TWO
"Reid!" Hotch said as he walked into the HQ/police conference room of the BAU. "We've got NCIS coming here to assist in the case. Has your friend helped you yet?"
"No, not yet Hotch. He's driving up here with his brother and his team. They want to help." Reid answered, pointedly not looking at Hotch. Instead he kept his eyes glued firmly on the map he was looking at.
"Who's next? The CIA?" Hotch muttered quietly, but not quietly enough that Reid couldn't hear him.
"Well, I do know one or two people in the CIA Hotch." he said quietly, trying not to laugh. He could easily imagine the glare Hotch was throwing his way. Of course, he didn't really need much imagination for that task.
"Reid," Hotch growled quietly.
Reid managed to keep the smirk off his face when he answered, "Sorry."
Morgan came into the room then, followed by a group of people; one was a man with crazy, curly hair and a boyish grin on his face.
"Spencer!" The curly haired man exclaimed, he grinned at Reid and side-stepped Morgan in a heartbeat.
"Charlie, it's good to see you!" Reid said smiling, he stood up and ignored the glare Hotch was still giving him. A glare which one man from the group noticed. He frowned slightly wondering what the cause of it was.
"What was it that you wanted me to do again?" Charlie asked, as he looked with interest at the tacked-up map on the wall, his mind starting to conjure up a growing and evolving equation.
Reid raised an eyebrow as he watched Charlie silently for a second as he processed the visual data on the map before answering, "I need you to help me figure out where he is, where he takes them."
Hotch turned away from Reid and looked at the group in the room. He walked over and immediately identified the leader. He stuck out his hand and was rewarded with a firm shake from a brown eyed, short haired man.
"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is SSA Derek Morgan and Dr. Reid," He said, indicating to Morgan then Reid with his head. "You are?"
The brown eyed man said, "I'm Special Agent Don Eppes, this is my team. David Sinclair, Colby Granger and Megan Reeves." Don replied as each of his agents nodded to him whilst they were introduced.
"Reid!" Morgan called out, causing Don to look at him and the others too. "What the hell are you doing exactly?"
Reid looked up at Morgan with a sort-of deer-in-the-headlights look before managing to say something, "Charlie and I were just going to ermm..." he looked at Charlie for help.
"We were just going to add on some points and the odd equation..." Charlie trailed off avoiding looking at Morgan, or his brother.
"Do you think you could do that without drawing on your faces?" Hotch asked, looking at them like they were two naughty school children.
"Err... yeah, sorry Hotch..." Reid muttered, both him and Charlie turning red in embarrassment.
...
...
Sitting in the private, NCIS jet – courtesy of Vance – Gibbs and his team were silent as the jet taxied down the runway and took off.
Gibbs looked at his team, wondering which ones would be affected by the take off, and was pleasantly surprised to see that, for once, it wasn't McGee who was gripping the seat arms but Dinozzo.
He suppressed a smirk at the turn-out and instead turned his head to look out of the window beside him. He idly wondered how the FBI would react to their presence, and briefly wished for Fornell to be the lead on the Fed-end.
McGee sat in the seat, relaxed and calm – flying had never bothered him really – and watched as the plane slowly rose up to the recommended height of a jet, a fair distance above the clouds, before checking to see if the seat-belt warning light had flicked off. It had.
Smiling slightly, he unbuckled his belt and stood, going over to the wall-attached table and sitting down at it. Gibbs looked at him with a raised eyebrow, to which McGee responded to, "We can move now boss, the belt light's off and we're high enough that we don't have to remain seated."
Gibbs nodded, secretly proud of McGee for not waiting to check with him if it were okay to move, before he unbuckled his belt and stood. He made his way over to the table and looked at McGee surprised when McGee pulled out a small computer-thingy and turned it on.
McGee looked up briefly and noticed Gibbs surprised look and so decided to answer, "I can use this on the jet boss, it's got a simple algorithmic program built in that allows it to be used in the air without affecting the plane's systems and radio frequencies." McGee started up the program interface that would allow him to access NCIS from the plane and typed in his high level security password – sometimes he truly loved working for Vance, the high level security was definitely useful.
Searching through the files on the database he found the ones that were in 'Team Gibbs' – a little joke that the I.T department had come up with – and found the case they'd just received today. He looked through the prelim and frowned sadly. As he read the detailed case report he looked through the list of FBI agents already working on the case and was surprised to see that they were the B.A.U agents.
"Hey boss," McGee said, Gibbs looked at him so he continued to speak, "The FBI agents on the case are from the B.A.U." At Gibbs blank stare he elaborated, "The B.A.U – Behavioural Analysis Unit. They're a group of supervisory special agents in the FBI who would with the police and other agencies when they're requested to help in cases of serial killers, rapist's etcetera. If they're working the case then we're going to be working with the local police force too."
Gibbs frowned at that, he sometimes hated working with the local cops; they always thought that they had all the answers and every right to the cases. He really hoped that this time round it would be different.
"I have heard of them," Ziva said quietly as she stepped round Gibbs and moved over to McGee to read the writing on the screen, "They stopped a terrorist cell, a serial killer who was making bombs and a few others that I have heard of. They are very good at what they do."
"They analyse behaviour Ziva! How good can they be? It's all just a load of guesswork!" Dinozzo exclaimed as he swaggered over to them. "It's not like they do the work we do!"
"No, they do not act like sulking children when they have to rid in the back Tony," Ziva smiled at him sweetly, he glared at her and McGee tried to keep the smile off his face.
He focused back onto the case file and read through the list of victims, "Oh God..." he breathed, his heart felt heavy for all those lost lives.
"What Tim?" Ziva asked looking at him and noticing that he looked... sad.
"This guy's killed nearly 14 girls..." he answered quietly, he looked at the names and felt like his heart was about to break in pain.
They were all silent for a moment, then Dinozzo said, "Bastard," and they all couldn't agree more.
...
...
"Okay, Agent Hotchner, who else is working on this case? Besides yourselves that is?" Don asked Hotch as they watched their respective teams get to work – but especially keeping an eye on Reid and Charlie, just encase.
"Well, we're working with the local law enforcement on this. A team from NCS will be arriving soon since one of the victim's was the daughter of an Admiral and your brother." Hotch replied, quite liking having a chat with another team leader who, to all others, seemed as grumpy as him.
"Well, I'm here for Charlie so my team can help out," Don replied, his tone of voice not really allowing for any arguments from Hotch.
"Alright, if both our teams can get assembled and quieten down, we can organise them into pairs and have them get working," Hotch said, his voice low and decisive.
Don nodded at him and they set about quietening their teams – excluding Reid and Charlie who were oblivious to either of their orders to shut up.
Don and Hotch stood side-by-side in front of their assembled teams and looked at each other for a moment before saying at the same time, "Since there are-" before looking once more at each other and Don signalled for Hotch to take the lead.
Morgan grinned discretely at Prentiss who hit him lightly on the arm. Colby and David both smirked at Don letting someone else lead – they were pleasantly surprised over the fact.
Hotch stood up fully and gave Morgan a look before speaking, "Since there are two separate teams here working on this Agent Eppes and myself have concluded that it would be a good idea if we all worked together. Morgan; I'd like you to accompany Agent Sinclair over to the Coroner's Office. Prentiss; if you'd go with Agent Reeves to the family of the latest victim and find out what you can about her. Reid..." Hotch looked over at Reid and Charlie and thought better of interrupting them. "JJ; could you set up a press conference so we can give a generalised profile to the public, and set up a public helpline. David; could you and Agent Granger go over to the latest crime scene and take a look at it, see what you can find out."
Everyone nodded at Hotch and once Hotch had finished speaking vacated the room, leaving only Hotch, Don, Charlie and Reid in there.
Hotch leaned lightly against the wall opposite Charlie and Reid and watched them silently. Don leant against the table in the room and was doing the same thing as Hotch; watching his brother interact with Dr. Reid and wondering if he's like this with Fleinhart. Somehow, he sincerely doubted that Charlie would try to doodle of Larry with a Sharpie marker-pen.
Hotch broke the silence, speaking quietly but not so quietly that Don wouldn't be able to hear, "I've never seen Reid act like this..."
"I've never seen Charlie act like this either. First time for everything right?" Don answered flashing a short grin that Hotch returned, "Why do you call him 'Reid'?"
"It's his name," Hotch answered with a raised eyebrow, what else was he to call him 'boy genius'?
"It's his last name, not his actual name. Why don't you call him by his first name?" Don pressed looking at Hotch directly.
Hotch was silent for a moment thinking of a reason, "I... I don't know. I've always called him 'Reid' as have the others," He looked at Don with a frown on his face, Don thought that it wasn't a new look for Hotch.
"So none of you have ever called him 'Spence' or 'Spencer'?" Don queried as he turned his head to look back at Reid and Charlie.
"Well, JJ's called him 'Spence' before and Gideon..." Hotch broke off, he'd been trying to avoid saying his name. He looked at Reid and Charlie and watched sadly as Reid dodged Charlie and his Sharpie pen with a childish grin on his face.
"Who's Gideon?" Don asked, he really was curious about who this guy was since Hotch had stopped speaking after his name.
"An old, retired member of the team. He used to make sure everyone knew that Reid was a Doctor, on account of his age," Hotch explained, his voice sounding solemn and his eyes sad.
"Oh, I can see why he made sure Dr. Reid was recognised as a Doctor," Don said quietly.
They lapsed into silence then, watching Reid and Charlie stabbing the map with the Sharpie pens as they figured something out. The only sound in the room was the impact of the pens on the map and the occasional giggle from either Charlie or Reid as they worked in unity to get the work done.
Don wondered about the entire B.A.U team, thinking about how they each seemed to call Agent Hotchner 'Hotch'... he figured it must be a nickname and probably easier to say than his full surname. He thought about Agent Prentiss, he knew that she was the daughter of some powerful people in the FBI and he idly wondered if her status was a point of contention in the B.A.U team. Agent Rossi, he knew was a legend at the FBI academy... he'd read a paper that he'd written back when profiling was pretty new and he remembered how he'd been impressed by it all. Agent Morgan, he didn't know much about, but the way he acted and spoke he guessed that he might have been a cop before a profiler – he had that demeanour about him. Agent Jareau – the one they called 'JJ' – was quite beautiful, probably a plus since she was their liaison with the press etcetera; the looks would come in handy in that department. But he didn't doubt that she knew how to use the glock that was in her hip holster. The only one that didn't seem to fit into the group was Dr. Reid. He knew that he was the youngest of them all and probably had the least amount of field experience – heck he'd probably had never fired a shot from his firearm – and he wondered if the kid was only there because of his brain. Maybe he was just a tool? It certainly seemed that way, especially with them all calling him 'Reid' – kind of impersonal really. It was like they didn't want to get too attached to him because they figured he was just temporary or didn't matter...
Or maybe they called him 'Reid' because they respected him? He reasoned that the kid had to be wicked smart since he was keeping up with Charlie's brain, so that meant that the B.A.U team might have a healthy respect for the kid because of that? He didn't know for sure but he hoped that he was right with this train of thought. He knew that those who were older than others were normally referred to by their last names – showed that they were respected – but he guessed that was also the same for someone who was smarter or better than someone else at something – same thing really just the criteria's different.
He opened his mouth to ask Hotch if that was why he called Reid by his last name but, before his could, a group of people entered the room with a grey-haired man in the lead. Hotch immediately stood up fully and addressed the newcomers with a lawyer-like manner, "I'm Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, this is Special Agent Don Eppes. I suppose you're the NCIS team that is going to be working on this case with us also?"
The grey-haired man looked from Hotch to Don before answering, almost as though he was sizing them up, "Agent Leroy Gibbs, Agent Anthony Dinozzo, Agent Timothy McGee and Mossad Officer Ziva David." Gibbs said emotionlessly, each of his team nodded to Hotch and Don – except McGee who smiled.
"Now, where's the evidence?" Gibbs said simply, he turned slightly and raised a single eyebrow at Reid and Charlie who hadn't even noticed the presence of Gibbs and his team. "And who are they?"
Hotch and Don looked over at Reid and Charlie – both suppressing smirks – and Don answered, "That's Dr. Reid and Dr. Eppes. They work with each of our teams."
"Boss?" McGee ventured, his green eyes focused intently on the map that had some interesting designs on it.
"Go ahead McGee," Gibbs replied, he sounded amused but he didn't smirk. Dinozzo did though.
"Thanks Boss," McGee dodged past Dinozzo and over to Reid and Charlie.
"Great... a geek convention, Ziva!" Dinozzo muttered and Gibbs, unluckily for Dinozzo, heard him. Gibbs turned around swiftly and delivered a brilliant smack on the back of his head before turning back round to face Hotch and Don.
"Thanks Boss..." Dinozzo said quietly shooting Ziva a malicious dare as she smiled happily.
