AN: Readers are advised that thanks to a gruelling uni assignment, Whitecrossgirl's sanity has temporarily been misplaced and this following piece of fiction is an example of Assessment-Induced Insanity. Pure crack is ahead but she wishes that you keep in mind the fact she was not thinking straight when she considered this concept and wrote it.
All this began with a walk on the beach.
The team had been called to Hawaii to help track down a serial killer targeting teenage boys. Once the case had been closed, they all agreed that they ought to spend an extra day in the paradise islands. They were all due a break and it was rare that Hawaiian police ever consulted any part of the Bureau for anything so the team had jumped at the chance to make the most of it. The previous night, the police department had invited them to a celebratory barbecue on the beach which had been fun. They'd had good food, listened to some music, had a few beers, laughed at Morgan's attempts in the limbo competition with Reid surprisingly beating him. The team simply kicked back, relaxed and simply enjoyed what felt like a brief tropical holiday.
Aaron hadn't stayed too long but had woken early and decided to make the most of the peace and quiet. It was quite peaceful and serene here, Aaron decided as he watched the waves slowly ebb back and forth. He also knew it wouldn't last long, it was barely seven am but he knew it wouldn't be long before the beach was packed with people seeking the sun, sea and surfing. Besides, the team were taking off at nine which would bring them back to the insane reality which was the BAU. Maybe he would take Jack here sometime. The next time he was granted vacation time, maybe he would take his son somewhere like this. Somewhere sunny and peaceful and away from their normal lives. Aaron smiled to himself at the idea of Jack running along the beach when a strange glinting light caught his eye.
It was an ornate red bottle and appeared to have just washed up on the shore. The stopper was still sealed and something about how the sunlight bounced off the scarlet glass and cast shadows over the sane appealed to him. However, always the cautious FBI agent, Aaron carefully picked it up and examined it. Aside from being quite old, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. He couldn't see through the glass to determine whether anything was inside and attempts to open it proved fruitless. It just looked like an old glass bottle.
He supposed that maybe Beth would appreciate it but the thought of his girlfriend set off a different reaction in the agent. They were growing apart in his opinion anyway but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to end it. But that was an issue for another day. For now, he would have to get back to the hotel and prepare to fly back to DC. Aaron looked at the bottle again and decided that he may as well keep it, rather than let the ocean take it away again to goodness knows where and so, holding it carefully in his hands, Aaron turned and walked back along the beach to the hotel.
"Daddy, what's this?" Jack asked as he studied the red bottle that had appeared on the table. Aaron looked up and saw Jack carefully pick up the bottle and walked over.
"It's a bottle," Aaron replied, smiling as Jack gave him a look; sometimes he seen so much of Haley in his son and it was a nice reminder to know she lived on in him.
"I know that, but what's in it?" Jack asked curiously and Aaron looked at the bottle. He hadn't tried opening it since that morning on the beach but he supposed another try wouldn't hurt.
"Let's find out." Aaron said as he took the bottle off Jack and attempted to pry it open. Once again, the stopper refused to budge which was unusual, given that it had washed up out of the Pacific Ocean. Aaron frowned at the bottle and held it up. Upon closer inspection there seemed to be some sort of intricate pattern that was written or etched into the glass however it was difficult to make out. Aaron pulled his sleeve over his hand and rubbed at the glass; attempting to make the etchings easier to understand.
What happened next was the last thing either he or Jack expected to happen. The bottle began to shake and Aaron threw it down on the sofa, Jack ran over to him, suddenly scared by the bottle's unexpected shaking as the stopper flew out, hitting the wall with a smack. A large cloud of reddish smoke began to emerge from the top. As the smoke cleared, both father and son's mouths fell open.
A pale woman was kneeling on the floor before them. She held her folded arms in front of her lowered face. The woman had dark hair and was dressed in what appeared to be some sort of traditional Arabic style costume. Her red cropped top clung to her breasts and revealed most of her pale torso. She was wearing matching red harem trousers and light brown shoes on her feet. On her head, covering most of her dark hair was a translucent red veil. There was silence as the woman raised her head, showing a beautiful pale face and sparkling dark eyes; a broad grin was spread on her face as she looked at Aaron.
"My Master," the mysterious woman greeted as she jumped up and kissed Aaron on the lips. Aaron stepped back and looked at the woman in total shock. He really thought he had seen it all but he honestly never expected this. Unable to speak, Jack asked the question that had been baffling both Hotchner's from the moment the mysterious woman appeared.
"Who are you?" Jack asked; he wasn't scared anymore. He was merely confused. A woman had appeared from nowhere and kissed his dad. Any child would be confused and his question seemed to bring Aaron back to reality.
"Yes, who are you?" Aaron asked. The woman smiled at them and sat cross-legged on the floor.
"My name is Emily. Many centuries ago I was born to a pair of diplomats and we used to live in Arabia. There were many creatures of magic there and one of them wished to marry the man I was betrothed to. I put her in her place and as an act of revenge; she turned me into a genie and trapped me in this bottle. Now I'm free, well, free-ish. You released me from my bottle and now you're my master." The genie, Emily explained as she looked around the apartment with interest. "Your palace is quite small. And strange."
"You're a genie? Like in Aladdin?" Jack asked eagerly, looking at Emily excitedly, thinking of the possibilities. Having a genie around would be awesome! "Can you grant wishes?"
"I have some magical abilities but I only grant wishes when I'm asked nicely." Emily replied a teasing note in her voice as she looked at the small boy. She had always been fond of children before she'd been enchanted. On the rare occasions she had been released, she used to love regaling children with shows of her magic.
"There's still too much you haven't explained here." Aaron said looking at Emily. This had to be some sort of crazy dream. Genies didn't exist and they definitely didn't appear in his apartment or kiss them. This admittedly beautiful woman was clearly not real. "There's no such thing as genies or enchantments and why did you call me 'Master'?"
"Well clearly genies do exist otherwise I wouldn't have spent centuries trapped in a bottle waiting to be released. My gratitude by the way. I can assure you, I am a genie and I do have magic. As for calling you Master, you released me from the bottle, that means I am under your control and command and believe me, I'm as happy about that as you are. At least you're handsomer than the last camel-faced brute that I was forced to call Master." Emily explained as she maintained eye contact with Aaron who seemed to be slowly starting to believe her. She didn't understand why he said there was no such thing as genies and magic. In her time, it was well known that genies and other magical beings did exist.
Times must have really changed, Emily mused to herself.
"And there's nothing I can do to help you stop being a genie? Free you or something?" Aaron asked and Emily shrugged her shoulders.
"It's not that easy I'm afraid. If there were a way to free a genie, it was long lost even in my time. With you as my master, I am bound to obey direct commands but my magic isn't bound. I can have some free will." Emily said to Aaron who nodded. Whilst being in charge of people and bossing them about was part of the job, this was something different altogether.
"So what happens if I try and stop being your masker?" Aaron asked hypothetically and Emily shook her head.
"Then I am trapped in my bottle again. A genie who is dismissed by their master remains trapped in their bottle until a new master takes control which can take centuries. Believe me." Emily answered, thinking back to the last master she had had, a good five hundred years ago. He had also been her third master; having taken control of her and her bottle nearly two hundred years after she had first became a genie. He was a king and hadn't been pleased when she refused his order for her to marry him.
Then again Henry VIII was always a hothead.
"This is insane," Aaron muttered more to himself. This couldn't be real. It had to be some sort of weird dream. However as he pinched his arm and felt a flicker of pain, he knew it was real. This reality was also enforced as Jack handed Emily one of his toy cars and looked at her quizzically.
"If you're really a genie with magic then could you make this bigger?" Jack asked Emily. "Please." He added after a hasty look at his father.
Emily smiled at Jack before she set the toy car on the floor. She folded one arm over the other before blinking and bowing her head. The next second, the toy car was now twice its size. Jack whooped in delight and hugged Emily before he began playing with the car. Aaron looked at the grinning Emily in total shock and she looked back at him cheekily.
"Believe me now?" Emily asked with a small smirk. Aaron looked at Jack and knew he had no choice but to believe her. He owned a genie, a beautiful, clever, cheeky genie who was dressed provocatively and had magical powers and lived in a glass bottle. This went beyond all levels of bizarre, unexpectedness and insanity. This was surreal.
At least Jack was loving this.