Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Not always

//above is a visual for Darling's outfit at one point in this part :))//

//also TW for brief mentions of parental and partner abuse in this chapter//

Morgan woke up to his usual morning alarm for work, going to stretch out with his yawn but instead almost throwing himself off his bed when he saw Darling asleep next to him- not how she had fallen asleep the night before facing away from him as far away as possible, but with her head against his chest and body pressed to his- which was when he realised his arm was thrown over her, hooking around the small of her waist and holding her half laying on him without realising as their legs intertwined with each other and his chin resting on the top of her head, his other hand sprawled over her thigh that was wrapped across him- neither of them having consciously moved in the night to get to this position of being cuddled up against each other but both finding their way there in their sleep.

To say that Morgan panicked would be the understatement of the century; the fact that he fully panicked to the point that he couldn't move was more of a realistic demonstration of said panic.

Relax Derek, it's just Darling- your friend Darling who you're in love with resting her head on your chest... oh my god how could you relax?!

He tried to steady his panicked breathing to not to wake her up, torn between desperately needing to throw himself off the bed to get away and the annoying overwhelming want to stay in this position with her forever.

His indecision was interrupted by an alarm going off the other side of the bed where Darling had left her phone, more of said panic coming back at full force when he saw her eyes start to flicker open, Morgan doing the only thing that made sense to him; dropping his head the other way and pretending to still be asleep to avoid his problems.

He felt Darling wiggle out of his arms, which he hated how empty they felt without her there now, and turned off her alarm with a yawn, hopping out of the bed and walking over to Morgan's bathroom that connected his room to the living room on the other side, Morgan slowly opening his eyes when he heard the door lock and let out a sigh.

"You're so stupid" he mumbled to himself.

"How am I stupid?" An amused voice at the end of the bed made him jump, looking at Darling who chuckled at him with her arms folded.

"I thought you went to the bathroom?"

"Penelope got in there first" Darling explained before tilting her head at him, "so why are you stupid then?"

"I, uh..." he thought for a moment, knowing that he couldn't exactly say because I let myself wrap my arms around the woman I'm in secretly love with in my bed...

"-I, uh, forgot to brush my teeth last night- yeah, that was it."

Wow, good cover genius.

"Same but don't worry, I won't steal your tooth brush this time" Darling didn't seem to pick up on his lie and shrugged, popping on her shoes and grabbing her bag to leave, "I'll see you at work."

"U-uh yeah sure, see you there" he cleared his throat when he noticed her top and jumper had ridden up in her sleep to show her short shorts at the back, forcing his gaze away.

"Make sure Penelope drinks some water or something, I lost count of how many drinks I made her last night-" Darling called out over her shoulder as she walked to the door but smiled back at him with a teasing tone, "-and don't worry, I won't tell anyone that you're a secret big cuddler."

Morgan's embarrassment and panicked shock must have been crystal clear on his face as Darling burst out laughing on her way out, leaving Morgan to let out a groan and pull the covers over his embarrassed face.