Lia rushed home and rushed around her apartment to try and be ready by the time Derek came to pick her up.
But the knock at her door as she ran a brush through her naturally wavy hair told her she'd failed.
After checking who it was through the peephole, she opened the door.
"Hey." She said, her eye's skimming over his appearance, he had told her the dress code was smart-casual and he had stuck to it, wearing a pair of black jeans paired with a navy shirt that had the top few buttons undone.
"Hey." He replied, also taking in her appearance. Lia was wearing a black slip dress over a white t-shirt. "You look nice, I like your shoes." He commented.
"Thanks." Lia said, rolling her eyes as she looked down at the fluffy slippers she was wearing before stepping back into her apartment, leaving Derek to follow her and shut the door behind him. "Sorry I'm running late, Billy was being an overprotective dick and JJ had to save me." Lia said, sitting on the arm of her sofa to pull on her doc's.
"Billy?" Derek questioned, clearly amused by the nickname.
"Sorry, old habits." She apologised. "He became too grown up for it when he got with JJ." She said as she stood back up. "But he still thinks it's okay to call me Shelly." She added, looking up at Derek to see his confused expression. "Long story."
"You apologise a lot." He commented as she locked up her apartment.
"Sor..." She cut herself off and he chuckled. "That's another long story, that's not exactly first date material."
"So this is a date?" Derek said in a teasing tone. The entirety of the last case, they had been texting back and forth and he had suggested they go out for dinner once he got back but she denied it was a date.
"Shut up." She said, playfully hitting his chest.
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"So what else do you do? Other than teaching and running?" Derek asked as they waited for their food, the restaurant was small but cosy with fairy lights wrapped around the exposed beams in the ceiling.
"Not a lot, I'm either planning lessons, marking work or looking after Henry." Lia said. "What about you?"
"I renovate houses." He said like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"That's a lot more interesting." Lia said with a laugh.
"I guess?" Derek said, he couldn't help but laugh as well, her laugh was infectious. But he had a gut instinct that she didn't laugh a lot, a gut instinct that was correct.
"One soda and lime, one beer." The waitress had approached from behind Lia so her voice made the teacher jump but she was quickly able to play it off so that the young girl didn't realise and feel bad.
"Thank you." Derek said after she had placed the two drinks on the table. "I don't think I've ever heard Will talk about his family." He said, trying to distract Lia and make her think he hadn't noticed in order to make her more comfortable.
"Probably because there isn't much to talk about. We've got a distant cousin or two back in New Orleans but that's it." Lia said. "Mum died when we were little and I'm assuming you know about our dad." She said, pausing as a few old memories flashed through her mind, bringing a small smile onto her features. "Were you in the BAU when they came to New Orleans? For the Jones case?" She asked.
"Yeah, it was the first time we met Will." Derek said.
"I must've met you then." She said, deep in thought. "I came to the precinct to make sure Will was eating, I met Spencer, JJ and a couple other people."
"Oh yeah." Derek remembered. "Prentiss told me not to flirt with you because we thought you were Will's girlfriend."
"We used to get that a lot."
"Billy LaMontagne Junior, you'd better be looking after yourself."
Back then, Lia's accent was much stronger and her confidence hadn't been whittled away quite yet. Which was why the sight of the youngest LaMontagne sibling walking into the precinct like she owned the place, wasn't uncommon.
She barely acknowledged the group of FBI agents Will was talking to as she passed him the takeout bag she had brought with her.
"Shel, these are Agents Reid, Prentiss, Morgan and JJ." Will introduced them, using the takeout bag to point at each one as he said their name.
"You finally called in some help on the Jones case?" She asked, turning around and skim reading the board in front of them.
"Yeah, I just wanna get it solved." Will said, following her gaze which had come to rest on a photo of one of the victims. "You know him?" He asked.
"No, he just reminds me of someone." She said, pulling her attention away.
"Justin?" Will asked, the clear hatred for the owner of the name shown in the way it dripped off his tongue.
"Make sure you eat." Lia snapped, ignoring his comment and leaving the precinct.
"Justin?" Derek questioned curiously, something about the girl having instantly grabbed his attention.
"Her idiot of a boyfriend." Will sighed. "He ain't good for her but she's blind to the truth."
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"Thank you for tonight, it was... nice." Lia said as they stopped outside her apartment.
To her, nice was an understatement. Not only was it the first date she had gone on in the two years she had lived in Virginia, it was the first time she had relaxed and let her guard down just slightly in close to six years. She felt safe around Derek and that wasn't something she was used to.
"Just nice huh?" Derek said and for a second she thought he had read her mind.
"You know what I mean." She said with a small laugh as she ran a hand through her hair before her fingers returned to drumming a pattern on the side of her leg.
Derek didn't say anything, he just reached out and took the hand in his to stop her.
"Stop profiling me." She said playfully.
"Sorry." He said, he was going to explain but she cut him off.
"Who's the one apologising now?" She joked, referencing the several times throughout the night that he had told her to stop apologising.
The pair fell into a slightly awkward silence as neither one knew what to say or do.
They both noticed how little space was left between them as he still held her hand and were both contemplating whether or not to make the space even smaller.
Usually, Derek would, without hesitation but Lia was different. He could actually see a future with her and he didn't want to ruin it on the first date.
"I should probably go in..." Lia said, nodding towards her apartment door.
"Yeah." Derek agreed.
"We should do this again sometime though." She added.
"Did you just ask me on a second date?" He teased.
"I guess I did." She said, before disappearing through the door into her apartment.
YOU ARE READING
A Little Too Much | CM
Fanfiction*UPDATED 18/05/23* Amelia LaMontagne was born and raised in New Orleans alongside her older brother Will by their single father after the death of their mother. Will became a detective and fell in love with a federal agent. Lia became a teacher and...
