𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟏𝟐𝟏

"𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚎"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘶

"DON'T YOU JUST LOVE Saturdays at the BAU?" Noah huffs as she sits her coat down on Emily's desk. Her mother laughs as she walks up behind her and Derek smirks at the teen's mood.

"What's got you so upset?" Derek asks. "Hotch kick your ass in your run this morning?"

"Hey, I won fair and square today," Noah boasts. "I had to after we let him and Jess win at the field day."

"You two let them win?" Emily asks, not believing the two of them could put their egos aside.

"It was the right thing to do," Derek mentions and Noah nods in agreement.

"We were just trying to support them," the teen adds.

"By lying?" Emily tuts.

"By letting them have a moment of victory to feel better about themselves. Everyone could use a little ego boost every now and then," Noah explains and looks to Derek, who agrees with her.

Before Emily can say anything else, Penelope comes through the bullpen and gathers everyone to meet in the round table room. Noah sits at her mother's desk and puts her feet up. She reads a book for a bit until she decides to run to the bathroom real quick. When she's coming back down the hallway, she sees an agent with a little girl.

"Excuse me, do you know an Agent Derek Morgan?" the agent asks.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Noah replies as she eyes the girl.

"She's looking for him," the man says.

"I can take you right to him," Noah tells the girl and nods towards the bullpen, making the girl follow her. "Thanks for bringing her up," she says to the agent, who leaves to go back to the elevator.

Noah walks the girl into the bullpen and wonders where she came from.

"So, uh, what's your name?" the teen asks.

"Ellie," the girl sheepishly replies.

"Ellie? That's a very pretty name," Noah replies as she bends down to the girl's height. "I'm Noah. My mom works with Agent Morgan. The man said that you wanted to see him?"

"He saved me," Ellie says.

"I'm sure he did," Noah smiles. "He saved me once too," she adds, making the girl show a small grin.

The teen shows Ellie around the bullpen until the team's meeting is over. She doesn't want Ellie to become a distraction and she doesn't understand why she's here either. Strangely, there's no parent with her, but out of anyone, Noah can understand how those sorts of things happen.

As Hotch calls wheels up in thirty, Emily gets up from the round table and looks out the window. In the bullpen, she sees Noah showing Ellie around. Her mouth falls open and she turns to Derek.

"Hey, Morgan," she calls him over. He looks out and sees the girl he's been keeping in contact with ever since he saved her a couple of cases ago.

Noah peers down at Ellie and sees that she is looking elsewhere. She peers up and sees her mother and Derek watching them through the window. Ellie waves to Derek before he quickly comes to see her.

"Ellie," Derek says as he shakes his head. "What're you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I flew," Ellie replies quietly. Noah's eyebrows go up in shock and she looks at her mother, who is shocked herself.

Derek takes Ellie with Emily and Noah to Penelope's office. The bullpen is overwhelming and no place to talk about this kind of stuff. Noah closes the door behind them and stands beside her mother, who is sitting on the arm of the couch that Derek and the girl are sitting on.