From the days leading up from the original meeting about the retreat to early Monday morning, the agents tried their best to keep their petty arguments to a minimum especially when they were out on a job. They didn't have anything major in between that time, some of them went out to the field to work on a small case while the others stayed behind to work on reports. While it was a relief that the team seemed to be getting along it felt as though it was forced, that any tug at the thread would cause it to all unravel. There were times where the agents would not outright refuse to speak to one another but would tell Reid to tell them what they wanted to say. Reid didn't understand the fact that he wasn't actually supposed to pass the message on until Hotch stepped in and told him that he didn't have to do that, which was a relief to Reid since it was beginning to stress him out.
On Monday morning it was almost five when the team gathered at the plane strip so they get a ride up the designated retreat area. From what they understood, the only way they could get to and from the retreat was by aircraft, it was to make sure that the area couldn't be disturbed since it was legally government property. Gideon was a little more than thrilled that he would finally have some peace and quiet out in the middle of nowhere without having to take any calls, this time there was no way to reach them since there was little to no service out there.
The sky had only a peak of light coming from the horizon, by the time they would make it there the sun would begin to rise.
"Wake up, we're here," Garcia told Reid, nudging the sleeping agent who was slumped against the passenger's side window. When he didn't budge, she lightly poked him in the ribs, startling him awake, lifting his head off the window to squint out the windshield at the bright strip lights. "There you are."
"Where's the plane?" Reid questioned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
There was a reason Gideon and Hotch told everyone that they could only bring one bag, to get to the campgrounds they had to ride up there via a helicopter. It was going to be a bit of a tight squeeze to fit everybody inside, they'd have to put up with it since there wasn't going to be any second trips.
Garcia and Reid got out of her car, both carrying their single bags to meet up with the rest of the team who were practically falling asleep waiting for them to show up.
"We could've walked there by the time you guys showed up," Elle told the duo.
"Hey… we had to make an important stop," Garcia defended herself.
"You had to make an important stop," Reid corrected as he rubbed his eye once more.
"Coffee's important, Spence, shut up." Garcia took a long sip of the iced coffee as if to prove her point.
"And you didn't bring us any?" Morgan asked, almost sounding offended.
"You didn't ask."
Gideon slung his duffle bag over his shoulder as he walked over to his agents. "Helicopter let's go."
He didn't want to waste any more time, the sooner they got to the area the sooner they could rip the band-aid off with the formalities. The only details Hotch and Gideon knew about the place was that they'd be fending for themselves in a set of cabins and one organizer that would run the place while they were there. The fact that Gideon wouldn't have to do too much work in leading the team during their 'vacation' made him almost a little too happy, he assumed all he was going to do was sit back and let the retreat do its job.
"In that?" Elle questioned, nodding towards the poor-looking helicopter that they would be riding in. Now, she was no expert on helicopter maintenance or safety, but surely there was a better vehicle to use, as this one appeared to be a hunk of junk.
"Its structure seems fine," Reid practically mumbled to himself as he ran a hand over the rusted body of the helicopter. "As long as it hasn't exceeded 100,000 flight hours."
"Why?" Morgan couldn't help but ask, knowing that he was only going to get an entire history lesson on the mechanics of helicopters.
"Y'know how flying is the safest form of transportation?" Reid didn't wait for anyone to answer before continuing on. "That only truly applies to planes, compare the two and helicopters would be considered the more dangerous way to fly. Around one helicopter crash happens every 100,000 flight hours. Maintenance is supposed to be done every two years, but since they can take up to two weeks to complete a thorough inspection most people skip out on it."
"Reid, shut up," Morgan then said, snatching the bag from the youngest agent so he could take it up for him.
"You asked…"
"To be fair, you did ask," JJ backed Reid up as they climbed up into the confined space.
As soon as Reid got inside he practically froze where he was standing, it was a bit more cramped than he originally imagined. It wasn't any type of fear of flying, he quickly made peace with that when he joined the BAU, it was the fact that probably was going to be in close contact with somebody. Any physical contact that happens without his permission feels like being restrained, it didn't matter how light it was or if it purposeful it always made him feel trapped.
"Reid?" Elle called out to him, leaning forward in the seat that was connected to the sidewall of the aircraft.
"Shouldn't have thought about those statistics, huh?" Morgan said with a smile.
Hotch eyed him closely, he knew in an instant this wasn't fear of flying in the helicopter, it was fear of being in too close of quarters. At least on the plane, they had options of where to sit, and while it could be considered a confined space he could choose to move away and sit alone if he needed to.
"Here," Hotch said as unbuckled the safety belt, "sit here, Reid." He stood up from the end seat he had, it wouldn't make the situation 100% better, but at least he wouldn't be squashed between two people.
"Yay, besties!" Garcia celebrated softly, barely clapping her hands together as Reid took the now empty seat next to her. While she couldn't stop him whenever he had one of his meltdowns, she knew that loud noises were definitely one of his triggers. "Sit, sit, sit, we have so much to gossip about. Did you see what Morgan did with his hair?"
Reid couldn't help but smile, looking over at Morgan who gave Garcia the middle finger.
"Oh, c'mon, you know you love me."
"You know I do, baby girl."
Gideon let the pilot know that they were ready, soon after the helicopter began to shake as the rotor fired up, once the blades were going at the correct speed it slowly began taking off. For many of the agents, this was their first time riding in a helicopter, it wasn't exactly the same as having a plane take off. They were waiting for the quick speed to pick up that would eventually have them flying upwards, but going straight up was a different experience.
"Think we'll see any bears?" JJ asked aloud, trying to break the tension again.
Everyone was silent, assuming that Reid was going to go ahead and give them facts to ramble on about to keep himself distracted while also forcing himself to become involved in the conversation. This time it was eerily silent, the way he was leaning forward in his seat with his face in his hands to suppress the nausea and the growing unease in his chest. The silent agreement between the rest of the agents was that they would keep quiet until they landed, the last thing they needed right now was to have Reid breakdown in such a confined area.
Only forty-five minutes left to go.
JJ let out a bored sigh, looking over her shoulder out the window, from what she could see they were slowly starting to land. Two run-down-looking cabins and a couple of smaller buildings surrounding the area were starting to grow closer the further they got to the ground. Clearly, this retreat area hasn't been used too often judging by the condition of the place, usable but questionable.
"Finally…" she muttered under her breath, sitting up straight. She couldn't wait to be able to stretch her legs, the ride wasn't long but being in a tight area sure didn't help.
"Yeah, sitting around is soo difficult, right?" Elle said sarcastically, moving her bag from the floor onto her lap.
JJ glared at her, about to open her mouth to give her the same attitude back until Gideon caught her eye, shaking his head ever so subtly. Instead, she cleared her throat and sat back in her seat to keep her comments to herself, she had to remind herself not to make the situation stressful. Apparently, after this retreat, everything would be as good as new and they would never have another argument again. Hopefully. Or at least that's what the pamphlet claimed.
Reid let out a groan, he bowed his head between his knees as he ran his shaky hands through his messy hair. He would be much happier when he was back on the ground out in the open air.
Almost done… almost landed.
Reid didn't waste a second, once the helicopter landed and the door opened he unfastened his safety belt and bolted outside, the rising sun burned his eyes which made him regret not having his sunglasses on his person. He turned his back, rubbing his eyes as everyone else made their way off the aircraft.
They didn't even land on a landing pad, they were in a large field with the retreat area a bit off in the distance. Approaching them was an older man that Gideon had talked to them on the phone a couple of days prior who explained what they would be doing on this retreat; there were lessons with communication and teamwork and all that jazz, nothing that his team couldn't handle. While they could handle it, it didn't mean that they weren't going to dig their heels in to try to avoid doing it.
"'bout time ya showed up," the man called out to the team as he got closer. Everyone glanced at one another, not realizing that they were going to have a camp counselor. "Thought ya got lost," he added jokingly.
"Desmond." Gideon held his hand out to the man, who took it giving it a quick shake. As a formality, he ran through all his agent's names who tiredly greeted him in return. "You gonna take good care of them?"
"Ah, you're not getting out of this so easily," Desmond corrected him, "you're participating in this too."
Garcia let out an audible and offended gasp. "You were trying to pawn us off!"
"I was not."
"Yes, you were," JJ added with a smirk. "You're a part of this team too, Gideon."
"He and Hotch were probably gonna sneak off and go fishing," Morgan said with a laugh.
Hotch leaned over to Gideon. "Did you tell them about that?"
Gideon swatted him away, suppressing a smile of his own. Of course, he was a part of the team, and as much as he loved them and would do anything for them, why did he have to suffer through what was practically basic FBI training? If any of them needed to be fully apart of this trip it was Morgan, Elle, and JJ since they were the ones who truly seemed like they couldn't stand each other, everyone else should've been allowed to go home. They worked as a team, and they improved as a team. That's how it would always work.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Desmond started, shaking his head, "c'mon."
They followed the older man towards the main area of the retreat, the moment they were at a reasonable distance, the helicopter decided it was time to take off. That was the nail in the coffin that they were really going through with this retreat, there was no way in or out in the retreat area without air travel. Once the sound of the rotating blades faded off into the distance, the only thing that could be heard around them was the sound of nature and nature only. Birds, wildlife, the trees, and somewhere in the distance there was a waterfall that could be heard. Man, Gideon couldn't help but think of the fish that he could have caught up here. Being in the middle of nowhere while slightly unnerving was also somewhat peaceful, it was strange not constantly having the sound of traffic in the back of their minds.
"Cabins won't be used the entire trip," Desmond started, standing in the middle of the area. "Eventually we'll make out way further into the woods."
"And if we get murdered out here?" Elle asked jokingly. While it was obvious it was a joke, Reid couldn't help but overthink about that question a bit. With so little light out here to begin with, just think how dark it'll be when it's nighttime. If there was supposedly a murderer out there somewhere they would be defenseless.
"You're scaring Reid."
"I'm not scared," he answered almost too quickly, eyes wide as he was doing a quick glance around the area. "It's government property, there couldn't possibly be any murderers out here… Right?" He looked over at Desmond for some type of reassurance.
"No, no murderers, you're all safe. God, you're agents, ain'tcha?" Desmond shook his head. "Get comfortable, it's gonna be a looong week."
"What if he's the murderer?" Garcia whispered.
"Then you'd be the first to go, mama."
"God, I hope so…"
The team split up to go into their respective cabins; JJ, Elle, and Garcia went into one while the guys went into the other. Surprisingly, while the outside of the cabins looked less than good the inside was well kept. Each had five beds, and a table in the center of the single room, it was cozy, to say the least, too bad they wouldn't be staying in there for long.
"So… why aren't we staying?" Reid questioned, sitting with his legs crossed in the bed he picked underneath one of the three windows.
"For a genius, you sure don't know anything about camping, huh?" Morgan teased the person he always saw as a younger brother.
"I've read about it. I wasn't allowed to camp as a kid, my mom thought it was too dangerous."
"Aw, man. Putting our lives on the line in the field is one thing, don't you dare tell her that you went camping, kid."
"And have you been camping before, Morgan?" Hotch questioned, throwing his bag onto the floor in front of his bed. The silence that Morgan gave off was loud enough to realize that he's never been before either. "Uhhuh… that's what I figured."
"I just work so much…"
"Right… that's it."
Gideon peeked through the blinds that fell over the window next to his bed, there wasn't anything for miles besides what appeared to be a lounging building and Desmond's office. "Think he'll murder me if I sneak away to do a bit of fishing?" He asked the other agents, turning to look at them. Out of habit, Gideon pulled out his phone only to be greeted with a message that there was no service. "It's almost blissful." He flashed the screen to them. "No calls."
"Yeah… great…" Hotch said under his breath, checking his own phone to see it had the same message. Sure, he wouldn't have minded missing the work calls, but it was the family calls he was going to miss out on for the week. He was already gone too much, he didn't want them to think he bailed on them for an entire week to play outside in the middle of nowhere.
"What's wrong with you guys? You seem miserable." Morgan looked from Hotch to Reid, who had the palms of his hands resting under his chin. "Homesick? We just got here."
"Unfamiliar place," was all Reid said before shifting his body so his back was to them.
"You're anxious? Here?" Morgan looked to the older agents to see if he was missing something, but they only shook their heads to silently tell him to not make a big deal out of it.
"You'll be fine, kid," Gideon reassured him.
"Are you kidding me?!" Garcia practically shouted from her bed. Sitting in her lap was her laptop, even though they were told that they should leave their electronics at home that wasn't something Garcia was willing to part with so lightly. JJ and Elle looked at her to see what was going on. "There's no Wi-Fi, no cell service, nothin'!"
"They did warn us about that," JJ reminded her as she was packing her clothes gently in the dressers that were provided for them to use. "I think there's a landline though."
Garcia waved her away, tossing the useless laptop down next to her on the bed, folding her arms over her chest as she pouted as if that was going to change the fact that there wasn't any service. She still didn't understand why she had to join them, she never worked in the field, that wasn't her department.
"Just because you guys can't keep it together means I have to suffer?"
"Excuse me?" Elle questioned, putting her hands on her hips.
"…joking." Garcia stood up to stretch her legs that were still sore from being scrunched up in the helicopter. She peeked out the window, the sun shining through the tree line. "I'll admit it, it's pretty here though. I think I'd move out here."
"If there was service?"
"If there was service. Gotta keep that murderer camp counselor on his toes, don't we?"
"Oh, c'mon, he seems nice." JJ folded her arms over her chest.
"You say that now. You'd go crazy if you lived up here with no idea what civilization is."
"I am so happy you don't work in the field."
There was a heavy knock at the cabin door, startling the girls inside as they turned around with wide eyes no prepared for that. Only silence followed for only a moment before the familiar voice of Desmond came from the other side with another short knock.
"Doin' a quick run down whenever y'all are ready," he called before his footsteps could be heard walking away.
They each let out a sigh. Why were they so on edge? They were in the middle of nowhere with nobody but their team, if anything happened to them at least they were all together. Dammit, why did Elle have to bring up the most unlikely scenario to freak them all out?
Meeting up with the rest of the team outside, the sun was higher in the sky, meaning it was getting more humid and hotter out here. Reid kept tugging at the collar of his long-sleeve buttoned-down shirt, he was beginning to feel uncomfortable in it and couldn't wait to change. At a younger age, Reid always felt like he was left out on the fun not being able to go camping with kids his own age, but seeing how the humidity was going to last with them for the rest of the week maybe he was already all funned out.
"The first day or two you'll be staying in the cabins until you get used to being out here," Desmond started his presentation, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. "Eventually we're going to move into the woods with tents. Being out here hopefully gives everybody a clear mind to get back to work with 100% focus while not jumping down everyone's throats. Later on tonight we're going to have a chance to clear the air to figure out the root of the issue."
Elle cleared her throat, giving a side glance towards JJ who glared back at her.
"Yeah, I already know the problem," Morgan piped up, the majority of his face was covered by his sunglasses. "It's- Ow!" He stopped when Hotch not so subtly elbowed him directly in his ribs.
"We'll get there, we'll get there," Desmond reassured them. "Take the time to get the know the area, I'll gather you all later." He turned on his heels, heading back into his own small cabin office.
"C'mon, kid," Morgan told Reid, motioning for him to follow him to the tree line.
Reid didn't say anything, instead, he followed the man who he considered to be a big brother. Like any younger brother, Reid assumed that Morgan knew exactly where they were going, but in reality, he wanted to see if he could find a spot in the woods that had a random spot of phone service.
"Don't get lost!" Gideon called after them. Morgan waved at him as they kept going towards the trees.
"I wouldn't mind him getting lost," Elle said out loud with a smirk, earning a chuckle for JJ.
"Hm… but Spence is with him. I don't want him getting lost yet."
"You guys are brutal," Gideon butted in. "What about your bear theory?"
JJ only shrugged in response.
"I am… totally… not… going to see if I can get my computer to work," Garcia announced, inching slowly towards the cabin. "I'm allergic to… everything out here."