The team sat in the conference room, feeling a sense of dread that they weren't used to feeling. Of course they knew whenever they were called into a case that the next few days were going to be gruesome, and long.
But when Hotch received a call from the head of the FBI and Terrorism and asked if his team would meet with them for an unconventional mission, he knew this was going to be intense. The rest of the team could sense the nerves coming from their supervisor, and couldn't even begin to speculate what this was about. Emily gnawing on her nails, while JJ was beside her drumming her fingers against the table. Garcia and Reid was whispering softly too each other, while Morgan and Seaver were silently starting into space. Rossi wore his standard calm composed face, as he figured he'd had seen everything.
At 10 o'clock, Strauss and 3 men entered the conference room.
"Agents of the BAU, this is Agent Rainer, Agent Downy from the terrorism bureau and Dr. Haft," Strauss said.
The BAU agents introduced themselves, and sat down to prepare themselves on what was coming.
"We have an operation that requires the most talented profiles in the country, because the unsubs were after are masterminds," said Rainer.
The team exchanged smiles at the compliment, since it was very rare that they received praise. Although they weren't into this business for the recognition, it was nice to hear it from the head of the entire bureau.
"And it requires fierce dedication, and the ability to work a cohesive unit, which we've been told that as a team that is one of your strongest suits," Downy added.
The team looked around at each other and nodded. After spending years with each other, and going through the horrors they had endured, the members really did feel like a family. Although their youngest, and newest addition Seaver had only been with them for a year, the team had tried their hardest to make her feel welcomed.
"The unsubs we're after are sleeper cells, who are running an underground division of terrorism in an unsuspecting suburb of Illinois. They pose as family men and women, with children, who appear normal. The women participate in book clubs, the kids play soccer, and the dads work in regular office jobs, then play poker with the men. But realistically these men and woman are planning a massive attack within our country, and possibly abroad. We suspect that they are from Russia, and pretended to be small town Americans. The fake the accent, the culture, everything. And then they try to recruit within," Rainer explained, while the agents nodded.
"We need to be able to assign a team to go undercover as a real family, who can gain the trust of the entire community, then pinpoint the actual terrorists. Once in, then they must pretend they are interested in joining the operation, which in turn will bring these monsters down," Downy continued.
The agents looked at the two head agents confused.
"All do respect sir, how are we going to go undercover as a family. We range from 58, to 23 sir. Wouldn't we stick out like a soar thumb," Hotch pointed out.
Rossi shot Hotch a look, he knew that Rossi was touchy about being the oldest agent on the team,
"Valid point Agent Hotchner, this is why we brought in Dr. Haft, who specialized in genetics," Dowry said, letting the scientist take the floor.
"For the last ten years, my team and I have perfected a reversable drug, we call it FOY (fountain of youth). It can de-age a person instantly, and stays into place until the growth activation pills are given, which we have also perfected," Haft explained.
The team looked around, totally uneasy about what the doctor was explaining.
"I've heard of this but never thought it was actually proven," Reid said, shocked,
"We've used it to go undercover a few times, once in a retirement home," Haft chuckled.
"If your team accepts the mission, we will use FOY to create a typical suburban family. We have done a complete work up on your team, and felt like the following scenario would work best. Rossi would be the patriarch grandfather of the group, acting as Agent Hotchner's father. Agent Hotcher and Agent Prentiss will act as husband and wife. Agent Jaueru will act as Agent Prentiss's sister, and Agent Morgan's fiancee. Agent Reid and Agent Sever will be de-aged in order to pose as Agent Hotchner and Prentiss's children. And Ms. Garcia will act as the housekeeper in order to keep station in the house," Rainer explained.
The entire team sat in shock with their jaws opened.
"Is this some kind of joke," Morgan asked, not being able to wrap his head around the situation. Seaver and Reid were both a funny green color.
"Wait, we have to be kids," Seaver squeaked, panicking at the thought.
"I hated childhood, I can't do that again," Reid's voice waived.
"How long would this mission be sir," Hotch asked.
"About six months, sooner if your team can act fast," Rainer said.
Emily looked at Hotch, trying to figure out if he was actually going to be crazy enough to accept this mission, and if they could pull off being married.
JJ ran her fingers through her hair, could she honestly pretend to be engaged to Morgan for that long? After sneaking a glance, she decided there could be worse situations.
"How old would Reid and I de-age," Seaver asked, wanting to know as much as she possibly could.
"Dr. Reid would age 10, and you would be age 3," Dr. Haft smiled.
Seaver squeaked, "Three, how the hell am I suppose to do my job as a toddler."
"You would be crucial to our mission Agent Seaver, because we need someone completely unsuspicious to survey the area. You would still have your same thought process as an adult in order to profile." Haft assured her.
Emily couldn't believe that the government was asking them to do this.
"Can you please give me and my team a few moments by ourselves to discuss this," Hotch said to the head agents. They nodded, and exited the room.
"Hotch you can't do this to me," Reid pleaded. JJ patted his back reassuringly to calm him down.
"Look everyone, I know this all intense, but this could be an opportunity to became a landmark case and to prevent an earth shattering terrorist attack," Hotch pointed out.
"And they did say we work well as a family," Rossi pointed out.
JJ shook her head, "this is something out of a sci-fi movie," she said.
"When I became an agent, I did not sign up to go back to day care," Seaver complained.
"But think about what this could do for your career Seaver, you would be acclaimed at 23," Prenitss pointed out.
Seaver looked down at her fingers, and mused over the idea. It would be amazing to have on her credentials.
"And baby boy no one is going to hurt you with us around," Garcia comforted Reid.
They all knew Reid had a rough childhood, and that the idea of being that small again freaked him out. "
We do this job to save lives, and we are doing so in this mission, only a different way," Hotch explained.
Seaver put her head in her hands, "we're going through with this aren't we," she sighed.
JJ smiled, "well I guess this is going to be a case we're not going to forget for a while.