A/N: I know that this is a day late but I cleared it with Tracia, so here is my story for the Dealer's Choice Challenge! My paring was Emily/Garcia and my items were strawberries, wind, and Big Island, Lake Minnetonka in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Thanks to whoever submitted that particular challenge, it was great fun to write!
Other the other hand, though somewhat related: Calling all CM readers and authors! Join us for our first Profiler's Choice CM Awards on ! Help us choose the best of the best of the CM stories on , and let your voice be heard. Anyone with a account is eligible to nominate. Please check out the nominating ballot and rules at Chit Chat on Author's Forum at .net/topic/74868/30888142/1/. All rules and information are on the forum.
Disclaimer: Still do not own anything! Drat!
Coffee in one hand, a new book in the other, sitting on her living room couch, with the snuggest blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Emily Prentiss was finally able to enjoy her weekend in peace and quiet. That was until a knock at her door made her concentration shift to whoever would be knocking on her door at ten at night.
"Everyone had the weekend off, so if JJ thinks that I am going to go anywhere with her for any time during the next two days, she is badly mistaken," she mumbled to herself as she stomped over to her front door. Opening the door, she growled, "JJ, Hotch, whoever you are, if you think that I am going anywhere-"
"Oh goodie, your home," Garcia exclaimed, marching into her apartment. "I thought that with the weekend off that you would be gone, like off to visit family or something, but you're here, thank God."
"Garcia, what are you doing here?"
"You sound disappointed to see me."
"No, no," she quickly backtracked, "It's just, why are you here?"
"Oh, well JJ is took Henry to visit her parents and you are the only other girl on the team."
Emily only caught half of what Garcia shot out, so instead of trying to continue the conversation at breakneck speeds, she offered Garcia some tea. Twenty minutes later, both women were sitting on the couch, taking small sips of the tea. Emily found this calmer Garcia much more reasonable than the one who barged into her house, so she decided to try again at their conversation. "So what was the need for you to barge into my house at this hour when you clearly heard me say that I was to have no interruptions?"
"Well, I need some girl advice."
"'Bout what?"
"Well," Garcia started, hesitating on telling her baby raven her motives. " Well, do you remember about two months ago when we had those few days off?" Emily nodded her head. Of course she remembered; she had finally got to watch the newest Harry Potter movie. "Well, I went up to Big Island, Lake Minnetonka in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and I sorta met this one guy."
"Oh my gosh, Pen, that's great!"
"It was great," she continued. "It was awesome! We, that is John Krys and I, were having a great time, we were talking and sitting and swimming in the lake and a bunch of other things just enjoying our time together. He even defended me when the wind blew all of our stuff into the stuck up people next to us!"
"Pen, I'm not really seeing a problem here."
"I'm not finished yet gumdrop. Then came the time I had to come back. Well when I told John this, he started asking all these questions about where I lived and saying that he would never forget me and everything. I thought he was just being nice and everything, because I couldn't believe that I could charm an amazing man to me, but then I found out why he wanted my address."
"And the problem is…"
" He's sent me like a gazillion letters and presents in since I left. First it was just 'I miss you' stuff, but then it turned into presents and gifts, and they just kept getting larger and larger. And he hasn't stopped. I wrote back to him saying not to mail me anything else because of my work, but then he started calling me and saying stuff like 'When will you come back and see me' or ' I had a great time at the beach'."
"Okay, Pen just calm down. I think if you talk any faster, you'll start hyperventilating. So you came to me for some girl talk about a weird boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend, but essentially, yes that is exactly what I came to you for."
"And may I ask why I was your second choice after JJ for this girl talk."
"Because I thought that you would have some experience with this sort of stuff," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Realizing her mistake in word choice at Emily's incredulous look, she amended, "Since you are just so beautiful, snicker doodle, I thought that a lot of guys that you have met might've been so entranced by you that they did crazy stuff like this."
"Nice save," she commented before she continued. "Actually, you are right. I have had some guys that have followed me after I repeatedly declined his advances. But, none of them have ever gone as far as this John Krys has. Most of them have stopped after about a month because they see how I just ignore them, and only once did I have to file a restraining order and I might add that that kook is not behind bars."
"Do you really think that I'll have to file a restraining order?" Garcia whispered.
"No! No, of course you won't have Pen. I only filed that one because the dude kept sending me bunches of flowers and coming to my old office. I doubt that your kook has gone that far," Emily reassured.
"Wanna bet?" the blonde challenged. "I wasn't going to come to you if he hadn't sent me four crates of strawberries!"
Emily sprayed her team out in shock. "Four crates of strawberries?"
"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't believe me, so can you help me carry them in; they're out in the hall."
"What?" Emily stared as Garcia arose from the couch and started strutting to the door. Getting over her initial shock, she got moved to help her friend with the crates.
"Wow, you really weren't lying when you said he sent you four crates of strawberries," Emily mused as they set the final crate down on her kitchen floor. "Why did he send you all these strawberries anyways?"
"Apparently it's berry season."
"I did no know that. So, what are you going to do with all of these?"
"Well, you get a whole crate for yourself in case any strawberry emergencies arise once I leave, and as for the other three crates, we are going to surprise everyone at work on Monday!" she ended with a large, mischievous grin.
Emily wearingly asked, "And what will this surprise be?"
"Well," she said hefting a very large cookbook onto the counter, "if this is any indication, sillybilly, we shall be spending the next day and a half cooking up all sorts of unique and hopefully no poisonous strawberry delicacies."
"Uh-uh, no way PG am I letting you redecorate my kitchen into a strawberry mess just to make work a little more delicious! I am not wasting my one free weekend to try my hand at baking!"
"Of course you will, gumdrop. Because I no that you know that I can email some very… interesting pictures of you to everyone in the bureau if you don't meet my reasonable demands," Garcia smugly countered.
"Fine, what's the first disaster we shall create."
"I knew you'd see it my way! The first one is the very simple, most of the time, strawberry shortcake…"
So that is how the tale of how one BAU agent and one supreme goddess of the universe created a strawberry mess in said agent's kitchen that resulted in one of the FBI's worst cases of food poisoning ever. And it all started in Big Island, Lake Minnetonka in Minnetonka, Minnesota with some wind and one man's desire to send his love some strawberries.