November 2nd

The team got back from a case around 10ish in the morning.

"I'm ready to go home." Morgan said.

Garcia walked up "Well you still got some paperwork to do." She said as he hugged her.

The team went to their desks and did their work. After half an hour a woman was being followed by the intern. The woman had dark hair, eyes, and dark skin. She was wearing jeans with a graphic t-shirt tucked into them. She walked as if she owned the world and everybody in it.

"I know where his office is now you can go." She snapped at the intern.

"Hey-." Morgan said.

She waved at him and said, "Yea, hey."

She walked up to the steps of Hotch's office and burst through the door.

"well, well, well, I figured, what would the mighty Aaron Hotchner do today, he would be here."

He smiled, stood up, and hugged her. "hey Gianna!" he said.

"happy birthday!" She smiled.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" he asked.

Gianna was taking classes to work in the same field as Hotch.

"I just finished my classes, for good, just looking for a job. I'm interviewing for a job as a detective." She said.

"Gianna, we have an open space." Hotch said.

"No, I can't. No one likes me here, not that I care just don't want to make people uncomfortable." She said.

"Oh I know you don't care, but you could be a great help."

"I don't know, I'll just be getting in the way."

"Please, you can meet the team." He smiled.

"I've met them." She furrowed her brows.

"Not formally." He took her downstairs.

No one really liked her, she was rude to people and had a resting bitch face...a bitchy one too.

Everyone stood up when they saw Hotch leading her down to them.

"Guys this is Gianna." Hotch said.

"Hi, Jennifer Jareau."

"Emily Prentiss."

"Derek Morgan."

"Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Well, Gianna is going to join the team." Hotch said.

Gianna turned to him. "What?" She asked.

"Yea."

Garcia came out. "Gianna is apart of the team now." Morgan eyed Garcia said.

She put on a fake smile. "Oh fun, I'm Penelope Garcia."

"Garcia no background check okay?" Hotch looked at her seriously.

"Yes, Sir." she said.

"Okay, you can start on our next case." Hotch said.

He got a call and walked away. Gianna found an empty desk.

"Guess this is mine." She sat at the desk next to Reid's. she turned to them all. "Yea I know you don't like me, not many people do. But who wants to race?" She asked.

"Race?" Morgan asked.

"Yea, y'all have rolly chairs here." She said.

"I'll race you," Emily said.

They sat in their chairs and raced. Before they could finish they got a case. They met in the conference room.

"People are getting murdered inside their homes." Garcia said passing around the case file.

"Brief us on the jet, home invasions are serious. wheels up in 5." Hotch said leaving the room.

They got on the jet and briefed, once done, Gianna spoke up, "y'all have a jet. That's cool, oh shoot hold on."

She got up and answered her phone that had been buzzing.

"So how long is she gonna be here?" Morgan asked.

"She doesn't seem that bad." Reid said.

"Yea, kinda like her." Emily said.

Gianna came back to irritated. they all could tell but didn't want to ask.

They got to the station. Gianna was looking at the houses that the murders happened in, and read about them. She stood up from the computer and went to the team.

"Hotch, all of these houses have a ghost story for each one." She said.

"What?" Morgan said unbelievingly.

"Yea, they are recreating the 'murders' that happened there." She smiled at Morgan.

"Okay look to see if there is anyone or group of people who are interested in this, maybe too much." Hotch said.

"I already did. I have the address." Gianna said.

"Okay, you and Reid go check it out." Hotch said.

Morgan smiled at Reid. They were walking out of the police station. Reid was stiff around Gianna.

"I don't bite." She said causing him to laugh.

They were in the car on the way. "Okay so, the top two people of the group work at this building." She pointed to it.

They walked in and no one was there. Gianna started looking through the girl's desk, Reid got a call.

"Reid." he said as he picked up his phone.

"Hey it's JJ, so there was a girl who was at all of the crime scenes. She's a reporter for something, she's friends with your group leader, her roommate said she was going to see them. Is she there?" She said.

"No none of them are here. I'll call you back." He hung up.

"What's up?" Gianna turned around and asked.

"There was a reporter at all crime scenes. JJ said she was meeting the leaders here." Reid said.

Gianna found a cabinet full of books. "They aren't here."

Reid came over to her and read the covers. They were composition books.

"How fast you read?" Reid asked, he knew the answer would below. But he needed hope as they had a lot to read.

Gianna picked up half of the books and sat down. "20,000 words per minute." She said nonchalantly.

"Wha-."

"What? You shocked I can read that fast." She chuckled.

"I read 20,000 words per minute too." Reid said.

"Well, congratulations Spencer." She smiled.

"You can call me Reid."

"I'm gonna call you Spencer, you can call me whatever you want." She smiled and so did he.

They read, flipping pages after pages. "Oh!" Gianna said.

Reid looked up at her, "What?"

"The guy, he stopped writing like a week ago. why?" She asked. They resumed reading for a while.

"Hey, hey, Gia." Reid said a bit excitedly.

Gianna smiled, no one ever called her that.

"What?" he asked confused, "You said I can call you whatever I want. Eidetic memory." 

"Well, Spencer, I underestimated you, also, photographic memory." she smiled at him.

"Okay." He giggled. "The woman, she talks about this place on Wood Lane." Reid said.

"I never read anything about that, not as popular, I guess." Gianna said.

"Which is what you would do if the FBI comes in town and still wanted to continue."

"You're right." Gianna got up and left the books on the chair. Reid didn't stand up.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"We're gonna go to the house, they're probably there." She said. Gianna walked to him grabbing his hand and pulled him up.

Reid looked uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Gianna asked.

"I-I don't usually, uh go out." He paused, she looked at him weirdly, "I don't go to the places, team doesn't think I can handle it."

"Spencer, there is no specific way to do it out there. Plus, who cares if the team thinks you can't handle it." Gianna said.

"I do." He frowned.

"Spencer," She put her hand on his arm, normally a woman touching him would make him uncomfortable, but he didn't mind it, "If you're gonna care what they think, which you can if you want. They have to be supportive of you."

They got in the car. "What if I get beat up?" He asked.

"Well, you can say to Morgan 'look at the other guy' and I'll take care of that part."

They got to the house, Gianna called Hotch.

"Wait for us." He said. They heard screaming from inside the house.

"I can't they are gonna kill her." Gianna hung up.

They got into the house, Reid drew his gun. She didn't have one, or not one authorized by the FBI. She had her own at home. They went up the stairs.

They found the door where the noise was coming from.

"Ready?" Gianna asked. Reid nodded.

They busted through the door. The woman had tied the girl to the bed. The man was nowhere in sight.

"FBI let her go!" Reid said.

The woman turned around and went after Reid. Gianna threw him out of the way. The woman tackled Gianna. "Get her out of here!" she yelled to Reid.

The woman was on top of her, she went to punch her multiple times but Gianna moved out of the way each time. Gianna got out from under her, the woman drew her gun and pointed it at Reid. Gianna kicked it out of her hand. Reid took the girl out of the room. The woman rammed Gianna against the wall, Gianna punched the woman in the face multiple times. Gianna's back was to the door now.

The woman ran towards her, Gianna grabbed her hands and threw her to the ground, she got up and punched Gianna in the face. Gianna got furious, she grabbed the woman, slammed her up against the wall, and cuffed her. She walked out of the room. The four walked outside, she let Reid walk the unsub outside, Gianna threw her in the cop car. Not checking to see if all of her was in there when she slammed the door.

She went to the team. Morgan pulled her aside. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He seethed.

"What?"

"You took Reid with you, he could have got hurt!"

"So what if he did, you baby him. You can't expect him to grow or learn to fight if you fight all of his battles. And look at him." She pointed to Reid, he was smiling big, "He wanted to go, but kept resisting because y'all think he can't handle it." She said.

"Because he can't!" morgan yelled.

Gianna looked him dead in the eye. "Well look at him now, think he handled it pretty well."

She walked to an ambulance to get checked out. Hotch came over.

"You okay?"

"Yea I'm fine why?" She asked.

"Just making sure." He smiled and walked away.

Reid walked up. "Hey, Gia?" He asked nervously.

"Spencer, I told you, I don't bite." They both laughed.

"No, I just wanted to say, thank you." He smiled, she patted the spot next to her for him to sit.

"Anytime, well at least with me."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She said again. "

No, for making sure I didn't get hurt." Gianna smiled at him, "You could have easily let her beat me up but you didn't, you had me get the girl." he continued.

"Yeah well, don't think you didn't do anything. Would have never been able to save her if it wasn't for you." She said with a smile.

They sat there for a bit. Emily came over. "We found the second guy, he's dead. Looks like he's been dead."

"Yea dead for a week probably." Gianna said.

"He stopped writing about a week ago." Reid added.

"Well, Reid, I'm proud of you, should come in the field more." She smiled and walked away.

"part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. a masterly retreat in itself is a victory." - norman vincent peale.