The Night Before.

The lights are dim and the plane is nearly silent, other than the underlying hum signifying that they aren't about to drop out of the air. One of the team is mumbling in their sleep, Prentiss maybe. From his position, Morgan can only see Reid. And he's perfectly content with the view.

Reid is stretched out on the couch, long legs tangled together. His hair is dangling in front of his face, moving every so often as he exhales. Only his nose sticks out of the thick brown curtain. One arm is under his head, the other dangling across his body and over the edge of the couch.

They've only been on the plane for half an hour but everyone else, other than Morgan, is asleep. The case they'd been working on seemed nearly impossible to solve and, with five bodies, the town seemed ready to turn against them. Five fathers, vacationing in their summer cottages, brutally murdered. Their throats were slit and their left hands were removed from their bodies. There was no physical evidence, no clues. Nothing. The only connection between the five cottages was that they were all cleaned by the same company. However, Reid had crossed out that connection when it was discovered that all the employees were female.

Garcia, however, had saved the day. She had run the name of the employees through the database anyways and discovered that one of the employees was actually technically still a male. Juanita Harris was a man who was going through hormone therapy to become a woman. He was the unsub, suffering from a delusion that the father's of the families were abusive and that he was doing God's work against the Devil's servants. That explained why he removed the left hand, since Reid (unnecessarily) explained to the team about the left hand belonging to the Devil, according to tradition.

The last twenty four hours of Morgan's life had definitely been action packed. On any day, his job was full of excitement but today had been more exciting than normal. He'd woken up next to an absolutely gorgeous human being after a night that far surpassed any he could remember in the longest time. And for the rest of the day, right up to the time they'd boarded the plane, his eyes were constantly drifting back towards said human being, knowing exactly what he looked like without his button-up and trousers on.

And even now, with Reid on his side, looking quite peaceful despite the things they'd seen, his eyes wouldn't leave him. They take in every detail, from the way his fingers are almost imperceptibly twitching to the fact he's wearing two different colored socks. One is blue, the other yellow and covered in some symbol Morgan can't make out from his place.

Someone cries out and this time, it's definitely Prentiss. She only yells once before falling silent, no other sign of a nightmare. Morgan wishes she would continue talking. He doesn't like the eerie silence, only broken by the engines. None of the BAU team even snore.

Reid squirms a little and, after confirming no one else is awake, Morgan goes to kneel beside the couch. Up this close, he can see that Reid is chewing on his lip in his sleep, bringing the same patch of skin back into his mouth over and over.

"Reid, wake up," he murmurs, nuzzling his nose. He stirs slightly but his eyes stay shut, teeth still chewing on his lip. Leaning forward, Morgan removes his lip from his mouth and, with a quickness he didn't know the younger man possessed, Reid is sitting up, panting heavily. Morgan backs away slightly, seeing the panic running through his eyes.

"Reid, it's just me," he says quietly, reaching out to take one of his balled up fists from his lap. His fingers are still tense, seeming locked. "Were you dreaming?"

"No," he answers, lying back down. Morgan can tell he's lying but he doesn't say anything, perching himself on the couch and letting Reid rest his head in his lap. They both know that what they're doing is incredibly risky, since relationships amongst members of the Bureau are forbidden, but everyone else is asleep. And all Morgan wants is another brief taste of the previous night, to know what it wasn't just a hoax. His fingers idly comb through Reid's hair, lightly pulling through some knots. Reid sighs contently, one hand resting on Morgan's knee.

"How is this going to work?" he asks softly, tracing patterns in the worn fabric. His voice is a wisp, barely there.

"I don't know," Morgan admits, sighing. "But we'll find a way." He tilts his head back against the couch, letting his eyes drift shut while his fingers continue their idle work. Reid murmurs something, wriggling around until he's comfortable, before falling silent. Morgan promises himself that he won't fall asleep, that he's just resting his eyes for a few moments. He's kidding himself; he's absolutely exhausted and he's dreaming five minutes later, fingers still resting in Reid's hair.

Prentiss wakes with a jolt twenty minutes later, the last images of her nightmares fading away in her head. Everyone else is still asleep but, glancing at her watch, the plane should be descending within the next fifteen minutes. She has this urge for a cup of coffee but when she shakily stands up to get some, she's stopped in her tracks at the sight before her. Reid was sprawled across the couch, like usual, but his head was lying square in Morgan's lap, hair draped across his face. She knows it probably doesn't mean anything but nonetheless, she smiles and gets her coffee.

"Morgan, wake up." When he opens his eyes, she's smiling at him, despite the rather compromising position. "We're gonna land soon. I'll let you wake up Reid."

And as he leaned down to do just that, laughing at Reid's scrunched up nose as he was so rudely jerked out of sleep, Morgan had a feeling that this was going to work.