A/N: Here's my next chapter. I hope you all like it!

Special thanks to Sophia0665, jenny crum, Christiangirl, CM Fan, Westie80 and Snowbeardolphin (This story will be at least thirty chapters long, so there's a lot more to come. And there's a big chance it might become longer because I always have new ideas.)!

I don't own criminal minds!

Chapter 9: Work relationships

Griffen was back at the office early the next morning to get up to speed with some of his other cases. The Brian Lewis case wasn't the only one and he needed to do something else than staring at files that didn't seem to help him out at all. The case was giving him and ulcer and it didn't help that Hotch was the ADA on the case. But he had to beat him another time, even if it would take a trial. He didn't care because he was going to keep Brian Lewis' reputation. He had experienced worse cases than this, but somehow this one turned worse with each day that passed by.

He was pulled from his thoughts when his phone rang. He looked at Tracy who looked busy behind her desk. So he took the phone and answered it. ''Griffen West.'' he said professionally.

''Hey Griffen.'' Tracy whispered from the other side of the line.

Griffen looked at Tracy who turned around in her chair and made eye contact with him. He winked at her and got a laugh in response. He loved that she was just outside of his office. Tracy had been his rock through his years at Parker & Watson. She knew him inside and out. ''Why didn't you just come into my office?'' he asked. ''You don't have to call me.''

''Well, this is urgent.'' she began. ''I heard that Lauren Parker is on her way down here to see you and I knew I couldn't beat her to your office with these heels.'' she said as she showed him her high heels.

''You're only a few feet away. I can see you from here.'' he contradicted. ''How do you know that Lauren is coming down?''

Tracy laughed into the phone, realizing that he underestimated her. ''I have my moles in this office, Griffen.'' she whispered as she saw Lauren Parker heading towards them. ''I know everything and I will find out everything.''

''Good to know. I'll never talk about you behind your back.'' he said with a wide smile on his face. ''But I'll find your moles, Tracy. You won't have power in this office for much longer.'' he joked.

''That'll never happen, Griffen. I only picked the best so even you can't find them.'' she said. ''Oh, the queen is only a few feet away. I have to hang but I'll come to talk to you as soon as she's gone.''

''Fine.'' he said as he heard the line go dead. He saw that Tracy turned her attention back to her work when Lauren Parker appeared in front of his office. Griffen gestured for her to come inside as he stayed in his seat. He saw and angry look on her face and he knew it meant that she knew about the Lewis situation.

''We need to talk about the case, Griffen.'' she announced as she stood in front of his desk. She wasn't going to sit down because the conversation was going to be easy and simple. ''I've decided to put Wesley Evans and Isaac Cohen on this case with you.''

Griffen rose from his chair in anger. ''You can't just do that.''

''I can do whatever I want. I'm still your boss and this firm can't lose Brian Lewis or Richardson Insurance Group as our clients.'' Lauren explained, knowing Griffen wasn't going to make it easy for her. She knew he liked to work alone and it was a surprise that he even hired an associate. ''Don't screw this up!'' she said as she was about to turn around but his voice stopped her.

''Do I need to remind you that I brought Brian Lewis and the Richardson Insurance Group in as our clients?'' he reminded her. ''This is my case and I don't need any help.''

''Don't pick a fight with me, Griffen. Not over this case. You'll work with Cohen and Evans.'' she started. ''This is not up for discussion.''

He stepped away from his desk and stopped right in front of her. ''Don't put your anger out on me, Lauren.'' he whispered, knowing why she was so uptight in the past couple of weeks. ''I know you're having problems with Richard Watson and I want to help you.''

''Nothing is happening between me and Richard, Griffen.'' she explained. ''We're just having different opinions about some partners in this firm.''

''Is it about me?'' he asked, meeting her eyes and he realized it was about him. ''What did I do wrong now?''

''Nothing,'' Lauren began. ''But you have a tendency to cross the line with a lot of cases and Richard wants me to keep you in line. So that's why I put Evans and Cohen with you on the Lewis case.''

''Great,'' he said, shrugging his shoulders. ''I don't want to make your life harder so I'll work with them. But just for this one case!'' he added in a hurry.

Lauren turned around. She was happy that he listened to her and she knew that was a rare thing for the stubborn man. ''Turn it into victory, Griffen!''

''I will.'' he said while he stepped back behind his desk. He was about to sit down when he saw JJ walking by his office. By the looks of it, she wasn't looking for him but for someone else.

He walked out of his office and saw that she was making her way towards the big conference room in the middle of the floor. He followed her but he stopped when he saw her talking to one of the associates. It was Wesley Evans' associate, Benjamin Morris. They seemed to be hitting it off and he felt a pang of jealousy. He didn't know why. He wasn't the jealous type but JJ seemed to bring out in him.

He walked towards JJ when Benjamin disappeared into the conference room. He stepped right in front of her and saw a smile appear on her face. ''What are you doing up here?'' he asked curiously.

''Wesley Evans came to me and said I had to work with Benjamin.'' she explained as she realized he didn't know anything about it. ''I thought you knew.''

''I didn't.'' he said angrily. ''Why didn't you come to me first?''

''Because he told me to work with Benjamin. He's a Senior Partner as well, Griffen. I couldn't say no.'' she said defensively. ''I didn't realize you would get angry about this. I'm sorry.''

''It's fine. Just come to me the next time. I'm your commanding officer. I can get you off this if I wanted to because you work for me. Not for Evans.'' he explained. ''I'll talk to him about. What are you two going to be working on?''

JJ sighed deeply before answering. ''I thought it might a good idea to dig into the pasts of all the members on the board of directors at Richardson Insurance Group.'' she started. ''I just feel like Brian had another reason for threatening Phillips. Something isn't right and I'll find out what's going on.''

Griffen took a step back. ''Sounds good. I'll be in my office all day to figure out a way to stall the ADA to file the charges.'' he started. ''Come to me when you find something. I don't just want to hand anything over to Evans or Cohen.''

''Of course.'' JJ reassured and Griffen immediately turned his back to her and left JJ standing in front of the conference room. JJ walked inside and saw that Benjamin was already with his head in the files. She liked the guy. He was fast and to the point. He was also very welcoming which made the job a lot easier.

''Is there anything you want to know, Morris?'' JJ asked as she sat down across from him.

''First of all, call me Ben please.'' he smirked, meeting her eyes. ''And second of all, my boss got me up to speed earlier this morning.''

''Great.'' she whispered. ''And you can call me JJ by the way.''

''I will definitely do that.'' he said.

''Well, let's get to work. We need to find something or else Griffen might kill me. I noticed he isn't in the best mood today so I don't want to disappoint him.'' she explained.

''He's not the easiest guy to work for. But I do know that he's one hell of a lawyer.''

''I know.'' JJ said as she refocused on the file in front of her. The board of directors consisted out of twenty people so it was going to take a long time to check out everybody. But she was willing to do it if it meant that they were going to beat Hotch. It wasn't the only thing that drove her. She also wanted to be a good lawyer like Griffen which meant she had to work hard for a good reputation and she knew it took years to build one like Griffen's. She just hoped that she would be just as good as him one day.