checkmate

026 » THE GIFT

It has been a few weeks since everything happened. I have not seen Jackson since. No unexpected, unwanted visits in the middle of the night. No calls from blocked numbers. He is gone. Finally.

Christmas is in tomorrow. I don't know whether to be excited or not. Sure, Christmas is fun, but it is not fun when my friends are still pissed at me. I have tried over and over again to apologise, but they will not listen. And I know it's all my fault. I don't know if they will ever forgive me; to be honest, I would not blame them if they choose to be mad at me forever.

The team, obviously, have been bugging me about what happened to my face. I have managed to convince them that I hit it on the corner of my nightstand while falling out of bed after a nightmare. They believed me, but not without reluctance. Only Reid knows what happened.

He has gone back to being an asshole. To be honest, I'm kind of glad. In a strange way, it is comforting to know that he is not treating me any different because of the whole Jackson incident. Plus, him being an ass can be entertaining. Sometimes.

And now, we are all gathered in Rossi's kitchen to exchange secret santa presents. I got Derek, so of course I had to buy him at least one gag gift. I am a little anxious to see who got me.

Everyone sits around the kitchen island on the stools, the gift bags in the middle. Grinning broadly, Rossi claps his hands together.

"Who's opening theirs first?" he asks.

"You should open yours, Dave," Hotch responds. "You're the host, after all."

Rossi shrugs and nods. "Alright, alright. Which one's mine?"

He checks the labels on the bags— it was a requirement to print them out so that nobody could determine who had written them— and finds his bag. Everyone watches as he picks it up and peels off the tape.

"Wine," he beams, pulling a dark bottle from inside the silver bag. He smiles wider as he checks the label. "And the good kind, too! Grazie, thank you very much, whoever it may be."

"Who's next?" Penelope asks, clearly very excited.

Rossi glances at Hotch. "Aaron, you open yours," he says.

Hotch looks a little reluctant, but he sighs and gives in. He checks the tags, finding the label with his name attached to a dark blue bag with gold stars on it. I glance around at everyone, trying to read their expressions as I sip my water.

Hotch opens the bag, carefully peeling back the tape, and pulls out the gifts. A black tie with little red hearts dotted along it, and a white mug reading 'Sorry, I don't do cheerful' in a bold yellow font. He cracks a smile and shakes his head slightly. "Thank you," he says as he places the gifts back in the bag, a faint grin on his face. "I think you should open yours now, Garcia."

"Alrighty!" Penelope responds with a bright smile. She searches through the bags that are left, locating hers and picking it up. "Ooh, it's heavy."

Her vibrantly coloured nails tear at the tape on the pink bag, opening it up. Somehow, her grin widens when she retrieves the gift from inside, pulling it out and letting her eyes flicker over it. It's a white lucky cat with a Christmas hat on its head, its paw moving back and forth.

"I have the perfect spot for him on my desk," she chimes eagerly. "Thank you so much. He's so cute." She is about to put the cat back into the bag when she says, "Ooh, there's something else."

Penelope reaches in, pulling out a small candle with a pink label on it. She holds it up to her face, inhaling deeply.

"What flavour is it?" Emily asks, her chin resting on her palm.