Fun and Games

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Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal minds or any of it's characters.

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"Great souls endure in silence" -Friedrich Schiller

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Penelope Garcia loved her friends, all of them. She had a life outside the BAU, and taking time for the people she loved outside of her work was just as important as her job. Today she felt she was getting the best of both worlds.

She was with one of her oldest friends, Mallory Davis, a researcher at a DC law firm, Both women were perched on barstools around a small round table at an local watering hole They sipped on fruity alcohol laden umbrella drinks. Mallory was engaging Garcia in her usual argument, that profiling was nothing more than common sense and paying attention.

"No no no!" Garcia argued " It's much more than that, and believe you me, you wouldn't want to say that to those guys" Garcia smiled and pointed at four men sitting at a booth at the opposite end of the room. "Her boys" as she liked to call them.

"Those are the profilers?" Mallory asked.

"Yes" Garcia said proudly "Aren't they cute?"

Mallory took a good look at the four men , Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan and Dr Spencer Reid.

"Not bad!" she agreed.

Garcia watched the BAU profilers at play. They each had a drink in their hand, though it seemed that Reid was only drinking coke. The three older men seemed to be engaged in a very animated conversation. Dr Reid was listening intently to them with a contented smile on his face. Garcia grinned " He looks so happy " she thought He reminded her of a little boy who gets invited to play with the big kids. Reid was now joining the conversation, his hands were gesturing wildly. The three older men laughed and Morgan gave Reid a playful dig with his elbow.

" I can prove it to you" Mallory said.

"What?" said a startled Garcia.

"I can prove to you profiling is nothing more than a psuedo -science"

Garcia narrowed her eyes, she enjoyed a challange.

" Ok, my lovely, just how do plan to do that?"

Mallory pointed to a nearby table "See that woman over there, that's Annie, . She works as a receptionist at the Thompson Medical building. She can read people better than anyone I know. She is amazing.

"Oh really!" an idea began to form in Garcia's head "Well call her over here, lets try her out" Garcia faced her friend "If she can read those 4 guys over there accurately", pointing to the profilers" I'll buy dinner and cocktails"

Her friend's face lit up, "You m'lady are on!"

Mallory stood up and waved to the other woman at the next table. "Annie! Annie, over here!"

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Annie Pruit saw Mallory waving at her. She excused herself from the group of friends she was with and went over to Garcia's and Mallory's table.

"Hi" she said, curious as to why she was called over.

' Annie, this is my friend Penelope. She works for the FBI in behavioral analysis"

Annie raised her eyebrows" Whoa, I'm impressed" she held out her hand to Garcia.

"Hi Annie" said Garcia taking the womans hand.

Mallory waved her hands quickly " enough!, enough already with the introductions Annie , Pen and I have made a bet. I told her about your way with people. I bet her that you could profile as good as any FBI agent"

Annie laughed "Well I don't know about that, you see I ...

"Annie" Mallory said sharply cutting the other woman off "There's dinner and drinks riding on this."

" Yes" said Garcia "and I know exactly what I'm going to order when I win" She gave Mallory a smug smile.

"Ok" said Annie pulling up a chair "as long as nobody blames me for any fall out. So what do I do?

Garcia pointed to the four profilers who were now on their second drink."Do those guys, four out of four"

Annie put down her drink, rested her chin in her hand and stared intently.

"You do realize they are kind of far away?"

The two women just shrugged "Go for it" said Mallory

She narrowed her eys and finally she spoke "Alright, we'll start from left to right. The guy with the dark suit. Lets see, He seems to be the boss of the group. A little uptight maybe. Hmm, divorced, he doesn't wear a ring but he keeps playing with his ring finger as if he is still wearing one. He still feels married. He hasn't ogled any of the hotties that have passed him. He looks like a hard ass but I suspect a soft side"

"How do you know ?"asked Garcia.

"Because he keeps handing napkins to the guy across from him, a hard ass wouldn't bother"

"There! How was that one?" she said, sitting up straight

Mallory looked at Garcia; Garcia nodded glumly, "One," she said

Mallory rubbed her hands together gleefully "Next!"

Annie took in Dave Rossi."Mmm this guy is a tough guy. A little world weary, seen it and done it all. But I can tell he's still up for a little adventure now and then."

"How?" said the other two women in unison .

"By the way he did look at the women who walked by, just the more age appropriate ones, the fire hasn't gone out of him yet!"

Garcia held a unenthusiastic thumbs up, "Two for two" she said

Now it was Derek Morgans turn. Garcia sat up straight . She was going to pay particular attention to this one. She began feeling like she was at a fortune tellers.

"Hmm, quite a hottie" said Annie

"For heavens sake, a blind woman could tell that" laughed Garcia.

Annie ignored her "He's a player, obviously single, a ladies man, yet not quite a dog. He's checked out every lady that's gone by, but not in such an obvious way that it's creepy. He's a softy too, since he's spent the last five minutes wiping nacho dip off the sweater sleeve of the guy beside him. He has fraternal paternal feelings. It shows he cares about his friends".

Garcia nodded happily, She had to admit, she was impressed. Annie was 3 for 3. Garcia thought she might be buying dinner after all. Of course, she still had Reid.

"C'mon Reid, throw her off" she said under her breath.

Mallory fanned herself with a menu "I think I feel like lobster tonight" she said with a wistful air.

Both women looked at Annie expectantly. But Annie was silent now, her eyes looked sad.

"Sorry ladies, I guess you'll both just have to forfeit" said Annie with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Why?" Mallory asked confused

" I didn't realize at first, I kinda know that guy " she was looking at Reid.

Garcia's eyes widened " You know Reid?" Somebody knew Reid "Really?" said Garcia genuinely surprised. She turned to look at Annie but suddenly she didn't like the expression she saw on Annie's face.

Annie got up from her bar stool "Yeah, 'fraid so. He's just started coming to the clinic for cancer treatments, picks real odd hours to come in too. Poor kid. I heard that it's already spread to his lymph nodes"

"Sorry girls," she said again. Annie picked up her drink and went back to her own table.

Garcia felt like she'd been kicked in her stomach, like she couldn't breathe. Mallory laid her hand on her friends shaking ones,

"I'm so sorry Pen"

Garcia stared straight ahead, blinking back her tears. The fun and games were over now. She saw the smiling face of Reid . He saw her, gave her one of his funny little waves. She tried to smile back at him but it seemed she wasn't as good as him at hiding pain.

Fin.

AN : hope this wasn't too depressing. I just wanted to try a 180 at the end of the story Please read and review. Thank you.