Candy Canes
Pairing: N/A

When she first joined the team, Kate learned early on that Spencer had a bit of a sweet tooth. The first time she heard him order his coffee, she was sure that she'd misheard him when he said not two but four sugars. Then when she saw him make his coffee, she watched as he put in spoonful after spoonful of sugar, stirring it in and taking a sip, seemingly satisfied with it. The only explanation she could come up with was that he didn't like his coffee bitter and needed to do something to it to liven it up.

She walked into work one day and found him putting several small boxes into a drawer in his desk.

She raised an eyebrow, turning to JJ and nudging her arm, motioning toward him. "What's he doing?"

JJ looked up and watched him for what couldn't be more than five seconds before eyeing Kate. "Stocking up. 'Tis the season," she mumbled, before turning back to the case files on her desk.

She knew this had to be normal behavior, so decided to dismiss it and go to her desk, setting her coat and bag down and grabbing her first case file, opening it up.

Later in the day was when she started to smell it: peppermint. At first she thought she was imagining it, as nobody else in the bullpen seemed bothered by it. Then as the day went on, it got stronger. She was sure she was slowly losing it when she reached out as Garcia walked by, tapping her arm.

Garcia looked at her, gasping. "Please tell me this is about the video of the penguin being tickled!" she squealed, leaning against the desk.

"It's not, but I did see it and Meg found me with the laptop, clapping my hands excitedly. Have you seen the one with the baby owls looking at the camera?"

"It's a new favorite." She sipped her tea, tapping her fingers against the mug. "If this wasn't about baby animals, what's up?"

"Okay, I know it can't just be me. Do you smell that?"

Garcia looked at her, confused, before sniffing, nodding. "'Tis the season."

"JJ said the same thing about Reid. What does it mean?"

Garcia smirked, patting her back. "Welcome to the team. We all found out on our own where it was coming from."

She was starting to get frustrated. It was like she was the new kid who transferred into high school who wasn't told where all the cool hangout spots were. It was ridiculous, but it was bothering her that nobody was just telling her what was going on. She'd pulled Morgan aside when he was walking to Rossi's office, and he'd just told her she'd figure it out soon enough.

It wasn't until later that afternoon when she'd finally figured it out. She'd looked up from her work when she heard Spencer opening the drawer of his desk, tearing open one of the boxes and taking out what was inside before closing the drawer again. He then ripped open the package and dropped a couple of mini candy canes into his coffee.

She hit her hand against her desk. "Seriously?"

Spencer jumped slightly, looking over at her. "Excuse me?"

"I've smelled peppermint all day and it was driving me up a wall, and it's because you're putting candy canes in your coffee? It's that simple?"

He shrugged. "'Tis the season," he said, opening the drawer again and motioning toward it. "Would you like one?"

She took a deep breath before sighing, nodding. She got up from her desk, walking over and reaching into the drawer, taking one out and unwrapping it. "What the hell. 'Tis the season, right?" she said, sucking on it and walking back to her desk, sitting down.