Hi there, this is my first Criminal Minds fan fiction so I'm sorry if it sucks ass. I'm also English trying to write in the point of view of an American so I'm sorry if some of the words don't fit or don't make sense! I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters, Seraphim is mine.

At the moment I'm currently on Season 7 of Criminal Minds so the story enters near the beginning of that season. As well as this, I'm not sure who Sera will end up with; I'd like to know your opinions. I'll try to upload as often as I can but I'm at University at the moment so sometimes there may be larger gaps. I'm sorry in advance! Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Honey Blonde Curls

Chapter one – Dr Seraphim Malone:

Sera was used to the 9 to 5 attire, she'd grown accustom to it working at The Pentagon. It was difficult to always abide by the black and white guidelines though, she often found herself wearing garishly bright underwear to satisfy her thirst for colour. Section Chief Strauss hadn't seemed strict on the basics of her work wardrobe so she decided to already test her boundaries and chose a purple blouse to accompany her black dress pants and waist coat. Sera knew it would earn a few odd glances, it always did, but she was confident in herself and her style so she added her thin black tie to her outfit and slipped on comfortable black pumps. Hopefully Penelope Garcia didn't scold her for dressing unprofessionally, though Sera had no real idea what a Technical Analysis Intern wore. Content with her look, Sera continued getting ready for her first day. She decided on little make-up; mascara with lilac eye shadow and concealer for the dark bruises under her eyes. Her nightmares were getting harder to ignore, she knew it was inevitable but she dreaded the usual remarks on how tired she looked. It took longer than she intended to decide on her hair style but she eventually got there, she put her honey blonde curls in a messy bun and brushed her fringe over to one side. Sera was never one for being overindulged in her physical appearance, despite the uneven track record of her self-esteem, she found herself to be rather ordinary looking and short. She hated that the most, being short. It was nothing tight clothes or excessive amounts of make-up would fix though, so she never bothered.

The alarm on her phone beeped and she pursed her chewed lips, she had an hour left so instead of making breakfast like she'd originally planned; she fed Captain Jack Harkness his dry food and put on her navy blue coat. She might as well get there and find somewhere for tea and perhaps breakfast instead of being unforgivably late as she would no doubt get too distracted if she stayed to make breakfast at home. She grabbed her maroon satchel from the sofa and made her way to her way down to the car lot. Sera liked Woodbridge, it was pretty to look at and her apartment neighbours seemed friendly enough. She climbed into her 1971 blue Ambassador Sedan and drove to work, drumming on her steering wheel in time to the music blaring out of the radio. She parked and quickly glided around the corner in search of a coffee shop though it wasn't coffee she was craving. Sera spotted one on the corner and made her way over, her phone alarm chimed again to tell her she had half an hour before Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia was expecting her.

The cue was long which built up her anxiety as she kept checking the time on her phone, she ordered a sweet milky tea and fast walked back to Quantico's FBI headquarters, trying her best not to spill any. She slowed her pace down and composed herself before entering the building, wanting to look smart and not like a hurried mess. Sera confidently went to reception immediately and looked down at the receptionist typing away.

'Good morning, I'm Seraphim Malone. I start my internship here today,' she said.

'Seraphim Malone?'

Sera turned towards the voice that had just addressed her to see a curvy blonde with a big grin on her face. Her clothes were so vibrant and beautiful, Sera wished she'd gotten more creative, a lot more creative. Her earlier anxieties about being scolded on her dress choice dissolve immediately and she found herself more relaxed.

'That's me,' Sera replied.

'Hello, I'm Penelope Garcia,' she said, approaching her in insanely high electric blue heals. She held out her hand and Sera politely shook it.

'Your credentials,' the receptionist said, standing from her chair to hand Sera a lanyard with her work ID on.

'Thank you,' Sera replied.

'This way,' Penelope Garcia said, leading the way towards an elevator. 'I've been extremely excited to meet you,' she continued as they waited. 'Your thesis on collective cell behaviour in relation to multi-scale mathematical models is outstanding, I read it like a trillion times,' she buzzed, her excitement made Sera's adrenaline levels rise and she found herself uncontrollably grinning at her new boss. It didn't surprise her that Penelope had looked into her, it made sense seeing as she would be shadowing Penelope for the next few months. Sera wouldn't admit it but she'd read everything Google could tell her on Penelope, as well as what Erin Strauss had sent her in an email. The elevator doors opened and they both waited patiently for the occupants to exit before they stepped inside, Penelope pressed the button and they stood in an awkward silence as the elevator moved. Sera wasn't sure what to say to Penelope, she didn't know what would be appropriate. 'So, I'm curious,' Penelope said, clearly wanting to break the silence too, 'what was it like working for The Pentagon?'

'It was a pleasant experience, very professional and extremely satisfying to work in such a sophisticated environment after seven years of University,' Sera told her, trying to sound clever. She wanted to give Penelope the right impression, first impressions were always very important to her.

'Oh honey, don't overcomplicate your sentences and I'm sure that's all fine and dandy but I'm not your old boss, now tell me what it's really like,' she pressed, the doors opened and Penelope lead her through glass doors into a bullpen. Sera didn't know how to respond, she didn't want word getting back to anyone that's for sure.

'It's not that it wasn't good,' she told her, honestly, 'but it was never what I wanted.'

'Now we're getting somewhere,' Penelope grinned, 'come, this is the amazing team that is the Behavioural Analysis Unit.' Sera followed her over to where a small group of agents were standing. They all turned to look over at her and Penelope as they approached. 'Hello my beautiful family, this is my baby chick who I intend to nurture with all my incredible technical skills and sass.' Sera liked Penelope, she was not what she had been expecting at all; she was better, much better.

'Hi, I'm Derek Morgan,' said he, holding out his hand to shake Sera's. He had gentle features and a kind, welcoming smile.

'Seraphim Malone,' Sera replied, offering him a smile in return.

'Emily Prentiss,' a woman with black hair said, stepping forward to shake her hand. 'Don't worry, you get used to her,' she grinned, Sera scoffed in amusement and shook her hand.

'Hello, I'm Jennifer Jareau; you can call me JJ,' a beautiful blonde said, they were all easy on the eyes and it made Sera slightly self-conscious; she hoped it would pass off as nerves as she shook JJ's hand and awkwardly smiled, waiting for Penelope to either show her to a desk or take charge of the conversation.

'Oh and this is pretty boy behind me,' Derek Morgan said, indicating to a mop of brown curls sitting at a desk. Derek moved out of the way so that Sera could see who he was referring to, the man in question looked up from his book and stared at her with a blank expression before no doubt registering that she was new.

'Hello,' Sera said, giving him an awkward wave in acknowledgement. He got up from his desk and walked around to greet her, he too shook her hand.

'I'm Doctor Spencer Reid but you can call me Reid or Spencer, I don't mind Spence either but I'm not too fond of pretty boy or being addressed as genius,' he said, speaking quickly.

'Truly noted, Spencer,' Sera smiled, awed by his unique quality. She could tell immediately that he was intelligent, he was cute too with oddly endearing features that made him look youthful or perhaps it was his innocent brown eyes that made her feel warm as he continued to stare at her.

'Oh and this is our wonderful leader, Agent Hotchner,' Penelope introduced, she recalled Erin Strauss mentioning Agent Hotchner last year when she contacted her about a field position on the BAU. He nodded in acknowledgement from the top of the stairs.

'A pleasure to meet you Doctor Malone, I hope you settle in quickly here at the BAU,' he said, he sounded formal and somewhat cold, not as welcoming as the rest of the team and Sera wasn't sure if it was his normal tone of voice or if she'd done something to displease him.

'Thank you,' she said quietly, feeling intimidated.

'We have a case, everyone in the conference room; Penelope will you show Doctor Malone to your office, she can get accustomed to your space while you join us,' Agent Hotchner said quickly and directly.

'Of course, Sir,' Penelope said. Derek glanced at Emily and JJ with a confused expression before following Agent Hotchner. Spencer offered Sera another warm smile before following his team. 'The lair is this way,' Penelope said, leading her up a few steps and down a corridor. Sera glanced back just before she entered Penelope's office to see Spencer was watching them, she smiled at him immediately but his eyes darted away and he stepped inside what she figured was the conference room. 'This is the lair, that is my computer; this is your space, I've got separate drives for you to work on; you'll sit here,' Penelope said, sitting Sera down in a computer chair. Sera was in awe at Penelope's equipment, she knew it was going to be advanced but she didn't expect it to look so cool. She was amused by all the little bright objects cluttering the room but adding an inviting aspect to the lair as Penelope called it. 'You can look about, or tidy up your side if you like; I tend to just clutter,' Penelope said quickly, clearly wanting to get back to her team. 'I won't be long and we'll jump in whole body, head first, yada yada,' she added, grabbing an iPad from her desk and tottering out of the office, the door closed behind her. Silence.

Sera wasn't sure what to do with herself so she snooped for a while, span around in her chair a few times and eventually found herself playing Flappy Bird on her phone. She had just gotten to 74 when Penelope's voice made her jump.

'I can't get past 53, it's so frustrating,' she said. Sera immediately put her phone away, her heart racing. She knew she was blushing. 'Don't look so frighten, hon, I often find myself passing time with games or creating firewalls and hacking into them.'

'Sounds thrilling,' Sera smirked, she wasn't as skilled as Penelope and it would never occur to her to hack a firewall she'd just created, then again she wasn't her boss.

'Exactly, so the case; I'll show you how to use my search database so we can multitask together. I can cross check and process, you can find me what I need,' Penelope said. Sera nodded in agreement and sat up straight in her chair; ready to learn.

Sera yawned and found herself rubbing her eyes as she continued to scroll through lists of names. It had been a productive day and she was enjoying it but her eyes needed a break and she was in a definite need of a caffeine fix.

'Stretch your legs and go get a coffee or something,' Penelope said, tearing her eyes away from her own screen.

'I don't know how you do this for so long,' Sera laughed tiredly, hoping Penelope assumed her exhaustion was from the long day and that alone.

'Lots and lots of practice,' she smiled sympathetically.

'I'll be right back, do you want anything?'

'No thanks my chick, I'm just fine,' she flashed Sera a grin and Sera smiled. She left in search of the kitchenette and made herself a cup of tea, she stretched a few times to click her bones into comfort and breathed in the steam of her hot drink. Sera knew Penelope would probably suggest she left soon but she didn't want to leave her boss picking up her slack on the first day, if she could just get through this then maybe she could prove she wasn't a helpless case.

She drank her tea quickly and washed the mug before returning to the lair. Penelope was typing quickly whilst on the phone, so Sera chose this moment to steal a glance at her watch. It was nearly 8pm and a part of her instantly felt bad that Captain Jack Harkness would be hungry. She sat back at her desk and waited for Penelope to tell her what to do, it seemed that she didn't need any help though and when she hung up; she wore a big pearly grin.

'That's it,' she said, Sera raised her eyebrows in confusion. She was definitely feeling tired. 'They caught the guy so we can trudge back to our beds and sleep this day off, I'm sorry your first day was so long; I'll try not to keep you past 5 tomorrow.'

'It's okay,' Sera smiled, standing up and putting on her coat. 'I enjoyed it.'

'I'm glad,' Penelope grinned, getting her things together too. Sera waited so they could walk out together. 'The team will no doubt just be doing paperwork tomorrow so hopefully you can get to know them better,' she said, turning everything off.

'I'd like that,' Sera replied, she was rather looking forward to seeing Spencer again. She wanted to see if they had anything in common, she'd always wanted an extremely intelligent friend and it was just a bonus that he was so good looking. They left together and parted in the car lot after Penelope expressed fondly how much she loved Sera's car, Sera drove home in silence and happily kicked off her shoes when she got back to her apartment. Captain Jack Harkness meowed loudly at her and she smiled apologetically at her furry friend. She gave him a stroke and gave him some food and water, then stuck a microwavable curry in and turned the TV on to comedy central. Sera was so exhausted that she fell asleep on the sofa shortly after her dinner, Captain Jack Harkness snuggled up under her chin.

Review, pretty please!