Chapter 1:
"Really Garcia?" Was all JJ could ask when she saw the perky computer analyst passing out boxes of candy hearts to the rest of the team, a mischievous smile on her face as she handed a box to JJ.
"Yes really, it's time we had some fun around here again and as you all know tomorrow is Valentine's day." Garcia said cheerfully, not seeming at all phased by the skeptical looks she was receiving from the gathered agents. She also ignored the frown Hotch displayed as paused his walk past the bullpen to see what was going. His question was answered before he even voiced it as she thrust a box of the candy into his hand, watching with delight as he studied the words visible through the clear plastic heart shape on the front, frown deepening as he read the True Love reference that was visible. Love was the last thing he wanted to think of as he faced the weekend without even Jack to keep him company due to a birthday slumber party for one of his friends.
"Garcia, is this really necessary?" Hotch had to at least ask, even though the resignation was already apparent in his voice. They had all learned long ago learned the futility of trying to dissuade her from making a big production out of every holiday that came along. They had already participated in a costume party for Halloween, a Thanksgiving potluck at the office and even a white elephant gift exchange for Christmas but apparently she wasn't through yet. He could already picture the green food and computer backgrounds that would soon be appearing to herald St. Patricks day followed by an office easter egg hunt if they weren't out in the field. While her antics were sometimes taxing on one's nervous system, he had to admit her determination to bring themes of levity and togetherness to the team still played a key role in helping them not get swallowed up by the darkness of their work.
Rossi looked amused as he opened the box and began reading the sayings on the many colored candy hearts. His face fell as he realized they were the garden variety sayings you could pick up at any retail store as opposed to some of the steamier ones he had seen special ordered from various adult resources. "Now that could liven things up," he thought with a smirk as he patiently waited for Garcia to continue outlining whatever plan she had in mind.
"Get your mind out of the gutter sir," Garcia winked at him, reading his thoughts as easily as if she were a profiler herself. "This will still be fun, but everyone has to wait and hear the rules."
She waited to ensure she had everyone's attention, taking in the lack of enthusiasm portrayed by the majority of the group. Reid looked a little clueless as he surveyed the hearts, Derek was the only one who joined Rossi in looking a little amused and indulgent to whatever whim she was following. Hotch and JJ both looked resigned though a little ill at ease, not surprising she thought considering JJ's divorce from Will only 6 months ago. While he had not said anything about it everyone knew that something had happened with Hotch and Beth as he had stopped mentioning her name and it had been quite some time since he had taken any weekends off to go to New York. Consensus was that he and Beth had broken up but that he wanted to keep his personal life private, the only burning question the team really had about it was wondering who had been the one to break it off.
"Better not eat any of those yet," she halted Reid before he popped one of the hearts in his mouth, curious to see if they tasted as chalky as they looked. "The way we play the game is that everyone has to secretly give a candy heart to everyone else here. Then tomorrow we mingle among ourselves and each have to guess who sent which heart. Doesn't that sound like a fun way to use your profiling skills for the holiday?" She said with a toothy grin, continuing to ignore the lack of enthusiasm portrayed by the others.
"Sounds like a setup for us to get all touchy feely." Morgan called her out on the obvious theme of her game. "You don't need to concoct a game for me to tell you how sexy you are?" He said with a wink, ignoring the responses from the others at his shameless flirting. He was tempted to allude to her game as a matchmaking attempt but considering some of her likely targets were standing there he decided to save that for a more private conversation.
"Cute, but you know you and I are not the only ones playing." She admonished him gently before turning back to the team. You have until the end of today to make your exchanges, without getting caught. Then tomorrow we'll all have fun guessing." She finished, delighted as she saw that despite the lack of enthusiasm wheels were turning as they began to think through how they could achieve the goals she had set forth.
As everyone went their separate ways a few had to admit that her little scheme had brought a little relief to the drudgery of a paperwork day while they were on break to work on the less exciting aspects of their work in reviewing profile requests, catching up on documentation and reviewing cases to prepare for upcoming trials and testimonies.
Hotch got distracted from the days mission as he left the hearts forgotten in his top drawer before he went to spend the majority of the day in a department head meeting. He was quickly reminded of the challenge when he got back to his desk shortly before lunch to see six candy hearts all lined up on his desk, face down. With an inward groan he began to flip them over, not surprised that the first 3 he turned over all said Smile, followed by a My Pal. He expected more of the same when he moved to the next pink heart to see Hot Stuff, which caused him to pause as he started mentally rolling through the team members, honing in on the female members of his team though not dismissing the possibility that Rossi would use this opportunity to mess with his head. More on guard he flipped over the last heart to see the words Let's Kiss jump out from the innocent green confection. His mind quickly went into profiler mode as he began quickly narrowing down the list of possible senders, assuming that at least two of the "Smiles" were from Morgan and Reid, but between the female members of the team and the ever present possibility that Rossi was playing a head game with him he found the others harder to sort out.
"Damn," he exclaimed under his breath as he tried to run through the possibilities in his mind, though his profiling skills seemed to be lost as all he could keep coming back to was wondering which one might be from JJ and trying to overcome wishful thinking with actual profiling. He finally moved Hot Stuff aside, attributing that to Garcia, as he couldn't imagine anyone else on the team having that kind of nerve. Staring at the three remaining hearts he placed the last Smile to the side attributing that to Blake as he stared at the My Pal and Lets Kiss hearts that remained. He yearned to believe that JJ had sent him the kiss heart but the profiler within had a hard time considering her being that brazen. With a sigh and a frown he made his decision, knowing that Rossi and his perverse sense of humor was likely behind the overtly flirtatious heart he had received.
Opening his own box of candy he began sorting out the hearts he would need to deliver himself, easily picking out the non-romantic ones for his male colleagues as he quickly grabbed up the least suggestive ones he could for Blake and Garcia. His fingers lingered over the rest of the hearts as he tried to pick the perfect one for JJ, wishing he could tell her some of the feelings that he had harbored for her but knowing this was not the time as she was still dealing with the aftermath of her divorce. He was forcing himself to wait at least a year to be sure he didn't catch her on the rebound. Listening to his instincts and with the last decision made he slid the six hearts in his pocket to go see how many he could deliver without being seen. Smiling at his good fortune he noticed several of the team members had left their desks for the lunch hour.
Deliveries quickly made the Unit Chief retreated to his office and engrossed himself in paperwork, trying to ignore the thought of Valentine's Day since he and Beth had broken up. She had been the one to suggest that the long distance relationship wasn't working out for her and he suspected she had found someone else in the art circles of New York. He didn't feel particularly saddened, though a little disappointed as he and Jack both dealt with moving forward with the loss of another woman in their lives.
As JJ got back to her desk she was not surprised to find a couple more hearts had joined the collection that had started that morning, a new heart seeming to appear whenever she left her desk for so much as a trip to the ladies room. Surveying the newest addition she began sorting through her collection, trying to hide her disappointment at the lack of flirtatious comments as she tried to tell herself that everyone was probably trying to respect her recently divorced status, but wishing for a little more fun as she sorted through the assortment, almost methodically assigning a heart to each of her friends. After the fifth My Pal she inexplicably felt a pang of hurt, grateful for her friends and yet feeling resigned to the role of team buddy. While she wasn't pursuing a relationship with any of her teammates a little flirtation would at least have helped restore some of her self-confidence considering she had found Will in bed with another woman that fateful night they had returned early from a case and she had gone home to surprise him. Resigning herself to finding another bland friendship saying she finally flipped over the last heart that had nearly escaped under her stapler, feeling her pulse quicken as the words Let's Kiss leapt out at her.