A Perfect Kind of Christmas
Chapter 2

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Clutching a delightfully hot cup of coffee in a seasonally decorated takeout cup Penelope Garcia exited her trusty orange convertible Esther. Smiling at the white, sparkling scenery of the frosted morning she swiped her identification card which allowed her access into the FBI headquarters as she did every morning. Christmas was creeping ever closer and that empty, solemn feeling was still sitting in the back of her mind nagging at her from time to time but whenever it began to move to the forefront of her thoughts she pushed it further away. Upon entering the warm building she removed her red jacket and winter accessories which she had knitted herself to reveal a sparkling festive jumper with smiling reindeers. She took a sip of her coffee and let the hot liquid flow through her body giving her extra warmth as she stepped into the elevator which would take her to the BAU floor.

Penelope beamed as the elevator opened to show her friends sat at their desks through the transparent glass doors. She walked through and continued smiling as she sat opposite her best friend, placing her coffee onto her neat and organised area.

"Good morning my beautiful creature" she grinned.

J.J. raised her eyebrows at her friend's attire but simply smiled in return, she had learnt a long time ago never to question Garcia's fashion sense, "you sound very jolly this morning" she sighed.

Garcia frowned, "and you don't, why aren't you jolly? Christmas is coming you know"

She nodded, "I know that's why I'm not feeling particularly jolly. Henry has gotten to the stage where he's now old enough to want to do all the Christmas activities and neither me nor Will have the time to take him to everything no matter how much we want to. I really wanted to make it special as well, this is his fifth Christmas and he now fully understands the concept and wants us to take him shopping to buy us presents and write to Santa but I don't know if we will be able to do everything"

Garcia placed her hand on her friend's, "you know I will take him to do whatever you or Will can't, what are Fairy Godmother's for after all!"

J.J. smiled and squeezed her hand gratefully, "thanks Garcie"

"And next time, please just ask me, you know I'm always happy to spend time with my number one Godson! So what are your plans for Christmas?" she asked.

"My Mom is coming for Christmas Day as usual but it's Will's brother's turn to have his Mom for Christmas so it'll just be the four of us but it will be nice" she said as Reid turned on his chair and to join their conversation.

Reid nodded, "sometimes small Christmas' are the nicest, it'll be just me and my Mom again this year, I might see my Dad but a few phone calls and a one meet up a year doesn't classify a relationship" the women heard the sadness in his voice and they both knew it wasn't because of his Dad, it was because this time last year he probably saw himself spending his next Christmas with Maeve and now he had to live with the fact that he never would.

"Are you talking Christmas plans?" asked Morgan who entered the bullring followed closely by Rossi, Blake and Hotch, he smiled and walked towards the group looking for an excuse not to return to his office to complete the mountains of paperwork that were waiting for him. He sat on the edge of the desk and placed his arm lazily around Garcia's shoulder, "I am returning home to see my beautiful mother and sisters on 23rd December and I look forward to a scrumptious dinner with all the trimmings and lots of presents waiting under the tree for me"

The other agents followed close behind and situated themselves around J.J.'s desk, "I am braving having some of my family come over from Italy, I refused point blank to return to the whole clan of Rossi's I've never even met before so I am opening my house up to them. Whether they actually come is a different matter!"

"Rossi, do you not get along with your family?" Blake asked.

He shook his head, "some of them are great, a few cousins, an aunt or two who are still alive and well but our family is so big that it is a nightmare to visit them and remember everyone! What about you Alex? Just you and James?"

She nodded and smiled, "yeah, he'll actually be able to stay home longer than just Christmas Day this year which will be nice, he comes home from Boston on 23rd December too"

Reid looked up at their Unit Chief who looked as if he wanted to take some authority and ask everyone to get back to work but he didn't have the heart to ruin their talk of Christmas and therefore remained quiet, "what about you Hotch? Is Beth coming home from New York?"

Hotch looked up and shook his head ever so slightly, "no, she's going to spend Christmas with her family, it'll just be me, Jack and Jessica" he replied shortly, obviously upset at the fact that he spent little enough time with his girlfriend as it was so to not be able to spend the holidays with her either hurt.

Penelope soon found that the area of conversation was becoming overwhelming, the thought of her loneliness was completely taking over her mind no matter how much she tried to push it away. She knew she had to retreat to the comfort of her lair immediately before her emotions began to seep through.

She stood up rather abruptly and flashed a quick smile, "I better get to work, I've just realised I have one hundred and fifty million things I need to do today, see you later my pretties-"

Morgan held her wrist before she was able to disappear, "hey hey hey, not so fast Momma. You haven't told us your plans for the holidays?"

Garcia's heart sank, this was the question she was trying to avoid. She was a terrible liar and she was in a room full of profilers. She hoped if she kept it short and charmed her way out then no one would notice. She plastered a smile across her face, "I'm going to California, one of my stepbrothers invited me to his Hollywood style condo for Christmas and I was not about to say no, goodbye oh brilliant ones" she gave a short laugh before turning on her heel and allowing the smile to vanish.

She walked hastily to her office before shutting the door firmly and collapsing into the back of it, tears began to fall down his beautifully painted face. She had tried to be strong but the truth was she had too big of a heart to be able to shut out the pain of being alone at Christmas time. Hearing how happy her friends were going to be during the holidays made her smile but she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy in her chest. Why couldn't she have a family to spend the most joyous time of the year with?

After composing herself, Penelope dried her eyes and sat at her desk, she couldn't feel sorry for herself when there was work to be done. For once in her life she hoped there was a case so it would distract her from the hurt she was feeling. Her eyes scanned the screen which was filled with case files until one caught her eye and she knew it was the one she needed to deliver to the team immediately. Families in Maine were being brutally murdered before Christmas and it needed to be stopped.