Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Day two (1)

Surprisingly, this wasn't Darling's first time crawling around prison walls covered in gore and holding a bloodied wire cutter, but she definitely hoped it would be her last.

The days leading up to this moment raced around her head as she dressed her wound that was proving more than difficult to ignore like she was hoping she could, trying to take refuge in making sense of the information she had learnt days prior to piece it together.

It was the next night after Darling's tattoo kidnapping 'adventure' and she lay her head down in the solitary cell once more, wishing her eyes would shut and take her away from the 'new normal' she was adapting to in this prison;

Anticipating the jumps from loud noises before they came to her body, knowing the schedule of the creepiest guards to avoid, learning how to sit in her utter loneliness and not go completely mad from being suffocated by herself.

Instead, she found brief moments of freedom within her slumber that would take her back to an old normal that used to be her 'new' normal;

Waking up in the mornings being tucked into Morgan's side even though he swore he wasn't a cuddler but always snuggled her into him halfway through the night, him laughing as she attempted to make dinner and ended up taking over for her when she gave up, the soft touch of his hand on her skin at night as he whispered for permission with every kiss, every touch, every magical moment he brought her with those touches.

She found herself lost in it, lost in him, lost in them and the flickering sense of romantic normalcy she felt almost foolish for letting herself believe she could have but desperately craved.

A love without danger, a love without anger, a love that was always there waiting for her and was amazed to find it didn't come with any consequences.

No honeymoon period that once ended was met with yelling backed with spite and vases flying at her head;

No alcohol bottles spilling from under the bed and broken promises followed by furious defence;

No, it wasn't a kind of love she was used to- but it was a kind of love she realised she had always had with him, even in their friendship.

Morgan had always been the first to pull her into a hug or reciprocate her many, many ones despite teasing her for them, he had always made her meals after laughing at her for being a bad cook, he had always asked for permission to be near her without any repercussions if she would say no.

Always so gentle, always so loving; always so him.

That's what she found herself lost in as the sleepless nights in that cell threatened to consume her.

Their love, one that expanded far back beyond when they started dating, the memories of when neither of them knew quite how deep that love went.

"I swear to god Derek if you don't get your nasty feet away from me I'm going to throw up all over you" Darling tried to say in-between fits of laughter as they sat opposite each other in the school library well past closing time with little-to-no progress on either of their essays.

"You said you were cold, I'm trying to warm you up" he joked, kicking her leg with his foot under the table as he found himself laughing more at her laughter than anything else.

"Your disgusting hooves aren't going to help that-"

"Hey- my 'hooves' aren't disgusting" he burst further into laughter, absent mindlessly finding himself taking off his jacket and chucking it across the table at her.