Psychosis

Chapter 11- New Transfers?

Aaron Hotchner, known to the rest of his team as Hotch, looked at the two files he had been given. He hadn't looked inside of them and had decided that he wasn't going to do so. There weren't any openings in the BAU, yet he had just been told that there would be two new transfers. Two! Had they not gone through this with Prentiss? He hadn't approved for her transfer, either, but Strauss had worked her in somehow. While Prentiss had been a good addition to their team, Hotch wasn't going to allow something like that to happen again. The last time, there had been an opening after Elle had resigned. This time, though, the team was still together, and Hotch wouldn't allow any new transfers to break in and change the chemistry of the team. While he hated the idea, he had to talk to Strauss. Oh, he hated the idea. On the way there, he decided to check with Rossi, make sure that he hadn't done something and forgotten to tell Hotch.

"You didn't approve any new transfers, did you?" Hotch asked.

"Didn't quite realize I was allowed to do so. Since when have there been any openings?"

"There hasn't been."

"And there's still a request for a transfer?"

"Two of them. I'm going to talk to Strauss. I'm sure she had something to do with it, just like when it was Prentiss," Hotch mentioned, and Rossi smiled.

"Into the lion's den. Come out in one piece, would you?" he slightly joked.

"I'll try." That was all that Hotch promised, knowing that anything else would be a false promise. Like Rossi said, he was going into the lion's den, and he dreaded it. Strauss was not one to be dealt with, except on rare occasions like this one. Files in hand, he made his way to the lion's den.

"Ah, Agent Hotchner, I wondered when you'd be coming," Strauss said upon his entry, not looking up from her paperwork until he dropped the two files on her desk.

"I didn't approve any new transfers, Chief Strauss. You should know that we don't have any new openings in the BAU. There won't be any transfers," Hotch told her, and she gave him the look she normally had, the look that said "Oh, really?" and dared anyone to challenge her.

"Agent Hotchner, I don't know if you've looked through those files, but those two girls that have requested to transfer are the best profilers the FBI has to offer," Strauss argued.

"No offense, ma'am, but that is in no way, shape, or form the truth."

"Excuse me?"

"The best profilers the FBI has to offer are the ones in my team, and my team has a certain chemistry that would be disrupted by the transfer of two agents. I don't know anything about the two girls you are trying to get into the team, so the answer is no. No new transfers." Hotch thought the conversation was over, but Strauss had one more thing to say.

"I think you do, actually. One of the girls you've met before. I believe she helped you on a case if I do recall correctly. Look through those files again. The one you know should be on the bottom. I think you should look at that one after the one you don't know. Maybe you should discuss it with your team? See what they say before making a decision," Strauss suggested, and Hotch knew that she wasn't taking "no" for an answer. On the other hand, maybe talking to the rest of the team wasn't that bad of an idea. It couldn't hurt to see what they had to say. He was trying to figure out who the second girl could be. Every time that they had been on a case, someone had helped them, whether it was police or a civilian giving them tips that he or she hadn't thought would be helpful. So who was it that Strauss thought they knew so well? He called the team to an emergency meeting, and as he waited for the rest to come, he looked over the first file, not wanting to look at the second quite yet. Reid was the last to come.