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A/N: Hi everyone, this is my entry into the-vampire-act's holiday fics contest. Please enjoy!
I would like to dedicate this story to my wonderful friend and mentor, mablereid.
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"How does this look Reid?" Garcia asked as she finished winding shiny red tinsel around the fir tree that stood near the break area in the BAU.
"It looks fine Garcia." Reid said absentmindedly.
"You're not even looking," Garcia replied.
Reid turned from his coffee and the challenger Sudoku puzzle he was working on and looked at the tree with colorful lights that blinked in a set pattern, now further adorned with red tinsel. "Like I said, it looks fine."
"Where's your Christmas spirit sweetcheeks?" His flamboyant friend asked.
Where was his Christmas spirit? He was always so hyped up for Halloween, but that was different. Halloween could be a solitary observance. You could dress up and go around the neighborhood alone. Halloween was a time when you could, and were expected to, hide your true self and become something or somebody else. Christmas was different. Christmas was about togetherness and family. Christmas was the most blatant reminder that he was alone. Maybe that's why it came in December; the end of the year, to rub his nose in the fact that yet another year had passed and he was still alone. That loneliness seemed all the more exaggerated this year without JJ.
"Reid, could you please help me out here," Garcia said when he didn't respond. "I need someone tall to put the star on the top."
"Did you know that the star on the top of the tree represents the Star of Bethlehem?" he said as he took the star from her, his long fingers firmly fitting it over the top branch of the tree. "The first Christmas tree," he continued, "was associated with St. Bonaface in Germany. He found a fir tree growing out of the roots of an old oak tree and took it as a sign of Christianity. He took it into the home, insisting that Christ be at the center of your household." Garcia placed a box of shiny ornaments and snowflakes on the table, gesturing for Reid to take some and help her with the tree. "The custom of setting up a tree in the home is traced back to Germany in the 16th century. It was first decorated with apples, nuts and dates. Lights, in the form of candles, came later. The tree was introduced as a tradition in Britain when Queen Victoria wed Prince Albert of Germany. There are several cities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, of mainly German descent, that lay claims to the first Christmas trees in this country."
"Baby girl," Morgan, who'd just arrived, said as he stood with his arms crossed. "Are you going to let him ramble on forever? Don't you know not to encourage him like that?"
"I was enjoying it, I'll have you know. It's nice to learn new things once in a while. I know that Santa Claus began in Germany as Kris Kringle, right?" she looked to Reid for verification and he nodded as he placed a bright red ball on the branch.
"Hey, looking good you guys," Emily joined the threesome. "Reid, move that green ball one branch to the right." Reid did as instructed. "Perfect," she said.
Hotch opened the door of his office and looked down at the bullpen. Garcia and Reid were decorating a Christmas tree while Morgan and Prentiss were offering commentary. Suddenly the foursome laughed, making what he had to do even harder. "BAU team, conference room," he said, as he strode down the walkway to the room, giving a light tap on Rossi's door as he went by.
Morgan sighed, "So much for the Christmas spirit."
They left the half decorated tree and headed for the stairs, each hating their job at this time of year.
After they were seated, Hotch began, "I got a call this morning, the NSA picked up on some chatter about a proposed terrorist attack, date, time and location, of course, unspecified. They believe it's likely to occur within the next few days. From past decryptions, the only information they're willing to state with any degree of accuracy, is they believe the target is, once again, in New York City. Homeland Security has raised the terror alert."
"So we have to try and figure out where they're going to strike in time to stop it," Prentiss said. "And we don't have anyone like Jind Allah that we can work on to give up the site."
"And if we don't, it's going to be 9/11 all over again," Morgan stated.
"Do you think that picking New York has anything to do with all of the controversy revolving around this mosque going up?" Garcia asked.
"Oh, do not even go there Garcia." Morgan barked.
"Morgan," Hotch said sternly. "They've already considered that aspect, and also if because of the feeling that the proposed Mosque is being attacked, that the terrorists might hit churches in the city. They've all been placed under surveillance just in case. NYPD has set up a task force along with our field office there."
"A church is too small," Rossi said, shaking his head. "There aren't always people in a church, although granted more do attend in the holiday season, but it would be nothing compared to the towers or what they planned to do at the mall in McLean."
"So where does that leave us?" Prentiss asked.
"Nowhere, that's where," Morgan replied angrily.
"Let's not debate this here." Hotch said. "Let's get in the air so we can get to New York ASAP. We can discuss any theories on the plane. Wheels up in thirty," he stood and left the room.
"Well, Merry Christmas," Rossi said as the rest of the team stood and followed Hotch.
Garcia looked at the half decorated tree as her teammates rushed, go bags in hand, to get to the plane that would take them into danger once again. She ran one of the green prickly branches between her fingers. It just wasn't right.
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As the plane reached cruising altitude the team members moved about the plane, into a tight circle rather that scattered about as they had been since takeoff. "You've been quiet Reid," Hotch said as he saw the young man, his fist under his chin, looking silently at the table in front of him, which, for once, didn't contain the grizzly pictures of some tortured bodies and souls.
"It's all about symbols," he said at last.
"All about symbols, what do you mean exactly?" Prentiss asked.
"On 9/11 the terrorists attacked symbols in our country, the trade centre, the Pentagon, and thank God not the White House. These buildings are symbols of our economy, of our military and of our leader. You listen to the news and they don't say, "The president says or doesn't say this; they say the White House says or doesn't say…" He paused for a moment. "So to us the mosque, an Islamic place of worship, is a symbol of the terrorists who committed the atrocities on 9/11. We go into battle for our freedoms. They go into battle for Allah. So, is the building of the mosque an attempt to shove our Bill of Rights and our Constitution down our throats? Maybe they want to attack those freedoms, like freedom of worship, by using those very liberties to build a symbol of their own."
Rossi leaned forward, interested in the workings of this extraordinary mind, "Where are you going with this?"
"I was thinking of something that's written on a plaque, 'I believe in an all-wise and all loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual's highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.' That's a quote by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in Rockefeller Centre. Christmas is the most sacred of Christian holidays and what is the symbol of Christmas?"
"The Christmas tree," Prentiss responded, then opened her mouth widely and gasped. "The biggest symbol of that is the tree in Rockefeller Centre."
Reid nodded, "And what else is there? Television news networks, Time/Life, McGraw Hill, all examples of freedom of the press, Bank of America, The GE Building, Radio City Music Hall which has become a landmark, and the hugely famous architectural art sculptures. Look at the streets around the plaza, Fifth Avenue, Avenue of the Americas. It is so ripe for Muslim implication of the American way of life, how we have taken the birth of Christ and turned it into a vehicle for our greed, and representing it all, that Christmas tree."