CHAPTER 71

JUST WAIT FOR IT

Angie needed no alarm. She opened her eyes wide, at 4:30 am the next morning. Excitement took over her as she realized she was about to do her two favorite things – traveling and pretending to be an actual FBI Agent. If she got lucky, SSA Garrett would even let her briefly check out the crime scene photos in between coffee runs and fluffing up the pillows for his team. That's basically what she expected to be in charge of, but it was okay. Every start was rocky and slow, so she would keep quiet and just bear with it.

A few minutes after five am she was at the blue parking lot, as instructed. It was a bit chilly, so she closed her jacket and threw a scarf around her neck. Suddenly, there was this feeling of warmth, one that she felt mostly on the inside.

"Cute scarf." Clara said, startling Angie as she just appeared out of nowhere.

"Thanks." Angie smiled, caressing the white fluffy material with a few fingers.

This was the first time she had put it on since she had received that anonymous pink glittery care package. This was somewhat symbolic – she had put it on for her first case, to keep her warm and to protect her from danger.

"Don't worry about Jack. He could be a bit too much sometimes, but deep down inside he's a good guy." Clara pointed out, feeling how tense Angie was, to be waiting for his arrival.

"That must come from some past trauma. Either personal one – say, he went through something and he thought he was losing everything, or maybe he lost someone and now he is very protective over the people he has and he doubts anyone who even tries to get close to his team. Or he's just a dick, because he didn't really seem to have a problem with Kevin, but just with me, so…" Angie shrugged, psycho-analyzing a man she had only met for a few minutes, a man who was now her Unit Chief, for the next few days.

"Shit, she's good…" Clara muttered to herself.

"Look, there's something I want to say to you…" Clara trailed off and Angie put her hand up in the air, in a sign that she did not want to hear it.

"I've been thinking about it a lot…" Clara continued.

"Please…" A silent plea escaped Angie's lips. "No." She added.

Clara looked up at the young girl. She was so beautiful. The tiny amount of make-up that she had managed to apply to her face at five in the morning accentuated all of her best features – blush on the cheeks, lip-gloss on the lips and mascara for those beautiful green eyes. There was a spark in those eyes, like this girl expected everything and nothing out of this case. Like she was ready to do whatever. Like she could not wait to hit the ground running and be part of the team.

It all made Clara smile. She had once been the same. Innocent. Full of hope. Driven. That was before life and the job had destroyed her. She now often found herself staring at a blank space, thinking about absolutely nothing. Clara herself had almost lost someone she cared about very deeply, just a few years ago. And then Jack had been hurt and the team had split up for over half a year.

Looking into Angie's eyes, she hoped and prayed that this young girl would not have the same fate that she did.

"Hey guys!" Mae greeted, parking nearby and rolling down the window.

Angie was grateful that someone had interrupted that uncomfortable silence that had been surrounding the two of them for the past two minutes, which felt like a lifetime.

"Oh, look at you and that pink!" Angie smiled. The previous day she had suggested that Mae would look great with pink lipstick and she was now rocking the color like it was her second skin.

"What can I say? It's nice to have another girl on the team!" Mae laughed, shooting a glance at Clara, who was wearing pants and no make-up.

"Hey, comfort is important." Clara excused her boy-ish looks. She just could not bring herself to wake up early, so she could waste time on make-up. Sometimes she would apply it at work and she enjoyed make-up a lot, but she just did not get out of her way to do it in the early morning. Except for when she had classes at the Academy, oh then she put some extra effort on her looks.

"I have so many questions for you, mostly about putrefaction!" Angie said to Mae, with a huge smile on her face, as if she were talking about candy.

"Oh, you're definitely not riding with me." Clara cringed.

She was not new to talking about dead bodies, but it usually happened after coffee. She was not having a nosy young chick riding on the passenger's seat, asking her stuff like that, before she had her second good breakfast of the day.

"Hop in." Mae waved at her, happy to have found someone who was not freaked out by what she did for a living.

Kevin then arrived and he got in Clara's car. Garrett was waiting for them at the airport and Monty was staying behind, as usual.

When they arrived at the airport, Angie loved not having to go through the usual security checks. They had a gate reserved for private government flights, plus a waiting lounge only for them.

"Score!" Angie got glued to the refreshments stand, grabbing a few cookies and drinking at least three full glasses of juice. Kevin was right there by her side.

"Jesus, don't they feed them at the Academy?" Garrett rolled his eyes at the scene.

"Actually, no. Budget cuts hit them hard and they're all paying for their own food now." Clara pointed out and Mae frowned, remembering her time at the Academy, a few years back. She had been given free food, free accommodation, free everything. And while she had whined occasionally about some stupid thing, she now realized how incredibly lucky she had been and how good she had it.

"She looks almost too young to be here…" Mae pointed out, studying the way Angie moved. There was something almost child-like about her bubbly character. At least that was what she let people see about her.

"She is." Clara sighed, excusing herself as she walked over to the rest rooms.

She pressed one of her speed dials and got sent to voicemail. With a loud groan, she decided to go ahead and record a message anyway, even though she would have preferred to talk to the other person in real time.

"Hey, just letting you know that the Angela girl is with my team, on a case for the next few days. Don't worry, we'll take care of her. Just, don't freak out, okay? And don't kill me when I'm back. And yes, it was my idea and I stand by my decision to put her on the case. Okay. Bye."

Clara put the phone back in her pocket and walked out of the bathroom, joining the team again.

Ten minutes later they were being escorted outside.

"Is that the plane!?" Angie's jaw dropped.

"That's like…a space ship!" In front of her there was a huge aircraft, with a door that could load even a vehicle, at the back. This was insane.

"Might wanna check the drawers." Clara said to Angie once they were on board.

Angie opened one of the drawers in the common area and it was full of treats – sweets, candy and different types of potato chips.

"What's that?" She then pointed at a more secluded area.

"That's my work station." Mae replied shyly.

Nobody usually showed interest in the little room with an operating table, where bodies were being studied or simply transported back to US soil.

"Cool. Can I see it?" Angie said right away.

"Mmh, sure." Mae shrugged.

She had spent thirty minutes, explaining her job to Angie while driving to the airport. It was by now obvious that Angie was curious about it.

"Eww, could you tone down the necro-mania?" Kevin cringed. He wasn't a fan of Mae's job.

"I believe you mean necrophilia. May your ignorance be excused." Angie shook her head. "And the term has a sexual connotation to it, which makes it invalid in my case. So, beat it." She put her hand up in the air and Kevin just walked away, as if she had put a magic spell on him.

"Well, she's tough." Garrett murmured to himself when he saw how Angie handled the situation and did not back down when Kevin was being rude.

"Just wait for it." Clara startled him, now standing right behind his seat and smirking victoriously.

"You keep saying that, you know?" Garrett had already heard her say those words three times now. Wait for what? What did she mean?

"You'll know soon. And when you do – please picture me smirking in your face, with the words 'I told you so' escaping my lips." She teased him.

They had a very close relationship and they respected each other a lot. It was somewhat like Rossi and Prentiss' relationship, but roles reversed when it came to who was the Unit Chief.

Mae took Angie to the room and showed her a few of the instruments she used the most. Angie kept asking about everything. She did have more than basic knowledge about these things, but she was curious to know more.

Kevin hung out by himself while Garrett and Clara started working on the case files. At some point, Garrett put a few of the papers away and then sprawled the rest of them on the big table in the common space and asked for everyone to join him.

He had received new information about the victims and he now shared it with the rest of the team, along with the initial strategy he had come up with, for how they would approach this case.

Surprisingly, Angie and Kevin were allowed to hear all the details for the case, nothing was classified, yet.

They were given strict orders on what they must never do and things they must never say, to anyone, during this case.

"Ok, but what will we do and what can we say?" Angie asked once Jack was done talking.

"I'll let Agent Seger clarify that to you, once we set up at the local Police Station. Until then, sit tight and enjoy the flight. Get some rest, too. You will be running on coffee and energy drinks for the next few days." He replied to her, more than vaguely.

She hated it. Angie did not do 'wait' very well. Or at all.

"Why are you putting that responsibility in my hands?" Clara whined once they were alone, a few minutes later.

"Because it was your brilliant idea to bring Barbie and Kevin along for the ride, so, subsequently, they are now your responsibility. Whatever you decide, the outcome is purely on you." Jack replied to her with attitude and he simply walked away.

Clara sighed. He had never treated her like that. What changed?

"Ha, he's not really a fan of yours." Angie pointed out, bombarding Clara with her unwanted presence, the second she saw her sitting on her own.

"No, sweetheart, here's where you're wrong." Clara smirked. Proving Angela wrong would be a pleasure. "He's not really a fan of yours."

"Well, I'm fine with that." Angie smiled.

"You can't be everyone's favorite, you know." Clara continued trying to be hostile.

She was failing at it, so badly. First off, she had to take that damn cute smile off her face, if she wanted to be taken seriously, especially by that stubborn young one, standing right in front of her.

"As long as I'm your favorite…" Angie's smile deepened until her dimples started forming. "…sweetheart, I'll be fine." She ended off, calling her the same name that she had been called, seconds ago.

Clara blushed. For some reason, she felt an overwhelming feeling of…just about everything, at that moment.

"So, how does Clara Seger like her coffee?" Angie figured if she would be the intern figure for the next few days, she better at least try to be good at it.

"Hot." Clara replied. "And it's Agent Seger."

"Ooh, I'm sorry." Angie faked an overdramatic response. She could not care less about titles. She treated everyone the same.


"Wake your sexy ass up, lazy man! Hope you have a sweet day! And DO NOT HIT SNOOZE…do not hit snooze…do not hit snooze…"

Angie's voice sounded from Bryan's phone.

He had put his alarm for 5:40 that day, but Angie had corrected it to 5:20 and had customized his good morning message.

He hit snooze.

Five minutes later, the same audio recording sounded one more time. The more he heard her annoying voice, telling him not to hit snooze, the more he wanted to do nothing but that, just one more time. However, he decided to do the right thing and to get up and try to act alive.

"Have a sweet day…" He murmured, imitating her voice. "Sweet, my ass. Ain't nothing sweet 'bout today. Ugh. My body is still sore from all the training yesterday. Sweet…blah!" He continued his miserable negative speech until the moment he reached his study table.

"Gaaah." He hated it, but he squealed. Like a girl. He did.

"Sweet day? I get it now." The fact that Angie had put a different chocolate bar on his table, spread out and promptly signed with a sticky note, so that he would not take more than one on each day, put a smile on his face.

"Seven candy bars. One week? How long does she think she can leave me alone for? I did not sign up for this!" He protested quietly, not even realizing how much he already missed her annoying presence.

"Booooyaaaah, double pack KitKat bars. Yes, oh yeah!" A happy dance accompanied his statement.

On the first day, she had figured he'd need double the strength, to survive without her remarks. Hence, she had left him twice the chocolate, just to keep him happy. And alive.

A few hours later, he found himself standing up from his seat in the Auditorium, and speaking out loud, without even looking back.

"Yo, Angie, we have just about enough time to hit that healthy food place and eat anything with avocado before the next training starts. God knows we need extra energy before DeMo's training."

When he heard nothing but silence in response, he finally turned around. It was time to feel like a fool.

He had gotten so used to having her by his side, that he had forgotten completely that she was no longer around.

"Do I look like her?" One of Bryan's new friends who was just walking by, mocked the way Angie walked, attracting a few pairs of eyes on him.

"Add a few socks under the shirt!" Someone else called out.

"And on your flat ass, too." Another guy said.

"I can't figure out if you're just being ridiculous or you're actually that ignorant!" Bryan rolled his eyes.

"I'm duuumb." The first guy replied, laughing.

"No, you're actually quite smart to only dare disrespect Angie when she's not around to smash your face against a wall." Bryan raised an eyebrow. He had already won that dispute.

He then proceeded to go grab lunch with both of these guys, because that was how guy quarrels worked, unlike girls who wouldn't have spoken to each other for days after that.


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

"Ducksdragonfly" Aww, smile, really? :) I try to incorporate the whole team as much as I can. Sometimes a storyline/event will focus on one or a few of them, since they are so many. But I also enjoy the WHOLE team moments (team chat messages will make appearances and they are wild, LOL). I have a feeling outside of work (what we did not see much on TV) those are a bunch of silly goofs, trying to wind down after a case. As for pairings, I have never shipped anyone within the current 8-people BAU team. I ship Emily and Mendoza, but he's not BAU. Those 8 are a family, it would just be weird, between either two of them lol!