Happy Birthday, Kaitlin

December 16th

5:59am

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

"Jesus," I muttered. I grabbed my phone off my night stand. There was a text from Garcia.

Garcia: Happy Birthday! Did I beat JJ?

Right when it turned 6am I received another text.

JJ: Happy Birthday! Did I beat PG?

I laughed and replied to Garcia and then JJ, explaining the one minute difference and then I fell back asleep. Three hours later I ran down stairs. It was my birthday! Emily and Derek were in the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday, sweet heart," Derek said kissing my forehead.

"Thanks," I said hugging him. Emily gave me a hug as well.

"Happy birthday, hon," She said.

"Thanks," I said grinning, then I turned to see a frown forming on Derek's face as he looked up from his phone.

"What?" I asked.

"We have a case…JJ just texted me, she's faxing us the case files and she's sorry, by the way," He said sadly. That sucked.

"Oh…it's okay," I said sadly.

"No. It's not. It's your birthday, maybe we could-" He began.

"No, stop…" I said, "Go get the case files,"I comanded. So Derek walked over to the fax machine and grabbed it. He started reading. He handing a copy to Emily, too.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well…four dead bodies…girls…they are 28, 29, and two thirty year olds…blonde hair…blue eyes…all mothers…and it looks like another girl has just been taken," Derek read.

"What's the unsub doing to them?" I asked quietly. That description…it sounded like JJ.

"He's raping them, beating them…and he takes a souvenir from them all. A piece of jewelry. And he gives them all a necklace," Emily said.

"Ok. You want to give me a good birthday?" I asked them.

"Of course," Emily said nodding.

"Then go. Find the girl, catch the unsub, and come back to me safely," I said.

"Aw, Kaitlin," Derek began.

"No, go, please," I begged. They looked at me sadly.

"Well…we were going to wait till later to give this to you, but, I guess since we're leaving," Derek began turning around to the box that was on the counter. It was small and beautifully wrapped. He handed it to me.

"There's a card, but, don't read it until we're gone," Emily said smiling. I smiled as well. I gently opened the box. It was a a small velvety box. I opened it up. Inside, was the most beautiful necklace ever. It was a diamond heart, locket. A tear fell down my face.

"Guys…it's beautiful," I murmured as I took it out of the box. Derek walked over and helped me put it on.

"Open the locket," Emily said. I did. It was a small picture of the team, with me in it, from Garcia's birthday party last year.

"Thank you both so much," I whispered. I hugged Emily and Derek tightly. After a moment I pulled away.

"I guess it's time," Derek said sadly.

"We'll be back," Emily assured me.

"I know…stay safe. All of you," I said.

"We will, promise," Derek said. He hugged me one last time.

"Come with us? Stay in Garcia's office. We'll all go out for your birthday when we get back," Emily suggested.

"What?" I asked surprised.

"That's not a bad idea," Derek said smiling. I shrugged, "Okay," I said. We all walked out together and got in Emily's car and drove to the BAU.

.oOo.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Garcia exclaimed as the elevator doors opened. She ran to me and tackled me.

"Hey, hey!" I said. She was like a puppy. I laughed.

"I beat JJ! " She exclaimed.

"Yes…yes you did," I said, as I watched Emily and Derek wave to me. They, along with JJ, Hotch, Rossi and Reid walked out of the BAU.

"Bye, hon," Emily called as the elevator door closed. Garcia pulled me to her office.

"You can help me," Garcia said grinning.

"Sure," I said quietly. I wouldn't show it, but I was definitely bummed that my 'family' was gone on my birthday. As I thought about that, I realized, my whole family was gone.

"They'll be back soon, Kaitlin," Garcia assured me. I had had such a rough day yesterday, it had been the first anniversary of her family's death.

"I know…It's fine," I said nodding.

"Okay," Garcia said nodding. I followed Garcia back to her office.

"I got you a present," Garcia said grinning.

"Awh, Garcia, you didn't have to," I said smiling.

"I know, but I wanted to. Plus, you're a fifteen year old girl…you're fun to shop with and for!" Garcia exclaimed. I laughed, "It's over there!" Garcia pointed to a small bag. I opened the bag which was filled with colored tissue paper and glitter. In the bag were three crazy pairs of earrings and crazy colors of nail polish. There was a smaller box inside the bag. She pulled it out. It was a blue iPod nano.

"An iPod?" I asked surprised.

"Lotsa good music on there. I looked through your playlists and mine. You'll like it," Garcia said laughing.

"Thank you," I said hugging her. Than Garcia's phone rang.

"It's Hotch. Start listening! There's about 1000 songs on there!" She explained. I sat in the corner, on a chair, with a fluffy pillow, and put the headphones in my ears, while Garcia talked on the phone. I listened to the music for hours, ADELE, the All American Rejects, The Cab, Coldplay, The Cinematic Orchestra, Mumford and Son, Jack Johnson… I pulled out Emily and Derek's letter.

Kaitlin,

Happy Birthday! We are the luckiest people in the world. We're parents, we're friends, and we have you. You're the greatest thing that has happened to us. We love you so so much. Know, that no matter what may happen, and no matter how dark the world may seem, no matter how dark everything you've seen was, we are always here for you, and everything will get better.

We love you so much, always,

Derek and Emily

A tear dripped onto the letter. Then, slowly, I dozed off.

.oOo.

"Kaitlin, wake up," Garcia whispered quietly. My eyes fluttered open.

"Yeah?" I mumbled.

"Hon, you've been asleep for a while, and now they're home," Garcia explained.

"Who?" I asked. I was still half asleep.

"Derek, Em, Jayje…They're all back…we have something for you," Garcia said. I slowly stood up.

"Close your eyes," She said, taking the iPod from me and putting it on the chair. I did. She led me out of her office. Finally she said, "Open them," and I did. The conference room, which was usually filled with such dark images, was filled with happy photos of me and the team. There were a few boxes of pizza and a huge cake. In the corner there were some presents.

"Happy Birthday," JJ said. She ran over to me and hugged me.

"Thank you," I said while I was being smothered by her hug. Emily and Derek also hugged me, followed by Spence, then Rossi and then even Hotch. I smiled at my family as I watched them all laugh and talk about happy things in this room.

We sat around the table, ate pizza, then cake and I opened presents. What I thought was going to be a sad, lonely birthday, turned out to be okay and happy after all.