Isabel was bent over the stove, trying to make sure that everything was perfect for this day. This could be her last chance, and she wanted to make sure she got everything possible from it. The heavenly smell of what she was cooking swirled in the room and Isabel knew that nobody could hate this dish. It smelled too good to be bad. Her partner had also made a dish that was sitting in the oven, but unfortunately, they were going to separate locations. They wouldn't be spending this together. Isabel looked over to where her partner was sitting, half-asleep, waiting for the timer on the oven to go off.
"Did ye not get any sleep last night?" Isabel asked, and her partner shrugged.
"Nah, just a little drowsy from the painkillers. Hangovers suck dick," her partner groaned, and Isabel shrugged.
"Maybe ye shouldn't have had that much to drink last night. And don't deny it, ye know ye did. If ye didn't, ye wouldn't be hungover," Isabel told her, and her partner sighed, laying her head on the table. Isabel laughed and went back to her dish. She had to make sure it was perfect. She was actually going home for the holiday.
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Ciara put on a pair of oven mitts and tried to peek at what was inside through the door, but it wasn't quite see-through enough to tell her if they were ready. Sighing, she opened the oven door and looked at the cinnamon rolls, and decided that they still needed a few more minutes in the oven. She didn't want to cook them for too long, but she knew that they needed to be in for a little longer. The case way back when in Towanda had made her extremely wary about how long she cooked her food for. She checked her soup on the stove, deciding that it was ready to go. Akilah was putting the final touches on what she had called saleeg, which was a dish from the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. That day was Thanksgiving, and everyone from the BAU was meeting at Rossi's house. Hotch was bringing Jack and JJ was bringing Will and Henry, all three of which Ciara had yet to meet, and she was excited to meet Will and the two young boys. Morgan had suggested that both her and Akilah bring something from their home, and Ciara was ready with hers at the mention of it. Akilah had to take a little bit longer to decide.
"So what do you do at Thanksgiving, may I ask? You know I've never celebrated before, but now that... well, you know what's different now," Akilah mentioned, and Ciara nodded. Now that Akilah had completely and utterly fallen from her faith, she was going to try a few, in her words, "American traditions". Ciara was okay with that. She was glad to have her friend join her for the holiday.
"Do ye want to hear the history behind the holiday, or just what most people do?" Ciara asked, knowing Akilah could easily want either.
"Just what people do. I could care less about the history," Akilah said.
"Well, it's a little different for each family. Some families have their own traditions when it comes to Thanksgiving, and some don't celebrate it at all. But what's common is that families, or in our case, friends, get together and enjoy one another's company. Oh, and there's lots of food involved," Ciara explained, not really good at summarizing holidays.
"I see. Well, it sounds fun. I'm kind of excited to try this whole Thanksgiving thing. Do you think anyone will mind that I've never celebrated before?" Akilah asked.
"Nah. I think that since this is yer first time celebrating, they'll try and make it special for ye," Ciara answered, and Akilah nodded. In a few minutes, Ciara checked on the cinnamon rolls again, and this time, she knew they were ready. Pulling the frosting she had made earlier out of the fridge, she spread it around on the rolls and decided that they were good. What she was bringing wasn't only from Nebraska when they were alone, but bringing the two of them together was a Nebraskan tradition that she hadn't seen anywhere else. Chili and cinnamon rolls, her favorite combination.
Once they both decided that they were ready, they carefully placed the food in the back of Akilah's car, making sure that they wouldn't move and spill everywhere. While the chili smelled really good, Ciara doubted that Akilah wanted it all over the backseat. As they traveled towards their destination, Ciara remembered some of the things that had gone down in the past few months, and one memory of Akilah pushed forward without Ciara wanting it to. Not everything had been sunshine and rainbows. Even Akilah and Ciara had their bad moments, and a few weeks ago had been one of those moments.
"Ye know, that's really bad for yer health, and if anyone was to find out..." Ciara tried to warn Akilah when she saw the multiple bottles on the table. She didn't have to look at the label to know what used to be in them. Akilah opened another, and Ciara sighed. She wasn't going to listen, was she?
"My health is really none of your concern, is it? If I want to throw it away, then that is none of your business," Akilah remarked, and Ciara shook her head.
"Yer my partner. I have to make sure yer okay. That's my job. Akilah, just listen to me, please," Ciara pleaded, but then everything went wrong. Ciara had stepped close to Akilah, hoping to take the bottle out of her hand, but that wasn't going to happen. Akilah, despite knowing how much Ciara hated touch, put her bottle down and pushed Ciara to the ground. She grabbed one of the empty bottles and held it above her head as if she was going to hit Ciara with it. Ciara threw her hands in front of her to try and protect herself, and she couldn't stop the tears from coming down her face.
"I-I'm sorry, p-please don't hurt me..." she cried, and Ciara heard the bottle break. She looked up and saw that Akilah had dropped the bottle and was looking at Ciara with a terrified look on her face. She knew what she had done.
"Oh my, Ciara, I'm so sorry! I can't believe I just... oh..." Ciara didn't have the chance to say anything to her, because Akilah ran out of the kitchen then, and Ciara heard her bedroom door close. After a while, Ciara stood up, dumped the full bottle's contents down the sink, and threw away the empty bottles. Yet, even as she passed by Akilah's room and heard the crying inside, she had a feeling that this wasn't the end of it.
Ciara came out of her memory just in time to see Rossi's house come into view and to see Akilah get a little jittery with nerves, although only Ciara would have been able to see it. They pulled in just in time to see JJ with Will and a little boy Ciara assumed was Henry. Reid was outside, and Henry lit up upon seeing him. Aw, that's cute. Ciara knew that Reid was Henry's godfather, and Ciara could see that Henry just adored him. Akilah and Ciara got out at the same time, and both took their dishes out of the back seat, even though Ciara knew that she would have to make two trips. One for the chili, and another for the cinnamon rolls. Reid waved at her as they came up, and she looked down, trying not to get too sucked into memories.
Ever since they had gone to get ice cream in Towanda, Reid had taken her out, just as friends, every Saturday. Once she had asked why he was doing it, and he had told her that he was helping her with her social skills. Of course, that could have just been what he wanted to say since she admitted to him that she had never thought about dating because she didn't have the social skills for it. She actually thought it was rather sweet that he was taking the time to help her like that. That, and she enjoyed the time they spent together. Her favorite memory had only occurred the week before.
"Have you ever been here?" Reid asked her. She looked up at the sign and found that it was a music store. She shook her head, and he headed for it. "Let's go. I'd like to hear you play."
"Oh, I love music stores!" Ciara exclaimed as they walked inside. To her, it was like heaven. She looked around, wide-eyed, and went straight for the flutes. She requested permission to play some of the instruments, and she was granted that permission. She quickly put the instrument to her lips and played a tune she had made on her own as a teenager, and Reid was quickly beside her.
"You're really good. Did you make that tune on your own?" he asked, and she nodded. After playing it a couple more times, she went to the alto saxophones.
"Hey, hey, listen to this!" she said, and played a G note. When played the way she did, it sounded a bit like a train horn. She started to laugh, always having fun when playing that note like that. She looked at Reid to see his reaction, and she instantly looked away, since he was staring at her. "What?"
"It's just..."
"What? Did ye not like that? I always thought that was kind of cool, but if ye..."
"No, it's nothing like that."
"Then what is it?" she asked, but she didn't expect to get the answer she did.
"I've never heard you laugh before."
The memory turned sour after that, but she didn't want to think about that. Instead, she followed him into the kitchen where she was told she could set her chili down, before running back out to the car to get her cinnamon rolls. That was the most important part. Jack was immediately interested, but Hotch reminded him that cinnamon rolls were a dessert item. Ciara wanted to say something until the focus was put on Akilah and her very exotic dish. As people pored over the saleeg, Ciara set both of her creations right by each other, as they were intended to be. Morgan came to investigate what she had brought, and Ciara was pulled into another memory.
"I'm never going to get it. Why are ye wasting yer time on me?" Ciara asked, putting the gun back on the table. She had just shot three rounds, and none of them were even close to the target.
"Hey, don't tell yourself you won't. If Reid can learn to shoot, you can, too. Now, just remember these few things," Morgan told her, before demonstrating what it was she needed to remember. After it was learned that Ciara had no clue how to shoot and had utterly failed her firearms qualifications test, Morgan had decided to help her learn. She wondered why Hotch didn't volunteer since Reid said that Hotch taught him, but she didn't really care, as long as she somehow learned. Knowing that Reid had learned gave her a little bit of confidence, which was quickly dashed as she missed the target by a mile yet again.
"This is hopeless," she muttered.
"Come on, just try it again. Focus," Morgan told her, and she took a deep breath, and fired one more time. This time, she hit the outer edge of the target. "Good job. We're getting closer."
"You know, it was suggested that you bring something from home. These are both things that you can get anywhere," JJ said as she came up behind Ciara.
"Yeah, but have ye ever had chili and cinnamon rolls together?" Ciara asked.
"No, I haven't."
"That's the thing that's from Nebraska. Chili and cinnamon rolls together are like, a school's lunch staple. Next time we all get together like this I'm bringing runzas," Ciara said.
"What's a runza?" JJ asked.
"Ye'll just have to wait and see."
"Hey, Ciara, can you... wait, why are you writing with your left hand?" JJ asked, whatever she needed the moment before forgotten.
"I've always written with my left hand," Ciara said, and JJ shook her head.
"No, you haven't. Just yesterday you were writing with your right hand. Right?" Ciara shook her head, saying that she had always written with her left hand. "No, no, you haven't. Spence! Spence, come over here for a moment."
"Yeah? What's up, JJ?" Reid asked, and JJ pointed to Ciara.
"You have an eidetic memory. Has Ciara always written with her left hand?" JJ asked, and Ciara saw Reid look like he was struggling to remember.
"No, in fact, I know she was writing with her right hand yesterday. Why?" Reid asked, and JJ pointed to Ciara. "Why are you writing with your left hand?"
"I've always written with my left hand. Y'all just haven't noticed until now," Ciara repeated herself, and JJ looked extremely exasperated. Ciara went back to her work, enjoying the chaos she had made. JJ went to everybody in the team, including Akilah, trying to figure out if Ciara had indeed always written with her left hand. Everyone was sure that she had always written with her right, but every time, Ciara claimed that she had always written with her left hand, and Ciara knew she was the only one that actually knew the truth.
Word quickly went around that Ciara had proposed such a strange idea: eating chili and cinnamon rolls together. Jack was rather excited at the idea, saying that meant that they weren't just dessert and he could have one. Akilah had already tried it once or twice, which made sense considering she had been living with Ciara for several years now. People were also a little curious of the saleeg, but Ciara had tried some of Akilah's Saudi Arabian cooking, and she actually really liked it. Ciara stayed close to Akilah, not because she was uncomfortable around this many people, but because she knew that Akilah was getting a little uncomfortable. She really didn't know what to do at a Thanksgiving celebration, and only Ciara could see the anxiety brewing within her.
"The fact that you can all come together, as one family, for a celebration like this astounds me. But maybe that's because my family was cut off from the rest that lived around me. Is this the only time of year this happens?" Akilah asked, and Ciara shook her head.
"Nah, there's lots of holidays. Easter, Christmas, New Year's Eve, 4th of July, and those are the common ones. Of course, certain religions have certain holidays. For example, Jewish people don't celebrate Christmas, but Hanukkah," Ciara answered.
"You lost me on all of those," Akilah said, and Ciara sighed.
"That's all right. I'll explain later," Ciara promised. Akilah nodded, and looked around the room at all the commotion. Everyone was talking and enjoying themselves, something that Ciara had to get used to again. Even in past years, she had celebrated holidays like this alone because Akilah wouldn't celebrate with her. Before that, she hadn't had a way to celebrate with anyone. But none of that mattered now. Now she was surrounded by the members of her team, who she had come to realize did actually care about her. Why they did, now that was something she couldn't figure out. But sometimes, she didn't care about the why. She was just happy that somebody finally cared about her. That wasn't to say she trusted them fully or even partially or anything like that, but she was starting to gain little moments of trust here and there. And that was a huge step for her.
"Ms. Byrne, can I have a cim-a-mon roll?" Jack asked, and Ciara felt her heart swell. Good Lord, this kid was cute.
"Did ye ask yer dad if ye can have one?" Ciara asked, and Jack laughed.
"You talk funny," he laughed. If an adult told her that, she would have been overcome by embarrassment, but Ciara knew full well that to a kid, her "accent" was a rather strange thing to hear. But it's not like she tried to talk with an accent. To her, her speech sounded completely normal, and it was everyone around her who had an accent.
"I do, don't I? Bet ye've never heard someone talk like me, have ye?" she asked, and Jack shook his head, smiling. He really liked her accent.
"No. But you didn't say if I could have a cim-a-mon roll," Jack reminded her, and Ciara thought for a moment.
"Did ye ask yer dad?" Ciara asked. Jack looked around for said parental figure, before motioning to Ciara to come closer. He wanted to tell her a secret. Ciara did as she was requested, and got on her knees, perfect height for the four-year-old.
"I did ask Daddy but he said no. So I asked you since Daddy said they were your cim-a-mon rolls," Jack told her, and Ciara playfully gasped.
"No way."
"Yes way! Sounds smart, doesn't it Ms. Byrne?" Jack asked.
"It's okay if ye call me Ciara. Everyone else does. But yes, that does seem rather smart to me. What a smart little boy," Ciara told him.
"I'm not a little boy! I'm a big boy!" Jack exclaimed, and Ciara nearly smiled.
"I bet ye are. Now, I know for a fact that in a few minutes, everyone's gonna start getting food, so if yer dad still doesn't let ye have a cinnamon roll, I'll sneak ye one, okay? But ye have to keep it a secret. This is a secret mission, and I can only let ye in on it if ye promise to keep it a secret. Okay?" Ciara suggested, and Jack nodded.
"I promise I'll keep it a secret!" Jack exclaimed, before running off to find Hotch. Ciara stood back up, and Akilah sighed.
"You know, I could get used to this Thanksgiving thing."
Time skip has been brought to you by Dark Helmet. So, finding out what happened when they got ice cream is a no. Sorry! But we have more important things to worry about, like the fact that at some point in time, Reid got Ciara to laugh! That, and her and Jack are going on a bit of a secret mission, which can only lead to interesting results. But anyway, has anyone (other than any Nebraska readers) had chili and cinnamon rolls together? And does anyone (other than any Nebraska readers) know what a runza is? If not, that's okay. It'll be explained in a later chapter. So yeah, I think that's all I have for this time. BYE!
"We must find the time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives." -John F. Kennedy