Title: The Power of the Press Conference

Author: LogicBomb.32

Ships: None.

Summary: The press is simply another the tool in the belt of the FBI and I, I am the master of this tool.

Authors Note: I was watching some Criminal Minds centric videos on youtube this afternoon when the title of this one-shot type thing came to me. I sat down and decided to see where it would take me. Here is the product.

Disclaimer: FANfiction.

I am not a profiler.

While Morgan and Hotch and all the others put their skills to catching the scum of the earth, I use my skill set to deal with a different beast entirely. The press.

Over the years I have learned a lot about the media. Perhaps most important of these factoids being that nine out of ten journalists and reporters and bloggers are only there to sell their name and their product. It is rare that they care about the victim or the tragedy that has fallen upon a family or the terror that has been instilled into the hearts of the masses. No, they just want to make their deadline, plain and simple.

And contrary to popular opinion not every press conference is the same, I don't just walk up to the microphone and speak. No, unbeknownst to them the press are a tool in the belt of the BAU. We use them as often as we rely on Spence's infinite base of knowledge. We want to draw an unsub out, go to the press. We want to warn people of our unsubs tricks and games, we go to the press.

However it is not as simple as that, I can't go up to them and tell them what to print in the morning edition, sure that works on the rare occasion, or if someone owes me a favor, but it all comes back to what sells. And that is where the real work begins. It is my job to make the unappealing facts, the ones that will save peoples lives, look like the next Kardashian scandal.

And yes, the press as a whole is a pack of unruly beasts but, like most beasts, if you treat them right, they will, in no uncertain terms, do what you want. Be it leave you the hell alone or have a field day with the information.

But we don't win every time, sometimes there is that sneaky bastard that cons their way onto the crime scene, the one that knows more than they should. Those, those are some tricky devils.

In all honest they have the upper hand, they don't have to listen to me, in fact they generally don't listen to what I have to say. Why should they? All I am is a roadblock between them and their article. So yeah, I have to sweet talk them, I have to smile suggestively (only to leave them hanging later) and, on more rare occasions, I have to get angry. I have to bring them down to my level, make them fully understand where I am coming from.

They have to know that this isn't just about a killer and a dead body. This is about someone who has taken the role of god in the play that is life. This is about stopping this person from taking the lives of those who need not die. This is not just about catching a killer but doing it in a way that keep the body count to a minimum. It isn't fun to do, to be so frank and almost cruel, just so that they see the bigger picture. Some vomit, some curse at me or throw things while others still simply nod and wait for my say to release the information.

Like I said, it isn't fun to do, but I am not here to sell papers, I am here to make sure the victims get justice, that the families get peace and that one more killer is off the streets.

And sometimes it gets hard.

Sometimes I just want to walk away from it all, my job is really the same everywhere we go: control the press, make sure they do exactly what we want to them to do when we need them to do it. And when that doesn't happen, when some crucial piece of knowledge slips out, who do they blame?

Not me.

At least not verbally.

But I know they do, they have to because it is my job to wrestle with the snake but sometimes, sometimes I get bitten. They never outwardly blame me, I do my job damn well, but nobody is perfect. However that doesn't stop me from feeling guilty when we hear about the next dead body and thinking "Did I do this?"

I learned a long time ago to ignore that question. Yes or no, the answer didn't matter, I couldn't start doubting myself and the job I do. Because when that happens, when I no longer have faith in the roll I play, every case becomes personal, every victim is because of me, every serial killer out there is somehow a creation of my own.

Believe me, I've been there.

I've been down that road before and it took a long, long time to come to the realization that what I did, it helped and that not every aspect, not every fact, could be controlled. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. It was at that moment, when I realized that, that I knew I was not going to let the cracks overwhelm me. I knew that I was going to cover the cracks to the best of my abilities.

And that is how I got here.

"The top of everybody's wish list." As Rossi put it

I am, for lack of a better phrase, more human than the rest of the team (save for Garcia). Or at least that is how it feels. They all seem so stoic and composed, especially Hotch and Emily, like none of this ever bothers them. But me, there are some cases I just go back to office and curse and cry and overall just break down because I just don't get it.

However the longer I stay with the BAU the more I realize it is not about being stoic or breaking down after every case, it is about finding reasons to live and finding the joy in life. We all have ours, and it may change based on the case we face, but they are there. And to me, it is remembering the life that is all around us, that is ignorant to the horrors we are so acutely aware of, that is more important than being able to handle the press or profile a crime scene in ten seconds.

I am a member of the BAU team.

I am not a profiler.

I am a media liaison.

I am a mother.

I am a friend.

I am the one the families turn to when they don't get why spend hours looking at a white board.

I am the one who fields the calls from the overworked detectives who's marriages are falling apart, who can no longer resist the call of the bottle or when the line between justice and vengeance blurs.

I am human.

I am scarred from my work.

I am stronger because of my work.

I am who I am because of the people I work with, who I know will, and have, risked their lives for me and because they know that I would do the same for them.

I am Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau.

What did you think?

Personally this was more of a character study type deal than a one-shot or something with a plot. However I would love to hear your thoughts and comments!

As always,

Thanks,

LogicBomb.32

P.S. The song Louder by DJ Fresh feat. Sian Evans was listened to while this was being written.

.com/watch?v=eE-dwpWpscU