Hi again! Okay for this chapter, I don't know much about the FBI as I am not an American. I don't know if in the academy there are specialist sectors but I'm going to pretend there are here. Enjoy!

Upon the return to D.C, Aaron did exactly as he promised for Joey. After speaking with Strauss, Joey was automatically enrolled in the FBI academy, mainly training to become a medic. She continued to study at the university, but elected to take her classes in the evening. She knew it would be tough but she'd been assured by Aaron that with her skills and knowledge, she would be able to pass most of the training within a couple of months and would possibly be able to graduate within six to eight months. The part she most looked forward to was her placement within the BAU. As an FBI cadet, she was to choose one department within the FBI to train under and where she would work once she had graduated. Immediately, she chose the BAU and requested for her training supervisor to be Spencer as she knew he had a bit more time than the others in evenings and weekends and would be able to give more time to help her pass quickly. Spencer agreed to it and she was signed over to his care the following day.

It had been almost a month since she'd joined the academy, and already she'd managed to pass her written and oral exams. The only practical exams she had to pass to graduate were her general fitness, firearms and first aid training. Then she had two weeks of medical exams that were both physical and written. She knew she'd be fine with the medical exams and first aid, but she was slightly more concerned with the physical fitness and outright scared of the firearms training and exam. Fortunately, Morgan was more than prepared to help out with the fitness and Aaron had already stated he was in charge of her firearms training.

"Okay Joey, line up your sights so that you can see the target clearly. Keep both eyes open, or you won't be able to track should your target run. Right, now focus on the target and shoot."

Joey did as Aaron instructed and fired, grinning triumphantly when the bullet went straight through the target's head. She looked up at Aaron, who had a shocked expression on his face.

"Umm, okay. That was pretty good Joey. Try again."

Seven shots later, the target, had it been a really person, would most definitely have been dead. Every shot hit a part of the body that would have been a kill shot. Aaron was stunned, not expecting her to be so good. He gave her an encouraging hug before declaring practice over as she had a lecture starting in two hours and had to get back to DC.

"That was brilliant. Next time, we'll start working with moving targets. If you kill all of them, I'm entering you into the exam early so you'll be one step closer to graduating and joining the team."

Joey nodded enthusiastically before skipping out of the room and up to the BAU office. She saw Morgan talking to an attractive looking woman and rolled her eyes, then smiled warmly when she saw Spencer at his desk, hastily writing something down. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder then walked over to her training officer.

"Hey Spencer."

Spencer jumped and smiled when he saw her standing next to him. He eyed the folder and gave her a questioning glance.

"You gave me a mock crime setup and asked me to use what I knew to put a profile together and try to figure out the case." She told him.

Spencer's eyes widened as he took the folder and skimmed through it.

"This is pretty impressive stuff Joey. There are a couple of areas you need to work on, but I can go through them with you another time. When are you free?"

Joey paused to think.

"Well, I have a lecture all about cancer treatments then a lecture about microbiology. They finish around 7pm so I guess I could swing by yours after if that's okay? I'll even cook for you."

She winked and he blushed slightly as he lowered his head to his paperwork. He cleared his throat.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. See you at about 7.30?"

Spencer nodded and Joey smiled before leaving. Spencer watched her leave with a smile on his face, but when he saw the smirk Morgan was sending his way, he quickly dropped the smile and turned to Joey's folder, marking areas she needed to improve on.

Joey sat through her lectures but mentally, she wasn't really there. The longer she spent time at the BAU, the more she wanted to be there full-time. She loved medicine but her heart was no longer into becoming a doctor. She frowned at her textbook. The past five years had been leading up to this. Five years, only to go and change her mind within a few months of living with her aunt and uncle.

"Miss Hotchner?"

Joey jerked her head up and looked at her lecturer.

"Sorry, what was that?" she said apologetically.

"I asked you if you knew the structure of neuron tissue."

Joey nodded and told him, not caring that he looked surprised. She didn't tell him she had already finished the textbook, nor did she tell him that when she took a practice exam on the subject with Spencer, she'd aced it with no problems. As the lecturer moved back to his podium, Joey suddenly felt as though she was living in the wrong life. She looked around the room, seeing the rest of her group writing notes, listening to the lecturer or looking at the textbook, each one of them with the same expressions on their faces: interest. It was at that moment Joey realised she was bored, not just of the lecture, but of everything at college.

With that thought, she began to pack her things away and silently left the room, ignoring the questioning looks, whispers and confused people that watched the door shut behind her. She glanced down at the textbook in her arms and sighed, hoping she'd made the right decision. She walked over to the administration office and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Joey went in and sat down in front of the desk.

"Ah, Joey. What can I do for you?"

"I want to transfer courses. I don't think being a doctor is for me anymore."

The officer looked at her in surprise. When she first met the young woman, she'd been very impressed and in awe at how intelligent she was and how much she'd already achieved academically despite being only twenty one.

"Are you sure? You can only transfer courses once. And it's already three months into the course, there will be a lot of work to catch up with."

Joey nodded, suddenly confident in her decision.

"Yes I'm sure. I know it will be a lot of work, but the subject I've chosen means I will have a lot of help. Off the top of my head, I know of at least 6 people that would bend over backwards to help and they're already training me in the area."

"Really? Which area is that?"

"The FBI. I'm enrolled part time at the academy and I'm training to be a medic as part of the Behavioural Analysis Unit. My uncle's unit chief and saw I had potential. His boss agreed and enrolled me to the academy the next day."

The woman looked even more surprised and in awe. She shook her head, couldn't believe just how young Joey was and already at the FBI academy. She knew from experience it usually took around two years to graduate and to get to the BAU took about 5 years to accomplish. Here Joey was, only twenty one and already a part of the BAU. All she needed was the paperwork to qualify.

"So I guess you'll be enrolling on a criminology course?"

"Yes. Are there any courses that combine criminology, psychology and possibly forensics?"

"Not all three. However you can combine any two of them."

Joey thought about her options and decided quickly.

"Criminology and psychology is the best way to go."

A few clicks of the mouse later and it was done. Joey smiled as the timetable was handed to her and within a few minutes she found herself sitting in the head of department's office. The head of department was an ex FBI agent herself, now known as Barbara Jennings but previously known as SSA Jennings, unit chief of the homicide department.

"Well Miss Hotchner, I can see you have a very impressive resume for your age. I was almost thirty before I even came close to studying a master's degree and you already have one. Why do you want to transfer courses?"

Joey explained about her admission to the FBI and her wishes to learn as much as she could about the field she would be working in. Barbara smiled.

"That's why the name is familiar. You're Aaron's niece aren't you?"

Joey nodded.

"Yeah, I am. He and Strauss authorised my admission and Dr Spencer Reid is my training officer."

Barbara looked surprised at that.

"I only met Reid once before I came here full time. Isn't he a bit young to be a training officer?"

"That's what Strauss said, but we decided it would be good for him to teach me to give him more teaching experience. Also, we're nearer in age and he doesn't realise socialise that often so it's a way to get him more people skills and for me to connect more with people nearer my age. He's a great teacher. The only thing he lets the others teach me is how to use a gun and how to chase criminals. Anything physical is not his forte."

Barbara chuckled and shook her head.

"Well, you can't argue that logic then. Anyway, welcome to the department. We won't tell anyone you're a cadet because it may upset a few of the students. If you just come with me, I can take you to meet your lecturers and they can give you a list of textbooks as well as the assignments you'll need to catch up on."

By the time Joey left the campus, it was almost 7.45 and she had her arms full of papers, folders and a couple f textbooks she'd been lent until she got her own copies. By the time she arrived at Spencer's apartment, it was almost 8 and when he answered the door, she could see the worry showing in his eyes. She smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. I got a bit sidetracked."

One of the books shifted in her arms and she flinched as the pile began to slip out of her grip. Spencer caught the toppling stack of paper and glanced down, his eyes widening slightly in surprise as he read one of the book titles.

"Introduction to Criminology?" he questioned.

"Can I come in to answer that one?" she asked.

Spencer stepped to the side and let her in. She dropped her bag next to the door and placed the stack of papers carefully next to it before moving to the kitchen. As she rustled through the cupboards and found enough ingredients to put a decent meal together, she explained her new plans to Spencer, who looked impressed.

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" he asked.

"Yes, it is. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I'm at the academy all day, Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Friday mornings I'm at college and finally I do medic training on Friday afternoons with extra medic training on Saturdays. Sundays will be when I get all my assignments and essays done."

Spencer shook his head, stunned.

"That is a very packed schedule. Are you sure you won't burn out? And what about if we get a case you have to come on for your training?"

"It's all sorted. The college have said that they will go by my speed. So if I say to them I'm ready to sit an exam three months early, they will allow it. Also they will let me have any time off I need for cases. Speaking of, the one you gave me to try and solve was a bit too easy. I know there are areas to improve on, but still, I figured it out in about an hour."

Spencer snorted.

"I know you did. I made it easier deliberately. Are you sure you want to go over that today r do you want to star catching up with college work?"

Joey smiled softly at him as she served the food onto plates.

"Probably both. I have a free day tomorrow so I'll go over the case with you then go home and start on the work."

"Or, you can just stay here and I can help you with both and get double the load done. If we both put our heads together we can probably get you caught up in double time."

Joey nodded.

"True. With your eidetic memory and IQ of a genius combined with my wit and charm and IQ of 160, I'm sure it will be okay."

"Deal"

Once they finished their meal, Joey called Aaron to fill him in on the day's events and to say she was staying at Spencer's that night. He was supportive of her career plan changes and agreed with them that it would be better for Joey to stay there to catch up on work. He warned her that Jack was ill and had been sick all day and the last thing Joey needed was to be ill when she needed to do a lot of work. As Joey laughed and finished the conversation, she looked at Spencer and smiled to see him the most relaxed he'd been in weeks. She saw he was also watching her and she rubbed the back of her neck nervously, wishing his eyes didn't turn her brain to mush every time she saw them.

"So, my case file." She spoke.

Spencer coughed awkwardly as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and pulled out her file.

"Yes. Right, you're analysis was a bit lengthy and you could cut it down a bit..."

Midnight came and passed, then one o'clock also came and passed yet the pair stayed on the sofa, discussing the work Joey had missed, each as animated and interested as the other. By the time it hit three in the morning, Joey put an end to the conversation.

"I think we'd better stop there or we won't be getting any sleep tonight. The last thing either of us need is to try and play catch up on sleep because we let our sleeping patterns go nuts."

Spencer laughed softly and the pair of them tucked the work away in a corner of the living room. Spencer then turned the TV on and smiled when he saw there was a Star Trek marathon on. Joey moved into the kitchen and came back with two hot chocolates. She gave one to Spencer and turned the light off before sitting next to him to watch the show. Half an hour later, Joey moved slightly and leant herself on Spencer's shoulder. Spencer glanced down and she sat up again.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Spencer laughed.

"That's fine. I wasn't uncomfortable. It was actually...a nice feeling."

Joey smiled and put her head back on his shoulder. They were silent for a few minutes before Spencer spoke.

"I felt JJ's stomach today and the baby kicked. It was such a strange feeling, and I have to admit it kind of freaked me out a little" he said, with a soft chuckle in his voice.

For a brief moment, Joey's heart stabbed painfully at the memory of her own baby kicking her and felt tears well up. Spencer noticed her lack of response and at first thought she was sleeping. When he looked and saw she was trying not to cry, he immediately grew concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

With every fibre of her being, Joey wanted to say yes, that everything was fine. However, when she opened her mouth to say it, a sob came out instead. Her shoulders began to shake and she took a few deep breathes to calm herself.

"I'm sorry. It's just...the last baby I felt kick was my own." She sad very softly.

Spencer froze, not sure if he'd heard right and gazed into her eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"The only people who know are Aaron, Hayley, JJ and now you. I was pregnant when I was 17. My boyfriend came home drunk one night, we got into a fight and he pushed me down the stairs. I was battered but lived. The baby didn't. He died in my arms. He was so tiny, only 1lb. He barely fit in my hand and he just, his lungs just couldn't..."

She broke off, her tears finally claiming her. Spencer immediately put his arms round her and hugged her, gently rocking backwards and forwards to comfort her. Eventually stilled and he kept his arms round her.

"I think about him all the time. I called him Caleb Joshua and I always think about what may have happened if he lived. What would he look like, whether I would have been a good mom to him, whether he would be intelligent, it haunts me."

Spencer didn't reply immediately, but when he did he spoke softly.

"I think he would have been a very intelligent and handsome boy, after all he had you for a mom. And for the record, I think you'd have been and one day will be, an amazing mother. There's no way you could be a bad mom, you're too much of a beautiful person inside and out not to be."

Joey looked up at him with tears in her eyes, then buried her face in his chest and once more, he rocked her as she let out the pain she'd been holding back for the past three years.