Ineffable - S.REID

14

・゜゜・．A WEEK LATER .・゜゜・

"Cooking is the most sensual art form and these are my paints," Rossi explained as he stood in front of various ingredients that contributed to the pasta dish currently in the works. It had been Hotch's idea for everyone to learn to cook from Rossi and - naturally - he was the only person against such an event. After Clara talked to him though, in a discussion that took a mere ten minutes of convincing, the lessons in cooking were confirmed and planned for after they returned from the case they were working on at the time the moral booster was proposed.

"So your hands must be brushes?" Penelope theorized enthusiastically, gesturing with her hands as she usually did when interested in a subject.

"Don't interrupt," Rossi warned in the politest way possible, gesturing towards her with the wooden spoon he held in his hand. "In a pot of boiling water we cook our spaghetti until it is al dente, firm to the tooth," he explained quickly whilst handing out strands of pasta so people could get a better idea of what the 'perfect' pasta should taste like for when they cooked it themsevles.

Clara smiled subtly and Garcia only managed to catch the mischief behind it for a second before she spoke, "The water should be salted zio Rossi."

Rossi's head turnt in Claras direction, his face covered in deep frown lines of disapproval. "I thought I said not to interrupt?"

"Well as a fellow Italian I thought I'd weigh in on how to actually cook good pasta," Clara shrugged, purposely using a phrasing that she knew would get on his nerves the most. They needed evening entertainment after all and she simply would not let her coworkers and friends be taught to cook a dish inaccurately.

"Battle of the Italians, Davia v Rossi," Prentiss laughed before Rossi could get in his comeback which, judging by the sudden raising of his eyebrows, would be one with a lot of steam behind it. As they all laughed, the doorbell rang through the house and announced the arrival of the one person they were missing. Spencer Reid, who had been on a phone call with his mother for hours and therefore politely declined Clara's offer of a lift to Rossi's. She hadn't expected him to turn up at all.

"Ah I got it," Morgan quickly offered, just looking for a way out of the room for a moment as cooking in this circumstance wasn't something he thought he would ever enjoy.

"Grazie mille," Rossi smiled as Morgan walked away, glad to not have to go and get the door himself there were already far too many things going on all at once.

"Also your pancetta is going to burn," Clara called out after a second, already smelling the tell tell singe that food got just before it burnt. It was subtle but enough that her nose instantly picked up on it.

Rossi rushed to his pan and took it off the heat, instantly moving the contents of the pan around so it would not burn. "Would you like to take over here Clara?"

"Sorry i'm late," Spencer instantly apologized as he walked into the room, met with the smiling faces of all his coworkers. He would later that evening profusely deny what occurred the second he walked into the room to Garcia who had caught the moment exactly as it occured. The instant he crossed the threshold into the room, his eyes searched for Clara. She watched them flicker over their faces then noticed the subtle smile when his gaze finally stalled on her sneaking a sip of wine without Rossi knowing. But according to him, that never occurred and was merely an imagined coincidence.

"You're just in time to see Clara and Rossi fight," Prentiss laughed softly watching, like everyone else did, as Rossi sent Clara a jokingly evil look.

"Cooking competition. Who would win, you think?" JJ speculated as Clara took a sip of her wine, having had special permission to do so from the chef himself. She had gotten there earlier than everyone else to help set up everything, thus earning a glass (or two) of wine before the others had even arrived.

"Clara definitely," Garcia responded quickly and Rossi quickly took to offense, waving a spoon at Garcia. "What? You ate what she made the day after Gideon's funeral. "

"You called it divine," Spencer added with an agreeing nod, wondering if the pinkish tinge to Clara's cheeks was due to the wine or embarrassment.

As Rossi threw his hands up in the air in frustration, Emily quickly asked, "So when do we get to drink the wine?"

"Almost there. Okay. We start at the beginning. You eat what you cook, I'll supervise but we're going to do this all together, just like a family."

"Okay now?" she repeated, raising the glass close to her lips once more.

"Now," Rossi finally relented and they all, including Clara, clinked glasses before finally getting to taste their drinks after they had been waiting to be drunk for ages.

Clara and Garcia worked together but made separate dishes, to begin with. Once Garcia's pasta turned out just a little too mushy, Clara quickly switched the pans and disposed of the pasta without Rossi or anyone else ever knowing a thing. Clara had cooked extra anyway, just in case. But by the end of their meal preparation, Garcia and Clara were just throwing cubes of parmesan at each other instead of grating it. They managed to catch a few cubes in their mouths but the majority ended up flying all over the kitchen, one in JJ's drink and another directly at Morgan's head.