Rossi decided to have the whole team over for Hayden, his second wife turned girlfriend to get to know his family outside of her and his long lost daughter.
The team mingled through Rossi's backyard, the string lights, and most of the decor from the makeshift backyard wedding for Will and J.J. still standing.
Natalie hadn't been there for that but she had heard many stories from the girls about how beautiful and picture-perfect it had been, she agreed considering Rossi's backyard seemed to look the same.
Natalie watched as Reid performed magic with Garcia, Jack, and Henry watching. She smiled and waved over to him, winking. He blushed a little. He hadn't had anyone look at him that way in a long time, Garcia nudged him,
"Loverboy." She whispered.
Reid blushed more which made Natalie giggle along with Garcia.
Natalie stood next to J.J. and Hotch as they were watching the formally youngest agent perform magic for their kids that he loved dearly.
Reid gathered his composure to perform his magic tricks for the three patiently waiting.
Reid pulled out his deck of cards, always with him, ready to perform magic at any time.
"Keep your eyes on him, he's very sneaky with these cards," Garcia warned the two boys.
Reid smiled as he moved the cards up and down. He moved the cards over to Garcia,
"There's nothing sneaky about it. It is mere magic." He pointed the cards back at the boys,
"I need you to blow on this card, please?" Jack did as he was asked. "Can you blow?" Reid held the deck up for Henry to do the same.
Reid removed the card from the deck, "And this is your card."
The two boys looked at each other, trying to contain their giggles,
"No," Jack told him.
Reid pulled the card away, confused, and disappointed, "That's not your card?" He said, looking at it and then showing them again.
J.J. gave a sympathetic look to Reid who didn't quite see it. Hotch looked at J.J. and they both had half-smiles on their face, trying to remain sympathetic to the quirky agent.
Natalie smirked, she knew this trick and she couldn't wait for him to surprise them all.
"Wait, hold on." Reid said, he shuffled the deck a bit, he tapped the top of it, he then moved his hand back as he wiggled his fingers like he was sending a signal from his fingers to the cards, "This is your card?" Pulling another card from the top.
Jack and Henry began to giggle once more, "No." They both said together.
"Are you serious? That's not your card?" Reid asked as he began to search through the deck.
He then turned to Garcia, "Oh." He looked behind her ear and quickly flipped the card out from there,
"That your card?" Reid asked. Garcia squealed, mouth gaped open at his trick. Henry and Jack smiled in amusement.
"How did you do that?" Garcia asked in amazement. The boys giggled at her. Natalie smiled at the scene as she approached, touching Reid's shoulder, he smiled up at her.
"Do you want to see another one?" He asked.
"Yes!" Garcia answered for everyone. Reid laughed and the boys nodded their heads.
"I had a hard time putting both boys down last night," J.J. said to her unit chief.
"Couldn't sleep?" Hotch asked, thoughtfully.
"Other way around," She looked up at him, "I didn't want to leave them. How are things on your end?"
Hotch sighed, "Fortunately, Jack doesn't remember a lot about Haley's death. He knows the story but he was young."
"That's a good thing." J.J. breathed a breath of relief at her own words.
Hotch looked at her, nodding. "It's a very good thing. But he's not going to forget seeing me at gunpoint. I just don't want this job to take anything else away from him."
J.J. titled her head back and forth, a flat line stretched on her face, "Well, maybe it gives him something too. You're his hero." She smiled, "Not a pretend hero. A real hero."
"Well, he's growing up. He's not going to feel that way for too much longer."
A soft chuckle escaped J.J. and a rare smiled appeared across Hotch's face.
"Nah, you can worry about that later. Just be his dad. Enjoy that."
Hotch continued smiling at J.J., she was kind despite everything being part of this team put her through, she remained remarkably kind and compassionate to others. It was a trait had always admired but it became more refined as she grew into her place on the team.
"Wait, wait. Don't move." Reid told Garcia as he stood up.
Natalie tried to hide her laughter from the boys, it made the boys break out into a roar of laughter too.
"Reid, Reid, what?" Garcia questioned him frantically, Natalie wasn't sure if it was for the boy's amusement or because Garcia was genuinely nervous. Both, she answered to herself.
"What is that?" Reid squinted his eyes as he moved his hands behind Garcia, inching a little into her hair.
"There's something in your…" Reid began.
"What? What's in my hair?" Garcia couldn't help the smile that illuminated off her face.
Reid began to pull red, orange, yellow, and all kinds of colors of ribbon out of her hair.
"AAHHH" He yelled as he pulled it all through. The boys laughed harder as did Natalie despite seeing this trick plenty of times. It amazed her every single time. She loved it as did everyone else watching.
"Holy Guacamoley!" Reid yelled as he continued until all the strings were pulled through, he threw it in the air.
Garcia put her hands to her side, smiling and yelling, filled with happiness and joy over Reid's antics.
The boys began to catch the ribbon as Reid tried to pull it from them.
"Get him!" Jack yelled, playfully as he began to tackle Reid.
The boys tackled him together, laughing so hard as they did.
Hotch, J.J., Natalie, and Garcia couldn't contain themselves at the scene. The sight of Hotch erupting in laughter wasn't something the team saw coming. It was a relief from his serious tone.
The whole team, including Hayden, Savannah, and Will sat around the dinner table in Rossi's backyard sharing laughs and stories with each other. The immense love in the air could be felt all around. They walked through highs and lows together, right now was an extreme high that they were so enjoying.
Despite working some of the most difficult cases, the team knew how to have fun when they were afforded the luxury.
Will, Hayden, and Savannah all really loved the team. Hayden enjoyed getting to know them while Will and Savannah enjoyed catching up. They loved when they could all be together. The three significant others seemed to understand the bond and love the team had and they didn't feel at all ate up by it but instead, embraced it.
Hotch's phone made a noise, he looked up as Garcia's buzzed too. Their faces not hiding what just came through. One by one, each of the BAU members exited the table following the two who received the notification. Would they be leaving for a case tonight? They had no idea but were ready like always. It didn't seem like a case, Hotch would have said so.
Morgan, Rossi, and J.J. apologized to their partners as they walked inside of Rossi's house to discuss what just came through.
The BAU stood in a circle inside of one of Rossi's living rooms.
"What is it now?" Prentiss asked, arms folded, frustrated that something new had happened despite taking down a prison break.
"Three more prison breaks in three different states all organized by Rawdon's partners from his last bombing attempt," Hotch replied, arms crossed as well in frustration.
"The local office got a head start because of what we did, they stopped the bomb threat." Garcia rambled a bit.
Morgan read the tone in Garcia's voice, he approached the question, "Who didn't they catch, Hotch?" He asked firmly.
"All have serial killer wings just like VA max," Hotch replied.
Natalie's arms folded now too, "They let them out first to cause maximum chaos and occupy law enforcement." She said, unamused and disturbed by the thought.
Garcia spoke up, trying to be hopeful and reassuring, "A lot of them were killed or recaptured but not all of them."
"How many got away?" J.J. asked, voice steady.
Garcia looked down at the notifications on her phone, "As of right now, 13 serial killers. One of which is Peter Lewis."
The tone in the room shifted. Natalie knew who he was, she had heard about this case right before she joined the team. Peter Lewis used a drug to force his victims into a dream state, making them live out their worst nightmare and forcing them to do his dirty work. He had captured the unit chief at one point, the reason the inspector generals office had arrested him just a few days prior. The team knew Peter Lewis gave testimony that led to Hotch's arrest, it made her shiver a little. Peter Lewis was a… ugh.
The room almost fell silent for only a few seconds when Reid broke it, "Mr. Scratch." He whispered, his eyes wide and concerned that, that man had gotten away. He had the power to cause maximum chaos and he would now that he was out.
Reid began to put it together, "That's why he testified against you. He was part of their plan all along."
"We have to catch him, again. Along with 12 other murderers." Hotch said, flatly not wanting to give more weight to one serial killer than the other. They were all murderers. The team didn't need to see them as anything other than that.
The team all looked around to each other in disbelief, aggravation, and apprehension that they had to find every single one of those people again. The only difference is that now, they've had prison time and they were caught once which means most of them got smarter while on the inside of knowing how to not get caught a second time. It made the whole team nauseous.