Author's Note: Sorry for yet another hiatus. Got busy with life, holiday planning, vacation (where I got to go to some INCREDIBLE writing seminars), holidays, and now OT season at work. I have several chapters written, but they're shorter than normal for me. I'll be posting them every couple days while I work on more. I'm in the thick of overtime season at work so weekday writing currently depends heavily on what my mandates are so no guarantees of how fast we'll get it finished.

Muse's Note: This hiatus is my fault. I wasn't being cooperative the few times AJ sat down to write. The workshops last month inspired me. Let's hope it stays that way.

Disclaimer: The most valuable things I own are my bed, laptop, and TV. Therefore, I do not own CM, as much as I wish I did.

I really didn't mean to slam my office door behind me, but I didn't mean not to either. And I regretted it almost immediately. It wasn't thirty seconds after the door closed that it opened again, more slowly than I had shut it. By the time he stuck his head through the gap I had dropped my bag on the floor and slid it beneath my desk.

Derek's eyes darted around, making sure I was safe and alone out of habit before he pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped through. He turned to close it behind him and I took the opportunity to drop myself into my chair and roll into position at my desk.

"What can I do for you my Adonis?" I was fairly sure he was going to see straight through my B.S., but it was worth a try.

He didn't even bother rolling his eyes at me as he moved toward me. In one smooth move, he pulled me back from my desk, moved my keyboard and mouse to the side, perched his firm backside on my desk, and pulled me back within easy reach of himself. I tried desperately to avoid his gaze, but he stuck a single strong finger under my chin and tilted it until I was looking directly into his liquid chocolate stare.

"Spill it Mama."

There was no use in trying to not tell him. Derek Morgan could read me like a book. A children's book. One that was mostly pictures. But just because I had to tell him didn't mean I had to tell him. I sighed loudly to buy myself a few moments to think, but darn him, that man's mind is like a steel trap. Nothing leaks out.

"Wait, you were supposed to be having lunch with Sam today. Why are you back early? Did he cancel on you? Because I can totally call him up and give him hell. He hasn't seen you in weeks between you going to Cali on that case with us and then him being gone on vacation."

Darn him again for being so sweetly protective. I am not going to cry. "He didn't cancel on me."

Oh come on! Not the big bad 'Agent Morgan: interrogator' face! So unfair! "Then why. Are. You. Back. Early? And slamming doors?"

I sighed again. Darn. DarnDarnDarn. So much for not telling him. "Because he dumped me!"

He froze completely for a second, which is pretty much how I had reacted when Sam had laid it on me. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed and darkened and his entire body stiffened. "I'll kill him. What sorry ass excuse did he give you?"

I patted him on the arm, calming myself as much as him. "The lame 'I reconnected with an old friend at the reunion'."

I was glad I had left my hand on his arm because he tried to launch himself off the desk. Luckily I was already in place to push him back down. "Don't, okay D? It's not a huge deal. It's not like things were serious with us anyway. I'm more mad than I am hurt. I bailed on my Monday lunch with JJ just so he could dump me!"

Not. Going. To. Cry. He would take that the wrong way. I'm really not hurt, and that kinda surprises me. But I am an angry crier and that would propel him into full Hulk mode and I much prefer confusion to fury.

"Pump your breaks. What do you mean things weren't serious? Seemed pretty serious to me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So did you and Savannah and you guys split up too. Hell, you were all set to move in together. Looks can be deceiving. As far as I knew, he didn't want anything serious. And I didn't either. Therefore, it wasn't serious."

Now he sighed. And rolled his eyes at me. And relaxed his shoulders.

"If you say so Princess. And don't compare your relationships to mine."

Now that was a debate we've had before, many times. And I've always lost it because he's more self depreciating than I am and has a longer attention span. Thankfully, I was saved from us having it again by the vibration of his phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it briefly before returning it from whence it came.

"Hotch needs me in the bullpen. Don't make any plans for tonight. You and I are going to have dinner and a drink and lament on the pains of being single."

I had barely mumbled out an agreement (which I did mostly because of there was a serious lack of both food and alcohol in my apartment) when he was gone. I stared at the closed door for a long minute trying to figure out how I had lucked into having such a great best friend. Unable to come up with an answer, I shook my head to clear it and spun back toward my desk. Losing myself in work for the next five hours would definitely be therapeutic.