I sadly do not own Criminal Minds, or the characters.

Okay, not only is this my first Criminal Minds fanfiction, it is also my first multi-chapter fic!

And in the beginning here I have like one paragraph from the perspective of each character, tell me if you liked it/hated it in a review! :D

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

-Nelson Mandela

Six thirty on a Friday evening found the BAU team of Quantico, Virginia impatiently working on the mounds of paperwork that had accumulated on each of their desks over the last few weeks. The last few cases they had been on were all quite physically and emotionally demanding, and there had been little to no time between them. They had returned from the last brutal case the day before, and were relieved when they learned that there wasn't another case ready for them, and that they would all be able to get a good night's sleep.

The fact that they didn't have another case to be working on left them to tackle the stacks of paperwork they had yet to do. Garcia had suggested that morning that they all go out to a club and have some fun together for once, and the everyone had agreed quickly (and to their surprise, both Hotch and Rossi had even agreed to go without any objections). Because they had a fun night to look forward to, it made the paperwork seem to go by extra slowly, and each member of the team was irritably going through the files as quickly as they could.

The only one not working was Reid, who had finished his desk work a few hours previously, even with Morgan slipping a few of his files onto his desk every time he stepped away. Because of his eidetic memory, he was able to tell every time it happened. He would always sneak a quick glace at Morgan, but always saw him resolutely working on his files like nothing had changed. Reid would simply chuckle to himself and accept the work, knowing that Morgan's forte was definitely not in desk work, while he would to be able to get it done much quicker anyway. Which he had, he was now lounging with his feet up on his desk, on the last page of yet another incredibly thick book in a foreign language. As he finished the book, he threw it into his bag and picked up his coffee mug, intending to grab one last cup of coffee before they left for the day.

Prentiss glanced up as Reid walked by, sneaking a peek at the book in his bag. "Italian..." she muttered to herself, amazed at the genius for reading an entire book in a foreign language in less than four hours. She sighed and turned back to the piles of papers on her desk, though she found herself glancing at the clock yet again. She had been sneaking glances at it all day long, the frequency of the glances increasing as the day wore on. Reid had informed her that she was now glancing every three minutes and forty-seven seconds.

She sat up from her position hunched over her desk, stretching her neck to remove the kinks that had formed in her neck. She looked up into their team leader's office, and was unsurprised to see Hotch resolutely plowing through his own desk work. She had always admired him for his concentration at their lengthy paperwork. She sighed again and unwillingly turned back to the papers lining her desk.

Hotch was indeed plowing away at his work in his office, but he too could feel his concentration start to wane a bit. He was slowly developing a dull pain over his right eye that he always associated with paperwork, and he flexed the fingers of the hand holding the pen he had been writing with all day in an attempt to remove the sore feeling that had settled in his knuckles. His eyes fell upon a framed picture on his desk, and he picked it up and dusted it off, looking into the face of his six year old son, Jack. He thought about calling him, just to talk to him, but as he saw Dave slowly amble past his office, he decided against it. So he set down the frame and got back to his paperwork.

Rossi scanned over the members of the BAU as he walked into the break room, noticing they were all getting fed up with their work. He smirked to himself slightly, as he remembered that feeling of impatience from when he had been a younger agent. He quickly washed out his coffee cup and set it on the shelf next to the others, noticing that Reid's was still missing from the shelf and chuckling to himself. 'That boy really likes his coffee', he thought. Ambling back out of the break room, he decided to walk around a bit to rid himself of the stiffness that had settled in his back. He hummed to himself as he strolled through the corridor past JJ's office, catching a glimpse of her going through the stacks of case files she had stacked up against the walls of her office and looking slightly frustrated at the amount of work she still had left to do. He chuckled to himself again, and headed back toward his office.

JJ was felling quite annoyed with how slowly her work was going, and was patiently waiting for seven o'clock to arrive. Hotch had told them all that they at least had to work until then, especially if they were going out together that night. So she was waiting for seven o'clock, the time that they would all go home to change into something more festive, then meet back at the BAU at eight, and head out from there. She glared at the piles of files sitting around her, then glared at the clock for not going faster. 'I wonder if Hotch would consider letting us out early?', he mused to herself, pondering whether she should go and ask him. She had just made up her mind to go when Garcia burst into her office.

"Hotch is actually letting us out early!" she squealed happily. "Come on Jayje! Hurry up! Let's get moving!". JJ couldn't help but laugh aloud as the Tech Analyst practically flew out her office to go collect the other team members. She closed up the file she had been working on and grabbed her coat and bag, quickly following her over-excited friend toward the Bull-pen.

Garcia tottered down the hallway as fast as she could on the six-inch heels she was wearing, heading to the Bull-pen to begin shuffling everyone out the door. She was over-the-top excited at the prospect of spending time with her teammates away from bodies and psychopaths. She considered her team her family, and was looking forward to seeing them having a good time for once. She was always so worried about them when they went off on a case, afraid they were going to get hurt or kidnapped, or worse. She always tried to make them feel better whenever she talked to them, with witty comments that made them smile. She wanted to be the happy one of the team, the one who always had a contagious smile. The one to remind them to have fun every once in a while.

Which is why she found herself so overly excited to get them moving. The sooner they left, the sooner they could forget about their jobs for once. She turned the corner to the bullpen an stumbled down the stairs toward her friends.

Morgan watched as his baby girl weaved expertly through the maze that was the Bull-pen, and noticed the ecstatic expression on her face. He smiled inwardly at her, as he loved the times when saw her wearing that expression, which were admittedly too few. "Come on guys!" she practically shouted at them, "Hotch is letting us out early! Let's get moving!". At that he couldn't help but let a large grin grace his features as he and Prentiss both stood up and closed the files they were working on, slamming them down on their desks in the process. He was Reid smirk at their relief out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oh come on, Reid!" he said jokingly, "Not all of us can finish our work with hours left in the day! Those of us with normal brains don't get the luxury of spare time!"

He saw Reid open his mouth to no doubt reply with a witty comeback, but Garcia interrupted by saying "Enough chatter! Talk about work later, just gather up your stuff so we can go!"

"Chill Baby Girl, we're moving!" he said as he and Prentiss packed up their stuff for the day (Reid had already packed ten minutes ago, much to Morgan's annoyance). Out of the corner of his eye he saw JJ stroll into the Bull-pen, closely followed by Hotch and Rossi.

"Hey Morgan," the blond drawled as she walked up to them, "You ready to get your party on?"

"JJ, we've worked together for over five years now. You should know that I'm always ready to get my party on, anytime, any place!" he declared loudly.

"Ooh, that's what I like to hear," Garcia purred flirtatiously.

"Calm down everybody, we've still got an hour until we meet back here and head off, let's not get too excited just yet," Hotch said, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Morgan even thought he saw a corner of his mouth twitch upwards for just a moment. 'Good,' he thought to himself. 'Ever since he lost Haley he's been so somber, it'll do him some good to loosen up for a change.'

"Well the sooner we get moving the sooner we'll be back and the sooner we can get our party on!" Garcia nearly shrieked, "So let's go already!" Morgan chuckled to himself as he picked up his leather jacket and joined his friends as they walked toward the elevators, Garcia chattering excitedly with the girls and Hotch in conversation with Rossi.

He quickly caught up with Reid and said, "So, you ready to pick up some pretty ladies tonight?"

Reid gave him a skeptical look.

"Come on man," Morgan said. "Remember when I taught you to use what you were familiar with? And you did that magic trick with the drawing of the UnSub we were handing out? That lady bartender seemed pretty impressed by that!"

"Yes, and she was also abducted and nearly murdered less than twelve hours later," Reid shot back.

"Details," Morgan said dismissively as they drew up to the elevators. "All I know is that it works for you, Pretty Boy!"

Reid rolled his eyes.

The elevator opened and the team prepared to step on, but were stopped by a small man stepping out and saying, "Excuse me, are you folks the BAU?"

Hotch stepped forward and said, "Yes, we are. I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, what can we do for you?" Morgan shot a quick look at Garcia, who looked less than happy at the diversion from her plans.

"I've got a special delivery here for the members of the BAU," the man stated, pulling a small stack of envelopes out of the bag he was carrying. "I've got one for Aaron Hotchner," he said, handing it to him, "David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Dr. Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau, and Penelope Garcia."

Morgan felt his entire team shift and look at him.

"What about Derek Morgan?" he quickly asked the delivery man, expecting him to pull another one out of his bag.

"Nope, sorry pal. That's all I got." He stepped back onto the elevator, saying "See you folks later!" as the door closed, blocking him from view. Morgan stared after him confusedly for a few seconds before turning back to his team to see them all staring at him.

"Well go on, open your letters!" he said, curious as to what was in them, and as to why he didn't get one. He watched them busy themselves with slitting the envelopes open and pulling out the contents. He watched as they all looked down at what they pulled out, and watched them all give a collective gasp and turn towards him, a mixture of fear and concern etched on their faces.