Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Summary: As the holidays are fast approaching the BAU is presented with some holiday cheer.

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

Shout Out: So as promised in the last chapter of The Death Card, I will be putting shout outs for everyone who reviewed in the last chapter. So thank you to booksandmusic97, Randallsbaby, p95000, and dyallon. I loved seeing your reviews and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I hope you find this one just as fun.

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Chapter One:

It had been almost six months since David Rossi found out he had a daughter. Much less a teenage one. He often found himself excited to come home to see her working on homework in the kitchen's breakfast nook.

He had just gotten back from a case in Colorado. It was three in the morning and he was more than ready to collapse into his soft bed and sleep for ten days.

He knew Rori was off for winter break, but he was surprised to find her in the kitchen baking cookies. She was in a simple pair of light blue pajama shorts and a white tank top. Her long black hair had been pulled up into a messy bun and her bangs were brushed to the side.

"Rori it's three in the morning. What are you doing up?" he asked.

Rori looked up, her green eyes shining with happiness and a mix of confusion. "No it's not. I'm not even tired."

"How long have you been baking?" Rossi asked looking around the kitchen.

"I finished my English Final at two, dropped Kenta off at his place so that he could get ready for his trip to Japan, and then I went to the store to get some ingredients. I came home and I started baking."

"Why?"

"I do it every year and I wasn't going to wait for you to show up to help me. So I thought I would start today and not tomorrow," Rori explained. "I bake large batches of cookies and then I send them to friends and some of the nearby children's hospitals."

"How many cookies have you made?" Rossi asked.

Rori pointed over to the breakfast nook and Rossi found himself in a rare state. He was in absolute shock. The entire four person table was covered in stacks Ziploc containers. All filled with cookies.

He looked at the island to find a big bowl of dough. He caught a whiff of peppermint. "Why don't you stop for the night?"

"But I need to separate the dough into three sections and dye one red and another green."

Rossi perked up a bit. "You're making your mothers peppermint twist cookies?"

"Yeah, mom and I did this when I was little. She would tell me that we were fortunate and therefore we needed to find a way to give back. So we made cookies."

"All right," her father said as he made his way over to the sink. "I'll do the green and then we'll put the dough in the fridge so it can harden overnight. We'll twist them tomorrow."

He washed his hands and dried them quickly. "How did you keep the kitchen clean?"

Rori sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you? You clean up as you go," she explained. "I've never cooked with two ovens before. It's nice, things get done faster. I can have multiple batches going at one time."

Rossi took a third of the light brown cookie dough from the large bowl and dumped it into a smaller lightly floured bowl. "Where's the green food dye?" he asked.

Rori handed him the little cone shaped bottle. "You only need-"

"Three drops. I've made these before Rori."

Rori smiled and separated the dough once more.

An hour later Rossi peeked into Rori's room. It looked like she had washed her face and then dropped herself onto the bed. She was curled up on her side facing away from the door. Her two dogs had taken up residence on the second half of the bed while Mudgie was lying down on a plush dog bed in front of Rori's nightstand. He would never be found on the bed. He was a guard dog and he took his job seriously.

Rossi walked over and pulled Rori's favorite blanket over her. He bent over stiffly and scratched Mudgie behind the ear before leaving the room. He left the door slightly ajar for the dogs.

The next morning Rori came down stairs to the smell of fresh brewed, expensive, coffee. She was pulling a brush through her long tangled hair when she stopped in the dining room to see her dad drinking coffee while he read the paper.

"Why aren't you drinking your coffee in the breakfast nook like you usually do?" she asked.

"Someone decided that the nook was the designated cookie zone," Rossi answered.

Rori took a moment to understand. "Right. Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

"What time is it?"

"Eleven," her father answered. "The team was given the day off, so I don't have to go in today. What do you want to do?"

"Cookies, Christmas Shopping, Christmas tree, you know the general holiday stuff the people do as a family."

"Do you know what you want to get people?" Rossi asked.

"It's all been preordered. I just have to go pick it up," Rori answered. "You won't get a case during the week of Christmas will you?"

"We shouldn't unless it's serious."

"Okay."

"Go grab some breakfast."

Rori walked into the kitchen and looked at the tubs of cookies. "Dad?" she asked

"What is it Rori?" he answered.

"Do you think that your team would want some cookies?" she asked carefully.

"Why?"

"I think I made too many," Rori answered. "I also have a half page of recipes left to do."

Rossi came into the kitchen. "There's more?"

Rori nodded. "The kitchens going to smell like flour and vanilla for a month."

"Do you even have enough flour?" he asked.

"Check the pantry."

"Do I want to?"

"Well, on the bright side we probably won't run out of flour anytime soon," Rori said. "This means, we can make homemade raviolis one night."

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Rori quickly made her way into Garcia's office. She was in a knee length tan sweater dress over a pair of black tights and black, knee high, high heeled boots that gave the appearance of sliding down her legs. A small beret rested on top of her head to complete the look. She held a large box in both hands as she made her way to the lair.

She balanced the box on her right hip while she reached forward to open the door. Once inside she set the box down on the small table and pulled out a small wrapped square box and a decorated tin of cookies. She set them carefully next to the tech's keyboard and left the room with her big box.

She copied the same procedure with Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss's desks. She hopped up the stairs and walked towards Hotch's office.

She stopped in front of his closed door. She leaned back slightly to look through the window. He was looking down at some folders. She frowned and lifted her foot up. She tapped it against the door and looked at him through the window.

Hotch looked up and nodded. "Come in."

Rori once again found herself in the position of balancing her box while she opened Hotch's door. She slid in and smiled.

"You ruined my plan Agent Hotchner, but that's okay because I forgive you."

Hotch looked at the box as she balanced it on one hand. "What's in the box?"

"You haven't spoken with my dad have you?" she asked.

"No, he said hello and went to his office."

"I know, I came with him today," Rori said. She set the box down in an empty chair. "I went on a cookie baking rampage this weekend. I also had to get some shopping done."

She pulled out two wrapped packages. "I got presents for your team."

"You didn't have to do that Rori."

"Au contraire Agent Hotchner, you guys are my dad's family ergo mine as well. I got Jack something too if that's all right. Oh, and a tin of cookies."

She set the packages on the lead agent's desk and pulled out one of the two remaining tins of cookies. She set it next to the presents and picked up her box once more.

"Thank you Rori."

"Happy holidays Agent Hotchner," Rori said. "I have to go hide in my dad's office now before the rest of your team arrives. Happy profiling."

Hotch watched her leave and a minute later he pulled the tin of cookies over and opened it. Each different type of cookies was separated into Ziploc baggie to maintain freshness and to prevent flavor contamination. He smiled and closed the tin knowing his son would be more than willing to help him eat the small treats.

A half hour later Rori was listening to music, bobbing her head to the music as she sat sideways in her father's chair. Her legs dangled over the side and moved slightly to the beat coming from her headphone. She started at her computer screen as she typed quickly.

Her father sat at his desk working on a lecture he would give after the New Year. He looked out his window into the bullpen and found the rest of his team walking in together. Morgan and Prentiss were laughing about something while Reid walked with them hands stuffed in his pockets. He looked at his daughter.

"Rori, they're here," he said.

He waved slightly to get her attention. She looked over and pulled out her headphones. Rossi pointed to the window. Rori slid off the couch and crawled over and peeked through the blinds at the bottom of the window.

"What are you doing?" Rossi asked.

Just when he thought she was mostly normal she went and did things like this. She had to bake cookies till three in the morning and peek out windows as if she's expecting to see some sort of hideous monster waiting to kill her.

"Shush, I'm running covert operations," Rori said.

"They probably already know it was you who gave them the gifts."

Rori looked back at him. "Stop messing up my sunny holiday demeanor. In case you haven't noticed, it's freezing cold outside and this place is surrounded by death and sorrow. I'm looking at your teams reactions to the presents."

"These aren't from Garcia. She isn't her yet," Prentiss said looking around.

Her gift was neatly wrapped in gold paper and a handmade silver ribbon bow was tied around the box.

"Who wraps gifts like this anymore?" Morgan asked. His was in green paper and topped with a shiny red bow. "I've only seen this stuff done at department stores."

"Maybe our gifts were wrapped by a professional," Reid said.

Rossi's door opened and Rori came running out and towards the bathroom. She was holding her nose with both hands Rossi came out a second later.

"Rori!" he yelled.

"I'm fine," she yelled back as she pushed her way into the bathroom.

Reid looked up at the senior agent confused. "What's wrong with her?"

"She was watching you guys from the window and suddenly jumped up and ran out," Rossi said. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

Prentiss set her gift down and headed towards the bathroom. "I'll check on her."

She entered the bathroom to find Rori standing in the middle of the bathroom with her head tilted back. She held a paper towel to her nose.

"What happened?" Prentiss asked.

"The heater in dad's office was too hot. I get bloody noses when that happens." Rori explained

Prentiss looked at the counter to see a small stack of clean paper towels that Rori was pulling from. "I'll be right back."

"I'll be right here."

Prentiss left the bathroom and came back a minute later with an ice pack. She folded it and set it lightly on top of Rori's nose.

"It'll help cool the blood down and slow the bleeding," she said.

"Thank you,"

"Was it you that got the Christmas presents?"

"Yep."

"Thank you very much."

"You haven't opened it yet."

Prentiss pulled the ice pack off after five minutes. Rori pulled her napkin away and threw it in the trash. She grabbed another to make sure that no more blood was coming out of her nose. She washed her hands and cleaned up her face a little bit and followed the female agent back into the bullpen where Rossi was talking with Reid and Morgan.

"Are you okay?" Rossi asked.

"It was just a bloody nose. No big deal," Rori brushed it off. "Can you turn the heat down a bit though?"

"It was Rori who got us the gifts." Prentiss said.

"You can open them now if you want," Rori said. "I baked the cookies in the tins as well. Dad helped a bit."

"You did all of this for us?" Reid asked.

Garcia came hopping in holding her gift. A bright smiled animated her features even further. "Rori, you got me a present," she sang slightly.

Rori smiled. "Of course I did."

Garcia sat in Morgan's chair and slipped the Gold bow off her silver wrapping. She carefully undid the flaps and slid a white box out.

"I pegged you as more of a rip and see what you got kind of girl," Morgan smiled.

"And ruin Rori's wrapping paper that she spent so much time on making it look pretty. I don't think so."

"You wrapped these?" Morgan asked holding his up.

Rori nodded and looked at the ground. "I love all the holidays and I go all out. Mom had me wrap my own gifts as a child. Three years ago my mom and I took a small gift wrapping class."

Rossi leaned against Reid's desk watching Garcia inspect the white box. "She spent three hours yesterday wrapping all of her gifts," he said.

Garcia opened the box and pulled out a glass cube with an etching of a game avatar on the inside.

"My Avatar for Camelot," Garcia smiled. "Thank you Rori."

Prentiss grabbed her present. "Me next."

Prentiss found a small Silver Star pendant on a silver chain. On the back of the star were her initials.

Morgan opened his gift to find a new watch with his name engraved on the back. Reid's box held an old copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

"I hope you like them," Rori smiled. "I wasn't sure what to get everyone, but I decided these would probably be nice to give you."

Garcia looked up from her glass cube. "What did you get Hotch?" she asked.

"I can't tell you, he has a tendency to show up when I least expect it. If I start talking he'll show up and hear me."

"Hear what?" Hotch asked walking over.

"Told you."

Rossi looked at his daughter. "Who's the last tin of cookies for?" he asked.

"Chief Strauss. I thought she might want some cookies to brighten that evil aura lurks about her everywhere she goes," Rori said darkly.

"How about I give them to her," Rossi suggested.

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Author's Note: So we've come to the first chapter of The Chariot Card. So seeing as this is the sequel to The Death Card it will revolve around Rossi and Rori's lives throughout the newest adventure that hit's their lives. The next chapter will actually show some more Holiday celebrations.

I won't be introducing the main plot until about chapter four or five; the earlier chapters are merely to set things up.

Please, please review. I want to know what you think.

Ren