It was the 1st Annual Penelope Garcia St. Patrick's Day Par-tay. And Hotch was determined to enjoy it. Green beer, green… whatever the hell those snacks were.
'Have a good time. Do not be a buzz kill.'
He repeated the mantra in his head and smiled a bit when Penny herself took a seat next to him.
"Having a good time, boss-man?" she asked, adjusting her green glasses. "Don't answer that. You look like you're trying to have a good time-"
"And that is sad and pathetic," he interjected.
"Nope, that means you're actually starting to come around. Come out of your self-imposed shell-like container," she said and then quietly burped. "Okay, no more green beer."
She took a breath and started talking again before he could stop her, or interrupt, or flee.
"Look at the group of us, we're a motley freaking' crew. Mental note, never say that phrase again… My point is, we're all type A over-achievers, except for Reid, he's like type C. But still an over-achiever."
She was leaning against Hotch ever so slightly, the green beer apparently taking it's toll.
"I know what you're thinking, and it's not so much the green beer as the green martinis. Is green the Irish national color? Is that why we have to dye everything green or risk getting pinched today?"
"I have no idea, Garcia," Hotch said, voice warmer.
She abruptly changed tracks.
"I wasn't cool, ever. I was like, an outsider in school. Being a freaking genius will do that, ask Reid." She stopped and looked at Hotch. "Why do I keep mentioning Reid? I mean, I'm much more compatible with my chocolate stud muffin, so why am I thinking of the skinny, white boy?"
Hotch decided not to touch that with a ten foot pole.
"I like your glasses," he said, moving the subject along, unfortunately to no avail.
"Got 'em made for today," she said, "I know we're both uber-nerds, we just sub-specialize differently. And he's so…nerdy. Wait, I just said that, the nerd thing."
Garcia sighed.
Hotch sat in silence with the lovely blonde for a few minutes.
"I hear Reid likes Dark Angel," Hotch said, poking the woman in the side. "He says it's to mock the post-apocalyptic techno-something or other, but I saw a Max and Original Cindy screen cap on his laptop."
Garcia sat up quickly.
"That closet geek! Where is he?" she said, and then smiled at her boss. "And don't think I didn't notice that you knew the character's name. You're going to be invited to the marathon, too."
Hotch smiled happily as Penny walked away, stalking across the bull-pen for the young Ph.D.