2 hours later
"All in favor of ditching Derek, say I," Garcia said. She sat in a SUV with JJ and Prentiss in the FBI parking lot. Everything was going to plan- everyone had gone home to get their beach items and Strauss, who wasn't even in the office, agreed to let Hotch give the team the day off. All the team needed before leaving was Morgan, who was running half hour late.
"We can't just leave him," JJ called back to the passenger seat to Garcia, who was comfortably lying out in the back seat. She glanced over to the other SUV where she could see Hotch and Rossi gazing off in different directions while Reid rambled happily along.
"Oh yes we can. The guys are in the other SUV- have them wait on my sexy slow poke!" Garcia whined. She started fanning herself with an old folder that had been on the back seat. Prentiss, who was in the driver seat, gripped the steering wheel in annoyance. She was seconds away from either driving off without Morgan or hunting the man down and kicking his ass all the way to Virginia Beach.
"Seriously, where's Morgan?" Garcia repeated. She let out a groan and added in a whimper, "Guys, I might melt back here!"
JJ put her hand on the button to open the window for Garcia, but stopped when Prentiss snapped, "You touch it, I break your fingers."
Wide eyed, JJ replied, "It's just to get some air-"
"Some very….very…hot air. The humidity is pushing 80% and we're in a parking garage. I don't want 200 degree air in this car-"
JJ rolled her eyes. "Would you rather have a whiney Garcia for four hours or hot air?"
"Jay, that's like asking me to pick my poison. Wait, I forgot to ask! How did you get Hotch to agree to this?" Prentiss' question grabbed Garcia's attention as the analyst sat up wide eyed, alert, and eager for an explanation.
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you both," JJ laughed. Garcia nonchalantly shrugged and said, "Well, I would have killed my dark knight for making us wait in this blasted microwave so I'd be ok with it. Tell us!"
"Well-"JJ stopped when she saw Morgan's car pull up into the parking garage next to the SUV that carried Rossi, Hotch, and Reid. He casually strolled over towards the SUV, unaware of the earful he was going to receive from Garcia. The technical analyst wasted no time by rolling down her window and yelling, "My man candy, I ask you this- what happened?"
"Nothing. I just got a little sidetracked," Morgan answered nonchalantly. In the driver's seat, Prentiss saw the temperature on the dashboard to be at 105 degrees. She turned on the SUV and muttered, "I don't care why he's late. Let's go!"
Virginia Beach, Virginia- 6 hours later
It took the team 6 hours to make it to Virginia Beach.
With many business closed because of the heat, many people took the roads to go visit family, run errands, or like the team, go to the beach. The congested roads had been irritating for JJ as she had to ignore Garcia's constant pleading for an explanation on how she got the Unit Chief to fold. The men in the second SUV had a rough time as well as Reid had decided to explain the history behind every major toll booth and interchange they passed.
Finding a spot on the beach had been the next ordeal. It took two arguments and a threat to head back to Quantico before the team settled on an isolated section of beach. Now the team stood in the parking lot where another discovery had the potential to ruin the day.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Prentiss stood in front of her team mates, tightly gripping her yellow polka dot towel. In front of her, her six teammates stood awkwardly after it was discovered that only Prentiss had remembered to bring a beach towel.
"How am I the only one that remembered?" she exclaimed. JJ and Hotch exchanged looks and said together, "Our kids."
"Oh, please. That's the oldest excuse in the book. Plus, Henry is out of town with Will, remember?" Prentiss turned to Morgan and Garcia, who were already stripping down to their bathing suits. "What about you two?"
"Just slipped our mind, love," Garcia replied. "However, I will give a better explanation if JJ tells me how she coerced Hotch into-"
JJ snorted loudly. "Not going to happen. A magician never reveals her secrets, especially not to someone who may use it against our boss in the future."
Garcia's eyes darted over to Hotch and then back to JJ. "I would never," she stammered, "do such a thing that you could tell me about in private later. And I'm off!" Garcia took off towards the water with Morgan laughing and running behind her. Prentiss waved Rossi towards the water after stripping down to her bikini.
Rossi put up a hand and pointed over to a shady spot near some trees. "I am not getting in the water. I'm just going to sit over in the shade and relax."
"Then why are you even on this trip?" JJ asked. A devious smile appeared on Prentiss' face as Rossi frowned. The brunette profiler whispered to JJ, "Because I blackmailed him into it."
"What?! When?" JJ exclaimed. Prentiss said nothing and started to walk towards the water, still smiling maliciously. JJ turned towards Hotch and Reid, the younger agent slowly stripping down to his swim trunks. JJ stifled a laugh at how slow Reid was moving and focused on the Unit Chief.
"Let me guess, you aren't getting in either," JJ asked with crossed arms. Hotch pointed towards the shady spotted that Rossi had noted and replied, "I'll keep Dave company."
"Of course." JJ threw off her top and shorts onto the sand and took off towards the water.
An hour later, JJ walked up to the shoreline where she had walked up and down to explore the beach. She stuck her newly painted toes into the wet sand. The water felt so calm and warm to her feet that she wasn't sure that she ever wanted to leave. Everyone else must have felt the same as they were scattered throughout the beach. Morgan and Garcia were taking turns diving towards the ocean floor and Prentiss was taking a five minute break near a small creek that led into the ocean.
Reid was standing waist deep in the water while wearing large goggles and holding onto a magnifying glass. He was deeply concentrated on a small white and yellow shell in his hand.
"What are you doing, Spence?" JJ yelled. Reid looked up and pushed the goggles onto his forehead. "I believe that I've found a rare shell of a snail species. I can't exactly remember the name-"
"Then come take a picture," JJ suggested. Reid smiled and nodded before taking a step towards shore. He took another step before he heard gasps from everyone on shore.
"Uh, Spence…" JJ laughed with a grin on her face.
Morgan and Garcia, who were now taking turns snorkeling in deeper waters, both stopped in their tracks and burst into laughter. Garcia started doggy paddling towards shore and gasping, "I need…to get…my camera!"
Prentiss stood with her mouth agape, not aware that the towel that was around her waist was dangerously close from slipping from her waist and into the creek.
Rossi was speechless; he didn't know which to be madder about- the fact that the brunette agent almost got their only towel incredibly dirty or what he saw on Spencer.
Or actually, what he didn't see.
"Spencer, where are your swim trunks?" Hotch screamed. Reid looked down to see that his red swim trunks were missing. His eyes slowly trailed over to where Morgan was trying not to drown from laughing too hard and saw his swim trunks floating in the water. Reid dropped onto his knees, which made everything below his shoulders not visible.
"Help!" the young genius squeaked. Prentiss picked up the towel and yelled, "I'm coming, Spence!"
"Try not to drop it on the way!" Rossi yelled after her. The brunette stopped in her tracks, turned around, and shot him a dark glare. Prentiss wiped her hair from her face and asked, "You two plan on getting wet today?"
"Hmmm…nope," Rossi replied from his spot. He looked over to Hotch with a grin. "What's your excuse?"
"I'm the boss and I choose not to swim," Hotch stated in a matter of fact tone. "And Emily, don't even try to blackmail me into anything. I know you threaten Dave over revealing that he was the one that broke Spencer's replica of Ben Franklin's spectacles. JJ used up her one good threat so you're out of options."
"So JJ knows that it was you who took the huge, pretty much 90% bite of her lasagna from last week?"
Hotch froze before narrowing his eyes at Prentiss. "Damn cheater," he muttered. He pulled of his shirt and in annoyance, tossed it into the sand. The sight of his scars made Prentiss flinch before she realized that the Unit Chief didn't seem to mind taking his shirt off.
"I will get you for this, Emily," Hotch hissed. Prentiss smiled. "For making you get in the water?"
"No, for using up that against me!"
"It's not my fault that you ate like a pig last week." Prentiss gave Hotch a light tap on the stomach, "Go swim it off."
"You'll pay for this," Hotch told her before taking off with the towel towards the water. Prentiss chuckled when she remembered that Reid had still needed the towel and had been standing naked in the water for five minutes now.
Prentiss turned to Rossi and with a raised finger, said, "I will get you in the water, mark my words."
"The water knows better than to mess with me, Prentiss. You won't even come close."
"Try me."
Boom!
Both agents looked up at the loud rash of thunder coming from a few miles away. Rossi looked around the sky wide-eyed while Prentiss paused before sporting a grin.
"You sure you won't get wet today?" Prentiss asked. Rossi glared back. "You did check the weather right?"
"Of course-"another rumble of thunder echoed above them, "I did…last night." Prentiss looked over to where she could see a flashing light come from the beach main office. "I guess that would be the thorguard."
Morgan and Garcia sprinted out of the water and towards their beach bags. "Meet you guys in the car," Garcia called out, not stopping more than a second to grab her bag. Reid ran up to the group with the towel wrapped tightly around his waist.
"It looks like a multicellular thunderstorm is approaching," Reid rambled, " You know that many times storms can just appear if the weather conditions are right-" He was stopped when Hotch walked up to group, grabbed both his and Reid's bags, and yanked the young genius in the direction of the SUVs.
JJ grabbed her bag along with Prentiss before grabbing a quick glance towards the sky. It was getting dark really fast and had other parts of the beach cleared quickly. She sighed in annoyance before following the brunette towards the SUVs.
Once everyone was inside their respected vehicles, JJ dialed Rossi's number to connect communication between the two SUVs. Outside, the rain was beginning to come down hard.
"Everyone ok?" JJ asked through the phone. She heard a mumble of, "Yeah," from Rossi, Hotch, and Morgan and heard from Reid, "I still don't have my shorts."
"I'm sorry this didn't work out guys," JJ said. "Emily and I wanted everyone to get away from the heat and have a good time."
"I had fun!" Garcia chimed. Morgan, on the other end, agreed, "That was a short trip, but an interesting and fun one. Plus, I have something to make fun of Reid with…..even though; he's sitting next to me in nothing but a towel."
"Hey!" exclaimed the youngest agent.
"Emily, JJ, this was probably the most interesting and like Morgan said, short trips I've ever had," Rossi said. "Thanks for pushing for it."
"I agree," Hotch said, "Although it took many, many threats-"
"Seriously, JJ," if you do not tell me the threat….." Garcia whined.
"Alright, fine!" the blonde sighed, "Hotch is a big fan of Dancing with the Stars!"
Gasps echoed from both vehicles. In the other SUV, Hotch shook his head and tired his best to ignore JJ's comment, " Like I was saying; many, many, all very unnecessary threats were used but overall, it was worth it. We should do something like this again."
"And we can bring the little ones!" Garcia suggested.
"Only if we superglue Reid's swim trunks to him," Hotch muttered. As the rest of the team continued to make suggestions, most for Reid and his swim trunks, JJ placed a hand on the window pane. Although it was pouring outside, she was happy. The heat, as bad as it was, brought them together to have an interesting, unique way to enjoy the end of the summer.
-The End