Hello, everybody; ModernDayBard here with the next chapter! So, the format of these has changed from prior installments, and even the original draft.
It has been brought to my attention that song lyrics outside of public domain are not allowed in fics. So the chapters where we used older carols will be fine and unaltered, but those where the inspiration was a more modern song, I will be removing the lyrics and noting the inspiration at the end. It will affect the flow, unfortunately, and I do apologize, but I could not in good conscience continue to violate rules that I now know exist and I thank the reviewer who brought this to my attention.
I have chosen to leave previously published chapters and stories as-is, sadly simply because there are so many, I cannot make the time to re-write them all and still keep up with my professional writing and 'real' life. Please know it was never my intention to violate the guidelines of this site, all errors were made from ignorance and I now know better going forward.
Disclaimer: I own neither these characters nor these songs, I just decided to put them together!
They had managed to solve the case, in the end. It hadn't even gone much worse than their cases typically did—didn't involve children, they'd managed to save at least one victim by catching the UnSub in time—but then again, in their field, cases tended to be bad by definition.
Still, as the team made their way back into the bullpen (to grab the last few things before heading home for the night), they were in relatively good spirits. That it, until Morgan noticed a distinct lack of Garcia in the bullpen waiting for them.
After a brief farewell to the others, he headed down the hall to the 'tech cave', and part of the answer was revealed as soon as he saw her.
Garcia was crying.
One moment he was registering the fact that their technical analyst was in tears, the next moment, Derek was at her side, asking gently, "Hey, Baby Girl—wat's wrong?"
She briefly glanced up, then away—a clear sign she was a little embarrassed by the answer. That was good: maybe she was crying about somethings silly or solvable? But no, these were no the tears of a Penelope Garcia who was overwhelmed by puppies or something. This was something serious.
"I-I just…After you guys got on the plane…An email came through about the Christmas party." Garcia paused a moment to get a bit of breath back before continuing. "And I couldn't help thinking about the families. I mean, of those three women before you guys got called in. It's almost Christmas they're missing someone—someone who won't ever be there again—and we caught the guy but that's the only thing we can do and it won't bring anybody back or make things better for their Christmas…or after…"
The tears came rushing back and Penelope could explain no more. But then again, she didn't have to. Her empathy was well known to the team, particularly to Morgan.
The worst part was, there wasn't much he could do—she had a point, after all. But then, a thought occurred: he couldn't help those particular families, but he could help Garcia. And maybe even…
So, yeah. When I was jotting down songs I wanted to use, or maybe use, I wrote down 'Christmas Makes Me Cry' and instantly thought 'Garcia'. Morgan's was also pretty clear (see my next chapter on Thursday), and they both featured each other pretty heavily, which seems fitting given their dynamic. Anyway, tune in tomorrow for Endurance's next chapter!
As always, if you liked it, or saw something you think I can fix/improve on for next time, don't hesitate to leave a review and let me know!
Song: Christmas Makes Me Cry
Recommended Version: Matthew West and Mandisa
