-11. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!4. Do ten of these then post them
This was a rather interesting exercise. I quite enjoyed it. Reading them over again, I can only see the connection to the song loosely in some cases. But, anyway, here they are. Some of them are deliberately ambiguous regarding who's involved. Others aren't.
Once Upon a December- Anastasia
He looks around at the family he has. Morgan teasing Reid, Reid blushing, JJ laughing. This is family, he thinks. Maybe not the conventional kind, not the kind he used to have. But he has them now, and that's what counts. They all play a part here, not just a role in the investigation, but a part here, in his life. He'll never tell them, because he doesn't need to. He smiles, and the room stands still for just a moment. They can't remember the last time he smiled; and neither can he. But now it's going to change.
Loch Lomond
She thought she would live that moment forever. Feel the fear pounding in her body, her breathing short, her eyes wide. Time stood still, all sensory perception ceased. She was useless for the moment; silent, frozen, terrified. The gunshot rang out loudly, and she knew no matter who it hit, her life wasn't going to be the same. But then she saw him fall, and her world stood still, as his eyes widened in surprise, and his hands grasped fruitlessly at the red stain on his chest. She distantly heard a small scuffle as the suspect was apprehended, and she ran to his side. He looked at her as though she could fix this, as though merely by being there, she could make it better. She shook her head helplessly and silently. And his eyes slowly closed.
All You Wanted- Michelle Branch
He watched her, subtly, cause he was afraid she had learned something from them and would detect his attention. He watched her face when she picked up the phone and got yet another request for their assistance. He watched her at the end of the day, when she closed herself in her office for just a moment, as she closed her eyes and tried to process everything she had seen that day. He watched her when she laughed, and saw her light up. He saw how she came more alive around the group, when she teased and bantered, and found belonging. He watched her stare wistfully at them when she felt like an outsider. He saw her strength every day, and every day something new surprised him about her courage and her intelligence. Every now and then, he saw something of her weakness. And he knew which he loved best.
He watched her walk up to him and kiss him slowly.
He gaped at her.
"Doesn't take a profiler, Spence," she said, as she walked away, smiling.
I Quit- Hepburn
She picked the note up from her desk, opened it, and read it.
"I Quit" it said in the scrawled handwriting of someone who thinks ever so much faster than they could write. Two little words. Five letters. She looked out of her office to see him, staring off into space, like the mysteries of the universe were there for him alone to see and discover. And, for all she knew, they were.
She opened her filing cabinet and put the letter in its place with all the others.
479, she thought. When he gets to 1,000, I'll start to worry.
Elysium- Hans Zimmer
Not for the first time in his life, he ponders things like heaven and hell, good and evil. There's gotta be a cosmic payoff somewhere, he thinks. There just has to be. Otherwise, what's the point? Why bother if this is all there really is? Why not throw in the towel now, hop on a plane and spend the rest of your life on some tropical island with a lovely young woman serving you cocktails? What comes after this? And is it worth this pain? He sits at his desk, pondering. And then she walks by.
Lucky- Bif Naked
We got lucky today. It could have gone badly, but somehow it didn't. There was every chance that we wouldn't all be here tonight, sitting around this table, enjoying each other's company as we wind down from the week. I think it would be easy for us to take the credit for ourselves; we're elite, we're among the best in the world at what we do. But that's not it. We weren't saved today by our own cleverness, our intelligence; something bigger was at play here, I just wish I knew what it was. Luck? That impersonal force of nature kept harm from us? No, that doesn't seem right. I think the luck was that we came together as a team. Some force in the universe aligned the stars, or whatever, and we're here, now, in this moment, as a team. And that, at the end of the day, is what makes us the luckiest people in the world. For tonight, anyway.
Iris- Goo Goo Dolls
"I would do it again, in a fraction of a second," I want to tell her. "I don't regret it." But I can't. "Don't blame yourself; I don't." I wish she could know. She comes to visit me out of a sense of duty, an obligation, I think. Maybe she comes out of a sense of regret, or sorrow. I like to think that she comes because she misses me, and somehow, she knows that I know she's here. Because I do know. She comes every Sunday, hasn't missed a week. I just wish I could tell her that. Wish I could tell her something, anything. I wish I could hear her voice, see her again. Touch her, even. But here I lie, and there she goes. Until next Sunday.
Good Mother- Jann Arden
"I wonder what they'll put on the tombstone," she muses thoughtfully.
"What?" he asks her, surprised.
"You asked for something that no one knows about me; that's it, I always wonder what they'll put on my tombstone when I die."
"When you die? A long, long time from now. Right?"
"Don't worry, I plan to hang around a little longer. I couldn't let the team flounder without me," she says, smirking.
"There wouldn't be a team anymore," he says matter-of-factly.
"What?" It's her turn to be surprised.
"Every one of us would have given our lives to save you. Morgan first, because he's pig-headed like that. Then Emily, because she couldn't stand by and let someone else play hero. Then Hotch, because he's a little more level-headed, but you still mean a whole lot to him. Then Garcia. Then me."
"Why are you last?"
"I don't know. But that's how it would be. And I know what it would say."
"And what's that? ;Here Lies Agent Jareau- She Got Her Team Killed For No Good Reason'?"
"No. It will say 'JJ, Good Mother'."
"How do you know I'll be a good mother?"
"You take good care of us, don't you?"
Full of Grace- Sarah McLaughlin
She takes her coat off, enters her lair, and stares at the screens. There blank, benign, for now. But she knows as soon as she turns them on, death will fill them. Her finger hesitates over the power button. What if today she didn't turn them on? What if she put the coat back on and simply walked out? Where would the death go then, if it didn't have her screens to infect?
"Hey, Baby Girl," she hears from behind her.
"What can I do for you, Sweetness?" she asks, moving unflinchingly toward the monitors, and turning them on. This is why she does it. For the team. So the team can do some good in this overwhelmingly bad world.
Leave No Man Behind- Hans Zimmer
Garcia listens in on the radio, listens to him in there. She can hear the shake in his voice; this one is not pretend, this one is not to make himself appear weaker than he is. This one is genuine; he is terrified. For once, there aren't enough facts or statistics; everything he knows and he is at a complete loss. He begs and pleads, but to no avail. He takes a step back, closes his eyes and takes one deep, shuddering breath. He knows he can't win, knows he can't get them both out of here.
"Let her go," he says, lowering his weapon and stepping forward. "Let her go, and I won't fight."
JJ's eyes widen. She looks an interesting combination of terrified and furious. It almost makes him smile.
"Release her, now," he says, mustering up all the authority he can.
The madman with the gun complies, releasing JJ.
"Go," he says gruffly.
"I'm not leaving without you," she says fiercely.
"Either leave now or neither of you are leaving."
"Get out of there, JJ," Garcia hisses. "I care about him, too, but get out of there."
"No," she says.
With no warning, Garcia hears the unmistakable sound of two gunshots, and then silence.
