Erin rubbed at her face absently as she stared at the file in front of her. There was so much left to do with regards to integrating their newest member into Alpha team. This would be her first case with them all, and she knew that it would be difficult for them to adjust to the fact that they had no say in choosing who joined them, but she also knew that Emily Prentiss was more than capable of integrating into the group. Shaking her head a little to clear out the cobwebs gathering there. Elise had had a rough night, which meant she hadn't gotten as much sleep as she would have liked, and now she was paying the price for that by feeling like she was going to fall asleep at her keyboard any moment.
Just as she was about to push away from her desk and stretch out on her sofa for a few minutes, the door to her office opened, and she found her eyes widening in shock a little to see Helen lead Emily inside. "When she started to explain what had happened, I knew that you needed to hear this, even though you asked not to be disturbed, ma'am."
"It's fine, Helen," she replied, giving her assistant a tight smile as she nodded and then left the room, closing the door firmly. Letting out a soft sigh, she indicated for Emily to take a seat in front of her, and the woman nodded as she set the box she had been carrying next to her on the floor. "You should be on the jet to St. Louis."
"Agent Hotchner refused to let me join the briefing, even after I explained that the Director had approved my joining the BAU. I have met him before, since his mother is friends with my mother, but after he found out that I was there to join the team, his entire demeanor changed. I don't know what's made him so defensive, but I felt like I couldn't do anything right."
"The agent that you're replacing left on less than the best terms, and I know that the team is still smarting from her loss. And he and Jason are still dealing with the aftermath of the Adrian Bale case."
"Oh yes, I remember that incident. Didn't a member of Alpha perish in the bombing?" Erin nodded. "Well, I suppose that makes things a little easier to understand. I didn't think that it would be so difficult to become a part of the team."
Erin let out another sigh. "I suppose that this was my fault, I let you enter the lion's den without any support. If I had been thinking, I would have made the introductions myself, to show that this really is our decision. I've just been pulled in so many directions lately with this job and…" She cut herself off before she revealed too much, knowing that her tiredness was driving her close to the point of oversharing with a subordinate. "Anyway, since they're already there, and it would look bad if I sent you out on this case, I would like to suggest a compromise. I have already selected the next case that I'd like the BAU to wok on, and I'll give you the files so that you can head back into the bullpen and start writing up a preliminary profile for it."
"Where am I supposed to set up? Agent Hotchner didn't assign me a desk to work at."
"The conference room will be free, since the Red Cell and Beta teams are also out on cases at the moment. And if anyone else there gives you any hint of hassle, please feel free to come to me immediately, and I will take care of the problem."
"That would be fine," Emily replied as Erin rummaged around in the files on her desk, finally pulling out the ones that Emily would need to write up her profile and handing them over. "Thank you for this, ma'am. I promise that I will try to do better when the team is home."
"This isn't about you trying harder, it's about Aaron and Jason allowing themselves to see that there's no need to be hostile towards new members of the team. There are a number of excellent agents who would thrive if they weren't so in fear and awe of those two." Her words came out sharper and more bitter than she would have liked, and Emily gave her a small nod before she rose to her feet, setting the files on top of her box and leaving the office at a fast clip, closing the door awkwardly behind her. "That could have gone a lot better, Erin," she muttered as she raked her fingers through her hair and let out a long breath.
Shaking her head, she grabbed her phone out of her purse and made her way over to her sofa, stretching out on it and calling David before pulling the thin blanket over her legs and closing her eyes as she waited for her partner to answer. "David," she groaned the moment she heard his breathing on the other end of the line.
"Are you all right?" he asked, worry in his voice.
"I think I screwed up. Do you have time to listen to me and give some advice?"
"I always have time for you, Erin," he replied, sounding a little less worried.
"And that is why I love you. So, you might want to do damage control with Aaron after this, because if I try to call and explain things, I believe that it will just make the situation worse. The new agent was supposed to start today."
"I remember you mentioned that. Did she flake out and not show up?"
She shook her head before taking a deep breath. "No. She arrived bright and early, ready to head out with the team. It would have been so easy for Aaron to introduce her to the team, but instead he treated her abominably, and while he doesn't know that I was the one who chose her to fill Agent Greenaway's position, he treated her as if he knew I had. So he left her behind, and no one on the team knows that they have a new member. I told her to set up in the conference room for the time being, since it would look a little odd for her to just take over Agent Greenaway's desk, and she's working up a profile for the next case that the team will be going on, but I don't know what else to do."
There was a brief pause, and Erin used the opportunity to shift onto her side and pull the blanket up a little higher around her chest. "I don't see where you messed up, Erin. You did everything I would have done, if I had been in your position."
"Well, I didn't quite tell you everything. Towards the end of our conversation, I said something highly critical of Aaron and Jason, and she didn't quite understand why I would say something like that. I wouldn't have been so candid, but with how late Elise kept me up last night, on top of the stress of introducing Agent Prentiss to the team, my mouth got ahead of me before I could stop it."
"Well, you can't call those words back, unfortunately. But as long as you didn't disparage them to her, I think that everything will be fine. Now, do you have time to take a nap, or are you too far behind?"
"You are reading my mind, darling. I'm on the sofa already, about to try and catch twenty minutes of sleep. That should be enough to get me through the day, though you'll have to explain to the kids why I head right to the living room instead of helping with supper."
"I can do that, Erin. But if you're too tired to drive, I can come pick you up."
"I don't think that I will be, but I will definitely call you back if that changes. Thank you for letting me talk it out."
"I will always listen to you, stellina. Now close those sweet eyes of yours and try not to think about the things that could go wrong and focus on the things that will go right. And keep in mind that it's manicotti night."
"You know the way to my heart, David. I love you."
She barely heard his reply as her eyes closed heavily, and she gave in to the siren's call of sleep, her phone slipping from her hand to fall to the floor. Somehow, she knew that he was right, as long as she focused on the good, things would turn out all right.