"I am not opening the door to them," Emily said firmly, standing in her hallway and blocking her two friends' view of said door.

JJ and Reid exchanged looks.

"No." she said with more emphasis. "You'll just encourage them."

"They're carollers, Emily. I'm pretty sure that you're meant to encourage them."

Emily glared darkly at her blonde-haired friend and her gangly one for good measure, he wasn't helping at all. He was her boyfriend. He was meant to be on her side and defend her against these intruders?

"I thought you were supposed to carol sing outside," Emily muttered. "I should be safe in an apartment."

"Carollers go door to door," Reid explained. "It's just that historically apartments haven't exactly been a thing. In the nineteenth century-"

"I'd be happy if the skipped my door," Emily grumbled, folding her arms and leaning against her door so her friends didn't dart around her.

It didn't stop JJ from trying though.

"It's not like they're planning an invasion," she scolded, though she failed to hide the humour in her voice. "They're just singing in the corridor."

"That counts as an invasion in my books," Emily grumbled, eyeing her furniture. Maybe if she put a barricade up?

She tugged Reid back from the door, he had been trying to edge close to it. He pouted at her.

"Why do you not like them anyway?" he asked. "I thought you liked carols?"

"In church," when she actually attended. "Or on the radio," she added shortly. "When I have a choice in hearing them. Not when they're shoved in my face by people singing badly and off-key."

She swore they sang like that on purpose. Probably thought it sounded quaint or something.

"I think these ones are okay," Reid said, looking thoughtfully at the door as if her could see them approaching. "You could sort of hear them from downstairs and they have nice voices..."

"Everyone sounds okay from a distance," Emily grumbled and then added peevishly, "If we can hear them from another floor then they're singing too loud."

"What about carols played over mall sound systems?" JJ asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Horrible and torturous," Emily said promptly, only to make JJ's eyebrow to go higher.

JJ tutted disapprovingly but Emily smugly took note of the fact the trying blonde woman didn't disagree with her.

"It's because malls only ever play from one CD so you're hearing the same loop of songs constantly which, theoretically, can drive you mad. Akin to a repetitive noise in a quiet room."

JJ's raised eyebrow was now directed at Reid.

"Did you just compare Christmas music with torture techniques?"

There was silence at that pronouncement. Reid frowned and shook his head. Apparently, he hadn't meant to do that but it sort of came out that way. Like a lot of Reid's comments did.

"I mean, he isn't wrong," Emily stated.

JJ pinched the bridge of her nose. "Emily, no."

"Come on, JJ, you have to admit that they're pretty annoying."

"They're sweet," JJ said stubbornly. "And full of Christmas cheer."

"What if I don't want Christmas cheer blasted at me in horribly out of tune voices?"

"They aren't that much out of tune," Reid said, cocking his head to one side to hear the faint strains of music that definitely wasn't so faint anymore. "Definitely not enough to say it's torture." JJ agreed.

"We all have very different definitions of what constitutes as torture," Emily grumbled.

"The Mall nearest to me played each song a total of five thousand, nine hundred- and eighty-two-times last Christmas," Reid volunteered. "Is that torture?"

Both women stared at him with both awestruck and horrified faces. Emily didn't know why they were all still shocked when Reid came out with things like this but they were. They were just so bizarre.

"How?" Emily spluttered out.

JJ nudged her and gave her a look. Right. This was Spencer Reid. This was quite a tame fact actually. Still bizarre.

"I think that only counts as torture if you were forced to listen to it all at once," JJ told him.

Why were they discussing how torturous Christmas music could be when they could ne barricading her door against the invasive carollers?

She edged closer to it again in vain hope but JJ grabbed her and pulled her back.

"No," she was scolded like she was Henry.

Had she mentioned how well her friend pulled off the annoyed mom look?

"It's my flat," Emily complained.

She shouldn't be stopped from doing things in her own home. It wasn't fair.

"Just listen to the carollers, Emily."

"But I don't want to," she whined.

Just because people thought that that was the best way to spread Christmas cheer did not mean she had to agree.

"They'll just knock until you come out."

"We can just pretend there's no one in."

"Pretty sure they saw us as we came up here."

Well, she hadn't realised that they were carollers at that point but she groaned. There really wasn't going to be a way out of this, was there?

They all heard a faint rapping noise and a door opening before a burst of song. It was 'Silent Night' this time and none of the singers very obviously could not hit the high notes. Emily winced. That was just on the opposite end of the hall. They were gaining on her.

"Maybe I should get a sign..." she wondered out loud.

"No," JJ said firmly.

"People put them up for 'no soliciting' and 'no junk mail'," Emily argued. "I should be able to put up one for 'no carolling'."

JJ raised an eyebrow, "And how many of those signs do people actually read?"

Emily muttered something unintelligible under her breath. It wasn't in English nor was it anything polite.

It was too late now; she was going to be invaded and it was all her so-called friends' fault.

JJ nudged her. "Go on, open it."

Emily glared at her and folded her arms. Just because she was accepting (begrudgingly) her loss of control of this situation did not mean she had to partake in it.