Disclaimer: I own nothing but the dvds.
Author's note: This is my first time venturing into so many pairings so please bear with me! I hope you enjoy the story! Special thanks to BonesBird for the title and Felena1971 for the first chapter title!
I'd like to thank all of the wonderful author's and readers on Facebook for putting different pairings in my head and leading me to this!
Mysterious Rendezvous
"You know there's a storm coming," Hotch said, walking into the kitchen where Reid, Prentiss, and JJ had gathered for a mid-afternoon coffee break. His face was stoic as always, but there was a hint of pleading in his voice.
Reid nodded. "It could dump as much as twenty inches of snow on us or it could dump just a coating. It all depends on the track of the storm."
"If you think that's going to get you out of going this weekend, you're crazy," Prentiss told Hotch, who frowned. "Garcia's been planning this for weeks. She's not going to let us get out of it for anything. She even arranged it so that we can't get called away on a case."
"Did it have to be a murder mystery weekend of all things?" JJ sighed, thinking that this was the last thing she wanted to do on her first kid-free weekend in months. "I mean, don't we get enough of that at work? Couldn't we have gone somewhere warm and just drank on the beach all weekend?"
Prentiss and Hotch chuckled while Reid replied, "I'm looking forward to it. Did you know-"
JJ placed her hand on his arm. "Not today, Spence."
"Hello, my lovelies!" Garcia called out, entering the kitchen with a neon pink mug. She began to fix herself some tea. "Is everyone excited about the trip this afternoon?" She ignored the groans she received.
"What I want to know," Prentiss told her, stopping Garcia from leaving the kitchen, "is how you talked Rossi into renting this place out for the weekend? Did you find some blackmail photos of him somewhere?"
Garcia floundered, attempting to come up with a satisfactory answer for them. She was quiet so long that they began to look at her in confusion, wondering if Prentiss had been correct.
"She didn't blackmail me with anything," Rossi commented, walking up behind Garcia, causing her to jump a little. "Penelope, here, thought it would be a nice idea for the team to get away together-"
"As opposed to all the time away together we spend with each other?" Hotch interjected.
Rossi ignored him as he continued. "-without a case-"
"So, you make up a case for the weekend," JJ muttered with a slight undertone of bitterness.
"-to just kick back and relax and be with each other." Rossi put his arm around Garcia's shoulders and kissed her temple. "I think she came up with a brilliant idea. You guys are going to have a blast. Trust me."
Garcia wrinkled her nose and grinned. "The cars pull out of here promptly at five so make sure you get all your work done before then. You are not taking any paperwork with you. That includes you, Agent Hotchner."
Hotch groaned, but nodded his surrender. He had already lost that argument weeks ago.
"That's the spirit!" Garcia said, gleefully. She turned and left, followed closely by Rossi.
"You've got to be quicker on your feet than that, Garcia," Rossi whispered to her, "if you expect to pull this off."
Garcia sighed. "I know, sir. I just didn't expect for them to bring up blackmail."
Rossi chuckled. "It wasn't exactly blackmail. I freely agreed to do this weekend, too. And please don't call me 'sir' when we're plotting."
"You only agreed to do this because Emily won't talk to you anymore," Garcia countered. "Not unless other people are there or if it's about a case."
"Hopefully, that will all change after this weekend. Just stick with me until we split everyone up," Rossi ordered, softly.
Garcia nodded before heading off to her office and Rossi off to his. JJ watched him curiously as he walked into his office and closed the door. She glanced around the bullpen to see Reid and Prentiss hard at work on their files. Quietly, she walked to Hotch's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Hotch called out. He smiled when he saw JJ standing there. "What's going on?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing." She shut the door before wandering over to one of the chairs in front of his desk. She ran her palms nervously over her denim-covered thighs. "Do you know what Rossi and Garcia are up to?"
Hotch shook his head. "Not a clue. They're not really being subtle about that, are they?"
"Rossi might've been able to pull it off by himself, but Garcia is terrible with secrets. How did he get you to go along on this trip anyway?" she asked.
"He threatened to tell Sean about Beth," he mumbled.
JJ cocked her head to the side. "You still haven't told anyone that you've broken up?"
Hotch shook his head. "And, please don't say anything. I can't take anymore of Dave's 'help.'"
"I promise," she swore as she rose from the chair. "See you in the lobby at five."
CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM
"It's really starting to come down out there," Prentiss commented, watching the snow fall from the backseat of the car driven by Rossi.
"We're not turning around," Garcia told her. She was sitting in the back, too, while Morgan slept lightly in the front.
Rossi added, "We're nearly at the cabin. It wouldn't make sense to turn around."
"I didn't say anything about turning around," Prentiss grumbled. "I was just making conversation."
They fell into an uneasy silence for a few minutes before Garcia turned back to Prentiss. "What's up with Hotch and JJ? Do you know they've been spending almost every Saturday together?"
"Yeah, with their kids. They're play dates. Hotch is trying to help JJ and Henry adjust to life without Will," she answered, nonchalant.
"What did happen with that?" Morgan asked, surprising them all by being awake.
Prentiss and Garcia glanced at each other before looking forward. Garcia sighed. "Same old story. He couldn't handle her job, wanted her to find something where she wasn't gone as much. She told him no and he left. They're better off as friends."
"He moved back to New Orleans," Prentiss picked up. "He comes up to see Henry once a month. JJ said he's even been seeing a woman. I guess they're getting pretty serious."
"Are you sure these play dates are just that?" Morgan questioned, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Rossi chuckled. "Yeah. Hotch is still dating Beth." He shot a quick glance in the rear-view mirror at Garcia. "What about you? When are you going to spill the beans about what happened with you and Lynch?"
"Never," Garcia replied, a hint of anger in her voice. Her scowl turned into a smile and her eyes grew wide. She bounced in her seat. "Ooh, is that it?"
"That's it," Rossi affirmed, pulling in front of a large cabin. There was a large wraparound porch and several of the lights were on the first floor, just as he had instructed the caretaker to do. Rossi and Morgan began to pull bags from the back of the truck as the other truck carrying Hotch, JJ, and Reid pulled up behind them.
"Oh, wow," JJ breathed out, walking into the cabin.
Prentiss nodded. "This is amazing."
"No need to sound so surprised," Rossi said in mock hurt. "I know my way around real estate." He grabbed his bag from the pile that had accumulated in the living room. "Sadly, there's only four bedrooms so almost everyone has to double up."
"It's like Alaska all over again," Reid groaned.
Prentiss laid her hand on his arm. "I'll stay with you, Reid."
He grinned widely before grabbing his own bag and heading upstairs.
"I guess that leaves me and Penelope and Hotch and Morgan," JJ said, waving her hands. "I'm assuming our host gets his own room."
"You assume correctly," Rossi replied, heading upstairs.
They all met back downstairs about twenty minutes later. Garcia stood in front of the fireplace, holding eight manilla envelopes in her hand. She whistled loudly to get them to stop talking. "Okay, here's the deal. I've set this game up a little differently. We're going to partner up in the search for clues."
"But we're one short," JJ protested.
"The caretaker has offered to come back and partner with our odd man out. There are clues and character descriptions in each of these envelopes as well as a dvd of all the characters' backgrounds and more specific rules of the game. We are going to split up with our partners this evening to study and create a game plan so that we can play the game tomorrow. The trick is that one of us has a murderer card in their packet and you have to keep it quiet from even your partner."
Rossi stepped forward next to her. "There are several hunting cabins on the grounds here. Nice hunting cabins," he added, quickly when he saw Prentiss open her mouth. "They're equipped with heat and electricity and even a tiny kitchen and television. You are going to go to your assigned hunting cabin with your partner for the next few hours to study the case without distractions. Any questions?"
JJ raised her hand. "Can't we skip the case and just drink here instead? It's so nice and warm in here."
"No!" Garcia told her, exasperated, causing JJ to roll her eyes. "Okay, in the corner of the envelopes is a number from one to four. Whoever has the same number as you is your partner." She turned to Rossi, giving him a little wink before passing out the seemingly random assignments.
"I got three," Morgan announced to the room.
Garcia squealed. "Me, too! Looks like we're partners."
Morgan put his arm around her. "We're totally going to rock this thing, baby girl."
"I got four," JJ said, looking around at all of them. Expecting that she would be paired with the caretaker, she was surprised when Hotch said, "Mine, too." They smiled awkwardly at each other.
"My number is two," Reid spoke up. He shrugged when no one spoke up, knowing that meant he was partnered with the caretaker.
Rossi looked at Prentiss who was trying desperately to hide her annoyance from the others. "Guess that leaves you and me, Emily."
Garcia clapped. "That reminds of another rule. Absolutely, positively no last names. Well, except Hotch. It's just too weird to call him Aaron. Also, phones don't work up here so even if I let you have them on, you couldn't do anything with them."
"There is a phone in the kitchen for emergencies," Rossi assured them when both JJ and Hotch began to protest. "All of the cabins have been equipped with food for dinner." He looked down at his watch. "Let's meet back here at 10:30."
Grumbling, they began to make their way to the hall to put on coats. A knock on the door startled them all.
"Maybe the caretaker came early," Rossi joked as he went open the door. He groaned when he saw the person standing on the other side of the door. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Erin Strauss frowned as she walked into the cabin. "I see your manners are perfect as always, David." She turned to Hotch. "Agent Hotchner, I've been trying to reach since you left the building, but it seems that your phone is off."
Hotch tossed an irritated look in Garcia's direction. "Sorry, ma'am. One of the rules of the weekend states that all cell phones must be off. Is there some sort of emergency?"
"Emergency? Not exactly." She held up a stack of papers. "I need you to sign off on these today. They're due Monday morning and as you know, I'm leaving for the Bahamas Sunday evening."
"I'll get that taken care of right now." Hotch took the papers and the pen she offered and returned to the living room.
Strauss observed the tense looks on the faces of the BAU team. She was torn between amusement and annoyance. She hadn't planned on ruining their weekend with her presence, but she needed to get those papers turned in. She huffed after a few minutes of silence. "Don't worry. I'll be gone shortly."
"I'm not so sure about that, Erin," Rossi told her from the open doorway. He was staring at the road. "You can't even see the tracks of your car."
"What are you talking about?" she demanded, storming over to the door. She peered out into the snow to see her tires already beginning to be covered.
Rossi shrugged. "You can try to make it off the mountain, but there's a good chance that you'll get stuck. Why don't you stay here for the night? You can be Reid's partner."
Strauss looked horror-stricken. "I can't stay here for the night."
"Of course, you can," Rossi replied, calmly. "The roads will probably be plowed tomorrow. You can leave bright and early."
"He's right, ma'am," Morgan agreed, after assessing the roads himself. "It would be safer if you waited."
Strauss sighed. "Fine. I'll stay, but I'm leaving first thing in the morning."
Rossi grinned as he held out a hand to Garcia. "Penelope, that last envelope, if you please."
"S-sure." She gave him the last envelope while shooting apologetic looks to a nearly petrified Reid.
"Here you go," Hotch said, returning the paperwork to Strauss. He grimaced at the uncomfortable faces on his team.
"Great news, Hotch," Rossi said, giddy. "Erin, here, has agreed to stay the evening. She's going to help Spencer prepare for the murder tomorrow."
Hotch shot a questioning look at JJ, but she just shook her head, letting him know she'd explain later.
Rossi smirked at them all. "Let the games begin."
