141 | | ash

➳ two

➳

“Well, that was useless. You just freaked them out a whole lot,” Morgan snickers at me as I emerge from the interview room.

“Well you’re the idiot who didn’t debrief them in the car,” I say walking over to the one-way-glass. I peer into the room, and the boys are talking. Something in me doesn’t want them to talk about me, but another part of me does. I’ve never been that cross in an “interview” in my life. Curly seems like the ringleader, and he pushes my buttons.

“Seems like you got a boyfriend out of the whole situation, though.” I punch Morgan in the arm, but it doesn’t do anything. His biceps are bigger than my thighs, and a permanent smirk is splattered across his face.

I shift my position and let out a huge sigh. Morgan turns to me and raises his brow, for once, his smirk not across his lips. “I would rather jump off a two story building than call that kid my boyfriend.” The words felt like poison on my tongue. “He’s so ignorant. Did you hear how he joked with me?”

Moran bumped me with his shoulder and chuckled. “For a genius, you’re stupid. He was just making light to a horrible situation because I don’t know how I would feel if someone were killing my fans and wanted to kill me, too, because they don’t like my work.”

I moan and lean my head back understanding what he’s saying. Leave it to Morgan to put me on curly’s side. “That doesn’t mean he has to be so rude,” I say trying to come up with more vague reasons to hate the kid.

“I think telling him your age shut him up.”

I turn to look at Morgan, and for once, he actually looks sincere. “I know,” I say more for myself, but Morgan hears and claps me on the back.

Hotch walks in and eyes me. “How’d it go with them?”

“Dreadful,” I say rubbing my eyes. “They had no idea what they were in for. They even assumed they were arrested, and it took me three times to tell them they’re not for them to get it through their heads.”

Hotch flashes a smile, which is rare because he rarely shows emotion. “Okay, well, don’t get too discouraged. You’re a front woman.”

I roll my eyes. “Thanks, Hotch, but this one is definitely going to be a challenge. I hate boy bands.”

“That’s because all you listen to is classical music,” Morgan snickers from behind me. I turn around and raise a brow at him. "And you better not say that to their fans. They're very passionate about five-sauce being a punk rock band not a boy band."

“Is that a problem? I also happen to listen to classic rock, thank you very much. And I honestly don't care what teenage girls think of me. Didn't care in high school, and I especially don't care now.” This shuts him up. He raises his hands above his head and leaves the room saying he’s going to check on JJ. I love my team.

I return my attention to Hotch and shake my head. “I apologize. I just let it get to my head. I’ll focus.”

“What do you mean? You handled the situation well. You calmed them down but made sure to show them you’re authority.” Hotch cocked his head to the side. “It’s okay to show some force, and God forbid, it’s okay to make mistakes. You’re still only a year and a half into the job, Hart.”

I bite my lip and nod. It’s true: I’m still new. The others on my team have had either experience in the field at the BAU, police, or attorney experiences. I came fresh out of the FBI Academy with open arms and limited ability to shoot a gun with both eyes open. However, the BAU was looking for a fresh new face to help decipher things they couldn’t. With the help of my super high IQ, and grades, I was able to take the spot. After some help with my gun from Morgan and the grand tour from Reid, I was ready to kick some unsub ass.

“Thanks, Hotch,” I say breathing out. “Please don’t tell me I have to be the one to stay at the house with them, though.” I look at him with pleading eyes, but I already know his answer.

“Well, considering you and Reid are the youngest, we figured it would make sense for you two to stay with the boys.”

I roll my eyes. “We also have the least gun experience.”

“You’ll be fine. Morgan has agreed to remain outside the house at night. We just don’t want to shove this down the boys’ throats. It’s enough to take in verbally, but we think having three agents at their home, that isn’t even their home, is too much, yeah?”

I sigh and nod slowly. He had a point. “Alright, deal. When are we leaving?”

As on cue, Reid walks through the doors and smiles at me. He has keys in his hands, and he’s proud of them. Reid never gets to drive any of the large SUVs the Bureau allows us to ride around in. Now that it’s just us, I have no choice to ride shotgun even though I secretly want to take the car for a spin, myself.

"Now!” Reid says in a voice I know is way too excited for the circumstance, but I don’t mind. For a kid with an IQ of 187, it sure drops to a solid 87 when he gets the little things. I’ve always wondered how Reid’s mind worked. I know what it’s like to be an outcast. I thought I was the only one who had an IQ freakishly close to Steven Hawking. However, Reid’s IQ surpasses that. He can read 20,000 words per minute while I can only read about 10,000. We both share the eidetic memory, which comes in handy for certain cases.

I admire Reid because I can relate to him. I may even have a slight crush on him, but of course, I would never tell him. I would never even tell Morgan, because I knew that would just result in torment for the both of us.

Reid opens the door to the interview room, and all four boys look up pretty shocked to see someone with me. I speak up first, saving Reid the trouble. “Alright, boys, we’re taking you home.”

They stand up, but curly walks by me smirking. He let’s me out the door first, and I only thank him to be polite, although it’s killing me. I keep thinking about what Hotch and Morgan said to keep me grounded.

“How did I get such the pleasure for you to take me home, sweets?” Curly asks walking at my pace.

I feel my teeth grind and my fists clench. “You didn’t. I didn’t ask to stay with you guys. Lucky for me, Reid is staying, too, so I won’t be alone.”

“You’d never be alone, though, you’d have me.”

I let him out the door first, this time, as we leave the station, but he waits for me until we reach the SUVs. He turns to me and raises his brow. “You know, we can still be friends. I’m known as a charmer, so I’ll win your friendship, eventually.” And with that, he gets into the car.

I groan and roll my eyes walking around the car to get into the passenger’s seat. Reid notices my expression and laughs turning on the car and pulling away from the station. “You okay?” He says as the boys in the back begin talking about a band I’ve actually heard of.

“I’ll be fine. I just hope they find this guy. You heard what Hotch said about him killing again-“

Curly cuts me off. “Shouldn’t you be discussing the case with us, sweets?” He has a smirk plastered on his lips. I want to punch him in the face again.

Instead of showing my thoughts on my face, I shake my head. “We’ll discuss the case when we get to your place. Now, where do we go.”

Curly sighs and rolls his eyes. “You take a left at the next light … “