Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Sorry this is a little later as usually, and thanks to all the reviews.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

His mother's son

It had been a few weeks since Derek had arranged for himself to be tested as the supposed father of Crystal's baby. Although he had tried his best on assuring Emily that they would be okay either way, the tension hadn't quite left them yet. This morning he had finally found the letter with the news in the mail. Both had been relieved as the letter read that he was not the father to this child and to Derek's horror, his fiancée started crying once more, but for a happy reason now. He was relieved not to be the father of any other child than the two he had at home because as of right now they were trouble enough. While Annie had just enjoyed her stay at grandma and grandpa's her older brother hadn't spoken a word to Derek since then. Of course some small talk about pick-ups from school and other schedule arrangements had been discussed, but nothing else was said. He had no clue what he had done and how he was supposed to fix it, but he knew that Emily had noticed it and it upset her.

He had been working on files when Em and Annie had left for their weekly grocery shopping and therefore stayed behind with Declan. They had done a pretty good job with staying out of each other's way, until the boy turned on the TV in the living room, knowing full well that Derek was still working on his files as they were spread all over the couch.

"Can you at least turn it down?" He asked, getting annoyed by the younger one's behavior and was having a hard time hiding it.

"You can just go to the office."

"How about you watch TV in your room?"

Declan glared at him, "The channel is only down here."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Derek decided to move. "Just tell me what your problem is, son."

"I'm not your son." Suddenly it was very quiet while Declan's words still hung in the room. "And you are my problem. I thought you would make her happy, but all you do is make her cry. She even broke her hand because of you, but you just act as if nothing happened."

Derek still stared at the spot where the boy had stood before storming out of the room, when his phone started to ring. His boss had never had the best timing, but today was about the worst. But finally he answered and left a few minutes later to get to Quantico.

"Wasn't it your weekend off?" Emily balanced her phone between shoulder and ear while she navigated her daughter and the grocery bags to the house.

"It's local so I should be home whenever we have time for sleep."

"Hotch really needs more of a life." She raised an eyebrow when he didn't chuckled like she had intended him to do. "Are you okay?"

"I guess I get why Haley left him. It's ridiculous to have a family and this job."

"And I understand, I have been there, remember? And I'm not planning on leaving you."

"You sure?"

Emily stopped unpacking a bag and grabbed her phone. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"I would understand; I mean I hurt you a lot already with Strauss and then the whole Crystal story. I would understand if you had second thoughts."

"What the heck are you talking about? I'm happy."

"You broke your hand because of me."

"And that was my decision. You didn't force me to ram my hand into that tree and, just for the record, it wasn't broken." She saw out of the corner of her eye that her son had walked in the room and stopped dead as soon as he realized what she was talking about.

"I just want you to be happy."

"I am happy and I will be even happier when you start working this case so you can come back home."

They ended their phone call and Emily directed her attention towards her son. "And why exactly are you looking at me like I'm a ghost?"

"Was that Derek?"

"Yes, they have a case."

"Did he say something?"

Emily examined her son, "About what?"

"I don't know." He drew back his question and turned to leave the room.

"Declan, what happened?" She had noticed the tension between the two over the past weeks, but had decided to leave them to figure it out by themselves.

"He didn't want me to watch TV in the living room, because he was working."

Emily stared at him, not sure why that was a problem.

"I got mad, because he could have gone to the office, and I guess I said some pretty mean things."

"Like what?" The woman slowly became suspicious about what was going on with her fiancé.

"That he is not my father and that he only makes you cry."

She took a sharp breath in, while she looked at her son. That definitely explained the weird phone conversation she had just had. What she didn't understand was what was behind Declan's remarks.

"Honey, he makes me happier than I ever was before. Yes we fight, but every couple fights. Yes I cry sometimes, but everyone does that. It's supposed to be a healthy way of dealing with things rather than holding them in."

The teen stared at her, unsure of what to say. His anger had diffused and now he wasn't sure if he should feel upset or just stupid.

"What about that baby?" She had told him about the whole thing before getting him back home. She felt like keeping secrets from him would be stupid after everything he had been through.

"We got the results today. It's not his." Emily almost felt sorry for him as his face fell and his whole defense evaporated.

"So you are still getting married?"

She nodded softly taking a few steps towards him. "Declan it is really sweet that you are worried about me and that you want me to be happy, but you need to understand that good and bad things just happen. Yes I cry, and you really shouldn't have to see that, but that doesn't mean that life doesn't go on. I love Derek with all my heart and he loves me too."

They agreed on giving it a rest until Derek got back. To her surprise that happened the next afternoon. She had been working in the yard with Annie when he came back, inviting her to the team night. She had, at first, declined because of the lack of babysitter but then he reminded her that Declan was old enough to take care of himself and his sister for a few hours. He had then disappeared inside mentioning that he needed to get some things straight.

"I'm sorry." Derek had barely made his way into the boy's room when the words already came over Declan's lips.

"It's okay, but I think we need to talk about a few things."

"Like what?"

"Why were you so mad? I get it, you are very protective of your mom, but that is not the reason why you were so mad at me."

Declan stared at him, before grinning: "You are worse than mom. We really need a no profiling outside of the job rule in this house."

Derek chuckled as he realized his mistake. "I'll think about it, but first answer my question."

"Mom told me about that baby and I just didn't want more siblings."

The man didn't say anything, as he knew that this was only half of the story.

"I didn't want you to like that baby more than Annie. You are her dad and people like their real kids better." Declan looked to his hands, intertwining them.

"I would never like any kid better than another. Besides it is really hard to rank higher on my favorite children list than Annie and you are." He knew that Declan had only been talking about his sister, but he wouldn't be bothered so much, if he wasn't worried about his own status. "I already told your mother this, Declan: you, Annie and Emily are the most important people in my life, my family. Nothing is going to change that. Even if the kid would have been mine, it wouldn't change the fact that the three of you are my family."

"Really?"

Derek smiled as he saw the same insecurity that he had seen in his fiancée a few weeks ago.

"You are a lot like your mom, you know that?"

"Really?"

Derek nodded with a small smile before changing the topic. "So are we good?"

Declan nodded slowly, "Just don't do it again."

"Promise," Derek chuckled over the seriousness. "I have one more question for you buddy."

"What?"

"Actually two." Now it was his turn to get serious. "Are you okay with me marrying your mom?"

Declan looked at him with wide eyes, "Aren't you already engaged?"

"Well yeah, but I still would like to hear what you think."

"She loves you, so yes you probably should marry her." Now it was Derek's turn to stare at him. He had simply not expected that kind of an answer from the boy. "What was the second question?"

The man's thoughts stopped dead trying to order them, before he could answer. "Well I was wondering if you would be my best man."

"Me?"

"Yeah, I was trying to find a way to get you involved, but you are a little old for ring boy and not girly enough for flower girl."

"But wouldn't someone of your team want to be best man?" Declan stared at him with wide suspicious eyes.

"They will be okay and I think you are the best choice."

The blonde boy wrinkled his nose thinking more as he pondered the offer, leaving Derek wondering what he was thinking about.

"Okay."

The man breathed out with a sigh of relief. He had been worried about his reaction and he knew that the answer basically was his invitation into the family. Before he could say anything further they heard a light tap on the door and Emily's head popped into the room.

"We need to leave."

"Right, give me a minute." He could see her roll her eyes, while he waited for her to close the door again. He then turned back to her son.

"Don't tell her yet. I want it to be a surprise."

"Surprises don't work well between you two." Declan looked at him skeptically.

"She will know by the time we get home tonight."

"That works."