It was not more than three steps out of the elevator and she already ran into a passing agent. Literally. The content of her cup spilt generously onto the agent's T-shirt so that it was now nearly as dark as his skin.
She stumbled and fell with a loud crash face-first to the ground, her bag sliding across the corridor and scattering her belongings over the grey floor. All eyes were on the young woman and the wet agent.
"Ouch", she murmured, propped herself on her elbows, her knees and palms aching and slowly she became aware of her surroundings. Oh great. Now her dammed pride hurt more than her body. Good first impression? She could forget about that, it was history. God, this situation was so embarrassing.
A hand reached out to her out of nowhere. Grateful as she was, she accepted the warm gesture and let herself be helped up.
As she raised, she took a curious glimpse at her helper. It was the young man, she had run into just a moment ago. His warm, chocolate brown eyes rested on her and a smile played his lips, but it wasn't mockingly as one could expect but friendly. Understanding.
„Slow down a bit, Sunshine. Everything okay?" Embarrassed the woman brushed her slightly messy hair out of her face and dusted herself down, not knowing what to say. By doing so she got a good look at the man's shirt. And at the big coffee stain, one couldn't overlook, on the blue fabric. This one was her fault!
„Oh ... my ... god, I'm so sorry. I ... I was somewhere else with my mind and I didn't pay enough attention", she frantically uttered, apologizing and explaining herself in one breath. However, the man just stopped her with a wave of his hand. Even now there was not the faintest trace of anger or annoyance on his face or in his voice as he finally got the chance to speak up: „Hey, calm down a little bit. It's fine, Sweetie. ... Nothing much happened, so catch your breath!" He smiled even brighter. „And by the way, I'm Derek Morgan. Would you kindly reveal your name to me?"
„Oh ... äh ... nice to meet you, Mr Morgan ..."
„Morgan please, just Morgan. Not Mister", interrupted Morgan and grimaced humorously.
„Okay, Morgan. ... I am Lea Shaw, ... Lea", introduced Lea herself and gave Morgan the hand.
„Please excuse me, but would that happened to be your bag?" asked a voice from right behind them. Surprised and a tiny little bit curious too, Lea turned around just to find herself in front of a slim young man. He couldn't be older than 25 and next to the thoroughly fit Morgan this man appeared to be rather skinny than slim. Somehow the gave the impression of a student and not of an agent of the FBI. But from what she knew such impressions could fool someone pretty good.
"Morning Junior!" greeted Morgan enthusiastically and slapped the man strongly on the back that he nearly lost his grip on the bag in his right hand. Lea's bag.
Hasty Lea accepted it back and expressed her thanks to both men clumsily and with many words.
Just what was that for a first impression, she thought sighing to herself. That had gone as bad as it could get, a far cry from her wishful thinking. The only silver lining was that at least it hadn't been her new boss whom she had crashed into. And, by the way, just where could she find his office?
Carefully she addressed Morgan and asked: „I have an important appointment with a certain agent called Aaron Hotchner. Would you happen to know where I can find his office?"
With a new arising curiosity she was eyed up by both agents in front of her and got the needed answer from the younger. In a gentle and pleasant voice, he explained to her how to get to the room in question.
„Thank you very much. It was nice to meet you", she exclaimed happily before she made her way through the glass door, leaving both men behind. Not knowing that a pair of eyes were following her.
„Hey Morgan, do you think she's the new addition to our team?"
„I think so, Reid. A little bit young in my opinion. What about you?"
„Well, she may be around two or three years younger than me, however when I first started here I was even younger. Oh, and she seemed to be a tad nervous", commented Reid quietly, his voice giving no way about the spark of interest igniting inside of him. Following Morgan to their respective desks and the main topic of their conversation still being the young woman while they waited for the rest of their team members to show up.