A/N: I don't own Criminal Minds or anything you recognize. This time, I don't even own the teacher of the kids. I'm pulling the puppet strings for a few hours. So, sorry CBS/Mark Gordon.
A/N2: The place is a real place with a real tour and wine and cheese pairing. I've been the vineyard for a tasting but never had a tour so that's the writer's imagination.
A/N3: The routes they take are all real, thank you google maps!
A/N4: Comment for more, more, more.
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Dusk was shinning on Quantico. The last of the spring sky reds were illuminating the night. Aaron got out of the car, holding a bouquet of yellow tulips as she turned her car to park and shut off the lights.
"Miss Springer," he paused before he grinned. "Liza. You're late."
"I know. I lost track of time I'm so sorry." He presented her the flowers with a smile. She coo'd over them before gently putting them in the passenger seat of her car.
He nodded as he led her over to the SUV's passenger side, opened the door as she slid in, buckled and then he closed it. Aaron repeated the actions on his side, putting the keys in the ignition, the engine came to life. He hit number 3 on the dashboard console and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" came through the speakers.
Aaron guided the SUV onto route 1 and cracked the windows a smidge. He looked over at Liza to see her getting into the groove of Stevie. A small chuckled escaped her lips and she profusely apologize for acting like a two year old to the music.
"Where are we going, Mr. Hot-" she stopped, correcting herself, "Aaron. Where are we going?"
"A surprise." He smiled at her tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. She nodded and started to sing along. "So, Liza, where do you live that we met at the school? Far?"
"No, actually," she looked out the window, "we're going towards my house. I have a family homestead in Aquia Harbour. Nice little community. I feel like I could have just met you somewhere."
"Nonsense. It's okay. I drive this anyways to work." Aaron waved her off as they turned into Patawomeck Park. "Well, that's one reason I decided on Crossroads for Jack. It's near the Academy at Quantico."
"Yes," she nodded looking at the spring foliage coming back to life after their winter death spell. "We have a few agents' children. I've had a few agent's children in my class." He turned the SUV into a parking lot and told her to wait in the car, before shutting the engine off. "Thank you." She flashing him a smile as he opened the door and helped her get out of the car.
"My coworker suggested this," they walked down the concrete path to Potomac Point Winery. She nodded as they enjoyed the mild air over Virginia. At the door, he held it open for her, he followed.
"Thank you Aaron."
"Hello, welcome to Potomac Point, have you a reservation this evening?" The young man, no more than 25, was standing in a white suit with black shirt and shoes. Both nodded no.
"But I have a reservation, from David Rossi?" Aaron told him. Everyone turned toward a set of swinging double doors, where an elderly man came out. He was dressed in jeans and a purple polo shirt.
"You must be Agent Hotchner. Dave called me and told me you'd be coming." He shook Aaron's hand, and then took Liza's and kissed her palm. She blushed at the gentlemanly touch. "I'm Skip. My wife and I own this. Dave and I go way back. I'm glad I could help him out tonight."
"Wonderful. I'm Aaron and this is-" he looked at her not knowing how to finish the sentence. What was the proper form, he questioned internally.
"Hello Skip," her voice a welcome sense for Aaron, "I'm Liza Springer. Thanks for having Aaron and me this evening." Skip waved off the host and took them through the double doors where he came from.
The three of them walked into a spacious room with six garage doors leading to the outside. Six wooden barrels were on platforms as the sound of the liquid spilling into the barrels sounded them. Closed and open barrels were every few feet. Metal ducts were tangled above their heads as they each had a spout pouring into the six barrels. The smell of grapes permeated the air and their nostrils.
"This is our hosting room. We have the barrels in here ready to be transported to ferment. Those six barrels," he pointed to the ones being filled, "will be transported tonight to the shed out at the end of the vineyard, dates placed on them and they will sit for a year if not longer. This will be the twelfth trip to the shed for the tractor today." Aaron groaned, he started to sound like Spencer and his facts. "We fill 72 barrels a day." Skip walked them down the garage-like room and stopped at an empty barrel. "Each barrel is handcrafted by Jorge, takes him three days a barrel." The man came out of a room to their left, tool kit still around his waist.
"Hello, I'll show you my laboratory," the man with a Spanish accent chuckled. "I'll have them back soon, Skips." The couple, now hand in hand, walked into the room where Jorge was and he explained to them he has to pick the right wood for the barrels, depending on which type of wine they were making that week and then craft a barrel. He showed Liza, who had more interested than Aaron, the template, where he laid the wood beams. She ran her hand over the hard wood that was already there and Jorge even let her hammer a bolt into one of the black metal strips that held the barrel together.
"I did it!" She announced proudly looking at Aaron. He grinned and nodded. Jorge asked Aaron to flip a switch and the template machine roared to life, retracting to the ceiling leaving the barrel standing. "Wow." Both of the males looked at Liza who was completely entranced by the barrel. She asked a few questions about the wood and the machine itself.
They walked back out to Skip who was talking to a petite older redhead lady in a black tracksuit and sneakers. After wishing Aaron and Liza goodnight, Jorge went back into the room. Skip introduced the tracksuit clad woman as Cindi, his wife, and she walked with them explaining her vision of the vineyard after their kids left the nest. The four of them walked back towards the entrance where they took another set of swinging doors to the pressing machine was.
"We do a different wine weekly, making 360 barrels a week of a certain wine. Obviously we don't make wine in the winter." Cindi said as she walked to a container and grabbed a cluster of grapes. "This week," she shared the grapes with Aaron and Liza, "we're making pinot noir." The black grape was weak against their taste buds. "The barrel Jorge was making take roughly a day to make, by the time he strips the wood, sands the wood, lines it, heats it to make the curve of the barrel and finish the product. He lined it with a vanilla and oak mixture, safe for consumption; it gives it a different flavor." After they looked around the vats mixing the grapes, the four of them went back to the main room where a setting of cheese and wine was waiting at a table.
"How many bottles from one of those barrels, Cindi?" Liza questioned as she sat down at the table.
"Sixty gallons, 300 bottles." She said proudly. "We sell out every year. We also have an exclusive contract with a few places that sell our wines."
"That's how I met Agent Rossi," Skip interjected. "He was at a book launch party and they were serving our wine exclusively, I was invited and we hit it off well."
"Wonderful," Aaron's eyes rolled at the backstory but he went with it. Liza looked at the three of her companions in awe. This was a wonderful group of people, she noted.
A young lady and young man, clearly married and in love, came in through a door to the right of the entrance, holding a tray of wine in their hands. They introduced themselves as Lauren and Henry, Cindi and Skip's daughter and son-in-law. Telling them the pairings of each cheese and wine, the owners and their daughter and her husband, left the couple alone at the tables. Twinkling lights strung around the room gave a glow as the lights were dim.
Picking up a wedge of cheddar cheese, Aaron picked a piece off for himself and offered Liza some. Gratefully she took it, swirling around the Cabernet Savignon that was paired for it.
"Delicious. I love Cabernet." Liza told Aaron who mentally filed that nugget away for a future date. "This cheese is smooth too. Here." Liza brashly fed Aaron a piece as they both giggled.
Aaron returned the favor taking a chunk of the Parmesan cheese and feeding it to her. She smiled, lighting up the room. The Chianti sample pairing was just enough to lighten the taste of the cheese.
They went through the rest of the pairings, Gouda and Merlot, Havarti cheese with their sweet sparkling wine, mozzarella with a Vidal Blanche and Asiago with their desert cream sherry.
An hour later, Cindi and Skip came back out to wish Liza and Aaron goodnight. Aaron settled the bill, as Liza and Cindi talked about taking her class on a tour of the vineyard, leaving out the wine and fermenting process.
"Always watching out for those kids," Skip commented to Aaron who nodded. "First date?"
Aaron nodded. "How'd you know?"
They both replied to Aaron's comment. "Dave." With a handshake to Skip and promise to be back, Aaron lead Liza back to the SUV.
"I had a wonderful time tonight, Aaron," she commented as he opened the door for her. "This was wonderful. It was so casual yet fun and informative. Thank you." Aaron looked over at her and was taken by the red in her cheeks, no doubt from the wine and not the small walk they took to get back to the car. They made small talk about Jack and school and his progress – to which Liza was very complimentary.
"I didn't make this about Jack, tonight. I'm not trying to buy Jack a good grade," Aaron told her as he pulled into the school parking lot. "He's a smart kid, he doesn't need me to date his teacher to get ahead. I want to do this for me, for us." He opened his door, slid out, opened her door and helped her unbuckle.
They locked eyes as she stepped out of the SUV onto the pavement. Want flared in her eyes, she hoped to push the feeling down, but he knew that look. "I know. I don't want it to seem that you're using me for Jack's placement or grade. And I know you're not and that's not a problem, because the kids are what, nine? Ten? The principal wouldn't have-"
She was cut off, but for good reason. Aaron's lips descended on hers. Though she had put on lipstick in the SUV on the way back, her lips mouth and tongue tasted like the sherry from the final wine they tasted. Liza pulled back, her hands on Aaron's chest.
"I can't get too far into this." She commented casting her eyes downward.
"Tell you what," he opened reached into his glove compartment, "you want to do this again, because I know I do, call me." He whispered into her ear, "anytime." She nodded, kissed his cheek, thanked him and walked to her waiting car. Fishing for her keys, she waved at Aaron before getting into her car.
Getting back into the running SUV, he watched her drive away and Aaron sighed.
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A/N5: Uh oh, does she call him? Doesn't she?