Emily glared at the agent who was under the mistletoe with her. He turned bright red before stuttering out something that might have been English and ran off. Good. Stupid plant and its associated traditions. She counted her blessings that Garcia had not been present or else she would have at least insisted on an exchange of kisses to the cheek at least.

She resisted the urge to tear it down as it's berries bobbed up and down above her. There was no need for her to be thought of as a complete grinch. What was it even doing in a federal building anyway? Surely that was a harassment charge waiting to happen? Derek Morgan was in the building after all. Emily was pretty sure he'd been kissed by all of the female agents on this floor by now if the number of flushed faces were anything to go by.

Good for him. She wanted no part in it. No thank you. Turning on her heel, she strode firmly away from it.

Only to come across another one. Seriously? That wasn't even six feet away from the previous one. How much mistletoe did an office really need? None. That's how many.

"You know what? We should change the mistletoe tradition," Emily announced as she stormed out from yet another one.

This time she hadn't been able to avoid being caught under one, Garcia had been right there, and she was grouchy. The guy she pressed a kiss to the cheek to looked like he didn't know what to do if his red face a stuttering was any giveaway.

"What would you change the tradition to?" Reid asked, sounding interested.

Emily looked at him for a moment, resisting the urge to shake her head at his naivety - did he really not know her at all? Morgan did no such thing and even threw in an eye roll for good measure.

"Instead of kissing people under the mistletoe, you fight," she said in a deadpan voice.

She could literally see Reid short-circuit at that announcement as he tried to fork ate a response.

"Literally 'deck the halls', huh?" Morgan teased, eyebrows waggling.

Spencer frowned at the two of them. "I don't think there was an innuendo in there," he informed Morgan.

"There can be innuendo in anything."

"Not about punching someone in the face!"

"I dunno, I'm sure Prentiss here could make it work," Morgan replied. "Want to give it a try with her, Pretty Boy?"

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Spencer demanded, looking around at the rest of the team helplessly.

Everyone studiously avoided looking at him. They would burst into laughter if they did and that was not professional. He pouted at them as he always did when no one would explain a phrase to him. Emily was also fighting the blush that was sure to be creeping across her face at the thought of doing anything under the mistletoe with one Spencer Reid. No, that was a stupid thought. She didn't want to be caught with anyone under the mistletoe and that included Spencer Reid. No matter how appealing that sounded to her.

Of course, with things decidedly not going her way today with the dammed mistletoe, Emily got caught under it another four times. She swore Garcia was putting more up by the minute but she had no proof. Thankfully, three of those times had been with Rossi, Hotch and Rossi again (the man was eager about being under the mistletoe) and got kisses on the cheek from each of them because they were gentlemen.

The fourth time, well the fourth time was just plain awkward. Mainly because she was still standing underneath it with the other person not doing anything. That person being Spencer. Why did it have to be Spencer? The one person that she really didn't want it to be more maybe wanted it to be too much. Contradictory but it worked in her head.

He hadn't realised what had happened at first and had all but collided with her when she had come to an abrupt stop under it. Garcia had threatened all of them to stop when they got caught by it and not to move until they were kissed and Emily was many things but stupid enough to go against Penelope Garcia she was not.

"Mistletoe," she said in a disgruntled tone, pointing to the plant above them.

Reid blinked uncomprehendingly at it for a few second before launching into a spell about its history and usage. Because of course he knew that sort of thing. Admittedly, Emily just tuned him out having heard this before. She was more interested on how they were getting out of this.

Suddenly, her musings were interrupted by the briefest kiss on the lips she had ever received since middle school.

She blinked. Had Spencer Reid just kissed her?

"I'm sorry!" Spencer immediately yelped as their lips broke away, eyes looking frantic. "I know you don't like mistletoe and-"

Emily held a finger to his lips.

"I started it," she told him. "And I rather liked it."

"But I responded and I shouldn't have and... Wait."

He thankfully stopped his babbling as what she said caught up with him.

"You liked it?" he squeaked.

It was rather endearing, especially with the wide-open eyes that he added to it. Also, the thoroughly kissed lips set it all off but she was trying not to focus too much on those. Because that would be a bad idea.

Emily tilted her head to one side and pretended to think for a moment.

"Actually, I'm not sure. Can we try again?"

The emotions that crossed Spencer's face made it look like his brain had shirt circuited.

"Oh, wha? You want... huh?"

Struggling to hide her grin, Emily took pity on him.

"Can we try again?" she repeated. "You know, to make sure?"

She decided that it was best not to wait for a response and leaned in for her kiss. As Spencer's lips met hers (amidst extremely loud wolf-whistles from Morgan) Emily decided that the season wasn't too bad after all.