Prompt: Snow Angel (part 1)

Pairing: N/A / Fandom: Criminal Minds

It had been a grueling week. Another case that would suck a little more happiness out of them. Cases involving children always did, more so when it was so close to Christmas. Penelope had her way to deal with it, filling her office with images of puppies and kittens, as well as toys, all to remind her to smile and to not lose herself in the darkness, but not everyone did.

Penelope could tell that this particular case had taken its toll on the team, so she decided to take upon herself the task of finding a way to cheer them up, just a little. She sent out a mass text to everyone, asking them to meet her in the bullpen. She had the perfect idea.

Walking into the bullpen with a knowing smile, she saw that everyone was already there. Rossi was talking to Hotch and his girlfriend, Danielle; Morgan was messing with Reid, as per usual, while Prentiss and JJ were looking through some new photos of Henry, her toddler. Clearing her throat, all eyes were on her.

- "What's going on, baby girl? Please don't tell me we have a new case." – Penelope could see Morgan sag his shoulders as he asked her.

- "Nope, no new case."

- "Then, what's going on, Penelope?" – JJ asked her, clearly wanting to make sure nothing was wrong.

- "You all trust me, right?" – Penelope asked shyly, being rewarded with a chorus of "yes". – "Okay, then. Follow me and I'll tell you everything."

- "And were exactly are we going?" – Rossi asked, following Penelope towards the elevator.

- "You'll see." – Was all the answer he received from her.

Pilling up in the elevator, the team saw Penelope push the lobby button and start humming Christmas songs. To say they were confused was an understatement. Penelope was never one to be so mysterious about something, hell, she would even let escape what their Christmas gifts would be, so to see her so mysterious like that, they were definitely confused.

Once they reached the lobby, Penelope turned to them and spoke.

- "Okay, so. It's safe to say that we had a pretty shitty week. This case hit us hard and we could all use a little bit of cheering up." – Penelope told them, while they made their way across the lobby and out the door. – "So, I thought we could all, and I mean all Mr. Rossi, make some snow angels. I know it's a crazy idea but I remembered how much fun they were to make when I was a kid, so I thought we could make them."

Everyone was stunned. For a second Penelope thought that they were going to say no, but that's when she was surprised. Rossi shrugged his shoulders at her, as if saying "Why not?", and let himself fall backwards on the cold snow and started making one. She couldn't help but smile. Taking Rossi's lead, she did the same and hoped and prayed that the rest of the team would follow their lead.

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to be laying on their backs making snow angels. First was Prentiss, followed by a chuckling JJ. Morgan followed suit, dragging an, at first, unwilling Reid. The last one standing was the boss himself. Penelope saw Danielle whisper something in his ear and then pushing him onto the snow, right next to Rossi, right before she landed on her back, laughing.

Laughter filled the air and soon the snow angels were abandoned and a full out snowball fight began. It was every man for himself. Penelope stopped and looked at the team, thinking that it felt really good to hear them laugh like that after the week they had.

A snow ball hit her straight across the face, pulling her out of her thoughts. When she looked over to see who the culprit was, she was surprised to see it had been Hotch. Penelope grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at him. After a while, they all converged back to their initial spot, tired and wet.

- "Thank you, Garcia. We definitely needed this." – Hotch said to her, a smile on his lips, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a sideways hug, before saying his goodbyes.

- "You, my dear, are brilliant." – Danielle whispered in her ear, giving her a tight hug.

- "Next time, maybe we should start with the snowballs, then the angels." – Rossi told her with a wink and a kiss to the cheek, before he too said goodnight.

- "Just what the doctor ordered, Pen. Thank you." – JJ said, kissing her cheek along with Prentiss, moving away.

Reid simply smiled and hugged her tight. She knew that he had the hardest time with that case.

- "You did good, baby girl. We might need to do this on a more regular basis." – Morgan wrapped an arm around her, leading her towards the building.

Penelope felt proud of herself. Sure, it was a long shot that everyone would agree to this crazy idea, but she was happy they did. Walking back to the building, she couldn't help but smile. It was a long week, but the way it finished, that's what she was going to always remember.