CHAPTER I
Anna Grace glanced at her reflection one last time before exiting the car to head into the FBI Headquarters in Quantico, VA. She had opted for neutral eye makeup, light coral blush, and a deep red lipstick. Her brown hair was pulled back into a low bun at the nap of her neck and she was wearing a knee-length black pencil skirt with a cream scoop neck sweater. For shoes, she had opted for a simple pair of black ballet flats. Grace was to start her summer internship with her brother's BAU team today. At nineteen years old she was between her junior and senior year of college at Georgetown where she was majoring in criminology and psychology with a minor in history. Grace was nervous but excited for the opportunity that she had with this internship.
After clearing security, Grace raced through the lobby and into the elevator just as the doors were closing. She didn't notice there was already an occupant in the elevator until "Mph!" reached her ears.
Looking up Grace saw what, or more precisely who, she had barreled into. "I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Grace said quickly.
"It's alright," the tall sandy-haired man responded looking down at her. "Can I help you?"
Grace shook her head in response because she was suddenly incapable of speech. The man she had crashed into was much younger and way better looking than she expected based on the clothes he was wearing. His hair was just to his chin and he was wearing a pair of khaki pants with a dark-button down shirt, a tie, and maroon sweater vest. When she regained the ability to communicate verbally she said, "No, thank you, I know where I'm going. I'm actually here to see my brother and start my summer internship."
"Impressive, you can't be more than twenty."
"Nineteen actually. You're pretty good."
"Yes."
Grace looked at the young man quizzically. "Well I am a certifiable genius." He suddenly looked uncomfortable that he had just blurted that information out to a complete stranger. Grace quickly processed—based upon his approximate age, her brother's descriptions, and his sudden declaration—who she was talking to. Smiling up at him she surprised him by saying, "You must be Dr. Spencer Reid."
Now it was Spencer's turn to look inquiringly at the slender young woman in front of him. "You have me at a slight disadvantage," Spencer started before Grace realized she had failed to tell him who she was. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry! I'm being rude. I'm Anna Grace," the brunette answered holding out her hand to shake his.
"Hello Miss Grace" Spencer said smiling with one eyebrow quirked up in question as to her lack of a last name. As he took her outstretched hand she smiled back and said, "Just call me Grace."
"You go by your last name? You'll fit right in!"
"No It's Hotchner," she said, glancing up to see what the reaction of the handsome young doctor would be to the revelation of her last name.
"Wow! Hotch has a sister, how did I not know that," he said more to himself than Grace while looking slightly off into space.
Continuing his conversation with himself, "Of course I haven't been here that long and Hotch doesn't really discuss his private life . . ." At this point Grace interrupted his ramble by coughing slightly. Looking down Spencer was embarrassed to realize he was still holding on to Anna Grace's hand. As he let go Grace felt a slight loss. She was shocked to realize that it had felt right having him simply hold her hand when she didn't even know him.
Blushing slightly she turned toward the elevator and pushed the button for the floor housing the BAU. Neither of them said anything for the first few seconds, then, looking down at Grace, Spencer began to speak, "So you're doing an internship with us this summer?" just as the elevator doors opened on the sixth floor.
Nodding affirmation, Grace looked expectantly at Spencer and when he didn't make a move to get off the elevator she nudged him saying, "I think this is our floor."
Jolted back to reality he responded, "Yeah this is us."
Walking toward the glass doors leading to the bullpen and other BAU offices Spencer was just enough ahead of Grace to open the door for her. Flashing Spencer a dazzling smile she said, "A genius and a gentleman. Impressive." Spencer blushed slightly at her compliment as he wasn't use to girls complimenting him. She swept through the bull pen and straight toward Hotch's office. He watched as Grace sailed away trying to figure out what had just happened. She turned to smile and send a small wave at him before going in. Morgan walked up just as Grace disappeared into Hotch's office.
"Hey kid, whose the hot little lady heading into Hotch's office?" he questioned while noting the odd look on Reid's face. "That's Hotch's little sister," Reid replied. He then headed to his desk and sat down trying to get a handle on why he felt this odd about meeting Hotch's sister. Shaking his head he got started on the day's crossword puzzle.
Stunned, it took Morgan a few seconds to manage a response, "She's what?!"
"Hotch's sister, Anna Grace," came the matter of fact response.
Morgan tore his eyes away from Hotch's office long enough to see what Spencer's reaction was to Hotch's sister. Morgan wasn't surprised to see that Reid seemed completely oblivious to the fact he had just walked in with an incredibly beautiful woman. He was already working. Shaking his head Morgan sat down at his desk.
Fifteen minutes later JJ rounded everyone up for a quick meeting in the conference room. Hotch got straight to the point as usual, "Good Morning everyone. By now you are all wondering who," motioning to Anna Grace, "this is and why she is here." He paused briefly smiling slightly at Grace, who smiled back. "This is Anna Grace Hotchner. She will be doing an internship with the BAU this summer. And yes, before you ask, she is my sister." Hotch continued by going around the room introducing each member of the BAU team, "You of course know Gideon, these are SSAs Morgan, Jureau, Dr. Reid and Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. "As you know sir, I don't like change, but I think I'm going to like this one!"
Grace smiled at the room saying, "Nice to meet you all." At this point she sat down next to Gideon, who smiled reassuringly at her and waited.
The waiting didn't take long because by the time she finished greeting the group and sat down, the room had erupted in a sea of voices asking questions all at once. Grace tried to hide her smile as Aaron held his hands up to quiet the room. "One at a time people. We are supposed to be professionals and I don't want my sister to think we are the crazy ones."
Grace quickly decided to lessen the curiosity by saying, "First, I prefer to be called Grace to Anna or Anna Grace. Second I am majoring in Criminology and Psychology with a minor in History at Georgetown, and I will be graduating next spring. I hope to be accepted to the FBI Academy next fall. Last I'm the youngest of the Hotchner siblings and the only girl of the three. I think that about covers the basics of most of your questions." Everyone smiled back and nodded their heads.
JJ spoke up and said, "Welcome to the mad house!" Grace laughed and nodded her thanks. There were similar greetings from each of the others.
"JJ, I'd like for Grace to work with you the first few days so that she can get a little better understanding of what exactly we do here at the BAU." Hotch stated signaling the end of the meeting.
JJ nodded and said, "Yes sir. Come on Grace I'll help you get settled in." The group broke up and headed to their various tasks. As they left the room Grace glanced briefly in the direction of Spencer but he was talking to Gideon and didn't notice. Shrugging she moved to follow JJ.
Grace could tell JJ had questions she wanted to ask but was too polite to do so. Instead, Grace broke the silence by saying, "What would you like to know Agent Jureau? I'm not quite as private about things as Aaron." Grace smiled at the pretty blond walking beside her.
JJ smiled back saying "First, please just call me JJ, everyone does. How about we start with why none of us knew about your existence before today, especially considering you attend Georgetown and we've all met Sean?"
Grace knew this would be one of the first things Aaron's team would want to know, but if they thought about it they would be able to figure out the answer for themselves.
"You know how reserved Aaron can be about things. He just tries to keep his personal life and work life separate as much as possible. You all know about Sean, but not me only because Sean has come by the office. Otherwise you probably wouldn't know about him either."
"So what was it like growing up with Hotch?"
"Like I said earlier I'm the youngest of the three, being the youngest and the only girl you can imagine what it was like growing up, especially after our dad died. Dating was, to say the least, difficult. Aaron and Sean tried to be both big brother and dad. They did pretty good too, but some of my dates didn't fair too well."
JJ smiled at the younger woman. Walking into her office she said, "Well let's get started."
Grace let out a low whistle when she noticed all the files on the table and JJ's desk, "Whoa, what are all these?" she asked stunned by the sheer volume of files.
"These," JJ responded, "are all potential cases. The BAU has either been asked to consult on or take over from the local authorities. What you and I are going to do is sort them into categories and try to determine if any are such that we should get involved with. We will also be making a pile for each of our profilers to consult on."
"Ok, where and how do we start?" Grace asked sitting down at the round table and looking at JJ for direction.
"I'm going to have you start on the consultation files. Read through each case file and categorize them by the type of crime—kidnapping, rape, murder, etc. Then we'll divide them up between the team."
"I'm on it." Grace said pulling the first stack toward her.
Later in the day, Garcia popped by JJ's office to see if Grace was interested in a quick break with her. Standing Grace readily agreed as she was intrigued as to how the quirky blonde came to be working at the FBI. Her entire outfit and demeanor was the complete opposite of her button-down brother. Grace confirmed with JJ that it would be ok if she took a short break and offered to bring back a coffee for JJ.
As Grace and Garcia headed for the elevator, Spencer glanced up and watched them walking through the bull pen. He was mildly intrigued by Hotch's sister. She seemed to be the complete opposite in many ways of both of her brothers. Hotch was so serious all the time and Anna Grace seemed to have a very open and effervescent personality and, unlike Shawn, she seemed very driven to succeed. Physically Anna Grace favored Hotch more than their brother Shawn, though she did have the same color eyes as Shawn. Her eyes were striking because of the contrast between her dark hair and the sea blue of her eyes. Spencer turned his gaze from the girls to find Morgan watching him.
"See anything you like kid?" Morgan asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"I was just noting the differences between Anna Grace and her brothers." Reid replied noncommittally before returning to his work. Morgan watched him, wondering what was really going on in that big brain of Spencer's. That was twice in less than three hours that he had caught Reid watching Hotch's little sister. Not ready to totally let Reid off the hook Morgan prodded a little more.
"Got a little crush do we?"
"No. Shut up Morgan. You don't know what you are talking about." Spencer replied irritated. He knew he was blushing, but he had no idea why. He'd had only a two minute conversation with Hotch's sister. No he told himself, he wasn't crushing. He hadn't known her long enough to have a crush. But there was something about her. Picking up the file he'd been reading Spencer put all thoughts of Hotch's little sister aside to focus on his work. Morgan left Reid alone for now, but he was going to keep an eye on him because Grace and Reid were about the same age and who knew what might develop over the summer.
After exiting the elevator downstairs near the little coffee stand Garcia and Grace each grabbed a cup of their favorite caffeinated beverage before finding a quiet place to chat. Grace wasn't sure where to begin but was saved the trouble of starting when Garcia said, "So, you are Hotch's little sister. Is he always so serious?"
Grace laughed. That was not where she thought the conversation would start but it certainly broke the ice. "No, he's not. Aaron actually has a really good sense of humor. You should see him with Haley and Jack. I'm sure you guys would be completely surprised with how he is at home."
"Hotch has a sense of humor?" Garcia laughed as she ask. "That's hard to imagine. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's great to work with and everyting, I just have a hard time imagining him laughing. We rarely even see him smile because of what we see on a day-to-day basis."
"He has a wonderful smile and a great sense of humor, I promise. So, my turn, if I may be so bold, you're outward appearance doesn't scream FBI analyst. How did you come to be the techie goddess for the BAU?"
NGarcia smiled at Grace before telling her what she could of how she became a technical analyst for the FBI. "Well, I can't tell you the whole story yet, but the short version is if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Grinning cheekily Garcia said, "So, boyfriend?"
"That's complicated. There is a guy I've been dating, but I'm trying to get the guts to break things off. It's not really working for me anymore. I'm kinda hoping he'll break up with me as I have no intention of seeing him while living down here this summer. He's not the same person I started dating last year and I don't like the person he is now."
Nodding Penelope said, "Ah, ok. I've had relationships like that. You don't seem too bothered by it."
"I thought I would be but like I said, he's not the same and I know people change, but his changes haven't been for the best. He's become incredibly jealous and kinda scary at times," Grace stated looking down at her coffee cup.
"Then you are totally right wanting to end the relationship. He's never hit you has he? Because I'm sure we can take him out if he has." Garcia got this determined look on her face as she spoke.
Smiling Grace said, "No he's not become violent, but I'm not so sure he won't. Aaron doesn't know any of this because he didn't really like Nate to start with and I don't want to deal with the I told you so speech." Garcia nodded that she understood not to talk to Hotch about what Grace had just revealed to her. "Changing the subject to something more pleasant, tell me a little about the rest of the team. I know Aaron, obviously, and Gideon as well."
Garcia happily told Grace a little about each of the other members. She was careful not to reveal too much about their personal lives, but giving enough details about their personalities for Grace to know what to expect from each of them. Her description of Dr. Reid as a total, but slightly awkward sweetie, made Grace Smile. Grace had gotten that sense of him in the elevator earlier that morning, and she could also tell that Garcia and Morgan were best friends and had a close friendship from the way that Garcia talked about him.
Soon Garcia and Grace's break time was over. Grace had picked up JJ's hazelnut cappuccino and they were headed up in the elevator. Grace and Garcia felt as though they had known each other much longer than they had. Morgan glanced up as they came through the doors and smiled at how well they seemed to get along. Reid did seem to have it correct when he said Grace was different from her brothers. She seemed much more easy-going than Hotch, that was for sure. Reid never registered that the girls were walking through. Morgan shook his head and went back to work.