It doesn't happen often, but when you know what you're searching for, you can definitely find an interesting pattern unfolding before you.
I first noticed it when a group of agents walked by, then walked by again not ten minutes later. I caught one of them pointedly staring at me with some half-baked smile on his face. Another couldn't even look my way, he was trying so hard to stifle his laughter.
Then, a hand-full of officers served me some questioning looks as they passed me on their way to someone's office five minutes after the group of agents disbanded.
By the time lunch rolled around, I'd figured out that something was off-putting about me because I'd accumulated at least three separate glances from every person who had run by my desk!
I snatched the small mirror from out of my desk to check my face, finding nothing wrong with my makeup, nothing hiding my teeth, no stray hairs, and no odd markings on my face. My clothes were as nice as they were when I left the house that morning. I examined my desk, thinking someone taped some silly prank onto the back of my chair, but came up empty.
I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. This continued for an entire week. Every person who walked by my desk tossed me a questioning glance, a stifled laugh, an exaggerated stare, or all of the above. Then, I started picking up quieted laughter from behind me. The culprits at least had the decency to stop whenever I turned to look, but it was unnerving, feeling the entire office's eyes on me all at once.
I so desperately wanted to hide away in Penelope's lair, but was afraid I would mess something up by just being present that I never got past the hallway entrance.
By the time the team returned to the office, I was ready to whine about the rude behavior I had suffered through all week. Unfortunately, I wasn't relinquished of the torture just yet.
Garcia called me around 4 o'clock Friday night, a week after the team had left, letting me know that they would be landing around 9.
"Boy, do I miss you guys. I love being the team's secretary and all, but it sucks when I'm left behind all the time," I murmur, glancing in the direction of a muffled snicker from my left.
"I know, sugar plum. Soon Team BAU will be back and you won't have to go home to a lonely apartment anymore and you'll, once again, become my cave minion!" Garcia cheers. "Hold on. Wait, hold on a sec-! There is dissention among the ranks! Please hold!" Garcia shouts, sounding slightly far away accompanied by the sounds of a struggle.
"It's my turn to talk," a deep voice says. I can hear the beginnings of a protest from Penelope, but she is drowned out by Derek's cocky greeting. "Hey there, sugar. What's this about being lonely?"
"Well, you guys did leave me here all by my lonesome, without so much as my cave master to keep me company," I reply with a devilish smile spreading over my lips.
"Wait until I get home. I'll give you all the company you've been missing this past week," he practically growls.
"Hey! Keep the sex-talk to a minimum on my phone, mister! I put my mouth by that receiver, you know!" I hear Garcia complain.
Derek chuckles. "Everybody say bye." A cacophony of good-byes resounds through the phone and I giggle to myself.
"I'll see you soon, sweetness."
"I'll be waiting."
Just as 9 o'clock rolls around, the team strides out of the elevators together. I stand in the middle of the empty bullpen with a wide grin plastered onto my face. That is, until they see me.
A moment passes where everything is quiet. The smile fades from my face as it pops up onto each team member's face in turn. "God, not you guys too!" I cry when JJ silences a giggle.
"What are you wearing?" Derek laughs, crossing the remainder of the bullpen and holding me at arm's lengths.
"What! I always wear this!" I defend, examining my normal office-wear for the third time today.
"I believe he's referencing this," Spencer chimes with a hidden smile on his face.
"What's wrong with my blanket?"
"It's the middle of July!" Derek chuckles. "You look like an Eskimo with it wrapped around you like that!"
"Yeah, I know that! It's freezing in here!"
"Freezing? It never goes below 65," Aaron adds, his eye brows knit together in curious amusement.
"Yeah. Freezing!"
"Well, she does sit right under the vent," JJ says.
"Why didn't you go into my office if you were cold?" Penny asks.
"I was afraid of breaking something…" I murmur, feeling my cheeks flaming in embarrassment. So it was this all along. A stupid blanket.
The team exchanges amused glances and laughter fills the air. Derek peels my blanket from my shoulders and tosses it over the back of my chair. He pulls me into his body and wraps his arms around me. "I'll keep you warm, all right?" he asks through the remainder of his laughter.
"And what about when you're gone, huh? How will I stay warm then?"
"You're always welcome to use my office, doll face," Penelope says. "You are a cave minion after all."
"It's good to have you guys back," I sigh, allowing a smile to creep onto my face.