AN: This is going to be the first in a series of stories about Catherine meeting the BAU team.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, The Crow or Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. I do own Alice Catherine Jareau.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

- John Lennon

Saturday June 5th, 2004

I am curled up on the window seat in the living room with a book, some paper and a few pens and pencils. I'm studying and only distracted by the occasional thought. Like right now I'm wondering how Jen managed to build a window seat, I know that the apartment didn't come with one because it wasn't here in March. Maybe Jenny had someone build it for her, or maybe my daddy built it.

Jenny sticks her head around the corner, interrupting me from both my internal musings and my book, "Kitty Cat where did you put the candles and my candlesticks?"

I don't bother to look up from my book, "I put them away Jenny."

Jenny sighs, "I know that Catherine, but where did you put them away?"

I pick up my pen and scribble down a few notes before answering my sister, "In the cupboard next to the front door. Isn't that were you usually keep them?"

"No!" says my frustrated sister.

I look up and raise an eyebrow at her tone, "Jenny the candles have been there every single time I have visited this apartment for the past year."

Jenny frowns and protests quietly, "No, I keep them in the hutch."

I snicker, "Jenny, even if I believed you, the hutch is nowhere near the matches why would you keep the candles there?"

Jenny sighs, "Because there is lots of space in the hutch."

I roll my eyes, "Jenny, there is space in the hutch because you don't put your dishes there."

She huffs and I laugh loudly.

Jenny flops down directly in front of me and I want to ask her about the window seat but I can't find the words. I am very distracted by my homework; I have to write a research paper on Lewis Carroll's The Jabberwocky and another paper on the Walrus and the Carpenter. The second one will be much easier indeed, I am almost finished it. I am just a little stumped with Jabberwocky because it is so difficult to find reliable information.

I'm glad Jenny lets me use her laptop occasionally; otherwise I would be spending the next two weeks in the library. At home I have this big clunky desktop computer, it's ancient and half the time it refuses to connect to the Internet. I really need a new one but mama and daddy don't want to buy it, so I'll have to come up with the money on my own.

I take a moment to calculate how long I've got left with Jenny, I only arrived last night but I forgot my calendar at home. I'm supposed to spend the summer. Daddy is going to be in New York for some big case and mama is going with him to help out. No one wanted me to stay home alone and I refuse to stay with my Aunt Charlotte and cousin Tanya. I would much rather stay with Jenny.

Tanya really doesn't like me and Aunt Charlotte thinks that I'm a baby. If I stayed there, I wouldn't be allowed to take the bus to and from school and I wouldn't be allowed to go to the library on my own. Tanya would have to drive me and then she would resent me even more than she already does. Before I was born, Tanya was the youngest. She turned three a few months before I was born and I seriously doubt that she really remembers being the baby in the family.

Jenny has agreed to keep me for the entire summer. Well, as much time as necessary for daddy and mama to finish the big case. I hope I can stay the entire summer, or even longer, I am more than willing to do classes by correspondence. Jenny is my hero; she always has been my white knight. If I'm really lucky, Jenny and I can spend our birthdays together again and Jessie's too. Am I a horrible daughter for wishing to always live with the big sister, who raised me, instead of my parents?

Jenny shifts her position and I look up from my book warily.

She's gotten up and is moving to sit behind me.

I freeze and Jenny coos softly, trying to calm me down before I've had more than the first spike of fear.

Jenny sits down behind me on the window seat and wraps her arms around me.

I am tense until the whispered command of "Breathe" is given.

When I breathe, I start to relax. I don't know how she does it, but Jenny always knows just what I need. Sometimes she even knows before I do. I guess that's what it's like to be a parent, because Jenny is half mom and half big sister. I do what she tells me to do, not just because it is expected but also because I love and respect her, and I want to make her proud of me. I also know that I can talk to her whenever and about whatever I want, when I can find the words that is.

What feels like a short while, but is in fact more than an hour later, Jenny releases me and gives me a gentle push to sit up properly. From underneath a blue pillow on the window seat, Jenny pulls out my green hairbrush. I was wondering where that had gotten too. I must have forgotten it here when I was here for March Break. I love it when Jenny brushes my hair because it is so very relaxing.

Jenny has just finished re-braiding my hair when there is a knock at the door. I don't move more than my eyes while Jen rises from behind me to answer the door. I take in the room very quickly, assessing again where the best places to hide would be and calculating whether or not I can get out the slightly opened window and onto the fire escape fast enough to flee if the person at the door is threatening.

When Jenny answers the door she says, "Hello Spence. What are you doing here?"

There is a reply, but it is too muffled for me to make out.

I bite my lip and consider my options again. Sometimes I really hate Jenny's one bedroom apartment; there aren't nearly enough places to hide. Wait, I know that name. Spence, that's Jenny's friend from work. I think he's a doctor or something. I was listening when Jenny talked about her team last night, but I was also half asleep. There's Jason Gideon; he's the boss, and Aaron Hotchner; he's next in charge. Samuel Ryan, Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid, Jenny calls him Spence, make up the rest of the team. I think there was a Garcia somewhere in there as well.

Jenny comes back into the living room; a tall and gangly boy follows her. He looks like a University student, and can't be much older than twenty-one or twenty-two. Jenny introduces him as Doctor Spencer Reid and I give her a weird look. There was no need to introduce him like that; I would respect any friend of Jenny's until they prove unrespectable.

He gives a little wave and says, "You can call me Spencer… if you want to." The second half of his sentence is whispered so quietly that if I hadn't have been watching his body and face for reactions I would have missed it. I don't move from my spot on the couch and Spencer doesn't try to cross the room to introduce himself further than what he has already said and the little wave he gave when he was introduced.

I wonder if he isn't a little bit like me; I don't like to be touched, or crowded, or near new people, or any people at all really. I don't usually introduce myself though, I don't talk at all.

Spencer turns to Jenny; "I was rather hoping that we could go to the range today. I need to practice. I have qualifications coming up that I need to pass."

I tense in anticipation of my sister's answer.

Jenny frowns, "We can go a little later if you want to Spence." She turns to me, "Do you want to come too Kitty Cat?"

I tilt my head when I look at Jenny, but not a single word passes my lips.

"Alright," says Jenny nodding, "It's decided, we will go to the range a little bit later, but not the one at Quantico." She half turns back to Spencer, "Do you mind very much Spence if we go to the one just off the I-95 near Montclair?"

Spencer frowns, "I don't mind but why are we going there?"

"Catherine," Jenny nods in my direction, "Doesn't have her visitor's pass yet."

"Oh," says Spencer. He looks a little confused, like he knows he's not getting the full story.

I think I'm going to like him.

"Why aren't we going now?" Spencer questions my sister.

She smiles, "Because I need to go grocery shopping, I only had enough food to feed Catherine and myself for breakfast."

I tune Jen and Spencer's conversation out and go back to my essay.

I am brought back to awareness when Jenny calls out, "Princess."

I look up from my book.

She smiles at me, "You're going to stay here with Spence while I go out."

I shoot my sister a betrayed look.

She chuckles and moves across the room. "Don't worry, he's harmless. Would I leave you here with him if I didn't believe that?"

I shake my head, I know my sister very well. She doesn't want anything to hurt or scare me. And yet she is constantly putting me in situations where my limits are tested. It's annoying, but I suppose Spencer truly does look harmless.

Jenny kisses the top of my head before grabbing her purse and walking out the door.

Spencer is still standing in the same spot. I go back to my essay and pretend to ignore the strange man-child hovering in the corner of the living room. Eventually he sits down on the couch, as far away as possible from where I am currently curled up on the window seat, while still technically being in the same room and I can start working on my essay properly.

It only takes me another few minutes to notice that Spencer is sitting on the couch, clutching his brown leather messenger bag like a lifeline. I can't decide if I feel sorry for him and should therefore leave him alone, or treat him the way I treat Rafe. I decide on the later, maybe it will help him relax a bit.

I walk across the room, carrying my books and papers and plop down on the couch next to Spencer. I wonder just how much leeway I have with Spencer, so I decide to test him; I swing my legs up onto his lap.

Spencer looks shocked, turns red and then he starts stammering.

I try very hard to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing. I guess I'll have to remember not to treat Spencer the same way I treat Rafe. If I had done this to Rafe, he would have had me half-pinned to the floor and laughing so hard from tickling that I would be completely red in seconds.

Spencer finally stops spluttering and manages to get his question out, "What are you doing? Why do you have your legs on my lap?"

Yes, he definitely doesn't like to be touched; I would feel bad if I wasn't finding this so very funny. I calmly explain, "I'm stretching out my legs Spencer. You're kind of in the way, but you can move if you don't want to sit with me."

His whispered question, "Won't JJ be mad at me for sitting with you?" makes me want to hug him and I don't like touching or being touched by anyone but Jen and sometimes Rafe. When Spencer doesn't pull away from me, I smile winningly at him.

By the time Jenny gets back from the grocery store, Spencer and I are talking about my essay on the Jabberwocky. He sure knows a lot of facts about it; he even knows the original definitions of most of the strange words in the poem.

He looks so happy to be talking about something and not sitting in silence that I don't mind listening to him ramble. He really is very informative, "For example, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, gimbel is a variant spelling of gimbal. Gimbals are pivoted rings used for various purposes, such as suspending a ship's compass so that it remains horizontal while the ship rolls, but Humpy Dumpty disagrees. In fact, he says in chapter six that, and I quote: 'To gimble is to make holes like a giblet.'"

Spencer can even recite the entire poem from memory. I guess having an eidetic memory comes in handy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the bogeroves,

And mome raths outgrabe.

- Lewis Carroll's, Through the Looking Glass

or

It was evening and the smooth active badgers

were scratching and boring holes into the hill-side;

all unhappy were the parrots;

and the grave turtles squeaked out.

- Translation by Martin Gardner

I start giggling and it takes me a few minutes to calm down enough to answer Spencer's inquiry about why I'm laughing, "Sorry Spence, it just seems so funny that a so called nonsense poem actually makes prefect sense."

Jenny walks into the living room and Spencer tenses but slowly relaxes when he notices how pleased Jen looks with our seating arrangements. "Go change Kitty Cat," says my big sister with a smirk on her face.

I blush and walk quickly out of the living room; I had completely forgotten that I'm still in my pajamas.

I can hear Jenny as I walk down the hall, "Spence would you mind helping me get the rest of the groceries out of the car?"

Jenny makes grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I heat up a can of tomato soup and Spencer pours the milk.

After we clean up the kitchen, Jen grabs her keys and we walk downstairs to her car. I wonder how Spencer got here; he doesn't appear to have driven. I smile gratefully at Jen when she has Spencer sit in the backseat behind her and me upfront.

Jen drives for a half hour to get us to the shooting range. When we get there, Jen parks and then disappears inside, leaving Spencer and I standing awkwardly next to each other just outside the entrance to the range. I scuff my boots in the dirt, trying to distract myself. That is until I notice Spencer is staring at me, taking in my jeans and long sleeved shirt. I can tell that he is trying to profile me and I think how badly he is going to fail will be kind of cute.

Spencer cocks his head to the left; "It is 82 degrees outside why are you wearing long sleeves when JJ is wearing a t-shirt?"

I raise an eyebrow and counter with, "We are two different people and it's Saturday, why are you wearing a dress shirt?"

"I know that you're two different people. So- um," Spencer seems to be looking for a new topic, "How good are you? With a gun I mean."

I look consideringly at Spencer before I answer his question, trying not to smirk, "Well, if you're worried about passing your qualifications, then I'm probably a better shot than you."

He frowns, "You're probably right. How long has JJ been teaching you to shoot?"

I narrow my eyes, trying to decide if he's being polite or if he genuinely wants to know. I decide that it's the latter and so my answer is honest, "Jenny has been teaching me how to handle a gun since just before I turned eight."

Spencer frowns, "That's young. Why did you start learning so young?"

Now is the time to lie and since I like him, I almost feel bad about it. I shrug, "There was nothing else to do, except darts and Jenny didn't want me to poke someone's eye out."

Spencer cocks his head, "That's odd, a gun is more dangerous than a dart. Why did JJ teach you? Why not your father?"

I frown at him. I don't like where these questions are going, "You sure ask a lot of questions don't you?"

Spencer blushes.

I want to say 'aww' but I can control myself better than that.

Jenny comes back with our passes and the three of us pass through the barred door into the shooting range proper.

Jenny takes the second from last lane and I walk past her to the final one. This leaves Spencer with the lane on Jen's other side.

A man wearing an orange vest, someone who obviously works here, stands a little too close my big sister for comfort. He puts his hand on Jenny's lower back.

My hackles rise.

Jenny removes his hand.

After he goes over the rules; goggles on, ear plugs in, wait for the light and push the button to bring the target closer once you're finished shooting. The man uses Jenny as an aid to help with his demonstration.

I take a deep breath and steel myself before stepping forwards, forcing the interloper to take a step back.

He looks down at me with a frown on his face.

I blank my face and stare directly into his eyes. Over the past seven years, I have been told quite often how spooky I look when all the emotions are wiped from my face.

The hype muse be true because the creep backs off and leaves us alone.

Jenny puts her hand on my shoulder.

I twitch.

She sighs, "look at me Catherine."

I look up.

She doesn't look mad but she doesn't look happy either, "You didn't need to do that, I would have handled it."

"Jenny," I whisper plaintively.

"I know Kitty Cat," she whispers back.

When Jenny opens her arms I step into them and close my eyes.

Jenny releases me and hands me her back up weapon, while she uses her Glock 26 and Spencer uses his Glock 17.

Jenny helps Spencer but even with my big sister's help, I do indeed prove myself to be a much better shot than poor Spencer. All of my shots hit my target in close groupings and Spencer's shots, the ones that actually hit the target, cannot be considered groupings at all.

I wonder what Spencer feels like; he was just shown up by a little girl. I may be almost fourteen but I look about ten or eleven. I feel a little bad but not much, shooting is something Jenny and I take very seriously. Jenny taught me how to shoot because she wanted me to know how to protect myself. She also taught me some of the things she was learning in training for self-defense purposes. Mama and daddy don't want me to take real classes, it makes them sad and nervous to think about what happened, but it terrifies me. Jenny keeps me sane.

Spencer looks so distraught over his failure, I feel a little bad so I decide to try and help him. I take a few steps around Jen and closer to Spencer. I walk slowly so that I can properly gauge my level of nervousness around him. It is peculiar, I don't feel threatened by Spencer at all. I stand next to him, about an arm's length away.

I can feel Jen's eyes on my back.

"Relax," I whisper.

Spencer looks down at me, a puzzled frown on his face. It's as if he's not quite sure I'm actually talking to him again, or maybe he's not sure how I appeared next to him without him noticing.

I wet my lips and try again, "Hold your arm steady but relax the rest of your stance. If you stand like a robot, you'll never get it right. Look at where you want to shoot, don't flinch away or close your eyes when you pull the trigger."

Spencer looks at the target and pulls the trigger a few more times. He can't seem to stop flinching at the sound of the gun going off.

I am disappointed when my advice doesn't seem to help Spencer.

Jen gives me a quick hug and whispers, "Thank you for trying."

After leaving the shooting range, the three of us head back to Jenny's apartment for dinner and a movie. For dinner we have lemon and rosemary chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots. Spencer helps Jenny and I cook. Following dinner, Jenny and I curl up together on the couch and Spencer takes one of the two empty chairs. The one that is farthest from me and oddly enough, that doesn't make me feel better. We watch The Crow; it's a movie about a guy, played by Brandon Lee, who was murdered. He comes back from the dead because he has unfinished business, he wants to avenge the death of his fiancée.

During the credits, Spencer falls asleep in the chair.

When I'm sure he really is asleep and not faking I turn to Jenny and ask, "Can I keep him?"

"Catherine!" she exclaims in a whisper, "Spencer is a person, you can't just keep him like a pet."

I frown and play dumb, "But you're a person Jenny and you're mine. You said that I could keep you."

Jenny laughs quietly, "That's different Kitty Cat and you know it."

I hug my sister and whisper, "I know."

Jenny hugs me back. "Bedtime," she says softly and gets up from the couch, leaving me alone in the living room with the sleeping Spencer.

I stare at him for a few minutes; he looks so young and even more harmless when he sleeps. My mind is made up; Spencer Reid is here to stay. After covering Spencer with a blanket I follow Jenny down the hall.

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

– William Shakespeare

AN: Thanks for reading, please review. The next story will be posted on July 16th, 2012 and is called Meeting Penelope Garcia.