Playing Games by JuliaBC

After their smashing success with the IU, and after everything had been wrapped up, Rossi invited everyone back to his manor for a celebration.

"We're due for a party," he insisted. "Come one, come all."

With his invitation hanging in the air, Kate considered whether she would accept or not. Meg was waiting at home, she knew, and would be hoping Kate made it home tonight.

The IU seemed to be all in. Kate wondered how she felt about that, considering that she'd had little to no contact with them throughout this case, and that her brushes with them before had not been...entirely amicable.

But no one was letting on, so she ignored the feeling of unease and tuned back in to hear Morgan speaking.

"I'll just check with Savannah," he said. "We might as well make the party complete." Taking his phone out, he headed a little bit away from the group so he could call her.

JJ was shaking her head. "I should be getting home to my boys," she said. "They miss me, and I miss them. But I'll swing by Rossi's first."

"I should really follow your lead," Agent Simmons agreed. "My wife and kids have been waiting long enough. But an hour or two won't hurt."

"She certainly has," Garcia said. "I am in awe of her. How on earth does she do it alone?"

"By the grace of God," Simmons said, a teasing note in his voice. "I really should be heading home." He started to walk out, passing Kate where she stood and stopped. "Nice to...meet you, Callahan." He smiled at her, and they shook hands; Kate felt her smile was pasted on but kept it there. He pulled his hand away, then hovered it over her stomach. "I have a trick with these," he said. "I correctly predicted the sex of the baby for all four of my kids. Can I try with you? Or have you already found out?

"We're waiting to be surprised," Kate began. "Boy or girl, we'd welcome either."

As she watched him carefully place his hands down, she asked, "Is it instinct or science?"

"Little bit of both," he admitted, gently moving his hands all over her stomach. "Some say boys are lower in the stomach. Oh, I got a kick!" He looked down in delight. "You don't like being prodded, hmm? Was he napping?" He asked, looking back to Kate's face.

"I think she was, as a matter of fact," Kate said. "Car rides seem to put her to sleep."

"It's a boy," Simmons said, straightening. "I give you my word on it."

"I'm almost tempted to make an ultrasound appointment to see how wrong you are," Kate said, her tone teasing but with an edge that Simmons heard, and he backed off.

"Anyone want to make a bet?" He asked. "Boy or girl. I'll stake $50 that it's a boy."

"It's a fifty percent chance," Reid said. "Not much of a bet."

"But will you take it?" Simmons asked.

"I will," Morgan said. "I thought from the first it'd be a girl."

"Do you believe them?" Kate said, turning to JJ.

"Sure," JJ said, giggling. "Prentiss made bets on Henry's sex all throughout my pregnancy. She and Garcia went crazy over it. Come on, Simmons. It's time to go. Escort me to the elevators, please."

Simmons saluted everyone, then followed JJ's lead, and they made their way out of the BAU.

"I actually have my own system for guessing a baby's sex," Agent Lambert said. "But mine is definitely science, and, unfortunately, usually not as accurate as Simmons' seems to be."

"How does that work?" Reid said.

"Genetics," Lambert said. "Kind of. How many siblings do you have, Kate?"

Kate knew very well that Lambert knew, but played along. "One. I had one. A sister."

"And your parents?"

"Were both one of three," Kate said. "My father had an older brother and a younger sister. My mom had two brothers."

"By my specific calculations," Lambert began. "I think I'd go on Morgan's side. Girl."

"Really?" Kate said. "That's interesting. Let's make an actual bet of it, then." Annoyed now, she grabbed a pad of paper and wrote down the team's names.

"Okay, Morgan and you bet $50 that I'll have a girl," she said. "And Simmons bets I'll have a boy. Reid?"

He saw the challenge, but didn't back down. "Girl. Just to side with science." He smiled at Lambert, and she nodded at him.

"Hey, Rossi," Kate said, walking quickly up the steps to where he stood with Garrett and Hotch. "Am I having a boy or a girl? I'm taking a poll, or rather, a bet."

"How much to get in?" Rossi asked.

"$50," Kate said. "And what about you, Agent Garrett? Hotch?"

"I say boy," Rossi said. "You seem like the type to have a firstborn boy. It's an Italian thing."

"I'm Irish," Kate said, puzzled.

"This instinct is Italian," Rossi explained. "And I'll be right."

"I'll say girl," Garrett said. "Just to contradict him."

Hotch caught onto the look in Kate's eyes.

He does know. Of course, he's the only one who'd have read my full file.

"I don't make bets on things like this," Hotch said. "Are you coming to Rossi's manor for the party?"

"I guess," Kate said. "Let me just get Penelope's weigh in on this matter."

She wanted to ride over with Reid. Since she'd started to show, she'd felt very uncomfortable behind a wheel.

What if she was in an accident? What if she lost the baby?

She shuddered at the thought, and ran to catch up with Reid as he left the BAU. "Can I ride over with you?" She asked, needing to take about three steps to his one.

He was tall.

When he realized she was following him, he immediately slowed his pace. "Of course," he said. "And you've been having Chris drop you off in the mornings, too."

"Why tempt fate?" Kate said, hands hovering over her stomach.

"I know," Reid said. "What's up with you and the IU?"

"We've met before," Kate said. "They took over one of my cases. I had a lead, which they took, but when I tried to help, I got barred from the investigation. He made three more kills before they caught him."

Reid blinked. "That's tough. But Kate, it might not have been their fault. I know we're all FBI, but there are rules regarding these things. Were you not supposed to be there?"

"I hadn't been ordered off yet," Kate said. "And it was my case. I knew him. I was two steps away from catching him, but he skipped town and the IU was called in. Next thing I know, Agent Simmons was telling me that I wasn't incompetent, but they were better and didn't need my help anymore. They went off on a lead, I went a different way and got injured. Garrett got me ordered off the case the next day."

"It still doesn't sound like intentional prejudice," Reid said. "If you were a new agent, well, Kate, I might have ordered you off too."

Kate stopped, staring at him. "I'll get my own ride," she said, and stalked off in another direction.

"Wait, Kate," Reid protested, jogging after her. "That's not what I meant. But I've seen this before. We've had cases like this, where it was already a high risk case, and we just didn't want anyone else involved."

"The BAU has never done that," Kate said. "Not to the same extent. And I can understand them taking me off the case, but they didn't listen to me. I could have helped them."

"There can be a lot of circumstances," Reid said. "Extenuating ones."

"Get my file from Hotch," Kate said. "Judge it for yourself. Can we just go now?"

Reid studied her, then unlocked the doors on his car. "Get in."

"Let's play a game," Rossi said. "I've always been a fan of charades. Let's put me and Garrett as team leaders. Pick your players."

A/N: Honestly, while I very much enjoyed Kate's part in this episode, it really annoyed me the way the IU almost completely ignored her. There were other ways to play it, you know? While the IU greeted everyone else like old friends, Kate and Reid were shoved to the side. And I understand that they had to split up, but that doesn't mean that Kate shouldn't be introduced to them.

Basically, I made my own past for her and the IU to get that grudge out of my system.

As Lktwh13 pointed out, Charades is hard to write, so I decided to let you guys pick. Besides, you are too awesome to ignore.

Who should be on Rossi's team?

Who should be on Garrett's team?

Hotch, Garcia, Monty, Morgan, Lambert, Reid, Callahan, Simmons, JJ, Cruz.

And if you'd like to suggest some movie and book titles, that would be good, too.

And thanks so much for giving me 90+ reviews! You really made my day! So that's why I'm having a three-parter for Beyond Borders. (And also because I'm putting off doing A Place at the Table and Mr. Scratch, since they were too awesome and I'm afraid of messing them up.)

And, P.S., it was The Fugitive. But I liked US Marshalls, too.