switchblade faith//spencer reid

7

there are a few decorations up. some people from around the office are talking, and everyone is dressed to the nines. Garcia opens the door for me and I head straight for Emily's desk, where the rest of the team is gathered. Rossi works his way through a handful of hard candies in his palm. Emily is stunning in her black cat costume.

"hey, you guys." she breaks into a grin when she sees JJ and Pen and me, the rest of the group parting to look at us. my eyes snag on Spencer, with his Frankenstein mask resting on the top of his head so he can talk normally. even Hotch is pleased to see the three of us.

"thanks, Garcia!" he cheers as she hands him the bag of candy corn.

"you know, you're lucky he left the house for that." Rossi raises his eyebrows and points at the unit chief.

"oh, we know." JJ smirks.

"you look great!" Emily gives each of us a hug. she smells like something slightly spicy and warm, a nice scent that makes me want to hold on tighter. I don't know how to explain it; Prentiss has a very calming presence to me. I always find myself hanging around her whenever I need to decompress after cases, even if it just means talking about regular life.

"you do, too!" I grab a handful of caramel corn from the bowl she offers. "it looks pretty nice in here, actually."

"don't sound so surprised. think we couldn't handle a few decorations and snacks?" Rossi questions. it's getting easier to be around him now, honestly. despite my initial hesitance about his seniority, he's never made me feel small for my lack of experience in this specific field.

"she's against the whole holiday." Garcia makes a face as she berates me. Spencer shakes his head like I'm insane.

"that's not true!" I protest. "I never said I was against it, I just don't get why people are so excited about Halloween every year."

"because it's fun." Spencer speaks up. I roll my eyes.

"I'm not convinced."

"well, I'm glad you said so, because I've actually planned a little activity for us!" Garcia is practically bursting with excitement as she says it, like she's been holding it in the whole evening. she probably has.

my stomach twists. to be honest, I had been hoping for a relaxing evening and then an early night. an "activity" sounds like it'll interrupt those plans. but she's so elated that I can't help smiling.

"what is it?" Prentiss feigns wariness.

"well," Garcia simpers in a way that makes me think we're in for an interesting night. "I took the liberty of hiding certain candies around the office last night before we went home."

"hiding them?" JJ repeats with a smirk.

"in little plastic pumpkin cases. they're absolutely adorable, like Easter egg size--"

"you're sending us on an Easter egg hunt?" Rossi looks at her disbelievingly. I let out a nonplussed noise. Penelope is ready to defend herself, however, pointing a finger at him and sounding as firm as she can manage.

"it's going to be cute, dammit. whoever gets the most candies gets a special surprise at the end."

"what's the surprise?" Emily asks.

"it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" Penelope replies.

there's a silence in the circle as we all try to figure out how to react. it's childish, for sure. nobody is arguing that point; but it also sounds kind of not that bad to me.

"oh come on, guys!" she addresses our lack of enthusiasm. "we've had a hard couple of weeks. let's at least try and have some fun."

JJ starts to laugh, putting her arm around the tech analyst's waist while she snuggles into her shoulder.