CHAPTER 42
YOU CAN'T LEAVE NOW
Morgan was beat.
He had left his wife and kid at 5 pm on a Sunday, after which he had taken a few different means of transport, to get him to the airport, where he had spent two and a half miserable hours, bored out of his mind, before his flight had gotten canceled, at first, and then re-routed to someplace else. And since there was no chance in Hell he would back down and go back home, he took the damned suggested route, ending up in LAX, but not before hours of turbulence and some light nausea that he would never admit to. He was a tough guy and tough guys were tough flyers.
From LAX he had been forced to beg and threaten just about twenty different airport employees, so he could get on the first flight to where he needed to go. His flight insurance had offered him one option and that flight would have let him be at the BAU after lunch. This was not an option. So, he had bribed his way into boarding a way earlier flight, one which price was sadly not covered by the insurance.
But the worst of all – he had kissed his son goodbye and he would only get to see him again after a few more days. This was the first time Morgan was away from him since the second he was born. It sucked.
He had left his wife in a cold, empty bed, so he would go hold another woman. And, the angel that she was, she had absolutely no objections about it.
He looked down at Emily, who seemed comfortable in his lap, but also he knew she would have a massive neck ache in the morning, from the position she was now sleeping in.
"Please tell me she'll be okay." JJ texted Morgan at 04:31 am. Just because she knew that he wasn't sleeping either.
"It's Emily, JJ. She would always be okay, no matter what." He texted back immediately.
He then took JJ's silence as a sign that she had finally went to bed.
At 04:49 she texted again.
"You can't leave now." He couldn't figure out if she was insisting…or begging. Maybe even both?
He did not reply. He just held Emily as she slept and each time she started to fidget, his hand would rub her shoulder so softly that she would forget about her nightmare and just keep on sleeping calmly.
"Good morning, Trainees." They got greeted once they dragged themselves to the auditorium after their morning PFT on Tuesday.
"She's hot." Bryan commented, the second he laid eyes on their new teacher.
"Can you, please, stop crushing on every female Agent you see?" Angie rolled her eyes.
"Oh, no. Nobody can top my favorite Agent Hotness." He smirked. Something about that woman just…ugh. He sighed.
"I am Supervisory Special Agent Clara Seger from the IRT – that's the International Response Team, here at the Bureau." She smiled and she was absolutely stunning. Her hair was golden brown, a little over shoulder length, curled up and Angie applauded this woman's desire to wake up probably one extra hour earlier, so she'd put herself together like that. Fresh make-up, bouncy beach waves, that cool nude lipgloss that was making her lips shine each time the artificial light in the auditorium hit them. She was gorgeous, with those deep eyes and her perfectly feminine body, that posture she had and the way she handled herself at ease and seemed so well-spoken, now facing a huge group of strangers.
"I wanted to introduce myself, because I took a glimpse of what Dan had written, as my introductory speech…and God, guys...it makes me sound like a robot." She laughed, grabbing a piece of paper from the back pocket of her black pants and starting to read in a very dramatic tone.
"Well-traveled and multi-lingual cultural anthropologist…" She rolled her eyes, making every last person in that room laugh.
"Fluent in 13 languages, including Thai, French, Japanese, and Creole…" She continued reading.
"Like, who even cares about Creole, right?" She added a little commentary and she was, by now, the best and coolest teacher at the academy.
"She knows everything about everything." She read some more of Dan's speech.
"She's a goddamned Unicorn, too!" She added in her own words.
She could hear the Trainees whisper stuff and she smirked. It was a good thing when people were talking about you, and Clara knew it.
"Alright now, here's the tea, guys…" She tossed Dan's paper in the bin, keeping it real.
"In 2013, I ran from the FBI like a bitch. Then re-joined in 2016, because running away really gave me no peace of mind, at all." She said with a tiny smile.
People kept on chuckling at the way she spoke. A lot of the Trainees were quite young, so her words and phrases made her so relatable to them.
"Seriously, though. I've made colossal mistakes in my life and in my career. I've been a huge disappointment to people – both in my personal and professional life." She continued.
When she met disbelief in their eyes, she kept on talking.
"Raise your hand if you haven't." She urged them and gave them a painful ten seconds of time to do so.
No hand was raised.
"Look around." She smirked, getting the feedback she wanted.
Trainees looked left and right, not seeing a single hand up in the air. They all laughed one more time.
"That's right. I'm not perfect. You guys are not perfect. We may never be. But perfection is not what the Academy is trying to teach you." She started walking left and right, because that podium was just too damn huge and she felt like a dot on a piece of paper, just standing in the middle of it.
"You are here to learn how to learn from your mistakes. Yes, you heard that right." She confirmed. "Our goal is to shape you into future Agents who know how to handle themselves and, sure, who make less mistakes. But, most importantly – Agents who know how to ask for help and guidance, when they need it. I am here to teach you about all things human…"
She trailed off, making them think she was going to be some sort of a shrink to the class. Maybe she was teaching forensic psychology? Was she a yoga teacher? What the Hell was she?
"Can anyone guess which class I'm teaching?" She asked. "Oh, and it's clearly not Ballistics. Sorry, your schedule had to be changed in the last minute. That class is going to be held tomorrow morning, instead."
Bryan had just checked the schedule, indeed. They were supposed to have a lesson on firearms that morning.
Angie put her hand up and, after Clara gave her the word, she shot her best guess.
"Forensic anthropology!" Angie smiled, already interested in the subject.
"That's right, Trainee….uh, sorry, I don't know your name." Clara commented.
"Oh, don't sweat it. You will!" Angie smirked, instead of introducing herself. Because she was the only person smug enough to do so.
Clara sighed, trying to refrain from rolling her eyes.
"It's Trainee Angela Hunter, Miss Seger." Bryan commented, before Angie would seem rude.
"Mhm." Clara suppressed a smile. "Oh, and it's Clara. Come on, it's true I'm working with bones and human remains, but I don't think I'm old enough to be called anything other than just Clara."
People giggled. Yes, she was very relatable.
"Now, a little introduction to the course. What the Hell is forensic anthropology?" She clicked the remote that she was playing with in her right hand and her first slide of the lecture appeared on the screen behind her.
"Forensic anthropology is a special sub-field of physical anthropology – and that is the study of human remains; that involves applying skeletal analysis and techniques in archaeology to solving criminal cases." She gave them the official explanation of it.
"Basically, you get a bone and you sit and look at it for a while. You have to analyze it in certain ways and then you're like: Oh yeah, that was a Caucasian dude and he probably died about 110 years ago." She laughed herself, because…if only her job was as easy and quick as it sounded to be.
"So, what does a forensic anthropologist do here, at the FBI? Why not work in, like, a space where bones are being analyzed?" She asked herself two rhetorical questions, before answering them both. "We analyze forensic evidence to determine causes of death, circumstantial evidence and types of crimes committed. And we don't work at designated places for anthropologists, because they do not exist. You work where the remains are. You work where you are asked to go work. It's both cool…and a pain. I mean, you have to be flexible. You can get called in, in the middle of the night, and you have to go. In my time away from the Bureau, during those three years, I've traveled the world, learning new things and trying out different techniques. And let me tell you something – it felt damn good being able to try stuff that people frowned upon, since I no longer had that badge to only force me to do it all the legal way…"
She trailed off, remembering a few stunts she had done in her solo career.
"Man, that felt good!" She stated before continuing with the actual lecture.
The four-hour class went by so quickly, that people had to check their watches to see if there had been a mistake, once Clara told them the class was over.
"See you next week. Also, the lack of extra reading for this course is due to the fact that I am an idiot and I completely forgot to come up with a reading list for you, guys, even if I was assigned to lead a class, like, a week ago." She pursed her lips. She was slacking off as a teacher. "But, like I said, nobody is perfect. Don't worry – you're getting your book suggestions next week…that's if I don't forget it, again."
Trainees now felt comfortable enough to just wave at her before they left the auditorium. A wave? As if they were friends. She appreciated it, that was exactly the kind of relationship she wanted to establish with them.
"Hi." It took Angie five seconds to walk over to Clara when she dismissed the class.
"Hello, Trainee Hunter." She smiled.
"Oh, it's just Angie. Or Angela. Honestly, call me whatever you want." She said sincerely before she simply stared at Clara.
"Is there a question in there?" Clara urged the kid to speak.
"Yeah…But it's a weird one." Angie shrugged.
"Something is telling me to get used to those, coming from you, huh?" Clara suggested and Angie nodded.
"Where's that lip-gloss from?" Angie said, biting the side of her bottom lip.
Clara burst out in laughter. That was the most random thing that had ever happened to her in her whole entire life.
"Get out of here, Angela." She kept on laughing, trying to work out if that kid was only joking. Or, was she actually serious?
"Guys, I think they're revising my case, you know, the Mexico jail one." Reid said to the few people who were punctual to their Tuesday morning breakfast club meeting at the diner.
"And where's JJ?" He couldn't help but notice she was not there yet. JJ was always punctual.
"On her way." Emily stated, as she was just walking in, along with Morgan.
"Luke is parking outside right now and he has Garcia with him." Morgan added.
That only meant Matt was missing. And Tara, but they were used to her being late anyway.
"Sorry, guys. The young one cried, the eldest one refused to get out of bed, and the twins were just, ugh. Ugh man. Ugh!" Matt walked in with under eye bags that almost beat Emily's. Almost.
JJ laughed, as she was walking in when Matt explained his reasons for being late.
"Parenthood!" She stated. "They say it is a wonderful thing…" She trailed off and laughed.
This morning JJ had put a bit more make-up on, a bit more effort in herself. But, what was she hiding under all of this concealer?
"Reid, how come you think your case has been reopened? We dealt with this, years ago." Emily kept the conversation going. They had a lot to discuss, and very little time.
"I might just be paranoid. But last night I had a dream. A nightmare, where I was at my desk and I started coughing and I remember wanting to clean the surface of my desk and there was this…white dust. Everywhere." He shared.
Emily wouldn't put it past the Section Chief to plant drugs, just to incriminate Reid and to make the Superiors re-open his old case. And that would be the end of Emily's career. She had done something quite illegal, back in the days, just to save Reid's ass. She had once gotten away with it, barely. But she knew that if yet another investigation came up, along with the other evidence that had been collected against them for this whole week, well, that would ruin her. And the team.
"Guys, we are acting very guilty right now." Emily stated. "Look at us – we're meeting miles away from work and our homes. We are keeping a low profile and we hang out around the office like we have something to hide. And yeah, we have our skeletons in the closet, but we won't let some vindictive bitch take us down. There's one of her. There's plenty of us." Her hand gestured across the table. They were, indeed, quite the gang.
"I'm just here for emotional support. And drinks after hours." Morgan smirked, but they could hear the regret in his voice.
"Yeah, but if we pretend like nothing is going on, that would be negligence. So, either way, it's not a good option for us. Plus, we are not on active duty right now. I mean, yes, we are, but we are not getting any cases assigned to us. What are we supposed to do – walk around the office with our hands in our pockets?" Rossi argued.
"You said it, Dave!" Emily smiled. "We are now clear to be on active duty. So, let's work. Let's get things done. Let's keep ourselves busy."
"But how? We can't work on a case if we are not invited and assigned to it." JJ liked Emily's enthusiasm, but she had to back Rossi up.
"Leave that to your Unit Chief." Emily said proudly.
JJ shot her a glance. There was determination in Emily's eyes. There was self-confidence in her posture. There was Emily Prentiss inside of that body across the table.
After that, they discussed side things, such as kids, silly old photos of theirs, and cars. When their breakfast was done, they all hurried to their cars.
"You are a sexy chocolate magician." Garcia walked fast, trying to keep up with Morgan's pace, as she whispered to him.
"Woman, you know how to keep my ego all the way up there." He smirked, his hand rising to point the height that his ego had reached after her supportive words.
"I shall say…just the package I needed in my life." Garcia commented naughtily, remembering Morgan's vague e-mail.
She got it now. That was why he had only written a few lines. He wanted it to be a surprise. He didn't send her a gift. He had flown across the ocean, to give her the gift of being with him, once again. Even if it would only last for a few days. And even if he was actually there for Emily.
"Oh heyyy, I'm a married man now, BabyGirl!" He said jokingly, as Garcia was quite literal with her eyes, now fixated on the package she was talking about.
"Fine. I don't want you. I just want the package!" She could have refrained from biting her lips as she said those words, but she simply did not want to.
Morgan laughed again, he seemed happy, but she could feel the pain he was going through – being there, with them…and yet, not being there, with them at all.
Garcia then walked to Luke's car, who was her designated driver for the day, while Morgan got in Emily's car and so JJ finally got her car back after lending it to Morgan the previous night.
"Thank you." JJ mouthed to him from the distance and saw his tiny nod back at her, right before he got in the driver's seat.
DISCLAIMER: Agent Clara Seger is a character from Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders!
