Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Dolly fixes all (2)

//Above is a visual of a similar outfit to Darling's in the flash back in this chapter//

As Darling and Morgan drove to the supermarket away from Jacob's diner, still laughing whilst they blasted Dolly Parton, he couldn't help reflect on a similar day a few years ago that they were meant to go on their big road trip together...

Morgan walked into his new apartment after finally finishing another case, slumping down on his sofa and debating between ordering food or if he should just call it a day, fall asleep and deal with his hunger in the morning.

The grumble of his stomach forced him to sigh as he pushed himself to his feet, walking over to the kitchen and grabbing a freezer meal that he hated, but it was quick and easy and that's all he could mentally manage after a case.

The lights in the apartment were mostly off, there were still boxes everywhere from moving despite living there for months but not having enough time to make it his home since work had been so hectic on the BAU team.

Had it not been for the case, he wasn't meant to be working this week- in fact he had booked it off to be on a road trip starting today with Darling who he hadn't seen in several months and had come down for the next few weeks to see him only for him to have to cancel because of work.

He felt horrible for having to cancel, and even worse for not being able to see her like he wanted to, but after her teasing him for a few hours about it she dropped the act and told him it was absolutely fine and that she would just sight see instead whilst he worked the case.

Said case was meant to be two weeks long and ended up luckily finishing early, but it finished on the day that their road trip was meant to start, not early enough for Morgan to be able to message Darling- especially now that he knew she had other plans.

He let out a sigh as he got up from the dining table to find his ringing phone in his work bag, unable to hide his surprised joy from the caller ID.

"Well hello there Miss Dawson."

"Hello to you too Mr Morgan" she replied with a chuckle, "I don't mean to interrupt your work but real quick I've got a question since you're a big shot FBI profiler now and you have to help me because I'm your favourite person ever."

"We've been over this, I can't give you my badge so you can get a FBI discount that doesn't exist Darling-" He chuckled.

"No, not that- how do you know if someone is a serial killer?"

"A serial killer?" He laughed with confusion.

"Yeah- a serial killer, you know, the stabby people."

"Who do you think is a serial killer then special agent Dawson? I'll have the whole squad there in 10 seconds flat based off your natural detective hunch" he found amusement in teasing her as he prepared his microwave meal for one, thankful for her company even if it was over the phone.

"I'm serious" she laughed, "this guy I'm on a date with won't stop putting mayonnaise on his spaghetti and I'm seriously concerned that he's a psychopath because of it."

"Wait-" Morgan paused, "-you're on a date?"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?"

"I mean you said you found new plans but I didn't think it was a date" he shrugged, unsure why her being on a date made him feel weird but brushing it off, "I take it's not going well?"

"Not by any stretch of the imagination- my co-worker set me up with this guy; he's like a douche on a whole other level Derek, like it's honestly kind of hilarious how much he's mansplained to me already ."