Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters.
I also do not own Chex Mix.
Author's Note: Chex Mix is a mixture of cereal, nuts, dried bread, pretzels and crackers that is eaten as a snack. I should have explained this in the last chaper; sorry about that.
"Nine!" gasped Morgan. He took a moment to breathe and let the dizziness wear off. "Nine somersaults in a row!"
"That was only eight," Prentiss said. "I was counting."
"I was counting too," Morgan growled, "and it was nine."
"Eight," Prentiss argued.
"JJ, Garcia, wasn't that nine?" Morgan pleaded.
"I saw nothing," JJ said.
"It was tough to tell," Garcia squeaked, unwilling to get in the middle of this.
"If it was nine, then do it again," Prentiss challenged.
"What? That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing! I can't just do it again!" Morgan yelled.
Reid walked over to the edge of the pool. "Hey, JJ?" he called.
"Yeah?" JJ looked up.
Reid waved an empty blue plastic bowl. "Do you have any more Chex Mix?"
"Uh, yeah. It's inside. I'll go get it for you," JJ offered. She began to climb out of the pool, but Garcia latched onto her leg, stopping her.
"JJ, if Reid has any more Chex Mix, he's going to sink when he comes swimming," Garcia told her.
Reid looked scared. "Actually, I don't think I'll go swimming today."
"Huh?" Prentiss turned away from her argument with Morgan. "Why not?"
"I just don't feel comfortable swimming today, okay?"
"Well, at least come sit over here and put your feet in the water," said Prentiss.
"Okay," Reid sighed. He sat down on the edge of the pool and stuck his feet in the water. He pulled on a pair of goggles.
"Seriously, kid? You're going to wear goggles just while sitting there?" Morgan teased.
"I saw what you guys did to Emily earlier!" defended Reid. "I'm not going under unprepared!"
"Whatever," Morgan said, rolling his eyes. He knew that they would never play such a mean trick on Reid, whose feelings tended to get hurt easier than most people's. Prentiss, on the other hand… hey, where was she, anyway?
During the back-and-forth between Morgan and Reid, Prentiss saw her chance. She inched toward the shady side of the pool and slipped underwater. She had always been a strong swimmer, and made it to the end of the deep end in one breath. She came to the surface slowly, scouting out her target. There he was, just a few feet in front of her. Her eyes met with JJ's, who was standing in the shallow end across the pool. JJ gave her a smile and a thumbs-up. Prentiss silently crept forward toward Morgan's back.
Morgan looked across the pool at the shallow end. Prentiss was nowhere to be seen. He had a bad feeling about this. "Hey, you guys seen Emily?"
A sheet of water cascaded over his head!
Morgan coughed and blinked. He heard a shriek of laughter from behind him. He spun around. Of course! She had been behind him all along! Morgan prepared to give her the splash of her life.
Before he could, Prentiss had the good sense to duck underwater and retreat to the shallow end. She popped up next to JJ and Garcia.
"SPLASH WAR!" Garcia yelled. "Boys against girls!"
From their lounge chairs, Rossi and Hotch were startled out of their conversation by the call to action. They shrugged, slipped off their sandals, and jumped into the deep end.
"Garcia! Are you crazy?" Prentiss said. "We haven't even started yet, and you put us at a disadvantage! There are four of them and three of us!"
"Get some guts, girl! We could beat all four of them any day. Anyway, Reid isn't swimming today, remember?" Garcia nodded over to Reid, who was looking unsure of what to do.
JJ swam over to Reid. "We need a referee," she told him.
Relieved, Reid nodded. "Alright," he announced. "Each team gets a minute to huddle and make a strategy!"
In the shallow end, the three girls gathered together and started whispering. "We should each pick one to go after," JJ suggested sensibly.
"I call Morgan," whispered Prentiss. "He and I have a score to settle."
"But I wanted to go after Morgan!" Garcia whined.
"Okay, so you hold him down, and I'll splash him," Prentiss said.
"Gladly," smirked Garcia.
"No! Not gladly!" interrupted JJ. "That leaves me to deal with both Hotch and Rossi!"
Prentiss shrugged. "If they hurt you too badly, Reid will call foul on them."
" 'If they hurt me too badly'? Gosh, Emily, that makes me feel loads better," JJ hissed.
Meanwhile, in the deep end of the pool, the men gathered around.
"Judging from their conduct so far today, Prentiss will be the most trouble," Hotch theorized. Even if it was a pool party, he couldn't bring himself to call his team by their first names.
"Agreed," Rossi said. "You and I can incapacitate her."
Hotch nodded. "Morgan, I trust you can handle JJ and Garcia?"
"Easily," Morgan promised.
They spread out across the deep end, watching the girls, who were still whispering.
"Time's up," announced Reid. "I don't know the rules for a splash war, since I've never been in one before, but if you're mean to someone or hurt them, you'll have to sit up here with me for two minutes. Fair?"
"Fair!" they all called.
"Ready... Set…" called Reid.
They eyed up their targets.
"GO!"
Hotch and Rossi lunged for Prentiss, Prentiss and Garcia zoomed toward Morgan, JJ tentatively headed for Hotch and Rossi, and Morgan lunged for Garcia and JJ.
Shortly, all of their plans dissolved, and they became a tangled mass in the middle of the pool. Everyone tried to splash as much as they could while still being able to breathe, which was difficult. The air was full of flailing limbs and flying water. It was loud, too, with laughter, screaming, and shrieking.
JJ was having difficulties. She was unable to reach her targets, since they were both trying to tackle Prentiss. She had to keep dodging Morgan, who was half-running, half-swimming away from Garcia and Prentiss. Morgan suddenly leaped at JJ. She screamed, dodged, and ducked underwater.
Underwater was quieter, but a lot more dangerous. She jerked out of the way of Rossi's leg and nearly bumped into one of Hotch's. Underwater, legs kicked from every which way. JJ was running out of air, but she couldn't find a good spot to come to the surface; there were people everywhere.
Morgan wasn't doing so well, either. One of his targets was overly enthusiastic about chasing him, and he didn't have the nerve to take her down. The other one, which he had set on chasing, had disappeared. He couldn't see JJ in the mess of people. Morgan figured that she must be underwater. He plunged under.
Immediately, he was almost kicked in the face by Garcia, one he was supposed to be taking down. He had severely underestimated her scariness. He dove further down and saw JJ at the bottom of the deep end, dodging legs and looking for an opening. He swam toward her.
Morgan grasped JJ's arm and dragged her to the surface, whereupon he pelted her with water. Finally! He had one of his targets!
JJ screamed and laughed, getting a mouthful of water. She splashed Morgan in retaliation before swimming off in search of Hotch and Rossi. Morgan clawed his way back into the mess of people.
Prentiss was laughing and splashing Hotch and Rossi half to death. It was strange how both men cowered before her and splashes of water. She was enjoying herself immensely.
Hotch and Rossi decided to get their act together. They nodded, counted to three, and lunged toward Prentiss. She screamed and jumped backward, colliding with Morgan. Morgan pushed her roughly out of his way and went to look for Garcia and JJ.
Reid spun his empty plastic bowl around on the concrete next to him. He had given up trying to spot fouls; there was too much noise and his vision was obscured by the splashes of water on his goggles. For the third time, he pulled off his goggles and wiped them off on his trunks. He pulled them on again.
Splash wars were much more violent than Reid had thought they would be. Honestly, he was surprised that nobody had lost a tooth yet. But he had to admit, it looked like fun.
Maybe he would join in soon.
Screams erupted from the pool as Morgan tackled both Garcia and JJ at once.
Then again, maybe not.