Christmas
I gasp awake and bolt up in bed. Female hands retract from my shoulders and a weight dips the mattress next to me as I furiously rub my eyes to get the sleep out of them. My own drowsiness seems determined to keep my eyes shut, but I manage to get the right one open and breathe out a huge sigh of relief.
“Auntie G?” I ask, swaying a bit and trying to stay conscious. Garcia tousles my hair gently and I’m so exhausted I lean into the touch which I can tell she wants to aw at. The woman is dressed in fuzzy tie-dye sweatpants and an oversized plain white hoodie. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a very messy bun and her glasses are nowhere to be found, leading me to determine she just woke up too and someone drove her here. “Wassgoinon?”
She smiles at me, somehow wide awake, but as soon as I smell coffee on her it makes sense. “Hey bug,” she murmurs her nickname she gave to me before the whole Emily mess. “Your Dad, Morgan, and I are gonna take you somewhere cool, okay?”
I look around but everything is foggy. My alarm clock slowly comes into focus and I frown at the time, 3 AM. A glance out of the window shows it’s pitch black out and no one is on the streets.
“Whaddabout the case? We should have left already.” I mutter, returning my gaze to Garcia who scowls towards the door.
“Ugh, I knew those two doofuses would get the time wrong. We’re not leaving till morning, kiddo.”
I nod slowly but my body betrays me and I start to drift off again.
Garcia sighs fondly and lays a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll wake you up when we get there, Baby Genius. You can go back to sleep.”
****
Third Person P.O.V
Reid smiles wide at the sight that meets him when he comes down the stairs. He’s dressed in the ugly Christmas sweater Finn got him last year and as it’s a week till Christmas, he figured the girl would appreciate him wearing it. The sweater itself is blue and has a picture of Santa sitting on a chimney and using it as a toilet while he reads a newspaper. Finn had thought it was absolutely hilarious and couldn’t wait till Christmas to give it to her dad. He wore it to work the next day and got made fun of by the whole team, but it was worth it to see Finn happy.
What he doesn't expect to see when he’s finally ready to go is his sleeping daughter getting a piggyback from Derek Morgan while Garcia snaps pictures. Finn’s hair is mussed up along with her XXXL red and green sweatshirt that reaches her knees and has sleeves that hang six inches past her hands. Reid’s happy she fell asleep in that sweatshirt, black sweatpants, and fuzzy socks because he doesn’t know how cold the car is going to be. Despite that he already has four fuzzy blankets in his arms and he gives Garcia a grin as she reaches forwards to take two of them from him.
The blonde woman looks tired but a twinkle in her eye shows excitement. She’s wearing a new perfume that makes her smell like gingerbread and Reid can’t help but smirk at her love for the season.
Derek looks a little tired, but nowhere near the level of Garcia and Reid. He’s also dressed in pajamas, but his aren’t that Christmas themes. He’s dressed in red flannel sweatpants and a black Adidas sweatshirt. He rolls his eyes at the taller man as Reid gives him a smug look.
“The kid kept falling back asleep, it’s not like I had a choice,” the older agent gripes.
His coworkers give him matching looks. “Sure.”
All their voices are low in an effort not to wake Finley, Derek’s the lowest by far despite his earlier protests. Somehow they all manage to make it out the door, even if every creak of a floorboard or thump of someone’s arm into a wall makes them break down laughing. They get a couple weird looks from the night owls in the hallways of Reid’s apartment building but make it to Derek’s car alright.
Derek has a black SUV that he insisted on using for this expedition of theirs, despite Garcia’s protests that her old mustang would have been fine. Once they’re at the car doors, however, they encounter a problem.
“Shit,” Derek hisses when Reid tries to open the door but it remains locked. “My keys are in my pocket but I can’t reach them with Finn-”
“Hand her to me,” Reid whispers, holding his arms out. Derek raises an eyebrow and his taller coworker puts his hands on his hips. “I’ve been carrying Finn whenever she’s zoned out for years. Trust me.”
The youngest Agent is a bit annoyed that Derek doesn’t believe he can carry his own daughter, but a bigger part of him is cooing over how his coworkers care about the kid so much. Reid takes Finn from Derek and holds her bridal style. His daughter is really warm, and to anyone else it would be an inclination that she’s sick, but Reid knows from experience that Finn just turns into a space heater when she’s asleep.
Everyone gets into the car with the boys in the front and the girls in the back. Garcia buckles Finn and Reid is thankful he brought the blankets because it’s frigid in the car. He distributes the fluffy objects, everyone gets settled, then Derek punches the gas and they’re off.
***
“Finn,” someone’s hand is shaking me again, it’s Garcia. She sounds really excited. “Wake up! You’re gonna wanna see this.”
I blink my eyes open, a lot more awake then the first time this happened, and immediately realize I’m in a car. And not any car, Derek’s car. I know the interior of his vehicle by heart since he’s started picking me up from school and playing basketball with me and the others during the week now.
Blinking more and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I give Garcia a confused look when I realize there’s four of us in the car and everyone’s looking at me.
“Well, look who’s alive,” Derek grins at me from the driver’s seat. “Welcome to the land of the living, kid.”
“Where ‘re we?” I clear my throat. “How’d I get into the car?”
“Derek gave you a piggyback!” Garcia squeals, thrusting her phone in my face to show me the pictures. I hiss at first at the bright light but then actually focus on the image and my face glows red.
I rub a hand over my face. “Okay, I guess that’s answered. But where are we?”
Dad turns around to point out my window with a grin. “See for yourself.”
Following his advice, I turn to face the window and gasp at the sight.
Outside my window has to be thousands of lights in all different colors. They’re all shaped into different things and right off the bat I see a fire breathing dragon, Santa, Rudolf, Candy Canes, the Grinch, and so many more. The lights are flashing at different times and there’s faint Christmas music playing from the car’s stereo. There are cars in front and behind us but everyone has their headlights off as we drive slowly through the attraction.
“Ooh shiny,” is the first thing that I can think to say and it sounds so childlike I facepalm. Derek and Dad roar with laughter while Garcia coos and snaps a picture of me with her butterfly patterned polaroid camera. The camera is just so her that I don’t protest as she shows me the picture after it’s developed, and even I have to admit it’s a good one. My eyes are huge with amazement in the image and you can see Christmas lights reflected in them.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“Drive through Christmas lights.” Dad gives a shrug. “I didn’t know what they were either but Derek and Garcia were determined to make us go. Do you like them, bubs?”
I beam at him, my first real smile since Emily came back, and any tension in all the adults fades instantly. “Yeah, it’s great! Thanks guys.”
The blonde woman claps her hands excitedly. “That’s not all!” She pulls four steaming cups of something and a box of donuts out of nowhere and starts passing them around. “I bought donuts and hot chocolate!”
The boys and I cheer as we accept the food. We finish driving through the lights with Dad and I spouting facts about each type of lightbulbs we pass. Eventually we’re back on the road, all the hot chocolate and donuts are gone, and Dad and Garcia are asleep with me well on the way. And for the first time in forever, I finally feel content.
Then I shift a bit and a bolt of pain shoots up my forearm and the feeling goes away.