Chapter 38, October

Hotch drove down the road to his house. He instantly realized that Kahlan and the boys had been very busy. He pulled into the driveway and shook his head. To the right of the walkway leading to the porch there was a cemetery covering most of the yard. The wrought iron fence that surrounded it look like it was taken from some back country grave yard. There were several tombstones, some of which looked eerily real. A couple of the graves even had fresh dirt over them. By one of the tombstones, there was the upper half of a zombie breaking though the ground. He could tell it was animated, but it wasn't on apparently.

He made his way to the porch and noticed a ghost on a string running from the porch to a tree on the left of the walkway. His porch had been invaded. The whole right side of it was infested with spiders. Between the porch roof and the rail was a giant spider web with a giant furry spider waiting to catch its next victim. Next to the web was a cocooned corpse hanging upside down with several fist size spiders all over it. Hotch shuddered, it was just a little too real for his liking. On the left side of the porch a sinister looking scarecrow was hanging from the roof to look like it was dropping down and trying to attack. He took a deep breath. When she said she was the Halloween Queen, she wasn't kidding! He went up the stairs and as soon as he made it past the railing, a giant spider lunged at him. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled as he jumped and almost fell down the stairs. He watched it slink back into position as it made creepy skittering noises.

"Oh, shit! I'm sorry, Hun, I forgot that I had turned him on," Kahlan said from inside the screen door. Hotch noticed that she was trying, unsuccessfully, to hide the smile on her face.

Hotch tentatively walked the rest of the way to the door, half expecting something else to jump out at him. "You know, we'll never get any trick or treaters," he told her as he made it into the house. She gave him a hurt look. "They're going to be too scared to come up on the porch."

She laughed. "And that's when we'll walk down to give them their candy."

He took the giant pumpkin out of her hands and put it on the floor so he could pull her into a hug and gave her a kiss. "You don't think this is a little over the top?"

"Not! I'm not even close to being done yet!" She told him as she took the pumpkin she had been carrying out onto the porch.

"Where did you ever even find all of this stuff?"

"I made most of it. I've been decorating my house for Halloween ever since I was in the sixth grade."

"Made it?"

"Yeah a lot of it. The boys are making their own pumpkins right now," she told him.

He walked into the kitchen. The island was covered with newspaper and the boys were making paper mache pumpkins. He smiled at them and their glue covered hands. "Isn't this cool, Dad?" Jack asked as he put a strip of paper on his pumpkin.

"Yeah it is. What do you think of outside?" They had never decorated for Halloween before, and he was a little worried that Jack might actually be frightened by it all.

"It's sooooo cool. Just wait until we get it all done. We'll have the scariest house in the neighborhood!"

Hotch didn't doubt that. "I made that one when I was in Kindergarten," Wyatt told him as he pointed to a normal size pumpkin with a diabolical grin.

Hotch went over and picked it up. "You made this?" he asked him. He thought it looked too real to have been made, but he could tell from its light weight that it had been made out of paper mache.

"With mom's help, but yeah. I even took it to school to show it off."

"This is awesome," Hotch admitted.

Kahlan came into the kitchen and put a plate of food into the microwave for Hotch. She smiled at the boys' progress. "Pretty cool, huh?" She asked Hotch as she put an arm around his waist.

"Yeah. Is the house going to be decorated as much on the inside as the outside for your party?"

"It's our party, and of course," she said with an evil grin.

He shook his head at her childlike joy over the holiday. "Reid is going to love this," he told her as he accepted his plate and they moved to the table. That's when he saw the back yard. It was covered with tubs and things that he knew would eventually be put up in and around the house. He shook his head again.

XXX

The next day Hotch pulled up to even a scarier house. The grave yard was bigger and it even had a mausoleum in the back with an opened door. It fascinated him, so he made his way around to it. On close inspection he realized it was made out of plywood and covered in styrofoam that had been carved and painted so well that it really looked like mortar covered brick. It looked as ancient as the fence surrounding the grave yard. He went to the fence and realized it was actually made out of PVC pipe. He smiled and shook his head. They could have easily have been movie props with how they looked. His alpha stirred as he realized that his girl was pretty handy. And a little demented!

The left side of the driveway had been taken over by rows of corn that looked like it had grown there. In the middle of the rows of corn a grotesque pumpkin headed creature stuck out above the rows where he could be seen easily. His arms were strung out on a cross bar made out of branches. Hotch shuddered. He thought the damn thing looked like he was a minion from hell. He made his way to it and realized that it, too, had been made out of paper mache. He marveled at the detail of it. The pumpkin shell was amazing, and the twisted vines and other vegetation looked so real that it looked like it would actually rot.

He made his way to the walkway and found two giant evil looking pumpkins. They, too, had vines on them and hideous faces that made them look like they were just waiting to devour unsuspecting trick or treaters. He silently wondered what other horrors he was going to come home and find before Halloween.

He made his way into the house, prepared from the jumping spider, but it wasn't on. His entry way had been transformed into a haunted house. Spider webs hung everywhere. There were creepy pictures hung on the wall and the little shelf to the right of the door had been filled with jars of colored liquid and were labeled with names like 'goblin juice'. He laughed as he made his way into the kitchen. The boys were putting another coat on their pumpkins. He noticed that Jack's was starting to show crazy eyes. Damn thing looks like a serial killer, he thought but told his son it looked great. Wyatt's was starting to look like it came out of some horror movie. He just smiled at the boys and went to put his things in his den.

XXX

The day before Halloween Hotch came home early for the party. He figured Kahlan would be running around frantically trying to get everything just right. He thanked God that they didn't get a case. He knew she would still have the party, because she had invited most of the neighborhood, but she would have been disappointed if the team couldn't attend. She had made it a point to tell then all that they could not visit that week as she prepared the house and yard. She didn't want them to see it until it was finished. Reid had been so intrigued that Hotch had to point out that Reid would have to face Kahlan's wrath if he accidently showed up beforehand. The look of fear on Reid's face, though, told Hotch that he wouldn't try to sneak a peek.

Once Hotch got his car parked in the garage and headed inside, he was floored. Everything was transformed. The dining room was decorated like some mad scientist's lab. The family room was done up to look old and decrepit, and the kitchen looked like a human slaughter house. He shook his head, as the profiler in him tried to start profiling the crime scene; it was that real looking. Then he wondered exactly how twisted Kahlan actually was. The boys' pumpkins were on the island in the kitchen. They were freshly painted and had battery operated candles in them.

He heard the boys running down the stairs and turned to see one hideous zombie and a gothic looking vampire followed by two big black dogs. His heart ached for a second to see the days of super heroes and fun costumes to be gone. He had to admit, though, that Jack made a very handsome vampire. "What do you think, Dad?" Jack asked as he ran up and slammed into Hotch's legs. "You guys look terrific!" Hotch told him and laughed at Wyatt while he zombie walked the rest of the way to Hotch. Wyatt acted like his was going to eat Hotch's leg, and Hotch hid behind Jack for protection. "Where's mom?" Hotch asked the laughing boys.

"She was in the kitchen," Wyatt told him as they took the dogs out into the back yard. Hotch noticed that Wyatt's Doberman, Sampson, had a big spiked collar on. Goliath, Jack's lab, was carrying around a decomposed arm in his mouth. Hotch laughed. Even the damn dogs are dressed up.

He heard the garage door shut and realized that Kahlan had been outside. He found her in the kitchen checking some of the many finger foods she was making. "What do you need me to do?" he asked as he went up behind her and kissed her neck.

"Oh, you're gonna be a vampire, too, huh?" She joked.

"Yep, but I only have one victim in mind."

She turned around and smacked him on the chest. "Stop that. We have guests coming," she told him as she studied his face. "Although, you would make a very nice classic vampire with your hair and cheek bones."

He smiled. She hadn't asked if he would dress up, and he had mentioned that he never had before, but he knew she would be ecstatic if he actually did. "Think you could transform SSA Hotchner into a vampire?"

She beamed. "The world's sexiest vampire."

"Well, ya know. If ya got it, you gotta flaunt it."

She laughed. "Let me get these finished and I'll get you set up."

Hotch finally looked down at the tray in her hand. They were breadsticks formed into fingers, and when she put pizza sauce on the ends, they turned into bloody fingers. Extremely demented!

Hotch should have figured she would have a costume for him. By the time she was done with him his was in a black tux with tails, a white shirt, his hair slicked straight back, his face made even paler with white powder, dark circles under his eyes, the stereotypical red medal hanging on his chest and a few drops of blood and his chin. He studied himself in the full length mirror. Hell, I could give Bela Lugosi a run for his money! He turned and his breath hitched in his chest as he took in Kahlan in the full length white gown. Her bride of Dracula rivaling any from the classic horror movies they had been watching the whole month.

"You like?"

Her face was done up to match his. He glided up to her, grabbed her, swung her around, and dipped her. He bent and bit her neck. She giggled. "I take that as a yes," she told him as she flicked her eyebrows at him. He moaned his approval, straighten her up, and kissed her passionately.

"Damn. Does Halloween only come around once a year?"

"You should see my devil costume."

Hotch moaned again. "I bet."

"But it's not appropriate for a party that includes kids," she told him seductively.

Hotch stifled a growl and kissed her again. "You are not nice."

She laughed and the door bell rung. They could hear the boys scrambling to answer it. "We better get down stairs," she told him as she headed for the bedroom door as she let her hand trail down his arm.

"Aarrgghhh," he said as he looked at the ceiling and tried to get himself under control.

XXX

Hotch caught a bunch of shit from the team about dressing up as soon as they saw him. He took it gracefully and helped Kahlan host the party. About an hour into the party, Hotch couldn't find any of his team, so he went in search for them. He stepped out onto the porch and noticed them in the driveway. He started to go out to them and the jumping spider got him again. The whole team laughed as they saw him jump and cuss. He reached them and heard they were discussing the decorations, and Hotch could hear Reid marveling about the craftsmanship of them. Hotch hadn't seen his yard on display in the dark and he found himself just as mesmerized as the rest of the team. A cold-fog machine had blanketed the whole yard in a thick bank of low lying fog. Expertly placed lights showed all the decorations. Even the mausoleum had a black light in it and there was a ghost flying around on the inside of it. The ghost behind the corn rows was swaying back and forth between the tree and the porch moaning the whole way. Strobe lights hit the corn guardian and the pole he was hooked to moved a little to make him look like he was trying to get off and attack somebody. The zombie by the tombstone was trying to claw its way out of the ground. Scary sound effects played from a stereo on the porch. As scary as it all was in the day, it was horrifying at night.

Rossi raised his brows at Hotch. "Kahlan did all this?"

Hotch smiled, which in the costume, looked scary, too. "The boys helped a bit."

Garcia stood there opened mouth. "She is scary good."

"Where did she get all this stuff?" Reid asked.

"She made most of it," Hotch told him. That shocked everyone.

"You know what horrible thought I just had?" Morgan asked them. They all looked at him. "She'd make one hell of challenging unsub."

Hotch almost choked on his drink of scotch. "Morgan!"

"Ohhh, you're right. She's twisted and demented and scary. . . all of the things we don't want in an unsub! Thank God she uses her powers for good!" Garcia told them.

Rossi laughed. "Yeah, thank God!"

"I would hate to see an unsub with this much imagination," JJ told them seriously.

Hotch shook his head and they all laughed.