Chapter Text
Kez’ first Christmas at the BAU had been a quiet one. In fact, there wasn’t much in the way of celebrating the holiday, because the team had been called out to a case literally days before the big day. Thankfully, they had use of a private jet, but the pilots had to abide by FAA rules on rest breaks, hours of sleep, etc.
But they had made it home just in time to celebrate with their families. It was December 28 and Kez was the first to arrive, so she had time to leave the gifts she had brought on the recipients’ desks. For Spencer, she had found an illustrated edition of Chrétien de Troyes’ poems, including the ‘Continuations’ of Perceval, in the original French of the 12th century and a modern translation. The book was a new work on Chrétien’s writings and his role in the development of the Arthurian stories.
She had gotten JJ a gift certificate for a very expensive (well worth the money!) spa. Being a mum to very active boys and married to a detective with DC Metro Police Department, just having some time to pamper herself was a luxury. She had also given her a hamper full of stuff to pamper herself at home – spa quality soaps, bubble bath, face masks, etc. For Penelope, she had got her a gift certificate to the same spa, so both of them could go together. She had also gotten Penelope a little something extra, to keep on her desk for when she needed a little pick-me-up during some of their worst cases. And the same hamper as JJ, but Penelope themed.
Buying for Rossi was difficult. What does one buy for a man who is rich like Rossi? However, Kez had tricks up her sleeves when it came to her godfather. Uncle Dave, not FBI SSA Rossi, was a much more simpler man to buy for. She had had reached out to some of the Rossi family back on Long Island, New York, and even went so far as to track down some of the Italian Rossi relatives. On Uncle Dave’s desk sat a box in which was a hand-bound collection of Rossi family recipes.
Kez stood in Derek’s office and smiled as she placed his gift on the desk. Knowing how much he listened to his music on the flights back to DC after working in the field, she had brought him a pair of headphones that were high-end, but not quite top-of-the-line.
The last gift she had to give was for Aaron Hotchner. She had been in the BAU for not quite two months, but had learnt a little about their stoic, but caring, Unit Chief. In the end, she had resorted to asking dear Uncle Dave, who just so happened to be Aaron’s best friend. The gift bag held a very good bottle of scotch whiskey – all the way from a distillery in Scotland! She had to have it shipped in by Dave’s contact. There was also a gift for Jack – a Lego set that Aaron had told Dave about, but given the other things that Jack on put on his Santa list, it was unlikely Jack would get it. Kez wasn’t going to let the 9-year-old be unhappy about not getting a much wanted Lego set – especially when it was Stars Wars themed. Because it was a set of different sized boxes, she had decided to leave each one unwrapped, but tied together with festive ribbon.
For Melanie and the other administrative staff in the BAU, there were gift certificates for a range of stores they could choose from. For Anderson and Stevens, she had brought them each a very nice insulated cup for their coffee and tea respectively (both hot and cold!).
So as the minutes ticked by and it approached 8:30 am, Kez was sat at her desk going through some of the paperwork left from the last case in the field. She observed as the others gushed over their gifts. She had made sure that there were no gift tags on the gifts or anything else that would give her away.
It was fun to hear Penelope squeal with delight when she found out that JJ had been given the same gifts as her. They were already talking about when they would like to go to the spa, given that they had been given a week-end pass.
Reid was showing off his new book to the two senior agents. Rossi said that he was very lucky to get such an early copy of the book, seeing that it was not out in shops yet. “You mean it’s not just an Advanced Reader Copy?” Reid asked Rossi. Rossi shook his head, “No, Spencer. It’s not an ARC. Whoever got it for you obviously knows the author pretty well and managed to bag you one of the very first copies off the printing press.”
Reid was shocked to hear that he had been given such a thing. He began to treat it like it was a valuable item. In a way it was. It had also been signed by the author themselves with a message to Reid. Kez walked to the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee and as she waited for the coffee maker to do its thing, she texted her author friend thanking them.
Getting back to her desk, she could see that Hotch had gone to Rossi’s office. She couldn’t hear the conversation, but just by seeing Hotch’s gestures and facial expressions, she knew that she had truly hit the ball out of the park on Jack’s gift. Rossi just sat at his desk as he listened to Hotch.
Derek perched himself on the edge of her desk. “So, what did Santa bring you?”
Kez looked at him and smiled. “Oh, I wasn’t lucky to be on the office list for Santa this year, probably he didn’t know that I had moved from Boston.”
“Surely, he got you something, though,” Derek said.
Kez huffed a laugh. “Yeah, he did. You guys.”
That made Derek laugh out loud. “You’re serious?”
Kez nodded. “I don’t really need or want anything, from Santa or anyone else, honestly. Just being in the BAU is my gift, this year.”
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The next year Penelope decided that it would be great if they did a Secret Santa Exchange. So, mid-November she had gathered the team in the conference room and explained what was going to happen.
“The rules are quite simple,” Penelope said. “You will draw a name from the bowl, if you get your name, draw another and put your name back in. There is a spending limit of $50 – quality over quantity, please. No gift tags or anything to give the gifting party away, the recipient is to guess who got them their gift. However, you are allowed to put the recipient’s initials on the gift via way of decorative stickers. Most important rule: no telling others who you picked.”
So Penelope sent the bowl around the table, when it got to her, she had pulled a name out and put in the last two names. The next person to draw was Kez, who moved away from the others to open the slip of paper to see who she had gotten. Oh, fuck! She had pulled Hotch’s name. She glanced over at Hotch, who was staring at his slip of paper. He wasn’t giving anything away.
Rossi announced that he would host a Christmas party for the team at his home a few days before Christmas.
Everyone made their way back to their desks. Kez sat at hers and pondered what she was going to get Hotch. She knew that he had been a lawyer and a prosecutor before joining the FBI and the BAU. She could ask her dad for help in getting something law related for Hotch.
Soon it was lunch and Penelope dragged Kez out of the office for a bit. They went to a nice little café not far from the office. Over lunch, Penelope said she had no idea on what to get her secret Santa. Kez asked some general questions:
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Male or female? Female – so it was JJ or Emily.
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Any particular interests or hobbies? Wasn’t sure on that one.
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Children – two- or four- legged? Some hesitation but no answer was forthcoming.
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Married or single? Same response as the previous question.
Penelope was good at keeping to the rules. But at least Kez had some idea as to who it could be. “You could get her a gift certificate to a really nice spa to pamper herself or create a home spa hamper.”
Penelope agreed that sounded like a great idea. Penelope tried to get Kez to tell her who she had gotten as her secret Santa. Kez refused to say anything other than it was one of the men on the team.
That afternoon Kez went over the case files that had been allocated to her. She had kept her head down and got on with her work, so she didn’t notice Aaron Hotchner looking out of his office window at her.
He knew her father well from his time as a prosecutor, having worked with him before joining the FBI. From the conversations that he had with Jurriaan in the past, Jurriaan’s family had originally come over from the Netherlands back in the early 19th century, primarily involved in the cross-Atlantic trade network with Europe.
From what Kez had told the team when she had first joined the BAU, she had an interest in history and archaeology. So, maybe tickets to a museum exhibition would be a good choice, he thought. He began to look to see what exhibitions were being held in the new year in DC or in Boston. He had some time to get the tickets, but he didn’t want to leave it too late, so he made a note for himself, giving a self-imposed deadline.
All too quickly the weeks flew by, almost every week there had been a case in some city or town that needed the BAU out in the field. Jurriaan was all too happy to help Kez with her little mission, so she had left him to sort the gift out. Jurriaan had found out for her that Aaron had been a student at George Washington University’s Law School.
The day for the team’s Christmas party finally arrived. She was careful to hold her secret Santa gift in such a way that no one, especially Hotch could see the initials. She was greeted by Emily, Hotch and JJ and Will, before placing the gift on the table near the tree with the others. Soon Penelope arrived, then Reid and finally Morgan with Savannah. Jessica, Aaron’s sister-in-law, was also there as a guest.
Once they were all full from dinner, they gathered in the living room to exchange gifts. As Jessica was not participating in the BAU Secret Santa Exchange, along with Will and Savannah, it was their job to hand out the presents.
The first to get theirs was Spencer. It was a beautiful edition of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Spencer correctly guessed that it was Emily who had got it for him. Next was Penelope. She had been gifted some rather nice home spa products from a very well-known brand. Again it was a correct guess – Rossi, who said that she truly deserved to be pampered, even if it was at home.
JJ was the third to get their gift. She stared at the gift certificate – a full day at a local spa just for her. With Emily and Rossi ruled out already, she had to choose from Morgan, Kez, Hotch, Spencer and Penelope. After an incorrect guess of Hotch, it was Penelope who fessed up to being Santa.
Savannah passed a beautifully wrapped box to Hotch, who took his time to unwrap the gift. In a plain white box, wrapped in tissue paper was a hooded sweatshirt from George Washington University Law School with his graduating year. Along with a framed letter from the Dean of the Law School personally addressed to Hotch, recognising his achievements in his career since graduating from GWU Law.
So with Emily, Rossi and Penelope out, Hotch looked at those who were left – JJ, Spencer, Morgan or Kez. He looked at each one of them intently before going back to Kez. “It was Kez.”
She graciously bowed her head and confirmed that he was correct. Jessica passed the next present to Derek. His was a new pair of headphones. He had to say that he truly didn’t know, which meant that JJ had to confess to being his secret Santa.
Will passed Kez her gift, which was too thin to be anything other an envelope. When she opened it to see there were tickets to an exhibition at the National Art Gallery in the new year, about Dutch Old Masters. She was pleasantly surprised. “Sorry, Derek, but I know it wasn’t you,” she said, with Derek feigning shock and horror, which made everyone laugh. “So, it leaves the resident genius or our stoic leader,” she said, pausing to consider the choices. “I would have to say it was Hotch.”
There was a loud ‘hurrah’ from Rossi. To which he got a glare from Kez and a rather smug look from Aaron.
Next was Rossi. He opened the gift bag and pulled out a rather nice bottle of scotch. “Thank you, Spencer.”
The last person to receive their gift was Emily. It was a framed picture of the London skyline, along with miniatures of individual landmarks within the city itself. “Thanks, Derek. I love it.”
So as everyone was preparing to leave with their gifts in hand, Hotch pulled Kez into Dave’s library. Making sure that the door was closed, Aaron pulled her in his arms and kissed her. Pulling apart driven by their mutual need to breathe, he rested his forehead against hers.
“I have wanted to do that for so long,” Aaron said so softly, it was more like a whisper.
“Would you like to go out for dinner?” he asked as he stood up straight so he could look at her properly.
Kez wrapped her arms around his neck, said she’d love to go out for dinner with him, before she pulled him back down for another kiss.
In the hallway, Rossi was collecting his winnings from the others, much to the feigned annoyance of Emily and Derek.