A/N: Hello again my friends! This is an idea I had a while back that I couldn't get out of my head. What if one word could explain why each member of the BAU's most elite team does the things they do? What makes them work so hard? Well...why don't I just let them tell you. A very special thanks to TN, my Hotch Twin, for reading over everything for me and giving me some great advice! Thank you so much!!!
DETERMINATION
I remember a conversation I had with Hotch once. He said, "my life matters to me and I have, and always will, entrust you with it. Would you do the same for me?" I couldn't answer him. That's when it hit me that he was right. I don't truly trust anyone. I'm trying. Lord knows I'm trying. But it's hard. When you are betrayed by the man you trust most in the world, when he abuses you and takes away everything innocent inside of you, it makes trusting people seem like a foreign concept.
I was determined to not let the events of my past cloud my future. I refused to become some stereotypical gang-banger like Rodney Harris. It was that determination that kept me off the streets and led me to the ranks of Chicago PD, and eventually the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. It is still that determination that makes me so passionate to protect others, especially the kids. It is what makes me seethe with anger when our cases involve the horrible things people do to children. The children are the innocents. They deserve every ounce of my determination and my passion. And their abusers will feel every ounce of my determination and my anger. I can't allow what happened to me to happen to them. The more of these monsters I can pull off the streets, the better. And maybe, just maybe, I'll learn to trust someone along the way.
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Supervisory Special Agent
Derek Morgan