Chapter 26

Quantico Riding Club
Quantico, VA

Apparently there was trail riding and then there was this.

On another day Morgan stood leaning on a fence around what he now knew was an arena. He'd just finished moving a lot of heavy objects for the club as a type of workout. It was actually good for your form, work like this helped strengthen your secondary muscles which helped with balance and stability. Now he was watching Spencer set up a series of what looked like plastic pipes set into bases, set at very precise distances from each other. "What are you doing?"

"Setting up a pole bending course."

"And it has to be that precise?"

"If it isn't exactly 48 feet from the center of the mound to the center of the batting box is it still a baseball diamond?"

Ah. "Got it." He looked over at where Lucky was kind of dancing around. "He looks excited."

"It's a play for them, if you do it right." Spencer was apparently happy with the course so he went and climbed on Lucky. "Time me?"

"Sure." There was a stopwatch on the table by the gate. Morgan knew how to time a run. "Ready."

In response Spencer somehow set the horse off.

Morgan timed them as they rode down to the end of the poles, then made a sharp turn and started zigzagging between them. All the way to the end and then sharp turn and all the way back, showing the skills the guys in Virginia City had used to get through a crowded street at high speed. On the way back they tipped two over. After going through in each direction Spencer and Lucky turned and rode back fast as they could. Morgan stopped the watch as soon as they crossed the limit line, and showed Spencer the time when he rode over. "Wow we suck." Spencer said.

"This is your first time together, isn't it?"

"True." He was breathing hard, but Lucky just seemed happier. "Want to go again?" He asked the horse, who tossed his head in reply.

Morgan grinned. "I'll set up the poles for you."

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

After a few more runs Lucky was turned over to the trainers who did therapy classes. He was no longer as restless as he had been in the morning, and would work quietly with the kids the rest of the day. Spencer and Morgan grabbed their bags with changes of clothing and headed in to the office. "I know you're not working today?"

"Meeting with the NSA rep over the project." Spencer replied. "We're going to meet in the SCIF here, it's more convenient."

First stop was the locker room for showers, of course. And it was there that Morgan realized that they had problems other than terrorists. It wasn't too busy at that hour, but there were a handful of guys changing for work after hitting the gym. And after Spencer headed for the shower one of them leaned over to the other and asked. "Cowboy?"

A few of the men who heard chuckled.

This was going to be a problem.

While Spencer went off to talk to the NSA math wonks Morgan went to talk to Hotch and the rest of the team, including Cruz. Math was math and work was even work, but Tara decided that discussing the workplace environment was likely too much of a minefield for Spencer to discuss at this point in his recovery. "Math doesn't come with emotions attached." She said.

"Any suggestions for handling this?" Rossi asked.

"What we're looking at here is a case of workplace bullying." She replied. "For the worker in this case there are concrete steps to take. First, check to make sure you are dealing with bullying and not just misunderstanding the workplace culture. I know that cops tend to razz each other, that's usually accepted, but Reid doesn't have a law enforcement background and everyone knows that. Heck, half of the Bureau doesn't."

"Besides, when people start talking friendly fire we've gone well beyond that." JJ said.

"Exactly. Step two is to stand up for yourself and tell the bully to knock it off. Unfortunately Spencer is way too wounded for that, which is one big reason why whoever is doing this is picking on him. He reads as an easy victim. It's going to take quite a bit of time to change that, more time than we have."

"We need to have his back." Morgan said.

"Yes, we do. Step three is to document everything."

"But his memory does that for him." Rossi said.

"Right. Step four is to go to your superiors and/or HR. Which is where we are now." Tara finished.

"What's step five?" JJ asked.

"If all else fails find another job."

"The NSA would gladly take him on." Hotch replied. "I think we'd all like to avoid that."

"What does the literature suggest from the management point of view?" Cruz asked.

"First steps? Sit down with the bully, inform them that there has been a complaint, and tell them to knock it off." Tara replied. "Also inform them that if they retaliate against the complainant that a formal investigation will be instigated and if it proves out they'll be transferred, disciplined or fired, not the victim."

"But first we have to identify the bully." JJ said.

"I think I know how to do that." Cruz replied.

Cruz's solution was simple. With Garcia's help he started a rumor that a unit was in trouble, no clarification about which one or what kind of trouble, and that when Spencer returned to work he was going to assign him to said unit to help them straighten it out.

It wasn't long before they started sorting out which units were the problem.

One group came to Cruz and said that they didn't think they were having problems but Spencer's reputation for intelligence, synthesis and attention to detail preceded him so they'd be happy to work with him on whatever the issue was. These included Domestic Trafficking, Innocent Images, Financial Crimes, Cyber Crimes, and Civil Rights Crimes among others. Hotch and Cruz were happy to see that it was a long list. They enlisted Katie and Andi to send their people around to listen at water coolers and coffee machines, and they all reported back that yes, the agents in those units felt the same way. No one had any clue what was going on, but they were all willing to work with Spencer.

The other group had a completely different reaction. They didn't know what was going on either but their leadership flat out refused to work with Spencer. Their people wouldn't tolerate it, they said. It was an offence to even consider that someone that geeky, someone with nothing but classroom experience, could help them at all. Those units included Special Weapons, Hostage Rescue, both Organized Crime divisions, Mass Incident, Law Enforcement Coordination... "Ok, we're seeing a pattern here." Tara said as she looked at the board.

"Yeah, every unit that primarily draws from academics or non-traditional sources loves him." JJ replied. "Or at least is curious about him and is willing to work with him."

"But every unit that draws from a traditional source, law enforcement, military, even a lot of athletic experience, isn't." Rossi said. "I guess on some level jocks will always be jocks."

"The problem is that you're looking at a third of the units in this building." Tara said. "You're not going to change the attitude of all those people. And you're not going to be able to ensure that none of those people will retaliate when you call them on it."

"So what do we do?" Cruz asked.

"Normally I would say transfer the bully. Put some physical space between the victim and the bullies, so they don't have to look at each other every day. But these units are spread out all over the building, and a lot of them have custom installations. You're not going to be able to move everyone around."

"We can move your unit." Cruz said.

"Nu uh." Morgan replied. "Garcia. Baby girl works with more than just us. And moving her lair is going to be a major undertaking."

"No." Garcia replied to him. "For my Junior G man it will do this. This is beyond not good here."

"And this might solve another problem I've been dealing with." Cruz said. "Let's make it happen."

The other problem was simpler in concept but trickier in resolution. "When you're trying to go undercover with human traffickers you need bait." Andi said. "There's no way around it, conventional attractiveness is a factor when I go looking for undercover personnel."

Ashley Seaver nodded in agreement. "No one has ever been aggressive, but I cannot tell you the number of times women in my unit have been hit on around the coffee pot. It gets incredibly annoying. But speaking up hasn't really done anything, they never push it to the point of disciplinary action."

"It's just this constant, wearing problem." Andi agreed.

"My unit doesn't behave that way." Hotch said.

"We've always gotten along well." Andi nodded.

"All right then." Cruz replied. "The BAU will move up one floor, that unit will move down."

This meant Garcia and Kevin swapping lairs, which thankfully only took a day. They both had very similar set ups, it was a question of lift and move and plug back in, which turned out to be less trouble than anyone had anticipated.

Everyone else had to move offices. The other two units were happy not to have to deal with the unit that was leaving. And the other BAU teams didn't mind the move at all. Of course the unit leaving that area was unhappy, especially given that they would be working out of storage areas as the BAU moved out of their space and in to the new one, but Cruz gave their Unit Chief a stern talking to. He was still pissed though, as well as his men. "We might need to isolate further." Tara said, as they watched him storm out.

"How?" Morgan asked.

"Manipulate the security system. Assign them one bank of elevators, we get the other one. Assign them one entry door, we get the other one. We'll naturally gravitate to the corresponding parking lots."

"Okay, we should not have to worry about this." JJ said. "We're all FBI."

"As my momma always said, 'should' and 'is' are two different words." Tara replied.

"I know."

It took the better part of a week but eventually it was done. Their new space had the same layout, offices in the same places, same conference room, Garcia in the same lair. The bullpen was a little smaller, but not enough to make it seem crowded. And to get to the new break room you had to go out to the elevator lobby and turn left, but the break room was bigger. They even moved the glass doors. It worked.

And they never said anything to Spencer. Moving that other unit away from Andi's people was reason enough for the change. "This is nice." Spencer said when he stopped by after a morning's ride to pick up some consults to work on and unpack his desk.

"Yeah, it works well." Morgan replied. He noticed one of the guys in the break room looking at Spencer's clothes, the jeans and boots and hat. Son of a...

"I didn't know there was a place to ride Western style around here." The other agent said. "I thought all the stables around here were English."

Spencer smiled. "So did I but the riding club here on base is set up for it."

"There's a riding club on base?" The other agent was starting to smile. "How did I not know about this? Patterson, Domestic Trafficking." He offered his hand.

"Reid, BAU." Spencer accepted. "You ride?"

"Yeah, I was into rodeo riding back in high school..."

Morgan was chuckling as he went to fill his coffee.