Uno, Bacardi, and Conveniently Placed Mistletoe

Part 1/1

Morgan sat quietly in his living room with an heir of calmness around him as he tossed a pack of Uno cards onto the coffee table and Garcia handed him a glass of her special eggnog. Special, meaning spiked with a little something extra. Morgan wasn't complaining at all. He took a sip and sat down on the couch, waiting for his best friend to take the seat next to him, "You ready to witness the Great Uno Battle of 2012?"

Garcia giggled, "Am I ever!"

+~+

Four hours earlier that very day on the jet home from a late night case, Reid was shamelessly kicking Morgan's ass at Poker. So—in hopes of thwarting him—Morgan set up a simple Checkers. Foiled again! The plane was landing back in Virginia in a half hour, so he had one more option: Chess. Morgan got creamed so swiftly and efficiently that it wasn't even funny. Well, it wasn't funny to Morgan. The other agents quickly found joy in laughing at him.

Frustrated, Morgan pointed at Reid as the jet descended, "I'm not finished with you. I swear, by the time the night is over, I'm going to beat you at something."

Reid gave a quiet smile, "It's late, man. We should be getting home."

"No way, it's only 10:30," Morgan complained, "And we have off tomorrow. Hotch said we had off tomorrow. Hotch!" Morgan turned in his seat to ask their team leader, "Don't we have off tomorrow?"

Hotch said from behind a thick paged book, "I assigned our team a one-day sabbatical, yes."

Morgan leaned over his elbows on the tiny table and smiled to Reid, "Ha! We've got time then."

Blake laughed from the other side of the room, "You seem quite adamant about this, Morgan."

"Reid here's been kicking my ass at every board game known to man for over ten years. After a decade of getting it handed to me, I think I need to show kid some respect for his elders." Morgan joked.

Blake replied, "I know what you mean. Have you ever played him in Rummy 500?"

Morgan grimaced, "One time. That's all it took."

Blake chuckled, "So, you know to never initiate that without a box of tissues by your side."

Morgan sighed in remembrance, "Bingo."

JJ asked jokingly, "Ever played him in that?"

Morgan scoffed, "Bingo's a game of chance. He has no control over—"

"You keep underestimating me, Morgan," Reid chuckled behind a mug of coffee, "That's your problem."

Morgan thrust his hand toward the younger agent, "You see this! He taunts me! He has built up way too many bragging rights, and they should be taken from him immediately before he gets cocky!"

Reid chuckled once more after a shallow sip of coffee.

Morgan groaned, "Too late. He's already there."

Rossi piped up from the seat behind him, "How about we stow this all until after the Holidays? It's nearly New Year's. Can't bygones be bygones?"

"Not when one bygone is constantly beating the other bygone without giving him a chance to do anything about it!" Morgan complained with a heated glare sent in Reid's direction.

Reid gave a smirk and set his mug down beside the chess board, "Fine, do you want me to let you win something?"

Morgan folded his arms and scoffed at him, "No way! That's almost as bad as losing, if not worse. I'm not a five-year-old playing his dad in Chutes and Ladders, okay? Don't treat me like one."