EPISODE 2.10

Jason Gideon contemplates the chess board and then his opponent. This has turned out to be an enlightening game with a skilled opponent. He had frequently compared how someone plays chess with how they profile. If that holds true, then Prentiss is going to be a huge asset regardless of how she got to the team.

In all his year of playing, he has rarely seen a similar strategy. It was taking concentration to follow what she is doing. This was a strategy would make Reid cry. Then he looks up and finds HER profiling HIM. With a smirk. 'I'm going to need to keep an eye on this woman.' Gideon thought.

After they complete their second game, Gideon asked Prentiss where she learned to play like that. Her answer, "Sir, I was raised by diplomats. I learned to keep circling around until the other person gets frustrated before I learned to ride a bike." Gideon gives a chuckle.

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Emily was sitting at her desk working to complete her report from the case they had just completed the night before. She gave a quick glance up to Gideon's office and then resumed nervously tapping her foot.

All morning, Gideon had either been avoiding her or attempting to covertly observe her. And that was even before he had blown up at the team.

She knew she had screwed up. Had gotten too cocky on the plane when they were playing chess. She had been changing her strategy in their games based on what she had observed when Gideon and Reid were playing. And what she was profiling about him as they were playing. And she checkmated him...twice.

While it seemed last night that he had taken it well, she was gradually becoming more nervous because of how he was acting towards her this morning.

Her place in the BAU was by no means secure. Hotch had agreed that she was staying but only because Chief Strauss had forced the issue. If Gideon also didn't support her on the team, would Strauss then decide to transfer her off the team?

####

Sitting at his desk, Gideon can't focus on the paperwork in front of him. He knows that he has seen the name Emily Prentiss before however he can't place where. Was she in one of his lectures? Was it from a case when she was working in a field office?

With her only joining the team a few days earlier, he hasn't had an opportunity to review her file. Maybe there will be some indication there. Generally, looking through an agent's file is something he would do when they are considering a candidate or wanted to add a specific person. Unfortunately with Prentiss, Strauss went over their heads and just added her to the team, sight unseen.

####

Hotch walks through the glass doors into the bullpen. He observed the three junior profilers on his team working quietly at their desks. Surprised by that for a moment because generally Reid and Morgan have a constant ongoing dialogue on paperwork days.

As he came up behind her, Hotch noticed the team's newest member was acting uncharacteristically nervous. Her torso was slightly hunched over, nervous tapping on her feet and fingers up at her mouth. And then as if a switch was flipped, as if she suddenly sensed his presence, she seemed to relax and started writing in the file in front of her again.

On the way to his office, Hotch spots Gideon working at his desk looking somewhat distracted.

What is going on this afternoon? No one is acting like themselves.

Reid and Morgan aren't taunting each other. Reid hadn't blurting out a single random fact.

He hadn't seen Garcia in the bullpen fussing over Morgan yet today.

JJ was working in her office with the door shut which was very unusual. JJ was rarely in her office for long and when she was, she almost never worked with the door shut.

Emily was more nervous that she had been since joining the team.

And now Gideon is distracted.

Hopefully it is just the aftermath of this case. And once the paperwork is completed, his team would resume normal patterns.

Hotch shook his head and decides to stop to talk to Gideon. He still needs to check in with him about how Emily did on the case. With Gideon having been less than thrilled to take her to Gitmo, Hotch hoped she had been at least somewhat helpful.

He walks up to Gideon door and steps in. "Jason, do you have a few minutes."

Gideon looks up from the file in front of him and closes it. "Sure, Hotch what do you need?"

Hotch closed the door and walked over to sit in one of the visitor chairs. "How did Prentiss do on the case?"

Gideon smiled slightly before responding, "She was able to determine he was Egyptian within the first 5 minutes that I was speaking to him. When I mentioned to him we knew he was Egyptian, it created a starting point to get him talking. I still needed to speed up the timing of his prayers to get him into revealing the location before the attack. However, with the time we had I don't think there would have been a way around that regardless. Overall she was professional, handled herself well, worked well with Reid and I, asked appropriate questions, and was knowledgeable about the situation we were facing."

Hotch took in Gideon's overly professional answer when generally he was more candid when they were talking privately. Hotch's face revealed concern. "OK then, what are your reservations?"

Gideon smiled and tapped his chin, looking thoughtful. He should have known not much got by the other profiler. "Not sure yet. I can't put my finger on it. I'm not sure if it's a real problem or I'm just annoyed that she beat me at chess...twice."

"Ouch. Why is it bothering you other than you don't like to lose?" Everyone knew that Gideon didn't like to loss, especially at chess. Though Gideon described himself as being annoyed, Hotch also could see flickers him being impressed with how she played.

Gideon stood up and picked up his coffee cup and started pacing in his office. "Well, let's see. The first game I noticed she gave very little away with tells. I probably focused on looking for them rather the strategy she was using on the board. She could tell I was studying her and used it to her advantage. She's a skilled player. When we finished the game, I thought I had her tells and strategy figured out. So I challenged her to a second game. She completely changed her strategy and hid her tells. I lost my focus on the game. Then I looked over and noticed that she was profiling me. It was unnerving."

Hotch chuckled. "She is a profiler, Jason. She's also trained to look for tells. Did she cheat?" He asked concerned.

Gideon stopped his pacing for a moment, looked at Hotch confused and shook his head. "No, no cheating at all. Strategy was legal. Somewhat unorthodox, risky at times and she took chances that I'm not sure I would have."

Hotch looked worriedly at Gideon, almost afraid of the answer he was going to get to the question he was able to ask. "So she was reckless?"

Gideon looked right at Hotch thoughtfully and shrugged his right shoulder. Then shook his head. "Maybe but I don't think so. It goes back to strategy. She was taking risks but they were calculated, she knew what she was trying to accomplish, what her goal was."

Hotch took a deep breath, "What does all this tell you about how she'll do as a profiler."

"In a profiler, I think that it's positive. She can clearly think outside the box. She was also easily able to change up her strategy and circle around until she is able to capitalize on an opening. That will be extremely helpful when she does interrogations." Gideon explained.

"OK then what is unnerving you?" Hotch asked, concerned.

"How easily she could mask her tells. I feel like I could only read what she was willing to show. And I was not reading very accurately. That isn't just something a person can just decide to do one day. If it was, we'd all be out of a job. It would take training and effort. So the question is why did she gain the training and/or make the effort to do it?" Gideon explained after he resumed pacing across the office. He looked down at his coffee cup and then walked over to his coffee maker and filled his cup.

"Well, it looks like you are going to have time to try and answer those questions. Strauss is adamant that she is staying." Hotch said as he stood up and started walking for the door. "I'm on my way to review her file and the paperwork she complete with JJ. Then I need to schedule her competencies with Morgan and myself before I can consider putting her in the field. Hopefully we can get those done in the next couple of weeks."

"I hope she passes without a problem. We need her to be able to go into the field. Let me know how they go. I also want to see her file when you are done. There is something familiar about her and I'm trying to determine from where." Gideon says as he comes up besides Hotch and they look out the window of the office. Reid had looked up and immediately got back to his file when he saw the team leaders looking into the bullpen.

"I will. And oh, Jason, do you happen to know why the bullpen is so quiet today?"

"Quiet." Gideon chuckled. "You should have been here earlier Hotch. Total chaos. I could hear them with the door closed. I may have told the 4 of them if they didn't get back to work, I was going to find something for them to do and they wouldn't like it."

"Maybe because last time you had them organizing old case files for one of your lectures." Hotch said smiling at the memory of the team lugging files back and forth from the crowded and dusty file room for 4 hours.

"True and that saved me so much time. I sent JJ and Garcia back to their offices with instructions I didn't want to see them in the bullpen the rest of the day unless it was about a case. You should also expect everyone's paperwork on your desk by 4:45 at the latest. You don't have to thank me." Gideon laughed and looked back out the window catching Morgan's eye this time with a serious look on his face.

"That will help me get out of here on time tonight. Haley will be shocked. So you said the 4 of them- who wasn't involved in the chaos?"

"Prentiss. She was watching from back at the break room. Looked intrigued but stayed out of it. She was the first back to her desk when I came down. I may have scared her a bit." Gideon knew from her reaction earlier that there was no 'may have' in the equation. He had scared her.

"I'd say that was accurate. She seemed nervous when I came back just now before she noticed I was walking up behind her." As they looked down, both could see she had her fingers back up at her mouth. "Well, there's a tell for you."

"Sure is. Maybe I should have scared her last night." Gideon said smirking.

"Bye, Jason. Try to behave, at least for the rest of the day." Hotch shook his head and schooled his face before opening the door and walking confidently down to his office without looking down at the bullpen.

####

An hour later and Gideon was done with his report. He looked back down at the bullpen and noticed that Prentiss had been looking at the same file for the last 45 minutes. He was fairly sure she had completed her report for the case and just didn't have anything else to work on at this point. The Indianapolis consult she and Hotch had discussed had been completed the day before the terrorism case the team just finished.

Deciding to remove her from complete boredom for the next 2 hours while attempting to redeem himself, Gideon made the decision to challenge her to another game of chess. Hopefully she will understand from the request that there are no hard feelings. And she'd stop looking so worried.

Walking over to his door, Gideon looks down at the still quiet bullpen and yells down. "Prentiss, my office now." Then he walked away from the door.

Emily froze when she heard him. She slowly rose from her chair and trying but failing to look confident as she walked over to the stairs leading to Gideon's office. She saw looks of concern coming from Reid and Morgan as she climbed the stairs. Wishing that the floor would swallow her before she reached his office.

He had discovered one of her secrets, she just knew it. She had been with the team for less than a week and they had already figured her history out. 'Damn profilers.' she thought.

Stopping briefly at the top of the stairs, she took a deep breath and blew it out. Schooling her face, she knocked on Gideon's door. "You asked to see me, sir."

Gideon was sitting in a chair in the corner of his office by a table surrounded with books. "Yes. Come in and shut the door."

Emily walked into his office and shut the door. She immediately noticed all of the framed photos sitting on a table opposite his desk. She took a couple of steps forward and stopped, looking at the far wall.

Gideon looked up and noticed at once she was nervous. He quickly stood up and explained. "You're not in trouble. They are. Thanks to the continuous quiet today, for once, I finished my paperwork early. I noticed that you have been done for about 45 minutes now." He smiled when he saw the look of shock pass over her face. "I was hoping you would be willing to let me try to redeem myself at chess. Would you like to play?"

A wide smile quickly passed over Emily's face. "Yes, sir. I'd like to play."

"Good, let's get started." He pointed to a chair on the other side of the table where he had his chess board set up.