Morgan and Reid got through the door to Prentiss apartment with their arms full of groceries.
"Hey everyone, we're back!" Morgan shouted as they walked towards the kitchen.
From out of nowhere a loud sob made Reid come to a screeching halt forcing Morgan to catch some lemons falling out of Reid's paper bags. "Hey, watch it!"
"Did you hear that? What was that?" Reid said with a puzzled expression on his face. The sobbing started ones more and this time Morgan heard it too. Dropping the groceries and reaching for his gun in one motion, Morgan hurried into the kitchen and a mere second later Reid heard a loud laughter.
"What are you guys doing?" Turning around the corner he saw Hotch and Rossi sitting by the table, trying to chop some onions while crying their eyes out and Morgan grinning widely in the doorway while putting his gun back in place. "They made us." Rossi snuffled out and pointed to the corner of the kitchen.
"We thought it would be fun to see who could resist crying the longest." JJ said giggling as she looked very satisfied about the achievement.
"Yeah and they did need a big cry-out." Prentiss added with a smirk.
"Well I won!" Hotch claimed drying his tears with a paper napkin.
"Just barely… " Rossi mumbled sulkily.
"You're not done yet boys! The recipe says four big onions and…Where are your groceries Morgan?" JJ asked.
"Oh, I left them in the hallway, I'll be right back." Morgan went out of the room, while Hotch and Rossi reluctantly returned to their previously occupation.
"I still can't see how we got tricked into this!" Rossi complained.
"As I remember it you just couldn't let it go when the girls challenged us, and you dragged me into it! Hotch's eyes began tearing up again and he gave Rossi a grim look.
"You know, the reason why you start to cry when you cut onions is because enzymes called alliinases breaks down and creates sulphenic acids which irritates the eyes as the gas…"Reid rambled as he sat down the bags of groceries in front of them.
"And you start to irritate me Reid!" Rossi grunted. "Can't you tell us how to stop it instead?"
"Well the only foolproof way is to wear goggles." Reid answered with a tantalizing smile.
"That would be an interesting look for you both." Prentiss butted in and got a sour look in return from the two men.
"This is going to be fun!" Morgan said as he reentered the room. "Garcia hasn't got a clue that we're throwing her a surprise party."
"Why are we doing it today instead of on her actual birthday on Wednesday? " Reid asked Morgan.
"Sometimes I wonder if you really are a genius pretty boy." Morgan ruffled Reid's hair and continued. "The bets are that on Wednesday we're all off in some far away little town with bad phone connections working a case, all but Garcia. She'll be all alone in her office with no one to celebrate her the way she deserves."
"That's right, so you two can start putting the decorations up and we'll get the dinner ready together with our two cry-babies over there." Prentiss snicker full of glee at Hotch and Rossi.
Neither Reid nor Morgan dared to look over at the table in fear of exploding of laughter when they hurried out into the living room.
"Dibs on fixing the balloons!" Reid ran past Morgan.
"Oh no you don't, your lungs are still fragile since the anthrax." Morgan said sounding very fatherly.
"Calm, down, we've got helium!" Reid said breathing in a good portion of it. "Come plaaaay with me Mooorgan!" Morgan chuckled at his younger college's now very high pitched voice making him sound like a cartoon figure. "I better not, or we will never get this finished. JJ is picking Garcia up in about an hour for a "Chick flick-movie night" together with Prentiss over here."
The hour had past and Prentiss' living room was now covered in bright and colorful balloons, serpentines and a big sign saying 'Happy Birthday Garcia!'. The dinner table was set in paper plates and plastic mugs looking like a big rainbow had exploded. A wonderful smell was coming out of the kitchen and Morgan's stomach grumbled.
"Come on guys, I just got a text from JJ saying that they're almost here, turn the light off and hide!" Prentiss said with an excited voice.
Not long after they heard voices from the hall. "Why is it so dark?" It was Garcia. "Maybe the power's down." JJ played along. "No! Then we can't watch – "
"SURPRISE!" Everyone screamed and jumped out of their hiding places making Garcia leap up high in the air. The light was turned on and a wide smile spread over Garcia's face as she saw her dear friends and colleagues. "What is this for?" Then she noticed the sign and she almost got tears in her eyes. "Oh, guys! I love you!" She said as she took of her sparkling coat.
"If anyone deserves it, it's you baby girl." Morgan swept Garcia of her feet in a hug and twirled around before he sat her down again with her glasses all askew.
"That's all true." Hotch agreed as he like the rest gave the soon to be birthday girl a warm welcome.
"Dinner's ready!" Prentiss and JJ had started to fill up the table and waved everyone over.
"Hotch and I take all the credit!" Rossi said and Reid couldn't help to let out a giggle.
"Maybe you should wait until we tasted it." Morgan said teasingly as he pulled out a seat for Garcia. "Well I think it looks delicious!" She said giving Morgan a light slap on the arm.
Everyone did indeed think it tasted wonderful and after both seconds and thirds Prentiss declared it was time for the birthday presents.
"You didn't!" Garcia smiled widely, eyes sparkling.
"Of course we did." JJ said as she led Garcia to the sofa.
"I just loooove presents!" Garcia declared when a pile of parcels in different sizes was arranged in front of her. "We know." Morgan smirked as he put the last one down.
She picked a rather uneven present with a silvery paper around and started to unravel it. "That's one from me and Rossi." Hotch said. "Oh retro!" Garcia squealed. And so it was, a notebook looking like a VHS-tape, three sticky note-pads looking like floppy disks, several CD-RS's portraying small vinyl discs and a photo frame in the image of an old commodore 64. "We wanted to put our on quirk to it and since we are the oldest, retro seemed like the right way to go." Rossi said almost falling over when Garcia gave him and Hotch a big hug.
"My turn!" Reid gave Garcia a very flat and quite thin parcel all wrapped in a purple and blue striped paper with a big bow on it. Since no one but Garcia understood what it was at the first glance, Reid explained: "Well, it's a skin for her laptop she has when she's with us at cases! You just attach it to the outside frame."
"It's perfect!" Garcia smiled and showed off the bright pink and glittering skin with the BAU's logo on it. "Thank you my young genius!" Garcia kissed him on the cheek making him as pink as his present.
A large red and gleaming present attracted her attention next. JJ and Prentiss both giggled when Garcia and the three men was left all dumb-struck. Inside were 10 perfect 5 inches portrait-like chocolate statues of Derek Morgan.
"What the…" Morgan said all confused.
Rossi, Hotch and Reid started to laugh right out loud, making Morgan all embarrassed as Garcia made a high happy squeak. "Now I have my own chocolate gods!" She studied the statues carefully.
"And they're anatomically correct too." Prentiss added making Morgan shift uncomfortably.
"Don't you worry my wonderful chocolate god, you will always be my number one." Garcia winked and pinched Morgan's behind.
"Hey! ..But how…?" Morgan continued.
"You can get anything over the Internet, and I mean anything!" JJ giggled.
Garcia jumped up and embraced her dear girlfriends. "You're the best!"
"Saved the best for last huh?" Morgan said trying to change the subject and handed over his present.
"I wonder what this could be?" Garcia said as she gave it a light shake.
"Careful baby girl! You don't want to break it."
"DVD's`?" She looked curiously at Morgan after opening it.
"Yeah, you know that film reel you showed me? The one with you and your parents? I sort of "borrowed" them all and made DVD-copies for you." Morgan smiled shyly for once. "And that one, at the top, is with all of us. Because we will always be your family baby girl."
Garcia didn't say a word for what seemed forever, but then she burst out in a wide grin while tears run down her face. "This is my best birthday ever!"
"I think this is the perfect time to eat the birthday cake and watch our DVD, I want to know how it came out!" Prentiss said as Garcia gave Morgan a big juicy kiss right on the mouth and then kept on hugging everyone for the third or fourth time that evening.
Following the tradition, everyone sang Happy Birthday as JJ and Prentiss carried in the giant cake, the cream colored all pink and sparklers all over it. Everyone sat down around the TV with a sizable portion of their own, watching Prentiss draw a fake mustache on a sleeping Reid at his desk at the BAU.
"So that was you? I couldn't get that out for days!" Reid said and everyone laughed.
A/U: A bit of a cheesy end I know, but what can I say? I like cheese! Hehe. A huge thanks to my friend Lenis who helped me when I got stuck. I hope you all enjoyed it! Why not review and make me a better writer? ;)