This is my first fan-fiction attempt, so I really would appreciate some helpful comments or criticisms, (no flaming please) and I hope you like it! I'm not sure if I should continue, or how long it will be… but will eventually become a case fic! Reid's POV.

I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS. I'm sadly not awesome enough to… T.T

Enjoy!

I don't think I had ever been this nervous before. Sure, there was the time I started college at age 12, or the time I decided to send my mom away to a mental hospital once I had officially become an adult. But still, this day ranked up there. I tried to tell myself that I was being irrational, because I hadn't even met the others on the team yet, but my hands wouldn't listen to reason and kept shaking as I pressed the button on the elevator to the desired floor. Statistics for elevator accidents raced through my head, and I hardly realized the doors had opened again, the little number at the top flashing the right floor number. I took a deep breath, clutched my satchel, and headed out into the unknown.

I laugh now as I look back, because I know the team so well and know they would never do anything to make my days be like those at college, but I didn't know that then. The only person I knew I could trust was Jason Gideon. He was the one who had helped me get this job, and he was in charge of the entire team. That at least made me relax a little, so I decided to stop by his office first, to get used to the area. I nearly bumped into a pretty blonde, who looked up from the files she was carrying and gave me a warm smile. I nervously smiled back, and asked, trying to keep my voice under control; "D-do you know where Jason Gideon's office is?"

She laughed a friendly laugh and replied, "Gideon? Of course! Just that way." She pointed to a door up some stairs. She looked at me curiously. "You a friend of his?"

"Yea, something like that..." I muttered, trying to act as friendly as I could. It wasn't working. She kind of shrugged, gave me a wave, and headed towards another door labeled 'Aaron Hotchner'. Why did that name sound familiar?

I shrugged off that stray thought and began walking in the direction the blonde had pointed. I felt even more nervous now, because I was sure that she thought I was weird, or at least not very polite. And I did not want people at the place I would be working at to think of me that way. Well, at least the impolite part. I admit I can seem pretty weird to other people. I paused just outside the door before knocking, and was rewarded with a familiar deep voice rasping, "Come in." I tentatively opened the door, and relaxed visibly when I saw the grinning face of Jason Gideon. For some reason he made me feel a lot more relaxed.

"Ahh, Doctor Reid!" He said, his eyes twinkling. I could tell he was glad I showed up, which made me feel even better. I was wanted... and by the best profiler in the world! Well, the best in my opinion. He nodded to me, and gestured at the seat in front of his desk. I accepted it, and placed my satchel automatically onto my lap. I carry that thing around for many purposes, and it's ended up feeling like an extra arm. I always have it there, and never really notice. But today it was packed to the brim, notebooks and text spilling out of the single flap. Gideon noticed this and shook his head, but there was laughter in his eyes.

"You know you don't need all that. You got enough of it crammed into your brain." I was about to reply with some kind of statistic or quote, I can't remember now, when a well-dressed man poked his head through the door to Gideon's office.

"Gideon, I have some files I'd like you to check out when you have time…" The man trailed off when he noticed me sitting there. I felt his gaze pierce through me, as if reading my thoughts. I honestly wouldn't put it past him if he could. Gideon smiled and motioned to me, lessoning the tension (or what I felt was tension) in the room from the man's sharp stare.

"Aaron, this is Doctor Reid. Doctor Reid, this is Special Agent Aaron Hotchner." Of course! How could I forget, Gideon had told me a bit about each team member before I had come to headquarters. Hotch's stare suddenly softened and he broke out into what could be called a polite smile.

"So you're the new kid huh?" He asked in a friendly manner, holding out his hand, which I in turn shook.

"Y-yea." I stammered, cursing at my own nerves. "Did you know that every forty seconds a child is reported missing in the United States? That means that over two thousand…"

"Better save that for a case, Doctor." Hotch interrupted, a small but real smile played across his face. For some reason he seemed amused by my sudden rambling. I stopped mid-sentence, and my mouth was still hanging open a bit. I have to admit that now, I probably did look pretty amusing. Hotch exchanged a knowing glance at Gideon, left the files he had brought with him in the first place, and left the office. I felt my face turning red, and tried to keep my embarrassment under control.

"He likes you." My efforts were interrupted by Gideon, who nodded in my direction. "Don't worry about it Reid, you'll get along fine with all of them. It takes an awful lot to make that man smile."

I looked at my feet, still not fully recovered from the awkward meeting. "I just don't want to be thought of as a kid." I said quietly, suddenly finding my plain and boring shoes to be the most interesting thing in the world.

Gideon chuckled a little, and replied, "Don't worry about that, Doctor Reid. Just wait 'till they all see you in action. It's hard not to respect that brain of yours."

I smiled a little, surprised at his praise. I decided to stop acting like a scared kid, and prove to my new team that I could be a valuable member.

"Come on, let me go round up the team so you can meet them all." Gideon said suddenly, interrupting me from my thoughts. I panicked a bit; I had never been good at meeting new people, let alone a whole team of people.

"T-That's OK, just give me some files or something to start working on…" I stammered, desperately thinking of a way to get me out of this one. But of course, Gideon picked this time as the best time not to hear me, and was already out the door before I stood up to follow reluctantly.