Bones
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. Wouldn't want to because I couldn't do half as good as the creator. LOL.
Notes: For the New Year! I hope this starts off your 2010 well. Set a month after "Yeah Boy and Doll Face". No need to read that to read this. LOL. Did that make any sense?
Spencer really doubted he could finish dinner in twenty minutes. He didn't know what Derek was thinking, saying that a New Year's party would be great to have at their apartment. He sighed, just picking up his pace, when the doorbell rang. "You're kidding," his exclaimed to the empty kitchen.
By the sound of the muffled vioces, coming through the closed kitchen door, everyone came at the same time. And coming into the kitchen!
As the door opened, he finally heard what the conversation was about. It took him a minute to register just what he heard. "So what'd you do after he slapped you, Sunshine?" Derek sounded more amused than the question warranted.
"Oh, I broke his nose. The dirty fighting tricks that Rossi and Emily taught me really paid off." Penelope laughed and Dave and Emily grinned at each other as Spencer whirled around, goo clinging to his hands and forearms.
"WHAT?"
"Whoa, my Junior-G Man, it's fine. He bailed as soon as he got up off the floor." She gave him a wicked smile, which blended the decent-sized bruise on her cheek into her hair. "Besides, I had to. I didn't want your man or Hotch to kill him." He was struck speechless and Derek just smiled and started handing out the drinks that sat on the counter.
Will gave the room a once over. "Um, what are you doing?"
"What?" It didn't click that Will was talking about the stew pot on the stove, the colinder full of boiled and broken down turkey that was sitting next to the sink and another turkey that was actually waiting in the sink.
"He's making turkey stew... and not making enough head-way on picking those leftover birds clean." Hotch grinned as he answered. "Need help?" Spencer nodded.
J.J. wandered over and looked in the sink. "Eww! That's so gross. I'm going to leave you to it."
Finally, the doctor found his voice. "Well, there's no other way to do it!" He turned back to the bird in the sink, shaking his head, while Hotch rolled up his long sleeves and shooed everyone out into the livingroom. As Hotch came to stand next to him, Spencer asked Derek, rather loudly, to leave the kitchen door open.
They worked in a comfortable silence for a while, putting unwanted bits and bones to one side of the sink, throwing the good meat into a waiting bowl. Everyone came and went from the kitchen, dropping a couple of words to them or getting another drink. Derek was waltzing around the kitchen often and, to Spencer's surprise, so was Penelope.
It finally dawned on him that she was paying Hotch a lot of attention. Penelope would lean against the counter next to their boss, talking to them about this or that, seemed to always be touching him. Looking, smiling, flirting, he realized. And Hotch seemed to be responding.
He patiently waited until he was sure that nobody would disturb them for a few minutes, and asked, "Hotch? Is there something going on with you and Penelope?"
To his credit, Hotch didn't look as stunned by that question as Spencer thought he should be. "No. Why?" He didn't even look up from the keel bone he was stripping.
"Hotch, come on, she's flirting with you. I know you see that." He watched the older man nod and decided to be bold. "You're flirting back, you know."
Throwing the bone back into the sink after getting the meat off, Hotch sighed. "I know." Spencer couldn't understand what the reluctant tone was about. He stood there, knowing that Hotch just needed a moment to collect himself. "I know I am. I can't help the natural attraction, but I can't do that to her. I'm still not steady in my emotional state. I'm not going to put Penelope through that." Fishing around for something left to shred, he added, "Please, drop this."
He nodded while giving his boss a long, hard look. "Sure. One last thing." Hotch looked at him, curious. "Don't make her wait too long, either way. That's not fair, no matter what you decide. She's a good person and, venturing an opinion, Penelope would be good for you."
Hotch looked at Spencer in surprise. "You think so?"
"Yeah!" Spencer watched as that short and honest answer made Hotch smile. "I could give you a thousand psychological and practical reasons for why that is, but I have the one that is better than all that. You really care about each other."
They were interrupted as Derek, Penelope and Dave came gossiping into the room. Spencer saw Hotch smile at Penelope with a little more brightness than before, watched her return it and was stopped from commenting because his husband pulled him in for a kiss. "You guys almost done?"
Chuckling, Spencer leaned in for another kiss, making sure not to touch anything with his hands. "Yeah, ten minutes I think. Just a quick hand-wash and throw the meat in and we'll come play."
They left the two profilers to it and, without a word, both started a race to see who finished first.
Wow. This one seems kinda choppy. And yes, you have to pick bird that way. LOL. Took me an hour to do just one last night!
Again, Happy New Year!