A.N: Hey guys so this is my first fanfic and it is something that has been nagging me for the last little while so I thought eh why not write it out and see how it goes. This will contain FEMSLASH as well as excessive nerdiness :P so if that's not your cup of tea (or other beverage) then please find something else to read on this wonderful site. So in case you haven't figured it out this is a Criminal Minds fic that will focus on Emily and J.J at some point in the future. It will be rated T but that may change later depending on how things work out. Also I'm Canadian (eh?) so if my spelling confuses you (especially any Americans) I apologize. Everything belongs to their respective owners and sorry for the long A.N

Stay awesome (reviews are appreciated) and enjoy :)


Emily Prentiss was many things. The daughter of an ambassador, accomplished agent, and closet nerd. An open book was not one of them. She did not wear her heart on her sleeve. Partly due to her upbringing and partly due to her job- Emily Prentiss did not like to advertise her feelings. Good thing too: as a profiler for the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI, privacy is inadvertently very difficult to keep. It really isn't their fault, their job is to read the minute behavioural quirks of individuals (and they are the best of the best). You have to assume that they are able to read their peers let alone the Unsubs. With this in mind the fact that Emily is still able to keep secrets from her BAU family is quite an accomplishment.

Her family- the members of the BAU identify themselves as each other's surrogate family. They spend 70% of their time with each other anyhow. She loved every single one of them and would defend them fiercely. The brutality they face is easier to deal with when you have a group that supports you so wholeheartedly.

Emily was musing over the details of a case she was reviewing at her desk in the bullpen of the BAU. Reid was taking a break from his mountain of files by flying through his latest novel at an almost comical speed, while Morgan was preparing to launch a pen at said agent's head. Emily had to bite back a laugh as Reid was smacked right in the forehead by Morgan's missile, startling him. Reid struggled to stay in his seat as he shot a glare back at Morgan who was howling with laughter in his seat. Reid took a crumpled up piece of paper and shot it back at the laughing agent. Morgan ducked just as the ball of paper sailed completely off target into the unsuspecting face of their boss, Hotch, as he was walking by while reading a file.

Hotch looked up to see a very sheepish looking Reid, Morgan shaking with laughter under his desk, and Prentiss biting her lip and pointedly looking away trying to contain her laughter. He shot a glare at Reid and Morgan and said " Behave yourselves you two. We have a case, round-table room in 10. Grow up Morgan." and with that he left for his office biting back a smile. Reid let out a breath while Morgan got out from under his desk.

"Why did he chew me out when you're the one who chucked the paper at his face?" Morgan asked with the grin still plastered on his face.

"He knew you started it Morgan, and we all know that Reid has no coordination so he can't really blame him anyhow." replied Prentiss.

"It's not my fault you hit me with the pen first. I was almost done that book too!" quipped Reid.

"It's not like you are going to forget your place in the book genius!" said Morgan.

The three of them bantered back and forth on their way to the conference room where Hotch, JJ, and Garcia were waiting. As they entered the room Emily sent a small smile towards JJ as she took her usual seat. Garcia takes the remote and begins the presentation.

" Ok my lovelies, brace yourselves because this is a weird one and you know that we have seen the epitome of weird so me thinking this is weird is well, weird." she says in one breath.

"This case is local so we can do the entire debrief in here and meet the D.C police afterwards." says Hotch without looking up from his file.

"What the bossman said." replies Garcia "Ok my lovelies here we go. Here are John Carson, Gary Timmons, and Jessica Scheckter." she said as the images appeared on the screen. " John was found dead inside his condo two years ago, Gary was found dead in a park a year and a half ago, and Jessica was found three days ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial."

She continues " All three had single stab wounds to the heart which killed them almost instantly. There are no signs of a struggle at any of the crime scenes and no witnesses. The victims all lived in the D.C area but that is one of the only connections that the LEOs have made with the victims. Timmons was middle aged and married while Carson and Sheckter were single. The victims were of either middle to high class and different areas of employment. None of the victims knew each other and background checks are all clean at a glance." says the tech analyst.

"So how do the police know that its the same killer if there is so little connecting our vics?"

"Well my hunk of chocolate love I was just getting to that. At all three crime scenes was a note." she says as she brought up the image onto the screen.

"Requiescat in pace" Emily says, almost in a whisper.

"What does-"

"It is latin for rest in peace, often used by the Catholic church to mark the gravestones of their dead frequently abbreviated to R.I.P. It is quoted from the book of Isaiah and has also used frequently by Jews. In the first century B.C-"

"Thanks Boy Wonder I get the picture." Morgan replies before Reid could have a chance to go on a full rant. He turns to Prentiss "You know latin?" he says with an amused smirk.

"When I was in Italy I picked up a little."

"So what does all of this mean?" says J.J who had been quietly studying the file.

"Remorse?" Reid replies

Prentiss shakes her head. Something seemed familiar about this case but she just couldn't place it. She looks over the crime scene photos again. Everything was clean, calculated, targeted? But why? Jessica Scheckter's file intrigued her the most. Her body had been sitting on the steps, head slumped, between her legs. It made her look like she was just resting on the steps until the people walking by realised that she wasn't moving. Why was that pose familiar?

"Hey Garcia were there any other notes or messages found with the victims?"

The others stop discussing to hear the analyst's answer.

"No Princess, nothing else was found around the bodies. Why do you ask?"

"Something about this whole case seems really familiar but I can't seem to place what..."

She looks at the autopsy reports again. The coroner's reports indicate that the blade that was used was double edged and about four and a half inches in length. The first and third vics were stabbed from the front while the second was stabbed from behind. The examiner also noted the fact that the stab wounds ran horizontally instead of vertically. That was odd considering how people normally hold knives when they stab, most stab wounds were vertical. It almost reminded her of...

Holy shit...

Crazy. Impossible. Completely nutty. No one would...

The others were busy discussing time frame, M.O, victimology and all of the other details that were usually investigated during their cases as Emily sat and thought. No one had any idea as to why the victims were targeted and the strange M.O that the killer left behind. The lack of evidence was also disconcerting.

J.J watched Emily as she had her internal debate, a myriad of emotions and thoughts appearing on her face. She saw the confusion that had now settled on her friend's demeanor and asks,

"Hey Em you got something?"

Emily stops her train of thought and brings herself back to reality, glancing at her team but addressing J.J.

" I just had a crazy thought. Hey Garcia, can you pull up the crime scene photos for Jessica Scheckter?"

" Sure sugarplum."

The colourful tech analyst pulls up the crime scene photos again, cringing slightly at the sight of the body.

"She was placed in that position by the killer." Prentiss says " That was deliberate. Why though?" she asks the rest of the team.

"It is an unusual placement of the body. Along with the fact that it was placed in front of the Lincoln Memorial." replies Rossi.

" There is no evidence to suggest that the body was moved to the location so we can assume she was killed where she was found. As for the positioning of the body, it is deliberate but we don't know if it is to send a message or something else entirely." says Hotch to his older colleague.

" I think I have an idea as to who we are dealing with." Prentiss says much to the surprise of her team.

" What do you mean Em?"

"I mean I have seen all of this before in a sense Jayje." the raven-haired agent responds

Emily pauses and says, somewhat embarrassed

"Lashay' haqiqah, koulo shay' moumkin. Nothing is true, everything is permitted."

She glances at Reid who has a look of realization and astonishment on his face.

" It makes sense. The pose, the words, and even the stab wounds!" exclaims the young doctor " No wonder everything looked vaguely familiar-"

"Wait I thought you had an eidetic memory-" Prentiss says

"That means that I remember everything I read not necessarily everything I hear or see-"

"You know the Creed though?"

"Not completely but I came across it in an article about conspiracies and the effect-"

"Woah hold on could someone please explain what the hell is going on!" Morgan says putting his hands up "Cause I lost you Prentiss when you started speaking what I believe was Arabic."

Reid and Prentiss look up to see that the rest of the team had similar looks of confusion written on their faces.

Reid responds " Every aspect about this case is not original other than the victims, as in the killer, or possibly killers, are copying something they have seen before with an accuracy that is practiced and deadly. The fact that they have followed everything to a T so far is-"

"Terrifying" interjected Prentiss " What Reid is trying to say is that we are dealing with a killer or killers who are professional hitmen who follow a specific creed."

She let that information sink in, then says

"In other words we are dealing with the Assassins."


Thoughts?