Saving Drew Patterson *A Tale of Love and Crime* (Spencer Reid/OC and the BAU)

Introductions

Once Agent Hotchner had concluded his interview with me, he nodded to himself, and stood, prompting me to do the same.  

“Sorry about that whole thing.  I know it’s boring, but bosses just put in new protocols, so unfortunately that’s going to be our new hiring technique from now on.”  I grimaced lightly at that.  

“Talk about a migraine,” I grumbled, mostly to myself, but I heard him snort as he headed towards the door, opening it and gesturing out of it.  

“It’s time you met the team, Patterson.”  My eyes widened slightly, and I ran a hand through my long blonde hair, a nervous tick that appeared when I least wanted it to.  He read me like a book, and motioned me to follow him, a reassuring look on his face.  “Come on, they’re down in the bullpen.”  

I took a deep breath, but followed him quickly, playing with the sleeve of my grey sweater.

“Hey, guys-” Agent Hotchner tried to begin, but a particularly young looking guy was showing something to several other people, and, without warning, a loud pop resounded through the bullpen.  My eyes widened as a black object wizzed towards my face.  At the last moment, I ducked out of the way, and watched it plink to the floor a few feet behind me.  At the sight of Agent Hotchner, everyone stood at attention, looking like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.  

“Physics magic?” Agent Hotchner questioned, one eyebrow raised.  The young guy with longish, mousy brown hair looked up guiltily at his boss.  

“Yes, sir,” he replied.  There was moment of silence in which everyone looked nervous.  

“That was the farthest one yet,” Agent Hotchner complimented, sounding impressed.  The whole group erupted in laughter, and one of them, a sturdy built black guy, ruffled the younger guy’s hair.  Everyone’s eyes seemed to move towards me, even before Agent Hotchner said anything.  

“Everybody, this is Agent Drew Patterson.  She’s our new addition to the team, so play nice,” he told them, eyeing them wearily, and not making me feel any more reassured. 

The really attractive guy stepped forward, shooting me a dazzling smile as he reached out his hand for me to shake.  

“Hey, my name’s Derek Morgan. Nice to meet you, little lady.”  You took it with a grin.  

“Was that a short joke?” I asked, and everyone laughed.  I’m five two on a good day, and it was obvious that everyone had noticed it.  Before he could make another witty retort, a black haired woman stepped forward, giving my hand a good shake.  “Hi, I’m Emily Prentiss,” she introduced, and I nodded back to her, saying,

“Nice to meet you.”  She seemed nice, and perceptive.  

“I’m Jennifer Jareau, but you can just call me JJ.  I’m the liaison for the group,” said a pretty lady with short blonde hair and bright green eyes.

“Awesome,” I replied, smiling and shaking her hand.  

I thought I had covered everybody, but then I remembered that there were seven members to the team.  I went to question Agent Hotchner, but I was attacked by a warm hug.  

“Oh my gosh, um… hi!” I said, laughing as a blonde and purple haired woman let me go and smiled brightly at me through hot pink glasses.  

“Hello there, pretty young thing!  I’m Penelope Garcia, your technical expert and your new best friend!”  I immediately accepted that as it seemed like she was a pretty awesome person.  

“Sound good! Nice to meet you,” I told her, and she grinned broadly, waving me away with a hand.  After that, an older man appeared behind her, reaching out to shake my hand.

“Hello, Agent Patterson.  I’m David Rossi.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  I was flustered.  This was THE David Rossi, whose books I had poured over throughout my high school and college career. 

“Likewise, Agent Rossi.  Your books helped me get where I am.  Thank you, sir,” I said, shaking his hand.  He smiled at me, but didn’t say anything more.  He and Hotchner seemed to have a lot in common.  Both much too wise for their years.  I could tell Rossi was profiling me too, but I didn’t say anything about it.  In fact, all of them seemed to be watching me, absorbing intel about me without a word.  Well, everyone except the young, skinny guy who stood quickly and awkwardly from his seat, as if realizing he hadn’t said hello yet.  It took everything not to laugh at how cute it was.  

“Um, hi.  I’m Dr. Spencer Reid, but you can call me Spencer.  Or Reid, I guess….  Or even both!  You know what, just call me whatever and everything will be good-”

“I’ll call you Spencer, and you can call me Drew.  Sound good?” I asked, reaching out for his hand.  He smiled brighter than anyone else, and nodded, shaking my hand with a surprising strength for his thin size.  

“Aren’t you a little young to be a Doctor?” I questioned him, arching a brow.  He chuckled, and I felt the same vibe of sass break through his previous bashfulness.  

“Aren’t you a little young to be an agent with three bachelors?” he replied, and I shrugged, nodding.

“Touche.”  

The whole team seemed to watch this interaction with knowing looks.  Emily and JJ seemed to be barely able to contain themselves as they (not so) subtly poked each other.  Hotchner broke through the silence, amusement still in his eyes as he did so.  

“Now that you’ve met the team, I’m afraid it’s going to be go, go, go.  We’re expecting a case any hour now,” he told me, aiming a look at JJ, who immediately widened her eyes and rushed back to her office, where her phone had been continuously ringing for the past five minutes.  Once she was gone, his attention turned back to me. 

“Feel free to personalize your desk space in any way.  Obviously there’s nothing for you to work on yet, so feel free to familiarize yourself with the headquarters.   You’re gonna be here for a while,” he said, shooting me a meaningful glance.  I laughed quietly.  This job took a lot of effort.  I had walked in here knowing that.  With a short nod, he traveled back to his office, leaving me to the team’s mercy.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty minutes into the flood of questions everyone was asking me, things seemed to be working out pretty well.   I felt comfortable, and they seemed to like how quickly I had warmed up to them.  Many comparisons were made between Spencer and I, and it was obvious that our stories were a lot alike.  Apparently, I had beaten him as the youngest member to join the BAU by three months.  It was obvious that he exceeded my intelligence, but I was perfectly fine with that.  In fact, I admired him.  He was exceptionally bright, and I knew there was going to be a lot to learn from him.  

“You fresh out of college?” Morgan asked, and I nodded, smiling as I fiddled with the seam on my sweater.  

“Yeah.  I was contemplating either getting another bachelor in philosophy, or maybe going for a masters in psychology, but I got the call from the bureau and immediately dropped everything.”  Everyone’s eyes were wide as they listened to me talk.  

“So how long have you wanted to be in the BAU?” Emily asked, her legs crossed and her chin resting on her hand.

 “Um…  I guess it became a reality during high school.  I knew that I could be useful here, and so I just started studying…  A lot,”  I huffed, and everyone seemed happy with that answer.  I was glad.  It seemed too early to be going into tragic backstory stuff.  

Spencer opened his mouth to ask something, but JJ’s voice from behind us interrupted him.

“Sorry, guys, but it looks like Drew’s first case is happening now,” she told us, giving me a sympathetic look.  I shrugged at her, smiling.  Honestly, I was prepared for everything at that point.  We all got up, straightening out the area before heading off to the debriefing room.  I tried my best not to look too excited.