A/N: I'm still working on developing my next story idea; however this idea shot in my head and I want to write a bit.
All rights to the Criminal Minds characters belong to Mark Gordon Productions, CBS and ABC Studios. There are some lines from the actual episode referenced in the story listing. All rights to those belong to Breen Frasier who wrote Black Queen.
*Knightly bow*
All the agents of the BAU save for Hotch were seated in the bullpen, listening to a Bureau seminar about a "hostile work environment" that the agent described. Reid, forever the student, listened intently; JJ and Alex shared looks of knowledge to the culprits of this latest intrusion on their office time while Rossi watched with quiet amusement. Garcia shared a mortified look with Morgan. "Who blabbed?" she whispered.
It was then her cell pinged with a text. Meet me at the elevators outside of the BAU. ASAP. Looking at the sender, Garcia got up and left to the consternation of the woman giving the seminar. She walked out the glass doors, giving her apologies to Hotch.
He shook his head, handing her his cell phone. "Take a look at this." Garcia compiled.
"This is real; this is happening?" she stammered.
"Yes, and we're on our way to the Attorney General's office to explain it."
Hotch's further bombshell that it would be just the two of them and not the whole team put Garcia in stunned silence as the elevator descended. The elevators doors parted at the garage level and Hotch got off first, opening the outer door for Garcia. Anderson was waiting on them with a black Bureau SUV running at the curb. "Thank you Anderson," Hotch said quickly blowing by Garcia to get the driver's side, as Anderson opened the passenger door for Garcia, who climbed in. Anderson shut the door and Hotch looked at the technology maven putting the SUV in gear. "Seatbelt please."
"Oh right sir," she said, pulling the shoulder strap down. She looked at Hotch. "This is really happening sir? I'm going with you to the Attorney General's office? Sir, I've never taken a Bigwig drive."
"To the RFK Department of Justice building on Pennsylvania Avenue." Garcia swallowed.
"OMG sir; we've got to stop at my place on the way so I can change into the appropriate meeting the AG ceremonial dress." Hotch quickly drove the roads to leave Quantico and get on I-95.
"Garcia, we don't have time and you look fine."
She looked at him. "You said that with conviction sir; you sure?"
"Garcia, I've long accepted how you dress. I battled with Chief Strauss for a while long ago on this subject and I must say you have made some slight improvements in your wardrobe selections in your tenure with the BAU. However Erin came to agree with me. And anytime that something may have come down from DOJ on the subject, she handled immediately, backing you as well. So does Chief Cruz. You have no worries." Garcia looked at him. "Relax Penelope; you look very presentable, yet in typical Garcia fashion," Hotch slightly smiled.
He called me Penelope; he's done that how many times Garcia's mind raced. "Thank you sir; I have tried to tone it down a bit to fit the standards of the mere…..." Garcia left the sentence hang. Don't get over your head girl.
Hotch pulled onto the freeway and hit the flashing lights on the SUV, speeding the vehicle into the left lane. Garcia grabbed the handle on the door. "Sir, is this necessary?"
"Garcia, when the AG says 'get here ASAP', yes it is." Garcia clutched the door handle tighter as she looked in the right lane of the cars being whizzed by. "Garcia, tell me what your first thinking is about the hack job of the DOJ site."
Garcia looked at him in amazement. "Sir, shouldn't you be concentrating on driving?"
"Garcia, I pass the Bureau's required driving course every two years, and that includes multi-tasking to pass the test. You have to communicate with others while you're driving. Please answer my question."
Garcia welcomed the distraction and the words flew out of her mouth as the SUV sped northbound on I-95. When they reached the DC city limits, Hotch shut the lights off and settled into the normal traffic patterns. Garcia relaxed and dug her tablet out of her purse, getting into her computers. Pulling into the DOJ parking lot, with Hotch showing his credentials and Garcia as well, she looked at him. "Sir, I know I'm right."
"Then Garcia, take a deep breath and tell the AG exactly what you know," Hotch said parking the SUV.
-00CM00-
An hour later, they walked out of the DOJ building to the SUV. Hotch looked at her. "You did an excellent job Agent Garcia," he slightly smiled, clicking the locks open.
"Thank you sir," Garcia smiled, getting in. "But sir, from what I heard, we've got a huge case," she asked, buckling her seatbelt as Hotch did the same.
"Yes we do Garcia," Hotch said, pulling out of the lot. "And we'll need you along on this one. Do you have a go bag ready?"
"Yes sir; in my office; but it's been there a while. Oh no; maybe some of my make-up is old….." Hotch just looked at her. "Right sir; note to self; remember to update your go bag." Hotch shook his head as he pulled into traffic on the DC streets to make their way back to the freeway. He pulled his cell out and contacted Anderson to have him get the BAU jet pilots going on a flight plan to San Jose. Garcia enjoyed the sights of the city she had grown to love and now called home.
Hotch made his way down the exit to get on the southbound I-95 and Garcia put the door handle in her death grip again. "That's not needed for the return trip Garcia," Hotch said, inwardly smiling. "I'll push it a bit with the Bureau plates, but no flashing lights."
Garcia relaxed. "Sir, may I say something?"
He looked at her. "Garcia, you know better."
She smiled. Their working relationship had always been wonderful and Hotch's annual performance reviews of her had been outstanding. And with Hotch's hospitalization last fall, she felt even closer to him. Yet her smile quickly turned to a frown. "Sir, I'm really, really sorry about the seminar thing." She started to say more. That was all she got out of her mouth.
"Garcia, answer me some questions. Have I ever reprimanded you, either formally or informally about how you and Morgan talk?"
"No sir."
"Have I ever reprimanded Morgan the same way?"
"Not to my knowledge sir."
"Would he have told you if I had?"
"Oh most definitely sir. Well maybe not to my face, but I would have noticed a change."
"Then what are you worrying about?"
"Sir, I don't want it all to reflect back on you and the rest of the team."
"Garcia, it doesn't; trust me. And please know it did not come from any agent inside the BAU. I would have been made aware of the situation if it had."
"Then how did it happen sir?"
"You two sometimes get lunch together in the building cafeteria; or maybe on an elevator. I don't know. All I know, if someone hears something; takes it the wrong way; and reports it to the Bureau hotline, it has to be addressed. If it isn't, it looks like it is being swept under the rug. And that is the last thing the Bureau will do. And that is what happened in this situation. Someone called the hotline; otherwise, I would have been informed."
Garcia thought for a second and then grew a bit incensed. "Sir, how can they do that? It's all in fun; nothing more. Are they that short sighted that they can't see the love and humor…"
"Garcia, you are going to find this very had to believe. But there are agents in that building that wear tighter Bureau shorts than I do." Garcia gulped not believing the words that just came out of Hotch's mouth and looked at him, her mouth hanging open. Hotch smiled broadly.
Garcia couldn't help herself and let out a small laugh. "Penelope, I told you before and I'm telling you again. I wouldn't want you to change a thing. You keep the whole team sane doing the job we do. And I and the rest of the team appreciate that."
Penelope Garcia beamed.
-00CM00-
As the elevator rose to the sixth floor, Hotch looked at Garcia. "Do you have enough to put the presentation together for the team?"
"Yes sir; give me twenty." The elevator doors opened and Garcia speed to her lair as Hotch opened the glass doors and went to his office.
Fifteen minutes later, he walked down the catwalk towards Rossi's office, knocking on the window and stuck his head in Dave's open door. "We have a case."
"I figured something was up when you pulled Garcia out of that seminar."
"How'd that go by the way?" Hotch asked, giving his sly smile to his best friend.
"Damnit Aaron," he said waving his index finger at him, "you send me to another seminar that isn't my fault; I'll kick your ass." Hotch laughed. "Btw, what was so important that you had to pull one of the two villains," Dave smiled, "out of it?" He got up out of his desk chair.
"Garcia and I had to meet with the Attorney General."
Dave froze in his tracks. "You had to take Garcia to meet with the Attorney General?" Hotch nodded. "How in the hell did that go? And why?"
"Garcia did her usual spot-on assessment of why the DOJ website got hacked this morning."
Dave came around his desk to join Hotch in the doorway. "Tell me Aaron she impressed the hell out of him."
"Like she always does with us Dave," Hotch smiled.
Rossi rubbed Hotch's shoulder. "That's our girl," he smiled.
-00CM00-
Garcia looked at Morgan as they were sitting in a conference room in the San Jose PD. "I don't care if Bob in accounting doesn't get the joke."
Penelope Garcia smiled broadly, thinking back to Hotch's words.
###
A/N: The DOJ building in Washington is now named after Robert F. Kennedy, who served as the Attorney General during his brother's (JFK) presidency.
To all the usual "suspects" ( :D ) that support my writing: I truly appreciate you one and all. Again; you are my Garcia.
*Knightly bow*