❝ yeah? well, you don't look busy right now to me. ❞

OLIVIA WAS SEATED in front of her desk, finishing up paperwork. she loves what she does, but she absolutely doesn't love the stress. and that's something the whole team has had for the longest time. it's like the past few weeks have just constantly been cases upon cases, with stacks of paperwork to top it off. "hello, my little angel! i thought you could use some coffee, so i brought you some." penelope garcia greeted, walking towards the griffins girl with two cups of coffee in her hands. she had already brought coffee to the others.

"thank you, penelope." she wearily smiled at her.

"so, how are the reports coming along?" penelope asked, taking a sip of her own cup of coffee.

olivia softly sighed, "fortunately, i'm almost done." she paused for a moment. "hey penelope, it's really late and you'd usually be home by now."

"yeah, but everyone is staying after a case that was just too much, so i wanna be your emotional support person." she smiled. olivia absolutely loves penelope's energy. she's an amazing person with wit and optimism and that's what makes penelope garcia so likable.

then, hotch came out of his office, the usual stern look on his face. olivia wondered if there was ever a time that man smiled. but with a job like this and with his experience, a lot of traumatic events could happen, so she couldn't blame him. "you guys can go home and continue any left over paperwork tomorrow. please, go get some sleep." he said, walking down the steps that led to his office and to the bullpen.

"hey, why don't i host a little get together tomorrow night." rossi announced. "it'll be in my mansion and we can use the time to de-stress. cause lord knows we need it."

a chorus of agreements flowed through the rest of the team. they were totally onboard with the idea. olivia, however, remembered that she promised she would spend time with anna the next day. and there was something about breaking promises that olivia strongly dislikes .

"what about you liv?" rossi asked her as he noticed she was the only one who hadn't said a word.

she looked at the team to see that majority of them had hopeful looks in their eyes that she'd come. their looks weren't making it any easier for her to decline the invitation. "um, i'd love to, but i can't. i told my friend i'd meet with her tomorrow."

"well, why don't you bring her?" rossi offered. "it doesn't have to only be for the team. jj, you can bring will and henry, and aaron you can bring jack."

"are you sure i could bring her?" olivia asked. rossi nodded his head in assurance. liv thought about it for a second, and accepted. the members of the team that gave her the hopeful stare now had big grins on their faces. despite liv not being part of the team until a mere few weeks ago, the team really likes her and already thinks of her as family. well, at least most of them.

spencer's face seemed unreadable. there was no telling whether he was glad she was coming or not. although he was able to control his facial expressions, he knew he would just ignore olivia throughout the gathering. he really has no real reason to not like her, but it was just his hate of change. the team has always had 7 members. something about having an 8th one doesn't really sit well with him. he was also sure that liv wasn't going to stay very long, so why go through the disappointment when she inevitably leaves?

         spencer absolutely did not want to feel the way he did when his mentor, jason gideon, left. or when his late girlfriend, maeve, was murdered in front of him. or even when his father left both him and his mother. he couldn't stand the thought of one more person leaving him. he's confident that whenever he gets too close to someone, something terrible happens that makes them leave. that's why he decided he couldn't let himself get attached to her.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

the next night, both liv and anna had gotten ready for the dinner party that was being held at the david rossi residence. rosie and oliver stayed at home with their babysitter while the two women would be out. "oh my god, i know you said we'd be at a mansion, but shit this place looks so nice. if you see me stealing a bowl or something, mind your business." anna said, in awe of rossi's mansion.

         olivia let out a soft chuckle, "yeah, i actually got lost like ten times when i first came here." her knuckles pressed against the front door, waiting a few seconds before it swung open, revealing david. "buonasera!" the man greeted in italian, translating to good evening. he pulled olivia into a welcoming hug before glancing at anna, "you must be liv's friend. i'm david rossi, come in!"

         "thank you, i'm anna. this is a wonderful place." she smiled, becoming more amazed by the inside of the home. "nice to meet you." he smiled back. "everyone's out in the yard. you guys can go ahead, i'll be right there with you in a few minutes."

         as the two walked closer outside, they could hear the low music playing outside and multiple people scattered around the area. a couple of kids running around, while the adults were split up in a few groups, talking to one another with drinks in their hands. when olivia slid open the glass door, she caught their attention.

         "hey, griffins is here!" derek exclaimed.

         olivia sheepishly waved, "yeah, hi, sorry i'm late. um, but this is my friend anna. anna, this is the team." it was now anna's turn to awkwardly wave at the group while they waved at her back, smiles on their faces.

         afterwards, the two of them were called over by jj. "liv, anna, this is my husband, will and my son, henry." jj has shown olivia pictures of her and her family. she thought they were really cute together, so she was looking forward to meeting them one day, and jj took note of that.

as liv and anna made their way around the backyard, derek and spencer were having a little conversation of their own. it was very noticeable that spencer was avoiding olivia the entire time she's been there. every time liv walked up to a group he was in, he walked away. "hey kid, there's something i've been meaning to ask you." morgan started. "why do you keep ignoring liv?"

spencer's eyes shifted from morgan to olivia, then back to morgan. "i don't keep ignoring her."

"every time hotch gives you a task with olivia, you have this disappointed look on your face. and not once have i seen the two of you talk outside of a case." derek said, taking a sip out of his drink after.

"i don't have a disappointed look, and i'm always busy with things to talk to her." he poorly defended himself.

"yeah? well, you don't look busy right now to me. go talk to her for once." morgan replied, giving spencer a slight nudge on the shoulder. however, he didn't really move. "go." derek encouraged him.

spencer knew if he didn't walk over there, morgan would spend the rest of the night teasing him for it. and as much as he loves morgan, he can't handle him making jokes about him and his "inability to talk to girls". he decided to get it over with and talk to olivia.

         as he made his way towards olivia, anna noticed the tall, brown haired genius getting closer. she nudged liv, causing her to look at spencer as well. "hi, reid." she greeted, a tone of question in her voice. olivia was genuinely confused as to why spencer was coming up to them willingly. "i'm sorry, do you need something?"

"olivia, anna." he greeted back. "and no, i don't need anything."

         "not to be rude or anything, but why are you here? it's just that you never come up to me unless we have a case." olivia said.

         "that's not true. i talk to you about a bunch of other things." spencer spoke.

         "really? name one time." olivia told him.

anna and olivia watched as spencer took his time to think. you'd think someone with an eidetic memory wouldn't have trouble remembering how many times they've had a conversation with someone. "yeah, good answer." liv said sarcastically, as no reply from spencer came out.

         "wait, what about that one time where i asked you who your high school bullies were? i didn't have to ask you, but i did." spencer responded. "which reminds me, anna, can you please confirm if olivia was ever the mean girl?"

         his last question caused liv to glare at him scoldingly as anna let out a few snickers, "no, she was never the mean girl."

         "see, i told you i was one of the nice girls." olivia voiced.

         "well, did you know a slightly higher portion of female than male students report being bullied at school? and one out of every 5 students are actually bullied according to the national center for educational statistics. it's estimated that 160,000 teenagers have skipped school because they're being bullied." spencer told them.

         "i see what you mean now." anna whispered to olivia.

         spencer was able to hear part of her sentence, "what?"

         "what?" anna replied, "i'm gonna go get a drink, have fun." she smiled, walking away from the two, leaving a perplexed look on spencer's face and a flustered one on olivia's.

         "what did she mean by i see what you mean now?" spencer questioned.

         "no reason." olivia replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

         spencer narrowed his eyes as he thought about it for a minute before coming up with another question, "do you talk about me to her?"

         she nervously tapped her index finger on the glass she was holding, "it was only once or twice. and it was nothing bad, i swear."

         "what'd you tell her about me then?" spencer asked, his eyebrows quirked, suppressing a slight smile that so desperately wanted to grace upon his lips.

         "you can stop smirking at me, i'm not gonna tell you." olivia said. the two adults were interrupted as liv was called over by emily and penelope. once she left, derek came up to spencer. "so reid, how was the conversation with liv?"

he shrugged his shoulders, "it wasn't how i expected it, but it went okay nonetheless."

morgan tapped spencer's shoulder, "my man." he grinned at him.

ANGIE'S NOTES ☺︎︎
would give up my firstborn for an
invitation to eat pasta at rossi's
mansion rn😊😊