Disclaimer: Sorry to whoever actually owns Criminal Minds! (Hint, hint – it's not me!) I'm just borrowing a few characters to play with for a while. I'll put 'em back mostly-unharmed, promise! There are some characters – namely, anybody who's NOT on Criminal Minds – who are mine. Those, people need to ask me before they use. Don't worry, just ask nice and I'll probably say yes!
Ch. 7 – Holly Jolly Christmas
Spencer Reid, to Morgan's great surprise, remained almost disturbingly silent on the Metro ride back. He held the bag in his arms, which seemed to contain a reasonably-sized rectangular box, protectively close to his chest. Morgan got the feeling that he probably should not ask about the box's contents. If the genius wanted to say something at this point, he would. The older man, for all the exasperation of the day, did genuinely feel for his friend. Even with how guarded Spencer could be, he couldn't hide his trepidation. Many important moments almost certainly rode on what was in that box. It didn't take years as a profiler to see the dialogue in the younger man's eyes.
The snow from earlier in the day had increased in volume almost to full-on blizzard status, but remained somehow gentler. Reid and Morgan shuffled through the still-thick crowd up out of the Metro station. Another snowball fight had broken out among some teenage girls. A snowball sailed past the two agents but neither of them felt the need to say anything. They made their way out to the sidewalk and meandered in the direction of Spencer's apartment. Snow lay two inches deep at the edges of the walk, and the street lights illuminated the continuous fall of clumpy flakes. As they neared Reid's building, Morgan tried to hide his grin. He couldn't wait to see the genius's face when he figured out what had been going on all day.
They nodded to the front security guard and made their way over to the elevator. Spencer hit the button for floor eight, relieved when the box behaved properly this time – damn thing had been problematic for a week. If it were any other day, he would have been suspicious of Morgan's silence. Normally, the older man wouldn't give him a second's break from good-natured ribbing. Tonight, however, the boy genius's thoughts were well-occupied elsewhere, namely with the object he still held closely in his arms. For once in his life, he felt like he had done something very, very right. Morgan followed his friend off the elevator and down the hall to his front door. Abruptly, though, the younger profiler paused just as he stuck his key in the lock.
"What the…" he started quietly – he could hear activity going on inside his apartment. "Son of a…"
He quickly twisted the key and threw open the door, not sure what to expect on the other side. The sight that met his wide, startled eyes stopped him cold in his tracks. Behind him, he could practically feel Morgan grinning like an idiot. Lo and behold, the entirety of the BAU sat around his living room. Jack Hotchner and Henry LaMontagne whacked each other with giant candy canes. His whole apartment lay strewn with half-put-up Christmas decorations. The tree had a good foot and a half at the top bent against the ceiling. There were no ornaments on the tree, but a collection of them sat in an egg carton. He stood there in silence, his eyes trailing over his living room.
"Surprise?" squeaked Lorraine, looking at him over her shoulder as she knocked a tack into the wall to hang up the Hidden Mickey wreath. She let the wreath go and turned round to face him. "Happy Christmas, Spencer…"
Swallowing very hard, feeling his face go quite hot, the genius took a few shaky steps forward. He stared round again at the team he had come to think of as family. Prentiss had powdered sugar on her nose from the cookie in her hand. Rossi smiled at him, gesturing at the warm cheese pizza in the box on the rug beside him – the Italian had yet to finish his ornament. Jack and Henry clattered by, the candy-cane sword fight not about to stop for Uncle Spencer. JJ got up off the floor and excused herself past Will, who waved merrily at Reid. Hotch stood beside the light-up penguins and smiled. Garcia got down from the arm of the couch and she and Lorraine approached with caution.
"Do you like it?" asked the tech-goddess, tilting her head and causing her jingle-bell earrings to tinkle.
Spencer couldn't say anything, not knowing whether to laugh or cry or ask what the hell was going on! Lorraine stepped forward and took hold of one hand in both of hers. Immediately, his other arm wrapped around her and he pulled his girlfriend close, resting his chin on top of her head. The red bag nudged against her back. Garcia beamed at the couple as Morgan stepped in and closed the door behind him.
"Lorraine, what is this?" whispered Spencer, still holding her almost frighteningly tight to him.
He heard Lorraine sniffle, but her voice came out happy.
"This is for you," she told him, gripping his hand just as hard. "It's what Christmas is all about…"
Spencer pulled back to look around at all the people in his living room, almost as if he were seeing them for the first time.
"But how did…" he started, staring from one face to the next.
Garcia spoke up.
"Lorraine called me this morning," she explained, gesturing around at all the decorations. "She asked me to help make your apartment look like Christmas exploded!"
Almost shaking, Spencer nodded, unsure of what else to do.
"They couldn't move the tree by themselves, so they called me," Hotch put in, reaching over without looking to take the candy cane away from Jack. "I couldn't do much by myself…"
Garcia chimed in, "We also didn't have a hammer…"
"… So they called us," JJ finished for both of them. "Will and Hotch got the tree up here and we've all made ornaments for you."
Henry, who'd had his candy cane confiscated by his daddy as well, tugged on Spencer's pant leg.
"Make one too?" he suggested hopefully, holding up a rather sticky green ball that had yet to be painted. "Please?"
After a deep breath and a moment of vibrating silence from the entire room, Spencer's face broke into a brilliant smile. He set the red bag down on an end table. His brown eyes shone happily as he bent to pick up his godson and set him on one hip. Jack dug through JJ's bag to find a paint bottle that hadn't had its tip clogged up yet. Prentiss swallowed a large bite and graced her almost-brother with a sugar-coated smile. Lorraine looked over at Garcia and the two of them shared a telepathic happy dance. The profiler settled himself and Henry on the floor nearest the tree. Beaming, his girlfriend joined them, snagging a cookie from beside Prentiss.
"You want me to make one too?" Spencer asked Henry, who nodded with all the seriousness a four-year-old could. "How about you and Jack show me how?"
The eight-year old carefully picked his way over with Tulip paint bottles in hand.
"See, you put your name on it like this," he explained just like he had for Rossi, showing his Uncle Spencer the ornament he had decorated. "And you can put a little decoration on it too, if you want. Miss Lorraine did the one on mine cuz I can't draw little stuff."
Spencer looked over at his blushing girlfriend, who nodded proudly with a mouthful of Christmas cookie. He took the ornament Henry had offered and the Tulip paint from Jack – red, so it would show up on the green ball. After wiping the four-year-old residue on his trousers, he pulled off the paint's cap. Jack instructed the profiler to hold the ball very still so the paint went on even. Hotch couldn't help the goofy smile adorning his face at his son's natural leadership. With both sets of little eyes trained carefully on him, Spencer printed his name very neatly on the green ball. With that done, he asked Henry if he would please hand over the white paint. Smiling adorably, the four-year-old obliged, positively radiant when his godfather thanked him very much. After a moment's pause, Spencer turned to Lorraine.
"I can't draw either," he explained somewhat timidly, his cheeks turning scarlet. "Could you do a snowflake for me?"
Lorraine, still blushing, chomped down the rest of her cookie and wiped powdered sugar on her skirt. She took the ornament and paint from her boyfriend and held the green ball up to the light. Of course she could do a snowflake, she assured him. With Henry very kindly holding the tulip-shaped top to the paint bottle, Lorraine started on the little drawing. Spencer, Jack, and little Henry watched in something bordering on awe. The rest of the team went back to talking, decorating, and eating – Morgan veritably pounced on the pizza.
"It's beautiful," Spencer whispered almost reverently as Lorraine handed him the finished ornament. "Thank you… sweetheart."
Jack giggled and made a face – as much as he liked Miss Lorraine and Uncle Spencer, he hated mushy stuff.
"Now you put it on the egg thing with everybody else's," Henry told him, pointing at the carton on the counter. "It's gotta dry 'fore you put it on the tree."
Spencer thanked Henry for being so helpful and unfolded his tall, skinny frame to get up. JJ got up too, moving a couple of the first ornaments made onto a paper towel so that Spencer could set his next to Garcia's. He took a moment to simply look at all of them.
"Did you all make one?" he asked the room at large, that combination in tone of surprise and near-reverence not gone from his voice. "I see Garcia's… Henry, you did a great job of writing your name! Hotch, you made one too? Rossi? Jack, your cursive is great! And here's Prentiss…"
Morgan carefully made his way over to his friend's side.
"Looks like I need to make one too," he told the genius, pounding his shoulder fraternally a couple times. Then he turned and collared Jack, asking, "How 'bout it, kid? You seem to know what you're doing!"
Jack looked almost beside himself with pride, pulling Morgan over by the hand to pick out a ball and some paint. Spencer continued to stand beside his kitchen counter, staring at the decorated orbs. He would have reached out to touch one, but remembered the wet paint issue. The ones on the paper towel looked safe enough. He picked up JJ's, smiling at the little gingerbread man that had finally come together all right. As if on cue, the blonde appeared at his other side, plate of cookies in hand. Grinning at her, Spencer gratefully accepted one, then making his way over to the couch. Prentiss budged over to make room for him.
"You went all day and seriously had no idea what was going on?" she asked her almost-brother, helping herself to a slice of pizza and handing him one too. Spencer shook his head, so Prentiss told him, "I'm actually really surprised Morgan could keep his mouth shut!"
The man in question glared at her, but had half a slice of pizza in his mouth.
"You know," Rossi's voice caught Spencer's ear as the older man leaned forward to say across Prentiss, "You have one hell of a girlfriend."
Spencer turned scarlet again, watching Lorraine chat animatedly with Garcia.
"I… I know," he finally choked out, biting into his pizza to save himself the need for further commentary.
With Morgan and Jack occupied with the making of the final ornament, Hotch got up and made his way over to Spencer's general vicinity.
"Merry Christmas, Reid," he told the youngest team member.
He didn't need to say anything else – the two of them understood each other. Hotch helped himself to pizza as well and went over to look in on how Jack and Morgan were doing with the paint. It seemed to be coming along fine, Morgan trying to draw Snoopy. JJ and Will had Henry basically in a double headlock, attacking the child with napkins to remove pizza grease and powdered sugar. The resident super-genius of the BAU just watched everyone, absorbing all the warmth and liveliness they brought into his apartment. Lorraine plugged her iPod into the attachment on his entertainment system. After a moment of cursory scrolling, Burl Ives's "Holly Jolly Christmas" nearly shook the ceiling fan.
"You know, when I was a kid, it just wasn't Christmas until we heard this on the radio for the first time," Morgan commented, still working on his ornament. "This and the Muppet Twelve Days of Christmas…"
At that, Jack crowed with delight and Hotch, usually unshakable, visibly twitched. Garcia and Lorraine shared a moment of gleeful eye contact, silently agreeing on the soundtrack of the night. Both of them sang out with Ives, though, on the second chorus. Will finally let go of Henry and watched him take off. The four-year-old came to sit beside Jack and Morgan to watch them finish their painting. Morgan held the ball out at arm's length, displaying his little drawing of Snoopy with pride. Soon, anyone in the room who could sang along with Lorraine's Christmas playlist. Surprisingly, Rossi sat in silence and seemed content to listen to the rest of the team.
"Come on, Agent Rossi!" a smiling, pink-cheeked Lorraine encouraged. "This isn't exactly the Met, you know!"
The Italian laughed, tipping the Co-Cola in his hand back.
"If I started singing, I'd probably have to place myself under arrest for felony noise pollution," he joked, indicating the iPod with a nod of his head. "My deep, dark secret, I guess."
Morgan handed his ornament to Jack so the boy could place it carefully beside Spencer's in the egg carton.
"Rossi, you can't carry a tune?" he asked in mild surprise.
"In a bucket," Rossi answered, the snark factor returning to his voice. "But I do a mean Groucho Marx."
Everyone who understood that reference laughed, Prentiss in particular commenting that she'd have to hear that sometime.
The geniality continued almost too fast for Spencer to keep up with it. For some reason, time had slowed down to a crawl for him. He watched as Henry rubbed his eyes, yawned heavily, and finally curled up beside his Aunt Garcia. The little boy went to sleep happily wrapped in her snuggly Mickey Mouse sweater. Lorraine turned down Josh Groban's "O Holy Night." Soon, Jack, parked in front of Hotch's laptop with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" began to drowse as well. The respective parents moved to collect their offspring as others started to clean up. Will helped JJ to her feet and they tiptoed toward the couch. Prentiss excused herself to assist Morgan in stuffing empty pizza boxes into a garbage bag. Hotch carefully shut the laptop and pulled a yawning Jack to his feet.
"It's been a lovely evening," the team's leader told Spencer and Lorraine, shaking her hand again. "Jack, what do you say?"
The boy gaped another huge yawn, remembering belatedly to cover that with his hand.
"Thank you for having us over, Uncle Spencer." He spoke very clearly for being so tired. "And it was really nice to meet you, Miss Lorraine."
Both of them smiled at the eight-year-old and got up to walk him and his dad to the door. Hotch thanked them again for himself and his son, wishing them both a merry Christmas. Spencer and Lorraine waved once more before shutting the door to keep the cold out. It had not stopped snowing. Before they could return to their seats, they nearly ran into Will and JJ. The Cajun man had his son draped halfway over one shoulder. JJ just tucked the child's jacket up around him to keep him warm. She gave her almost-brother and his girlfriend a double-hug and wished them both the best Christmas ever. They returned the hugs and wishes, carefully and quietly so as not to wake the little one.
"You better send me a picture when those ornaments go up," Morgan told the boy genius, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "You know where mine goes, right?"
Spencer laughed and pointed at the bent portion of the top of the tree.
"Okay, that works too!" Morgan agreed, gesturing for Garcia to join him. "Well, we're gonna go – you two enjoy the rest of your evening…"
Lorraine giggled and Spencer yelped and turned purple at the way Morgan drew out the "O" in "enjoy."
"Good night," they both told him.
As Morgan waited by the door, Garcia shrugged back into her great big pea coat and gathered up hat, gloves, scarf, and purse. She and Morgan had just arranged a spontaneous Christmas movie "date" of their own. In a flurry of fluffy winter-wear and red lipstick, she descended on her current two favorite people. Both Spencer and Lorraine found themselves engulfed in hugs and cheek kisses as they were tickled by the fun-fur scarf.
"I want a tree picture too!" she told them. Her eyes looked suspiciously shiny, causing both the profiler and his girlfriend to hug her back. "Merry Christmas… To both of you lovelies!"
She sniffled lightly and bade them both good night. Morgan held the door open, wished them a final good night as well, and followed. Rossi and Prentiss emerged from the kitchen. They had volunteered to put away leftover pizza and Cokes so those with children could make their exits. Prentiss gave Spencer a hug that cracked his back in several places, but he appreciated it. When she pulled back, she found herself hugged back by the petite redhead. She and Lorraine held onto each other for a minute before separating.
"You take good care of him, okay?" Prentiss told her, smiling. Lorraine nodded in understanding. "It was so lovely to meet you, and I'm sure I'll see you two soon. Merry Christmas!"
She disappeared out the door, still humming something like "Angels We Have Heard on High" under her breath. Rossi shook Lorraine's hand again and expressed how glad he had been to meet her. Spencer draped a long arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, his cheeks glowing pink.
"You two seem awfully good for each other," he told them both. "I wish you the best! Merry Christmas and I'll be on my way!"
The two of them bade the Italian good night and saw him to the door.
As soon as it closed, Spencer had both his arms tightly around Lorraine again. She held onto him as well, her face pressed against his sweater. Neither one of them felt the need for words. As soon as he pulled back after a very long moment, his hand ever-so-gently found her cheek. His brown eyes appeared to darken even in the Christmas lights as they closed. Hers, those unique hazel-green eyes he loved so much, closed as well as his lips touched hers. The contact stayed soft, almost hesitant at first. He always kissed her like he wasn't sure she wanted him to. Then, though, the kiss turned urgent, his hand sliding from her cheek up into her hair, tugging her braid loose at the top.
When her hands clutched at his shoulders, he felt bold enough to request entrance with his tongue. Lorraine's hands scratched at his back, those long nails – painted silver – giving him chills. Now, they would not be disturbed by the canine version of Bruce Banner's problem. Spencer almost surprised himself with the needful moan that slipped from his throat. His girlfriend's hands had tangled in his hair, the two of them holding each other so close. Before it went any further though, Spencer – through much effort – got hold of himself. Lorraine made a quiet, near-wanton noise of her own as her boyfriend pulled back. She tilted her head in confusion, but said nothing at the look on his face.
"Lorraine…" he said softly, the one hand still in her hair and the other now carefully under her chin. He had to make himself look more at her shining eyes than her kiss-swollen lips. "I love you, Lorraine."
The redhead's eyes blew wide open, her lips still parted as she gazed at him in surprise. Spencer swallowed hard, almost certain that he had just said the exact wrong thing. Next second, though, Lorraine's red-tinted lips (she had long since worn off her lipstick) curved into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Her hands slid down from his hair to touch his cheeks so gently. Still smiling in a way that made his heart hammer on his ribs, she kissed him again.
"I love you too, Spencer," she whispered in his ear when she pulled away.
Immediately, the boy wonder of the BAU felt his knees go weak. For once, he felt totally at a loss for what to do. His wonderful, beautiful girlfriend had basically given him his first real family Christmas and it baffled him still! Casting about, his eyes landed on the couch. He took her hand and she let him lead her over to it. Lorraine's eyes lit up as they sat down – she whispered that her favorite carol had just come on. As the French song Spencer did not know played, he gently pulled Lorraine into his arms. Happily, she smiled once more and settled contentedly against his chest with her head on his shoulder. As he took it all in, Spencer found himself overcome once more. He bent forward to hold his girlfriend impossibly close.
"How can I ever thank you?" he asked into her soft red hair.
Lorraine touched his cheek and he could somehow feel her smiling still.
"You can help me put those ornaments on the tree tomorrow," she told him with a quiet suggestion of laughter in her voice.