Disclaimer: We don't own Criminal Minds.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, we're both on vacation—I'm in DC and kdzl's at her sister's—so sorry this has taken so long to be posted, but the next one will definitely be up ASAP and we've got a few new stories we're working on. :) Hope you all like this!
Chapter 4
"Ready." JJ saw Morgan smirk in her direction. It was only the third day of training, and he was starting to drive her insane. He was always competing with her, and the firearms instruction didn't seem to be any different.
"Aim." JJ ignored Morgan's smug look, intent on focusing on what the instructor had advised.
"Fire." Derek Morgan fired quickly, sure that he would be the best in the class. He was, after all, a former CPD officer, and he had bested most of his colleagues in Chicago at the firing range. He didn't anticipate this would be any different.
"Weapons down!" The instructor yelled, "Targets coming your way, I'll be coming by to check your accuracy."
Pulling his target sheet down from the holder as it got closer to him, Morgan smirked when he noticed that he did, in fact, hit the target just above the heart--the perfect kill shot. Removing his protective earmuffs, he made his way to stand next to JJ, "So, how did you do? You know it's okay if you didn't do very good, I mean today's only the first day."
JJ laughed at his words, maybe she should have told him that she was a crack shot? She always had been able to hit the target straight on, ever since she was in high school and her boyfriend at the time had taken her to the firing range at the local police academy and taught her how to shoot. "Silly boy, I don't miss." JJ informed, showing him her target sheet, a sheet that matched his perfectly.
"What? How? There's no way you could have done this on your first try." Morgan prompted incredulously, "Are you sure this is even your sheet? Maybe you grabbed the wrong one."
"Just admit it, Derek, I am just as good of a shot as you are." JJ smirked, trying not to notice that the person she was currently trying to forget---Aaron Hotchner--had just come out to the gun range with another member of the BAU to practice. "I've been a crack shot since I was 15, my boyfriend at the time was the Police Chief's son so he took me to the Philadephia Police Academy to teach me how to shoot--poor guy considered it a date, but I think it pissed him off that I was a better shot than he was."
"It'd piss me off if a girl was a better shot than me." Morgan grumbled, not wanting to admit that he had practiced earlier that day before the other recruits, telling JJ that he was going for a run.
"Yeah, and if gender mattered in shooting a gun, then I might care. But I don't." JJ smiled, grateful that Morgan had not beaten her at weapons training.
"I should probably tell you that I have a black belt in Judo" Morgan informed as he and JJ took their places on the mat and waited for the instructor to show the class the first lesson. "I got it while I was in law school because I felt like I needed to do something to keep in shape because I wasn't playing football anymore."
JJ rolled her eyes silently, knowing that she had bested several people in self defense classes in her college days herself.
"I need two volunteers to participate in a match against each other." The instructor announced.
"JJ and I will do it." Morgan volunteered them, smiling as JJ glared at him.
"Good, you too come up here and stand on the mat." The instructor--SSA Carmichael--informed, positioning the two roommates facing opposite each other on the mat. "Okay, first we're going to learn simple defensive strategies. A person's throat is a highly sensitive area, and it's extremely vulnerable to damage. Not only is the voice box located in this region, but the jugular as well--which supplies blood and oxygen to the brain. Can anyone tell me what happens if your brain is suddenly deprived of oxygen?"
"You pass out, sir." A recruit from the back of the small group offered.
"Exactly. Okay, Agent Morgan, I want you to place your arm around Agent Jareau's neck and make sure that the bend of your elbow rests directly in the center." SSA Carmichael instructed, watching as Morgan and JJ followed his instructions quickly, "Now Agent Jareau, I want you to tap on his arm as soon as you start to feel light headed and he'll release you--okay?"
JJ and Morgan both nodded in understanding, "Okay, Agent Morgan I want you to flex your arm slightly."
Morgan did as the instructor asked, and within seconds he felt JJ tap on his arm. Letting her go, they both waited for the instructor to continue. "Good job guys. So now you see how quickly you could take down someone if that specific situation arises. Any questions?"
Seeing that the class had no questions, the instructor turned to the two volunteers, "now, I assume that you've both had self-defense training prior to this," both JJ and Morgan nodded and SSA Carmichael smiled approvingly, "why don't we see how well you match up against each other. First person to get the other flat on the mat wins."
JJ smirked to herself, there was no way she was going to let Morgan beat her. Taking a defensive stance, she eyed Morgan warily. "Are you ready to be taken down, Agent Morgan?" JJ taunted quietly, knowing from her soccer days that it was as much about how you played as your opponents mind frame during the match.
JJ couldn't help but notice Aaron Hotchner walk cautiously into the room. She had heard that various departments would come in to observe the training agents, so while his presence came as no surprise, she definitely had more incentive to beat Morgan in this match.
"On three." SSA Carmichael instructed, "One. Two. Three"
She didn't know how it happened. One minute she was looking at Morgan, the next she glanced at Aaron Hotchner and found herself lying on her back. "What was that about you taking me down?" Morgan asked chuckling as he offered a hand to help her up.
JJ scowled as she swatted away his outstretched hand. "I got distracted. It won't happen again."
"Whatever you say short stuff." Morgan laughed.
"Agent Tony Lancaster? What about him? He has a master's in Clinical Psychology from South Carolina State and three years on the job as a Victim's Specialist with the Columbia PD." Katie Cole asked. The entire BAU team was without a case at the moment so they were all seated in the conference room looking over the files of potential BAU members.
"No." Gideon vetoed, "He won't be able to disassociate from the victim's enough to give an unbiased profile."
"Hotch, which two did you say you liked?" Rossi asked, taking a sip of his coffee. "Agent Morgan and Agent--?"
"Jareau. Katie has their files."
"Okay so Jennifer Jareau first. She has her Master's in Public Relations from Georgetown, she interned with the Washington Post and CNN during her undergraduate work, and according to her test results so far here at the Academy she has excelled in everything she's done--even down at the shooting range, and you know they never over sell the trainees abilities down there. According to the instructors, this Agent Jareau hit the bull's-eye every time--she's a crack shot."
"She talked with me about the open liaison position." Hotch informed the group.
"We don't normally take young recruits for such a high position. Normally we have the junior agents--" David Rossi began to remind him.
"I know, but I think she has the potential to be exactly what we need." Hotch interrupted defending the blonde recruit he had met.
Gideon looked thoughtful at the file that Katie handed him. "I agree with Hotch, she looks like she has real potential."
"What about this Agent Morgan?" Rossi asked. It wasn't that he disagreed with Hotch, the unit typically assigned junior agents to desk work before submerging them in the death and destruction that they saw daily.
"He spent five years with Chicago PD where he worked undercover for a year and a half to bring down a large narcotics ring." Katie explained as she read through the file, "got his JD from Northwestern. Has Bomb Squad experience."
"We need someone with bomb squad expertise, especially now when it seems like every case we've had lately has been a bomber or an arsonist." Hotch mused, "It would save us from having to call down the lab so often if we had someone in the unit who knew about bombs and how they work."
"I agree." Rossi nodded, "We do need someone with bomb squad experience, and his local PD experience could help smooth things over some on cases where the locals don't really want our help too much--he'll be able to relate to them better than we can."
"Keep a close eye on them." Rossi informed Hotch briskly. He wouldn't even have to start looking for replacements if the entire BAU wasn't changing out in the next few years. Following his imminent retirement, Gideon was planning on taking over, but Hotch had accepted a promotion to Seattle and Katie had simultaneously accepted a promotion to the Crimes Against Children Unit. That left the unit he had created with just Agent Marks, Agent Scoffield--whom Rossi had never particularly liked and Gideon. Even this open liaison position was a joke in his opinion--something that the Bureau had created to try to create more work for him to do.
"I just got a call from Seattle PD, they want our help on a case, so we'll start that briefing in five."