This is a little piece inspired by the fact that JJ had to leave the show (I HATE YOU, CBS!). Contains no pairings of any kind, no pre-pairings, nothing romantic of any sort. It does, however, contain a scene with Erin Strauss.
The team feels a little weird now. Hopefully it'll pass, but Reid can't help but think that there's a piece missing in his life's most important puzzle. A JJ shaped piece. He knows the rest of them miss JJ as well, but Reid doubts they feel as lonely as he does. Not because JJ means more to him that she means to the rest, just because he values his little BAU family in a different way. To him, the Pentagon has taken away his protective big sister. And he's not very good with separation, anyway. Abandonment issues, he knows. That happens when you get abandoned at a young age, and that happened to Reid, so. Go figure. He looks over at Emily, and values her just a little bit more than he did before. He doesn't want her to go as well, forced or not.
Then again, Reid thinks as he glances at the letter, he might be the one leaving.
He knows he has to tell Hotch. He had originally thought that it didn't matter, it wasn't important, and it didn't need to be reported, but now he thinks differently. He hopes dearly that that he won't be forced to take a new job somewhere, but he thinks Hotch deserves to know anyway. Just in case. He just also really doesn't want to tell Hotch.
Reid sighs and gets up, letter in hand, walks past Emily's desk and up the stairs to Hotch's office. He knocks on the door and waits for Hotch's permission to come in before he opens the door.
"Hey, do you have a minute?" Reid asks, mentally patting himself on the shoulder for keeping his voice steady. Hotch looks up from the file he had been studying intently.
"Why?" he asks, probably because he doesn't want to just dismiss Reid if it's something important, but also wants to finish his work, so he doesn't want to waste time if it turns out that it can wait. Reid should really stop profiling his friends. It's a bad habit.
"I want to talk to you about something," Reid says as a reply.
"Okay," Hotch says and gestures for Reid to come in and sit down. Reid closes the door behind him and steps forward standing in front of Hotch's desk, but he doesn't sit down.
"I got this letter today," he says and hands Hotch the letter. Hotch takes it and reads it, and then he looks back up with a frown.
"You got a job offer from the CIA?" he asks.
"Three times, actually," Reid says. "I've also gotten offers from other places, most notably the Pentagon, but also a few think tanks and universities, but they're not important."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Hotch asks, a little stern.
"I didn't think it was important," Reid replies. "But after JJ, I thought you should know. I mean, I don't know if they're gonna do anything. But just in case it comes to that, I thought it would be a good idea if you knew beforehand."
"Well, technically you don't have to report any new job offers to me, but I appreciate it," Hotch says. He doesn't really look like he appreciates it, but Reid believes him, because Hotch would be the world champion in stone faces, if there was a world championship in something like that. It's not likely to happen, though, despite the many funny sports people come up with. "Do you think CIA or Pentagon will force you to take a new job with one of them?"
Reid bites his lip and sits down with a sigh. Hotch watches him carefully, and Reid doesn't care that the man can read him like an open book when he glances at his hands and twist his fingers.
"I don't know," he says honestly. Because he doesn't know. He has no idea, and it scares him, because as much as he hates that JJ was forced away, he knows it must be harder on her, because Reid still gets to see the rest of them every day at work, and she doesn't. If Reid gets forced away, then he won't see the rest of them either.
Emily hadn't taken any notice to it when Reid went up to Hotch's office, because they both often head up to Hotch's office for one reason or another, but now he's been in there for over ten minutes, and that's not normal. Also, after JJ, Emily feels a little paranoid about another team member spending that much time in Hotch's office. And the more she sits there thinking about it, the more logical it gets. Reid's a genius. His specialty is just about anything. Of course people want him to work for them, and it has recently been proven that some people can force whoever they want to work for them without it being illegal in any way, just completely unfair. Reid should be on everyone's wish list.
And really, Emily doesn't want Reid to go as well.
"Hey," Morgan says behind her.
"Hey," she says back, not turning around or taking her eyes off Hotch's office.
"Where's Reid?" Morgan asks. He wants Reid for something, Emily vaguely registers.
"Up there," she says and points to Hotch's bullpen window.
"Why?" Morgan asks, and Emily can almost feel his worry, and can easily imagine the look on his face as all his nerves stand at attention.
"I don't know but he's been in there for more than ten minutes," is Emily's reply. Morgan doesn't get the chance to say anything to that, because right then, Strauss marches past them and enters Hotch's office without knocking first. Through the blinds, Emily can see both Hotch and Reid getting to their feet.
"You don't think he's getting transferred as well, do you?" Morgan asks, and Emily can hear him trying to cover up the fact that he's suddenly very nervous. She's a little proud that she can hear that.
"I have no idea," she replies. "I hope not,"
"Me neither," Morgan says.
He doesn't leave the bullpen again. He just sits on Emily's desk and stares at the office with her, neither getting any work done, and that's how they're sitting when Garcia enters the bullpen a few minutes later.
"What are you doing?" she asks. Emily answers without removing her eyes from its fixed point on the window to Hotch's office. She can see Strauss, Hotch, and Reid from her current position, so.
"Reid's been in Hotch's office for nearly twenty minutes. Strauss joined them about five minutes ago," she says.
"Oh no. Has something happened? Is Reid getting transferred?" Garcia asks, and she already sounds a little crestfallen, just at the idea.
"We don't know, Baby Girl," Morgan replies. Emily doesn't move. In fact, she remains almost completely still, partially listening to Morgan comforting Garcia as well as he can when he's as nervous as he is himself, until Rossi comes out of his office and joins them. He doesn't say anything at first, which is why Emily glances up at him. He's being silent, and that's weird, considering how she, Garcia, and Morgan are openly staring at Hotch's office.
"What's Reid and Strauss doing in Hotch's office?" Rossi finally asks.
"We don't know, but Reid's been in there more than twenty minutes, and Strauss nearly ten," Emily replies.
"Doesn't sound too good," Rossi says, and he's right. But Garcia still makes some sort of protest that Emily doesn't catch, but she does hear Morgan trying to convince her that hacking into Reid's email and whatnot to find out what this is about is really not a good idea.
And then Reid walks out of Hotch's office. He keeps his eyes on the ground as he walks to his desk, and he doesn't say anything to them, doesn't even really acknowledge them. Strauss follows shortly after, and she does acknowledge them as she passes by.
"Shouldn't you all be working?" she asks. She doesn't stop to hear the reply though, which is good, because she doesn't get one. Emily has very little respect for Strauss. And yeah, that's a bad thing, because Strauss is Hotch's boss and can practically do as she pleases with the BAU, but Emily still doesn't really respect her. She has done so many things to make Emily want to strangle her and strip her office of her trophies and stick her fingers in her ears whenever Strauss says anything. Emily really doesn't like Strauss. And she doesn't care whether or not Strauss sees her slacking off at work, or what Strauss thinks about that, as long at Hotch remains pleased with her work. And she knows that the rest of the team don't really respect Strauss either. Rossi is very open about it, calling her Erin and texting during interviews he thinks are pointless.
"So what was that about?" Morgan asks, turning to Reid.
"What?" is Reid's mumbled reply.
"In Hotch's office. What were you doing in there with him and Strauss?" Morgan asks.
"Talking," Reid replies. He's being very, very vague. It doesn't sit well with Emily.
"About what?" Garcia asks.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Reid replies, flipping through a file. Morgan is obviously not taking no for an answer, because he moves to sit on Reid's desk, and Emily spins her chair around so she is facing him. Garcia and Rossi both step closer, so they can see Reid as well, and Emily very briefly feels sorry for him. He must feel like they're crowding him.
"Come on, kid. What was it about?" Morgan asks. Reid remains silent, but he's not flipping through files anymore. "It had to be serious for Strauss to get called into it."
"The CIA has asked me three times to take up a job offer with them," Reid says. Emily wants to throw something. If the CIA is taking Reid away, then she is going to rebel and start up a mass protest against moving people to other departments or bureaus against their will. "The Pentagon has also called me twice to ask me if I wanted a job with them. Not to mention the think tanks and universities that almost regularly try to get me to work with them."
"You're getting that many job offers?" Rossi asks, surprised. Reid nods, keeping his eyes averted.
"So far, it doesn't seem like I'll be forced to take a new job anywhere, but I just wanted Hotch to know, in case something happens," he explains. "And Hotch called in Strauss to tell her. He doesn't want her to use the fact that she didn't know anything about the offers against him, in case I have to take a new job. She wanted to know why I kept turning them down. Long story short, in the end, Hotch got her to agree to stay on my side, if I get forced away. Hopefully, it won't come to that."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Morgan asks, clearly very baffled. Emily feels a little better about Strauss, though not by much, and she is really starting to consider that protest.
"Because until JJ was forced to transfer, I didn't think it was necessary. I thought they'd just keep sending me letters and calling me," Reid replies, and he finally looks up at them. Emily can see it painted very clearly on his face that he's nervous. He doesn't want to be forced away. The look on his face makes Emily want to hug him.
"Let's cross fingers that nothing happens," Rossi says. Emily nods in agreement, because she's not sure what to say. She's never had a little brother before Reid, so she's not sure how to comfort him when he's clearly upset like this. But really, she wants that look on his face to go away.
She's getting soft in her old days, Erin thinks. The thought keeps circling in her head as she types out a letter to the Pentagon, explaining why supervisory special agent Dr. Spencer Reid should not be forced to transfer. She's already written one to the CIA. Of course, she's not planning on sending either letter unless she gets a call from one or the other to inform her that she's losing another agent. If that happens, then she'll send the letters. Not if she doesn't have to. She's not going to risk anything, including making a fool of herself, if she doesn't have to.
"Damn it, Aaron," Erin grumbles to herself as she deletes and retypes a sentence. She tries as much as she can to make a victim of herself, Aaron, the BAU, and most importantly, Dr. Reid, without being excessive about it. she's been writing letters for the past two hours, and it hasn't been easy. But she has to admit, after the talk with Aaron and Dr. Reid, she really does agree that Dr. Reid should stay. It would break the team's hear if he was forced to leave, and break his as well. And maybe a small, petty thing such as heartbreak has never really bothered Erin, CIA, or Pentagon, but Dr. Reid belongs at the BAU. It's his family, he had said, DNA be damned, and after the whole ordeal with agent Jareau, Erin really isn't sure she can bring herself to value her reputation and politics higher than the happiness of that team. It's her best team, because they're good and work well together. And they have Dr. Reid.
Also, Erin is certain that Aaron had the right idea when he said she would probably have complaints, protests and quitting agents to deal with if the team lost another member. Not that he had said that directly, but he hinted very strongly at it. Erin suspects he would file complaints and go along with any protest. Damn him.
Erin's fingers pause over the keys and she stares at her screen. It's become fairly long now, about three quarters of a page.
That's when she gets an email from David Rossi. She opens it, glad for the distraction until she sees what it's about.
Dear Erin,
I heard about agent Reid's job offers and your offer to help him if he gets forced to take a new job. But however generous that is of you, I decided that a little help from me wouldn't hurt anyone, so to "warn" you, I'm now telling you that I have written letters to the CIA and the Pentagon, should they do something more drastic. The letters are ready for sending, but still not actually sent.
Have a nice day.
Ta
Erin wants to throw something. Or maybe hit David. That little "Ta" at the end is taunting her, disrespecting her right in her face, and she hates it. Why again did she rehire David? Oh yeah, because he's damn good at his job. He just also has seemingly no respect for Erin. Then again, they knew each other before she acquired her current position of Section Chief. She'd say they go way back, except they're not friends, and that's and expression usually used about friends, so it doesn't really apply. They've just known each other a long time.
She closes the email and goes back to her letter to the Pentagon. It's not cooperating here at the end. Very, very briefly, she considers asking David to give her his letter, so she can use that, but then decides against it. Mainly because of her pride.
How did Aaron get her roped into this, she wonders. Then she remembers that it wasn't just all the things Aaron said that got her to agree, it was also the nervous, crestfallen yet hopeful look on Dr. Reid's face.
She really is getting way too soft in her old days.
Morgan spends a lot of time that day consoling Garcia and convince her that putting something in Reid's file to make him less appealing to the CIA and the Pentagon is a very bad idea, and could possibly just get Reid fired. But even as he does, a part of him wants to tell Garcia that it's okay to put something a little more incriminating in Reid's file, because Morgan doesn't want him to go. Reid would never leave the BAU on his own, not until he gets old, but if he gets forced to take a job with the CIA or the Pentagon, Morgan would be crestfallen. They can't take Reid away from the team.
When the day ends, Morgan walks into the bullpen to see if Reid's still there, because it's a little past the time they actually finish. Not surprisingly, Reid is still there, hunched over his desk and the file on it, so Morgan walks over to him.
"Hey," he says, and Reid looks up, seeming a little surprised. "You heading home soon?"
"In a few minutes. I need to finish this first," Reid says. "Why?"
"I'm heading home now, I thought I'd give you a lift," Morgan replies easily.
"Oh. Well, thanks for the offer," Reid says. "Have a good night."
He turns back to the file, but Morgan doesn't leave. He sits down on his old desk, and feels a brief surge of nostalgia. He sometimes misses the bullpen. More privacy and space is great, but also a bit quiet, and the bullpen is always full of bustling and noises and rumors and gossip. Reid looks back up at him, very clearly confused about the fact that Morgan hasn't left yet. "Did you want something?" he asks.
"Reid," Morgan starts. "What do you thinks gonna happen? With CIA and Pentagon?"
"I don't know," Reid mumbles and looks down at his desk. His eyes don't move over the file, so he hasn't gone back to work.
"Do you think… they'll do what they did with JJ?" Morgan asks slowly. "Force you to take a job with whichever one of them comes first, or has the most power."
"I don't know, Morgan," Reid replies softly. He looks back up, nervous and afraid and every emotion written on his face. "I don't want to have to take a new job. I don't want to work with anyone or anything else. I just want to stay here. But after JJ leaving, I know that if they really want me to work with them, all they have to do is make a couple phone calls and I'll be packing up my desk before anyone can do something about it."
It all makes Morgan very sad. Reid is like his little brother, and he looks so damn crestfallen it's almost breaking Morgan's heart. This is something neither of them can do anything about, if either CIA or Pentagon step in. They both know that, and Reid seems scared but resigned to this fact. Morgan doesn't want him to be scared, and he doesn't want him to go. "I don't want to leave the BAU; Morgan," Reid says. He sounds like he's a little kid again, and it makes Morgan want to hug him or something. Just wrap him up and keep him away from the dangers of the world, except it's a little too late. Reid has already seen and experienced the dangers of the world.
"Come on, pretty boy," Morgan says. "Take that with you home, or leave it until tomorrow. I'll give you a ride."
Reid sighs, but packs up his things nonetheless. A few files and discs go into the messenger bag he always has with him before he snaps it shut. He puts his coat on and heaves the messenger bag over his head and onto his shoulder. When he turns to look at Morgan, he doesn't have to say anything for Morgan to know he's ready, so they both head out of the bullpen and step into the elevator. When they get to the ground floor and step out again, Morgan laughs at Reid's instinct to go towards the exit so he can get to the subway, and pulls the genius with him to the parking garage. Reid looks down at the ground and gives Morgan a light shove to get him to stop laughing, but says nothing. It's that sort of thing that Morgan will miss the most if Reid has to leave. Sure, he's great to work with, and not working with him would be a weird and a lot more difficult, since Reid is their human encyclopedia. Not working with him would almost be wrong, but it's not that Morgan would miss the most. It's the banter and the thing about Reid practically being his little brother by now. He doesn't want to lose that.
So. I hope you didn't mind the Strauss scene. I don't actually like her, but I think she has a heart somewhere, it's just very well hidden. It comes out sometimes, though, and this is supposed to be one of those times. The Emily scene wasn't supposed to be the longest, I don't know what happened there.