When the rest of the Agents woke, Skylar was sitting in her seat and reading Criminally Insane by Alex Dunsten while taking notes with a red ballpoint pen. It was more accurate than most of her other books, she thought as Spencer stretched with a yawn. She briefly glanced up at him, her pen hovering over the page before she turned her attention to the plane's window.
"How'd you sleep?" He asked, smoothing his hair down and looking at her.
She was silent for a moment as she debated whether or not she should tell him the truth. If she did it right then he wouldn't worry so much about her, but she was also trying to make a place for herself on the team and she wouldn't accomplish that if she lied on the first day. She let her eyes drop back down to her book as an answer.
He looked over at her accusingly. "You said you'd try."
"And I did." Skylar quietly closed the book and slid her things into her bag before turning to her brother. "The engines were too loud for me to get to sleep."
Before Spencer could respond, Hotch and Morgan wandered over.
Morgan dropped down beside Skylar and snapped his buckle in place. "I hope you're ready for this, cause we're about to land."
Skylar nodded, keeping her expression calm though inside her stomach was coiling into a mess of nerves as she followed his example by pulling the seatbelt across and snapping it in place. "Hey, if I upset you last night when I corrected what you said, I'm sorry."
Morgan looked over at her with a slightly shocked expression. After a moment, the expression faded and he just stared at her. "You didn't upset me."
Skylar opened her mouth to say something else but before she could the plane pitched forward and she quickly grabbed onto the sides of her seat, her stomach dropping. Morgan chuckled, earning a glare from her.
Hotch glanced up at her with slight amusement. "Not good with flying?"
Skylar managed to answer with only a slight shake in her voice as the plane touched down onto the ground and came to a gentle stop a few moments later. "Not good with landing."
With that, she unbuckled and hoisted her bag onto her shoulder before heading for the door of the plane which was slowly opening. She didn't mind the taking off or the flying bit, but the feeling she got when landing made her anxious to get off. She wasn't sure why but she always found herself worried that the plane was going to crash and even when it didn't she felt like it might explode and though she knew it was irrational she couldn't help how she felt.
Once she was off the plane, she pulled a rubberband out of her bag and tugged her brunette hair up into a ponytail before she turned her blue gaze to Spencer who was walking down the steps of the plane. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Okay for being on a plane." He responded as he walked past her and towards a car which she assumed was their ride to the station.
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The car ride to the station was short and Skylar found herself getting nervous again as she followed the Agents through the door. She had been waiting for this opportunity for forever and now that she was confronted with the actuality, she wasn't entirely sure how to proceed. She hadn't really thought about how the other police officers would react to a sixteen year old helping the FBI with a case concerning a serial killer. They were already going to be hesitant about Spencer. And he was 23, compared to her 16 years of age.
Each of the agents, including herself, were now each wearing a tag that identified who they were and for whatever reason that made Skylar even more nervous. Not only would they be looking at her as if she didn't belong there - which she supposed in their eyes she didn't - but they would also know who she was.
Gideon seemed slightly different in demeanor as he carried his bag through the front door. His gaze was set straight ahead and he was walking rather fast. He seemed anxious and she couldn't help but wonder about what had happened. After all, he had seemed calm on the plane.
Morgan hit Spencer gently on his shoulder before he motioned towards Gideon as they walked forward. "He never stands with his back to the window. When I was between him and a doorway, he asked me to move."
"That's hyper vigilance. It's not uncommon in post traumatic stress disorder." Spencer explained as he came to a stop. His tone was slightly defensive and angry and Skylar glanced up at him quickly before looking to Hotch who had just approached.
Post traumatic stress, huh? Now she was really curious about what had happened. What could make a profiler get like that? He had to have seen a lot of terrible things, so what had been too terrible?
"Just how much disorder are we talking about?" Morgan demanded, his tone holding a hint of anger.
Hotch glanced down before turning to him. "Morgan, it's been six months. Everything's okay."
His tone sounded reassuring and yet it was also clear that he was putting Morgan in his place.
Skylar watched as Morgan headed off, followed by Spencer. Hotch, however, hung back with her. "How are you doing so far?"
"I'm fine." She answered, glancing up at him in slight surprise since he hadn't said much to her since she'd met him. She honestly hadn't expected him to say anything to her after awhile, she had figured that he was watching to see how she would handle the case. Judging from a far, so as not to get attached.
"Well, I hope you're ready for what's next." He told her before he started forward again. She followed and soon found herself in a room full of police officers and what might have been reporters. "This is Special Agent Gideon, Special Agent Morgan, our expert on obsessional crimes, Special Agent Reid-"
Gideon quickly cut Hotch off. "Dr. Reid."
"Dr. Reid, our expert on, well, everything." Hotch corrected before motioning to Skylar. "Agent Reid who just started with the BAU." As he introduced her, Skylar soon found herself confronted with disbelieving stares and kind of amused glances. They obviously thought this was a joke of some kind. Skylar turned and set her bag down as Hotch continued to speak. "And after two years busting my butt in this office, I hope you remember me."
Everyone chuckled at Hotch's joke and Skylar turned to watch Gideon who was looking at a map, still with that new demeanor. Something had definitely happened with him, something bad.
"He's willing to travel with the body." Gideon was quiet and yet made sure everyone heard him as he spoke.
"Then he drives a vehicle capable of concealing one." Hotchner said as he looked to Gideon. Skylar nodded, letting her eyes scan the entire board. It would have to be large and able to blend in without too much notice.
"One in seven point four drivers in Seattle drives an SUV." Spencer said, turning away from the map he was looking at as Morgan looked at some of the other things the police had set up for them.
"Explorer with tinted windows." Morgan suggested as Skylar quietly walked over to look at the map and the pictures beside Gideon.
Spencer shook his head. "Explorers rate higher with women."
"But how do we know it's his car?" Morgan inquired. "Ted Bundy drove a VW Bug."
"Even if it's not his car, he would try to make it look like his so no one would get suspicious enough to think he'd stolen it." Skylar murmured, finding herself looking at pictures of Melissa Kirsch, Anne Crushing, Amy Haberland, and Sondra Watts. There were pictures of them both alive and dead and all of them were killed in the same fashion, though as it progressed through the victims it became a bit more advanced as the killer adjusted his method. Definitely learning.
"What about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotchner asked from behind her. That was possible. Skylar turned away from the pictures and went to stand beside Spencer, picking a pencil up off the desk and twirling it between her fingers.
"Jeeps are more masculine." Spencer answered, turning back to the map.
"We all know how an unsub feels about asserting his masculinity." Gideon said as he turned to face everyone else.
"When did the Bureau become involved in the case?" Hotchner asked, walking over to look at the pictures before he crossed his arms and turned to look at the Chief. Skylar followed his gaze and found herself looking at a partially Asian man who had graying hair, dark skin, and was wearing a brown suit.
"After the fourth body. He dumped that one out of state." The Chief's tone was morose.
"On purpose." Hotchner turned his attention to Gideon, Skylar, and Spencer.
"If so, knowledge of law enforcement does suggest a criminal record." Spencer said as he walked past Gideon and Skylar.
"Or that he watches television." Morgan turned away from Hotchner and held a hand out to the Chief. "May I?"
"So you wanna see our suspect list?" Another high authority man asked with his hands in the pockets of his light brown suit.
"No, we won't look at a suspect list until after we come up with a profile." Hotchner turned to the man. "It keeps our perspective unbiased."
"When do we sit down with your taskforce?" Gideon wondered, still looking at the pictures.
"4:00." Skylar responded for the man in a distracted voice as she continued examining the pictures.
"How'd you know that?" The man requested, the irritation in his voice enough to cause her to look over at him.
She pointed towards the door of an office. "I saw the schedule on the desk in there."
Morgan looked up from the file he was reading before speaking in disbelief. "An accurate profile by 4:00 today?"
"That's not a problem." Gideon said as he walked past Hotchner, Morgan, and Skylar.
"Agent Gideon, where would you like to start?" Hotchner asked as he followed him to the other side of the room. Skylar headed over as well.
Gideon glanced back at them before pointing to one of the photos. "At the site of the last murder."
"Alright." Hotchner said before he turned to Morgan. "Morgan, go with Gideon. Skylar, you're with me and Reid."
Soon Skylar found herself in front of a very loud Golden Retriever.
"Sandy, no, no, no." The owner said, pulling her away from them. He had bright red hair, pale skin, and was wearing jeans with a light pink and white striped button up. He looked up to the three of them. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay. It's what we call the Reid effect." Hotchner reassured, motioning towards Reid. "Happens with children too." Skylar glanced up at her brother who was glaring slightly in confusion at Hotchner. "I'm Agent Hotchner. This is Special Agent Dr. Reid and Agent Reid, his sister."
"You look too young to have gone to medical school and you look like you aren't even out of high school." The owner of the dog said as he led Sandy into the living room. Skyler glanced around the house as they were led into the living room.
"They're 's. Three of them." Spencer said as they walked into the living room.
"And I graduated high school early." Skylar commented, throwing a glance at David over her shoulder.
"Are you geniuses or something?" The man asked curiously. Skylar looked over at him. She wouldn't say she was a genius. She just started reading books on all of those subjects when she was two.
"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified-but I do have an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute." Spencer answered, his hands clasped in front of him. Show off, Skylar thought as she stared up at him before glancing at the man who looked shocked and a little confused. Spencer seeing this, summed up what he had just said. "Yes, I'm a genius. And so is she, though for different reasons."
With that Spencer nodded and started to walk around the living room again just in time for Sandy to decide to bark at Skylar and try to jump up on her. Skylar frowned down at the dog unsure if she should pet her or not. She was definitely lonely.
Hotchner looked down and scratched the dog behind her ears. "Sandy, you get a lot of attention, don't you?"
"Yeah, Heather loves this dog." The man said, looking down at her while Skylar moved over to the dresser and started looking through a pile of papers. "I feed her when Heather's away. Usually, she's fine, but..." He glanced down before looking back up again. "Lately, she won't eat. It's like she senses something's wrong."
Spencer just coming back from what he was looking at passed Skylar and started speaking while gesturing with his hands. "Not sense, smell. Our...Apocrine sweat gland releases secretions in response to emotional stress."
"Sandy's worried because she knows you are." Hotchner translated for David.
Skylar looked at him for a moment before turning to look down at Sandy. Sometimes it surprised her with how intuitive animals could be.
"David, does your sister drive a Datsun Z?" Spencer asked from where he was looking through papers though when Skylar looked over she saw that he was staring down at one in particular.
"No, but she's in the market for one. How'd you know?" David was still scratching Sandy behind the ears to keep her calm. Spencer held up a magazine and looked over at them and as Skylar peered at the cover Sandy again started barking. Skylar startled back and David smiled apologetically before grabbing Sandy's collar. "Come on, Sandy."
As Sandy was led away Skylar walked over to Spencer who had just finished flipping through the magazine and now slammed it shut before turning to Skylar and Hotchner. "There's an immediate relationship established between a buyer and a seller, a level of trust." He looked back down to the magazine. "If I want to coax a young woman into my car..." He trailed off and looked back up to Skylar and Hotchner.
"Offer her a test drive." Hotchner finished, his arms now crossed over his chest.
Spencer nodded and looked back down to the magazine.