Chapter III: Earning Trust

Fifteen minutes later, Aileen entered punctually the meeting room, where the members of Hotchner's team were already gathered. Most were seated around the table, but two were standing: Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss. From this, Aileen inferred that the two of them would be the hardest to win over.

"Hello everybody", she said in a friendly tone, preceding Hotchner, who was undoubtedly about to introduce her formally. "My name's Aileen Balderi and I'm a shrink."

Penelope Garcia chuckled and both JJ and Rossi smiled in amusement. Aileen returned their smiles and took a seat. "I don't know what you think of those who do my job", she went on, "but I think that, whatever it is, I will surprise you. As I told your boss, Special Agent Hotchner", she gestured towards him, but without looking at him, "many of my colleagues call my methods original, but I'll let you be the judges of that." She paused and her gaze became unfocused, as if she was thinking hard. "I have an unfair advantage though", she admitted, turning her incredibly green eyes on each of them, "because I have studied your files. Hence, we need to correct the situation, because the indispensable element of a good cooperation is mutual trust. We cannot build a relationship of trust in one day, or one week. We will need time, and good will. Therefore, we won't hit the ground running with some form of therapy, unless you'd ask for it yourselves. Let's take our time to get to know each other and to earn a mutual trust. What do you say to this?"

A moment of complete silence followed, telling Aileen that she had succeeded in her purpose to catch the super-trained profilers off guard. She didn't smile though: she wasn't that much arrogant to feel superior to them in this. After all, she was just doing her job.

Surprisingly, it was Reid the first to speak. "I believe this is a very correct way of proceeding, Dr. Balderi."

Aileen grimaced. "Thank you... And I'd appreciate it if we could skip formalities. Call me simply by my first name, and if you allow me, I'll do the same."

"I'm okay with this", Rossi accepted at once, giving her his charming beam that was so successful with women. He was rewarded with a smile as bright as sunshine. Well, he considered, quite struck, after all, that was exactly the meaning of her name: Aileen was the Scottish version of Helen, which meant sunshine.

"David or Dave?" the psychologist enquired.

"Usually Dave", he answered.

"I'm Pen, or Penny", Garcia chipped in with a smile rivalling Aileen's. Aileen nodded.

"Hotch", Hotchner said curtly, gaining another nod from Aileen.

"Emily, or just Em", Emily added to the list.

Morgan shrugged. "Derek."

"Some call me Jenny", JJ interjected, "but most call me JJ."

"It's JJ then", smiled Aileen.

Reid looked perplexed. "Um... usually they call me Reid", he said.

Aileen wore again her reassuring smile: this young genius was deeply shy, as evidenced in his psychological evaluation. But she knew that he could get over it: she herself had been successful.

"I can't call everyone by their first name or nickname, and you by your last name", she observed affably. "Is it okay if I call you Spencer? You know, I'm a great fan of the legendary Spencer Tracy..." she concluded giggling, as if apologising for her boldness.

As it had been her aim, the nervous young man relaxed and smiled at her. "Spencer will do, Dr. Bal... um, Aileen."

"Good, now I'm going to leave you", the psychologist said, rising. "If any of you feel like coming to my office and have a coffee with me, I'll welcome them anytime."

"This morning I haven't got my usual caffeine fix", Penelope declared lively. "Unless you need anything urgent, Hotch..." she looked quizzically at her boss, who nodded to give her permission. For years, Penelope had been unable to talk to him in the same confidential way the other teammates did, because she felt uneasy: her past wasn't as pristine as the others', as she had been a hacker wanted by the police, and when she finally got arrested, she had been given the choice between prison and working for the FBI. Of course she had no need to think twice and had promptly opted for the latter, ending up with Hotchner. Only for a few months now, after Hotchner had expressly invited her to, she had started to call him in a more familial way.

Aileen and Penelope left the meeting room and headed for the therapist's office, while the other ones returned to their desks.

The blonde cyberspace expert moved towards the vending machine, but Aileen shook her head. "I asked for a coffee maker in my office", she explained as they entered the room.

Penelope gazed at the furniture, surprised: there was a desk, but no chairs in front of it; instead, there were three small, but very comfortable-looking settees arranged in a horseshoe around a soft – and probably expensive – carpet, with coffee tables between them and in the middle; the coffee machine was located on a cabinet, next to an electric kettle. Watching closer, Penelope realised that the cabinet held a small fridge, like those you find in hotel rooms. No paintings on the walls, only posters of natural landscapes of all kinds: deserts, waterfalls, forests, rivers, mountains, prairies. A fancy stereo system with Dolby surround stood on another cabinet, and there was a rack stuffed with CDs.

"Do you have a close relative in the high places?" Garcia asked chuckling. "Nobody has an office like this, here!"

Aileen laughed, amused. "No, no relative. I just told them that this is my modus operandi and, if they liked it, I would accept their job offer, otherwise they could go elsewhere. But they knew that they couldn't find anyone better than me on the market, hence they met my demands."

Penelope too laughed. "Modesty isn't your strong suit, huh?"

Aileen shrugged. "You don't go far in the scientific and academic world with modesty."

"You're so darn right!" Penelope agreed forcefully, as she had experienced it in her own field. "Especially if you're a woman."

"Yeah, it's a man's world yet, or so they think..."

Penelope laughed again and decided that she liked Aileen for good, confirming the first impression she had had in the meeting room.

The psychologist walked to the coffee machine and asked: "Cream and sugar?"

"Yes... How did you know?"

Aileen gave her a genuine smile. "You strike me as a very sweet person, in every sense. Although I am sure that, in case of need, you turn into steel. Am I right?"

Penelope raised her eyebrows behind her spectacles. "Dead-on! I'm used to this kind of exploits from the other ones, but you're no profiler, therefore I didn't expect it... not exactly, at least."

"My job isn't that different from theirs", Aileen explained as she made coffee, "but they're much better at it than I am: they guess the criminals' personality without having ever met them, whereas I rely on what I see with my own eyes."

After making coffee for herself too, Aileen invited Penelope to take a seat on one of the sofas.

"Well, what should we talk about?" asked the computer geek, not knowing what to expect.

"Whatever you like", answered Aileen. "What about your job? A female computer super-expert is a little unusual, right?"

"It's a family passion..."

They chatted amiably for half an hour, then Penelope thought it was better to return to her job, which she had described in detail to Aileen, so she left. The computer geek headed for her office with a contented air: she was sure she had made a new friend.

In the following days, one by one, some more willingly, some less, all the members of the team went to Aileen to have a coffee. Rossi returned from the meeting completely charmed, explicitly stating that Aileen Balderi was the most intriguing woman he had ever had the chance to meet in his almost fifty-one years; Emily didn't completely dismiss her mistrust, but she had to admit that Aileen seemed genuinely frank, generous and good, an adjective that flabbergasted Morgan, as he had never heard her using it, but when he returned from his own encounter with the psychologist, he declared he agreed with his colleague; Reid was thrilled, because for the first time he had met a mind as brilliant as his own, and furthermore, in such a nice packaging; the only one who merely described her as competent was Hotchner, but because of his reserved nature, nobody was particularly surprised.

Then, they were called in for a case in Texas and stayed away for three days. They returned on Sunday, and on Monday Hotchner summoned Aileen to his office. "How shall we proceed, after a case?" he enquired, as he was at a loss – a very unusual and quite unpleasant feeling for him.

"Come and have dinner with me, you all", she answered, surprisingly.

A fleeting but unmistakable moment of bewilderment crossed Hotchner's usually unreadable face. "When?"

To his credit, Aileen had to admit that he hadn't wasted time asking the reason for her unexpected suggestion, assuming – quite correctly – that she knew exactly what she was doing. "The next night they're all free or can clear their schedule. Even tonight", she answered.

"I'll ask them and then let you know."

"Okay."

Aileen rose and left, her knees trembling slightly. She would have Aaron Hotchner in her house for dinner. It was unimportant that six other people would be there too, the way that thought affected her was unchanged. She had planned this invitation since the first days, as part of the mutual opportunity to get to know each other better, and familiarise and start building trust; but she wouldn't have believed that the thought of seeing the attractive chief of the BAU crossing the threshold of her door would make her so nervous.