✓ | 𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗘 · ͟͟͞͞➳ spencer reid

CHAPTER 10 ━━━

# ! | CHAPTER TEN
- he isn't anticipating a
familiar face

* the timeline is a little bit
ahead of when the rest of this
book is meant to take place.
however, it's pretty much just
fluff so if you can't handle a little
chronological discrepancy, feel
free to skip the chapter >:)

━━━ HOTCH IS SMILING DOWN
at his phone at a text from Beth when he hears a deep laugh and a staple Italian lilt somewhere over his left shoulder. He's in a black tank top and shorts, a scraggly 62 written on his left bicep. Around him, FBI agents are stretching out and getting ready for the first portion of the triathlon, the swim. Incentive to do well came in the form of his entire team, Beth, and Jack, who served as an excellent motivator. Well, almost the entire team.

"Murph?" Hotch questions, a small smirk playing on his features as Meryl looks over her shoulder, pale skin slick with sun cream. They're dressed similarly, she wears short, tight black shorts and a black sports bra, 21 scribbled on her arm. The loud laugh belongs to the unit chief of the Undercover Operations unit who they met a few months back, Marvin Laverne.

Meryl's face lights up and she bounces toward him, a solid ball of energy. Her green eyes are bright, stomach muscles flexing with every breath. "Ciao, Hotchy! I was wondering when we'd bump into you." The two men shake hands, murmuring their shared happiness at seeing each other again.

A whistle signifying two minutes till start time blows and Meryl laughs maniacally. "Hope you like the taste of dust, Mr. Hotchner."

Aaron rolls his eyes. "We'll see about that."

Marvin rolls eyes and follows them to the starting point of the swim. "Yeah, you will."

ೃ⁀➷

Hotch lost sight of Meryl and Marvin about ten minutes into the swim. Those two were on a whole different level of competitive, only seeming to have each other in the way of any sort of challenge. They whizzed though the swim and then the cycle leaving everyone in the dust before they got to the sprint.

Meryl runs ahead of Marvin and taps her heels together like an idiot. "Catch up, Vinny. We've got winning to do!"

Marvin rolls his eyes and puffs a breath through his lips. "Christ, woman, I'm coming. Are you on drugs right now?"

"Just high on life, doll face."

"You disgust me."

At the finish line, the team is congregating at the sides. Rossi glances at his watch and raises a brow. "They should be finishing soon, right?"

"I think I see the first person coming up now. First two, actually," Spencer comments, popping up on his tip toes.

The laughs of Marvin and Meryl can be heard long before they hit the finish line, but eventually they do reach it. Marvin tackles Meryl and they hit it at the same time, falling in a heap on top of one another. Marvin is up first, offering his hand to the black haired woman before they march off to claim their medals and glasses of water.

Meryl's eyes search for the test of the team and she finds them walking toward her enthusiastically. "Murph!" Penelope screeches, lovingly refraining from hugging the sweaty woman.

"Ciao, friends. Didn't realize Hotch was gonna be here too," she greets happily, that smirk curling her lips.

Rossi laughs, "Probably because you left him in the dust."

"Oh!" Meryl looks over to a very awkward Marvin, "I'm sure you guys remember Marvin Laverne, resident slowpoke."

The jest doesn't go unrecognized, but then Marvin sees his brother and goes scampering off to greet him.

"I don't think I've ever seen couples still be so happy to see each other after a race," Emily quips, sliding her eyes over at Spencer, waiting for a reaction.

Murphy, of course, takes it in stride. "Heavens, no. Marvin and me? Never gonna happen."

Spencer coughs. "He likes you one hell of a lot, though."

"No, he doesn't." Meryl started wheezing with laughter.

Derek claps her on the shoulder. "What's so funny? You're a better profiler than that!"

"He's-" she stops to wheeze, "he's gay!"

"Oh." Spencer tries to halt the relief in his voice, but JJ catches on and offers a smile. He couldn't pinpoint yet if what he felt was attraction or curiosity, but either way he felt drawn to the woman who now stretches her arms over her head, putting an octopus in an old timey scuba helmet on display. The tattoo is vibrant and on the middle of her back. "We may brave human laws, but we cannot escape natural ones," reads the ink on her skin in looping, clean font.

Morgan's eyes nearly pop out of his head when Spencer reached out and traces one tentacle. "Twenty thousand leagues under the sea. Of course." Meryl offers him a true smile then, straight teeth on display and eyes crinkled at the corners. He can't help but smile back.

Hotch finishes the race then and goes to greet Jack and Beth in addition to the rest of the team. Somewhere between congratulations, they decide to grab lunch as a group. Meryl approaches Beth and overs a tentative, friendly smile. "Hey, love. I'm Meryl Murphy, new field team member. I don't believe we've met."

They shake hands and then strike up a conversation about giraffes. Hotch watches from afar, Rossi and Morgan with him.

"I think Murph may be trying to steal my girlfriend," Hotch jokes, switching to watch Jack play with Garcia's rings.

Morgan elbows him as Beth puts her hand in the crook of Meryl's elbow and they once again dissolve into a fit of laughter. "I think it may be working."

Rossi nods in approval, seeing so much of himself in the newest agent. "Atta girl."