Another story request from my good friend Lexis4MorganPrentiss! Thank you for this excellent Prompt! Hope I do good.
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This story is the work of fiction of the author. I do not owe the characters from the TV series Criminal Minds. This story is an alternate universe. Most of the events here had never taken place in the TV series at all.
Events does take place after in Season 6, post JJ's departure from the BAU team.
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She's All That – Chapter 1
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BAU Unit Chief SSAIC Aaron Hotchner and SSA Derek Morgan were in the FBI Archival Room, two floors below ground floor of the Hoover building; they were searching for a 5 year old case for an upcoming trial and they only had four days to brush up.
"Remind me to talk to the prosecutor," Hotch exclaimed aloud in the cavernous room as he stretched his 6'2" height to reach up for a box and almost toppled it in the process but he managed to catch it in time although a smaller box did get knocked off and the contents spilled out.
"Come on, Hotch," He could hear Morgan's laughing voice over on the other row of shelf. "You know you lawyers like to make us minions do extra paperwork." He teased his supervisor.
Hotch chuckled, "Yeah, yeah…go ahead and mock us. We do have our uses once in a while, FYI…Oh…come on people!" He muttered.
Papers were scattered about the floor as Hotch placed the larger box down and began to gather the mess and placed them back in the smaller box. "Seal the boxes before you stack them." He began putting the sheets back in the box, not bothering to read as he didn't have the time to do so when something caught his attention; a photocopied newspaper article.
"Did I hear you use that abbreviation FYI? You must be hanging around Garcia too much…" Morgan continued his chatter.
But Hotch was not paying attention to Derek anymore; he was looking at the picture of a car accident of a woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Emily! But underneath the picture, the caption had said her name was Lauren Reynolds and that she had died of a car accident, it gave her age as the same age as, coincidentally, Emily's. But this article was in France five years ago. Emily was in Midwest, in some desk job before she was transferred to the BAU, which Hotch later found out was arranged by Section Chief Erin Strauss when she tried to plot his demise as Unit Chief of the BAU section.
"Morgan," Hotch called out to the younger man.
Derek jogged around the corner and came to stand by Hotch, "Did you find the brief?"
"Yeah, I think I found the box but take a look at this," he handed the photocopy print to Morgan and bent down to retrieve another piece of paper he had missed and had almost slipped under the large shelving unit.
"Wow, this looks like Prentiss! It could be her twin!" Morgan grinned as he continued to read on.
Picking the slip of paper, Hotch saw that it was a header letter.
"JTF-12…" Hotch began to read and it listed the names of the members of this JTF-12. The last one was marked out heavily by a black marker. Strange…why would anyone do that? And who was the last member of this Joint Task Force 12 group?
"Who's Lauren Reynolds?" Derek asked.
"Whoever she was, she looked very much like Prentiss. I mean they could be identical twins." Derek began to smile. "Maybe we should ask her if she has a twin…double the hotness."
Hotch narrowed his gaze at him, "You think so?"
Derek looked at him, "Of course, she's smart, she's beautiful, if it weren't for the bureau policy, I'd go for her in a heartbeat." He shrugged. "And she likes Kurt Vonnegut. Anyone who reads Vonnegut has my vote for hotness."
Hotch smiled, "Yeah, I know what you mean, Derek… She's all that."
"But according to Garcia, she's not into dating bureau guys, like us. She makes it a policy of not mixing work with pleasure, it gets messy and complicated."
Hotch arched his brow, "I can see her point, I've seen too many upper brass getting burned because they couldn't keep their pants zipped."
"Yeah, like Rossi." Morgan chuckled. "Although that lucky bastard had never gotten into trouble before."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, he's still here, right?" Morgan pointed.
"He's how the bureau created this policy. Since its inception and for a long time, we called it the Rossi policy."
"Really? Somehow I'm not surprise." Derek shook his head. "You know what they said about all those hot Italian blood…"
"…All work and no play, makes Rossi a dull boy." Hotch muttered."
Derek began to laugh, "He must have been a hellion back in those days, those poor ladies."
"You have no idea, Morgan. All those young female agents were warned when they joined the bureau. It was part of their inbound orientation."
Derek shook his head, and held up the newspaper print and the letter, "What's up with this and what's JTF-12?"
"I'm not sure why this letter and this box," Hotch patted the box. "Is here. We're not part of Joint Task Force, that's usually CIA. And this Lauren Reynolds who died in France, she must have been involved in this JTF mess, so that's usually Interpol. But for now, we don't have time to speculate. We have to get ready for this case."
Derek nodded, "Right. But imagine this Hotch, Emily Prentiss has a twin? Double the hotness! Can you imagine what it's like to have that in bed?"
Hotch rolled his eyes, "Please, don't tell me you that's your dream fantasy?"
"Well…"
"Oh, come on, Derek! She's way above you!" Hotch began to laugh at him.
Derek hesitated and smiled.
Hotch faltered, "Did you actually make it a reality?"
Morgan shook his head, "No! I wouldn't dare, Hotch. I have too much respect for her, besides she's my partner and I don't want to mess with our dynamics." He grinned and pointed at the clipping. "Still, if she has a twin, I might make a go for it."
Hotch stared at it and slowly nodded, "Yeah, to be honest, Morgan, I might too, if she had a twin and she's not in the bureau, that is." He said seriously.
Morgan chuckled, "You know…I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you, Hotch." He began to laugh more.
"Yeah, me too."
Derek suddenly looked high at the ceiling."
"What are you looking for?"
"Making sure we're not being taped, our conversation could be incriminating…"
Hotch chuckled as he shook his head, "Relax, Derek, this room is very secure."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the Directors are known to come all the way down here for some serious private discussions if they don't want to be overheard in their offices, if you know what I mean."
Derek nodded.
"But…you didn't hear this from me and do not breathe a word to anyone."
"I won't, Hotch. But back to Prentiss…"
"You have a serious crush on her, don't you?" Hotch frowned at him.
He shrugged, "Hell, more than half the men in the bureau have a crush on her," he grinned sheepishly at him.
Hotch frowned, "What about the other lesser half?"
"Oh, that'll be JJ when she was here. Don't you know?"
Hotch shook his head, "Er…no. You know I'm not interested in interoffice gossip."
"It's okay, I'm not either but Garcia pointed that fact to me because she knows who I'm crushing and she never fails to rub it." He shook his head as he recalled the ribbing and taunting he'd gotten from her.
"Do you need me to talk to her?" Hotch asked him.
"No, don't. I get handle her. She's harmless." He grinned.
"Okay but if it gets out of hand, I want to know."
Derek nodded.
"So, you and Prentiss…"
Derek began to smile, "Oh no, Hotch. There's no Prentiss and me."
"Why not?
"Because we're friends, that's all."
"But you wanted to go further than that, don't you?" Hotch pressed on.
"And you?"
Hotch frowned, "What about me?"
"You and Prentiss…I thought …?"
Hotch blushed slightly, "There's no Prentiss and me, either. You're right, Derek. She has her own policy."
He looked at the younger man and smiled slightly.
Derek leaned in, "Oh man, don't tell me you tried to make a play at her, too?"
"No! I never would have dared! Like you said, it would have ruined our dynamics…yes, you're not the only one that has a working dynamics with her. She's wonderful to work with."
"Yeah, she's all that." Derek repeated Hotch's words. "And it seems our Unit Chief digs our team member Agent Emily Prentiss too." He teased him.
Hotch shook his head, "Speak for yourself, you can't break her resolve."
Derek frowned, "And you think you can?"
Hotch fold his arms across his chest and leaned against the large shelf, "Maybe, I have an advantage."
"Oh, what makes you say that?"
"She seems to have a little crush on me." Hotch said confidently.
"That's true but she likes me too." Derek nodded. "I think we have more in common."
"I see that but I think she likes me more and if it weren't for the Rossi policy I'm pretty sure I can break her resolve and she'll come to me willingly."
Derek snorted, "Come to you? You're pretty cocky about it, aren't you, Hotch?"
Hotch nodded, "That's because I know her pretty well."
Derek paused for a moment. "Okay, I think we should put this to a test."
"A test? Morgan, Prentiss is not a science experiment."
Derek grinned, "Afraid you'd lose her to me?"
"What do you mean?" Hotch narrowed his gaze.
"Because I intend to break her resolve." He shone his pearly whites.
"You what?"
"I'm gonna ask her out and make her fall for me."
"Hey…hey…Derek. You're talking about human emotions and playing with a human…Prentiss' emotions and feelings. You could hurt her." Hotch frowned. "Besides, she's not going to go for you."
"But I'm not going to hurt her, I'm serious with her." He meant it. "I really am. If I win her, I'm going all the way."
"All the way…You're serious, aren't you Derek?" Hotch frowned deeply at him.
Morgan nodded.
Hotch felt…jealous. "What about…never mind." He shook his head.
"What's the matter, Hotch? Are you afraid I'm gonna win?" He studied the older agent, "You're afraid I'm going to succeed, aren't' you?"
Hotch looked up at him, "No. Not at all." He frowned. "You know, I don't need to test myself, I know if I were to ask her, she'd probably jump at the chance."
"Damn Hotch, I've never seen you so sure of yourself before but you're on."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm betting you that you can't make her yours."
Hotch hesitated, "Derek, we're talking about playing with Prentiss' feelings here."
"We'll go easy on her, Hotch. What do you say we make a bet; we try to make her fall for either of us…using the gentleman's way?"
"Gentleman's way?"
"No tricks…you can't use Jack and I can't use er…whatever. Just ourselves. We woo her the old fashion way."
Hotch thought about it and nodded as he extended his hand out, "Deal."
Morgan nodded as he smiled, "Deal!"
"Can we get this box and the brief back upstairs now?" Hotch pointed at the box.
Morgan laughed as he picked up the box, "Roger that, boss." They moved out of the room.
Hotch paused, "By the way, the issue with the JTF-12…let's keep it to ourselves until we figure what it's doing here, not even a word to Prentiss."
Derek nodded, "Not a problem, man." He nodded and they left the room.
Unbeknownst to the two agents, way in the far back wall of the Archival Room, if Hotch and Derek were to walk deeper, they'd discovered that they were not truly alone but there was one other person in there and it was none other than the BAU's own Spencer Reid.
He had discovered the Archives and that it had contained paper documents instead of computerized discs that the bureau had now recently incorporated into their systems.
So, during his lunch time, Dr. Reid would come down to this sacred place and lose himself in it as he read about the briefs and files the bureau kept through the years, as well as to his true purpose; which was simple, J. Edgar Hoover was rumored to have dealt with many clandestine meetings with a well known Russian spy but it was never proven and he, Dr. Spencer Reid, intended to discover that identity.
But today, his concentration was interrupted by a pair of familiar voices of his team members. He was tempted to divulge to them of his presence but that would mean revealing his purpose of being here and Hotch would definitely put an embargo to his sojourns into the Archival Room.
He decided to remain anonymous for the time being and listened to them and thus found their strange and unethical bet about Emily!
"I must tell her about it." Reid mumbled to himself as he looked at time on his watch and saw that he only had fifteen minutes left to his lunch break and decided to wait till after it was over before he'd tell her, and went back to the document of Hoover and COINTELPRO….
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End of Chapter 1
