This fic is the result of the New Year's Challenge that came up on Chit Chat on Author's Corner. Thank you for letting me participate.
Assigned pairing: Hotch / Garcia
Assigned prompts: Times Square, midnight New Year's resolutions
It's not beta'ed, so I apologize for any typos or mistakes. Please leave a review with comments, suggestions, etc.
Smile: A New Year's Challenge
The New Year was about to start and that meant one thing: it was time to think about New Year's Resolutions. Penelope Garcia was not going to settle for those obvious and impossible to keep resolutions like losing weight, earning more money or quitting a bad habit. She was always a very creative person and her resolutions would show that.
She was comfortable in her own body so she wouldn't lose weight or do crazy things with her hair – crazier than usual, anyway. She wasn't going to get another job and she wasn't going to take up any more hobbies because with work, counseling and acting she barely had time to sleep. So what could she commit her precious time to this year? Her eyes swept across the room where the BAU and some of their families were waiting for the New Year and it hit her: she could try to help one of her co-workers. But who could be her pet-project?
Morgan was doing fine for himself, so the hot profiler was out. She was still too wary of Rossi so Garcia crossed him off the list. Emily was more than capable of taking care of herself and therefore one less person to help. Helping Reid would take more than a year, thus he was out too. The only one left was ... Hotch. But how could she help him? Yes, he had a lot to work on but he definitely didn't want assistance. Garcia made a mental list of all the things she thought Hotch could improve and there was one that she wanted to fix more than anything in the world; she wanted him to smile more often.
'Penny for your thoughts? No pun intended,' Kevin took her out of her reverie.
She ignored his goofy grin and stated that she was thinking about her resolutions before joining Emily and Reid in conversation.
Soon enough it was midnight. Everybody hugged, wished each other a Happy New Year and commented excitedly about their plans for the future.
'Any resolutions, baby girl?' asked Morgan.
'This year I want to create an army of furry little cyber squirrels to help us catch unsubs,' Garcia spoke without missing a beat and everybody laughed at the randomness of the comment.
'I think somebody has had too much champagne,' Hotch let out a dry – and uncharacteristical – chuckle.
A grin broke out on Garcia's face. Not even ten minutes after midnight and she was already keeping up her resolution. She may not have been in Times Square to see the ball drop but midnight had definitely been magical. Hotch smiling or laughing could outshine the fireworks any day. Only 364 more days to get him to smile again.