Alrighty, so this is me actually publishing a story! Yay! School is a bitch, so after I get down what I've written so far, no guarantees on when the next update will be. Sorry.
As like many fans, I LOVE SPENCER REID, so of course this requires me to write a fanfic. I hope you enjoy.
Everyone on the team looked up as they saw a young, red-haired women walk into Hotchner's office. They looked at each other questioningly then resumed looking at their files, while occasionally throwing quick glances up to the room.
"Agent Payne, it's a pleasure to have you on the team," Hotch stood up and shook her hand.
She smiled back, "Of course the pleasure is mine. Good to see Strauss is finally off your back." He smiled slightly and invited her to sit down.
Taking his own seat, he opened a few files, "So you heard about that did you?"
"I've watched the news a few times. Facial expressions give so much away in a person."
"You've been busy," he flipped through her file, "the BAU could always use another genius."
"I would really hope that's not sarcasm," she took a sip from her coffee and cringed.
"Let's go introduce you to the team," he stood and followed her out the door. The team was waiting for them. They were trying to hide it, but as soon as the door clicked shut they all closed what they were 'reading' and looked up expectantly. Hotch led her down in front of them, "Everyone, this is SSA Payne, the newest member to our team."
"Emily Prentiss," Prentiss reached forward and shook her hand as she introduced herself.
"Jennifer Jareau, but everyone here just calls me JJ," she shook her hand and offered a warm smile.
"Derek Morgan, it's nice to have you on the team."
"David Rossi, I think Hotch and I have worked with you before...?" Payne nodded and smiled at him.
Before Reid had a chance to introduce himself, Penelope came bursting into the room, "We have a new member? Why was I not told?" she shot a look at Derek and he put his hand up defensively. Penelope shook her hand vigorously, "Penelope Garcia, tech goddess extraodinare"
Payne smiled shyly, "Dr. Alina Payne. Alina is fine though." she got a few raised eyebrows at the 'Dr.' part. When Penelope settled down, she turned to the only person she didn't know yet, "Hi."
"Hi," Reid only said more when Morgan elbowed his shoulder and whispered something quietly, "Oh um, Dr. Spencer Reid. Reid is fine, o-or Spencer, whatever you want really." She gave a small smile at that.
"Alright, I know you guys are dying to ask me questions. Go ahead." Hotch returned back to his office as the questioning began. Alina sat in her new desk chair. She figured this was going to be a while.
"So what PhD do you have?" Prentiss started with one of the most obvious questions.
"Two actually. Physics and Mathematics. I was going to go for an Engineering degree next, but then I got offered a job here."
"How old are you?" Spencer looked her over as everyone got quiet.
Morgan put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, "Reid, I told you this before. You never ask a women her age."
Alina laughed a bit and shook her head, "Oh don't worry, I'm long past caring, but if you want to know, you have to guess."
JJ was the first to take a shot, "25?"
"Nope."
Penelope guessed next, "23?"
"All expected guesses, but I hate to say I'm actually 29," she caught their looks of disbelief, "I know I look younger then twenty. I blame my height on that." Alina was short. At roughly 5'2'' she was well below the heights of the other team members.
"What is your favorite hobby?" Morgan asked.
"Reading mostly. I also draw a lot. Mostly sci-fi and fantasy painting though."
"Have you gotten an apartment yet or are you still hanging out in a hotel?" Prentiss again.
"Ah. Definitely bought a house. I have three parrots, hotels don't really like me," she smirked as if remembering something.
"What kind of parrots? What are they're names?" Garcia was excited, she loved pets.
"African Grey named Alphonse, a male eclectus named Newton, and a blue and gold macaw named Pandora,"
"Aww that's so cute... can they say any words?"
"They usually just repeat what they heard, but there are a few phrases they've picked up on. Pandora can only say each of our names, but Alphonse and Newton will fly over to her if she calls."
"Hometown?" Morgan asked.
"Chicago. Not a lot of interesting things about that."
"Any super secret talents we should know about?" Garcia wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Alina looked forward, thoughtful, "Well if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" she smirked at Penelope's disappointed scowl.
"Well now that you've played twenty questions... Morgan, how about you show her around the place." Rossi didn't want them to waste an entire day interrogating the new girl.
Morgan led her around the office, being his usual cocky self. The first stop was the break room, where Alina insisted she get coffee. She poured herself a cup and proceeded to dump like half a cup of sugar in it.
"How can you call that coffee?" Morgan shook his head. The sugar addiction reminded him of someone else in the office.
"Coffee's too bitter," she sipped it cautiously, making sure it was the right balance. Once she was satisfied, she allowed the office tour to continue.
The rest of the team was still curious, but they resumed their previous doings and let her be shown around by Morgan. He was a strange choice though, considering he sometimes let his curiosity get the best of him. When the tour was done, Morgan tried one of his many charming pick up lines and Alina merely rolled her eyes. Morgan laughed and they both sat down and started going through files.
Near the end of the day, people started packing up and heading out. Alina looked around the office thoughtfully before her eyes rest on one of the only people left: Spencer Reid. She walked over to him shyly, carrying something in her hand. When Reid finally looked up, she placed the object down on his desk, "Interested in a game of chess?"
"Depends how good you are. I do want to be home before dinner time," Reid wanted to play her regardless of course. He lived alone. It didn't matter when he ate dinner.
"Well the longest chess game theoretically possible is 5,949 moves, so the question is... can we make that many moves before you usually eat dinner?"
"You seem sure of yourself," Reid was intrigued by her confidence in her chess.
She answered by simply holding up both fists, one pawn of each color. Reid chose her right hand and won the white. She smirked as they set up the board and began to play. It was merely 20 minutes in when Reid realized just exactly what he was up against. Alina wasn't trying to win, she was specifically trying to make him fall for a stalemate. They had even pieces on the bored, but Reid's positioning was better. Her pawn structure carefully protected all of the best moves.
"Check," Reid finally breached her defenses. She moved her king quickly to the next space, as if expecting him to put her in check. The next 20 minutes were carefully calculated moves from both sides. When it was Alina's turn again, they both saw it. The forced mate she had so carefully been planning. With a few more wonderfully executed moves, the words finally came out.
"Shah Mat," Reid smiled at the reference and shook her hand.
"'The King is dead' indeed. I'm impressed. I almost never loose at chess," he helped her pack up the board and looked at the time. It was getting especially late now.
"Well I suppose it's about time you start. You can only get better at chess if you play someone better then you."
"I expect a rematch," Reid packed up his back as he watched her button up her maroon trenchcoat.
"And I expect nothing less," she winked at him, then made her way out of the building.
When she got home, her parrots all flew over excitedly. She had been gone longer then usual that day. She cooked herself dinner and let them share a few nuts and vegetables. Then she told them about her day and her new job. They repeated a few words like 'job' and 'FBI', but when she told them about playing chess, Alphonse focused on the same word. 'Spencer.' He repeated it until she got flustered and put them away to bed. Covering the cage, she whispered her goodnight, then maneuvered around the boxes in her house and crashed on her bed.
It was a large house for one person. Her parents were rich, and she received half of the inheritance. Her sister received the other half, but she didn't know where the young rambunctious little sister was living at the moment. Katie had always been the social one in the family. Plenty of people interested in her, but she had a smart head on her shoulders, and never got caught up in anything bad. After what had happened to their parents, they made a promise to never lie to each other. About anything. Unless it was, you know... classified.
She simply wished sometimes she wouldn't be so awkward around new people. Knowing what questions they were going to ask was easy enough to figure out, but once the questions became more personal, she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to let them know the truth.
Something to think about tomorrow. For now, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The next day, Alina woke up and drove off to work. She arrived rather early, about the same time JJ arrived. Getting her coffee, JJ was still curious about a few things.
"So what is this secret you don't like people knowing?" JJ knew her chances of getting an actual answer were slim, but she had to try. She liked getting to know people, and she was just making conversation.
Alina blew on the top of her coffee and took a sip before answering, "Ah. That. It's not even a big secret, but I've learned it's better not too tell the guys," she smirked a bit, "I'm a contortionist. Specifically a backbender. Sorry I can't show you, but these clothes don't exactly bend like I do."
JJ smiled, "Yeah I wouldn't imagine. Don't worry, I won't tell the boys."
"Yeah." Alina winked at her when she noticed Morgan come in. She walked out to her desk and sat down. Sipping her coffee, she waited as the rest of the office came in.
Reid sat at his desk, then thought for a moment before walking over to Alina's, "I have a joke." Rossi overheard this and shook his head. Not this again. Alina, however, waited for Reid to start. ""How many existentialists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" Rossi sighed and shook his head. Prentiss looked confused, but Alina simple smiled and indicated she didn't know. "Two. One to change the lightbulb, and one to observe how it symbolizes an incandescent beacon of subjectivity in a netherworld of cosmic nothingness." Alina tried to stifle her laughter and Reid also gave his own joke a few chuckles. Everyone else just looked at them like they were crazy.
When Alina and Reid noticed the empty stares from of the rest of the team, they both tried to explain at the same time, "It's funny because existentialists believe-"
"No no, don't try," Prentiss cut them off. They simply shrugged and turned back to each other. Reid had another joke and she laughed at that one as well. Prentiss and Rossi just observed them in disbelief.
Morgan came out to his desk and noticed the two laughing. He walked over to Prentiss and gestured to the pair, "What's up with them?"
Prentiss was still staring, "I think they're- I think they're flirting." They looked at each other and laughed. Reid flirting? Yeah right.
JJ came in with a case file and everyone got quiet. She gestured to the conference room and they all followed.
"Three victims in the past six weeks. The killing seems to be two weeks between each victim," JJ started briefing them, "All the victims are brunette, mid-thirties. They are sexually assaulted, then strangled. The third body was discovered this morning. They've left the scene until we get there."
They all nodded then headed out to the jet. California here they come.
On the jet, Alina thought it was awesome, but she tried not to act impressed. She sat across from Reid and pulled out a copy of Empty Planet. Reid watched her skim through it quickly. He remembered that book. He first read it when he was six. When she noticed he was looking at her, she was about halfway through the book. She closed the book and looked at him, "What?"
"20,000 words per minute?"
"Nope. 15,000. Why? Can you read 20,000 words per minute?" she leaned forward, intrigued.
"Yes actually. What college did you go to?"
"Cal Tech, why?" she smiled as she thought about it, "Wait, I remember, you were in one of my classes!"
Reid didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. He decided not to say anything to see what she did. He offered a hesitant smile.
"Do you remember me? I looked exactly the same back then."
Spencer thought back, he did remember a redhead with a tendency to wear maroon, "Yeah I do, do you still have that sweater?" He was teasing her.
Her face flushed, "Oh please don't remind me. It was a present from my sister! I had an obligation to wear it once,"
Spencer smiled, "Not in public."
Alina kicked his shin lightly and he feigned hurt, "You deserve that." He laughed at that. Alina smirked and began to read her book again. When she was done, she went over to talk to Hotch for a bit. Morgan came over when she moved and patted Reid on the back.
"What was that huh?" Morgan smiled when Reid gave him a look.
"She went to the same college I did."
"Oh no, I'm not letting you off with that. That looked suspiciously like flirting to me."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Spencer picked up his own book and flipped through it.
"Right..."Morgan patted him on the shoulder. The both looked over at Alina in time to see Hotch laugh at something she said. Morgan looked at Reid in confusion, "Am I hallucinating, or did Hotch just...?"
"Yeah. Yeah he did."
"Looks like you've got competition eh Reid?"
"Shut up."
So I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Reviews are always appreciated. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I'll probably get around to re-writing the earlier chapter when I finish the fic. :)
