Chapter Four: A Problem
Persephone Ambrose let out a satisfied sigh as she looked over her living room and admired a full weekend's worth of work. She turned to the people around her, the people who had graciously helped her.
"Thank you for giving up your weekend to help me move in." Persephone acknowledged gratefully. Her team had been quick to offer their services when she'd told them she would be moving into her new place.
The team gave a chorus of 'no problems' and 'you're welcomes'
It was a nice house. There were two bedrooms upstairs, the second was going to be used as Persephone's office; a small cupboard for various things and a bathroom. The ground floor consisted of cloakroom with an adjoining toilet. There was also a kitchen that opened up to a living room and a dining room with doors that led to a small garden.
The owner had been keen to sell so he'd given her a good price for it. Hotch had been the first to know about the house. He'd ordered her to keep him informed after all. So, after he had accepted the request to be her second point of contact, she had told him she was searching for somewhere. A fortnight later she had found somewhere.
It was then Persephone realised just how hungry she was and by the looks of things, they all felt that way.
"Ooh." Persephone muttered letting out a rumble from her stomach "Moving house sure does build up an appetite. "
Rossi nodded and looked around the room. He was restraining himself, out of respect for Persephone, from taking over the kitchen.
"Well, why don't I knock up something for us to eat. If that's alright with you Ambrose?" Rossi's suggestion resulted in eager nodding.
"Oh no, Rossi I can't make you cook. Not after you've done so much to help me. Let me cook for you all. Think of it as a thank-you for wasting your weekend on me."
"It isn't a waste. We wanted to help, Ambrose. Don't talk as though you aren't worth it." Hotch corrected.
"Thank you, sir."
Hotch sighed "Ambrose you don't have to keep calling me sir, especially not when we're off duty. Call me Hotch."
"So does prawn linguine sound good to everyone?"
"Can you even cook?" Morgan demanded his hunger making him forget his manners briefly. Garcia elbowed him.
"I get by."
That had turned out to be an understatement. Once everybody had been served, the team descended on the meal like a pack of wolves. It was only when everyone had their fill did the temporary silence break.
"That was brilliant." Morgan declared "I was wrong to doubt you."
"I concur." Rossi agreed "That was delicious."
"That's high praise indeed coming from our resident chef Persephone." Prentiss informed her.
Persephone smiled. "I'm glad you all enjoyed it."
"We did. Where did you learn to cook like that?" Reid asked.
"I just cooked a lot- practise I guess."
One by one the team trickled out of the house and went to their respective homes. Persephone finished tidying up before heading up the stairs to bed. On her bedside table there was a drawing, the corners of which were yellowed with age. She'd found it earlier when she was unpacking and had been too quick to hide it, not wanting to have to answer any awkward questions. She remembered that day as if it were yesterday.
"Sephy! Sephy!" Ignatius came running up to Persephone with Cassiopeia close at his heels.
"Hey there how are my Little Ginger Parkins and how was school?"
"We're good! School was really fun today: we had a wet play, so we drew you a picture." Cassiopeia explained
Cassiopeia held up the picture, but Ignatius snatched it from her hands. A brief argument ensued between them and after Persephone suggested they both hold it up, she admired it in its full.
"Wow! It's brilliant! You guys must have really worked hard on it! Great teamwork!"
"It's you and us and the house!" Ignatius explained.
"She knows that Dumbo!" Cassiopeia taunted.
"Cassiopeia," Persephone warned before placing the pair in a large hug. "Kind words only please."
"Sorry Iggy." Cassiopeia apologised.
"Ignatius?"
"I forgive you."
Persephone smiled and placed the picture in her bag. "Come on. It's time to go home."
Persephone sighed and replaced the picture on the table before switching out the light. No good ever came from dwelling in the past.
That morning, Persephone rushed into the FBI Headquarters. She hadn't accounted for the extra time it would take to get to Quantico. She was used to the hotel's close proximity to the office and thus she had got stuck in traffic.
"Are you alright there Ambrose?" A concerned voice asked and a familiar one at that. It was Aaron Hotchner. Persephone turned around to face him.
"Only." He continued. "You seemed flustered."
"I just didn't want to be any later than I already am. I'm very sorry about that sir."
Hotch marked him confusion well as he glanced at his watch.
"You're not late Ambrose, far from it. In fact, you're early. Even if are late, you'll find I am quite reasonable. Morgan will attest to that."
"Oh. Sorry, sir."
"Ambrose you can call me Hotch you know. You needn't be so formal."
"Sorry."
"And you don't have to apologise Ambrose." Hotch declared. "I'd better get back to work, I've got a mountain of paperwork to get through."
Hotch left and Persephone let out a breath she didn't realise that she was holding. She placed her bag.
"Hey, Reid. How was your weekend? Besides helping me out of course."
"Delightfully uneventful- not that I didn't like helping you. I did." Reid stuttered. "Why does he make you so nervous?"
"Who?"
"Hotch."
"He's the Unit Chief."
"I get that, but he really isn't that bad. He can be a bit of a Drill Sargent- that's what Morgan says anyway. I used to be scared of him too but he's a good man. It's not like he's going to fire you at a moment's notice."
Persephone let Reid's comment without a word but not without scowling at him. To suggest that she, Persephone Elara Ambrose was scared was like suggesting pigs could fly -it was simply preposterous.
The morning moved as quickly as Sod's Law would allow. When lunch finally rolled around Persephone was, for once, the first one out. She was still pretty pissed off with Reid for daring to suggest she was scared and wanted to go before she said something, she later regrets. That was the thing about Persephone, there was one thing she could do well was hold a grudge. Not that that was a good thing.
Just as Persephone returned to bullpen and turned a corner, she walked slap-bang into someone. It seemed Sod's Law was in full effect. She was dazed for a bit and rubbed her forehead. She glanced at the person she ran into. It was a man, obviously one of the special agents from another floor because Persephone had memorised the faces of every agent on hers.
"Watch it!" The man yelled though it was just as much his fault as Persephone's.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Persephone apologised taking note of the man's features. His bald head resembled an egg. His eyes were a light green and there was an angry scar below his left eye.
"Evidently." The man drawled with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Right. Well like I say, I'm sorry but I need to get back to work."
"You're on Hotchner's team, right?"
"That is correct." Persephone confirmed "Persephone Ambrose. The BAU's newest recruit."
Persephone held out a hand for the man to shake but he just looked at it and wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"I thought so. It is just like Hotchner to hire a clumsy idiot such as yourself."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It was bad enough when he hired that high-schooler and that woman who got the job because her mother was the ambassador. Now he's hired another woman who not even a true American just to tick the diversity box."
"Look I don't know who you think you are but..."
"I am Special Agent Sebastian Lester. Not so pleased to meet you but there we are. If you ask me, Hotch is going down the pan. He's just not great anymore. Not if he can hire that wet-behind-the-ears kid they call an agent."
"Well, I didn't ask you, Agent Lester. So, you can take your prejudiced views and shove it up your arse!"
"How dare you! I am…" Agent Lester spluttered before he was interrupted by someone else.
"Is there a problem here?"
It was Morgan who had interrupted him. He was standing behind Persephone, so she didn't see him. He had his arms folded, his head held high and stood in the classic alpha male posture. He glared at Lester coldly. He did not like that man one bit. The other agent looked as though he were going to object but when he noticed who was talking to him, he changed his mind.
"No Agent Morgan. We're all good here."
"I'm glad to hear it, Lester. Now don't let us keep you from your work. I'm sure you have a lot of it to do, as do we."
Lester left casting a glare at Persephone.
"Are you alright Ambrose?" Morgan asked after the annoying agent had gone. He had had his own dealings with Lester before: they all had.
"I am fine Morgan. I didn't need to be rescued. I'm not your damsel and you're not my hero."
Things were just not going well for her today and she just needed to be left alone. First Reid suggested that she is scared, then some ass named Lester said she was unworthy of being a team member and now Morgan came to her aid consolidating the idea that she was weak. Why did everyone consider her unable to hold her own today?!
"Look Lester's an ass but he isn't worth losing your temper over him. Save that anger for the un-subs."
"Thank you for your input! Now if you've quite finished dispensing life advice, I've got a job to do and unlike you, I actually care about getting it done!"
Morgan sighed but let her go. He didn't know why she bothered sometimes but he highly resented Persephone's assessment about his work ethic. He did care about doing the job. He may sometimes give Reid a few of his files but Reid never complained, and it only meant that he could concentrate on the most important paperwork which he always filled out himself.
Persephone went straight to her desk to start the work that had been piling up since she left for her lunch. It would be a welcome distraction from that misogynistic idiot.
"Ambrose!" Someone called her from behind "Ambrose!"
"What now!?" Persephone exploded, spinning around in her chair, fed up with the interruptions.
Hotch was standing there, the corners of his mouth turned up in slight amusement.
"Oh. Err sorry sir. I didn't see you there. " Persephone apologised "How can I help you?"
"It's alright. I saw your little run-in with Agent Lester. He's been trying to get on this team for years. I believe him to be jealous. I wanted to see if you were alright."
What was with everyone today? Did she have a post-it note on her forehead that read 'BEWARE THIS GIRL NEEDS HELP?' Persephone took a second to calm herself down because it really wouldn't help matters if she lost her temper with her boss.
"I'm fine but you should have heard him! I'm not going to let him disrespect you like that! I will show him." She responded a look of determination fixed on her face.
"No, you will not. He's not worth it. I can look after myself. And I gave you a place on this team because I knew you deserved it not for any other reason. I don't want you to risk your career for me especially not over Sebastian Lester. I fear that if you can't keep calm around him, you'll doing something that will threaten that. You're too good a profiler and too valuable to me and this team to risk over someone like that. So, stay away from him."
"But Hotch don't you see…"
"Stay away from Agent Lester. That is an order. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir." Persephone replied though she wasn't quite sure what she would do if Lester kept bothering her.
Hotch to his credit seemed to know what she was thinking.
"If he keeps bothering you then that's on him. If this becomes a problem, inform me and I will deal with it. Just try not to engage him unless necessary."
"Alright."
"Good." Hotch went back to his office but made a mental note to keep an eye on the situation.
That night, with Jack sleeping over and Will eager for father-son time with Henry, the team went out again.
"As the newest member of the team, the first round is on you Ambrose!" Rossi declared merrily.
Persephone accepted the tradition of the team readily and left to order the team's drinks. She had tried to profile the team's drinks and had got a majority of them right.
"Not drinking?" Prentiss eyeing her Pepsi can with curiosity.
"I don't drink. Anyway, someone has got to be the responsible adult and be the designated driver." Persephone explained hoping her teammates would not read too much into it. That was of course a hopeless wish when you were amongst profile. They read too much into everything that was their job.
Seeing that she was uncomfortable with the current topic of conservation, Hotch changed the subject.
"So, you'll never guess what Jack did the other day. He was being too quiet, so I went to see what he was doing and when I opened his bedroom door, this is what I saw."
He took his phone from his pocket and after a few seconds of searching, he turned the phone around and showed them a photo. It was of a very floury Jack in a very floury bedroom. A massive smile was fixed on his face as he held up a paintbrush to the camera.
"What was his excuse for this?" JJ asked knowing from experience just how mischievous children can be especially when they're being quiet.
"He said he was looking for 'Un-sub prints'"
"Aww! So cute!" Garcia squealed "He wants to be just like his Daddy."
"It wasn't cute when we spent three hours trying to clean it up but maybe afterwards."
The team laughed at. Persephone giggled as well picturing her boss on his hands and knees cleaning up a ton of flour. Kids were awesome.
"I have to meet this kid." Persephone chuckled
"Well, why don't you? I'm sure Jack will want to meet you. He's been asking about my newest team member."
"He has?"
"Jack's a friendly kid." Morgan explained
"And smart." Reid added
"And inquisitive." Prentiss put in
Hotch beamed with pride as he heard the team talk about his son.
"He sounds like a great kid. I'd be honoured to meet him."
"Well Jack's not at school tomorrow and his aunt is bringing him to the Unit tomorrow. You'll meet him then."
The next day, at lunchtime the boy who was about 6 years old with soft brown hair and brown eyes walked in the bullpen with a woman with blonde hair. Persephone remembered him from the photos she had seen of the boy. This was Jack Hotchner.
"Hey there Jack." Morgan asked
"Hello, Uncle Derek!"
"Have you finished school already? Wow. Time really does fly." Morgan joked
"No silly Uncle Derek! Today is conference day so we don't go to school!" The boy laughed at Morgan's 'silliness' and shook his head. He was going for seriousness, but he looked so cute, which Morgan helpfully pointed out.
"I am not cute." He responded, his face showing a perfect copy of the famous Hotchner glare.
"Ok, I'm sorry buddy." Morgan apologised pretending to be intimidated by the young boy.
"I forgive you." He replied "Where's daddy?"
"He's in his office Jack, he will be done shortly." Reid informed him having just come down from Hotch's office.
"Uncle Spencer!" He yelled "Will you do me some Magic?"
"Now Jack Uncle Spencer had work to do." Jess reminded the boy gently.
Hotch appeared just as Reid was reassuring both Jack and Jess that he would love to do some magic that he'd do some before the boy left. Jack spotted his father and ran towards his six-year-old self at the usually stern Unit Chief.
"Daddy!" Jack yelled
"Hey, buddy!" Hotch greeted hugging his son and ruffling his hair. "Have you been good for your Aunt Jess?"
"He's been great." Jess replied.
"You got a second to talk?" Hotch asked "If you guys don't mind watching Jack for a bit? It won't be for long, don't feel like you have to entertain him"
The team gave their reassurances that they did not mind looking after Jack and Jess went off with Hotch to his office in order to talk. When they returned about fifteen minutes later, it was to the sound of Jack's laughter.
Jack had certainly hit it off with Persephone, they were along with Reid, throwing paper balls at Morgan and Prentiss. Rossi and JJ made another team with Garcia. Hotch smiled. He already saw the young genius pull a few of the paper balls from his son's ears. While really the team shouldn't be wasting paper or making such a big mess, for once Hotch didn't mind. It was worth it to hear his son's laughter a sound that he hadn't heard a lot lately.
"I trust you'll clean this up later." Hotch deadpanned
The look of the faces of his team was worth the extra hassle they had caused. He stopped their apologises.
"It's alright I am glad Jack is enjoying himself but just make sure it is clean by the time the hours up. The last thing we need is Strauss coming in and seeing this." He turned to Rossi "I thought you were meant to be the second in command."
"I am." Rossi agreed "So therefore I was the captain of my team and anyway Strauss is away."
Hotch rolled his eyes. "Come on Jack let's get something to eat. I'm going to be away for the rest of day call me if you need me. Rossi don't make me regret putting you in charge. You do all have work to do you know and you need to tidy this all up. No more Paper Ball Wars."
Rossi shrugged his shoulders and when Hotch left he turned to the team.
"I say we tidy this up and then get the Nerf guns out. You heard the man No Paper Ball Wars. So, who wants a Nerf war in the conference room?"
Of course, they got their work done eventually so if they played with Nerf guns for an hour who had a problem with that? Well, Strauss of course but she was away and want she didn't know didn't hurt her or more accurately what Strauss didn't know didn't hurt them.
When Persephone's phone rang on Sunday morning at about 10:00 she answered it immediately, assuming it was the Bureau.
"Ambrose."
"Ambrose It's Hotch. Don't worry, we don't have a case. Jack and I are going to the arcades and he wanted to invite you. Don't feel like you have to though if you are busy."
"No, I would like to." Persephone replied. Normally she would try and make her excuses but since Jack asked her then she had accepted. There was something about children that brought out a different side to her.
It had been a good idea to do so. She had a great time and when she left Jack gave her a large hug.
"I Like you Persephone." Jack had said.
"Well, I like you too Jack."
"Why do you talk so funny?"
"Jack! That's not polite. Persephone does not speak funny she speaks differently." Hotch had scolded gently
"It's alright Hotch. I talk differently Jack because I am from England."
"Really?" Jack had asked his voice filled with amazement.
"Yes, really but Persephone lives here now."
"I have never had a friend from England before."
"Well, I am happy to be your first Jackmeister!" Persephone had admitted allowing the boy to hug her.
Persephone smiled remembering the fun day that she had had. After getting home she started making some lunch (she had decided not to go out with them for lunch as she wanted to allow Hotch some time alone with his son). She switched the tv on and watched it as she prepared her dish. Well watched isn't the right word, it was really background noise.
Well.
That was until her ears tuned in to the current story being reported on the news.
"Concerns have grown over a missing FBI agent. Tamara Davis was last seen outside the FBI field office in Albuquerque two months ago. Her Unit Chief was unavailable for comment."
Oh, dear.
She knew that name.
This was bad. Really bad. Like the doctor would say, think about just how bad it would get an add an extra suitcase of bad. This would involve the whole BAU. So, she pulled out her phone a dialled a number.
"Hotch. I am sorry to interrupt your weekend with your son, but we have an issue and if I am right this will threaten the existence of the entire BAU."