I do not own Criminal Minds

"Do you want to play a game of chess?" Spencer asked her and she looked up from the notebook she had been writing in. She gazed at him through the lenses of her glasses and tried not to smile at him. She hadn't heard him come over but there he was in her little corner of the plane looking at her with a concerned face that he had been wearing since they had left the BAU.

He had been trying to casually hover next to her for the past couple hours. Despite his claim that he would be fine with her working so close while working on a case he seemed rather nervous. He had absently touched her arm twice which was a sign that he was anxious. She hadn't even tried to ease any tension he felt because she found it so endearing and funny. Back when the team had been briefed Hotch made a point of telling everyone that they would keep Atlanta out of any dangerous situations. He had directed the comment at Spencer who had nodded a slight appreciative nod. The nod left Atlanta to believe that Spencer had approached him about it.

Now looking at his face she felt a little bad for not putting his mind at ease.

"Chess?" She asked him, humor in her voice.

"I play Chess with Gideon sometimes on the plane." He explained

"If you play with him that must mean he presents you with a challenge." She said "I however would lose the game before it even began, which you know."

"I could teach you how to be better." He suggested as he grasped for some excuse to play.

"You are all the sudden taking an interest in my chess game?" She asked gently. He sighed and sat down next to her.

"You have no doubt picked up on the fact that I am feeling a bit concerned regarding your presence." He said. Gideon was reading a book and looked over at them both over his glasses.

She was suddenly very aware that everyone on the place could probably hear their conversation and found herself a little self-conscious.

"It did not escape me." She smiled at him putting her hand on his closest one. "I'll be okay Spence you guys haven't scared me away yet.

"I hope you still feel that way in a minute." Elle said from across the cabin.

"Is everyone ready?" JJ asked as she started handing out folders.

"Go do your thing Doc." She said motioning to the others. He got up and headed toward the group that was congregating together.

"Did you want the information?" JJ asked holding a folder out to Atlanta

"No." She smiled politely "I am here to observe how you guys normally interact just pretend I'm not here. The case is neither here or there, but thank you."

"Okay" JJ started "Female victims all brunette and all disposed of in dumpsters within the city limits. young and beautiful between twenty and thirty years old."

"Three bodies later and they are just now calling?" Morgan asked

"All three victims lived alone and all three filled out vacation requests so no one thought to look for them until much later. The third body wasn't even reported until this morning." JJ explained.

Atlanta watched them work. With Hotchner and Gideon being the obvious leaders of the group. Morgan was also a strong presence and if Atlanta had to guess he would move up the chain of command at some point. Elle and JJ were more subdued presences among them but not timid by any means. Then there was Spencer, or Reid she supposed she should call him because they all did. He held his own among the group and she could tell they all carried a respect for him.

Sometimes it was hard for Atlanta to do this job. When she did her analysis she was often met with resistance for the employees of the company who had hired her. Often her findings resulted in people getting fired or the hiring tree being shaken. It wasn't her intention, just a side effect of her job. People saw her as the bad guy normally.

However, this team had welcomed her easily enough. They were friendly and didn't seem concerned that she was watching. Whether it was because they were confident in her abilities or comfortable with her as a person she wasn't sure. She had never felt quite so at ease among people she was working with.

She took notes occasionally watching them all throw out theories about the murderer who they called The Unsub. They all listened each other and took into account what the other said. Even Morgan who usually made fun of Spencer would listen to what he had to say and nod appreciatively.

At one point they turned on a laptop and a picture of Penelope came into view. She discussed the credit card findings and if the victims were linked in any way. Atlanta wrote notes furiously so that she could pour over them later. Anything that seemed relevant to her was written down in green pen and anything she flagged as important was written in red. She highlighted and scribbled as she went and didn't even noticed when they broke apart to wait the rest of the plane ride out.

"Did we raise some major red flags?" Morgan asked sitting across from her

"Well you certainly did." She said winking at him

"He's our resident trouble maker." Elle confirmed

"What can I say?" Morgan asked smiling a wide grin that Atlanta was sure turned many girls hearts to puddles.

The team went silent then as some of them looked out the windows and some looked over case files. The silence was heavy as they thought of the job ahead.

Atlanta looked up after highlighting something in pink to see Spencer looking at her over the top of a book he was reading. To watch him flip the page as soon as you could read the first few sentences was unnerving.

She winked at him and he went back to reading his book.

"Reid you're with Morgan." Hotch said as soon as they got to the police station "Check the last two crime scenes. JJ you stay here with Elle and see what the local authorities have so far, see if a press release would help or not. Miss Johnson you stay here in the station it is where we will be doing the majority of our case. Gideon and I will go visit the last victim's parents. Morgan have Garcia look up all stops on the garbage route in the city." Hotch ordered and the team splintered apart in all different directions.

Spencer looked over at Atlanta who looked happy enough to take a seat inside the police station and observe. Looking at it all through round glasses. Spencer walked past her following Morgan outside but she didn't look up from her notepad. He wondered for the hundredth time if she would be okay and then chided himself.

His fear was irrational. She was a very capable woman and Hotch had said they would keep her safe. He took a breath and allowed his brain to fly through the details of the case.

When they reached the first dump site. The local police had already bagged and tagged all of the garbage. That had been in the industrial sized trash can with the victim.

"What are you thinking Reid?" Morgan asked

"He's going out of his way to dump them here. It will have to be factored into the profile. He sexually assaults them and then intentionally dumps them into the trash."

"He's saying their garbage." Morgan agreed. "No way were the dumpsters convenient for all three."

They combed the scene for about an hour bouncing ideas back fourth.

"How are you holding up with Atlanta here?" Morgan asked

"I'm fine." Spencer brushed off the question "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Our Job is intense man, it's hard for us to bring people we love into it."

"Atlanta made her own choice to come." Reid shrugged "I encouraged her to"

"Okay well it wouldn't be unusual for you to be a little bit worried." Derek said dropping the subject and turning a corner of a building.

Spencer was worried but he had told Atlanta to come so he tried to mask the emotions coming to the surface and instead focused on the case.

"We got another one." JJ shouted outside of the conference room where they had set up. Atlanta's eyes snapped up from her pad.

"The rest of the team is meeting us there." She said motioning for her and Elle to follow her.

Atlanta's pulse quickened. It had been so safe here in the police station. Now that she was actually going to where a crime scene was it was different. The photos were one thing but an actual dead body was another.

The tram had been working the case for almost twenty four hours and hadn't gotten anywhere. It was morbid but it seemed as if they would need another killing to happen in order for them to gain any traction.

As Atlanta sat in the car trying to focus on what the ladies were saying to each other. Instead of picturing what they would find when they got there. She wrote notes down in her notebook but even she knew they were gibberish.

When they pulled up to the scene JJ escorted her through the media who hounded them all for Answers. JJ was short clear and polite. Atlanta knew she should have written it down but she was overwhelmed.

Elle took her from there into an alley where some men were pulling the woman's body from the large blue trash bin.

She was aware of Morgan, Hotch, Gideon, and Reid but she couldn't have said what they were doing.

Atlanta was hypnotized by the bruised and limp body of the pale woman. Her hair hung in her face as she was pulled out of the trash. Her eyes were open and staring clouded and blank at nothing. She was naked and there were scrapes and cuts all up her toned legs. Atlanta couldn't stop staring at the way she hung and her dead weight rested against the gurney like platform they were setting her on. Her fingernails were bloodied and torn open.

As they covered her and wheeled her past Atlanta, the stench of the alley and stale trash reached her. She fought the tears welling up in her eyes and the sour taste of throw up coming to her mouth.

This shouldn't have happened to this beautiful woman.

She continued to stare as they put her into an ambulance. When the doors closed she walked quickly away from the crime scene and turned the corner of a red brick building. She found an overhang that was the entrance to a closed business.

She closed her eyes and told herself to breathe as she practiced breathing techniques she learned in a yoga class once.

"Lanta?' A voice came from around the corner and she cursed herself for not being stronger.

"I'm fine Spencer." she called trying to get herself together before he saw her.

He stood in front of her with that same concerned face that he had on before and she realized that she had just justified him being concerned.

"It's okay." He said to her in a hushed calming tone "It's okay to be upset about it."

"I'm fine" She said again defensively. He didn't say anything but instead reached out and touched her cheek wiping off tears that she hadn't realized had escaped.

"It's okay." He said again and as she stepped closer to him he let her fall into his frame and breath for a minute.

Spencer hated school housing.

He hated his roommates and their childish pranks, jokes and conversation. He hated not being with his mother. He hated 'dorm life'. It afforded him a window into the life of the college student but he had deemed it a long time ago to be the kind of thing he abhorred.

He had a few reprieves: school, his mother and Atlanta.

He didn't see Atlanta as much as he would like because she had classes too and she worked hard to get good grades. She also worked a full time Job so they didn't see each other as often as they had back in California.

However she was supposed to come over that evening and he had been patiently waiting for her to get off her shift. Atlanta worked as a waitress at a twenty-four hour diner a few blocks from Spencer's college. She worked a lot of double shifts so that she could save money. Though she always made time for Spencer amongst her busy schedule.

He was anxious to see her because he wanted to talk to her about his mother. He had been thinking about sending her to a twenty four hour care facility. Even just thinking about it made his guilt set in. His mother's schizophrenia was getting worse and he spent more time making sure she was taking care of than he did at school. His schoolwork was starting to suffer because he had to stay with her if she was having an episode. It was getting to the point where he couldn't take care of her on his own and he wanted to talk to Atlanta about what she thought.

He heard a knock on the door to his apartment. Unfortunately, his two roommates were at home which made things harder. They would always Give Atlanta a hard time before she got to his room. He got up from his bed and opened the door to his bedroom but wasn't fast enough.

They were both at the door already.

"Oh sexy." His roommate named Robbie said. Both of his roommates were here on mediocre sport scholarships. They looked both looked and acted the part of the cliché.

"Such a pleasure to see you both." She heard Atlanta say to the both of them.

"Nice costume." Mike said to her.

Spencer knew chemically why they harassed Atlanta. She was an attractive young woman. Her face was appealingly symmetrical. She was small but her figure was curvy which appealed to the primal instinct men had to find a mate to bear children.

The 'costume' they referred to was a short nineteen-fifty style waitress uniform that she wore for her job. It was red and white striped with a small white half apron and white knee high socks. The uniform was popular with male customers. Atlanta never complained, she only said that it afforded her larger tips.

He looked up to see her push past them. Though Atlanta was his closest friend he couldn't ignore what his roommates saw when they looked at her. Even to him she was striking; with her long dark bob and curled dark eyelashes. Her lips were painted a red that matched the uniform and they were currently puckered into a frown.

"I didn't know you would be coming Gorgeous." Mike said "I could have prepared."

"I'm sure your bottle of Lubriderm will keep you busy enough." She said trying to sidestep them as they got in her way.

"You can come watch me later, if you want." He countered and she didn't say anything but a look of pure disgust came over her face.

"Atlanta." Spencer said stepping out into the living space. He had learned when trying to intervene the harassment only got worse.

"Hey Spence." She smiled then at him for the first time since she had entered the apartment. It was a small victory to Spencer that he could make her smile but they couldn't. She finally pushed past his roommates and was almost to him when Mike spoke up again.

"There is no way Brainiac there is satisfying you at night, when you get bored…" He didn't finish as Spencer saw the anger flash over Atlanta's face. She turned to face them both.

When it came to defending, Atlanta hardly ever defended herself but she always came to other people's defense. Spencer had noticed that she was viciously protective of him in particular.

"Oh I'm plenty satisfied and Spencer is twice the man you could ever hope to be" She quipped and Spencer's eyes widened. She was letting them believe that they were involved…sexually. Atlanta looked Mike up and down in a way that made him turn away subconsciously. She was attacking him and it seemed to be working

"And while you are bitching to your future romantic partners about how you could have gone pro if you wanted and everyone has to listen to your self-involved delusions all the while you are working at a shitty used car lot; I can guarantee that while you are washed up and wishing you amounted to more Spencer will be changing the world." She spat out turning back to Spencer and walking toward his room. Without turning around she added "Also, I'm seventeen so unless you want to be sued out the ass for sexual harassment of a minor don't talk to me next time I'm here."

She walked straight past Spencer into his room and he closed the door behind her. She dropped a box off on his dresser and flopped down on the bed and let out a huge sigh.

"I love people but also I hate some of them too." She said.

"That is why I mostly like being alone." Spencer nodded

"Not all people are bad." She said sitting up now. It's just that crappy small percent. Also, and more importantly, I brought us two grilled cheeses with waffle fries and two pieces of blackberry pie so we can eat and talk about whatever you got going on with your mom."

"How..." He wondered thinking back to their conversations and knowing he hadn't brought it up to her before

"Come on handsome, don't you think I know you well enough by now?"

No, Not all people are bad Spencer thought to himself grabbing the box of food and sitting next to Atlanta.