Disclaimer: see my profile
A/n this is a two part story takes place this season. It follows canon up to Retaliation.
The toy store hadn't looked intimidating from the outside, despite its gigantic size. Of course that had been from the outside, the inside of the huge store turned out to be an entirely different matter. Reid stopped just inside the entrance, next to several rows of shopping carts and stared dumbstruck at the interior of the building. He shouldn't have listened to Garcia when she'd suggested this store for shopping. He should have known she'd down play how easy it would be to find a Christmas gift for Henry.
"Don't worry sweet cheeks," He muttered under his breath in a passable imitation of her voice. "Sure it will." He continued in his own voice.
"Good morning," said the silver haired elderly man wearing a purple vest that read "Toy World," on it. "Welcome to Toy World!" He said as he pulled a cart forward for Reid. "How can I help you this beautiful day?"
"Um… I need a toy," Reid blurted out.
The old man smiled. "You're in the right place young fellow. What age range?"
"What! Oh, um… he's thirteen months old."
"Ah - a difficult challenge - still, I'm sure we can find something appropriate." He pushed the cart to Reid. "Just head to your left son, and look for our pre-toddler range."
Pre-toddler?
"Um… Thank you very much."
"You're welcome son!" The old man waved him on enthusiastically as he returned to his position at the sliding door entrance.
Reid pushed his cart to the left, passing a display of Transformer toys from the latest movie. His eyes passed over the display and he stopped in his tracks, in the most prominent position of the rack, stood a box with an Optimus Prime toy. That particular robot just happened to be his favorite from the movie and from the animated series from the eighties.
He picked up the box and turned it over. The back said the toy's age range ran from three years and up. Of course, the toy would be too sophisticated for a one year old. He put it back where it had hung and continued on his quest for several feet. He stopped, walked backwards with the cart and snatched up the toy. Kids grow, JJ always said. He could keep the toy for Henry and give it as a birthday gift in a couple of years.
He moved on, passed a harried looking woman in a beige coat with dark, grey streaked hair. Her eyes moved frantically from side to side as if searching for something. Perhaps she'd lost a child. Should he offer to help? She looked around at him and snarled. "What're you looking at?"
He opened his mouth, but she barreled on past with her shopping cart as though in a race for the most popular toys. Garcia hadn't told him that people would be so rude. After all, they're just toys! He shook his head and resumed his search for the 'pre-toddler,' section of the store.
The rows of toys in that section when he found it consisted of fluffy stuffed animals without parts to choke the child. There were activity centers made from yellow, red and blue plastic that promised to speed the cognitive development of babies and their motor skills.
Reid crouched down to look at the activity set in front of him. All the books he'd read since Henry's arrival had stressed the importance of educational toys. He looked over the activity center and frowned. Logic dictated that he should get something educational for his Godson. It was the smart thing to do so that Henry would develop normally.
Stop being so logical and boring, he's a baby, not the next savior of humanity!
Okay, that was true, but educational toys would help Henry develop his brain which would benefit him all of his life.
His bad knee stung a bit. He'd been crouching too long, so he straightened up and used the cart as support. His cane hung off the handle as it was easier to lean on the cart than push it one handed.
A young couple dressed in matching blue, winter coats, walked by him discussing the display of rubber bath toys to his left.
There are toys for the bathtub?
He pushed his cart over to that section of the toys and looked at them. Nothing education here, just fun he noticed. The couple decided on a couple of yellow ducks.
Why is everything yellow?
He'd have to go home and look it up. Maybe there was a correlation between the color scheme and happiness for kids?
Focus!
Right! He pushed his cart down the long aisle as more people passed him. Two small children ran past him, arguing heatedly about something called "Sponge Bob Square Pants." He shook his head. Had he heard right? The kids looked up at him and giggled to each other as they turned the corner to another aisle of toys. Did he have something spilled on his shirt?
"Excuse me…"
He looked away from the empty row to see a very tall and plump woman with light blue eyes standing in front of looking furious. "Have you seen two kids come this way?" He pointed in the direction that kids had gone, after noting that the little kids had the same eyes as the woman.
She must be their mother. The woman thanked him and hurried away down the aisle to the corner.
"What a security nightmare." He said to himself. "Anyone could snatch one of these kids and no one would be the wiser."
He passed two more groups of unsupervised children. They all pointed and laughed at him. He decided to ignore it all. It's not as if he wasn't used to sniggering from kids. All that mattered was that Henry seemed to like him.
Yeah, focus on the mission at hand Genius. You're here for your Godson.
Okay, time to get serious. He found more activity centers and a few DVDs for something called "Baby Einstein." Hm… that had possibilities. Perhaps educational stuff wasn't so bad after all. He picked up the DVD and read the back. He put it back. Wasn't the point of the holiday to get something fun? Garcia had said that it was the point. She'd vetoed his ideas for educational stuff. He remembered the conversation they'd had in her office yesterday.
"Reid…" She said in a tone of 'listen carefully or you're in big trouble.' Henry's only a year old."
"Thirteen months and nine days." He interrupted.
She scowled at him and he decided to shut up.
"He's a year old and this is his first Christmas.
"Technically last year was -" He snapped his mouth closed at her glare.
"It's his first Christmas that he's really old enough to enjoy, so we need to get him some fun toys for him."
"But -"
"Reid… When JJ brought him to the Christmas party last weekend, what did you notice about him?"
(Was this a trick question?)
"Um… Well, he appeared to be in good health, well fed and clean. His hair is longer than the last time
We saw him…" He trailed off at the look on her face.
"He had that stuffed dinosaur JJ brought him for his birthday that he loves. He doesn't care about educational toys, he was happy with the dinosaur.
"Okay, so no educational toys." He repeated it, like a fact learned in school.
She patted his arm. "Now you're getting it, my gorgeous genius. Go forth and conquer the universe of toys."
Reid came back to the present when a small child raced past and bumped his cart.
"David!" A voice yelled behind him. "What have I told you about running in the store?"
She hurried past Reid. "Sorry…" She called back shooting him an apologetic look.
He sighed! He could stand there and dither all day or make a choice already. He decided on a huge stuffed dog. He put it in the cart with the lone Transformer toy and began to search for the check out stands. How had he gotten so turned around?
He turned a corner and nearly ran head on into a man about Hotch's age and Rossi's build. "Excuse me…" He said.
The other man scowled at him and hurried away in the opposite direction. "Well… Excuse me!" He repeated under his breath.
His eyes fell on a huge box of Lego toys as he turned another corner. "Wow…" He said excitedly.
He'd never seen a box that big. The picture showed that you could build a bulldozer if you wanted to. He picked it up, his mind racing with the possibilities. He'd always wanted a set of these toys as a kid, but his mom never took him to a toy store. He ignored the voice that told him he was supposed to be there for Henry and put the box in his cart.
It took him ten minutes, but he finally found the line to check out. Only three checkout counters were manned. He chose the shortest line behind the same woman who asked him what he'd been looking at when he'd entered the store. She now had a cart pile high with toys. He decided to look anywhere but at her face.
He leaned on this cart and fingered his cane. Why wasn't his line moving? Two people in the other line had moved forward, but not his line. The reason became clear when the customer in front of the grey haired woman began to argue with the clerk over coupons. Great! He'd never get out of here!
"Hey Reid…" A familiar voice said as the manager came to the check out stand and began trying to mediate the disagreement.
"Hi Garcia! What are you doing here?"
"I forgot a gift when I came in last week to shop for Jack and Henry."
"You got a present for Jack too!" Panic made his stomach turn over.
"Well yeah…" She came closer to the cart, carrying a smaller basket over her arm. "Don't tell me you got all these just for Henry."
"Um…" He grabbed out the Transformer toy. "This is for Jack!"
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Then why did you just go white as a sheet, baby boy?"
"My knee hurts," He lied.
"I don't think so. I know what pain looks like on your face."
"Then you must have missed it!"
She put her hand on her hips and stared at him while the clerk began to ring up the grey haired woman's purchases. "Let's see what else you have." She suddenly pounced, knocking his cane from its perch on the handle of the cart.
"Garcia!'
"Are you nuts lady?" An old man said from his place behind Reid in line.
She ignored them both and pulled out a plastic package of dinosaur toys. "Who are these for?" She said, letting it dangle back and forth between her fingers.
"Can we talk about this later?" Reid hissed angrily as he bent to scoop up his cane.
"Yes… Get out of the way!" The old man snarled. "I'm trying to finish up a hellish day of shopping for my ungrateful grandchildren."
Garcia smiled sweetly at the old man. "Of course," She stepped back out of the way just as it became Reid's turn at the checkout.
Reid's face burned the entire time the young black haired woman scanned his items. Garcia just walked around to the other side of the checkout stand and waited for him.
"I thought you had shopping to do." Reid began as he pushed the cart toward the exit.
"It can wait! I want to know what you're doing with Lego's, dinosaur toys, and kids magic kit complete with top hat and black cape."
"I'm getting a jump start on birthday gifts for our Godson."
She stopped, blocking his cart. "I don't think so… I had to practically shove you out the door to shop for Christmas."
"So…"
"So, you don't plan ahead when it comes to kids."
He swerved around her and limped to the exit. "Believe what you want!'
She didn't chase after him, which relieved and concerned him at the same time. Still, he'd made it through the day of shopping without new bruises. That had to be some kind of record. He hobbled out to his car. Christmas was a week a way and now that he'd finished shopping, he could relax.