Keeping You a Secret

The strong smell of disinfectant had started to give me a rather obnoxious headache. I shifted uncomfortably in my temporary hospital bed, biting my lip anxiously and throwing glances to the doorway every few seconds. Derek had needed to fly back to Quantico last night, to report to Agent Hotchner and to retrieve a few more sets of clothes. Despite the fact that he had insisted he would be back before tonight, the sun had set long ago and darkness was now setting in outside the small window next to my bed. I sighed, wishing I could have gone with Derek. From what I had heard, the case the team was currently working on sounded fascinating.

“Mr. Reid?” The small, blonde-headed nurse that had been assigned my room peered in, spreading her glossy red lips into a smile. “Is there anything you need before bed?”

I glanced up unsurely at the woman, whose name was Barbra and seemed to be in a constant state of happiness. I shook my head wordlessly, my hands twisting together in my lap as I tried to gather the words I so desperately wanted to ask her.

“Er… has… do you know if… uh…” I trailed off, shaking my head. “Well, never mind.”

“You’re wonderin’ about that handsome man, aren’t you?” Barbra asked knowingly, her wide smile returning. “The one with the pretty smile? He hasn’t been by all day. I was startin’ to worry about him…”

“He had a business trip,” I mumbled, supplying her with the answer she was obviously dying to find. Barbra nodded, hanging back in the doorway a moment before she disappeared down the hall, back towards the Nurse’s Station.

I found myself silently cursing Derek for letting the nurses talk me into staying a few more nights at the hospital. I was constantly being treated like a child here- even more so than usual. I had not been allowed to make a single decision of my own since arriving here, aside from getting to choose which dessert I wanted with my meal each night. I always got red Jello, which held bittersweet memories for me.

At some point, I must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing I knew, I was gently being shook awake by the man who I had been pining after all day. “Derek!” I exclaimed, my voice a hushed whisper as I threw my arms around him, clutching him tightly, as if he might fade away once more.

“Shh, not too loud, pretty boy,” Derek murmured, his lips covering mine for a brief moment before he sank down onto the mattress next to me. “You’ll have those nurses send me straight back to the hotel if they find out I’ve woken you up.”

“You look tired,” I told him softly, leaning my head against his shoulder and sighing with relief. I felt so much better with him there beside me; it was like I could finally relax. “They didn’t overwork you at the office, did they?”

“No more than usual,” Derek assured me, though his dark eyes had closed somewhere amidst our conversation. “Everyone misses you there. Hotch says he doesn’t know how they’ll solve the case without you.”

“They’ll do fine,” I said, yawning as I pulled the covers back up around me. “They’ve managed without me before, haven’t they?”

“They have. I’m not sure how, because I know I can barely function without you,” Derek said, leaning down to murmur this in my ear. I bit my lip, trying desperately to hold back a childish smile.

I let a comfortable silence fall between the two of us, simply curling up next to Derek and letting his warm body engulf my own. It felt so right, being able to lay with him like this, without worrying that Garcia or Hotch or any other member of the team would barge in on us. I was a little surprised when Derek’s fingers threaded through mine, and he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my hand.

“I really missed you, y’know,” he informed me, his voice soft with sleepiness. “It’s hard being away when I love you so much all I want to do is spend every second of my day with you.”

I felt my cheeks heat up in a blush, and I asked, “Do you really mean that, Derek?”

“Every word, sweetheart,” he said, kissing me once more before he nodded off to sleep.