Playing Games by JuliaBC

A/N: I want to say now that 'Scream' has become one of my favorite episodes of all time. I really adore the scene between JJ and Kate in the basement, and I think the way JJ took the beating was on par with Prentiss in Minimal Loss.

It was an amazing episode, I loved it so much, I don't understand why most of the reviews and comments for it were so negative.

A few things I'll pinpoint:

The truly empathetic storyline. I felt for Falkmore more than I've ever felt for any UnSub. He had real demons in his past, and I thought it was very plausible.

The way JJ took the beating. I truly saw it as sacrificial. To me, JJ was taking it for Greta, and Connor, for Falkmore's past victims...and for Falkmore himself. It was such a powerful scene.

I thought Kate was shown at her best. She is knew at this, and I'm so glad she isn't afraid to ask questions sometimes. I thought the Reid/Kate moments were adorable, and there were just enough.

The amount of 'team' in the episode. I honestly thought everyone got equal screen time, and loved it to pieces. It seemed to me like everyone was in on the profiling parts. Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Reid all had valuable contributions, and it was nice to have a bit more Garcia as she scrambled to find a likely suspect.

"Don't you wish you could just keep them innocent forever?" JJ asked, and Kate looked down at her hands.

"Yeah," she finally replied. She again knew that both their thoughts were on Falkmore.

JJ stood back up. "No game with Spence tonight?"

"He was reading," Kate said. "And I wasn't feeling so...exuberant. How much longer til we land?"

"We've still got almost two hours," Hotch said, overhearing.

JJ looked from Kate to Reid pointedly. "You both need it," she said, before going to sit opposite Hotch.

Kate still hesitated, before reaching into her bag and taking the box she found there. It was larger than usual, and her brows quirked when she saw the title.

"Battleship?"

Her head jerked up. Reid had magically materialized at her side, looming over her with a mug of coffee clutched in his hand.

"Meg thinks we need even more competition, I guess," Kate said, placing the box on the table. "She's a little put out with me, since the word about the case came in."

Reid's right eyebrow rose.

"She's going on a date," Kate admitted. "She just sprung the news on me and Chris at breakfast, and I didn't react well. But I think she was hoping to be able to talk about it at least a bit, and when the call came in, I noticed it took her longer to pick a game. I don't know, though, I was still half asleep at that point."

"Bad night?" Reid asked.

"No, I just couldn't force myself to wake up," she explained. As they were speaking, she had opened the box and handed Reid his tray. "There you go."

"I should warn you of something," Reid said, as he sat down. His tone was mischievous as he opened his tray and started to set it up. "People who have played Battleship with me have ended up in tears."

Kate smirked. "Of laughter?"

"Of defeat," Reid said. "This is no fun and games, SSA Callahan. You are going down."

"Bad pun," she said, shaking her head.

"Pun?" Reid asked, oblivious.

"Come on, ships, going down?"

"It was completely unintentional," Reid said.

They set up their boards in silence after that. After a moment of hesitation, Kate placed all her ships near the middle, each ship touching another as they made a square on the board.

Reid took considerably longer than she did, and she couldn't even count how many times he seemed to change his mind and switch where he'd placed a ship.

"Well, if you are trying to defeat me by making me die of boredom, you might win," Kate said.

Reid just held up his left hand, like a traffic officer would, and Kate leaned back in her seat, a reluctant laugh bubbling up.

"There, I'm ready," Reid said, looking up from his board.

"Okay. Um, D-3?"

"Miss," Reid said, rather smugly. "F-4?"

"Hit," Kate said, rolling her eyes at the triumph that showed in Reid's.

They continued on in that vein for quite a while, with Kate desperately trying to get a hit and Reid making one on almost each turn.

"J-10?" Kate asked.

"Miss," Reid replied. "E-7?"

"Hit! Ugh, how do you do it!" She picked up the red peg and stabbed it into place on her Destroyer.

"It's all in the profiling," Reid said.

"That's it," Kate said, standing up.

"Wait, what are you doing? Where are you going?"

"You are profiling," Kate said. "And I can profile too, but not quite as well as you, especially since I don't know you quite as well. So I am calling in reinforcements."

"You're doing what?" Reid asked, twisting in his seat to watch Kate's progress.

"I'm calling in Hotch," she said, and ignored the startled look on the Unit Chief's face as she grabbed his arm and tugged him from his seat.

"What are you doing?" Hotch asked, as she pulled him back to the table.

"I need your help to defeat a smug genius," Kate said.

He surveyed her board: four of her ships were sunk already, but on the top board that showed the enemy's side, only white pegs dotted it.

"You really need my help," Hotch agreed, sitting down and scooting over so she could sit.

Reid looked at them. "This is cheating."

"Not really," Kate said. "I'm losing miserably, and you are using your experience to an unfair advantage."

"No, I'm not!" Reid protested.

"Just think of it as an extra challenge," Hotch said, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. "Can you beat both of us?"

Reid's eyes narrowed considerably, and he uncrossed his arms. "Yes, Agent Hotchner, I can. More than that, I will!"

Hotch winked at Kate. "Okay. B-6."

"Hit," Reid said reluctantly.

The game went on. Hotch was making hits left and right, and Reid, though he'd found and sunk her Destroyer, Carrier, Submarine and Battleship without any trouble at all, he couldn't seem to locate her Patrol Boat.

"A-7," Kate said, and Reid's scowl indicated another hit.

"B-4," he said.

"Hit," Kate said, and Reid immediately perked up.

He had only to make one more correct guess and he'd win.

Hotch surveyed Kate's board. He'd managed to sink three of Reid's ship, and with this hit, he'd nail a fourth.

"A-8," Hotch said confidently.

"You sunk my Carrier," Reid chirped. "B-5."

"Miss," Kate said, and she met Reid's confident gaze over the tops of their respective boards.

"You can't win," Reid said. "Yes, I have three more spaces to go through before I sink your Patrol Boat, but the ship I have left is my Battleship. You can't win," he repeated.

"We can certainly die trying," Hotch replied, meeting Reid's gaze and Reid blinked.

"You guys are cheating," he muttered, before looking back down at his board.

"D-9," Hotch said.

"Miss," Reid replied. "C-4?"

"You just sank my Patrol Boat," Kate answered.

Next to her, Hotch stood up to go and she quickly slid from her seat to let him.

"Good game," Hotch said, standing above them for a moment.

Though Kate was standing, she still tipped her head up, like Reid, to look at Hotch's face.

Hotch walked back to his seat, and Kate sat down again.

Reid looked at her. "That was your plan all along."

"What was?" She asked.

"You set up your boats in a way too easy formation, then purposely stayed away from spots that you thought would be hits," Reid said. "You were profiling, but where not to go!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kate said.

Reid leaned closer, his voice sinking to a whisper. "You called Hotch in on purpose."

"He was so quiet on this case," Kate hissed back. "Yes, maybe I did."

"Maybe!" Reid snorted.

He leaned back in his seat, an appraising look on his face. "Now what?"

"Rematch," Kate smirked. "And this time, I'm getting JJ."

Reid watched as Kate stood up again, and walked over to where JJ sat. He could imagine the conversation going down between the two, and, internally, he smiled.

It had been a while since someone had actively tried to knit the team together.

He was getting to like Kate Callahan more and more every plane ride, every game played together.

Well, that was the operative word, wasn't it?

Together.

A/N: Depending on whether inspiration deserts me again, I might have a chapter up next week, regardless of the fact that there was no episode this week.

So: if I have one next week, should it The Game of Life or Sorry?

P.S. Sorry this is a day late. Life caught up to me, and then I had a chiropractic appointment that went way over time and I just didn't have enough time for writing this week.

Something embarrassing: I played Battleship with my (considerably) younger brother recently. The results of that game were the same as the results in Kate and Reid's first game, before she called Hotch in.

He sunk four of my ships before I even got one hit.

One last thing: your vote will get extra sway if you guess why Kate asked Hotch first, and not JJ.

All the games are real. These keywords, on Amazon, will take you to the version I have:

Battleship; the Classic Naval Combat Game (1998 Edition) by Milton Bradley. But this one is overly pricey, so I suggest looking at thrift stores first. Or getting a different edition.