Hello all! You've reached chapter two of The Sharpest Lives and I'm pretty stoked about it. Anyways, I grow weary of my incredibly long introductions so please; enjoy, leave me lovely comments, and keep watching Criminal Minds!
Love,
Holly Sophia
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Technical analyst Penelope Garcia didn't consider it an oddity for her to be at work by seven in the morning. She was usually there anyways to turn on her computers, check her email (before it was on the FBI's time of course), and get herself ready for the onslaught which came with her job. Garcia loved her BAU team—they were her whole world really—but it seemed that lately, since Emily Prentiss had transferred and Hotch had taken time off, nothing was the same. Everyone was on edge and snappy over every little thing—even her dearly beloved Derek Morgan. Garcia only wished there was some way she could help her team besides being her usual cheery self.
"I know just the thing." She muttered to herself, snapping her fingers in revelation. Quickly vacating her office, she sped to the central hub of the BAU, her bright pink dress sashaying as she walked. Garcia hardly noticed the people around her as she headed to JJ's office, determined to bring some life back into her friends even if it meant getting them one at a time. Just as she thought these things—she caught sight of a little, auburn haired woman slaving over a case file at a desk. She seemed so familiar.
"Who are you?" Garcia wondered, trying to recall where she'd seen her before. It hit her all at once and the gorgeous blonde casually strolled up to the agent, a friendly grin plastered on her features. "Hello there!"
The female agent jumped out of her seat, scattering some papers. Garcia stifled a laugh. "Sorry about that; I didn't mean to scare you." She bent down to help gather the lost information and the female agent replied, "It's okay. I was kinda lost in my own little world."
"I know how that is." Garcia laughed, handing the papers to her. The woman took them gently and flashed a grateful smile which seemed like a signal for introduction. "I'm Penelope Garcia; you must be Gia Rosenwood."
Gia looked surprised. "Yes I am. How did you know that?"
"I work with Aaron Hotchner's team—I'm their tech analyst." Garcia tried to sound casual when she said that. Hopefully not inferring that she'd seen video footage which detailed the abuses Reid and Gia had suffered at Koty Abbott's hands. It seemed that something clicked in the agent's brain because recognition splashed over her face. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Penelope. I've heard loads about you."
Garcia smiled cheekily, "All good I hope."
Gia nodded, "Nothing but when it comes from Spencer Reid."
"Good boy." The blonde said, glancing in the direction of Reid's empty desk. "First day huh? How's it been?"
"Oh so exciting, let me tell you."
The sarcasm in Gia's tone absolutely delighted the tech analyst. Whatever amount of spunk this girl possessed was desperately needed in the BAU right now and Garcia reasoned she would do wonders with it. She replied to Gia with, "Just wait, the team isn't completely here yet. You'll have some excitement pretty soon."
"Can't wait." Gia said with a teasing grin on her face. Garcia patted the woman on the shoulder, wished her good luck, and continued her on her merry way to JJ's office. Things were definitely about to get interesting.
XXX
It was about five in the morning in St. Louis, Missouri and Police Detective Paisley Greer was pissed. The whole homicide division of the STL police department was running scared, trying to catch a child killer who was always a step ahead. This wasn't doing anything good for Paisley's reputation; especially since she'd released a statement saying in no uncertain terms that the police were handling this killer.
"Are we positive this is our guy?" Paisley asked before taking a sip of coffee, trying to wake herself up. Police Officer Matt Thomas nodded as he pointed to the pictures which the CSI's had taken.
"It's definitely him. Same type of dumping site, same posing of the body…he even left a note explaining why he killed this one."
Paisley groaned in frustration and Matt gently said, "You need to call the FBI. They said they'd send a team in if we needed it. We NEED them now Paisley. Our whole department's involved and we can't catch him. They can help us."
She observed him with her jade eyes before she said, "You know I hate having to beg."
Matt nodded. "I know but we're on our last rope here. We need the cavalry right now."
"Even if it's the feds."
"Yeah, even then."
Paisley finally gave in to him, "Okay." She went to her desk and dialed a number on her phone, listening to the dial tone. A female voice answered her call, "Agent Jareau." Paisley remembered the name well. This woman and her FBI team had solved many a case—hopefully they could pull off another miracle.
"Hello Agent Jareau, my name is Detective Paisley Greer. I'm with the St. Louis Police Department. Your Section Chief told me to give you a call if the situation here was becoming too much to handle."
Jareau sounded interested. "What situation are you dealing with exactly?"
"We have a guy in our city that's killed three children over the past two weeks—the fourth body just showed up this morning. Even with all the information we've collected, my department has yet to make an arrest and the public is getting very impatient with us. We could use some help Agent Jareau."
The tone in Jareau's voice sounded like she was just waiting for the word before she leapt into action. "Are you sure, Detective Greer?"
"Yes," Paisley said with determination. "I'm absolutely positive. This department is running crazy and children are turning up dead, despite all our efforts. We need your team right now."
There was a pause before Jareau replied. "Fax over all the information to me as soon as possible. I'll get my team together and we'll be there today." She relayed her fax number to Paisley who quickly scribbled it down. "Thank you Agent Jareau. We'll have everything to you in a few minutes."
"It's no problem. I'll check in with you when we land."
The detective hung up, breathing a sigh of relief before she turned to her male counterpart. "You got your wish Matt; the cavalry's coming."
XXX
Spencer Reid was having a regular morning; very routine—which was exactly how he liked it to be. He arrived at the Quantico field office around 7:30 and parked in his usual spot. His messenger bag was slung over his shoulder and he made sure to grab his cup of coffee before heading into work. After walking thru the front doors, he went thru security without even a second thought and rode up in the elevator to the eighth floor. Once he walked into the BAU offices, there was a steady stream of people walking or hurrying back and forth; carrying files, newspapers, cups of coffee, and various other items. Spencer looked over by the coffee maker and saw Derek Morgan vigorously stirring a cup of the liquid so he ventured over there.
"Morning." Reid greeted him.
"Morning." Morgan muttered darkly as he took out of his rage on the defenseless cup of coffee in his possession. His behavior was unsettling to the young profiler who could tell something was wrong with his teammate. "What's bothering you?" He asked curiously.
The intensely muscular man gave him a look like he should know already, and then replied, "Gia Rosenwood started working here this morning."
"She did?" Spencer was surprised. He thought for sure that she would have taken more time off to deal with her experience than this.
"You didn't know?" Now it was Morgan's turn to be surprised.
Spencer nodded, "I'm just as uninformed as you are."
"Did anybody know this girl started work here today? Cuz it sure doesn't seem like it."
Reid shrugged his shoulders in response. "Did Rossi know?"
"No, she got here early this morning and he had no clue she was starting."
"I guess Chief Strauss forgot to tell him." Reid suggested cautiously. Morgan huffed. "I don't mind telling you that I get tired of Strauss sticking people on our team because she thinks it's a good idea. That girl has no experience in the field, Reid!"
"Why does that matter?" Spencer inquired, unsure about where Morgan was headed with this line of talk.
Morgan was very clearly frustrated. "What does Strauss think this girl can offer us? No field experience, relatively new agent, barely trained to be a profiler…what exactly can she do?"
"She passed her certifications, Morgan. Gia is a profiler. Plus, she graduated at the top of her class in the Academy which shows a significant amount of determination and commitment. She's resourceful and she has good instincts. Give her a shot, okay?"
"I don't like her, Reid. Whoever she got to pull the administrative strings for this doesn't matter to me. She'd better prove that she can do this job or it's not gonna work."
Spencer looked at him seriously. "She will."
Morgan gave the lanky genius a look before he walked off towards his desk. Reid sighed; Gia certainly had it cut out for her here. He sincerely hoped she was up for the challenge. Just then, he caught a glimpse of her auburn hair on the other side of the room. "Hey Gia." He greeted her as he came to stand beside her desk. She looked up at his face and delight washed over her features.
"Hey! How are you?"
He smiled slightly, trying to act like he hadn't just been talking about her, "I'm alright. How's your—uh—first day going?"
"Pretty well, I'm swamped with case files but it hasn't been too stressful. The coffee here kinda sucks though."
Now he grinned, "Yeah, you learn to bring your own coffee after a while."
"I believe that." She took a sip from her coffee cup and grimaced. "It gets nastier as you get closer to the end." She threw the Styrofoam cup away in her trash then turned back to Spencer. "So what's going on with Agent Hotchner? Dave told me he took some time off?"
Spencer nodded. "He did. This last case was really hard on him and he needed to spend some time with his son for a while."
"That makes sense." She hesitated then asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
She shrugged, "I don't know…I just wondered if you were feeling affects from, you know…before."
Spencer shook his head no. "Not really. I mean, I had to take some time off but only because Hotch made me. It didn't have a long lasting effect on me."
"How could it not?" Gia looked surprised and stared off into space like she was deep in thought. Spencer noticed this and asked, "Are you feeling any affects?" He observed the look of fear that flitted over her face before she quickly masked it. "No, not really. Kinda weird, huh?" Before Reid could question her further, Rossi walked over. "We have a case you two…head over to the conference room." Once Dave had walked off in that direction, Spencer glanced over at the petite woman. "Are you ready?" She shrugged one shoulder, replying, "As ready as I'll ever be I guess."
Spencer tried to smile encouragingly at her but had this weird feeling that something bad was coming their way. He shrugged it off and headed towards the conference room, Gia following behind him.
XXX
harrietamidala1691: Thank you very much! I'm glad that you're excited about this story. Now, in response to your question of JJ's departure, I thought about dealing with that in the context of this story. However I already removed Emily from the picture so it seemed a bit excessive to remove JJ as well. I may change my mind in the future but for now it's most likely not going to happen.
Morgo7kc: Oh, thank you for saying such a sweet thing! I enjoy writing from Gia's perspective quite a bit actually, just because she's so different and has a unique view on things. Paul Sheldon is actually the main character in Stephen King's novel 'Misery'. I was just making a silly joke about it.
Thanks to all my readers and reviewers for responding so positively to this sequel! Sorry it took so long to update—I was counseling at summer camp for a while and there was (of course) no internet connection out there. I'll try to update more regularly from now on!