Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Outbreak of a new life (3)

//A lil photo of Darling's outfit inspo above, enjoy :))// 

Darling was right, Morgan's hangover was not fun in the heat.

It was an almost two day long hell- a hell fuelled more every time he saw Graham and Darling together, which was difficult to avoid since they were all being forced to stay in the same house.

He would have to leave the room when Darling came downstairs and Graham greeted her with a sickly sweet kiss on the cheek, he would have to hide his wince when she would call him 'sweetheart' or another pet name that he had gotten used to having himself referent by her, he would find himself sat at that same dining table at night sipping whatever alcohol he could find to numb the pain of sitting in this strange alternate reality situation that he thought he would one day have with her himself;

A house, a marriage full of love and tenderness, a home, a family made by the two that could grow into more if that was what she wanted like it was for him.

Not avoiding each other when the other walked down the stairs in the middle of the night, not the silence that came from unspoken words, not the stolen glances from across the room that felt more sombre than they did exciting like it used to be before.

"Morning agents'" Darling's usual cheery voice cut through the air and immediately found its way into Morgan's ears as she entered the kitchen where the team were sat working out a profile.

He couldn't help his glancing over at her; her freshly curled 70's hair brushed out and voluminous just above her shoulders, the smile on her face as she basically skipped to the coffee maker to make a black coffee Morgan thought she would never drink but seemed to only drink without sugar now, the bump he now knew was fake pressing against her yellow silk midi patterned sundress with a black wrap cardigan over the top that matched her black Dr Marten booties that he couldn't help smiling at as he recognised buying them for her on her 24th birthday.

She looked more like herself than he had seen of her the last two days where she had been dressing in suburban Southern mom bland attire that she would usually gag at the thought of wearing.

"Good morning" Rossi greeted her with a warm smile that changed slightly when he noticed her bump again and cleared his throat, "so... Anne, how far along did you say you were in your pregnancy?"

Darling stopped for a moment in the middle of her coffee making process, sensing a tone to his voice of curiosity, a need to figure out if this baby- that the rest of the team didn't know was fake- was Morgan's or not.

"About 5 months now" she replied after a moment with a forced cheery tone, wiping down the sides where the team had left multiple coffee spillages that had stained.

"Right..." Rossi nodded, glancing over at Morgan who continued writing in his file like he wasn't listening in, he looked back to Darling as she took a sip of her coffee, "so when was the last time you slept with Derek then, about 5 months ago too?"

Darling's choking on the coffee in shock splattered it back onto the freshly cleaned side, an uncontained laughter of shock coming from Emily and an eye roll from Hotch at Rossi's unprofessional question.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about agent" Darling tried to clear her throat as she cleaned up the side again, shaking her head to herself and trying to change the subject and had to take off her cardigan to stop her burning cheeks, "has anyone seen the aspirin bottle I left on the side yesterday? Addie hasn't been feeling well this morning."

"Here, I have a spare bottle" Morgan pulled it out of his jacket pocket on the back of the chair and held it out for her.

"Thanks" she walked over awkwardly and took it out of his hand, their fingers brushing for just a moment but that act alone made her want to burst into tears with how safe that simple touch felt, a safety she hadn't had for a while.