chapter eighteen
evaluation
"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU TRIED TO MOONWALK IN BOWLING SHOES," Rosalie giggled as Derek opened the door for her, and for once, the JTTF agent was dressed in a black suit, complete with her mother's traditional black heels that had gotten too small for her feet.
"You know what was funnier? That guy who almost went down the lane with his bowling ball." Derek chuckled as he stood behind Rose when she showed her badge, going through the metal detector.
"I'm pretty sure his wedding ring got stuck, and if that isn't devotion, I don't know what is." She admitted as she picked up her bag and shrugged it onto her shoulder, waiting for Derek before he pushed the button for the elevator.
"I mean, you're not wrong — I wouldn't let my wedding ring go down with my bowling ball either."
Rosalie raised an eyebrow at Derek who laughed and kissed her head. "I'm serious, don't look at me like that."
"Derek Morgan? Talking about marriage? Who are you?" She teased as she took her coffee from him and took a long sip of it as he snorted.
"My mom says I owe her some grandbabies, so it isn't the craziest thing I've said." He then took a drink of his coffee, and she shook her head softly laughing as she pushed the button for the last floor on the building.
She looked over at Derek as he glanced down at her. "You okay, baby?" He asked as he kissed her hand.
"Just a little nervous." She admitted before she pressed her face to his shoulder, looking up at him, as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and kissed her temple.
"Don't be," he told her. "You're a good agent. You did your job, you followed protocol."
The brunette sighed before she nodded, and looked up at him and cupped his face with her fingertips and ran her thumb over his bottom lip before bringing him closer, and pecking his lips as the doors opened to his floor, and she pulled away when she heard a squeal. She opened her eyes slowly, and Penelope Garcia had to have had the widest shit-eating grin on her face before Prentiss laughed.
"Where's my camera?" Garcia whined as Derek made a playful noise before chuckling and squeezing the latina's hand. Penelope was wearing a cotton candy pink dress with a purple cardigan and a cupcake ring. the outfit just as sweet as the woman actually was.
"I'll see you later, hopefully," he told her as he nodded, letting her hand go after he kissed the back of her tense knuckles. "Don't overthink it," he reassured her before he shrugged his bag on his shoulder before she took a step back into the elevator, nodding. "You're amazing, Rosalie Salvatore." He then moved to Penelope's side, offering her his elbow to take before she did so, and waved at her.
She smiled. "Thank you," she gazed at him softly as the silver doors shut slowly, just as he turned to walk to the BAU, and the elevator set back into motion, going all the way to the last floor of the building before the doors glided open, and Rosalie gracefully made her way out, smoothing out her black suit blazer. She turned the cross on her necklace, and then looked at the bin by the secretary's desk as she took her gun off her hip and set it inside the basket, which caught the blonde's attention.
"Appointment?"
"Rosalie Salvatore — 9:30."
She made a small circle with her lips, before she nodded, and then pointed to the couch outside the office, and the brunette's brown eyes glanced at the doors with dread in her stomach. Her ponytail swished from side to side as she walked to the sitting area, taking a seat on the left side of the couch, and turned the bottom button of her blazer in a circle due to her nerves before she closed her eyes and then tucked her hair behind her ear. She could feel her nerves turn to butterflies beating around her stomach and causing her heart to rise in her throat. After a few minutes, right before the clock turned to 9:30, the director's door opened and she stood to see a dark haired man slipping out, his eyes peering into Rosalie as if looking for her soul.
"Thanks for coming, Paul," the director — she's always heard him referred to as Joel, shakes Paul's hand who nods, and smiles, before he walks away, nodding to Rosalie at last.
"Agent." He tells her, before disappearing into the elevator.
With Paul gone, Joel turns back to Rosalie and shakes her hand. "Agent Salvatore, come inside." He waves her inside and she moves past him and goes inside, standing in front of his desk and by one of the two seats there. Joel closes the door, and then moves around before he grabs a personnel file, and then nods. "Take a seat, Agent."
She does as she's told, sitting and crossing her legs at the ankles. "Now, Salvatore, I've read through your report, Sara — who is your direct supervisor, and Hotchner's reports, and all of them are consistent. First, may I say congratulations on stopping the bomb and Agent Mayer, but I would also like to scold you on how completely reckless that was for the stunt you pulled." She nods slowly, pressing her lips together as he goes on to speak, before he clears his throat, sniffles and then fixes his tie at his throat. "But that's not why I've called you in. Ballistics and Internal Affairs looked over your original firearm and assessed the situation themselves, and you have been cleared."
A small sigh of relief left Rosalie, her features softening at the slightest gaze Joel took to look into her features before he then handed her a rust-colored file. With hesitance, she opened it and looked at the top paper. "Sara recommended you for a promotion, but before this promotion, I, the assistant director, and your superior unit chief agreed that you would be the best agent for this deployment. While we're certain you and your team stopped the attacks in New York, we're afraid that this is a larger operation and we can only send one of you. And Sara trusts you can handle this specific assignment. But we're afraid Peter has ties to the German crime underground. We need to squash this problem as soon as we can because the specific boss he's in cahoots with is a part of—"
"—La Eme, but he overextended to MS-13." She read and pressed her tongue to her cheek. "He was working with the Mexican mafia." She exhaled and shook her head. "When would you want me to handle this?"
"Not until we get more intel and can set you up with an identity that is stable enough to go undercover with the Department of Defense. We're hoping six to twelve months that we'll have enough for you to transition safely."
"Should we be worried about retaliation?"
"I wouldn't, but we'll keep an ear to the ground. As for you, you just keep doing a good job and don't stress. We'll let you know if anything changes."
Rosalie fixed her lips to protest when he stood up and opened the door, before waving a hand. "It was nice to talk to you, Agent Salvatore. We should do it again sometime," he told her sternly before she exhaled and stood up, before she walked out the office, and looked back at him before she grabbed her holstered gun and her badge.
Her gut twisted with nerves — the whole ordeal not settling right with her, and she didn't think it would ever. But she nodded, and walked to the elevator, the silver doors shutting behind her. And when the elevator dropped, so did her heart.
( 1.14.18 )
— And that's just a brief filler chapter, I promise the next chapter will be much better! There will be action, I hope, and some cute stuff, because this is season seven, so Will and JJ's wedding will be featured before some drama happens.
Also, I will be doing another criminal minds story (either now or soon), but it is about Luke Alvez, and entitled Dark Places, so I hope you all will read that just as well! Here's the cover, and look out for it, because when this story comes to an end, you will meet the main character for that story, and you'll also see some Derek and Rosalie in that story.