Time off was rare for anyone who worked for the BAU. Time off during the holidays was even rarer. So, when the team had been told they'd get a couple of days around Christmas, Garcia wasted absolutely no time in throwing something together.

It was an intimate gathering—just the field team and a couple of plus ones. You'd tagged along with Aaron, insisting that, despite the fact that parties had never really been his thing, the socialization would do him some good. You always had a way of doing that, of convincing him to do the things he might've normally shied away from.

The apartment was alive with laughter and the soft hum of some Christmas tune he couldn't place, thanks in large part to Morgan's butchered rendition. He was tucked away in a corner, nursing a drink in the hand that wasn't shoved into his pocket. That was where you found him, looking every bit the stoic agent amidst the festivities.