Title – Princesses and Mobsters
Summary – CCOAC Challenge fic! BAU Halloween party. Slightly AU, but not too bad! Rossi/Seaver Pre-romance.
Rating – T
Comments – This story might be considered slightly AU, as it features ALL of the BAU women: Garcia, JJ, Ell, Prentiss, Jordan and Seaver, a combination that is defiantly not cannon. But I did it for a reason!
I had a lot of fun with this challenge fic. This was my contribution to CCOAC challenge 15 The Masquerade. I got to choose my own paring: David Rossi and Ashley Seaver. I was assigned my costume, and I could not have gotten a more perfect one!
Backward, turn backward, Oh Time, in your flight! Make me a child again just for tonight!
Elizabeth Akers Allen
David Rossi believed that the best costume should defiantly be something you are not, yet at the same time did not disguise you; something that represents something but doest not require entirely too much effort (it was, after all, just a costume.) So on the night of the BAU Halloween party, Dave greeted his guests in his best Armani suit, a fedora with a decorative buckle, and the only part of the costume he had to purchase specifically for that purpose: a pare of shinny spats.
He knew he had made the perfect choice in costumes when he opened the door to his first guest, who laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder as he stepped inside. "Don Rossi," Hotch said as his laughter subsided, "The BAU's resident mob connection?"
"I knew you would be amused. So what are you supposed to be?" He noticed the unit chief's boots, Levies and pearl-snap shirt. "You look like me on a normal day."
Hotch chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I was supposed to be a cowboy but Jack stole my hat. And now that you mentioned it perhaps I should go home and change. I wouldn't want anyone to think I liked you or something."
Dave was about to come back with a witty rebuttal before he heard two car doors slam. He re-opened the door and saw that the next set of guests had arrived. Neither Rossi nor Hotch were surprised by Morgan or Reid's costumes. The two made a strange pair; Han Solo and what appeared to be a half-assed attempt at a football player respectively.
Rossi felt the need to tease them. "Cute couple."
Morgan cocked an eyebrow and pointed to Reid. "Designated driver."
Hotch gave a mock dramatic expression. "Oh Lord, help us all."
A mischievous smile crossed Morgan's lips. "You mean about me drinking or Pretty Boy driving?
Hotch and Rossi answered simultaneously. "Both."
Reid, looking quite annoyed, shook his head. "Shut up."
So the men of the BAU talked about everything and nothing for about thirty minutes until the girls arrived. The girls, to no ones surprise, themed their costumes.
Garcia, in celebration of her red hair appeared to be Ariel, the Little Mermaid. She wore a long green pencil skirt with ruffles at the bottom and a purple sequined tank top. JJ was Aurora, more commonly known as the Sleeping Beauty. She didn't go "all out." The costume was simply a flowing gray skirt and a black corset over a long sleeved white button shirt. Elle was Bell. She, like JJ, didn't feel the need to purchase a pre-made costume. A blue sleeveless dress over a lose-fitting white long-sleeved shirt got the point across. Prentiss made Snow White look sexy. The costume was ordered from the internet, no doubt about that, and the skirt was much shorter than Walt Disney had ever imagined it could be. Jordan's Jasmine costume was also obviously purchased. For the sake of decency she wore a gold sequined tank top under the reveling shirt.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Morgan said with a flirtatious smile as one by one the Disney Princesses filed through the door. "I think I'm about to take someone on a magic carpet ride," his smile widened as he approached Jordan Todd.
"Don't do it," Garcia warned Jordan. "He cheats."
Morgan recoiled defensively. "Wow! Now hold it baby girl. I'm a player, I'll admit that. But I have never once cheated on a woman."
"Woman, no. Costume, yes." The mermaid looked the man over. "A costume is supposed to be something you're not. And technically you aren't even dressed as a football player. You're wearing a Bears jersey and jeans."
The man in the sorry excuse for a costume put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'll give you that. But I didn't play for the Bears, did I?"
Hotch, who had to this point allowed the two to bicker, cut in. "For the sake of your good name, that's probably a good thing."
Everyone laughed, with the exception of Morgan and Reid. Reid looked around in confusion, and Morgan stared Hotch down with a look that should have been able to kill. "I'm about to teach you some respect for Chicago, Hotchner."
"'For the sake of your good name' should be a complement in itself," Reid interrupted.
"Do you even know what you're talking about, Pretty Boy?"
"I would like to think I do."
"What state are the Buccaneers in?"
Reid opened his mouth to speak, but was unable to provide an answer.
At this point, Rossi came in as the referee. "Alright, give the kid a break." He walked over and playfully swung his arm around Reid's shoulders, to which the Star Wars character tensed. "For future reference, Spencer, the Buccaneers are based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Now what I want to know is this: where is Cinderella?"
"Seaver had what she called a wardrobe malfunction. She called me and said she might be late," Prentiss informed.
After a half an hour there was still no sigh of the newest BAU agent. It the middle of casual conversation (and Prentiss' second beer) Snow White's purse began to buzz. "That's probably Ashley." She dug around in her purse for a few seconds to retrieve her cell phone. "Prentiss. Yeah. Okay, I'll tell everyone. I'll see you soon, bye."
"Is she on her way?" Rossi asked.
"Yeah. She finally got her zipper fixed."
Another fifteen minutes passed and the doorbell rang.
'That would be Ashley," Rossi stated as he rose from hi seat on the couch next to Hotch. He was expecting the costume to be (or at least look like) one of two things: A trashy, e-bay-bought rendition of Cinderella, or thrown together and cheep. He was not expecting to open the door to see and elegant, beautiful, ballroom-ready woman on his doorstep. The light blue dress sparkled from shoulder to toe. The top dipped down daringly low and the full skirt seemed to flow on for ages. Ashley had apparently taken her costume seriously, her hair was even pulled up with a fancy tiara.
Rossi's mouth literally hung open at the sight of her. In that moment he accepted something that had been nagging at him for quite some time. When he had first met her she had been nothing more than a confused child whose innocence was compromised by the knowledge of the horrors her father had committed. But the day he accompanied Hotch to the obstacle course and saw that gray metal braces had been replaced by a warm, confident smile, and the shy, unsure demeanor had evolved into a determined air, Dave could not help but be in awe at the woman Ashley had become. She was no longer a frightened child. Ashley Seaver was a stunningly gorgeous woman.
A woman he was foolishly beginning to fall for.
After a few moments of being in an awestruck trance, Dave was finally able to great his last guest. "Good evening," was all he could manage and he stepped aside and allowed her enter the hall.
"Hi," she said, smiling nervously.
He shut the door quickly so that he could get a better look at her. "Ashley, you look…Wow!"
"Thank you. I still had this dress form when I was a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding two years ago, and I added the sleeves myself. And you're a mobster, by the looks of it. How…Italian of you.
The two laughed and Ashley followed Dave back into the parlor room (that's what a living room in a mansion is called, as he'd had to inform Morgan several times.) The instant Cinderella entered the room everyone went silent. Perhaps they all saw what Dave saw.
David Rossi believed that the best costume should defiantly be something you are not, yet at the same time did not disguise you; something that represents something. To Dave, Ashley dressed as Cinderella defiantly represented something. Here was a girl who was by no means readily accepted by the family she entered into. Any kindness shown to her (other than of Dave's part) was merely patronization, and she knew it. But now she was at the ball, showing the world just how beautiful she truly was. Dave wondered to himself if he could ever be Cinderella's prince, or if he was too old for that type of thing, especially being close to twice the girl's age. It never hurt to try though. He made a vow to himself then: that before the night was over he would get her alone and tell her just how beautiful she was.
Hopefully he would beat the stroke of midnight.
Sorry the ending was rushed, I was posting this literally last minute!
So you see why I wrote in all of the girls: so I could have the whole set of Disney princesses. I was going to have Jordan be Tatianna from Princess and the Frog, but I haven't seen that movie, so Jasmine felt like a better one to do.