"Now!" Hotch heard Jack scream.
A millisecond later a snowball hit him on arm. Behind him JJ yelped as one hit her in the ankle. A third landed directly on Emily's cheek, and she screeched as the snow ran down it. A fourth hit Morgan squarely in the chest, and Hotch swore he heard Reid yell "Bull's-eye!" Will looked down as a fifth landed at his feet harmlessly.
"Run!" Hotch yelled. "The trees!"
He, Morgan, JJ, Emily and Will all ran for the strand of a few trees. Garcia and Rossi hung back, sitting on a bench out of harm's way.
JJ laughed. "Who wants to bet they stole our gloves?"
"There's five of us and four of them. This shouldn't take long." Emily reasoned.
"They've been out here all afternoon." Morgan said, glancing around the trees to access the situation. "They have a sturdy fort, and our gloves, not to mention a monster arsenal of snowballs." Morgan was hit in the face with a snowball. Brushing the snow away he added, "And at least one has great aim."
"So? What difference do gloves make?" Hotch asked. "Fight back!" He grabbed a pile of snow, shaped it, and hurled it at them. The others followed suit.
Morgan and Hotch, who were at the ends, leaned around the trees to throw and both got hit. The others threw through breaks between the trees.
Ducking back behind the trees, Morgan swore. "They're good."
"Did you notice how all the balls you got hit with curved to the left?" Emily asked Morgan. "They were thrown by a right handed person. That wouldn't be Leah Their hitting high enough on you that Jack couldn't do it. It has to be Reid."
"What's your point?" Hotch asked.
"Whenever I was hit it was from a left-handed person. That would have been Leah. I think they have assigned people to aim for."
"So they're organized," Will said. "What's that mean?"
"Figure out who's aiming for you," Hotch commanded. "Try and pick a fight, it'll get their focus off. Whoever's throwing at me isn't as strong and doesn't have such trained aim. Jack. Reid is aiming for at least Morgan."
"Henry is aiming for just me and Will." JJ concluded. "As much as I love him, he can't pitch. But we're still getting hit."
"We have two people aiming for us!" Will realized.
JJ nodded, saying, "You aim for Reid. I'll take Leah."
Hotch made a half a dozen snowballs and threw them rapid-fire at Jack. They all hit Reid or Leah instead. He heard them both scream and pumped his fist triumphantly.
"Reid! Prentiss!" Jack was saying. "Focus!"
Hotch laughed, feeling proud of his son as Reid said, "Don't know where I've heard that before."
"That's it!" Jack yelled. "You mess with my team, you mess with me! It's on, Hotchner!"
Hotch laughed and threw a snowball at Jack's stomach in response. He was rewarded with a hail of snowballs on him.
Jack would make a good leader one day.
Meanwhile Morgan, Emily, and JJ were getting creamed. "Reid!" Jack huffed. "Will, too, remember? Aim for their faces!"
"Meany." Emily muttered from beside Hotch.
"Hotch how are we supposed to hit them?" Will asked. "They just cut holes in the fort to look and throw the balls through."
"They've been out here for hours. We just have to wait them out."
Twenty minutes of flying snow later, Rossi left as Jack called out, "Halt! We have a man down! Time!"
Hotch peered warily around the trees. "What's going on?"
"Henry says he's too cold. He wants to go inside."
"Honest?"
"Yes."
Hotch looked at JJ. She and Will were standing up, brushing snow off their clothes.
"Where are you going?" Morgan asked.
"If Henry's done, we're going home." Will said.
"Enough snow for me for one day, thanks." JJ said.
"Traitors!" Morgan and Emily screamed.
"Jack, can we come get him now?" JJ asked.
"Only one of you." Jack called back. "I don't want any funny business."
"No funny business." JJ promised, heading to the fort. She picked up Henry and her and Will's gloves and left with her boyfriend and son.
"It's one on one now." Jack crowed.
"And it's gonna hurt!" Leah promised.
"Oh boy." Emily said, beside him.
Leah cackled and Reid let out an exaggerated stage laugh. "Wha, ha, ha!"
"Flee or fight?" Morgan asked Hotch.
"There's no way we can hit them, not with their holey fort." Emily groaned.
Hotch huffed and called out. "All right, we give up, you win!"
"Yes!" Jack shouted. All three of the enemy simultaneously jumped up, high-fiving each other.
Hotch looked over at Emily, who was smiling widely as she watched Leah ruffle Jack's hair, telling him what a good idea the snowball fight had been.
"You ought to smile more." Emily told him.
He hadn't realized he had been smiling. "It's the effect my family has on me I guess. When we're not surrounded my serial killers."
Emily kissed him on the cheek and he told Jack to get ready to go.