AN: Thanks again for all the feedback and since the last chapter had Jack, it's only fair that this one has Henry.
"You ready to go Henry?" JJ called up the stairs, smiling at the sound of Henry stampeding down the stairs and breaking into a full grin at the sight of what he was wearing. Henry had dressed himself in his Halloween costume complete with mismatched socks and messenger bag. He sat himself at the table and JJ began to comb his hair.
"Now remember when you're at work with Mommy you have to be," JJ said and trailed off for henry to answer.
"Good boy!" Henry replied chewing on his toast. "Play with Unca Spence?"
"If he's not too busy," JJ replied, already knowing that Reid would drop whatever workload he had for the chance to play with Henry. It wasn't often that she brought Henry to the BAU but they had been briefly taken off rotation and Henry's nanny was ill so she had no other option. Will was on a double shift and with this stalker going after the team; JJ just wanted to be certain of Henry's safety. Memories of what happened the day of the bank heist were still fresh in all three of their minds. With all this going on, she knew that bringing Henry to the BAU was the safest option and nobody would argue with that.
Reid and Alex were sitting in the bullpen, comparing and contrasting their competitiveness with crossroads, and ignoring Rossi's now –weekly comment of 'Happy Wednesday my nerds' when JJ walked into the bullpen and Henry ran over and jumped onto Reid's lap.
"Whoa, hey Henry!" Reid said, hugging his godson. "What are you doing here?"
"Here to play!" Henry replied happily.
"His nanny's sick and just with all this Replicator stuff, I want him to be somewhere safe." JJ explained to the others as they watched Henry start to tug at Reid to get him to stand up and play. As they watched, Reid suddenly squirmed uncomfortably as Henry accidentally tickled him.
"Ticklish Spence?" JJ asked playfully as Reid quickly shook his head. Show no weaknesses.
"No," Reid answered quickly as Morgan and Garcia walked in just in time to hear JJ question Reid. Henry ran over to hug his Auntie Penny as Morgan smirked at Reid.
"What's wrong Pretty Boy? You're not ticklish are you?" Morgan asked and again Reid quickly shook his head.
"No I'm not. Also ticklishness is mostly a-" What ticklishness was mostly, the team never did find out as both Morgan and JJ advanced on Reid and both began to tickle him. Reid attempted to fight them off but found himself doubled over with laughter at the assault especially under his arms and at his waist.
"Tickle Spence!" Henry shouted and pulled Garcia over to join in with the tickle attack. Reid managed to stop squirming and began to tickle Henry who squealed and squirmed and kicked out as the other three's attention turned to tickling both Reid and Henry. Rossi and Alex hung back to watch, laughing at the scene before them of the five in a pile on the floor tickling one another. They all had been under a lot of pressure lately with this stalker copying their crimes and it was good to see the team lightening up and having a bit of fun. Alex especially was pleased to see Reid laughing and she herself laughed as he pulled off Henry's shoes and began to tickle his feet. Whoever Phone Booth Girl was, Alex hoped she realised that Spencer Reid was a wonderful guy who deserved happiness.
Finally the tickle match came to an end when, unable to breathe with laughter and remembering that they were all supposed to be working; the team stopped and sat on the carpet. JJ hugged Henry to her as Reid handed back his little shoes for her to pull onto his feet. As they got their breath back, they couldn't help but smile at one another; having Henry around and the tickle fight had just lifted their spirits so much and it was exactly what all of them needed.
"Having fun?" Hotch asked, causing them all to jump. They looked up to see him standing against the railings outside his office but he wasn't looking strict, actually he was smiling back at them and his tablet was clutched in his hand. "Don't make a habit of it OK?"
"Ok," the four agents replied as they pulled themselves off the floor and smiled at one another.
"I think we should get back to work." JJ said and the others nodded in agreement. It had been fun but as they were reminded; they still had jobs to do and sadly tickle fights weren't part of the job description.
In London, Emily's phone buzzed with an incoming email. She glanced at her phone before using her computer to check her email account to find a new email and attachment from Hotch.
New BAU interrogation tactics?- Hotch
Emily clicked on the attached link and began to laugh at the recorded image of the team and little Henry all ganging up on Reid and starting a tickle fight, the camera also moved to show Rossi and Alex laughing at the sight before showing the team, laughing, shouting and having fun. When the video ended; Emily smiled to herself and saved the video to her computer just in case she felt like watching it again. Emily glanced at the framed photo on her desk of all the team with their arms around each other that had been taken at JJ's wedding.
"I miss you guys," Emily muttered before she got back to work.
Rule 10: Tickle fights are forbidden, except for special circumstances