Playing Games by JuliaBC

"Life," Morgan said, slapping his hand on the desk in front of Reid.

"Pardon?" Reid said, jumping slightly in his seat.

"Life is what we need," Morgan said, eyes glittering.

"Morgan, if this is another one of your attempts to make me go speeddating, the answer is still no," Reid answered, brushing hair from his eyes.

Morgan scoffed, and drew a box from behind his back. "This kind of Life, Genius."

"Oh, the game," Reid said. "You could have clarified that that was what you were talking about."

"I could have," Morgan shrugged. "Question is, who do we get to play with us on this beautiful lunchbreak?"

"Hotch is out," Reid replied immediately. "He has a meeting with Cruz. I think everyone else is here."

"Great," Morgan said. "I'm going to get Garcia, and JJ. You can find Kate and Rossi."

Reid raised his eyebrows as Morgan jogged off, amused at his friend's presumption that Reid would do just as he said.

But of course he would. He stood slowly, brushing his hair back again, and headed for Rossi's office.

"Yes, I'd love to, Joy," Rossi was saying when Reid hesitantly pushed the already cracked door open.

Rossi held up his hand, to signal just a minute. "Yes. Okay. I'll do that. Love you too. Bye."

He hung up, and slipped his phone into his pocket. "What can I do for you, Reid?"

"Morgan seems to think that our lunch hour is available," Reid said. "He's calling everyone to play Life."

"Aren't we already?" Rossi said, waving his hand around his office. "If this isn't life, I guess I know what death is after all."

Reid smiled. "I had the same reaction. No, the Game of Life," he corrected.

"Oh, with the cars and the wheel?" Rossi asked, taking a sip of water from the cup on his desk.

Reid nodded. "I think so."

"I hate that game," Rossi said. "The wheel is always flimsy, and it takes up too much time."

"I'm not sure Morgan was giving us a choice in the matter," Reid said and Rossi's barked out a laugh.

"He probably wasn't," he sighed. "What about Hotch? It only takes six players, and I'd like to duck out. Wait, it's Wednesday, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Reid answered.

"So today is his meeting with Cruz," Rossi said. "It looks like I do not have a choice. I'll be out in a minute. Where are we playing?"

"I'm not sure," Reid said. "But I have to find Kate first. Do you know where she is? She stopped in here, but I didn't notice where she went next, and she hasn't been at her desk in..." He checked his watch. "Thirty-three minutes."

Rossi nodded. "She was telling me that she had to take a phone call from Meg's school, but she should be back by now. And there she is!"

He pointed through his window, and Reid turned to see Kate striding into the bullpen, looking rather harried.

"I'll be out in a minute," Rossi reminded him, as Reid ducked out of his office and hurried back down into the bullpen.

"Hey, Kate," he said, approaching her quickly, and she jumped.

"Don't be offended, but never sneak up on me again," she said, and he could hear the edge in her voice.

"I'm not offended," he assured her. "And I didn't mean to sneak."

She sighed, pressing her temples with her hands. "I know. I'm sorry, but..."

"Rossi told me that Meg's school was calling," Reid prompted, and Kate nodded.

"It did," she said, voice tight. "She has detention, her second since third grade when she punched a bully. Then I have to admit I was proud of her." She shook her head. "I'm not proud of her this time."

"Can I ask what the issue was?" Reid said quietly, really trying to not seem like he was pushing the issue.

"I'd need to wait to hear her side of the story," Kate said. "All I can say is that she'd better have a good explanation. Right, you walked up to me. Did you want something?"

"Morgan wants to play a game," Reid said. "Life."

"My life is already a game," Kate sighed. "I'm not sure I'm winning at this point. What, right now?"

"Lunch break," Reid answered. "Only time we can."

"Don't worry about the food, I ordered lunch in," Morgan said, coming up behind them and clapping a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Tacos alright with you?"

"Sure," Kate said, but withdrew a sandwich bag full of vegetables from her purse. "I'll just use these to supplement them."

"I didn't realize you were a health nut," JJ said, walking up to the group. "I seem to remember you saying an ode to pulled pork sandwiches right about when you started."

"It's a resolution I made at the beginning of the year," Kate said.

"I hate New Year's Resolutions," Rossi said, coming up from behind them. "In my experience, the way to ensure that I fail at something is to make a resolution out of it."

JJ agreed, nodding her head emphatically. "I have the same problem. I think I inherited it. On January first, my mother always vowed to lose ten pounds and half the time she ended up gaining weight."

"Well, it wasn't an actual New Year's Resolution," Kate said. "I think I'll be fine."

The whole team noticed the clipped answer, and no one missed the look Rossi shot Reid.

Kate ducked her head. "What are we standing around for? Let's get to playing."

Morgan led the way to the Round Table room, and the whole team halted.

It was already set up, and Garcia was waiting with a tray of steaming mugs. "Tea." She announced, waiting for them to sit down before passing them out. "This is straight from Emily, so I don't want anyone complaining if they don't like tea. Drink it anyway."

Reid watched Kate closely, and was quietly pleased when she showed no hesitation in taking a sip.

"Okay," Morgan said. "I'm the Red car and I am not going to college. Reid?"

"Um, Yellow," Reid said. "And I am going to college."

JJ was next to Reid, and she studied the colors for a moment. "Blue. I'm going to college."

Garcia claimed the seat next to JJ, then looked startled when she realized it was her turn to choose. "Whoops. I'm picking Green, and I am..."

Having picked up the car, her hand moved from each starting point as she obviously couldn't decide which to pick.

"Come with me," Morgan said. "I need some company."

She placed it next to his. "You do need company," she said, smiling.

Rossi was next, and he looked to Kate before picking. "What color do you want? It's just Orange and White now."

"White?" Kate said. "If you don't mind."

"It doesn't matter to me," he chuckled, and placed the Orange car next to Garcia's. "I've had enough education," he said.

Kate placed hers next to JJ's.

"Okay, so you three are getting loans," Morgan said. "I already distributed the money, so hand over your $10,000. And who wants Car Insurance?"

Garcia, Kate and JJ took the offer of insurance, but Reid was distracted by the spinner and didn't hear the question. Rossi and Morgan privately scoffed at the thought of insurance, and both kept their money to themselves.

"Now we spin to see who goes first," Morgan said. "Highest number wins."

He reached out and twisted the wheel in the center of the board. It whirled around madly, before settling at three. "Well, it's not going to be me," he said. "Reid? It's your turn to spin."

Reid studied the wheel for a moment, a frown of concentration on his face. "JJ, you go. I think if I study this enough, I can spin it the exact amount to get ten, but I have to calculate a few more things."

JJ laughed, and spun a seven. "Are you ready yet, or should it go to Garcia?"

"I'll spin last," Reid said, and put his face down so that he was eye level with the spinner. He watched it intently as Garcia spun, and sat up to jot something in a notebook.

Garcia spun a six. "I've already lost my chance," she said. "Rossi?"

The older agent reached out to twist the wheel, and it came off in his hand. He lifted his hands in exasperation. "I told you, didn't I tell you? The wheel hates me!"

Muttering Italian curses, he placed it back on the board and tried again. "One."

Morgan's laugh echoed over the board as Kate reached to spin. "At home, we have a Pirates of the Caribbean version," she said. "But the spinner is the same."

She spun a ten, her hand barely touching the wheel. As the team watched in surprise, and a small part of suspicion, she returned her hand to her lap and bit a celery stick.

The crunch was the only sound in the room as Reid reached for the wheel.

"Do you think you can do it?" JJ asked.

"I've calculated it exactly," Reid said, and spun a ten.

Morgan crowed, but it faded away when he looked at Kate. "Rematch, right? You go."

Kate spun again, her impassive face not changing when it landed at ten.

Reid, a look of concentration on his face, spun again, and was visibly relieved when it, too, landed at ten.

"Okay, someone else has to spin for them," Rossi said, interrupting the vicious cycle before it could fully start. "I'll spin for Kate, and Garcia can spin for Reid. There, a five."

"Seven," Garcia said.

"Looks like Pretty Boy gets the first turn," Morgan said.

A/N: I think I'm officially changing the update day to Thursday. My Wednesdays didn't used to be packed, but my schedule just bounced around and somehow everything landed on Wednesday. I always like to do editing before I upload it, and...

Thursdays.

Answer for last week's question: Kate was afraid that JJ would say no if she asked her first, and she wouldn't have been able to push her into doing it like she did with Hotch.

Hey, check out the poll on my profile! It's not for a story, but it's fun to see the results.

I should have Part II, the actual game, up by Sunday.

And what did you think of having someone else pick the game, and orchestrate the whole thing? I hope it was a fun twist.