counting stars | criminal minds [discontinued]

1 1 | B I R T H D A Y

maybe i did steal reggie from julie and the phantoms and not even bother to change his name or the band name. it was either that or abandon this and start writing a fic for him.

|||

"it's scrappy-doo or nothing"

Saturday night, Garcia pulled up to pick Florence up at her apartment for her birthday dinner. Prentiss and JJ — the baby was home with Will — had ridden with her, and apparently, the rest of the team would be meeting them there. They had just finished up a case in Atlanta where the unsub was using his pick-up artist skills to kill women. All had ended well, or as well as a case could end.

They got all the paperwork wrapped up just in time for Garcia's birthday plans. Florence was a bit overdramatic as she got in the car, complaining about how inconvenient it all was. Inside though, she was excited. She had never had a real birthday party before.

"Okay, so I tried to keep it as lowkey as I could," Garcia said, driving off. "We're going to this pizza place—"

"Oh, I love pizza," Florence piped up.

"I know, Sweetheart," Garcia said proudly. "The restaurant has some band playing tonight, and I listened to some of their stuff. You might like them. Anyways, after pizza, we have a cake and we'll open presents."

"Penelope, I really appreciate this," Florence said, grinning. "But do not even think about asking that band to play Happy Birthday."

JJ and Prentiss chuckled while Garcia sighed. She had clearly been planning on doing that. It didn't take long to get to the pizza place. Everyone else was already there when they arrived. Once she got out of the car, they each wished Florence a late happy birthday. They also each had presents in their hands, which sort of got her excited. Despite saying they didn't have to, she wanted presents from all of them.

They requested a table for eight and waited around the door until it was ready. In the corner, Florence noticed a claw machine with stuffed animals in it and immediately bounced over to Rossi.

"Ro-Ro, can I have some ones for the claw machine?"

"Sorry, kiddo," he said, putting his hands up. "The smallest bill I carry is twenty."

Florence pouted and spun on her heel to face Hotch. "Hopscotch, can I have some ones for the claw machine?"

Hotch crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Those things just steal your money. No."

Florence sighed and rolled her eyes before spinning again and facing Morgan. At this point, everyone was laughing at her behavior. "Derek, can I have some ones for the claw machine?"

Derek chuckled before pulling out his wallet. Florence perked up and bounced on the heels of her feet.

"Here, even though you didn't use a cute nickname to address me," he said, handing her ten one-dollar bills.