Michael walked through the park heading toward Reid who was playing chess by himself.
"Starting without me?" Michael observed.
Reid smirked. "No, just been waiting for you." Reid reset the board as Michael sat down. The two started to play.
"I'm glad we got a chance to do this. It's been a while." Michael moved his pawn.
"I miss having someone who is worth playing."
"Yeah, and I know how much Jo hates chess." He moved his rook. "She is actually the reason why I wanted to see you."
"Oh yeah?" Reid remained focused on the board.
"With everything that has been happening. Like with Jo going into the field, the issues with Paul, not to mention Robert, Lisa wants to move closer."
"That makes sense. Why did you want to speak to me about it?"
"Lisa knows that if she talked with Jo that she would say that it is no problem, regardless. She wanted to make sure that Jo would genuinely be good with this. The last thing Lisa wants is to feel like an overprotective sister."
Reid looked up to Michael. "I think Jo would love having you both closer. I know that I would."
"Having Jo transfer to your team was the best thing that could have happened to her." Michael grinned.
"How so?" Reid questioned.
"It brought her back to you."
Reid couldn't help but smile back at Michael.
"Hey Jo, wait up." Rossi called out to her.
"What's up?" She asked with a stack of case files in her hand.
"I have a very important project I would like for you to help me work on."
Jo looked at his sly expression. "Of course, just name it."
"I need you to bake me a cake." Rossi said with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, is this some kind of code? Do you need me to put a file in it or something? Why are you acting all coy?" He grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. "It is a surprise, top secret. We will meet later and I will give you all the details." He gave her a wink and walked away.
Reid walked up after Rossi moved on. "What were you two whispering about?"
Jo looked up to him. "Oh, that? We are having a secret love affair."
Reid nodded with a smirk, knowing Jo's sense of humor.
Rossi answered his door to see Jo holding a large box in front of her. "Do you need me to help you?"
"Nope, just get out of my way." Jo headed over to the large island in his kitchen and put down the box. She opened it up and pulled out all of her supplies. Then wrapped in foil was the already baked cake. "I baked it last night and I will frost it here."
"That's a good idea."
"I hope you don't mind, but I like to play music when I am doing this." She pulled out her small speakers.
Rossi looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, people tend to have a difference in opinion when it comes to what music is."
Jo smirked. "I preset my standards playlist. You will have nothing to worry about." She hooked up her phone and Rosemary Clooney started to sing Give Me the Simple Life.
Jo looked over to Rossi who smiled and nodded. "Sometimes I forget how much I like you."
Jo and Rossi sang along to her playlist as she frosted her cake next to him washing his wine glasses. She put down her spatula and the frosting piping bag. "So, how does it look?"
"Not too shabby, Kiddo. Let's just hope it tastes as good as it looks."
Jo scoffed. "Oh, come on. Give me some credit."
Rossi dipped his finger into the frosting from the bowl. "Mm, this is good. And this is from scratch, too?"
"Yeah, that's why I am covered in powdered sugar. Good thing I brought a change of clothes. Speaking of which. I am going to do that now."
Jo stepped away into one of the bedrooms where she changed into her party dress. She came back to find Rossi was dancing by himself and singing along to You Make Me Feel So Young. Jo couldn't help but giggle. He turned around, grabbed her hand and pulled her into his dance. They spun around the room and Jo felt like they were Fred and Ginger.
Emily knocked on the door, but no one answered, she could hear the music and let herself in. She stood in the foyer watching them dance. Garcia soon stood by her side. They looked at each other then back at Rossi smiling as he and Jo moved around the floor.
Jo noticed that there was an audience forming and tapped him on the shoulder. Rossi became slightly embarrassed and released Jo.
Emily and Garcia both started to applaud. Rossi waved them off. "Oh, you are both just jealous."
"Of course we are." Emily smiled. "I would love to be able to dance with the great David Rossi."
"Well, maybe when I can take you seriously, I will take you up on that." He said in jest. "Come on in, help yourself to a drink."
"You said the magic word." Garcia and Emily scurried to Rossi's open bar.
Jo picked up the cake and moved it onto the pedestal that she brought.
"That looks amazing." Reid remarked as he stood behind Jo.
"Thank you. It's not as nice as I wanted it, but it will have to do." She looked at it slightly discouraged.
"Stop it." Reid told her. "It's great!"
"Okay, you guys." Rossi silenced the group. "Dinner is almost ready. We are just waiting for our guest of honor to arrive."
The doorbell rang and Rossi went to open it. "Come on in."
Hotch took a step in and saw everyone staring at him. "What's going on, Dave?"
"Oh nothing much. Just a little social gathering." Rossi sounded nonchalant.
"You just don't usually like to invite people to your house for things like this."
Rossi put his finger up. "Ah, ah. Mansion." He corrected.
Hotch smirked.
"However I have been known to make exceptions on special occasions."
"Like what?" Hotch questioned, knowing he was up to something.
"Like for our team leader's birthday."
"Happy Birthday!" The crowd yelled.