Wind was already sweeping through the outskirts of Virginia, but Cecile's hair flew wildly as she sat on the back of Sunshine, a large Percheron horse that was completely black. Her stomach muscles were aching because it had been a long time since she last made it to the field. Her helmet was tighter than she anticipated as she hadn't adjusted the strap properly, and as a result, she had been forced to take her hair out of the plaits that she usually wore as they stuck out.
Just as she was ridding back to do yet another loop, a blob of colour wiggled across from her. Confused by the presence of another person, she tensed her legs to make the horse go faster in response.
Coming to a sudden stop in front of them, Cecile let out a quiet laugh as she noticed it was Garcia who had been waving at her, the team were stood just behind her. 'There you are, we have been looking for you everywhere,' she complained while wafting a full bottle of wine around.
'What are you doing here?' Cecile asked as she swung her leg around and climbed down. 'I wasn't expecting to see you guys today,' she confessed while taking her helmet off and running her hands through her hair.
'We can't let you celebrate your birthday alone. Don't worry, I wouldn't tell them how old you are. I just said that you're older than you look, oh fountain of gorgeous youth,' Garcia replied with a large smile.
'I don't feel so gorgeous when I have to buy makeup in the shade "Pale Porcelain", but thank you. And you could have just given me a card on Monday, it's the weekend,' Cecile complained while slightly out of breath.
Morgan laughed the idea away as he walked up to her and wrapped her in a tight hug. The rest of the team soon followed, but before Hotch could worry about whether or not he aught to, before Rossi could try and trick him into giving her a hug, she walked to the other side of the team and pointed out the basket and blanket in Reid's hands. 'JJ prepared it, well, Garcia also did it. But she said you can't know,' he mentioned with a small smirk.
'Well, you carried it, so I am grateful,' Cecile remarked as she grabbed the blanket and wafted it over the flattest patch of grass she could find. 'I'm going to put Sunshine away, and I'll be back. Tilly let me have the field for the day as a present.'
The team were caught up with more blankets as well as more baskets while the sun shone down on them. 'Did you really bring ham Lunchables?' Morgan complained.
'Cecile said that she loved them as a kid. It's a nice reminder of her childhood,' Prentiss replied sharply.
While they worked, Hotch was brooding over the trap he had been put in. Rossi had mentioned an outing with the team that would boost moral, it had been planned well in advance, and Hotch was left to believe that Cecile wouldn't be present, mainly as he knew she had something to do since she mentioned something exciting planned for the weekend. As well as that, she never went out with the team if it was planned, least of all planned by Rossi, since he only did small intimate meetings at his house. But as he wafted a blanket down, he noticed Cecile checking the horse over for a moment before she then looked up at its high back.
Cecile was sizing up her options for climbing on since the stool was back at the stables, she knew she'd have to ask for help. 'I'll get you up there,' Hotch suddenly announced, seconds before he placed his hands on her upper thighs as the horse was so tall that all the height she could get was needed. As his hands grabbed her body, she gasped suddenly, but managed to climb on the horse easily.
For a brief moment, she shifted on the horse and ran her hands through its mane. Hotch studied her position, she sat with no saddle on the horse and no reins. Cecile hummed a quiet thanks before taking the horse away, refusing to look at him as she took off, doing exactly what he had done to her many times while working. It was in that moment that Hotch realised how hurt she would have been.
Since Cecile had snapped at him, Hotch took the day to think before realising that he needed to get over himself. Days of pondering also failed, but after just over a week, he knew that all he could do was to try and talk to her again, but then Rossi swaggered into his office and spewed some logical facts that were intentionally disguised. Once Hotch sat and thought about what Rossi was actually saying behind the convoluted statements and theoretical situations about a "friend", Hotch realised that talk was cheap. Cecile was about the moment and actions. She found joy through the little jokes and gestures, and she made that clear because she spent her life making jokes with everyone around her, and laughing like she didn't have a problem in the world.
But it wasn't until Hotch sat and watched Pride and Prejudice, only because Cecile loved it so much, that he realised why he had attacked her. She had become a safe space for him, she had become someone he could rely on, and then work got stressful. More than that, he had moved to kiss her in the morning, Jack could have seen. And though he knew he didn't find romantic chemistry between them, she fulfilled something in him when she teased him, when she laughed at something he tutted at. The sweet way she woke him up every night that he worked up a sweat would distract him until he could get back to sleep.
Watching her figure as Cecile rode away quickly, he was reminded of the night he walked in on an intimate moment between her and a man she refused to name. But he had heard her call his name from downstairs. Matthew. And then he recalled the bite on her shoulder, and his eyes trailed down to the floor. He knew what happened, well, he could figure out the basics of what had happened, but nothing more than a general idea. At first he suspected it was a scruffy tattoo, but her shame wasn't adding up. It had to be a scar.
'You can keep staring, she won't get back any quicker,' Rossi commented as he stood beside Hotch, looking through the field.
'If she's allergic to nature, why is she riding a horse through fields like this?' Hotch asked as he scoffed at the thought.
Rossi turned to Hotch and furrowed his brows while letting a confused smirk cross his features. 'Sallow doesn't have hay fever. She doesn't have any allergies, I checked before arranging this,' he muttered with a chuckle.
'But Jack got her flowers and she was sneezing for a week. Sallow was ill until she eventually binned them,' Hotch admitted, quietly thinking.
'You mean when she was sleeping in your bed without ever admitting to us that she was even staying at your house? Well, there was a week where she got an infection from getting shot. And in the end she took a week off,' Rossi replied nonchalantly as he waved at Cecile who was walking into the field.
Hotch's dark eyes focused on Rossi. 'She got shot? But I saw her almost every day, unless you guys were on a case. Where was she shot?' He asked incredulously.
'It was a graze on her shoulder. It only got infected because she refused to let the paramedics see to it. But we were only away for one case, the other case was local. Erin didn't have us working too many cases while you were gone so that we could regroup and focus on paperwork,' Rossi confessed. 'When did Jack get her flowers?'
Sighing, Hotch shook his head as he pieced the evidence together. 'After she was away for a few days. CeCe claimed it was a case, but now I think it was something else that took her away. How sick was she?' He asked curiously, not hearing his accidental use of her nickname.
Rossi raised an eyebrow and glanced at Hotch. 'CeCe? Jack wasn't lying. But she was really sick. The doctors could only give her enough medication for a few hours a day. I think she slept most of the time. I dropped some food over and she looked straight out of a horror movie,' he joked before offering a hand to Cecile who took it gratefully as she was led to the food.
'How did you guys find me?' Cecile asked as she made her first Lunchables sandwich.
Eyes glanced at Garcia, who received a scathing look from Cecile before she burst out laughing. 'But you don't come out with us if we invite you. And I saw that your calendar has you out with friends tonight, and your weekend was booked with "technicolour yawn"; and whatever that is, it sounds time consuming,' Garcia groaned as she took a bite of her sandwich.
'You don't get hungover, why would you be throwing up?' JJ asked curiously.
'Oh, no. They are my alcoholic friends, which means that they drink me under the table, and then keep drinking. You guys have nothing on them. I always need a few days to recover when we meet,' Cecile confessed.
Hotch was silent as he watched Cecile, eating some crisps as he noticed that with each gulp of water she drank from her cup, she would carefully drag her tongue and lip against the glass edge as if she was trying to catch any droplets of liquid. 'Why didn't you mention your birthday?' Prentiss asked, a hint of accusation in her tone.
'I don't like celebrating my birthday. Haven't done it since I was fourteen,' Cecile confessed, pausing to painfully chuckle. 'If you can count my fourteenth as a celebration,' she mumbled.
Suddenly changing the topic, Garcia mentioned Morgan's latest tattoo that he had eluded to, but he wouldn't tell her where or what it was. As their conversation fell into an argument, JJ turned to Hotch and stole his attention away, Rossi finding comfort in joking with Prentiss when Cecile suddenly turned to Reid. 'What's wrong, Doc? You keep scratching your head,' she remarked as he turned to look at her through his sunglasses.
'I think I got a bite. It hurts, and it's risen,' he confessed quietly.
Swatting his hand away, Cecile placed her cup down and crawled the small distance to him as she looked at his head. Her eyes grew wide as she saw what it was. 'If you ever get bitten, do not scratch it. Do you understand me?' She warned while hooking her knee over his legs so that she was straddling him.
'What are you doing?' Reid asked as he tried to push her hands away. 'Cecile, stop it,' Reid whined as she loomed over him.
Swatting his hands again, Reid gave up as Cecile placed both of her hands around his head as her thumbs rubbed against his forehead. 'It's a spot. You greasy teenager,' she teased as it popped between her nails and she smiled. 'You have just made me the happiest person in this field,' she gleeful announced before pulling away and taking a napkin to his skin.
Reid snatched the napkin as his flustered features were covered while Cecile climbed off of him with a large smile. 'Presents time, and having sex with our resident genius doesn't count,' Garcia called over the blankets to get everyone's attention.
Batting her eyelashes, Cecile glanced at Reid, turning his pink cheeks red. 'Oh, the things I could make you do,' she murmured, meeting Prentiss' eye as she mocked her, repeating the words of "The Viper".
'Shut up,' Prentiss whined as she threw back the remnants of her cup. 'I don't care if it's your birthday or your damn funeral, I will resort to violence,' she threatened with a deathly glare directed at Cecile.
No one saw the glint in time as Cecile stood up and ran at Prentiss, knocking the plastic cup from her hand as she floored her. Pinning Prentiss' arms over her head, Cecile loomed over her before dropping her head and running the flat of her tongue against her cheek. 'Don't threaten me with a good time,' Cecile mumbled while smiling, Garcia grumbling about the fact that the pair needed to pull apart for the party to really start. 'Penelope Garcia, love is love. And I want to make love right now,' Cecile teased as she pushed herself up, Prentiss wiping her face down as she sat up.
Morgan and Reid were arguing over something when Garcia sent them a deathly glare and they stopped. 'We came together to get you some things. Please, take your pick,' she suggested while gesturing towards the wrapped presents that the team had compiled a few days previous, Hotch had been led to believe that it would be gifted to her at work, so he was caught off guard by their sudden arrival.
An unnatural amount of chocolate was tucked into one of the largest boxes, making Cecile smirk. 'I'm glad someone knows me. And don't pretend it wasn't you Reid. I know the skilled hands of a man who can't wrap presents,' she teased before placing the box down and lifting another present.
"Cecilia" was scrawled on the top and her breath hitched in her throat. Freezing in place, her wide eyes stared at the gift like it was going to kill her, until Prentiss gently nudged her and brought her out of the trance she was put into. Trembling with nerves the team hadn't expected, she pulled the wrapping paper off, tearing the name apart as she tried to catch sight of what was inside, pushing the word to the back of her mind. A plethora of perfumes were packed in a stunning bag as the glass smacked against one another. 'Oh, Garcia. Thank you,' she managed to mumbled while placing the gift down.
The awkward air was soon lost as the gifts moved on. Until the final present was chosen and Cecile knew that it was Hotch's. Not just because of the fact it was the last one and he hadn't given any yet, but also because he visibly tensed in his jeans and top. Out first came a necklace of a sun and moon with the team's names engraved into the sun's rays. Along with the necklace was a mug, her mug was broken a few weeks before by Anderson and she was using spare mugs when she could. On one side of the mug was a picture of Gollum, while on the other side were written words.
Holding onto my mental health like Gollum. -My Depressious.
Despite herself, she smirked as a polite chuckle accidentally fell from her lips. It had been a joke the pair shared one night as they were both on the sofa, her hands in his hair while the television was playing a stand-up show. 'I'm surprised you can even remember a word that left me mouth,' she harshly bit before carefully placing the presents in the box Garcia had carried them over in.
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's a bit of a filler, but the angsty air is thicker than a bowl of oatmeal.