EMILY PRENTISS had never been as wrong in her life, than she was when she underestimated the skill that was Astra Hart's ability to lie. One would think that would have been a dead giveaway to her dual plans in uncovering the Black Wolves, but sometimes people like to remain ignorant to what was right under their noses, and rather, she found herself utterly amazed at the girls talent in convincing David Rossi that she simply couldn't cook pasta.

"I swear, it's a lot harder than it looks." She lied, of course, but figured that the older man wouldn't be so enthralled by the topic of — because really that's what it was — how deceitful Astra Hart truly was.

Rossi was nothing short of being genuinely concerned, "how? It's boiling water in a pan?"

"I don't own a pan and hot water freaks me out, you know what it's splashing up at you — it's so unpredictable." Rossi's eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of his head, he'd never been so perplexed and at the same time wanted to shoot a person.

"You what? It what? I-" his words merged amid his utter confusion. "Do you need me to teach you how to cook spaghetti?"

She narrowed her eyes at the man, curiosity got the better of her, "you bring pasta to work?" From where she was watching their interaction, Emily let out a spluttering laugh.

"Obviously not, the team come to my mansion for dinner once a month, you could cook the main dish." His invite was met with nothing other than sheer suspicion on Astra's behalf. Sure, they'd known each other for over a month, but even Garcia was yet to take her up on a coffee outing, so why would David Rossi want to sit down and eat a meal with her?

"Oh I see, you want a free personal chef — cheapskate." She remarked with a mischievous grin. "But still, a mansion? Now I'm intrigued." Astra's lies only furthered as she acted like she hadn't known of his wealth from the start, though Emily wasn't quite aware of that.

Astra had been contemplating his offer for a few moments when Emily cut in, "everyone's been clearing their schedules for today, please come, Astra." Inching closer to the blonde she whispered, "you'll get to see Hotch drunk. If he's feeling especially frisky, he'll do one-man karaoke."

Unaware of Emily's convincing words, Rossi assured Astra, "it'll be a good way to bring the team together." He, much like the rest of the team, had began to enjoy her company. Well, that and she made him feel ridiculously good at his job with the whole masked leader revelation ( yeah, he still wasn't over it )

She was undoubtedly going to go ( how could she ever pass up an opportunity to see Aaron Hotchner show an emotion close to happiness? ), but she still felt the need to comment, "I'm not a part of your team."

Rossi couldn't argue with that one, "true, but you're helping us take down the biggest threat facing the FBI right now. So you constitute as an honorary member."

"Well shit," she slapped her hand on her heart, "I'm flattered. Alright I'll accept your offer. But don't expect me to not mess the pasta up. I'll need constant supervision."

With a quick nod and a few words of reassurance that if she messed up, he had plenty other things to cook, Astra bid the man farewell, laughing with Emily over their conversation, until later that evening.

When she did eventually arrive at David Rossi's mansion ( it was undoubtedly deserving of its title, that was for sure ), she was surprised to find that he'd left his front door unlocked, like he wanted someone to burgle him, Astra found her mind drifting to the idea that he spent his nights waiting for someone to dare to do so, watching as they fell into the series of traps he lined his mansion with, like he was in Home Alone, or some shit.

Spontaneously, she decided to ease her mind by putting the theory to the test. And that was exactly how Astra Hart ended up sitting on David Rossi's cream sofa, downing a glass of red wine, waiting eagerly for the rest of the team.

"What in the shit!" David Rossi practically screamed as he entered his kitchen, only to find Astra Hart refilling what was now her third glass of a very expensive bottle of wine. But, as uncharacteristic of him as it was, that wasn't the thing that most concerned him. No, his mind was more preoccupied with the realisation that he hadn't let her in his house. "How the fuck did you get in here?" Astra gave the man an odd look, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Your door was unlocked." She shrugged, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to break into an FBI agents house ( well, technically she was invited there. But Rossi regarded it as something of a violation of about three different laws, muttering something to himself about calling up the DA if she did it again )

Still struggling regain his composure, he looked at her with a confused nervousness. "Why didn't you knock?"

"Waste of time. Besides, I was wondering if you'd set up a trap, because actually why did you leave your door open?" She asked, ignoring the rising anger in Rossi's eyes.

"I didn't-" unfortunately for him ( but very fortunately for Astra ) the ringing of the doorbell halted his retort.

"Oh! I'll get it!" Astra said, feigning enthusiasm as she ran to the door, wine glass in hand, praying that David Rossi in all his fury wasn't following her.

"Welcome to casa-" she paused as she noticed the man standing before her — Aaron Hotchner. "Oh. It's you."

Hotch raised his eyebrows at the girls disappointment. "It is."

"How exciting. I fear my welcome speech would be wasted on you, Rossi's in the kitchen." She told the stoic man, before moving out of the way, gesturing like a butler for him to enter, she had half the mind to bow, too. But figured that he wouldn't be amused, so she refrained herself.

"Fantastic." He inexpressively said.

Astra gasped. "Isn't it? By far the most thrilling news I'd heard all day."

And with a shake of his head ( alongside the hint of a smile that Astra had failed to notice ), Hotch walked by the girl, making his way over to Rossi, who still stood, infuriated, but amused at Astra's antics.

Derek Morgan was the last to arrive at David Rossi's home, and unlike the other BAU members, he wasn't greeted courteously by the front door, but rather was met with a series of yells that flooded the kitchen.

"She's doing okay!" Spencer Reid said in a rather pitiful attempt to reassure Astra that she wasn't actually fucking up their main course. From behind him, Emily Prentiss fought to suppress a laugh as she watched Astra attempt to push the spaghetti down with a fork, covering her eyes as the steam rose. She was really going all out with that lie, doing everything she could to convince the other agents just like she had Rossi.

"How have you spilt water all over the cooker?" Rossi raged, a dish towel in hand as he tried to clean up the puddles Astra has somehow created.

His action was met with a series of protests, "you'll set the place on fire if you do that, drop it!"

"I didn't even spill that much, you can calm down." The spaghetti was successfully cooking, with a satisfied grin she added, "besides, I told you to keep a watch on me, this is all you're fault, if you think about it."

"She did say she was struggling, Rossi." JJ reasoned, pouring herself another glass, it was about to be a long night.

"Enjoying the show?" The surprisingly amused voice of Aaron Hotchner was the first to greet Derek, watching with a suggestive smile as the agent took in the disastrous scene that was the kitchen, everyone else far too preoccupied with the mess to have so much as noticed his presence.

Not bothering to repress his smile, he replied. "Do I want to know what happened?"

"I couldn't begin to tell you." Hotch admitted, "one too many glasses in, already. She's made this get-together more memorable though, I must say."

Absentmindedly, he nodded, "she makes everything more entertaining."

Morgan hadn't caught wind of the smirk on Hotch's face, even if he had, he probably would've convinced himself that it lacked any meaning. "Oh yeah? The car rides are tolerable?"

He though back to earlier that day when Derek had offered to drop the blonde girl off at Rossi's mansion, figuring maybe he could reassure her before they went that she wouldn't be out of place — because deep down, he knew she felt unwelcome, even after so many weeks — when she denied his proposal, saying she had a different way of getting there, he couldn't help but feel overcome with something close to disappointment. "She just screams along to Taylor Swift. Our music taste is very-"

"And food is served!" Astra exclaimed, pouring the spaghetti into the sieve, refusing to close her eyes in the face of rising steam. "Look, I'm even keeping watch, like you said!" It was as though every time she spoke, she had the innate ability to draw everyone away from their respective conversations, becoming entranced by her, and her only.

The night was still young whilst everyone relished in their homemade pasta, but by the time for Astra Hart was five glasses of wine in and sat huddled in a group, talking about god knew what whilst Hotch gave a stunning vocal performance, belting out the second verse of Bohemian Rhapsody.

"You know, I understand why you didn't like me". It had gotten to the point of the night, and the number of drinks in, when people started to get overly emotional and confess all of the wrong-doings in their lives. "I'm so sorry, I was such a bitch to you without even considering about your side of the story." Astra's sight was blurred, but she was pretty sure that she was still talking to the blonde agent. That or Rossi's lamp bared a shocking resemblance to the woman.

"You weren't the bitch, I was!" JJ reassured the girl — oh thank god she wasn't talking to a light-bulb "you're so young still, I can't blame you for what they did." Because she knew she'd been too harsh in her initial judgement — it wasn't like she was the one who pulled the trigger on the children. "It's all in the past, Astra. Let's forget it now."

"Im so glad," her eyes were wide with joy as she leant in for a hug. The two women stayed like that for a while until the younger of the duo's attention was pulled away, diverted to someone else. "Oh and you!" She exclaimed, leaning over to Spencer — who, aside from Morgan, was the only sober one there — "I was so difficult in that interview, I'm surprised I wasn't shipped off to a prison straight away!"

"I told him to give you a chance, but Morgan was considering it." Spencer joked.

"But you've won him over now," Emily Prentiss joined in on their conversation, wiggling her eyebrows as she downed the remnants of her beer ( Astra, JJ and Hotch had readily consumed all of Rossi's wine when talking about Star Wars, much to his displeasure. )

"I better have, I've been serenading him every morning and night with Taylor Swift- oh hello."

"It's shrieking more than its serenading," Morgan said as he pulled up a seat next to the blonde girl. "And it's putting me off more than it's winning me over."

"Sure," Emily quipped, "you guys heading off?"

"I think it's time to get miss Hart home." He jabbed the girls arm, she let out a small groan to convey her annoyance, in response.

"Mood killer!" Garcia practically heckled the man, whose hands had made their way to Astra's waist, lifting the drunk girl up so she could somewhat stand.

"It feels like im interrupting something." JJ muttered to Emily, who nodded in silent agreement as they watched curiously whilst Astra's body weight shifted entirely onto Morgan. "See you two tomorrow?"

"Yeah, anyone else need a lift?" His offer was met with a series of slurred no's — wasting no time, he bid his good-byes and hooked an arm under the blondes waist and, doing his utmost to keep her upright.

"Don't you dare drop me." She mumbled, but protested no further when he placed her gently in the car, the thought of her throwing up all over the window of his car remained in the forefront of his mind, even as he took her up to the girls apartment, he thanked the sheer luck that the universe had granted him, that she hadn't. It would've been a long night of him attempting to wash the smell away so she didn't have to deal with it the next morning, if she had.

Astra had regained her consciousness at the perfect time, Morgan had thought, as they entered the girls apartment. How convenient she'd been passed out the entire car ride and whilst he carried her to her flat. "Everyone likes me now, right?" Her voice was more timid than usual, but Derek was sure she'd never been as loud as she was in that moment. Perhaps it was just because she was clinging onto his back for dear life. "They all trust me, yeah?"

"Yeah, you did good, Hart." He reassured the girl. "Now get to sleep."

She had a tendency to ignore what he said when she didn't want to hear it, Morgan had realised. "Do you still dislike me?"

He paused in his movements, willing her to fall asleep again. "You're a terrible drunk. I mean you had what, four glasses?"

She tutted, "evading the question."

"Is that right?" He practically winced, thankful that she couldn't see his reaction.

"I won't remember in a few hours anyway, tell me your true opinion I swear I won't be sad." She said, raising her hands in thee air like she was taking an oath, not realising that her arms interlocked around his chest was the only thing keeping her up. With a squeal, she fell onto her mattress, landing with a resounding "ow".

He laughed as he grabbed the duvet from its crumpled position on her floor, "you're alright, Hart." Carefully placing the sheets over her, he hadn't realised until it was too late that her face had moved alarming close to his. Breath catching, he wasn't quite sure what she would do next, but he remained still nonetheless, anticipating whatever it was that was about to come.

"You know I've noticed you look people dead in the eye when you lie — you're avoiding mine now though. I'm glad you like me, Morgan. It would be a shame if it was one sided, after all." And with that, Astra Hart fell into a deep sleep, that not even death itself could wake her from.

authors note.

wine drunk beats all