Disclaimer: I do not own/associate with Criminal Minds nor any of the fictional characters. This is merely just a fanfiction.
A/N: I did some slight changes in the description of the B.A.U. office, re-read if you want, but it was really slight one, which I realised I mis-described the whole office. Anyway, I'll be busy with school so I don't think I'll update so often.
- Chapter Three -
First Case
"We have a new case," Hotchner spoke as he walked out from his office while holding onto a pile of files.
Immediately, the whole team followed him into the conference room, without a need of command. The air was filled with tension all of a sudden. I was puzzled and hesitated whether to follow them.
"You don't have to participate in this case," Hotchner said when he walked out from the conference room to grab hold onto another file from one of the shelves. "Continue reading the files."
Then, he went back into the conference room. I stared at the whole team, who were discussing their latest case. They all looked focused and concerted. They were all participated in the case, except me. It felt as though I was left out on purpose. The only thing I could do was just to stare at them from the outside, full of envy in the heart. Feeling rather disappointed and thwarted, I continued to read the files with the least attentiveness as my mind started to wander around the reasons of being left out.
More than half an hour later, they finally came out from the conference room. Without any alarm, the team rushed out from the building, leaving me behind without any other words of leaving.
"Do you need any help?" I quickly approached JJ before she reached the elevator.
"Uhm, no, I don't," JJ planted a smile on her beautiful face. She patted on my shoulder, understanding my situation. "Don't worry, you'll get to involve in cases in the future."
I replied her with a blunt smile.
During the evening, the other officers had started leaving the unit, but the team had not returned from their case. It was getting gradually silent and soundless. The people were getting lesser and lesser, until the whole floor became empty. On the same night, the team finally came back for writing reports. They continued to discuss the case.
"What if the unsub was actually trying to tell us something from the murder? Maybe he was trying to show us his dominance and power?" Morgan asked while folding his arms.
"No, I don't suppose so, because he hasn't leaved us any notes or messages from the way he kills," Reid disagreed while shaking his head. "But I'm pretty sure there are connections between the victims and the unsub."
"True. The murders are obviously of personal, some shot and some stabbed, multiple times by the same part, the head," Morgan gave examples while rubbing his forehead.
"What if the victims were the unsub's love rivals?" Prentiss suggested with her eyes burning with determination. "Or maybe he thinks that these men were stealing his beloved away, from his own fantasy."
This suggestion struck the whole team, who began to believe that was the reason that triggered the unsub to kill.
"Penelope," Morgan started a conversation with Garcia via the webcam on his computer, "check the unsub's relationship with the victims' girlfriends. Check if they are related in anyways."
"Roger, sweet pie!" Garcia's voice was heard clearly, coming out from the speakers. "The girlfriends of the victims were Jennifer Granger, Catherine Muller, Stacey Johnson. I found their photos, too. They work in the same company."
"Garcia, can you send us that information?" Reid spoke on his seat.
"Check your mail and ready to be wow-ed, partners," Garcia said playfully.
After that, Morgan checked his e-mail. Reid followed Morgan and stared on the computer screen of Morgan's. Both of them read through the information sent by Garcia rigorously and scrupulously.
"Guys, I found something!" Morgan snapped his finger, with a sense of accomplishment. "The unsub may be working in the same company, so he understands and knows very well the lives of these women."
He continued to converse with Garcia.
"Garcia, send me the list of the employers and employees of the company."
"Right away, cupcake."
Morgan continued to scan through the list.
"Check on this Simon Stones, Garcia," Reid demanded.
"You think he's the unsub?" Prentiss asked.
Reid nodded confidently.
"From the information we have here," he pointed to the screen. "He had once charged for stalking his female co-worker, who eventually resigned after the incident."
"We've got to inform Hotch," Prentiss said while going into the Chief Unit's office.
Reid put down his files onto his desk and got ready to leave, followed by Morgan. Prentiss and Hotchner came out together from the office.
Suddenly, Morgan sat on my desk.
"Hey, baby, can you kindly help me to finish this report?" Morgan asked with his sweet words. "I have to go for an investigation, a very important one. Do you think you can help me with the reports?"
I believed it was the too-obliging personality that I had in me naturally, that I could not refuse other people's requests. My mother used to nag me a lot about this personality of mine. "Sure."
"Oh my God! I love you, baby!" He shouted as the whole team stared at his gestures, and he stopped moving because of the embarrassment.
"Morgan, how can you make her do what you're supposed to do?" Reid lectured. "You know you're not supposed to do that. It's irresponsible."
"If I don't catch the unsub, it's worse than irresponsible!" Morgan argued back. "Plus, she doesn't mind!" Then he turned his face and stared at me, "Aren't you?"
I gave an uneasy smile.
"See?" Morgan smirked.
"Spencer, I don't mind. It's OK," I gave him a convincing smile. I took the reports and started typing on the keyboard.
"Can you all quit the quarrel and go now?" Prentiss asked as Hotchner was showing an unpleasant look.
"Thanks lots, love," Morgan said while following Prentiss and Hotchner's steps to the elevator.
Reid stared at me for awhile, and then he followed the others. For a moment, he hesitated to continue walking.
"Uhm... Is there anything I can help you?" I asked as Reid was not stepping forward nor backward. He was standing still, frozen for a moment. I was secretly hoping that he would ask me to do something related to the case.
" Never mind," he gave me a blunt smile, and then he continued to walk forward and joined the others.
3 hours had gone. The whole building was so empty and silent. The only thing that could be heard was the ticking sounds of the 5 clocks hanging on the wall (I sometimes wondered why they put so many clocks on the wall), where time passed so swiftly yet silently without any notification. The clocks in front of me were showing 11.30 p.m. and I still had no idea how to complete the report. My hands were on the keyboard, but they were not moving at all. They had been frozen ever since the owner's mind went blank. They must have felt helpless. No one was there to be questioned or asked for help. I felt a sudden remorse towards promising Morgan for helping him with the reports, because I had no idea what to do. I never learn to do these reports in the academy.
How am I going to finish these reports? I could not bear to even think of the consequences. I had sacrificed my dinner and yet I could not finish the report or find any solutions. I felt so useless. They would blame Morgan when the reports are not done, and Morgan would blame me for not completing the reports. As for myself, I would feel so guilty and yet stupid about myself.
"I'm going to read up the case again and reprofile the unsub," someone spoke as he walked out from the elevator.
"Good. I'll finish up my reports then," Hotchner spoke monotonously as he walked into his office.
Reid walked towards his desk and sat down. He did not notice my presence even though I was just sitting in front of him. Nay, he was not aware of his surroundings. I sent him a few shots of stare but he did not realise my presence. In the end, I gave up getting any attention from him and got down to musing.
"Oh, hey, Jean," he finally called. I had no idea what caught his attention, though.
"Hey," I called back as though I, too, just realised his presence.
"Didn't notice you were here," he continued. "Still going through Morgan's reports?"
I nodded. I wished silently that he could lend me a hand on the reports. My eyes did not leave the computer screen even for a second, but my mind was totally blank. I was staring at an empty blank document. I gave a deep sigh.
"Are you alright?" Reid asked as he pushed his head away from being blocked by the computer. "Your hands aren't typing and you're just staring blankly at the computer. You should be having problems on the reports Morgan gave to you, am I right?"
He pierced a smile on his face. I bit my lower lip unwillingly. Then he walked towards my place and stared at my computer screen.
"Empty?" He said, rather amazed than flabbergasted.
I smiled to myself, feeling rather useless and embarrassed, while scratching my head. Nothing came out from my mouth. He bent down his body. His head went closer to stare at the files on my desk, and then he started to press on the keyboard.
"Hmm, firstly, you have to type this," then he used his two index fingers to press each letter from the keyboard. Then, he referred back to the file.
"Do you follow?" He asked as I started to ponder away. His face was rather close to mine. I could feel his breath under my neck. My heartbeat rate increased drastically. I had not been that close distant with any men before. I could not concentrate at all, even if I tried.
"Are you OK? Do you follow me?" He repeated while staring to my eyes. Immediately his eyes wandered away, as though he did not want our eyes to meet.
"Yes," I nodded and stared at my arms, which were carrying my fingers onto the keyboard.
Reid walked back to his desk and started reading his own files. I followed his instructions and started to type the reports.
"Do you need any help? It's pretty late now, I think I might be able to lend you a hand," Reid said with a smiling face, while grabbing away a few files from my desk, before I could give him any answers.
After he finished with the reports, he took a coin and a piece of paper, and then he walked to my desk.
"Want to see a magic trick?" He grinned happily. "I know it's not the right time, but just to relieve your stressing mind."
I nodded, not because I wanted to see his magic trick, it was because of his eagerness and enthusiasm on showing it.
He took out a coin from his pocket and convinced me it was a genuine silver coin. Then he did the same with a piece of paper. He placed the coin onto the centre of the paper and folded the paper carefully into a small square shape, with the coin in it, so that there was supposed, no opening for it to fall off.
"1, 2, 3... ta-da!" The coin fell off from the paper and he was in time to catch the coin.
"Wow," I said, but not in a fascinating tone. "But, I've seen such tricks before, and knew how it was done."
"But you were amazed," he spoke confidently.
"No, I was not," I assured him.
"You were. Your eyes were burning with amusement," he continued to argue back. "You were amazed. Admit it."
"I wasn't," I repeated. "I just didn't think you have a thing with magic tricks."
"You know, you resist admitting it because of your pride and ego," Reid continued with an innocent smirk. How could a smirk look innocent? But he did look innocent!
"Does Hotchner always stay up so late?" I quickly changed the topic to stop the tiff. Actually, this question had popped out in my mind as both of them came back to the office. I had no idea what triggered me to think of such question. I just happened to peek on him who was busy scribbling in his office. He was so intense and stressed.
"Late? This is probably the earliest time of the night for him," Reid said sarcastically. "He usually stays up very late."
Finally, Hotchner seemed to be packing up his papers and files in his office. He placed his files into a shelf slowly and carefully, before shutting off the lights in his office.
"Reid, are you done with the profiling?" He asked while walking out from his office, with a file on his arm.
"Yes, I found that the unsub had this habit to dispose his murder weapon, meanwhile he left signs showing he was disorganised," Reid said while sipping a cup of coffee. As Reid was going to continue, Hotchner stopped him.
"It's OK, sleep earlier today and continue tomorrow," Hotchner said, and then he turned his attention to me. "Are you done yet, Carlisle?"
I nodded as I finished typing the last sentence of the report. "D-done."
"Come, I'll fetch both of you home."
Hotchner led both of us to his car. Reid sat beside the driver's seat. I sat behind of him. There were toys and papers scattered all over the car.
"I'm sorry, it's a little messy in here," Hotchner said while sitting on the driver's seat. He turned his body to try to clean up the mess. He mumbled, "must be Jack."
"It's OK, I'll stack them up," I helped him to tidy up the papers and pile them up together. Hotchner turned his body back to the front and turned on the engine of the car.
"Where do you live?" Hotchner asked in his husky deep voice.
I was not paying attention. No, it was not the correct words. It was more like I heard the question, but I did not know it was for me, even though it was obvious that the question was shot to me. I was just not aware of it. Maybe because it was pretty late, and my mind was shut off from everything.
Hotchner cleared his throat and repeated the same question. "Where do you live, Carlisle?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know... Rosemary Apartment. It's in town," I replied hesitantly.
"You live there?" Reid asked while turning his face to my direction.
I nodded.
"What a small world! I live there, too!"
"Really?" I said in awe. "I have never seen you before in the apartment."
"Neither do I," Reid threw the words naturally. Somehow, I felt that there's a little cynical tone brought with these words.
"Good, now I only have to send both of you to one location," Hotchner spoke with a smile. It was such a rare occasion to see Hotchner smiling.
All of a sudden, I felt my stomach growling, very fiercely. I finally recalled of skipping my dinner. Reid turned his face and stared at me, while Hotchner gave me a serious yet awkward look on the reflection of the back mirror.
"Let's go for supper," Hotchner said while turning over his car.
...
"So, how are your trainings?" Laura asked eagerly. It seemed like she was very enthusiastic on telling her experience. She must have tons of stories to be told.
"Not good," Camie said, as though she was feeling sick. "Bodies... Dead bodies..."
"You encountered dead bodies?" I exclaimed. I had not seen any dead bodies in my life, yet, except on photographs, which the teams used during their discussion and I got to have a few peeks.
"You have not?" Both of them sang in unison. I stared at them blankly.
"Nope," I shook my head as I scooped the strawberry ice-cream and placed it into my mouth, to comfort myself.
"What were you doing these past 2 weeks then?" Laura asked, looking surprised.
"Reading files and cases, paper works," I uttered mechanically.
"You are damn lucky, I tell you. Dead corpses are horrible! Every time I see them, I'll throw up," Camie said with a horrified look. "I rather stay in the office and do paper works!"
"It isn't that terrible, Camie!" Laura tried to persuade.
"I've seen this awkward killer who raped dead bodies and cut them into pieces! Trust me, it is horrible!" Camie spoke, and then she took a long sip on her drink, as though drinking could help her to remove those awful memories.
They were both discussing about the cases they had been through. I was sitting there, listening to their stories, envious and jealous. They seemed to have solved quite a number of cases, and I was the only one who had not even been out for once with the team.
There was a time where a long pause occurred. Then, Laura's voice broke the silence between us. "You know, in my department, there's only ONE profiler, and I'm now under him. You will not believe how he helps the whole police team to solve crimes! Just a few days ago, he solved a mysterious serial killing case which involved murders 10 years ago!"
"For me, I have the most awesome team! Not to mention, a fine and gorgeous Nicholas Jones!" Camie applauded to herself, and gave herself a toast of celebration, with a glass of apple juice.
"Nicholas Jones?" I uttered the name while raising an eyebrow. It seemed like my ego had forbid me to believe that other people's teams were better.
"Jean, isn't that your team members?" Laura pointed towards a tiny group of people walking into the coffee shop. There were three of them, Garcia, Morgan and Reid.
Camie, who was sitting beside me, elbowed me silently, miming at me to greet them. I ignored the two of them, but secretly I did send a few stares to them, hoping they would notice my existence. They seemed to be discussing their latest case, a lunatic killer who killed children and took away their hearts together with him. The three of them ordered cups of coffee and started their discussion, very quietly.
"Why don't you greet them?" Laura whispered aloud. She was utterly eager to know them.
"Hey, baby girl," I turned my head and stared at Morgan. He rested his fingers on my chair.
"Hello, Derek," I smiled uneasily.
"Baby girl?" Camie whispered with a squeaky voice. The two girls started their little giggle.
"Your friends?" He continued.
I nodded. "From the academy."
"Oh, so, we're of the same boats," Morgan said. "Welcome to the criminals' world."
"I'm Laura Charles," Laura grinned.
"I'm Camie Crescent," Camie shook Morgan's arm fervently.
"I'm Derek Morgan," Morgan introduced charmingly. "Nice to meet you both, ladies."
The two girls continued to stare at Morgan's charming grin. I nudged both of them to cease them from continuing their gazing.
"Uh, I'll go back to the others. Feel free to join us," Morgan threw his attention to me, and then he returned to his other team partners. I glanced at Reid and Garcia, who waved at me keenly. I waved and sent a smile back to them.
...
"Guys, there's a new case," Prentiss called as she came out from Hotchner's office.
As usual, I sat at my desk and started reading a rather antique file (it was almost 10 years old). I secretly stared at each of them walking very swiftly into the conference room.
"Jean, come and join us," Prentiss called.
I stared blankly at her. I was wondering whether if I was imagining that or it was misheard. I must be hallucinating!
"Jean?" Prentiss called again at the girl whose mind had wandered far away - me. "Come in. It was Hotchner's order."
"Oh!" I yelled and stood up quickly, resulting on hitting the desk by the leg. I was rubbing my leg as I was walking into the conference room.
The whole team was staring at me as I walked into the room. Hotchner and Rossi were introducing the case in front of an invisible board, pasted with photographs of dead bodies and some scribbling.
Then Hotchner continued while pointing at one of the photos. "As I was saying, the girls had been killed with similar techniques. They were first strangled, and then stabbed multiple times."
"They were stabbed after they were killed," Rossi explained deeper.
I still had not found a place to settle down. Reid waved at me and mimed at me to sit beside of him, since there was an empty space.
"Why would the unsub stab them after they were dead?" Morgan asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Personal feelings towards the victims?" Prentiss asked while cupping her jaw. "In the crime scenes, it is obvious that the unsub was not a burglar or thief as there were no loss of belongings except for the purses and wallets. So, the unsub is not killing for wealth. Besides, wallets usually carry some personal belongings like photographs with the beloved ones and some other little notes."
"You know, there are killers who think that strangling doesn't exactly kill a person, he needs a confirmation of death from the victims, which could mean that the unsub is feeling insecure and unconfident, or perhaps he wants to feel the gusto during the stabbing, like sexual satisfaction," Reid explained very swiftly.
"Guys," JJ spoke after she turned the knob of the door. "There is another murder. It is suggested that this homicide is done by the same unsub we're dealing with."
