A/N: I'm so sorry I forgot to update yesterday, it completely slipped my mind! Yesterday was the first day of online school, and it was HORRIBLE. SO boring! Anyways, here's a nice cute fluffy chapter for you, please read and review!
But it was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear?
Didn't I, my dear?
Mumford & Sons, Little Lion Man
"Happy October everyone!" Reid announced on Friday as he walked into the shop, skinny twig arms laden with bags from the local decor store. Gideon was behind him, with even more bags.
"Hey Jason, I didn't know you were coming in today." Rossi had paused his browsing of the shelves when his old friend came in.
"Wasn't planning to. But it's October 1st and Spencer's favorite holiday is Halloween, so we got some decorations for the shop."
"Ok dad, that's adorable," Elle came out from behind the counter to take some of the bags off of Spencer and Gideon's arms. She set them on the table by the front window.
"Dad?" Hotch asked as he took the rest of the bags.
"Not really, Newbie. Gideon's been acting like Elle's dad for as long as I can remember, so the nickname stuck. They are not dating." Elle snorted, but Gideon just looked confused.
"Hotch mistook Prentiss and Rossi's very obvious father-daughter relationship for a romantic one," Elle explained. Gideon's confused face morphed to one of disgust.
"That would be… wrong, for either pair."
"Tell me about it," Elle agreed.
"You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?" Hotch complained.
"Nope," said JJ from her desk, popping the 'p.' He just sighed in defeat.
"It's a slow day, we can take shifts in decorating. It'll be fun," Alex suggested.
"Can we help?" Derek asked, referring to him and JJ.
"Sure, I don't care. Just don't get hurt and sue us and we're fine," Alex joked. "James and Hotch on registers, Tara and Kate on coffee, Emily, the books can wait to be shelved for a day. We'll switch in a half hour." The team set out to work. They stretched fake cobwebs over the shelves, complete with tiny plastic spiders. They had more cobwebs for the front of the store, and a giant fake spider with orange eyes. A creepy scarecrow propped up against the wall, next to a slumped over skeleton. A witch hung from the hook in the front face of the building.
They switched, with Jason and Spencer on registers and Elle and Penelope on coffee. They had found a Halloween playlist on Spotify and played it through a Bluetooth speaker. Emily was currently trying to hang a stick-on light fixture from the ceiling by standing on a large stack of books. She was not very successful. Hotch saw her standing on the books and smiled. It was the season of Halloween, so a little spooking could be forgiven. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her legs, lifting her into the air.
"AH! Avocado peppers on toast, Hotchner, you scared me. Now put me down."
"And let you stand on a very unsteady stack of books so you can fall and get hurt later? Not a chance. Stick your lantern on the ceiling."
"I'm going to hurt you if you don't put me down."
"Prentiss, you seem to think you're huge. I hate to break it to you, but you're pretty tiny."
"I wasn't referring to my weight Hotch. I will break your fingers myself if you don't put me down."
"Whatever. Just put your light fixture on and I'll put you down."
"You're insufferable, you know that right?" She said, but she put the decoration up anyways, and as promised he set her back down.
"Hey James, can you hang this up for me?" Alex requested from the other side of the store. Of course, he hopped up and went over to her immediately. "It's this stupid ghost. Even with my boots on I can't reach it."
"Let me see, shortie."
"Hey!"
"In your defense, everyone's short compared to me. Your reaction is just the funniest."
"Haha," she said sarcastically. "I know, I know, you're ten inches taller than me and you'll never let me forget it. Now, will you hang up the ghost for me? Please?"
"Sure Allie. At least you aren't standing on a pile of books like Prentiss was."
"I was about two minutes from trying it. Then I remembered I have a giant at hand."
"6'5" is not that tall for a guy, you know."
"It's tall for a girl who's only 5'7" though. And it's tall enough for you to hang up a plastic ghost."
"Is that all I am to you? A giant?" His tone was purely humorous.
"Of course not! You know that."
"I'm joking Alex. There, look good?" He stepped back to show her the ghost he had hung up on the corner of the bookshelf.
"Perfect. Thanks James."
"Anytime Alex." As he walked towards the front of the store to get more decorations, he saw Morgan making kissing faces at him and laughing.
"Shut up," he mumbled, lightly hitting him on the arm.
"Seriously, why don't you just ask her out already?"
"Because what if she says no? I don't want to lose our friendship."
"Dude. She's not gonna say no. Trust me."
"Whatever," James brushed him off and proceeded to the front of the store where the others were. The entire shop was completely spook-ified as Garcia called it. Gideon had picked up lots of the lanterns that Emily had been trying to hang up, and together Hotch and Emily and James and Alex put them over all of the lights. Emily and Alex didn't love being picked up all the time, but it made the others laugh and it was kind of fun. The lanterns cast an eerie glow over the shop, adding to the atmosphere of the shop. The fake webs had been spread over all of the shelves and the display case by the coffee shop.
Everybody was laughing and joking around, even Gideon. Morgan and Garcia were dancing together, Spencer was telling them all facts about Halloween's origin in Celtic mythology and Pagan celebrations, and even Emily was singing softly to herself. The mood was one of light and happiness as the holiday joy swept over all of them. It was now 11:00 at night, and they were all sitting in the seating area of the coffee shop, sipping on various hot drinks to fend off the chilly autumn air. Tara, Gideon, Hotch, Rossi, James, and Derek all had normal coffees, Spencer had a sugary coffee drink complete with whipped cream, JJ, Penelope, and Kate all had hot chocolate, and Alex, Elle, and Emily were sipping on hot apple cider.
"Ok, so we all know Halloween is Spencer's favorite holiday, but I don't know about the rest of you. When I point at you, tell your favorite holiday and why," Garcia said cheerfully. "You." She pointed at Gideon.
"I'm simple; Christmas. It has so much happiness and kindness from everyone, all around."
"I can see that. You." Rossi was her next victim.
"New Years Eve. I love the excitement and the wine."
"Yeah, well only you, Gideon, Elle, and James can legally drink in this group, so remember that," Kate pointed out.
"I'll be able to next year," Alex said.
"Your turn Elle."
"Hmm, alright fair warning, it's going to sound strange."
"Ok…"
"Canada Day. Their Independence Day celebrations are so much better than ours. Up there, everyone takes a quiet day to picnic and play games with their family, and they have these big tents with a bunch of food vendors you can eat at, and they give you little Canadian flag pins. They'll paint maple leaves on your face too. Here we make a bunch of loud noises, throw hard candy at innocent children, and blow shit up all night."
"That's true. We celebrate our independence in strange ways," Kate agreed.
"Your turn."
"I don't really have one, but if I had to pick I'd say Mardi Gras. It's so festive."
"Tara. Go."
"Without a doubt, I say Christmas. You get an excuse to eat a bunch of chocolates and watch movies all day."
"She has a point," Derek said.
"Chocolate Thunder, favorite holiday and why."
"Technically not a holiday, but my ma's birthday. It's just a great time."
"JJ, your turn."
"Well, it's going to sound dumb now that Elle said hers was Canada Day, but 4th of July. You get free candy and then afterwards you go swim in a pool all day with your friends. It's great. And the fireworks are beautiful too."
"I can understand that I guess," Elle said.
"James, your turn."
"I'd have to go with Thanksgiving. It's a holiday about food and family, what's not to love?"
"Alex Miller."
"I think I'd have to say Thanksgiving too. It's a holiday about peace and giving and pie."
"Add world languages and you wouldn't even have to think about it," James joked. She hit him in the shoulder lightly.
"Baby Girl, what's your favorite?"
"Well, Sweetness, I love Easter. It's all about cute animals and petting zoos and hunting for chocolate!" They all nodded, knowing that Garcia would love that.
"What about you Hotch?"
"Actually, I'm with Garcia on this one, but for different reasons. It's my little brother's favorite holiday."
"That's cute," Garcia said before moving into her last victim. "Goth Gumdrop, your turn."
"Like Spencer said, Halloween. You can be whoever you want to be, without anyone judging you or saying you have to do something else for appearance's sake. You get to pretend for a day. Also, Whoppers."
"Whoppers? Out of all the Halloween candy in the world and you pick Whoppers?" Hotch laughed, a lovely sound. A rare one too.
"What? They're good! What's your favorite then?"
"Twix. Or Snickers. All around good candies."
"That's boring, everyone always picks one of those two. The best Halloween candy is Hershey's Cookies and Cream bars," Elle said.
"I, personally, like Smarties," said Gideon.
"Why does that make so much sense?" Elle mumbled with a smile. The night soon dissolved into arguments about candy favorites.
"As long as we can all agree that Twizzlers are nobody's favorite."
"That's for sure."
"Yeah, I mean, they're good but not that good, y'know?"
"That's fair."
"I can see that."
"Actually, I like Twizzlers!"
"Spencer I swear to God…"
"Agree to disagree," JJ offered, and Spencer just shrugged. "I'll take that as a yes."
"We should tell scary stories!" Penelope exclaimed with joy.
"Ooh, I've got a good one," JJ said. "This is actually why I'm afraid of the woods."
"You're afraid of the woods?" Elle snorted.
"You're one to talk, Elle scared-of-wasps Greenaway."
"Everyone's scared of wasps! They're like bees but meaner and with unlimited stings."
"Anyways, I was a counselor at this overnight summer camp back in Pennsylvania. It was adorable, the cabins were your picture-perfect log cottages, we roasted marshmallows over a fire, things like that. There were all your classic summer camp activities, like hiking, swimming, boating, archery, we had it all. It was a great camp, right on the edge of a lake in the middle of the great Pennsylvanian wilderness. I was one of the counselors who actually stayed in the cabins with the campers."
"I guess one of my kids had a nightmare, and had an accident. They were embarrassed and they asked me if I could get them a new pair of sheets. Of course I said yes, and together we stripped the bed and put the dirty sheets under the bed. Extra sheets were kept in the camp director's private cabin, so I told the kid I'd be back in a couple minutes, and got a flashlight and walked over to the director's cabin. I knocked on the door and he didn't answer, which made sense since it was probably 2 in the morning. I rang the doorbell a few times, still nothing. Maybe he's just a heavy sleeper.
"All of the counselors had a key to the director's cabin in case of emergency. I thought, 'oh, I'll just use my key and get the sheets and then slip back out so I won't have to wake him.' I got in, set my flashlight down, and grabbed the sheets. As I was about to leave, I saw a bit of red out of the corner of my eye, so I went to see what it was. It was blood. The camp director had been stabbed and there was so much blood. I screamed so loudly. Everything else forgotten, I ran right back out of the cabin, covered in blood. In the haste of getting out of there, I had forgotten my flashlight, but I didn't realize. I ran right into the woods, in the middle of the night, without a flashlight. I couldn't see a thing."
"I just stood there, screaming at the top of my lungs, until one of the other counselors must have heard me and came to the rescue. She had already found the director after my first scream and called the police. They caught the school nurse trying to leave town the next day. Apparently, he had had enough so he stabbed him. I've hated the woods ever since."
"JJ, is that true?" Morgan asked tentatively.
"Did that really happen?" Spencer asked, his voice barely above a whisper. She looked at the stunned faces of all her friends before she broke down laughing.
"No! Of course it's not true. I don't know why I'm afraid of the woods, I just am. Why is Tara afraid of needles?"
"Oh, so you're telling me you like someone stabbing you with a tiny hollow spear?" They all started laughing and chuckling once the shock wore off.
"So JJ's afraid of the woods, Spencer is afraid of the dark, Tara's afraid of needles, Elle's afraid of the dark, I'm afraid of blood, guns, and clowns, what's everyone else afraid of?"
"Myself," Gideon said.
"I hate birds," Kate offered with a shrug.
"Birds are beautiful and majestic," Gideon argued
"I think an angry woman can be terrifying," Derek laughed.
"Damn right," Elle smirked.
"Ignorance," Alex shuddered, and they all laughed. Of course Alex would be afraid of that.
"Bats. They're like rats but they can fly," James said.
"Don't laugh, but spiders," Hotch said. Emily snorted.
"I'm sorry, I know you said don't laugh but picturing a 6'2", 180 pounds, muscular guy like you jumping out of your skin from a spider is hilarious. Hotch roller his eyes in exasperation.
"Serial killers are pretty scary," Rossi said, and Gideon chuckled. They were both retired now, but they both used to work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, profiling serial killers.
"What about you Prentiss?"
"It's either something really deep, like her future, or it's something really normal, like heights," Garcia speculated.
"If we guess it, will you tell us?" Elle asked her.
"Maybe." Gideon looked at her in deep thought.
"There's two," he said quietly.
"Not bad, Profiler," she confirmed.
"The first one, you don't know where it came from, it just is. You like to be in control, you need it, so I'd say it's… turbulence."
"I'm impressed," she nodded. "What else you got?"
"Like I said, you have to be in control, so something that takes that away, fear of oceans or deep water, fear of fire, fear of storms."
"Not storms, I love the rain and lightning."
"Not storms then. I've also noticed that you hate being the same as everyone else. Being average. This is deeply rooted in your childhood, maybe being forced into a mold that didn't fit or constant fear of being a disappointment."
"Alright you can stop now…"
"Your mother probably wasn't around much, and your father wasn't there at all. You tried to impress her but nothing worked, so you went to other means to get her attention."
"Stop."
"Jason," Rossi lightly touched his friend's shoulder. "Drop it."
"Dave, they wanted answers, they're getting answers. As a child, you were probably forced to be a picture-perfect child, and you hated it-"
"Gideon. Leave it," Elle had cut in this time, and Gideon held up his hands in surrender.
"I apologize. You can't turn the profiler off, I'm afraid."
"We should probably lock up, actually," Alex said, looking at her watch. "It's almost midnight." They nodded and started replacing the chairs where they came from. Gideon and Rossi left first, offering to walk Tara, JJ, and Kate out to their cars. You could never be too careful, even in a small town like this where the threat seemed non-existent.
"Is anyone working the morning shift tomorrow?" Elle asked as she made sure all of the coffee pots were turned off.
"I'm doing a double, I'm taking Sunday off, I don't know about the others though," Emily answered.
"That's something at least. I'm taking the morning shift and the entire shift staff is just bitchy old people, complaining about how 'kids these days' don't know what they're doing. Most of our customers are students and 20-somethings, they're hurting business."
"Ugh. They'll probably have a field day over me. I haven't taken a morning shift in months, and last time it was just me and this one nice old lady, Robin. She quit about a month ago to spend time with her new grandkid."
"Yeah, you're fucked. One of the newest ones, Barnes, she's a mega-bitch, and super uptight."
"Lovely. I pity you, at least I can hide behind shelves all day."
"It's a nightmare!" Elle said with fake-cheeriness, causing them all to crack a smile.
They all walked out of the shop laughing and smiling.
A/N: My tumblr is thestrawberrygirl if anyone wants to chat! I'm always looking to make new friends, send me an ask or message over there! I love to talk about this story! PLEASE review, it only takes a second!
