"Chief Strauss," Reid said with a nod to his superior. "I'm glad that you have time to speak with me."

"Sit down, Agent Reid," Strauss said with a nod. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to put in a request for a transfer," Reid said softly, but sincerely.

"Excuse me?" Strauss had not expected that. Perhaps immediately after that Prentiss fiasco, but now, months after that?. "Why?"

Reid was nervous, but spoke fairly confidently. "I don't trust the team anymore," he said bluntly. "I keep second-guessing their decisions. One of the members of my team told me it was my own fault I didn't know Emily had survived. I wanted to put in a request earlier, but.." Reid hesitated.

"But what, Agent Reid?" Strauss' voice was sharp.

Reid held Strauss' eye. "I was waiting for you to get better," he said. "I noticed you were ill and I'm glad your treatment was successful."

Strauss fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond. "Thank you, Agent Reid," she said after a few moments. "Where do you want to be transferred to?"

Reid thought for a moment. "I want to be within five hours of Las Vegas by plane, so no Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico. I'd prefer to stay in Virginia or DC, but I understand if that's not possible. I'd like to stay in the field, because that means you see immediate results. I like being directly involved with solving cases, saving hostages, apprehending criminals. I don't want to end up in a think tank somewhere. Another BAU unit would be ideal, but I realize that would be a long shot." He was silent for a moment, during which Strauss interrupted.

"Why would that be a long shot, Agent Reid?" Strauss was curious.

Reid gave a strange sort of shrug. "I was lucky with this unit, because agents Hotchner and Gideon knew how to lead me. But I know I'm hard to supervise, because intellectually speaking, I can often run circles around people if I want to. With Agent Gideon, I was too cowed, I guess. With Agent Hotchner – well, I trusted him so I didn't see the need to, and as an attorney, he was used to countering such techniques, I guess."

"But you don't trust him anymore," Strauss said, her voice a little softer now.

"No," Reid replied. "I don't trust the information they give me. Most of all, I don't appreciate their double standards."

"Which double standards?" Strauss was genuinely curious.

Reid gazed at Strauss for a minute or so. He wasn't staring, more.. measuring, assessing. "I will answer your question if I have your word nothing I say will be mentioned in any report, nor will my words be the cause of someone's transfer, termination or forced retirement. I also want your word that I will be transferred within six months. If not, I will resign. Are we in agreement?"

It was better than nothing, Strauss supposed, but she was surprised when Reid stated he would resign if he wasn't transferred within six months. "We are," she said.

"Jennifer Jareau hugged me after she told me Prentiss had died. That is unprofessional, but it gave her words more conviction. After Prentiss out to be alive after all, she claimed she was forced to do everything, didn't have any choice, it was all professional, her job. That's a double standard. Jennifer Jareau, again, told me it was my own fault that I didn't know that Prentiss was alive – I should have read her micro-expressions better – but nowadays when I'm doing just that – reading everyone's micro-expressions, looking for deceit – they become angry. I have had headaches for the last year or so, since shortly before we were informed of Prentiss' dead. The doctor does not exclude the possibility of them being psychosomatic. They drastically increased after Prentiss' dead, yet she blames me for the ulcer she had when she was in Paris. We were not allowed to know anything about Prentiss being alive, yet I know one of my team members was in regular contact with her." Reid shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. "There are other things, but most of them are just minor annoyances that have been bothering me for years but that I always dismissed."

Strauss was intrigued, and Reid certainly made a good point. "Such as?"

Reid thought for a moment. "Disrespect towards anybody, including you. If I may be blunt – you may be annoying sometimes, but it's your job to be so. It's your job to make sure we're playing by the book, and any reprimands you issue are usually quite fair, although sometimes slightly mistimed. Everyone, even Rossi, counts on me to do three quarters of their paperwork. T I have never complained about it, but they don't even do it openly – they just sneak the files in my pile when I'm not looking, so I couldn't prove it if it would come to that. I'm always introduced as 'Dr.', never as 'Agent'." Reid held up a hand. "I realize what I said to Senator Cramer, but when someone tries to ascertain authority over me he does not have by calling me "Agent", I will counter it." Reid was silent for a moment. "In the field, I'm an Agent, not a doctor. Yet I'm always introduced as 'Dr.', a title which is not only irrelevant, but also impractical, because it does not inform people that I'm a Federal Agent and thus have authority. I have asked Agent Hotchner to stop doing this, but he chose not to honor that request."

Strauss raised her eyebrows. That was actually quite a good point, and that last point alone would have been enough for other people (those who were more self-centered or those who wanted everyone to know how important they were) to ask for a transfer.

"Being misrepresented can actually cause a lot of problems. I see your point. Are there any other issues I should be aware of?"

"I can give you more examples of double standards, but these are the most major," Reid replied. "While disobeying orders not to go anywhere alone, Seaver returned evidence that hadn't been cleared yet, and behaved completely unprofessional to a victim's family to clear her conscience alleviate her own misplaced feelings of guilt. It nearly got her killed. In return, she's offered to finish her training at the BAU, where she's treated as a full agent which she wasn't. She asked in the presence of local detectives whether or not a severely autistic ten-year-old could have killed his parents, she presented profiles – which she shouldn't have been allowed to do, as she wasn't a profiler – and misinformed local police. What she said about cutting behavior was ridiculous. On top of that, she was amazingly disrespectful to superior agents, which I personally don't mind, but again, I think it's important to show a united front in the presence of local police, who are already frantic. And I also did most of her paperwork."

Strauss gave Reid an alarmed look. "Is this all true? Because I was not informed of that."

Reid nodded. "I know. And yes, it's true. I doubt you would have placed her on the team if you had known."

"I likely wouldn't have," Straus admitted.

"That's what I mean by a lack of respect from the team to you. Not allowing you to make an informed decision is.. Well, I don't really have words for it."

Strauss gave Reid an assessing gaze. "Agent Thomson is retiring in three months," she said. "I'd like for you to replace him."

Reid blinked. "You want me to be a Unit Chief?"

"Yes," Strauss said. "You appear to have your values straight. I'd like you to start working with the team in two months."

Reid nodded. "Who of us is informing Agent Hotchner?"

Strauss' grin was feral. "Let's do it together," she said.

INSERT LINE

"What?!" Hotch nearly shouted. "You're transferring Reid?"

Strauss nodded solemnly. "I am, Agent Hotchner."

Hotch sighed. "Reid, are you OK with this?"

"Well, if I'm going to be transferred, I think transferring within the BAU is about as good as it can get," Reid said with a shrug. "I mean, if I have to leave our team, then staying within the BAU is about as good as it can get. If I was opposed to that team specifically, I would have resigned. God knows I get enough job offers." The last part he muttered to himself.

"Job offers?" Hotch said attentively.

Reid gave Hotch a look that clearly asked him if he was an idiot. "Hotch, you do realize my full title is SSA Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Spencer Reid MSc MSc MA BA BA? Do you really think the BAU is the only one who tried to snatch me, so to speak?"

Hotch looked embarrassed. "What others want you, then? Wait. I thought you had three doctorates and were working on your third BS."

"That was four years ago. Nowadays I have four doctorates, three Master's and two Bachelor's. I'm working on making a Master's out of one of those Bachelor's, by the way, although I think I'll go for another bachelor soon."

He had tactfully ignored the question about the other job offers.

"Let's go and inform the team, then. Chief Strauss, do you wish to inform the others personally?"

"I think I'll stay for a moment, Agent Hotchner," Strauss said with an amused look at Reid. She knew Reid was probably receiving daily job offers, who wouldn't want someone with his degrees?

In the conference room, when the whole team was together, Strauss spoke. "I am here to inform you that by the end of next month, Agent Reid is being transferred to another team," she said. Immediately, everyone started talking.

"WHAT?" Morgan was loudest. "You can't do that!"

During the next few minutes, everyone got angry on Reid's behalf, except Reid himself. Only Rossi noticed this. "Reid, are you okay with his?"

Reid shrugged. "I'm not so opposed that I'm resigning," he said. Rossi clearly took note of the non-answer, but didn't comment.

"Where are you going to, anyway?" Garcia asked, nearly in tears. "Are you going far?"

Reid smiled. "I'm staying in this building, Garcia. This floor, even. Don't worry."

"But where exactly are they putting you?" Prentiss spoke up from behind Reid.

Luckily, Strauss answered for him. "Agent Reid is taking over Agent Thomson's position as Unit Chief," she said matter-of-factly. "Now, if that was all, I should get on with my work. Good day."

The room had fallen silent. "They are making you Unit Chief?" Morgan spoke, simultaneous with similar statements all over the room.

Reid was actually somewhat bewildered at their surprise. "Morgan, they have offered me a position as Section Chief three times so far. I'm not that surprised that they are promoting me."

Morgan blinked. "Section Chief?"

Reid shrugged. "Yeah. People want to hire you when you're thirty and you've got four doctorates, two bachelor's and are working on a fourth Master's."

The room fell silent again, apparently surprised. Garcia winked at Reid. Reid wasn't surprised she'd known. "Do you get job offers often?" Hotch asked.

Reid shrugged. "Uh, often enough, I suppose. CIA has been increasing their offers – they are now sending me a letter every month. Other than that, I guess weekly offers from various government agencies, monthly from other FBI offices and units, and three or four letters a week from private organizations."

"And they never forced you to transfer?" JJ was skeptical, she didn't believe him, apparently. Too bad for her – Reid hadn't been lying.

"I negotiated a clause in my contract with the FBI," Reid shrugged. "They can force me to transfer internally, but not what happened with you – they can't force me to another agency, department or organization."

"Why would you want to do that? You were twenty or twenty-one by then!"

Reid snorted. "Prentiss, CIA has been sending me job offers ever since I was fifteen. I knew people wanted to hire me."

"Oh," Prentiss muttered. The others had fallen silent again.

Later that day, Rossi called Reid to his office. "You avoided a lot of questions," he said.

"I did," Reid replied.

"So, what's going on?" Rossi asked.

Reid shrugged. "I asked for a transfer."

"You asked for a transfer," Rossi replied faintly. "I can see why you would do that."

"You can?" Reid was slightly surprised.

Rossi just shrugged. "So, how did you end up as Unit Chief?"

Reid snorted. "I told her the only reason I hadn't put in a request earlier was because I knew she was ill and I said I was glad her treatment was successful. I then negotiated a deal – I would tell her why I was asking for a transfer, provided it wouldn't end up in a report, be the cause of anyone else transferring, or similar things. We then had a nice discussion on values and morals and she told me I could replace Thomson."

Rossi smiled slightly. "Good luck."

Reid also smiled. "I still have two months to finish your paperwork," he said dryly.

"You caught on to that, did you?" Rossi was surprised. He usually noticed things like when other people caught on to his tricks.

"First time you did it," Reid commented. "Tuesday during lunch, your third week. You should do your job sometimes, just to get used to it, you know?" His smile was slightly bitter. "I have enough practice with being an Unit Chief, I think. Morgan kept slipping me files even when he was a Chief. Only Hotch and JJ never did it, actually. And Garcia just asked my help, she wasn't exploiting me."

"I'm sorry," Rossi said sincerely. Reid was right – it was exploitation.

Reid shrugged. "What's done is done. But I'll go and finish my pile of paperwork. In fact, I think Morgan and Prentiss may already have added some files during my brief absence." He smiled again – again, slightly bitter – and left Rossi's office.

INSERT LINE

As a Unit Chief, Reid excelled.

His team members had been wary of him at first, of course. He remembered how that first meeting had gone.

"Team? This is Agent Reid, he will be replacing me after my retirement," Thomson introduced him.

"Are you that Doctor?" one of the team members asked.

Reid made a noncommittal movement. "Something like that, yes. But it's not really relevant. Within the FBI, I'm just another agent."

"You're from Hotchner's team, aren't you? Wasn't that that team who got an agent kidnapped down in Georgia and then had an agent temporarily dead?"

"How do you know I got kidnapped?" Reid blurted out.

Then the team fell silent. "Seriously? Everyone knows some guy got kidnapped and survived Russian Roulette and was buried in his own grave. You're saying that was you?"

Reid shrugged awkwardly. "I wasn't buried in my own grave, I just dug it. And Russian Roulette isn't really that difficult, because I could see when the bullet entered the chamber. But I didn't know that that case was well-known." Before the silence got awkward, Thomson spoke again.

"Agent Garret, was once with sex offences. Agent Evergreen, was once with counter-intelligence and usually handles the media. Agent Rijck, once from counterterrorism. Agent Caijo, multilingual and specialist on foreign cultures and sociology. Our Technical Analyst, Agent Polsan. Agent Solar is absent today, but he can handle just about any weapon and sometimes doubles as sharpshooter if there isn't one handy," Thomson introduced each member. "Agent Reid, why don't you tell them your specialism?"

Reid swallowed. "I have a few degrees, but I guess I specialize in geographical profiling," he said. "And statistics. I'm good at talking down unsubs."

"What are your degrees in?" Agent Rijck asked.

Reid tried to be nonchalant. "My doctorates are in psychology, mathematics, chemistry and engineering," he said.

The technical analyst – Reid recognized him, they had gone to MIT together, but had never spoken – spoke up. "And your other degrees?"

"You don't miss a lot, do you?" Reid smiled. "I have Master's in physics, sociology, and law. I'm working on a Master's in Literature – right now, that's a BA. I also have a BS in Accounting. So I'm pretty allround, I guess."

Thomson coughed. "Reid, allround usually means that you're not specialized. You're specialized in everything."

Reid shrugged. "I miss out on modern culture. I'm better at obscure things."

This drew laughs from all of the team. and they immediately hit off.

As a Chief, Reid kept Strauss informed of all developments, leading to Strauss making informed decisions. In the beginning, especially, Reid was often called back to his former team.

At one point, this had gotten annoying. Reid had walked into the bullpen of his previous team and asked Hotch if he could speak to the team as a whole. Bewildered, Hotch had gathered the team in the conference room.

"I like it that you miss me, but it's beyond annoying that you're calling me all the time," Reid had said bluntly. "I have my own cases to solve. I'm getting called at least twice a day because one of you wants to know something or wants some insight. From now on, I want everyone to send requests for help through official channels. You can't expect me to do the three jobs I was doing before and still solve my own cases."

That had his old team baffled. Hotch didn't understand something, though. "Three jobs?"

Reid shrugged. "Given that Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi and Seaver were all slipping me three quarters of their paperwork, thinking I didn't notice, I was doing about three jobs, yes."

Hotch was livid at his team.

But every other time there was a request, Hotch either brought it personally or it came through official channels. The old BAU team never really recovered, and Reid's team soon replaced them as the elite team. Reid's relations with his old team did recover somewhat, though – with Garcia, he was as close as he always had been. He kept in contact with Rossi, and, with a lesser frequency, with Hotch – although that was strictly professional. He was Henry's godfather, so of course he saw JJ and Will, but that relationship never really became whole again. He was civil with Prentiss and Morgan, but that was all. They never really forgave him for telling Hotch that they had been slipping him files.

It wasn't long before Reid's team became the elite team within the BAU. Earlier, it had always been Hotch's team who got the most difficult cases. Nowadays, it was Reid's.

Reid cared for his team and his teammates, and they also cared for him, as a person. They didn't believe he was infallible or knew everything. When Reid got his Master's in Literature, they unexpectedly turned up at his graduation.

He'd never had someone who came to his graduation before.

At the party in the break room, later that day – graduation was finished at twelve o'clock, so Reid had only taken off until one – Strauss stopped by to congratulate him. She showed him her eighteen months coin from AA – she had received it a week earlier. Reid insisted she'd stay and celebrate her own achievement. He then sent a text to Garcia, asking her to join them for the party. The other team members were out on a case.

"I'm sorry you left," Garcia said quietly to Reid. "But you look happy now. I missed that look, you know?" She then gave him two sloppy kisses on both of his cheeks.

"I am happy," Reid replied.

"I'm glad," Garcia said. "I tried to – you know – do a thing – I was going to put something in your file, to prevent your transfer. But they said you requested it."

Reid nodded. "I couldn't deal with the.. deceit.. anymore. The double standards."

"It's better now," Garcia said quietly. "They are keeping Strauss updated. Everyone is just doing their job. Hotch doesn't worry about his meetings with Strauss anymore – I think those really ate at him. We're all a little more honest now. But I miss you."

"I miss you too," Reid said just as quietly.