Criminal Minds 05x06 "The Eyes Have it" ~The Shift ~
A/N: Set in episode 5x6 "The Eyes Have it" it's slightly AU, how did the team really took the change in leadership.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
~The Shift ~
-Reid-
Reid might be clueless to many in everything that has to do with relationships and that is partially true, he wasn't capable of seeing when two people were in love, not because he couldn't read the signs but because he never was interested in reading for those sings in his team mates.
He did however read the small changes in them after Morgan announced that Hotch is stepping down as Unit Chief. Little things, as such the change in the posture between the two men, Hotch became more uncertain and Morgan more closed off and guarded.
He read the small changes and all he could do was calculate how long it will take to become a shift.
-Garcia-
Penelope always hated change; she hated it with mighty passion. She likes things to stay the same; she likes familiar things, places, faces…
She just doesn't like change. So she doesn't, she still calls Morgan her chocolate God, she still calls Hotch sir or my liege, she still calls Emily gumdrop, J.J. cupcake, Reid boy wonder, Rossi Italian Stallion, Strauss a witch. She doesn't change, everyone around her does though, she feels a shift. Morgan tenses when she calls him her chocolate God or Chocolate Milk Adonis, he stopped calling her baby girl, Hotch shifts awkwardly from leg to leg every time she calls him her liege, he bits his lower lip as if he wants to stop her from saying it but not being sure if it's his place to anymore. Strauss tents to linger longer at the BAU, watching her pretties more intensely, even more than when she used to a couple years back when she wanted to get Hotch fired. And she did, the witch did it, so seeing her in the BAU that much is not good for her mojo! She might lose it and do something she'll regret (who is she kidding no one will regret killing Strauss. That witch!)
She feels a shift in the team, her team, her family and all she can do is pray and hope it doesn't become a gap in the end.
-JJ-
JJ felt the shift well before Morgan walked into her office telling her that Hotch was stepping down from his Unit Chief position and that from now and on till Foyet was caught he was in charge. She had felt the shift in Hotch's posture, in the way he pushed Morgan to run the extra mile, the way he withdrew from everyone. They had finally got him out of his shell just a week ago and now suddenly he was back. And this time the walls were thicker than before. She probably didn't want to admit that the shift was creating in her team, she told herself that she isn't a profiler, what does she know about human behavior? although she knew that she does know quite a lot to actually read the change in the behavior of the man that became some sort of a big brother to her.
There were gentle shifts during Hotch's last case as Unit Chief and Morgan's first case. The way Hotch gravitated slightly away from Emily and then the next moment closer to her. The way Morgan stopped calling Penelope Baby girl, hot mama and such.
Small ways everyone changed, some shifts that were creating a gap between them and all she could do was hope that it will not tear them apart.
-Dave-
Dave was a seasoned profiler, he was one of the best, and he wasn't shy to admit it. He was somewhat of an expert in human behavior. So when the first change in the behavior of his best friend appeared he knew that the shift in the dynamics of the team would be unavoidable. It was the small sifts thought that made him see the gap forming. The way Hotch was unsure whether he wanted Emily close or away from him, the way Emily gravitated closer to him denying leaving him alone. The way they fought harder than they used to. The way Morgan closed off to himself, snapping at the rest of them for absolutely unimportant reasons, the way Garcia stopped being her colorful mouthy self, the way JJ was more guarded, and angrier than usually. She changed from the normal happy self. The way everyone was shifting from their normal selves.
He noticed the small shifts and the gap they formed. He noticed them and he knew it was a matter of time before the gap became un-repairable. And he knew it would be, if they didn't talk it out. Something that none in this team was good at.
-Emily-
She hated change with mighty passion. Especially changes that affected her life in more aspects than one… and this change did. She noticed the changes in Aaron first; she knew he was under fire from the Bureau after everything that happened with Foyet. She knew the moment he walked in their apartment the night after the meeting he had with Strauss. Something had changed and it was going to affect them… affect them all. He denied anything was wrong at first. He didn't say anything to her and it scared her. After all in the last few weeks they had gone a long way talking about their feelings and problems. They didn't hide from each other. Not anymore.
She got him to talk later the night. They were lying naked under the sheets in their bed, their limps tangled; she had her head on his chest, one of his arms around her waist, the other holding her thigh up his waist and close to him. She could feel his heart beat on her fingers as she laid her hand over his heart. Their breaths had returned to normal not long ago, every once and a while she placed feather light kisses on his chest, every once and a while he would bury his face on the top of her head, kissing her softly. "What's wrong?" she asked, with a soft voice that he could ignore if he wanted to. He told her then, he told her about Strauss and the Bureau's doubts, his reasoning for doing what he is going to do (forced to do). He told her everything, opened his heart to her once again and she felt him pulling her closer. Once again they gravitated towards each other.
Everything changed the next morning; he was pushing her away one moment and then pulling her back the next. No matter what she stayed there, by his side where she wanted to be and where she belonged to. She was determined not to let him push her away, as he was falling back to his old ways, of pushing everyone away, trying to solve everything on his own, she decided not to let him. And she didn't.
But then she noticed the changes in the rest of the team. Morgan, JJ, P.G., Rossi, Spencer. Everyone was changing and everyone was drifting apart. No one had probably known how bad it was yet. They probably didn't know about the shift in their behavior, or the gap forming between them, or the time bomb ready to go off.
She noticed the gap and she knew that this was going to be what will tear them apart if they are not careful and so far, they weren't.
-Morgan-
He knew that taking Hotch's job would create a gap between them worst case scenario, best case scenario would create an unfixable shift to their dynamics. He didn't want any of that. He wanted the team to stay the way they were, he wanted them to be the same as always, yeah sure he was worried about Hotch but in the end of the day he was always the same man. He was carrying, and good and fair. And he tried, he tried so much to let them in, to fix himself up, to build himself up from the shreds Foyet left. He was doing a good job.
He didn't agree with all his choices but he would follow him, he would follow that man to the end of the earth if he had to. Because he knew, he knew that Hotch was and still is the only father figure he had that didn't abandon him, that didn't die, or left, or hurt him. He was always there. He was always supporting him, pushing him when he needed to, cutting him slack when he had to.
He took the job knowing the shift would be unavoidable, the gap possible and the tearing down of the team probable. He took the job but he wished he didn't had to.
-Hotch-
When he first knew what Strauss wanted he felt everything inside him crumbling down. Everything he had worked so hard for had been ripped away from him. He made the decision, hastily chose Morgan to promote mostly because he knew that Dave would kill Strauss, or at least cause serious physical harm and Emily… well now that the cat was out of the box (sort of) there was no way in hell Strauss would ever allow her to be the Unit Chief, even though she is just as qualified as Morgan, if not more, to lead the team. Just because she was with him, she was never going to be able to move forward on the chain of command in the FBI. That made him withdrawn from her. He knew she knew though, she always does. She can read him like an open book. He manages to keep his secret, not long enough but he did keep it till later the same night. She got him to talk, not even he would understand how she does it. So he talks, he talks and tells her everything she wanted to know, everything she needed to know.
The next day he notices the shift that has already formed in the team's dynamic, it makes him feel guilty and he withdraws. He closes off to himself as he watches everyone trying to work around him without trying to agitate him, how wrong they were, he was angry, furious, but not at them, never at them. They were his family, the only one he has left now. The person he was furious at wasn't anywhere to be found. By the end of the case not only the shift was visible to him but so was a gap. The gap forming between his team.
By the next case, Morgan's first, the gap was so big it could swallow the whole FBI academy. JJ and Morgan barely talked about anything but the case. Emily was throwing daggers to Morgan's head every time he turned his head around. Dave was snapping at the rest of them whenever they talked about anything strictly off the case. Spencer was agitated and stopped making jokes with Morgan, or anyone for the matter.
He saw the shift as it formed, he saw the gap too, he also saw it tearing them down before it happened. He tried to rush to the end line before it happened. He tried to get Foyet before he tears them down.
What he couldn't see was that it was tearing him down too.
A/N: Hey, that's it. Hope you liked it, as always let me know what you are thinking
Till next time, Bye!