LAUGHTER LINES, spencer reid.

chapter nineteen

Reid smiled back and looked at the mask. "Where did you get this?" he asked.

"There's a costume shop near Height Ashbury in San Francisco. I bought it there when I went back to California. I get all of my masks in New Orleans, but this one just struck my fancy," Gwen answered. "There's something about hiding your face from the world every once in a while."

Reid looked around the bullpen before he looked down at the mask. He looked at Gwen. "You came early," he said.

"I just wanted to see Derek's face when he found the candy," Gwen said. "Also, I wanted to remind you of dinner with my parents tonight." She patted him on the back slightly and smiled up at the ceiling.

"I didn't forget," Reid said quickly. "It's your birthday dinner, tonight."

"It's your birthday?" Garcia asked, bouncing slightly.

She looked around at the rest of her teammates to see if they looked as surprised as she did. Everyone else seemed to be surprised as well which meant that Reid had never mentioned going to dinner with Gwen's family.

"No wonder the kid's in love with you," Morgan snorted. "Halloween is his favorite holiday."

Reid's eyes widened at Morgan's words. Did he really just use the word 'love'? He looked at Gwen and saw that she had started to pick at her nails. Her eyes were on the ground and there was a pinkish color on her cheeks; her lips kept twitching in a nervous smile.

"We should sing!" said Garcia in that same hushed excitement that was true to her personality. She balled her fists in excitement.

"Please don't!" Gwen exclaimed franticly. She shook her hands wildly in front of her as she slid off the desk.

Garcia wouldn't hear of it, and Morgan wasn't about to let a chance to strike back at the candy mastermind go untouched. The two started singing 'Happy Birthday'. Gwen put her hands over her ears like an immature child, crouched down, and squeezed her eyes shut as she sung "It's a Small World" quietly to herself. JJ, Prentiss, and Reid looked on with a mix of utter confusion and mild amusement.

After Morgan and Garcia finished, Gwen peeked up at Reid desperately. "I hate that song," she said in a stage whisper.

"Why?" Reid asked pointedly as he sat in his desk chair. Gwen moved to sit down on the ground next to him, finding it too much effort to lift herself up back up.

"It kind of loses its charm after a murderer sings it to you on his way to booking," Gwen answered. Her face didn't show any deception. Her eyes had a grim glint in them. "It was just one of those days where I walked in to talk to my dad and the guy overheard him wishing me a happy birthday. It was kind of bad…"

Garcia's bright demeanor fell. "I'm so sorry," she said quickly.

"Please, don't worry about it," Gwen said with a half-smile. "You didn't know about it, and it's been a long time since that happened. I mean it kind of creeps me out, but you didn't know that singing the normal birthday song would do that. My family sings a different song instead; I think we like it more too."

"What do you sing?" Prentiss asked. She still didn't know Reid's girlfriend as well as Garcia or Morgan who perhaps saw her the most when Reid went out with them occasionally.