Once a Hooker

a sequel to the fic To a Hooker,

both by TarnishedArmour

Timeline: Season 7. By necessity, this is A/U.

Summary: Adrianna had left hooking behind, moved to a new life in Virginia, and renewed her friendship with Spencer Reid. So why is she giving hooker lessons again? *To a Hooker's sequel.

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Two weeks later…

Adrianna was no longer working at VA Charlotte Hall. It bothered her a little, but this case bothered her a lot more. She wanted to go back to nursing, go back to what she loved doing, but these murders compelled her to her current activities: reading diaries, watching a few videos - she had had excellent teachers, and Phoenix had helped more than she knew with her first clients - trying to find a common link, other than husbands. So far, nothing was helping.

For breaks in the long hours of studying and reading and watching, she worked out with Carl, who had stayed longer than expected. He would be leaving soon, and that was okay with her. Someone else, someone with his social skills, would be coming to join her.

Spencer was still staying with her when he could, frequently coming over after work to review what she had uncovered throughout the day. He was working out with Carl, too, which helped. As predicted, he was a fast learner. Carl even convinced him to go for a jog every day. In just two weeks, she could feel the difference in his endurance and strength. She wondered if she'd know what he felt like in two months - or more. They'd agreed to work out together, to do some very light sparring, when he got back from his current case. Until then, she was alone with memories and diairies and videos and Carl - who helped make it bearable.

Adrianna looked around at her house. The case had effectively taken over everything. And nothing was going right with it. Not one damn thing.

And just to add a 'Fuck You' from Fate, add to all of that, it looked less and less likely that there would be any resolution for this without putting someone in the life.

Two weeks, gone. Pffft. Poof. Just gone. And nothing good was coming out of letting go of her career for the moment - except for passing Jenner's interview. She'd done better on that than expected, and she was quite proud of that. Carl had been her demonstration partner, which made her very comfortable. Actually, that was possibly the one good thing to come out of the case. She was so heartsick over the girls, so desperate for any kind of distraction from the memories, she had studied and practiced more than ever before. As a result, she had read all of the supplementary materials and even looked up a few things in other books and on the Nurse's Aide professional websites. Carl had been more than a little entertained and impressed by the experience, and, if she was right, had a date with Jenner later in the week. She'd pulled off what even Jenner called a miracle. An A on an interview. Just thinking about it brightened her day…until she saw the stacks of videos.

Hell on celluloid. Hell on CD. Some nights, it was difficult to let Spencer near her because she could still feel the hands, the lips, the motion of the others.

"Adia," Carl's voice was soft, but his expression wasn't, "you got a minute?"

"Don't tell me there's been another one," Adrianna began. When he shook his head, she motioned to a chair at her table.

"I need to go back to Vegas on Friday. I'm asking Eliot to come in for me. He'll keep working with Reid, help you get back into fighting trim." He paused, pursed his lips.

"That's not what you came to tell me," Adrianna said, reading his hesitation. He was honest with her in ways that most others weren't.

"No." He sighed heavily. "We got an alert. Someone's been digging for your medical records."

Adrianna went cold. Her records were sealed, mostly because Mrs. Ibsen had some seriously excellent techs who adored her. They were secured, flagged for access information, and almost inaccessible to anyone, but they were at least partially digital, which meant whoever was looking could find a way to get the hardcopies. The story the hardcopies told was not pretty. Multiple fractures, bruises, welts - prostitution was a dangerous business, no matter how careful a girl was.

"Who?" The word almost didn't make it out of her suddenly bone-dry throat.

Carl looked uncomfortable.

"A fed. Traced the feed back to the Hoover Building, and the IP address belonged to a techie called Garcia. Request was put in by an SSA Derek Morgan. There wasn't a warrant, and there's no real reason to get at your records, not that we could track. He's only gotten a few things, but there are references to a hardcopy file, and he might be able to get hold of it. You know we can't completely pull hospitalization records, even if we can…liberate the majority of the information from the premises. But he looked, and there's no forms filled out for this." Carl gave her a significant look. "Means it's off-book, princess. Someone doesn't like you very much, and, as much as he may deserve it, I don't fuck with feds. They cause too much trouble."

"I understand, Carl," Adrianna said, too calmly. She was seething, but she was too good to let it show. "I'll take care of it."

"Ibby's got some good lawyers - "

"That won't be necessary," she snapped. Closed her eyes, breathed. "Please forgive me, Carl. That was quite rude of me. You don't deserve such a response, not for being the messenger."

Carl just nodded. He stood up and turned. Adrianna wasn't paying attention, not until he turned back to her and spoke.

"Be careful, Adia. Whatever is going on with this particular agent, he's not going to take no for an answer. Watch your six." He waited until she nodded, and turned back to the main room.

Adrianna sat perfectly still for several minutes, letting the rage churn inside of her. She breathed in, then out, slowly, hoping to get rid of the urge to beat Derek Morgan within an inch of his life. God knows, she knew how - and how it felt. Finally, at least a little bit under control, it occurred to her that probably no one knew at darling Derek was up to. And that, she could work with. But she wouldn't go empty handed. No. Good guests greased gears with gifts.

Ten minutes later, Adrianna was in her car, heading for the Hoover Building. It hadn't taken long to find out that Morgan was in the building, that he and the team had returned earlier in the afternoon, would be there for the rest of the day, and that they were finishing paperwork for the case they had just finished in Iowa. She hadn't known anything of interest happened in Iowa, but, then, she wasn't really keeping track. Interesting things did occasionally happen at the BAU offices, though, and she was about to contribute to interesting in ways that a certain Supervisory Special Agent wouldn't believe.

The trip was shorter than usual, simply because she ignored the speed limits and took surface streets, avoiding major interchanges. Fortune smiled upon her, so she was without any new transgressions on her record. Inside the lobby, she waited for an agent to walk her up to the BAU and hand her off to Spencer. Instead, she got a surprise.

"Adia," Spencer said, giving her a small smile. "You ready?" He noted the box in her arms. "Should I…?" He wasn't sure if he should ask, mostly because she could be temperamental when it came to assistance, and he was good at his job. He could tell, she was sure, that she was more than a little bit upset.

"No," she managed to say with a smile. "But I do need to use your conference room…just for a little bit?"

He nodded, taking her to the elevator. "Is this about the case?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking," she said, her smile turning hard and cold. "More of a...an informational meeting." He gave her an odd look. "Just need to talk to one or two of the team, not all of you."

"Adia…" He stopped. The elevator dinged and opened on into the offices of the BAU. He shook his head. Adrianna was glad he didn't pursue the topic. She was expecting to catch hell for what she was about to do, and she wasn't about to apologize when the dust settled. To that end, she didn't include him in the people she needed to talk to in the conference room.

Spencer escorted her in to the conference room, watched as she pulled a few files out of the box next to her. He waited until she looked up.

"Spencer," she started, then stopped. He needed something from her, but she couldn't give it right then. Not what he needed. Certainly not what he wanted. But she could give him something. "There are a few things that need to be addressed - about my…consultations."

"Is there a problem?" he asked, clearly taking the focus upon himself.

"Not in the sense you mean," she replied. "This lies more with…with…one or two others."

"Ah. Who do you need?" Spencer understood the stresses between Adrianna and his team. Rossi enjoyed her, Seaver didn't quite know how to respond to her, Hotch saw her as a necessary annoyance, but one he could work with so long as they remained professionally distant. It was Morgan and Garcia that were not quite as sanguine about her involvement. Morgan didn't like her - which Spencer found odd, given that she was an attractive woman of appropriate age - and Garcia was just uncomfortable around her, most likely due to Adrianna's dissection of the entire team and not her previous occupation.

"Morgan and Garcia," Adrianna said, not considering sugarcoating the request. Spencer would understand. Somehow, he almost always did.

"Okay." With that, he turned and left. Adrianna watched him walk out the door, wondering if there was anything she could do that would make him blink in confusion. She didn't want to think of the reciprocal, but it came to her, unbidden. Was there anything he could do that would make her walk away?

Minutes later, two people walked into the room, one nervously curious, the other barely this side of outright hostile.

"Since you were digging into my medical files," Adrianna said, foregoing any greeting, "I thought I'd save you the trouble. Here are the test records, required by the state of Nevada, and here are the files for each time I've been in the hospital since I was seventeen. You'll find several broken bones listed, as well as some fairly serious internal bleeding, both the direct results of being beaten or assaulted in the course of business. I included this file," she added another to the stack she was creating from the contents of the box, "because it shows reconstructive surgery on my jaw and what happened to my teeth after my jaw was broken a few years ago. These files," she added three more to the stack, "are for minor injuries, again, business related. But I brought something else for you to…enjoy."

Garcia had gone pale, looked like she had been slapped. Morgan was blank, but there was something like anger starting to build in the room.

"Tapes," she said, smiling coldly. "A whole box full of tapes for you to watch and enjoy. Starting with the first night I ever whored. You'll find some interesting watching in there. Of course, it's not exactly the quality film that most would prefer - "

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" barked Morgan.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, accessing private and confidential medical records without cause, jurisdiction, or warrant, Agent Morgan?" Adrianna snarled back. "Working for the FBI may be a power trip for you, but it's not a free pass to do whatever the hell you want, whenever you want."

"OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod," Garcia squeaked. "Morgan - Adrianna - I…No!"

"Speak rationally or shut up," Adrianna snapped, eyes not leaving Morgan.

"We were protecting Reid!" she managed.

Adrianna gave her a disgusted look. "What?"

"We were protecting Reid," Garcia repeated, more firmly this time. "He likes you, maybe even loves you, and we don't want him to get hurt."

"And my medical records are somehow the key for Spencer not getting his heart broken?" Adrianna snorted in disbelief. She started walking toward the door. "News flash, sweetheart, you, the team here at the BAU, have done more to break his heart than I ever could."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Morgan demanded, whipping around to face her as she reached the door.

"You're the brilliant and well-trained profiler," Adrianna shot back. "You figure it out."

She walked out the door, leaving everything on the table.

Garcia looked at Morgan, who was clearly ramping up to go after the antagonistic woman.

"No, Derek," Garcia said, grabbing his arm.

"Let go of me, Penelope," he growled.

"No! No. We are going to pack that box back up and take it to Reid." She had that stubborn set to her jaw now, and she knew, knew, knew what she had done wrong and how and even why. What she didn't know is if Reid would forgive her for it. She planned to make a full confession, soonest.

"Like hell we are, woman!" Morgan said, turning to look at her. "She brought us what we need - "

"Not what we need. What you need. To get back at her." Garcia was shaking her head. "I won't do that."

"To that bitch - and I do not use that term lightly," Morgan replied, asking more and saying more than he usually did about his reaction to someone he didn't like.

"To Reid." Garcia gave him her kicked puppy look, and Morgan found himself listening harder to what she had to say. "She's right. If we do this - continue to do this - we'll hurt Reid. She doesn't care if we know. If we ask, she'll tell us, well, me, since she obviously doesn't like you. But I'm not going to hurt my boy genius. Not even a little bit." Her chin went up. He saw that she was not going to give in on this point, not even for him. One more reason to adore this woman - and did he really just think that? "And I'm not going to let you hurt him, either."

Morgan stared at her for a long time. He felt his shoulders slump as he began to understand how his actions would be interpreted by the younger agent. Not only would he not understand the need to dig so deeply into private matters regarding a consultant, he would be hurt that the team - that he, Morgan - didn't trust the younger agent's judgement about the woman he was seeing, sleeping next to…fucking. And Morgan would not acknowledge that the attraction could be more than sexual in nature. That would imply that he was somehow wrong about Adrianna. He may be wrong about any number of things over his life, but he would never admit he was wrong about this jumped-up piece of tail that had his boy panting and grinning like…like he was a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

Damn.

"Okay," he finally said. "If you'll give me a minute, pack it up, I'll take it down to Reid." Morgan rubbed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. What was it going to take to get a break from this entire fucked up situation?

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Spencer looked up at Morgan, who was holding the box Adrianna had come in with several minutes ago.

"Can I help you, Morgan?" he asked, eyes not leaving the box.

"This needs to go back to Ms. O'Shaughnessey," Morgan replied, offering the box to the younger man.

"Okay," Reid said, taking the box and glancing in it. He went cold, then looked slowly back up at the older agent. "Morgan," he asked, voice too soft and too controlled, "why did Adia bring her medical files and a bunch of video tapes to the BAU?"

No response came. Reid's eyes narrowed. It was the first time in a long time that he felt truly angry. Not upset or hurt, but angry.

"What did you do?" Reid demanded, hissing the question. Morgan flinched, but rallied quickly.

"We were looking into her - "

"You, Morgan. You were looking into her…with Garcia's help." Reid's voice rose just enough to catch the attention of others around the office. "It's one thing to doubt the veracity of people we interview, but my judgement? What is it you find so hard to believe, Derek - " Reid noticed the sudden quiet around them, his voice becoming barely audible, " - that she's a good person, or that she's attracted to me?"

Morgan took in a breath, started to speak.

"Don't bother," Reid snapped, picking up his bag and shoving his paperwork into Morgan's hands. "Sign these, tell Hotch I'm gone for the day, and don't fucking contact me until Monday." With that, he snatched up the box, shouldered past his friend, and stalked to the elevator.

Morgan had to step to catch his balance, surprised at the sudden aggression from the usually meek and mild, eccentric, Dr. Reid.

"Morgan," the voice from above and behind was not what he needed to hear right now. "My office." Morgan nodded, then turned, papers in hand, to go see his team leader. He saw Garcia already ensconced in a chair in the office, and knew that this was not going to be a pleasant meeting.

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Seaver kept her head down while the mini-drama unfolded across from her. The longer she looked at this, the more she saw of it, the more likely it was that she would have to go undercover.

But if the team was fracturing, could she?

Maybe she should just put in for a transfer, save everyone the heartache of a failed op and the slow dissolution of friendships - and that's what the encounter between Morgan and Reid looked like to her.

Then again, what did she know? With her past, she didn't really have many friends, and it was almost impossible to make them here, when no one wanted her around and even fewer people cared what happened to her.

Maybe that was an unfair assessment of the situation, but it was the only one she had.

After all, who could she talk to?

Her eyes drifted to the elevator.

Well, maybe there was one person, even if she wasn't on the team. If she went to Vegas as a high-class hooker, she'd be depending on her anyway.

Ashley Seaver took a deep breath, signed the last of her paperwork, put it in the file, and took it up to Rossi. She was not about to disturb Hotchner and the pair he had in his office right now. As she crossed by the closed door, she heard SSA Hotchner's voice raised for the first time. She shivered.

If he was that intense through solid wood, what was it like to be sitting in front of him?

She decided she never, ever wanted to know.

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A/N: It's taken a while to get this chapter even this well-behaved, and I'm still not certain it's right. Please review to let me know if it fits - I'm a little too close to see compatability right now. :-)