Title: Untitled Criminal Minds
Author: Buffy
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Rating: PG
Summary: Drabble, Holiday fic - Christmas.

***

"Daddy, wake up! Wake up! Santa came!" Aaron had to take a moment to process that it was excitement and not fear causing his son's urgent wake-up call. The first Christmas since his mother's death had been hard on Josh, and Aaron was feeling a bit rough, himself. So much guilt and anger was tied up in the events around it, and he was doing his best to hide the worst of it from his son. "Daddy, com /on/! We must've been /really/ good boys this year, 'cuz there's /lots/ of presents under the tree. And Santa brought a big one for you!"

"What do you mean?" Josh had crashed early, so Aaron had been able to do Santa duty at 10 the night before. He hadn't put out any big presents for himself. He passed Josh in the hall, beating him down the stairs.

There were a lot of presents. More than Aaron had put out. And stretched out on the couch was the "big gift" Josh had mentioned: Jason Gideon, asleep under a blanket that looked like the top of a giant wrapped present. The blanket had been a gift from Garcia the year before; Jason was a complete surprise. Aaron guessed he'd come in very late, put out the extra presents he'd brought, laid down for a moment and fallen asleep. He'd probably snagged the blanket from the back of the couch in his sleep.

Even asleep, Jason looked better than he had when he left the BAU. A little trimmer, a bit more tan, his sleep more peaceful. Aaron had no idea what would happen in his relationship with the older man when he woke up, but his presence was the best present Aaron had gotten in years.

***