Chapter 24
The next morning Spencer woke and looked down at the cat in his arms. "Good morning". He said.
Tristan woke up, blinked, stretched up to rub his chin with a rumbling purr. He licked that same spot again then launched from the bed like a rocket. Out the window and down the fire escape he went.
"Can opener." Spencer said. "Must be."
He got up and got started with his day.
BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA
One thing the team had noticed was that when Emily Prentiss called them to the conference room for a case she was serious and focused and professional. Lives were on the line and they were going to concentrate and get it done. When she called them for some internal, administrative matter she was chipper and snarky and almost cheerful. She smiled ever bigger to cover the fact that someone somewhere who thought they were the most important thing in heels was pissing her off today and she was about to throttle them.
"Good morning my team! The sun is shining. The birds are singing. Let's all go to the conference room." Emily sang out as she walked through the bullpen with a big mug of coffee and a box of doughnuts. She even skipped a little as she turned the corner on the catwalk.
"Oh Jesus." Luke said.
"I do not want to go up there." Matt replied.
"At least she's not doing her broadway dance impression." JJ said.
"How bad is it?" Penelope asked as they all went to tank up on coffee before heading into the fray.
"She was skipping." Spencer said.
"Oh, that is not good."
They assembled in the conference room to find Emily grinning from ear to ear. "Garciiiiia. Reiiiiid. What did you say to the Q consul general over the week-end?"
"I, ahhh." Spencer couldn't help the stammering. "I didn't really speak to the consul general as much as I spoke to her husband, who is also my doctor, and it was rather private and…"
"We talked about where Q babies come from." Penelope said.
Spencer considered sliding under the table.
"I assume in the usual manner." Dave said.
"No." Penelope replied. "There's a lab involved."
Matt immediately pulled out his wallet and passed some money off to Luke.
"Are you saying Derek was right?" JJ asked.
"Yeah, kinda." Penelope replied.
"People!" Yep, Emily was still pissed. "Did you say anything about how we investigate serial sexual assault crimes?"
"Um, it kinda came up." Spencer said,
"Yeah, in passing." Penelope said.
"Do you know that the Q language does not have a word for rape?" Spencer said. "It translates as 'war crime'."
"Yeah, well, after the consul general's report in order to prevent any 'war crimes' from happening on our watch we are getting an observer." Emily said. "He's on his way here as we speak."
There was a groan from the table. It was understandable, to do what they did they all had to know each other very well. Having to find the new balance when someone left or joined the team was always a pain in the ass. That it was an alien with a completely unknown background made it that much worse.
"Observer." Dave said. "You mean babysitter,"
"I am not going to say that." Emily replied.
"I don't need a babysitter!" Spencer said. This was the life disruption he was talking about. "I've lived here my whole life, and I've never been kidnapped or assaulted or…." Wait.
Damn it.
The team was quiet a long moment. Finally Tara looked at Emily. "You know, it's not the worst idea."
Emily finally calmed down. "Yeaaaahhhh, when you think about it."
"So who are we getting?" Luke asked.
Emily sat down and put a personnel file up on the screen. Green eyes, shaggy brown hair… "Major Sinaralo Belasco. He's the head of security for the consulate. Apparently he's the only one local qualified."
"What is he, twelve?" Luke asked.
"Thirty-five."
"Look at the gene pool." Dave said, gesturing to Spencer.
"Eighteen year veteran, ten of those in special forces all of it very active duty. Only assigned to their State Department four years ago." Emily said. "He has a list of weapons qualifications, speaks multiple languages, first aid certifications, survival in different environments…"
"Great. He's a snake eater." Dave said.
"Hey! It's very tasty grilled." Luke replied with a grin as he reached over to Emily's computer to flick the file to his and Matt's.
"Apparently their State Department includes their version of the FBI, he worked a number of investigations before being assigned here." Emily finished. "So he has some kind of experience."
"How did he end up assigned here?" Tara asked.
"They like to assign families together, or so they said." Penelope replied. "His sister is the consul general."
"Oh even better." JJ replied.
"I do not need a baby sitter!" Spencer protested again.
Emily gave him that look.
He groaned and rested his head on his folded arms.
JJ patted him on the back. "At least now you'll have someone who will room with you."
"It's they, by the way." Spencer said as they were moving back to work.
"Excuse me?" Emily asked.
"According to Essa…Dr. Linalter…Sin is a house Companion. I'm still not certain exactly what that means but he said all Companions are considered gender neutral. So the/them/their pronouns and so on."
"Okay, totally respect someone's personal choices, and I know this is going to suck, but if we get called on a rural case that is not going to fly." JJ said. "We will get way too much pushback to function effectively. We're going to have to ask them to pick one. Their call which."
"I'll ask, and apologize profusely for our collective politics." Emily replied. "And what's with the gloves?"
"I'm trying to embrace my culture." Spencer replied.
"Spence! JJ protested. "I was joking!"
"I know! It actually matters."
Emily sighed. "As long as you can shoot with them."
Sin arrived about thirty minutes later. They weren't what anyone expected, a good foot or more shorter than Spencer. Heck, they were even shorter than JJ, who was the tiny one on the team. At least as lanky a build as Spencer though. How this person managed a military career was anyone's guess.
Sin walked in the door and Spencer was immediately hit by that sense of being home again, like he could just relax and be and be perfectly safe. Pheromones, he thought, just the right set. This could be a problem. I will not let this be a problem.
Someone must have told him how to dress like a cop because other than the gloves and the colors he was dressed nearly identically to Luke, cargo pants, black t-shirt, loose over shirt covering any weapons they might be carrying. They brought something that might be a briefcase, might be a messenger bag, probably held a computer and a brand new duffel that was probably a go bag.
By common agreement JJ had spent the past 30 being moved back into her old office. This left a desk for Sin at their bullpen pod with the other alien and the other two Special Forces vets. "At least I didn't have to move all my old files out of there." She joked.
Now, as Emily showed Sin their new desk, Matt and Luke stopped them. "So, they told you downstairs that observers don't get to go armed?" Matt said.
"Yes, he checked his blast pistol into the armory for now." Emily said. "I already asked. Once he qualifies with our weapons he can carry again."
"Yeah but see, we're both former special forces." Luke said. He turned to Sin. "Give it up."
"Excuse me?" Emily asked.
"Start with your backup." Matt said.
Sin smiled, put his foot on the chair, unclipped what turned out to be a small pistol from his ankle, popped a battery pack, and put it on the desk.
"Now the knife." Luke said.
Sin pulled a knife with about a six in blade from a hidden sheath in his pants and put it on the desk.
"Now the other one." Matt said.
Another four inch blade came out of his other boot.
"Keep going." Luke said.
This time it was a good eight inches, and it was in a sheath hanging down his back.
"I don't think you're done." Matt said.
Something that looked like an overgrown pen light joined the pile.
"What is that?" Luke asked.
"Plasma cutter." Sin replied. "Comes in handy in close quarters." His voice was soft and kind of worn. He turned the pen light on, causing a bright glow at the tip, which he slashed across the corner of the steel desk.
The corner fell to the ground with the reek of burned metal.
'Holy crap." Emily said.
Neither Matt nor Luke looked surprised. "What's that thing on the side of your belt?" Luke asked.
"Oh you're not getting that." Sin said.
"What is it?" Matt asked.
"Plasma staff."
"What?"
"Light saber?" Spencer could not have heard that right. "Real light saber?"
Sin took a few steps back and ignited the two glowing blades, one from each end of the tube You could feel the heat rolling off them. "It's keyed to my DNA as a safety feature, no one else can use it." He said as he expertly spun it into a fighting stance. "You know, you're never going to fully disarm me anyway."
"And how do we explain that to the dudes at the armory?" Luke asked.
Emily sighed, "Keep it." She said, "Brave new world."
