," Gideon spoke. "Never apologized. When he lost control, he didn't even say, 'Eric, I'm sorry'. He said, 'Eric, why'd this happen to you?'. He never even confessed to hurting the kid."

"So, the drugs tapped into the rage but didn't cause it?"

"That's my guess."

"That's consistent with information we just received from the lab tox-screens," Spencer spoke up, and all of them stopped in the middle of the hallway to listen. "They didn't find any trace of PCP or any other drug, indicating the unsub was intentionally trying to make people violent."

"But they did find traces of rohypnol in all the victims," May added. "A central nervous system depressant similar to valium."

"Only ten times more potent," Elle joined in. "It's commonly known as a roofie, or a date-rape drug."

Spencer nodded at them. "Right, and one of its side effects is amnesia. Which explains why none of the victims remember how they were poisoned."

"We compared notes on the victims we talked to," Derek then spoke up. "So far, there doesn't seem to be any pattern as to who got hit. Maybe the drugs themselves could explain what type of offender we're dealing with. A lot of kids are using LSD and rohypnol these days. Fisher's a high school teacher."

Gideon looked down for a second. "So maybe a prank after all."

"Yeah," Hotch crossed his arms. "One that went horribly wrong."

"Yeah, I'm gonna get a list of students from Fisher," Elle announced, putting on her coat to keep her warm from the outside cold. "See you later."

Just as she separated from the group, Hotch received a phone call that had them exiting the hospital. But before they could go towards anywhere, Derek surprisingly pulled May aside, trying not to look at Spencer who shook his head as he left them alone.

With a gentle smile gracing his lips, he acknowledged May with a nod. "I never welcomed you back properly."

"What do you mean?" May retorted, playful glint in her eyes that had him grinning brightly at her.

"I mean, baby girl got you balloons and a box of donuts," he explained, "I feel like I have to do better."

"Oh, no, you don't have to," she laughed. "That was just Penny being Penny, you know that."

"Yeah, but I have to do better," he insisted.

"What for?"

"So I can win you over, remember?"

She couldn't help but bite her lip for a second before shrugging. "I don't think it's working, honestly. Especially when you're trying to hit on me while we're on a case." She gave him a look, but a smile was clearly threatening to spill from her lips. "We'll...have to postpone this."

"After the case?"

"We'll see, Derek, we'll see."

Trying to figure out the profile of the unsub wasn't exactly easy. At first, they thought it could've been Danny Wallace, the boy who worked at the little restaurant they believed was where the poisoning happened. It was Hotch, JJ, and Gideon who deduced that it might've been Danny, so Elle was sent to look for him.

But he wasn't at his high school nor place of residence, so she went ahead and looked for his girlfriend, Samantha. Her talk ended with her believing that Danny might've been abusive given her bruises, and with her lack of memory, she was convinced the boyfriend might just be who they were looking for. May backed her up, knowing Elle's knowledge in sex offense crimes.

However, during the interrogation—with Elle inside with Danny and Detective Hanover—the remaining agents concluded that the boy simply was too terrified not to tell them the truth, and came to the conclusion that, among the types of poisoners, what they were dealing with is called an 'avenger', someone with a personal vendetta that uses poisons as their weapon.

Concluding their profile, the team believes that a bigger, more catastrophic event was being planned by the unsub, and that they might be running out of time.

author's note:  a bit on the shorter side but dw i'll be pushing out the next chapter soon enough! i'm just glad i was able to update this, finally.

so yeah as you can tell, ms may is having a crisis bc we all know she had feelings for derek even before the imprint, but now those feelings are coming at full force for her and she can't control herself around him.

this is gonna be fun :DD

i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter tho, and i'll see y'all soon <33