❝you're in danger here, spencer.❞
❝we'll worry about that later. right now all that matters is you and me.❞
hazel finley is afraid. afraid of being alone. afraid of losing the people she loves. afraid of making mistakes. afraid of falling back into...
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❝These are the days that must happen to you.❞
WALT WHITMAN
✩
1.4 : happy birthday
OR
season 6, episode 19 : with friends like these
IT IS A MELANCHOLY MORNING, AND EVEN THE SKY SEEMS TO BE STRUGGLING TO STAY POSITIVE. It's been a little over a month since Emily's funeral, and despite the joy Fin should feel at turning twenty-seven, it's been overcast all morning, the wind blew her hair into a bird's nest, and to cap it all off, the chocolate chip muffin she bought for breakfast turned out to be raisin bran. Happy birthday to me.
Spencer hasn't stayed over since a little after the funeral, and Fin understands why: Their relationship's been weird since she got back, and they still haven't talked about what they really are. She keeps pushing him away, and he keeps insisting that he doesn't care about potentially being murdered. That's not a great foundation for a relationship, and combined with grieving a close friend, there just hasn't been a good time to talk about it.
Everyone is still struggling in their own ways, grieving on their own time. Penelope stops and stares at Emily's photo on the wall every morning on her way to her lair. Spencer's journal is almost always in his hand. Morgan spends extra time in the gym after-hours. Rossi's been listening to '80s punk rock a lot more than usual. Hotch smiles even less.
And Fin... Fin reads. A lot. All of a sudden, she can't get enough of the psychology books she was supposed to read in college. She devours books about the prospect of the afterlife, the human fear of death, existentialism, Christianity, and everything in between.
This particular morning, however, all she's going to be reading is a case file, because her phone buzzes just as she pushes the BAU door open. It's Penelope: Conference room! We've got a case.
"Happy birthday!" Penelope squeals the minute Fin walks into the conference room, practically jumping up and down.
Fin starts, unprepared for the onslaught of pink and white confetti that Penelope's just thrown at her. "Um–thanks, I think." She glances behind Penelope and her heart softens when she sees a container of cupcakes that look an awful lot like chocolate espresso–her favorite. And one is missing, which makes a lot of sense when she looks up and sees Spencer wiping chocolate off his lip with a napkin. He blushes when he sees her grinning at him.
"You didn't think I'd forget, did you?" Penelope asks, passing her a cupcake, a familiar but missed smile on her lips. "Not a special birthday like this!"
