Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief of the Quantico FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, picked up the file on his desk labelled 1221 given to him by Section Chief Strauss as part of the review process for a new applicant. According to her academy instructor and transcript, Daisy Gomes was an exceptional student. Hotch read her transcript several times but that's not what interested him; what interested him was a diary entry that somehow found its way into her personnel file. He didn't exactly know what to make of it but found it enlightening none the less.

January 1st, 2009

Dear Diary

It's Daisy and I am happy to report that I have discovered a few things about my family since I last wrote to you. I discovered that my mother, Rose, was florist who owned her own shop selling rare flowers and gardening supplies. Rose's parents, my grandparents, were both involved with the criminal justice system. My grandmother, Linda, was a criminal prosecutor and my grandfather, Jerry, was a FBI agent working out of the San Diego field office.

However, I regret to tell you that I still don't know anything about my biological father and at this point, I have decided to give up. I guess I should feel proud that I was born in to a successful family and I am proud but I just don't feel it as much as I should. How can I when I didn't even know them?

On my 18th birthday, I figured out why I have had nightmares for most of my life. According to my adoptive brother, Dale, they are repressed memories from the car accident that killed my biological grandparents. I decided to head to my local library to see what I could dig up. It did not take long to find and article about the accident but unfortunately, it was not much help because the cause of the accident was never determined.

I did not give up and dug a little deeper. I found a second article about parents who lost their children to hit and run car accidents. What was interesting was a picture of my grandparents standing in front of a grave that upon further investigation I found to belong to my mother.

According to the article, a car struck my mother while she was crossing the street and she died shortly after my birth.She was only five months pregnant but she knew I had a better chance of survival. She told the paramedics to do an emergency C-section to bring me in to the world.

The moment I entered the world I had difficulty breathing from underdeveloped lungs and an irregular heartbeat. To abide by my mother's wishes the paramedic in charge decided to put me on oxygen and have me airlifted to the NICU at Rady Children's Hospital. The hospital staff called me the miracle baby because they were sure I was not going to make it but after six month of intensive care and multiple surgeries, my biological grandparents were able to take me home.

Now many years later, I find myself at a crossroad and I think it has been a long time coming. I know with my graduation from the FBI Academy coming up I will have a greater ability to find the answers I am looking for but as the great Ben Parker in the movie Spider Man said

"With great power comes great responsibility."

I find myself asking if digging in to a past I hardly know anything about is the right thing to do. What if I uncover something I do not like? Don't get me wrong I do want to know whom I am and where I come from but perhaps I have strayed off the path a little. I do realize that I don't know much more about whom I am than when I started but maybe my perception is enough.

Do you want to know something? When I was little, I used to believe that magic was about optical illusions, tricks and misdirection. However, as I got older I realized that magic is about the ability to believe that there are things in this world that defy our understanding.

It is for this reason that I have decided to take a break from my investigation to think about what I want out of it and if I am making the right choice.

I do know that ultimately the right choice is not going to be laid out in black and white for me to follow. I will have to listen to my heart and let it tell me what the right choice is. All I am saying is that maybe for right now holding on to my perception of things is enough. Maybe finding some people I can trust is the first step in finding out what I want. As my adoptive parents said to me when I was little

"When you don't know what the answer is you just have to believe there is one."

I do not know what my answer is yet but when I find out, I will let you know. Until then yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is gift that's why it's called the present.

Sincerely,

Daisy Gomes