"The flowers were nice."
"Don't."
Reid cocked his head innocently. "Don't what?"
Morgan sighed, leaning forward heavily, his forearms resting on his knees. "Don't try to make me feel better about all this, baby boy. I messed up."
"How could you have known?" Spencer asked, his mouth twisting down slightly as he spoke. "I never told you I was allergic to strawberries. Only Hotch and Garcia know, and that's just because it's in my records."
Derek's expression turned somewhat bitter at the mention of the tech goddess, a small flare of jealousy at the thought of the romantic evening she and Kevin were no doubt enjoying at that very moment. He shook his head, watching as the nurse checked Reid's chart. Someone had strung colourful paper hearts around the walls of the hospital room, cheerfully beckoning in the holiday. Morgan couldn't help but feel like they were mocking him.
"I should have told you what was in that sauce before I fed it to you." He'd spent hours preparing that sauce, and the accompanying panna cotta, as a special dessert for their homemade dinner. He'd wanted everything to be perfect for their first Valentine's Day together.
In retrospect, he should have known something like this would happen; nothing about their relationship had been perfect, or even typical. Their first kiss had awkwardly taken place across the front seats of a Bureau SUV following Morgan's close encounter with a gun-wielding hostage-taker. Their first real date had almost resulted in the burning down of Morgan's house when Reid insisted on helping with the cooking. And their six-month anniversary had been marked by Spencer nursing two cracked ribs from a fall down a flight of stairs at a raid. From Derek's perspective, rushing his young lover to the hospital in the midst of a romance-induced allergy attack seemed like a pretty fitting Valentine's Day for them.
That didn't make him feel any less guilty about it, though. He sighed again, reaching out to grasp Spencer's hand on the bed. "I'm sorry, pretty boy. I really screwed up. I wanted to make tonight special for you."
"It was special," Reid insisted, the corner of his mouth quirking slightly. "I'll never forget it."
Derek raised an eyebrow. "Even without an eidetic memory, I doubt many people would forget being driven by ambulance to the hospital on Valentine's Day."
Spencer shrugged, conceding his point.
Morgan glanced up at the door just in time to see a man dressed as Cupid being rushed down the hallway on a gurney. The nurse had told them they weren't the only case of Valentine's-mishaps in the ER that day. Somehow, being lumped together with a drunken singing-telegram and two cases of food poisoning didn't make Derek feel any better.
"It was still pretty romantic," Reid commented after a moment, his voice soft.
The older profiler huffed a laugh. "Yeah. Nothing says romance like sending your boyfriend into anaphylactic shock."
"Histamines have to be released into the blood stream for Type 1 allergy-induced anaphylactic shock to occur," Spencer informed him, his voice taking on that familiar scholarly tone, even if it was a bit scratchy. "In my case, it was only mild respiratory distress and contact dermatitis - I'm still not sure it required a trip to the hospital."
"That's not what the paramedics said."
"They were being cautious." Spencer dismissed, leaning back against the pillow, his smile small and thoughtful. "Still the best Valentine's Day I've ever had."
Derek shook his head affectionately. "I guess we'll have to fix that next year," he said.
Reid's smile widened considerably at this remark, no small feat considering the minor swelling that still remained around his throat and lips. Derek couldn't get over how tiny he looked in the hospital gown - like a little kid trying on his dad's clothes.
"It's just a shame all that food had to go to waste," the genius commented, still looking quite pleased.
"Yeah," Morgan sighed, preferring not to think about it. "I guess Clooney'll be eating well tomorrow."
"But not the chocolate," Spencer insisted eagerly, a grin breaking over his face again. "He can't eat the chocolate, so we still have that."
Morgan shook his head, smiling in disbelief. Despite the fact that Derek was the reason he’d spent the last two hours being poked and prodded by paramedics and doctors alike, the younger profiler had managed to maintain a relatively optimistic - if not eager - attitude about the whole event. He’d been nothing but cheerful ever since he’d arrived home to find the surprise dinner waiting for him. Morgan thought back on all of the women he’d dated over the years – how big of a deal they’d made about having the ‘perfect’ Valentine’s Day, how upset they’d been when things hadn’t gone according to plan. And now, here Morgan was, fussing over the details, when Spencer couldn’t have been happier with the simple gesture of an evening at home and a romantic dinner for two, however disastrously it had all turned out. How did he ever get so lucky?
"You are something else, you know that, kid?"
Reid gave a lopsided smile. "But you love me."
Derek nodded, reaching over to give the younger man's hand a squeeze. "Yeah, I do."