Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds
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When Reid awoke the next morning he looked out the window to see the snow had not lessened and it looked like a white out. He could barely see the red, green and yellow of the streetlights and not much else. It was Christmas morning; for him that usually meant very little. After his father had left, there were really no more Christmases in the sense most people had of Christmas. His mother was off in her own little world much of the time and he had been too small to go out and get a tree. There wouldn't have been any gifts under it anyway. Some Christmas cards had come early on from friends and colleagues of his mother's but when she didn't respond, they slowly dwindled until there were none.
This year however, he was with the team and there would be a tree and presents. He hoped he had made good choices for his teammates. He made his way to the bathroom turning the television to a radio station. He could hear the strains of Silent Night fill the room and then the announcer said. "That weather out there is really wreaking havoc with this Christmas day. The homeless shelter down on Montgomery and 5th was to have a traditional Christmas dinner for the homeless and less fortunate of our community and people are still welcome although it might not be the meal planned. Many of the volunteers have been unable to get there due to the terrible weather. If there's anyone out there who can spare the time the shelter could really use the help to give the needy of our community a better Christmas." The carols started to play once again.
Reid's phone rang. He came running out of the bathroom, banging his knee on the side of the bed, "Ow, damn, Reid," he said picking up the phone.
"And a very Merry Christmas to you, honeybunch," Garcia said brightly. "I'm taking a vote, breakfast first or presents?"
"Oh, Merry Christmas to you too Garcia. Uh, it doesn't matter to me, whatever the majority wants is fine."
"Well guess what, we have three for presents and three for breakfast, you my dear are the deciding vote.
"Oh, uh, oh, well I don't, what did you pick Garcia?"
"You know me Reid, I love presents."
"Then presents it is, we can always eat later."
"Okay then, get your cute butt over here and we'll start opening presents."
He hung up the phone, finished dressing and made his way to Garcia's room. What if nobody liked what he'd chosen, he thought as he walked down the deserted hallway. He so rarely bought gifts, there was no one to buy for except his mother and she didn't realize anyway. Reid knocked on the door and it was opened by a smiling Emily, "Merry Christmas Reid."
"Merry Christmas Emily," he smiled as well, entering the room. The team was all there and they all exchanged Christmas greetings. Garcia came out of the bathroom wearing a red and white Santa's hat on her head. Reid grinned; of course she would wear a Santa hat.
"Good morning, sweet thing, Merry Christmas again." Garcia proceeded to the corner where the tree sparkled with bright lights reflecting off the shiny red tinsel while ornaments of glossy red, gold and green adorned the branches. She started handing out gifts.
The first gift Reid was passed was from Emily. He neatly undid the red and gold striped paper to find a beautiful pair of brown leather gloves. Reid often had a problem with gloves because of his long fingers but when he slid his hands between the soft leather, they fit perfectly. "Thank you Emily, they're great." Emily smiled, happy that Reid had liked her gift.
Garcia passed Emily her gift from Reid. Reid held his breath as she opened it. "A book of poetry by Maya Angilou, oh and a box of chocolates to eat while I read it. You remembered that I love chocolate. Thank you Reid, I love it." Reid thought her smile was genuine.
Garcia had her present from him as well and she opened it to find a hot pink pen like the old plumed pens. "Perfect," she said, "I love it." She dug further and found two combs for her hair in leopard print and a snow globe that played 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree'. "Oh, Reid, you know me too well. These are great." Reid found himself smiling. "Open this it's from me," Garcia passed him a square box. Reid tore off the paper to find a Star Trek jigsaw puzzle. "It's supposed to be really hard, 3000 pieces."
Morgan was also opening his gift from Garcia and he started to laugh then pointed his finger at her, "Mama, you have been a bad girl."
"What did you get, Morgan," Rossi asked.
Morgan took his gift, a pair of white boxer shorts with big red hearts on them, out of the box for all to see. "You do realize you have to model those, don't you Morgan," JJ said and the whole team laughed.
They continued to open gifts. Hotch and Rossi got many books although Hotch received some monogrammed handkerchiefs from Emily. Hotch looked at the large box he was handed from Garcia. "This can't be a book," he said skeptically, after all this was Garcia. He unwrapped the gift to find a tabletop water fountain.
"I thought you could put it in your office and it would soothe you when you're doing paperwork," Garcia explained.
"Or have him running to the bathroom," Morgan added.
Garcia handed JJ her gift from Reid and he was again on pins and needles as JJ undid the wrapping. She opened the box to find a butterfly necklace done in delicate gold filigree. JJ gasped, "Oh Spence, it's lovely." She fingered the delicate gold work, "I have to put it on." She held the necklace while Emily hooked the clasp and then she jumped up to look in the mirror. "Oh Spence, it's perfect." She was beaming as she rejoined the group.
The last gift Reid received was from JJ. "This is going to seem so stupid after what you gave me," she said as he tore off the paper. He opened the box to find eight different socks clipped together with paper clips into four mismatched pairs. A huge smile spread across Reid's face and everyone started to laugh.
"You should have seen her last night," Garcia told them. Snipping the pairs apart and trying to decide which ones to put together and fighting to get the paper clips over them. Emily and I were laughing so hard."
The team laughed as well. Reid didn't laugh although the smile never left his face. He was very touched by the kind and thoughtful thing his friend had done for him.
After the gift opening was complete, the team headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. There were few patrons in the restaurant as would be expected on Christmas morning. "Well, what are we gonna do with the rest of the day. It's Christmas and nothing will be open," Morgan said, looking questioningly at his teammates.
The waitress appeared and orders were taken, then Reid said, "I think I have an idea."
