Son of a sinner

2 - About Face

"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth" - African proverb

₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊₊✩‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧

Emily, Derek, and Soren are all sitting at their respective desks working. He glances up and notices Spencer behind Derek. The genius is wearing a mask and carrying a plastic pumpkin basket with a face on it. He watches in amusement as Spencer leans closer to Derek.

"I'm waiting for you!" he tells Derek in a funny voice. Derek jumps and flinches away from him.

Derek sits back and tries to pretend like he had not been scared by Spencer. "Reid..."

"Happy All Hallows' Eve, folks!" Spencer tells them, walking to his desk. He pushes the mask up so his face can be seen and wears it like a hat, which makes Soren smile under his mask. "To paraphrase from Celtic mythology, tomorrow night all order is suspended, and the barriers between the natural and the supernatural are temporarily remooooved!" he says, drawing out the final word to sound like a ghost as he dangles a fake head in front of Emily, who laughs.

"See, that right there is why Halloween creeps me out," Derek says.

"Wait, you're afraid of Halloween?" Soren tilts his head.

"Hey! I didn't say I was scared, I said I was creeped out," Derek defends. "There's a difference there, youngster. You should look it up," he says, even though Soren is pretty sure the two words mean the same thing.

"Well then, what creeps you out about it?" Soren asks Derek.

"Don't know. People wearing masks," Derek answers. "I don't like folks in disguises."

"That's the best thing about Halloween! You can be anyone you want to be," Spencer tells him.

"Nah, I'm pretty good just being me."

Emily laughs. "Yeah, why is it that neither of those points of view surprise me?" she ponders.

"You know what, though? On the flip side, it does provide a pretty good reason to cozy up with a scary flick and a little Halloween honey," Derek comments, winking at Emily.

"Halloween honey..?" Soren repeats, confused.

"Guys, he's here," Spencer mutters.

They look up to see Strauss leading David Rossi to Hotch's office. Spencer takes off his mask and gives his normal awkward smile.

Spencer quickly removes his mask while Derek and Emily stand up once Rossi and Hotch approach them. Soren remains seated with his feet propped up on his desk.

"SSA David Rossi, this is SSA Emily Prentiss," Hotch introduces her.

Emily shakes hands with Rossi. "Sir."

Hotch gestures to Soren. "SSA Soren Volk," he introduces him. Soren simply lifts his hand to greet Rossi.

"SSA Derek Morgan," Hotch introduces him.

"It's an honor, Agent Rossi," Derek tells him, also shaking his hand.

"Please, just Dave," Rossi requests.

Hotch gets to Spencer last. "And Dr. Spencer Reid." Of course, Spencer being who he is, immediately begins his rambling. "Sir, if I could talk to you later about your work with the Scarsdale Skinner. Psycho-linguistics is an incredibly dynamic field, and the fact that your profile of his reading habits ultimately led to his capture is something I find so incredibly intriguing--"