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The game had not been a good idea.

Frankly, in Reid's usually correct opinion, no game in the presence of the women of the BAU was a good idea. But, Garcia had staggered up to the table where he had been seated –Hotch was next to him, they had been discussing the exact origin of profiling and it's notable users, and Rossi was on the other side, head bent towards Emily's, whispering words that he couldn't hear to her, with Will and JJ on the other side—and suggested the idea.

If it was next to impossible to turn down Garcia when she was sober, it was impossible to do it when she was half-drunk.

"Everybody," she had announced, her voice not quite steady, "we should play a game."

Emily had blinked. "What game?"

"Why?" Reid had asked at the same time.

"I don't think you should be playing anything in your current state, Garcia," Hotch had said, voice firm, but also slightly amused.

Garcia pouted. "Don't worry, I can think proper and-"

"Properly," Reid corrected automatically.

Garcia gave him a long stare, and Reid shrugged defensively. "Anyways," she said, and Reid bit back the urge to point out that the word 'anyways' was actually incorrect and that it should be 'anyway' instead, "we should play a game," she repeated.

"What game?" Emily repeated, with more emphasis this time.

Garcia sat down next to JJ –who had left Henry at home, he was sick and JJ's mom had flown in, so she had agreed to take care of him for the night—and shifted her gaze over all the occupants of the table. "I Never," Garcia said firmly.

"Excuse me?" Reid asked.

"I Never," Garcia said again, as though he should know what the game was or what it entailed.

For a second, Reid wished that Morgan was there –he would be able to talk some sense into Garcia. Except from the looks of it, the man was on the dance floor, grinding with a girl he'd met a few minutes ago –Reid hadn't been keeping tabs on Morgan or anything, he'd just glanced over and noticed when the girl had stepped up to Morgan. Two minutes before this girl, there had been another, and Reid was sure that two minutes late, there would be yet another.

"Should we call him over?" Reid asked, head tilting towards the dance floor.

Garcia turned in her seat and watched Morgan for a few seconds, a clarity in her eyes that indicated that she might not be as drunk as she made herself out to be, before turning back and shaking her head. "Leave him be, he's having fun. And at least he knows how to have fun, you guys are boring," she elongated the last word.

"Oh?" Hotch's brow rose.

Garcia nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, that's why we're playing the game, so that it doesn't get too boring here. Can't have these people thinking that everyone in the BAU is boring, right?"

"Nope," JJ agreed, grinning as she took a swig of the drink before her. Will waited for a second before doing the same; they were similar in that sense, JJ and Will.

"So, we're playing I Never, then?" Emily asked, and the smirk on her face couldn't mean any good, so Reid thought that his worry was quite necessary given the circumstances. Rossi looked unperturbed, but the man never looked surprised at anything. Hotch still had that half-amused smile on his face.

"What is this I Never?" Reid asked curiously.

"It's a game, Spence," JJ explained.

"I gathered as much, but how do you play it?"

"Well, let's say that I start, and I'll say something that I've never done, and the people at the table who have done it have to take a drink. We'll all take turns to say something," JJ said, describing the game.

The game itself made no sense to Reid, but from what he had learned, most –if not all—of the games that people played had the sole purpose of getting people drunk. He didn't bother trying to understand.

"Got it? Now I'll start," Garcia announced. "I've never read the Empty Planet in 10 minutes," she said, looking pointedly at Reid.

Reid didn't move for a few seconds before realization dawned. "Oh, so now I'm supposed to drink? But," he frowned, "That's completely unfair, you know that I'm the only person here who could possibly- oh, now I understand," he nodded. Then he picked up the bottle before him –it was opened by the waiter, who had actually winked at him—and took a small sip before placing it back.

Emily let out a loud 'Boo', hardly heard over the noise of the club. "That's not counted, you have to take a proper drink, Reid," she insisted.

Reid scowled, but took a longer drink, and Emily cheered.

Reid could safely say that she was already drunk.

"Okay, my turn now, right?" JJ raised her hands before biting her lower lip in thought. She sent a slightly mischievous glance in Reid's direction, and then cleared her throat noisily. "Okay, I've got one. I've never watched the entire watched the entire Star Trek, at one go."

Reid felt his scowl deepening. "Now this is just ridiculous," he argued –futilely, if the grins on their faces was any indication—and took another drink, making sure that he kept it long enough to appease Emily.

"It's my turn?" Will asked, smiling kindly at Reid. "How about, I've never cheated during an exam?" Reid sat back, beaming, as Emily and Garcia took a drink each –both completely unapologetically—and, after a second, JJ did the same. Will looked at her with surprise evident on his face. "You have?"

"I was a kid," JJ shrugged, blushing slightly. "I told the teacher though. I thought that Santa wouldn't give me a gift if I didn't."

"And did he?" Hotch asked.

"Yes," JJ laughed. "I got a doll. It looked just like me."

"Have all the women of the BAU cheated?" Rossi asked with his arms crossed.

Emily looked at the other two women. "I don't know about Garcia, but I only cheated because Mike Welch was the smartest guy in school and he wanted me to look at his answers," she grinned. "He was trying to look down my shirt, so I made sure that I wore turtlenecks every time." They laughed, because it seemed like something that screamed Emily. "'Kay, let's see. I've never gone through a week of work without cursing Strauss."

Only Will drank.

JJ laughed. "Is she really that bad?"

Hotch snorted, an action so un-Hotch that even Garcia looked surprised. "Yes, she really is."

"My turn now?" Rossi questioned, before closing his eyes momentarily in thought. "Very well, I've never," he paused, "cheated on someone I've dated," he said, before taking a drink.

Reid frowned. "That makes no sense; you're supposed to say something you haven't-"

"If you don't mind airing your dirty laundry, then you can," JJ said, not touching her drink. Emily took a drink, though, while Garcia frowned thoughtfully.

"Does it count if you're dating two people at once and it's a threesome?" she asked.

Rossi's brow rose. "Nope, but that's quite informative."

Garcia took a drink anyway.

"It's mine, now?" Hotch queried. "Very well, I've never slept with a colleague," he said.

JJ looked at Will. "It doesn't count if you only worked together on one case, does it?"

Hotch shrugged. "You decide-"

"It does," Garcia decided for her.

JJ took a drink, and so did Will, Emily, Rossi and Garcia. After a second, feeling his cheeks heat guiltily and tellingly, Reid did as well.

Emily's eyes widened. "Who?"

"Was it someone on one of our cases?" Garcia demanded.

"It's not someone in the team is it?" JJ asked, looking at him knowingly, making Reid blush even harder.

Reid didn't answer, which could have been an answer in itself, and Garcia leaned closer, while Reid leaned back to put some distance between them. "You can tell us," Garcia said in what could have been considered a whisper in the catastrophic noise that filled the club. "We won't tell anyone," Garcia promised, although Reid was quite sure that the supposed secret would be known to half the office by the next day.

"Who is it?" Emily challenged.

Reid shook his head, averting his eyes from everyone else at the table, swallowing desperately, feeling everyone's eyes on him. He played with the water that had collected on the surface of the bottle, trailing his fingers on it. He hardly realized when he wrote a name on it, quickly swiping his finger across it before anyone could notice.

He looked up, eyes flickering around for an escape before settling on the empty bottles of Emily and Garcia. "I'm going to get you more drinks," he said, sliding out of his chair. He walked towards the bar, ordering a few drinks before taking a seat. Reid slouched and he felt like thudding his head against the wood of the table before him, a sensation that he hadn't felt since he'd slept with-

Reid was definitely in no hurry to return to the table.

After a few minutes though, he had to return to the table, drinks in hand. He set them down on the table, chancing a look at the occupants of the table. Most of them looked suitably shocked, although Garcia and JJ looked strange, almost as if they were planning something, and Reid didn't want to know exactly what.

Nobody mentioned the topic, and Reid sent a grateful glance at Hotch –only he would be able to stop everyone from breaching the topic.

"So, Emily, did you hear what Matthew did the other day?" Garcia started, and he was left forgotten.

By 11.45 he was quite drunk –the empty bottles before him proved that much, although he couldn't count exactly how many, new ones kept popping up at second glance—and stumbling out of the bathroom. Hotch was walking towards him, not nearly as drunk as Reid was.

"By your reaction, I'm assuming that whoever you slept with was in the team," Hotch said, a statement instead of a question, not giving Reid any room to argue. "As long as it doesn't interfere with your work, it doesn't matter," Hotch said after a long pause, and Reid looked up, eyes wide.

"But, Hotch, the rules-"

"One of our members became engaged to a man we worked with, the other is dating a man who helped the BAU, I hardly think that that particular rule is effective," Hotch shrugged.

Reid could only hope that he wasn't gaping too obviously. Hotch smirked, and Reid thought that his attempt at hiding his shock was failing. Hotch walked past him into the bathroom, and Reid stood without moving for a few seconds.

Then, he walked out of the club, the doors opening with some difficulty under his hands.

The cold air –winter, he had almost forgotten—was a jolt to his system, as though someone had a cast a spell on him to make him sober. Then he blinked dumbly, because he was quite definitely hallucinating. He didn't think that Derek Morgan would be leaning against the wall of the club when he could be inside, dancing and surrounded by women that no straight man would turn down.

And, whatever might or might not have happened, Morgan had proved time and time again that he was definitely a straight man.

"Hello," Reid said formally.

Morgan seemed amused. "Reid," he said, not moving away from his position against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, almost expectantly gazing at Reid.

Reid turned away, because out of everyone in the team, it was Morgan he definitely didn't want to see.

"Lovely night, isn't it?" Reid asked noncommittally.

Morgan smirked, walking towards him. "Lovely night with a drunken genius," he teased.

Reid flushed. "I am not drunk." It would have sounded more believable if he hadn't stumbled over thin air at the same time. Morgan caught him easily though, a hand on his shoulder, a heavy warmth that sunk into his skin through layers of cotton and tweed.

"Oh, yeah?" Morgan asked, pulling him upright.

Reid didn't answer, and Morgan let the silence stretch.

When it got too near to deafening, though, Reid broke it. "Garcia told you?"

"About the game?" At Reid's nod, he continued. "Yes."

Reid swallowed. "And?"

Morgan smiled. "And what?"

"They'll be wondering who I slept with. I think Hotch already knows, actually," Reid admitted.

Morgan didn't seem too surprised. "I'm pretty sure Garcia knows, and JJ too, and if JJ does than Will probably does too. And, Emily would've figured it out once JJ found out, which means that Rossi should know if he hadn't already known about it earlier."

Reid frowned. "I hate profilers," he said suddenly.

Morgan chuckled. "Yeah, can't keep a damn secret around here."

"Why'd you do it?" Reid asked, the change in topic seeming so smooth and correct in his mind that when it came out –crooked and just wrong—he cringed.

Morgan didn't insult him by asking him what he was talking about. He didn't ask anything, he didn't say anything. Then, after a silence that seemed so obvious even though Reid logically knew that people were talking around him and that music seeped out of the closed doors and that there was a college party going on opposite him, Morgan asked, "Why did you agree?"

"You're blaming me for this?" The question wasn't offensive, or even defensive, just curious.

Morgan shook his head. "No, Pretty Boy- you're pretty hard to turn down."

"Except that I didn't proposition you, it was the other way around," Reid pointed out. "Although, if it helps, you're pretty hard to turn down too," he said, almost innocently.

Morgan grinned. "Nice to know." Then he sobered. "You regret it?"

It was Reid shaking his head this time. "Morgan, there are women in there who would kill to be in this position."

"But I'm not asking about them, am I?"

Reid sighed. "I don't."

He turned, his feet not betraying him for a change, and stepped towards the door. The countdown was starting. Garcia had wanted him to be inside in time for it. "You really want to go in?" Morgan asked.

Five.

"I don't have a choice, Morgan- Derek. Neither do you." Reid sighed. He didn't think it was healthy to feel so tired at his age.

Four.

Morgan turned to face Reid, he could feel it, although he couldn't see the action. "Didn't some dead guy say that you always have a choice?"

Three.

Reid turned as well. "The origins of that particular quote have been lost through time."

Two.

"Spiderman said it, you've got to believe it." Morgan smirked, stepping closer.

One.

"Spiderman did? Well, we can't argue."

And Morgan kissed him.

The shouts of, "Happy New Year," could be heard vaguely through the doors to the club, but neither of them registered the words. Reid's hands stayed still before he moved, closer, almost desperate with his actions. Morgan grinned against his mouth, licking Reid's lower lip.

It would work out.

-|-

Garcia turned towards Emily, a hand outstretched.

Emily rolled her eyes, although she was already fishing inside her purse. "I can't believe they got together now, I mean, how much more Disney could you get?" she said, slightly disgusted, although the smile on her face told of her pleasure that the men had acted as they had.

"I think it's sweet," JJ said firmly.

Garcia shook her head. "This was too easy, I'm almost disappointed."

"You wanted a challenge?" Rossi asked skeptically. "With those two? Emily's right, they're easier than Disney."

"I've got together you and Emily, and now Morgan and Reid, who iis/i a challenge?" Garcia asked.

Rossi smirked. "Hotch."