A/N – Thank you so much for all the reviews and alerts so far! This is only going to be four chapters long, and they are all done so there isn't a long wait at all! Thanks again.

For disclaimer see chapter one.

Dinner was Italian; for all that Rossi complained that such restaurants made him feel guilty, it was still a popular choice. Hotch surprised them all by asking an amused looking waiter if he'd ever heard of Mama Rossi's special carbonara, and could he please have his food prepared the same way. What made it even better was the straight face with which he asked the question, and the subsequent blush that flooded Rossi's face.

It was the first meal they had eaten together since Emily's return where Derek felt entirely at ease, and he promised himself he would call Garcia when he was done to tell her that she had been right all along and things did feel like they had done before. Emily and JJ were teasing Reid about his ineptness with cutlery and, most importantly, Reid was playing along. Then Hotch made a dry comment about chopsticks and Reid laughed; Rossi caught Morgan's eye after that and smiled. So he felt it too. For some reason that smile strengthened Derek's reserve and in the hotel bar afterwards he made a point of buying Hotch a beer and hoping that the other man understood that there were no hard feelings.

Just after eleven, Derek slipped out to call Garcia. It was even colder than before, but the chilly air immediately helped clear his head. There was a small garden next to the hotel and he settled on a bench. First he called his mom to tell her that he was booked onto a plane and would be arriving the next afternoon, and by the time he was done there were low voices just around the corner and he stood up to see that Hotch and Rossi had come out too. They must have thought he was still inside because Rossi appeared to have broken out the 'so secret that everyone knows about them' post-case cigars. He lit them with a flourish and passed one to Hotch who murmured his thanks.

Chuckling, his vantage point concealed, Derek dialled Garcia and waited patiently for her to answer. When she did, she didn't sound like Garcia.

"Hello?"

"Baby girl? You okay?"

"Simone had to cancel on me," she sighed, "Major chicken pox outbreak."

Hearing the barely concealed tears in her voice, Derek's heart clenched painfully.

"What are you going to do?"

"Oh, I'll find something," she said breezily, "I have other friends who'll take in a stray for the holidays."

She seemed to have forgotten that she had never been able to lie to him, and by then a plan was already taking shape in his head and so he played along with her game.

"Well I sure hope so. You were right by the way," he changed the subject, "We all had dinner and it was just like old times. Better even."

"See? Didn't I tell you never to question the High Priestess?"

"You sure did. Hey, are you going to be okay?"

"Yep," she chirped, "Let me know when you get to Chicago, okay?"

"I will. Goodnight, Garcia."

"Goodnight Derek."

Sliding his phone into his jacket pocket, he let his plan take shape in his head. He'd be damned if Garcia was going to be spending the holiday alone, let alone with some friend who she didn't really want to be with. He'd told her that letting Kevin go on his trip over Christmas would be a bad idea but had she listened to him? Had she ever. Sometimes he suspected that if he had been a woman, Penelope would listen to his advice more.

Rounding the corner, he cleared his throat loudly. Hotch and Rossi jumped guiltily, but neither relinquished their cigars.

"Even Reid knows about your little ritual," Derek grinned, "You're not fooling anyone."

"Busted," Rossi grumbled, inhaling lengthily as though to make a point. Hotch was looking curiously at Derek, his own cigar resting lightly between his fingers, the curling grey ash pattering onto the snow at his feet.

"What's happening, Derek?"

"Actually, I need a favour, and I think one of you can help me…"

-HOW DEREK MORGAN SAVED CHRISTMAS-

It was shaping up to be a very strange day, and with each new occurrence Garcia wasn't sure that she was particularly enjoying it. She was too perturbed.

It started off ordinarily enough; she awoke early and decided, as she always did when she was upset, that cleaning the entire apartment would be a good idea. She launched into the task, and was up to her elbows in warm, soapy water when the phone rang for the first time that day. The 'Eye of the Tiger' ring tone told her that it was Hotch, so she wiped her hands to answer it and was treated to one of the strangest conversations she had ever had with him, and that included the several times one or the other of them was hopped up on morphine in a hospital bed. He asked her how she was, small talk that she most certainly didn't expect from him, and then asked her if she still kept a go-bag packed. She said that as of late she hadn't been, what with the whole team being back together. He then said that he wanted her to go and pack one right now, because she never knew when they might need her.

"But Hotch, we're on stand down," she said patiently, wondering what the hell Rossi had spiked their cigars with the night before.

"I know but I want you to be ready, Penelope. Promise me you'll do it right away."

And then he was gone and in a kind of bemusement she went to pack the bag he had demanded.

She'd barely finished folding a second clean skirt and the phone rang again. The 'Doctor Who' theme tune told her it was Reid. He told her that he was at the airport waiting for his flight and thought he would call to see if she thought that the gift he had got for their godson was suitable. She told him she might be able to comment if he told her what he had bought and for some reason that launched him into a whole lecture about toy safety checks and the laws in place and how he felt confident that when he purchased the toy telescope, Henry wouldn't be able to swallow any of it. About halfway through his seemingly random assault on her ears, Garcia caught on to what he was trying to do.

"Reid, did Derek tell you about my plans being cancelled?"

"Yes."

"Are you trying to distract me?"

There was a brief but telling pause before he answered.

"Yes."

After that, predictably, came calls from JJ and Emily – although neither of them made up lame excuses for calling her- and a brief message from Derek to say that he had landed in Chicago and it was snowing. JJ had already arrived in New Orleans when she got in touch. Everyone was settled for the holiday.

Except, apparently, David Rossi.

It was almost early evening when the crescendo of Sinatra's 'My Way' announced his call and Garcia answered with more good humour in her voice than she was feeling. There was only so much sympathy a girl could take.

"Hello?"

"Penelope? It's me. I'm sitting outside your apartment and its damn cold. Grab your go-bag and get out here before I freeze to death."

"I beg your pardon?" she said, moving to the window and searching for his car out on the street, "Where are we going?"

"Sweetheart, trust me when I say nothing pleases me more than helping out my friends but my goodwill diminishes rapidly in the cold. Get out here and then we'll talk."

Knowing Rossi well enough to know that he wasn't actually using his 'I am annoyed' voice, she took her time in gathering up what she needed, reflecting on two things as she did. Firstly, whatever Rossi was up to, he had talked about helping out 'friends'. She wondered who besides herself made this 'friends' the plural that it was. Secondly, as she hurried down the stairs and out to the car, she realised that Hotch's odd phone call must have been part of the plan all along. It must be a master plan to have snared Hotch and Rossi. It was a plan worthy of herself.

Only one person she knew could plan as stealthily and as underhanded as she.

What the hell was Derek up to?

Luckily, Rossi was more than generous with his answers. She slipped into the leather seat of his sinfully expensive car, her cheeks flushed from the cold and from hurrying to get to him. It was warm inside the car, the heater blasting luxuriously and she realised that the complaints about the cold had just been a ruse to make her move quickly. Rossi was smiling his crooked smile, and already reaching out to the CD player to turn down the sounds of Dean Martin and 'Winter Wonderland'.

"Got everything you need, kitten?"

"I'd know for sure if someone hadn't rushed me," she grumbled good naturedly, letting him start the engine and move away before she launched into her interrogation.

"Okay. Please tell me what's happening, right now and make it quick. I've been getting strange phone calls all day and suddenly you turn up here and –"

"Slow down, kitten. I'll tell you if you let me get a word in."

She glared at him but nodded, her lips pursed shut.

"I'm taking you to the airport. I'm putting you on a plane to Chicago where you're going to meet Derek and spend Christmas with him and his family. Is that quick enough for you?"

She gaped at him, lost for words, and he chuckled.

"It was his idea, you know. Derek's. I'm just a willing participant who happens to know some people who can get plane tickets at the last minute."

"I – I don't know what to say," she said eventually, "I'll have to pay you. How much was it? I think I've got my check-"

"Forget it, Penelope. Consider this my gift to you."

His voice was gentle, with just an edge to it that suggested he would be insulted if she pushed the matter, and so she put her book away in her purse and beamed at him.

"Thank you so much, sir."

"You are very welcome, Penelope."

It was only then that she realised what he was listening to.

"I thought you didn't like Christmas? What's with the music?"

"I'm going soft in my old age. I blame you and the others entirely."