itinere | open | so I keep doin' my own thing; walkin' tall against the rain

Entry tags:

{criminal minds: derek morgan

open | so I keep doin' my own thing; walkin' tall against the rain

Derek had somehow gotten away with not getting sick more than a headache that was just getting worse and worse as time moves on. It was never so bad that he couldn't work though it though, not as bad as so many others in the city (knock on wood). So every morning he went into the rec center to put in a full day's work. Every evening he went to check on those people he knew here in Itinere who were sick. He took them food and medicine and whatever else they might need. And he tried not to get sicker himself.

At the rec center, throughout each day, Derek stayed busy. Some days he worked with the treadmills, weights and parallel bars. Some days he worked with the punching bag and settled in a training room to go through his judo moves. Some days he did laps in the pool. Some days he was out on the basketball courts shooting some hoops.

Every day, he helped out whoever came into the place. While people are sick, after people are feeling better. Derek is there.

When Derek isn't at the rec center he can be found around the City in various places. Sometimes he's at the market picking up odds and ends. Sometimes he's at the park walking or jogging on the trails with earbuds in his ears, music from his iPod blaring loudly in his ears. Sometimes he's driving down the streets and up into the twists and turns of the roads in the mountains on his bike from home, which had magically appeared recently. Sometimes he's stopping at the burger joint, because Derek has a hard time resisting a good burger now and then. But really, who doesn't?

ooc: Open catch all for Derek all the way into June. So even if you're sick, you can chat with him when you aren't sick anymore too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Venus would not lie to Derek, not after all she's been through. So, that is why she says, "I like aspects of it. I like the power it gives me. But for the rest of it - for all of the other bits and bobs that go with it, I would not miss it, no." No, not by a long shot, the objectification, the dehumanization, the harshness of the life. No, she would not miss that.

"Like to be in charge, huh?" He asks, his voice light and teasing, but not so much so that it makes it seem that he isn't taking this conversation seriously. Because that couldn't be further from the truth. "Yeah, I got that earlier..." Earlier when he had tries to control her and she had quickly reversed it.

...and he had let her. Which was an entirely different set of thoughts and confusions.

He wraps hie arms tight around her, holding her against his body, her back to his front. For a few seconds he's quiet, just thinking before he speaks again. "The reception at the rec center can use somebody. If you want it. And if not... that's okay too."

For some reason, that offer just startles her enough to lean forward and turn to look back at him. "... don't you think that having me at your front desk might ... hamper business, darlin'?"

Having a big transsexual woman being the first thing to see might not exactly be a selling point, would it?

"I think if anyone's that kind of bigot, they probably shouldn't be up in my business anyway." Derek says, absolutely serious as his gaze meets hers. He has no room for that in his life.

He does have a unique perspective on it though. He grew up in a gang ridden neighborhood with a cop for a father, not to mention a father who was African American and a mother who was White and Irish. Don't think both of those things didn't cause problems for him. Even in the FBI, he'd worked cases in the South where the racism was strong.

He doesn't abide bigotry in any form. Because he's been on the wrong side of it too often himself.

There's a moment when it seems that Venus's face crumples and reassembles itself and she lets him see that. "Well, I will have a trunk full of things I might not be using," she jokes, the half-smile she wears flickering around the edges. "But if you are sure about this? ... then I will gratefully accept the position."

"Sweetheart, all you gotta do is greet people with a smile and help them get to where they need to go if they need it. Help them sign up for classes if they want that." He hadn't missed that look on her face and he feels that it's sad that such a simple thing, someone offering an alternative to her and not being ashamed of her, could affect her so. It have happened so rarely in her life. And that's just not right.

"And I happen to know you've got a helluva smile." He tells her, grin sliding into place on his own lips.

He leans in on impulse to kiss at her cheek. "Now about this trunk. What's in it?"

The question startles a laugh out of her even as she is holding up her hands to notice the serious pruning going on there.

"Rather than tell you about it," she teases, leaning forward and out of the tub to reach for a towel. "Perhaps I can show it to you."

Venus looks over her shoulder at him, coy and promising all at once. "We can make a night of it."

As Venus reaches for a towel, Derek's fingertips trail down her spine. Even as his fingertips make that trek, he feels chills go down his own spine at the suggestion, even if he has no real idea where an agreement will get him.

"Alright. Sounds good to me." He says, pushing up out of the bathtub with her. He grabs a towel of his own and starts to dry off. "You gonna tell me what's in the trunk or is that a surprise?"

"I think it'll be a surprise," Venus tells him as she stands, maybe giving him just a little bit of a pose as she moves, stepping out, then running the towel over her body.

"I'll even cook you dinner, if you'd like?"

He does notice that pose and watches her with a small grin playing in his lips. Every time his gaze dips from her breasts to her cock, he feels a stirring in his belly that's part nerves, part confusion and part arousal. He has no idea how to equate his history with his attraction. But he knows attraction is there, nonetheless.

"I like surprises..." He pauses, weighing those words. "...most surprises."

Derek goes over to her to steal a kiss and then empties the tip before going to the bedroom to find some clothes to wear. "What are you gonna make me, pretty girl?"

"Well, I will brag a bit," she says, letting her hair down from the bun he'd put it in as she follows him into the bedroom. "But I do make a damned fine steak. Perhaps with a baked potato?"

Before she gets dressed, she just takes a moment to ogle him. Truly, he is a beautiful man and somehow, she's gotten lucky enough to snag him, at least for a little while. Mmm. Her cock twitches, but she'll be a good girl. For now.

"Oh, steak and potatoes. Don't you know the way to a man's heart." Derek teases as he pulls on some clean boxer briefs, a pair of jeans and a tee.

When he turns to look at her, he catches her looking at him. He likes the way she looks at him. He winks at her. "Why're you standing over there lookin' so sexy?"

"I could say the same to you, you know," she says, finally pulling on her underthings, reaching for her dress with a smile. "I was just thinking how lucky I am, you know."

Derek sets to work filling a duffel bag with a change of clothes. He pauses in his work though, when she says she's lucky, to look over to her. He would have never thought after their rocky start that he would still be here with her, much less that she would want him here or feel lucky about having him.

"You mean that?" He asks.

"Darlin'," she says, stopping to look over at him, "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." She isn't much for lying.

When she's dressed, she comes over to run her hand over his arm. "You're a good man, Derek. One of the best I've had the pleasure of meeting."

Not that that sets the bar too terribly high what with her life experience, but still.

After grabbing some toiletries, he zips the bag up and moves over to Venus to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her close. His lips catch hers in a quick but sweet kiss.

"You make me feel good." Which, for Derek, who is often so hard on himself, is a compliment of the highest order. He steals another kiss.

He doesn't even have to steal the kisses: he can have them for free. Venus kisses back easily and happily. "Then it sounds like we make a pretty good team, doesn't it?"

And isn't that something?

That kiss is sweet and lingering and Derek gets greedy and steals one more before he moves away, walking backward to the bed with his tongue licking at what's left of that kiss on his own lips. He grabs his duffel and he's ready to go.

"You don't mind me bringin' a few things over to your place, right?" He asks.

"As long as you're one of those things," she tells him. Venus's smile is soft, bewitched and coy all at once. "We need to stop by the grocer's on the way to get that steak for you."

She holds out a hand for him to take as they head to the door. "Did you ever watch Disney movies as a child, Derek?"

"Definitely one of those things." Honestly, he's just thrilled that she wants to be around him at all. That she invited him to her place instead of him maneuvering his way in just to be near her, well... that felt like a good step in the right direction. Even if it had something to do with a mysterious trunk.

He takes her hand in his and they start out of the apartment building. "Yeah, we'd watch them at my Auntie Vaughn's house after school sometimes when we were there." He glances sideways to her. "Why? You have a favorite princess?"

"No, not really," she says, her grin growing more, though she ducks her head as she says it. "I suppose I feel a little bit like a Disney princess. Isn't that something?

The fact that he can make her feel like that, it gets a large grin out of him. It might be odd that he gets how special that is. But he did grow up with two sisters and one female cousin. He was the only boy. So he has a little insight to what that means to any girl who might reference it in that way.

"So that means I'm doin' somethin' right." He says, leaning in to almost kiss her cheek but just lightly bumping her side instead.

That earns a low laugh from her. They might have Halloween costumes if they are, by some chance, still together in October.

"Take me home, my prince," she says with a faux demure-ness (which really is hilarious considering what they're going to look at).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

open | so I keep doin' my own thing; walkin' tall against the rain

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject