THE CAGED BIRD || Spencer Reid [1]

zero; elbow bumps.

"as soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen"
[Winnie the Pooh]

If there was one thing Jodi McCoy knew how to do, it was cram.

More specifically, take tasks that would normally take an hour, like getting ready in the morning, and fit all of it into a maximum of twenty minutes.

It was how she had managed to survive the american foster system as a child (it came in handy when she forgot to do chores), it was how she made it through high school as an immigrant teenager with a Scottish accent so thick no one could properly understand her because she was brought over from Scotland by her foster parents, and it was how she made it through the required standard training to get into the FBI.

Completing an invincible tasks was her specialty.

Which was exactly why Jodi was so comfortable with waking up forty minutes before having to officially be at the office for her first day on the Behavioral Analysis Unit, even after factoring the bus timing in.

So, while she hummed quietly to herself under her breath, Jodi all but danced off the bus, her black Dr Martens landing in a puddle the moment they hit the ground. With only a slight waver in her balance, she continued on towards the front door of the building. Her cross-body bag swung back and forth from where it was draped diagonally over the green blouse she had chosen to tuck into a black pencil skirt that ended a few inches above her ankles.

Jodi tapped her fingers lightly against her thigh, smiling sweetly at the woman in front of her as she was handed her badge and gun for the very first time. "Thank you very much," she beamed.

The woman in front of her just nodded and told her which floor she was meant to arrive at, and then which office she was to report to.

Nodding once, Jodi continued humming softly to herself as she moved over to the waiting area seats and gracefully unlaced her boots and quickly switched them for a nice pair of much nicer, newer boots of a similar make. Then once she'd tucked her well worn boots back into her bag on top of two changes of clothes (she'd been advised to have a grab-n-go bag ready as soon as possible) she stood up and hummed her way over to the elevator.

"Kiss me extra tender," she murmured to herself, swaying slightly in place as she pressed the correct button on the wall. Then she moved to the center of the box. "Hold me extra tight, 'cause I'm savin' your sweetness for a special night."

With her heart hammering in her chest with nerves, Jodi tried her best to focus on the lazy guitar rhythm playing in her head. She kept her eyes closed, changing to silently mouthing the words until the doors opened in front of her.

The open floor plan in front of her was a maze of folder-covered desks and rolling chairs, each giving unintentional information about the person who they belonged to. But she paid no mind to that just yet, only smiling at those around her in order to save her judgment for their personalities, rather than their living space.