Written for hobsisawesome for the Christmas Gift Fic Exchange on Chit Chat on Authors Corner. This one came to me pretty quickly, once i got down and wrote. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)
The cold of the snow that had thoroughly blanketed the ground since the middle of November bit at the uncovered skin of Jennifer Jareau's face as she walked, again down the aisles of freshly cut Christmas trees that were now on sale. She had always thought of David Rossi as the kind of man who would go and cut down his own Christmas tree, but apparently that's what she got for thinking. She pulled her jacket closer to her body.
"Dave, we've been through these trees at least ten times already, why don't we just go look somewhere else?" she asked, shifting the weight of Henry, who was bundled from head to toe with JJ not wanting to risk him getting sick on Christmas Eve, to her other arm.
"One of these is the right tree, I have a feeling about it," he muttered, walking ahead of her, not even bothering to think that maybe she wanted to leave because it was... she didn't know. Cold?
"Wow, you're more of a master profiler than you've been leading on. I didn't know you could profile a tree," she sighed, following her unrelenting colleague. She'd earned herself a level, angry glare from Rossi.
"Come on, Jayje. We've got to find something, you want a tree, don't you?" he asked, continuing to walk.
"Sure, I want a tree. What I don't want, though, is frostbite, along with amputated toes as a consequence," JJ retorted. "And I don't want a frozen two year old, either," she added.
"Fine, ten more minutes, then we're finished," he muttered.
"That had better be a promise, because I can barely feel my toes, and I don't want to look like Rudolph the Freaking Reindeer for the rest of winter," she sighed, following him.
"Well, do you want to help pick a tree?" Dave asked stopping to look at her again.
"Of course I do, Dave, I just don't want it to take so long that I have to have my toes amputated because of frostbite," Jennifer rationalized.
"Alright, then pick a tree! Any tree, you pick, and I won't complain." he said, folding his arms.
"You're serious? Not one peep? Any tree?" she asked incredulously.
"Serious. Not one peep, absolutely any tree," he confirmed, much to her amazement.
"Okay, then," she smiled, walking to the tree she had begged him to get earlier. It was a full, beautiful green tree. But apparently, it hadn't been smallenough for Dave, he didn't like one big tree, he loved a bunch of small ones, then a larger artificial tree in the center of the family room. "This one," JJ insisted.
After taking a deep breath, he nodded and walked to the seller of the trees. "We want that one," he told the man, pointing to the tree JJ was standing by. After Rossi attempted to haggle the price down, earning a glare as well as a "Don't even Dave!" from JJ when she spotted him starting to pull his badge out, he resigned to paying the full price. With the help of the tree salesman, he loaded the selected tree onto the back of his pickup truck, that in times like this, he was glad to have.
"Okay, let's go now, please? I'm freezing!" the blonde liaison muttered, climbing into the front seat of the truck after putting her son in the car seat in the back of the car.
"Right, right. We're going, we're going," Rossi nodded, getting in the drivers seat and starting the ignition. He started driving back to his home, where JJ was staying while the flood in her kitchen—that had mysteriously been there when she had arrived home from the Academy- was being cleaned up.
"Good," she nodded, starting to mess with the radio, trying to find some decent Christmas music to listen to. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, I look like a red-nosed reindeer she thought, shaking her head and changing the station. No, no, no. Nothing good. JJ sighed, and turned the radio off, right as Rossi was pulling into his driveway. JJ nodded. Good thing, too. She was ready to get inside, and put slippers on. Maybe get some hot chocolate too. Yeah, that sounded good.
"Jayje? You getting out? Or are you just going to sit there all night? You're the one who was complaining about freezing to death," Dave said, standing next to her window. She blinked, and nodded, climbing out of the car. JJ grabbed Henry from the back seat and hurried into the house after Dave.
"You seemed really out of it back there in the car," he noted, unlocking the front door, and pushing it opened, letting JJ walk in first, it was good manners after all, to let a woman through the door first.
"That's what happens when I get cold, my mind turns to mush," she shrugged, walking over to the fireplace to set Henry in the play-pen she had set up for him, then the started a fire. Determined to get warm as quickly as possible, JJ slid her wet coat off her back and set it in front of the fire to dry, then she did the same with her wet boots, and the rest of her snow gear.
"I'll make some hot chocolate, if you want to put on some decent music and get Henry's coat and everything off," Dave offered, walking over from having hung his snow gear on the pegs by his front door, and lugged the tree up next to the door. "Then we can decorate the tree," he smiled, walking to the kitchen.
"Alright," JJ nodded, walking back over to her son, and stripping his wet snow-clothes off, before setting them out in front of the fire like she had done with her own. "Do you have anything you want to listen to, Dave?" she asked, walking to the large stereo that was placed in the corner of the large living room.
"Nah," he called back. "Just play the CD that's in, I like that one," Dave added, there seemed to be a certain joke in his voice that confused JJ and made her want to hear what was awaiting her on the CD that Dave 'liked'.
"Any certain track?" she called.
"Uh... no, just turn on the music!" he muttered. JJ rolled her eyes and pressed the play button, adjusting the sound so that it would be at a decent decibel level, before planting herself into one of the many plump armchairs arranged throughout the room. Moments later she was joined by Dave, who grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on the couch with him
"I'm not sure I trust you to be pulling me along with you and carrying mugs of boiling hot liquid at the same time," JJ laughed, sitting next to him.
"I'm hurt!" Dave gasped, sarcastically, handing her one of the mugs.
"You should be... I mean, just because you can negotiate your way into anything you want, doesn't mean I trust you to not burn me," she told him, taking a sip of the rich chocolate liquid she now held in her hands. "Well, I've got to hand it to you, though, you aren't a bad cook. If you make everything else as well as you make hot chocolate, I might not want to leave,"
"Now, who said I was going to let you leave?" he asked, smirking, before (much to JJ's surprise) started singing along with the song that was playing. JJ hadn't been paying much attention to the song up until that point, but now... now she couldn't stop smiling as she heard David Rossi attempting to sing not only one, but both parts of 'Baby, It's Cold Outside,' going up in pitch slightly while singing the female part.
"You're kidding me," JJ muttered under her breath. "Please, please tell me you're kidding me,"
"Not at all," the older man smirked, before continuing his singing.
"And you're not even drunk!" JJ said, incredulously, laughter finally escaping her lips.
"Hey! Don't laugh at me! If you think it's strange that I'm singing by myself, then you can sing with me,"
"Or... neither of us could sing," she pointed out, walking over to turn off the music.
"Well then, someone's assertive," Rossi noted. "I like that,"
"Oh, you do, do you?" JJ asked, a small smile still plastered on her lips as she walked back over to sit next to Dave.
"Yep," he confirmed. "Would I lie about something like that, Jen?"
"I don't know, probably not. I was just checking!" she defended, setting her mug on the coffee table that was next to the couch.
"Okay, okay! No need to get all defensive," he laughed.
"I'm not defensive!" JJ told him, punching him lightly on the arm.
Rossi was about to retort with a witty comment, before the doorbell rang, and he walked over to get it, JJ was right behind him, curious to see who was visiting at 8 PM.
"Hello," a happy female voice greeted as Dave opened the door, there was a girl standing there, she was about eleven years old, as far as JJ could tell..
"Hi, there Maria," he smiled, in reply. "JJ, this is Maria, she lives down the street, Maria, this is JJ, she works with me," he explained before turning to Maria, who giggled when Dave mentioned that JJ worked with him, the girl apparently saw more than was obviously displayed. "What can I do for you tonight?"
"I'm Christmas caroling with my family!" she announced, proudly.
"Well, we'd be glad to hear you all," Dave told her, putting an arm around JJ's shoulders, trying to keep her warm as the cold air from the Winter night seeped into the room.
JJ smiled, and listened to the small family start to sing, it was obvious they weren't nearly as wealthy as Dave was, far less wealthy, actually, but they seemed so happy. Man, she really loved Christmas. It really was like all those songs said. The most wonderful time of the year.