This is for my friend Michelle, in response to her prompt "surprise". Thanks Michelle, for being so supportive and so very generous with your time in reviewing my work. You are awesome! She thought I should share the story with all of you, so I hope you enjoy it. Again, something a bit different from my other stories.

As always, I do not own anything related to Criminal Minds and no infringement is intended.

"Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! JJ!" Penelope rushed into JJ's office, skidding to a sudden halt in front of the desk.

JJ raised her eyebrows. "What's up?" She smiled. "Am I imagining it or is your hair looking crazy today, even for you?" She knew Garcia well enough to know she wouldn't have been offended by this comment.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I was so excited when I saw what was in the envelope that I kinda went nutso and jumped up and down a few times. I thought a couple of my butterfly clips hit the ground, but who cares about that! Hotch and Emily are having an ENGAGEMENT PARTY!"

JJ looked at her calmly, a small smile still playing on her lips. "I know, I got the invitation this morning too. And yes, I'm really looking forward to it too. I am so happy for them both. But what's with all this excitement?"

"JJ! Didn't you read the fine print? The invitation said that there's going to be a surprise!" Garcia was so excited that she was practically jiggling on the spot.

JJ chuckled. "Yes, I saw that too. But I won't get too excited if I were you. It's Emily and Hotch we're talking about here, not you and Kevin."

Garcia looked suitably outraged. "What's that supposed to mean?" She frowned at JJ.

"Well, let's just say I don't think they're going to jump out of a plane or anything like that. All I'm saying is that you and Kevin would be more likely to do something you'd consider exciting," JJ explained in a placating tone.

"Hmm. I guess you have a point." Garcia was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment as she stood thinking. Then she noticeably brightened. "Hey, do you think Emily's pregnant?" she said in hushed tones. "Maybe that's the surprise. Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, a little baby Hotch or baby Em." She clapped her hands in glee.

JJ shook her head in amusement as Garcia started again with the excited jiggling. "I doubt it, Pen. Emily's only been back a few months and she's still trying to get used to being back at work and being in a relationship with Hotch. Not to mention the fact that she told me she's still building a relationship with Jack. And I'm sure she would have told the two of us. But," she added when she saw the disappointment on Garcia's face, "it's possible, sure."

"You're being a major spoilsport, JJ." Garcia pouted as she swept towards the door. "I'm going to ask Morgan and Reid what they think the surprise is going to be."

JJ followed Garcia out of her office and stopped on the walkway, looking down into the bullpen as she watched Garcia gesticulating wildly as she talked to Morgan and Reid. She couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping as she saw Morgan wiggle his eyebrows suggestively while saying something. She would have bet her last penny that it was something dirty. Although how he could have come up with something dirty that was related to the engagement party surprise was beyond her. Meanwhile Reid had a pained frown on his face as he put his incredibly high brain power to work on the question on hand.

"So, do you think they know?"

JJ looked up at Dave as he joined her, looking down on the trio as they argued over whose idea had the most merit.

"No way. They have absolutely no idea."

Morgan checked himself out in the mirror. Damn, he was a fine lookin' man if he may say so himself. His dark red tie matched his shirt perfectly. His charcoal grey suit was new, with a slight gleam to the material that showed that it was strictly non-work related attire. He checked his watch. It was almost 5 pm. Time to go. Giving himself one last look in the mirror and a final adjustment of his tie, he left his hotel room.

He knocked on the door to Reid's room, mouth hitching into a smile as the door opened, revealing an uncomfortable looking Reid in his rented tux.

Morgan looked at him critically. "For a rented tux, you're not looking half bad, Reid. Although you'd look a whole lot better if you'd stop tugging at your tie."

Reid dropped his hand immediately. "Sorry, I'm just ah, not used to this whole formal dress thing."

Reid closed the door behind him and they headed towards the direction of the marquis. They had been informed by the receptionist where it was located outside the hotel when they had checked in earlier that afternoon. Morgan had raised his eyebrows when they found out that the whole boutique hotel was booked out for Hotch and Emily's engagement party. Granted, there were only around 55 rooms, but still.

"I must admit, I was kinda surprised when I read the invitation and saw the formal attire thing. I would have thought Emily would have tried to steer away from formal affairs after complaining about having had more than enough of them growing up."

Reid nodded. "I agree. And I don't think this sort of thing would have been Hotch's idea." He shrugged. "Maybe it was Emily's mother's idea."

They walked through the open double doors that led outside. The marquis was set up directly in front of them and set up in it were 40 to 50 tables laid with crystal wineglasses, bone white china and sterling silver cutlery. The centrepiece on each table was a small arrangement of pink tiger lilies, Emily's favourite.

There were at least 80 guests, probably more, congregated in small groups. The men were all dressed in tuxedos and the women in evening gowns of many different hues and designs. The majority of women there were decked out in expensive jewellery. Morgan's eyes widened when he passed an elderly woman who had a sapphire the size of a pigeon egg in her necklace.

"This is some serious guest list," he murmured to Reid as they both took glasses of champagne from the flowing champagne fountain.

"I've seen at least eight men who are on the current list of Forbes. Plus an ex-president, three senators and two congressman. This is definitely not Emily's guest list," Reid replied in a low voice. "This whole thing is getting weirder and weirder."

"Yeah, I'd say. What the hell was she thinking?"

"Morgan, Reid."

They turned around and saw Hotch. He was dressed in an expensive looking suit, coupled with a dress shirt. But instead of a bow tie, he had decided to go with a plain black tie. The black suit would have appeared almost too severe if it hadn't been for the satin lapels. Morgan grinned.

"Wow, Hotch, looking good there. That's not Armani, is it?"

Hotch's eyes narrowed. It was only because Morgan knew his unit chief so well that he could sense the embarrassment Hotch was feeling. He was a simple man and despised showiness of any sort. Consequently, Morgan wondered why Hotch was willing to put up with well, everything that he could see around them. And he wasn't shy to voice his question. "So what's with this whole formal circus, Hotch?"

As usual, Hotch's expression gave nothing away. "Emily's mother asked if she could invite some of her friends and Emily said yes. I think she's still feeling guilty about the fact that she couldn't tell her mother that she was actually alive. I'm sure you understand that." Hotch levelled a piercing gaze at him.

Morgan shifted uncomfortably. He still remembered with crystal clear clarity his reaction when he found out that Emily had never actually died and his outburst at the time. It was a long time before he could forgive her for keeping the truth from him. Emily's feelings of guilt had been evident and even though he knew that he was hurting her at the time, he couldn't seem to help himself. Thankfully, though, they had finally mended their friendship and it was now stronger than ever.

Hotch continued, "Although this isn't something I would have chosen, all of this isn't important. The most important thing to me is Emily's happiness. And you're all here, which is all that matters to us."

"Daddy!" They looked up to see Jack hurtling towards them, Garcia and Kevin hurrying after him, trying to catch up.

Morgan grinned when he saw the miniature tux that Jack was wearing.

"I know, cute huh?" JJ had suddenly appeared next to him, Will ambling up slowly behind her.

"I didn't even know they made tuxes in his size."

"They do when money's no object," said JJ in an undertone as she snagged a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

"Slow down, Jack," cautioned Hotch as he bent down to lift Jack up.

"You won't believe what Grandma Lizzie gave me," he said excitedly. "It's a little turtle that lives in a tank and I have to take care of it and everything."

"Is that right?" Hotch gave Jack and indulgent smile.

"Grandma Lizzie?" Morgan said in a sotto voce.

"Don't even ask," replied a male voice behind him.

"Dave! Hey man, thought you weren't going to make it." Morgan slapped him on the back.

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Dave murmured, looking at Hotch listening to Jack's description of his new pet.

Morgan raised his eyebrows. He had expected to hear a sarcastic note in Dave's voice, but he didn't detect one. He shrugged, maybe this kind of party was exactly Dave's scene. He hadn't failed to notice that there were several very attractive single women there.

"...and then Grandma Lizzie said I had to learn to take care of my new pet because you and Emmy might have a baby one day and I'm going to be a big brother," finished Jack proudly.

Morgan noticed everyone trying to stifle laughs at the pained expression that was now on Hotch's face. "We'll talk about a baby another day, okay, buddy?"

"Ow!" Everyone looked over when Kevin yelped in pain. Garcia stood next to him, looking innocent.

"Uh...sorry, I uh...bit my tongue accidentally," he said, face red with embarrassment. And a good amount of pain, Morgan thought.

"I need to get Jack something to eat. I'll see you all in a while." Hotch nodded to them and walked off, Jack still on his arm.

"What was the whole stepping on my foot thing for?" hissed Kevin to Garcia.

"See, I told you, Emily's pregnant," said Garcia in a singsong voice.

Everyone groaned in unison. She had been going on and on about the 'surprise' for a month now, ever since she received the invitation. There was a new theory almost every two days, but the one that was obviously the frontrunner for her was a Hotchner-Prentiss baby. The team were lucky at least, they had had a couple of trips out of state for cases but unfortunately for Kevin, he had had to listen to her muse about what it was that was going to happen at the engagement party. Garcia's technical skills was only matched by her over active imagination. She had even resorted to hacking into Emily's computer but no luck. Not that Emily would have stored anything there that could potentially give anything away.

No one dared ask Hotch what the surprise was going to be. He had been even more tight lipped than usual, if that was possible. If his fiancee hadn't been Emily, no one would probably have even known he was engaged. And Emily, heck, she had kept her previous life so well hidden, no one even bothered asking her about the surprise. Except Garcia, who was obviously desperate. All Emily said was, "You'll see," and gave a very mysterious, Madonna-with-child-like smile. At least, that's how Garcia described it. Morgan didn't bother to try to hide his eye rolling at the time, which had earned him a stinging smack on his bicep.

"Garcia, babe, seriously, give it up. Emily is not pregnant. She's had completely no symptoms and we would have known cos JJ, Reid and I had to share that two bedroom apartment in Texas with her three weeks ago, remember? We were practically cooped up there for a least three days straight going through those 200 boxes of files. Trust me on this."

"I agree with Morgan," Reid piped up. "Also, she has been drinking at least six cups of coffee a day, which she would be extremely unlikely to do if she were pregnant."

Garcia looked obstinate. She was obviously not convinced. "But you heard Jack. He said Ambassador Prentiss told him he had to start learning to be responsible because he's going to be a big brother some day and then Hotch just said he'll talk to Jack about the baby thing. That is so a sign! And," she interjected sharply as Reid opened his mouth, "she might very well be drinking decaf coffee, have you thought of that, Dr Genius?"

Reid looked like he was about to say something in reply but closed his mouth when he saw the defy-me-at-your-peril look on Garcia's face. He offered her a weak smile instead.

"Okay, look, let's all just chill. We'll find out what the surprise is eventually so let's just enjoy the party since we're here." Morgan looked around the room. "I wonder where Emily is? Anybody seen her?"

"She'll be down soon," said JJ. "I saw her earlier. She said she had to sort out something with the chef, some guest had some special dietary requirement or something." Morgan's brows drew together when he saw JJ flash a look at Dave which he was unable to interpret. But before he could think about it further, a familiar voice came out of the speakers which were located in the four corners of the large marquis.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?" Morgan looked over to see Hotch standing on the dance floor, microphone in hand.

"You will remember that in our invitation we foreshadowed that there would be a surprise in store for you, our guests. And I know that for some there has been intense speculation about what it could be." Morgan grinned as Hotch's gaze alighted on Garcia and a ghost of a smile played around his mouth. "Well, you no doubt think that you are attending our engagement party, but in fact, tonight..." he paused.

"Tonight, Emily and I will be getting married."

There were loud exclamations everywhere. Garcia was completely floored by Hotch's announcement. She couldn't believe her ears. "Did Hotch just say he and Emily are getting married? Tonight?" She turned to her partner.

Kevin looked at her, looking rather shell shocked himself. "I think that's what he said."

"That's just crazy! Who ever heard of a surprise wedding? That's like the king of crazy ideas, no, like the emperor of crazy ideas, wait, is an emperor higher than a king? Or maybe it's like the god of crazy ideas." Garcia knew she was babbling, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. It was seriously crazy, and yet so awesomely wonderful she could barely contain her joy. Her most favourite couple in the whole wide world, whom by the way she had always, always thought were soul mates, were finally getting married!

"Everyone, everyone, if you can please give me another moment of attention. I know this has been a bit of a shock -"

"Young man, you're lucky us young at hearts here didn't have heart attacks," called out a distinguished looking grey haired man, eliciting laughter from the rest of the guests.

"You're right of course, Senator," replied Hotch with a smile, "I hope you'll forgive us. We knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and thought there was no point in wasting any time. And when we saw this place which Elizabeth had booked for our engagement party, we thought it was the perfect place for our wedding. So can I ask you to please move outside that way."

Everyone looked towards their right where Hotch had pointed and there were more gasps and exclamations as the flaps to the marquis were lifted open by the hotel staff.

"Oh," was all Garcia could say when she saw what was outside the marquis. On the lawn before them were rows and rows of white chairs, simply decorated with a tiger lily on the right side of the back rest. In front of the chairs was a small gazebo, draped in white gauze which fluttered gently in the light summer breeze. The sun had started to set and the evening sky was streaked with orange, purple, lavender and grey, colours which were reflected in the water beyond. It was the most gorgeous scene she had ever seen.

As they took their seats, Garcia noticed that a small string quartet had set up to the right of the gazebo. She grabbed Kevin's hand, excitement washing over her as she watched Hotch exchange a few words with the celebrant as he and Dave took their places under the gazebo. Thank God she had brought her camera with her. And then before she had barely gotten used to the idea that she was at a wedding, Hotch and Emily's wedding no less, the quartet had started to play the Pachelbel's Canon. Garcia remembered Emily telling her once that this was her favourite piece of music which she would have played at her wedding if she ever got married.

And there she was.

Garcia's breath stopped in her throat when she caught sight of her. Emily walked towards them, hand in hand with her mother. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She wore a simple strapless white gown which moulded to her upper body before falling in flowing lines from her hips and draping behind in a slight train. When she drew closer, Garcia saw that the gown was covered in intricate lace and pearl beading. Her dark hair was pinned up in loose curls and she wore pearl earrings and a necklace with a singular pearl. But it was the joy on her face that made her look almost otherworldly in her beauty.

Garcia felt tears gather in her eyes when she turned and saw the raw emotion in Hotch's eyes. The love that he felt for Emily was almost palpable. Garcia's tears finally fell when she saw him swallow hard, his implacable mask finally slipping and exposing his feelings to all. When Emily finally reached him, she gave him such a luminous smile that everyone had no doubt at all the extent of her love for him.

He vowed to love and cherish her all the days of his life and to do everything in his power to make her happy. She vowed to love, honour and cherish him all the days of her life and to show him how much she loved him every single day. They promised to be with each other in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, till death do they part.

Garcia cheered with everyone when they shared a kiss for the first time as husband and wife. Her heart was overflowing with such happiness for the both of them that she couldn't speak.

She finally had a moment alone with Emily much later as they walked back towards the marquis for the reception, arm in arm.

"So, Pen, was the surprise everything you hoped for?" asked Emily, smiling at her, happiness making her whole countenance glow.

"It was more than I hoped for," she replied. Then she stopped in her tracks. Emily stopped too, a question in her eyes.

Garcia felt she had to be completely upfront. "It was the best surprise I have ever had in my life, and probably will ever have. Watching the both of you exchanging your vows was truly, truly amazing. But to be completely, one hundred percent honest, I was hoping you were going to tell us you were pregnant."

Emily stared at her in surprise for a moment, then burst into laughter. Still chuckling, she gave Garcia a warm hug and then took her hand to lead her inside.

Suddenly, she stopped, turning back to look Garcia. "Well, Pen, you never know what surprise we might have in store next," she said with a wink. And then with a quick squeeze of her hand she was swallowed up in the crowd, leaving a stunned Garcia standing outside in the gathering dusk.

I would be very, very happy if you can spare a moment of your time to let me know what you think!