When he made his way into the dining room, Spencer found Morgan and Desiree sitting at the kitchen table, the both of them laughing long and loud. Clooney was sitting beside his master, head in his lap, watching the two humans. Dinner still sat in its boxes, but Morgan had obviously set out plates. There was an empty beer bottle already in the garbage can and another one in front of Morgan. As she calmed down, Desiree was pouring more wine into her glass. She caught sight of him and reached over to where a clean cup sat and poured a glass before raising it up toward him. “Hey, Spencer.” She said with a grin.
Heat flooded Spencer’s cheeks. His steps were a little awkward when he made his way to the table and sat down. Gratefully he took the glass from her. “Thank you.”
“Oh, not a problem.” Desiree grinned at him over the top of her glass. “Seeing as how it’s your wine and all. Least I could do is pour you a glass after I’ve already drank two.”
It took everything Spencer had not to down the good wine in one big gulp. He gave her a shy smile and tried not to profile her to gauge her reaction to him and their news. Not just because she was Morgan’s sister and he wanted to show her respect, but also because he was a little afraid of what he might discover. There was already a knot in his stomach at seeing that Sara wasn’t in the room. There were no other sounds in the house, telling him that she wasn’t there. A glance when he’d walked out from the bedroom and toward the dining room had showed him that one of the bags was missing from the entry way. His brain easily figured out that Sara had left and it wasn’t hard to figure out why.
Great. This is just starting out great, isn’t it? First I make a fool of myself—definitely not the best first impression! Well, not technically a first impression. I have met them before. But the last one wasn’t that great either. But this was my first time meeting them as Derek’s significant other and I somehow managed to end up on the ground with food on my head and a dog licking me. Now Sara’s apparently left and I just know it’s because of Derek and I.
Morgan’s hand covered Spencer’s and squeezed, pulling him from his thought. When he looked over, he saw Morgan’s warm smile, love bright in his eyes. “Sorry.” Spencer said quickly. He knew he’d been lost in his thoughts again. He gave his lover an apologetic look. Though he knew the answer, he had to ask. “Sara’s gone, I see. She, ah, she wasn’t too…happy?”
“She’s just a hothead, pretty boy. She got a little upset and stormed out. It’s kind of typical for her. Give it time, she’ll come back. Things will be ok.” Morgan replied gently. Whether he was trying to convince Spencer or himself, the younger man couldn’t figure out. But he squeezed Morgan’s hand back and smiled at him to try and show that he was ok. No matter how much it might bother him that Sara had a bad reaction to their relationship, Spencer knew that it was nothing compared to how it would make Morgan feel. He promised himself that he wasn’t going to mope; he would be strong and supportive for his lover.
Setting her glass down, Desiree gave Spencer a sympathetic look. “I take it you heard us, then? Sorry about that. We tend to get a little loud sometimes.”
Instantly he shook his head at her. “No, I didn’t hear anything.” Probably better that way, from the sounds of it.
Confusion had Desiree’s eyebrows drawing down. “Then how’d you know she was gone and not in the bathroom or something like that?”
“Oh, lots of things pointed it out.” Spencer took a small sip of his wine and tried to keep himself from overreacting to all of this. Things would be ok. They would! He just had to believe that. “There were no other sounds in the house to indicate a person in any other room. When I passed the entry I saw that a bag was missing. Also the lack of wine glass on the table for her and the one in the sink that indicates that she’d already had a glass and it had either been finished or dumped out. Hopefully not dumped; this is good wine. Then there was your body language, the both of you, that indicates a high…” He was cut off abruptly when Morgan leaned over and kissed him, shutting Spencer’s brain off just as it always did.
When Morgan sat back in his chair again, he grinned at his chuckling sister. “Pardon him. He tends to ramble a little when you get him going on something. I’ve found that’s the quickest way to cut him off.”
“I think I’ll leave that method to you.” Desiree teased. When she saw Spencer’s instant blush, her chuckles grew to a full on laugh. “Oh man, I can see why you like him, Derek. He’s just too darn cute.” Turning to look at Spencer, she winked. “If you were straight, I’d snatch you up in a heartbeat, cutie pie.”
What the hell was a person supposed to say to that? Spencer swore his cheeks just kept growing hotter and hotter. It didn’t get any better when Morgan grinned at him and winked as well. “He is pretty damn cute, isn’t he? Especially when he blushes like that. But you’ll have to get your own genius, Des. This one’s all mine.”
“Aw, Derek!” Desiree pretended to whine. “Didn’t Mom teach you anything about sharing?”
Morgan scoffed at her. “Share this? Hell no. I don’t share what’s mine.”
Slightly irritated, Spencer jerked his hand from Morgan’s and shot his lover a glare. “I’ve had this conversation with Garcia before. I am not a toy or a pet or anything else like that, so quit treating me like one, Derek Morgan.”
His words didn’t even faze Morgan. The older man leaned over and kissed the tip of his nose, making Spencer scrunch up his face at him. “I thought you liked it when I play with you, baby boy.” He said in a husky, teasing voice. Almost instantly Spencer’s blush was back. He brought his hand up and pushed against Morgan’s chest, shoving him back into his chair as he grumbled “Shut up!” He didn’t get to say anything else, though, as his wrist gave a particularly nasty throb, reminding him that he’d overused it today.
His wince didn’t go unnoticed by Morgan. The playfulness was wiped off Morgan’s face, replaced with sympathy. “Bothering you today?”
“A little.” Shrugging, Spencer brushed it off, resting his arm on the table to ease his wrist a little. “Just used it a little too much.” He looked up and saw the hint of confusion that Desiree wore and hurried to explain what they were talking about. “I broke my wrist a while back. Though it’s healed, it still tends to ache when I overuse it.”
With a mischievous light in her eyes, Desiree leaned over and smacked Morgan’s arm. Her brother turned to glare at her. “Now what was that for?” he demanded. Desiree made a ‘tsk tsk’ sound at him. “If you were taking care of your man right, he wouldn’t have to overuse his wrist, Derek. Come on now.”
The instant her words sunk in, Spencer blushed hotter than ever. He dropped his head down to the table with a soft thunk, trying to ignore the laughter that was now filling the dining room. Sweet God.It’s like having two of Derek in the house. Half the time I barely manage to keep up with him when he teases me. How the hell am I going to manage with TWO? I’m going to spend this entire visit looking like a tomato. I am so screwed.
Apparently Morgan decided to take pity on him. He cut off his laughter, smothering it down to chuckles before finally stopping. “Why don’t we eat what’s left of our dinner?” He suggested kindly. His remark only served to remind Spencer of the earlier incident and he groaned loudly. With that sound, Morgan and Desiree were laughing once more. Clooney came around the table, shoving his head under Spencer’s arm, trying to get at his face. The younger man lifted his head to glare at the dog. “Oh no you don’t, mister. This is your fault to begin with! If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve had dinner on the table and been able to greet everyone just fine.”
Clooney whined and nudged him more, trying to get at him to lick his face. With a sigh, Spencer moved his hand and rubbed the dog’s head. “There, now go lay down. I’m not trusting you over here while we eat.”
As the dog moved away from the table, Morgan started serving food. Spencer felt himself relaxing a little as they all dug into their dinners. The conversation didn’t stop, but this part he had been prepared for. “So, how long have you two been together? And living together?” Desiree asked as she spooned fried rice onto her plate.
“Since the undercover operation, in a sense.” Morgan answered her. It was kind of hard for them to define how long they’d actually been together. In a way, they’d gotten together while undercover, and yet they hadn’t officially been together. Spencer had still been with Michael at the time. “We lived together on assignment, but Spencer’s lived here with me since we came home.”
“That long?” Desiree exclaimed. She set her chopsticks down to look back and forth between the two of them. “You waited this long to tell us? Mom’s gonna kill you for keeping it secret for so long!”
Looking down at his hands, Spencer grimaced slightly. “Things were a little—complicated, at first.” He said quietly. Old memories flashed in his mind, pushed resolutely back down. “There were some things we had to take care of before we could worry about anything else.”
Desiree may not have been a profiler, but she recognized the tension in Spencer’s body. She decided to save the rest of her questions for a later time; maybe when she could get Morgan alone. Instead, she switched the conversation, launching into a story about one of the Morgan cousins and their newest boyfriend. It was enough to break the tension in the room and to bring back their lighthearted mood. As Spencer ate his dinner, he found himself enjoying Desiree’s company. She was quite a bit like Derek. Easy going, with a quick smile and good humor. The two siblings bantered back and forth in a way that had Spencer smiling even as he felt slightly envious. He’d never had that kind of easy bond with anyone until Morgan.
By the time dinner was done, the three were still laughing together. Spencer had brought his feet up in his chair and had folded his arms over his knees, resting his chin there. The wine and the warm conversation were lulling him down toward sleep and he was quite content to let it take him there.
This wasn’t so bad he couldn’t help thinking. Maybe Sara didn’t react so well—I’ll have to see if Derek wants to talk about that later so I can make sure he’s really ok. But Desiree seems to genuinely be pleased with us. She’s a kind woman, too, and just as warm and funny and sweet as Derek is. She’s easy to relax around. Easy to talk to. Plus, she seems perfectly at ease right now. She didn’t even blink when Derek kissed me earlier. That’s definitely a good thing.
A warm kissed pressed against Spencer’s temple. He blinked sleepily, trying to focus his eyes. When he finally did, he saw Morgan bent over him, smiling down at him. “Come on, baby boy. You’re going to hurt your back if you sleep in that chair like that.”
“M’fine.” Spencer mumbled at him. He was enjoying himself, sitting here and listening to them. It was nice.
Morgan chuckled and took hold of Spencer, guiding him to his feet. “Sure you are, baby boy. But Desi and I are ready for bed and you know I won’t go to sleep without you.” Over Spencer’s head, Morgan threw a wink at his sister who smothered a laugh behind her hand. The two had been watching Spencer sleeping for almost ten minutes now. Neither were really too tired, but Morgan knew that Spencer would stay there all night if he thought Morgan and Desiree were going to, so he shamelessly lied to his lover to get him back to bed. Looking back, he told his sister “You know where the guest rooms are, Des. Go ahead and make yourself at home, ok? Just lock up before you tuck in.”
“No problem. Night, Der. Night, Spencer!”
Spencer managed a little half wave before Morgan steered him further down the hall. He thought to himself that he should protest being manhandled from the table but he found that he couldn’t. Especially when Morgan helped him onto the edge of the bed. Spencer gave a soft little sigh and started to lie down. Morgan’s hands on his shoulders stopped him, though. “Not yet, Spencer. Let’s get you out of your clothes first or you’ll be uncomfortable.”
Mostly asleep, Spencer didn’t really have to do anything. He just sat there as Morgan stripped him out of his clothes. Then, just like a child, he was helped the rest of the way into bed and the blankets were pulled over him. A moment later Morgan’s warm body joined him in bed. A little moan slipped past Spencer’s lips when Morgan put his arm around his waist and pulled him back. There was nothing better than sleeping in the warm curve of Morgan’s body. Here, Spencer always felt warm and safe.
He felt a kiss being placed against the side of his neck. “Go to sleep, baby boy. I love you, Spencer.”
“Love you too, Derek.” No matter how tired he was, he wouldn’t go to sleep without saying those words. Giving a contented sigh, Spencer slid into sleep.
CMCM
Hours later, Morgan heard the sound of his front door opening and closing. Carefully he extracted himself from Spencer’s body, smiling when the boy gave a soft whimper. He pressed a kiss to Spencer’s forehead and murmured “I’ll be right back.” His lover stilled and sighed back into the blanket. A smile curved Morgan’s lips as he moved out of his bedroom, quietly shutting the door behind him.
He knew who his midnight guest was. Leaning against the wall in the hallway, Morgan watched as his sister moved through the dimly lit hall, heading toward his guest rooms. When she was close, he said softly “Good to see you came back.”
Sara jumped, almost dropping her bag. Her free hand came up to rest over her heart. “”God, Derek! What the hell are you doing, hiding the shadows? Trying to kill me?” she hissed at him. The tone she used didn’t hold any anger in it; at least, not really. It was the same tone he’d heard thousands of times growing up. There was no lingering animosity in there from earlier and none of that disgust that he’d seen before.
Still, Morgan wasn’t so quick to let things go. “As much as I’m glad you’re back, Sara, my same rule from earlier still stands. You want to stay here, you’ll have to behave. On this, I won’t bend. I can’t.”
“I know.” She whispered. Setting her bad down, Sara sighed softly. She lifted her eyes to him, barely visible in the dark. “I overreacted, Derek. It was just…it was a huge shock, ok? I’m not saying I’m perfectly ok with it now, I won’t lie to you.”
“What are you saying, then?”
“I guess…I guess I’m willing to try, at least. That’s what I’m saying. I’m here and I’m willing to try. I’ll try to understand…this. I’ll try to see what it is you see in, in him.”
For a long moment Morgan stood there and stared at her, trying to judge her sincerity. After a long moment he stepped forward, snagging her with one arm to pull her in for a hug. No matter what, she was his sister. Even if he was worried about how things would go there was no way he could just send her away. If she was willing to try, he had to be willing to let her.
When he let go, he smiled at her and ruffled her hair. “Go get some sleep, Sara.” He moved toward his bedroom, pausing in the doorway to throw her a grin. “We aint holding breakfast for you. Your tantrum kept you out late; you can either suffer and get up for breakfast or miss out.” With one final laugh at her indignant look, Morgan shut the bedroom door behind him. He climbed into bed, his smile growing a little when Spencer rolled over and instantly snuggled up to him, still sound asleep. Content now that things in his life seemed to be back on the right track, Morgan wrapped his arm around Spencer and finally let himself join his lover in sleep.