Emily Prentiss tried to ignore the poorly veiled glances that were shot in her direction as she struggled making her way up the stairs, clutching the awkwardly large box that held all of her desk supplies. She couldn't quite remember the last time she had felt this nervous and yet she was determined to not let any of the curious onlookers even catch a glimmer of her anxiety.
She had wanted this for so long.
The BAU.
It had been her dream job in college. It was male dominated. Physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. It required compassion and strength. It was relatively clean; they hunted bad guys and they were restricted to abiding by the FBI's rulebook.
She'd always wanted BAU.
But life had had a different path in store for her. In her senior year of college she'd been headhunted by the CIA and she had known she couldn't really turn that down.
That only would have led to her career ending before it had even begun.
Yet knowing now the path that that choice had led her down, she wasn't entirely sure if she'd choose it for herself if she her time again.
She certainly wouldn't wish what she'd been through over the past ten years on anyone else.
Emily squared her shoulders, gripping the box just a little tighter as she drew from the inner well of strength she'd cultivated over her difficult life.
She confidently made her way along the catwalk, promptly rapping on the Unit Chief's door before she had a chance to talk herself out of it.
This was it.
"Come in."
"Agent Hotchner?"
"Yes?"
A nervous giggle escaped her mouth as she fumbled awkwardly with her box and let herself into the office. And then in a beat her calm crumbled and all of her nerves resurfaced in a wave as her eyes clapped upon the handsome man she'd met so many years ago.
And in that moment she was transported back in time; back to being that same gawky nineteen year-old girl he had met all those years ago. So unsure of herself. So acutely aware of him.
For all her training in etiquette and conversation, she had been so poorly equipped in dealing with personal interactions outside of the people in her immediate family. She hadn't moved back home to the US until she was seventeen. The scars of her time in Rome had still stung and she'd felt permanently haunted by her time there. She had been more closed off than ever upon entering her new school, quickly earning a reputation for being geeky and snobbish, consequently failing miserably at any attempt to make friends.
And she hadn't faired much better at college.
Instead she somehow had fallen into the grunge scene, finding it an easy way to grate upon her mother and simultaneously hide the pain she'd felt so deeply. It allowed her to push away those that could have truly cared, and to attract many who didn't.
So at nineteen, she had been utterly unprepared to meet a man like Aaron Hotchner.
A gentleman.
Assigned with the task of essentially babysitting her for the summer.
A man who apparently, had cared, very much.
She almost cringed as her mind flitted back.
So awkward and unprepared.
She pasted on her best diplomatic smile.
"I'm Agent Emily Prentiss."
She dropped her box unceremoniously on the edge of his desk as she shook his hand, gripping tightly.
Strength Emily. Exude strength.
She blinked up at him, their eyes locking for a moment.
"How do you do?"
His opening statement was a blow more crushing than she had expected.
However equally as unexpected was the flip her stomach did when she saw the glint of recognition hit his eyes a moment later.
"Oh… you're ahhh… Ambassador Prentiss's daughter. I did security clearances for your mother's staff… uh… it was one of my first commands. I believe you were off to Brown at the time."
"Actually it was Yale."
"Ahh."
Crap.
She could tell from the way that he was looking at her that he had definitely not been expecting to see her today. And by extension, she was well aware that that meant that he was completely oblivious of her appointment to his team. Her insides began to churn uncomfortably as she used all her concentration to hide her panic and keep the conversation temperate.
Of course this would happen to her.
Her first day working in her dream job and there had been some colossal fuck-up in her promotion.
"What can I do for you?"
Despite her rapidly increasing heart rate she was glad he'd finally bitten the bullet. She wasn't sure how much longer she could have kept up with the small talk.
"Ahh... well, I guess I was hoping you could tell me where I could put my stuff."
"Sorry?"
"I'm supposed to start here… today… At the BAU."
He didn't need to be a profiler to see the nerves seeping out of her every pore. His appraisal was only further confirmed by the nervous giggle -and giggle was definitely the only word to describe that sound- that escaped her lips as she announced that she was supposed to be starting work in his team, today.
He knew his brow had fallen and his expression was no doubt anything but welcoming but in that instant he was more stumped than he could ever remember being in the past five years.
As a behavioural analyst who spent an average of sixty hours a week practicing his trade, there was very little that came as a surprise to SSAIC Aaron Hotchner. His ingrained habit of observing and filing away even the smallest details of information from all of his interactions and the interactions of those around him, meant that he always had some foresight into how life would continue to play out.
And yet he had been utterly unprepared for a thirty-three year old Emily Prentiss to walk into his office this morning, informing him that she'd been transferred into his team, to work as his subordinate.
That was a sequence of events that had come as a complete shock.
And as this new information began to sink in further, his shock began to morph into irritation.
He was SSAIC Aaron Hotchner. He didn't get taken by surprise. He worked very hard to always be on top of his affairs, always at the front of all FBI news and business. He hated the political game that came with his title but he unwillingly always played along because he'd long ago realized it was a crucial part in protecting not only himself but also his team.
And that meant that someone had purposefully tried to pull a fast one on him, and he was having none of it.
"There's been a mistake."
"I don't think so sir."
"There's definitely been a mistake."
This wasn't some cosmic twist of fate; this was a carefully calculated ploy. He wasn't an idiot and despite his initial delight at finding himself reacquainted with the jittery brunette standing before him, he was now back on his game and wasn't about to be made a fool of.
Nobody screwed with him. Nobody screwed with his team.
And he knew better than to trust a Prentiss.
Thankfully just as his train of thought was leading him down some dark and angry corridors, a knock on the door broke him from his brooding.
"Oh… 'scuse me. Ahh… we're getting started."
"Thank you, I'll be right there."
As always JJ's timing was impeccable and he nodded at her in recognition as he began collecting his files and making his way toward his office door.
"I didn't approve this transfer, Agent Prentiss. I'm sorry for the confusion but you've been misinformed. Excuse me, it was ah… very good to see you again."
He was thankful that he'd had so much practice in reigning in his temper because he knew that he needed to remain calm and professional despite his utter annoyance at this development of events.
Emily watched slightly aghast as her new unit chief dismissed her and swiftly made his way out onto the catwalk before even affording her another moment to speak.
Not that she'd have much to say. She was much too flabbergasted at how quickly he'd gone from warm and polite to completely shutting her down.
She watched from the doorway as he continued down the corridor.
As he headed for the conference room his head shook slightly in disbelief, mind repeatedly running over every element of the past two minutes.
"Did you approve a new transfer?"
He already knew the answer Jason would give him. He was really only looking to express his own befuddlement.
He knew this chain of events was something he would have to address later, it wouldn't just go away. He couldn't let it. It was something he'd need to investigate.
But in the meantime they had a case and his focus was needed elsewhere.
"Nevermind. What have we got?"
A/N: I'm notoriously bad at finishing stories so I won't promise to follow through with this one. But I have a long, worked out plan of what I want this story to be, so fingers crossed. Hope you enjoy it :)