Agents in Training: The Candy Thief
Jack loved Halloween. It was the best day of the year, in his opinion. He got to dress up like a super hero (Captain America this year), get as much candy as he could stand, and he got stay up half an hour later than usual. Halloween was the best.
"Jack, you ready to hit the streets, little dude?" Derek Morgan poked his head into Jack's room, where he was still adjusting his costume.
"Yep. Ready to get out there and get some candy!" Jack practically jumped with joy at the idea.
"Alright, let's go see if your little brother needs any help with his costume," Derek said, leading the boy across the hall into his brother's room.
"How's it going in here, you two?"
"I think we're done," Spencer Reid said, just finishing up the bow on Henry's little red Chuck Taylor. "I still can't imagine why this is what he wanted to be, but he pulls it off nicely."
"I wanna be just like uncy Spence when I get big," Henry replied to his godfather's comment.
"Well, you're on the right track, Lil' Reid," Derek said, mussing the boy's mop of blonde hair.
"I can do magic tricks, too," Henry smiled. "Wanna see?"
"Sure, show me some magic."
Henry pulled out a deck of cards. "Pick a card, any card!"
Jack picked one card from the deck, then put it back at his little brother's request.
Henry tried to shuffle the cards, and in doing so, they went all over the place.
"Hey, that's alright, little man. Nobody gets anything perfect without practice," Derek comforted the boy while he helped him pick up cards. "Now, why don't we go get some candy?"
"YEAH!" The boys shouted in unison, smiling.
"Let's hit the streets, Pretty Boy," Derek called to Spencer.
The quartet walked together down the stairs and out on to the streets. They went to house after house, Jack and Henry faithfully singing: "Trick or treat!" at each one. Once the dark began to fall, the boys led the way home to check out their haul.
"WOW! I got FOUR full sized Kit Kat bars! Those are my favorite! This is the best Halloween ever," Jack said, while looking through his pile of candy.
"And you can have one now, one after your bath. Your dad said two pieces of candy was the limit," Spencer reminded the boys.
Jack ate one Kit Kat at record breaking speed, and then ran to his room to strip off his Captain America costume and jump into the bath. He couldn't wait to eat his other Kit Kat!
Jumping out of the tub, he dried off as quickly as possible and ran into his bedroom to get on his pajamas. Before pulling them out, he stopped and looked at his bed where he'd left his candy. One of his Kit Kat bars was missing! There had been four, he ate one, and now there were only two left! What happened to the third one? Jack knew what he had to do. Instead of reaching for his pajamas, he reached for his suit. It was time to work the case of the Candy Thief.
Jack buttoned the buttons on his suit and straightened his clip-on tie.
"Henry!"
"What?" Henry called back from his own bedroom.
"Someone stole my Kit Kat!" Jack replied.
"Nu-huh!"
"Yeah, huh! That means someone is in the house stealing candy!"
Henry glanced at his own haul, as if he was trying to protect it with his eyes.
"Why would someone steal our candy? People was just givin it away!"
"I know! I don't get it either," Jack agreed as he shook his head.
"We have to find the candy thief before they strike again. C'mon, Henry."
"Yessir!" Henry said as he jumped up and grabbed the camera from his toy box.
Jack and Henry headed down the hallway to the library.
"Jack! Look!" Henry exclaimed. Jack looked where his little brother was pointing.
"The candy wrapper! The thief threw the wrapper in this trash can," Jack stated as Henry took a picture.
Jack decided the thief couldn't have gotten far. He wondered if they were still in the library, or in his father's office that was just beyond.
"Let's search the libwawy," Henry said. "I bet the sneaky thief is still in here!"
"I think he is, too, Henry," Jack said as he noticed a pair of red Chuck Taylor's beside the door. "In fact, I know he is! Look!" Jack pointed to the shoes and then to the mismatched socks peeking over the side of the couch.
"It's uncle Spence!" Henry yelped.
"Yes, it is!" Jack walked over to the couch where Spencer Reid was sleeping soundly. He stuck his hand up and shook the profiler's left foot, which was covered in a sock with orange stripes. His right foot was clad in a yellow argyle pattern.
"Wha..," Spencer sat up, still half asleep. He couldn't believe he'd dozed off.
"You stole my Kit Kat!" Jack accused.
"Huh? What are you saying? What happened?" Spencer was still trying to shake off sleep.
"Someone stole and ate my Kit Kat, and I'm pretty sure it was you, mister!"
"No, I don't even like Kit Kats!" Spencer felt the need to defend himself from the seven year old.
"Uncle Spence, Santa gives you coal if you tell libs," Henry said.
"I think you mean 'lies', Henry. And I'm not lying. I didn't take it," Spencer said, knowing that there was only one other person in the house who could have.
"Why don't we go find Derek," Spencer said as he stood up off the couch. "I bet he's around here somewhere."
The trio walked down the hall towards the staircase.
"Look!" Henry pointed to another candy wrapper at the top of the stairs. "Someone stole one of my Tootsie Rolls!"
"Don't worry, Henry. We'll find the candy thief! He's gotta be around here somewhere!" Jack reassured his brother. Jack half hid behind Spencer, afraid there was a boogery man in the house determined to steal all of their candy.
"Jack, you don't need to be afraid," Spencer reassured him. "No one is here to hurt you."
"I know!" Jack said, faking bravery. The truth was, he was scared.
Spencer led the boys down to the den. There, they found Derek Morgan sitting on the couch, a Tootsie Roll pop in his mouth.
"Hey! That's mine," Henry accused.
"That's what I thought," Spencer said.
"What?" Derek said, trying to project innocence.
"You stole our candy!" Jack said.
"But—but-," Derek stuttered.
"Why!?" Jack demanded.
"You had so much! I didn't think you'd even notice!"
"Well, we did, and now you're caught, mister!" Jack said as he crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry," Derek said, hanging his head in shame. He'd been busted by a couple of kids. He reached into his pockets and pulled out the remaining candy that he had taken from the boys. He almost felt bad about it.
"Well, next time just ask," Jack huffed as he collected his candy and walked out of the room.
"Yeah, just axe us next time, Derek. Gee whiz!" Henry said as he left the room with a handful of candy.
"You got busted by a seven year old and a four year old," Spencer pointed out.
Derek narrowed his brown eyes at his best friend. "I take it you didn't tell them about the Kit Kat you ate."
"Eh," Spencer said as he settled on the couch next to Derek. "What they don't know won't hurt anybody."