Alex opened the pantry door and pulled out the syrup and container of powdered sugar. She went to put them on the table as Charles added the butter dish. Hugh came up behind both of them, carrying a stack of plates. He held the stack out towards Charles, and he grabbed his wounded left arm with a wince. Hugh rolled his eyes and then put them on the table. Charles pulled out the chair and made a big show of being in pain as he sat down.
Alex looked across the kitchen to Reid, who was at the stove making pancakes. "It's not that I don't love when all my boys are around. I'm just curious as to what this little brunch is about."
"We needed a team meeting," Reid said. He moved over to the table carrying a plate of four pancakes and put it down. "We have a few things we need to hash out." he went back to the stove, pouring more batter onto the frying pan.
Charles attempted to cut his pancakes but wasn't doing very well. He turned to Hugh with a pouty face. "Not even if you were on fire," Hugh said, then took a bite of his own pancake. Charles then turned to Alex and whimpered with puppy dog eyes.
"Oh, give it here." She grabbed the plate and made four vertical cuts, then turned the plate and made four more. "You're such a brat."
Charles held up his finger. "Correction, a loveable brat."
Reid walked over with a plate of two fresh pancakes, put them in front of Alex, and returned to the stove. "Now, even though we aren't exactly a team anymore doesn't make my point any less valid."
"Which is?" Hugh asked.
Reid turned around, holding the spatula in his hand. "We work better when we aren't keeping secrets from each other."
Charles and Alex looked at each other and then at Hugh, who saw them. Then all three looked at Reid. "Nothing has happened yet," Alex said.
"I know," Reid said. "But I know you want to." He flipped a pancake. "And I think you should."
"Wait, what are we talking about?" Hugh asked.
"Alex wants to leave the CIA," Reid said.
"And do what?" Hugh asked Alex.
"Work with Charles," Reid added.
"You would leave the CIA, too?" Hugh questioned.
"Well, technically, I've been dead. I kinda assumed I didn't work for them anymore, anyway."
"But doing what?" Hugh asked.
"We've been looking into opening a PI firm," Alex said.
"Charles? A private investigator?" Hugh asked, then chuckled.
"What? I'm a good investigator!" Charles sat up straight in his chair.
"I think private is the more jovial word here," Hugh smirked.
"Hey!" Charles exclaimed.
"Who is ready for another?" Reid asked.
"Yo, right here!" Charles held out his plate like a catcher's mitt.
Reid turned around then, with the spatula, tossed the pancake directly towards Charles. Charles prepped himself when Hugh's hand shot out, clutched the pancake midair, and then put it on his own plate.
Alex burst out laughing, tilting to the side of her chair, and had to brace herself to avoid falling off. "Oh my god, the look on your face!" Alex chortled while pointing her finger at Charles. "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen."
Reid took a step closer. "Even funnier than that time Charles entered that drag show?"
Alex and Hugh bowled over, laughing.
"Hey, I was crowned Miss Congeniality," Charles said confidently.
The three of them continued to laugh at Charles.
Charles smugly dabbed his lips with the napkin, then placed it neatly on the table. "They said I had poise and charisma."
Alex leaned back in her chair and used her hands to fan her red face. "Oh gosh, I'm crying."
The doorbell rang, and the four of them looked at each other. "Who can that be?" Alex asked.
"Not sure, Reid replied. "No one is supposed to be coming for a couple of hours."
Alex pushed the chair back as she rose. "Maybe it's Jennifer early with Charlie?" She went to the door and opened it. "Oh, I certainly wasn't expecting you."
The others got up to join her in the living room. "Kiefer?" Reid questioned as he went to stand next to Alex. "Is there something we can help you with?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on anything, but I needed to come speak to you," she said softly and not in the usual forceful tone she's had with the team.
"Come on in," Alex said with a puzzled look at Reid. She shut the door and then turned to her. "Is there something wrong?"
"First, I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. I know being put in the position of killing someone is never the first option, especially when you would want more answers. But I am glad that Shaw has been brought to justice."
Alex blinked twice. "What's the catch?"
"No catch," Kiefer said.
"So, you just making nice before you take all the credit?" Charles asked as he crossed his arms.
Kiefer held out her hands in front of her. "Far from. Your team, including those in the BAU, and any others you used to help you, deserve all the credit."
"I'm sorry, what?" Charles questioned.
"You did what I could not," Kiefer said.
"I think we are going to need a little more information," Reid said.
Kiefer nodded, then moved to the chair and sat down. The others sat on the couch and chair. "Well, it was a few months ago. I was involved in an op in Caracas. Very few moving parts. Only the top brass was involved. Limited people in the loop."
"What happened?" Hugh asked.
"Both assets were killed. It was a trap. This was another incident that took place, yet it didn't seem like anyone was questioning it. But I couldn't let it go. Someone who had access to the information leaked it, and people were killed. My problem was that I didn't know who it was or who I could trust. The first thing I did was a drip test. I needed to figure out what department the leak came from. I carried around folders of false information to various locations of high-ranking officials, hoping to get a bite. Then finally, I did. I listed a motel room as a common meeting place for a fictitious case I was working on. I found that the place was bugged, really high-tech ones, too."
"Which department had that location?" Reid asked.
"The CIA. Well, you can imagine what I was going through. My career… my life has been spent in this field with these people. Yes, I developed a reputation for being tough as nails, but as a woman coming up the ranks as I did, I had to be fierce. But with this, I felt powerless. Someone in the top ranks of the CIA was a mole. I worried how many other missions would be compromised should this person continue. Then I remembered an assignment I had from a few years ago. I was called into an incident at a CIA safe house where three officers were killed, and the person in their protection managed to escape. Through that investigation, I learned all about your team. I knew how you worked and who you tended to work with, read your psych profiles, I knew more about you than your own mothers. I knew I could trust you. Then there was my newest hurdle, how would I get you to trust me? Surely you would be skeptical of someone like me showing up and asking for your help. I had no evidence, no proof. You could even assume I was in league with the Cortez cartel and was trying to flush you out. So, I needed another way. I decided to go old school. I already had my reputation of being a hard-ass, so I decided to employ it. I still had some power over Alex, and I used it. I pushed every button I could to get you guys to see what I was seeing. To help me root out this mole once and for all. I knew that as soon as you guys would start poking around that whoever the person was would want to look at your files. So, I scrubbed them. Any link with Paul Roman or John Mitchell would be wiped clean. All the information I had gathered about you was gone and wouldn't be able to be used against you. And I hate to sound like a pop-culture cliché, but you were my only hope."
Charles threw his arms in the air, winced, and grabbed his left arm. He stood up and walked into the kitchen, then came back out. "Is this all some kind of trick? Playing to me? You've treated Alex like shit! And have been an absolute bitch to the rest of us. And now you tell us that you were doing it to help? This is insane! I'm going insane."
Hugh scooched out in his seat and leaned forward with his arms on his knees. "Understanding that we will have to process a great deal of information we have just received, what happens now? We are assuming that you got what you were hoping for. Brandon Shaw was the mole, and now he is dead. Actions have already been taken to uncover his dubious dealings."
Kiefer looked at the four people staring at her, then focused on Alex. "I am sorry for how I treated you. I want you to know that none of my reports had anything negative about you and that I was putting on a show when I spoke to you. Please accept my apology for that, and I hope you can understand my reasons." She then turned to Charles. "We were able to uncover a direct link between Shaw and Cortez. And from what I read of your dealings with Cortez recently, he no longer considers you a wanted person. There is no longer a threat toward you. You are safe. Your family is safe."
Charles let out a sigh. "I don't know how I will be able to process any of this."
Reid looked to Hugh, then to Kiefer. "Did you ever find out why Shaw was targeting the three of us but not Hugh?"
Hugh turned back to him. "Were you really concerned with that?"
"We didn't know why this guy was targeting us at all until he started babbling about us stealing his job."
"That's because you did," Hugh said matter-of-factly.