Chapter 1:
"You truly have no idea
How long I've waited for you."
———
This is my first chapter so please be kind, I’m still figuring out what writing style I prefer. I hope you enjoy!! <3.
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The morning of your first day wasn't very different from your typical routine. You woke up and brushed your teeth. Played music while you took a shower and got dressed. Your cat was sitting at the bathroom door waiting for food when you got out. You filled her bowl and gave her water quickly. Then, you grabbed your bag and keys and slid on your shoes at the door.
You were able to get to your local cafe quickly. Luckily, traffic didn't seem to be crazy. You had enough time to grab matcha and a croissant and sit down for a bit before you needed to get going to work.
You had to get to the FBI headquarters for the first day of your new job.
After years of hard work, being called a genius, getting PhDs, and studying, you were finally where you wanted to be. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.
During the drive, you played music quietly to fill the silence. The upbeat melodies helped to distract you from the waves of nervousness filling your chest. Instead of paying attention to how big this opportunity was, you focused on humming the vocals of the song. If you stressed yourself out before you'd even gotten there you would surely end up making a fool of yourself.
—
When you got to the headquarters, you made a beeline to the BAU. The receptionist was polite and happy to tell you where to go and wished you congratulations on the new job. The job itself was an incredible opportunity, even with your intelligence, and you'd be damned if you made a bad impression by being late on your first day. Which is why you'd rushed through a bit of your morning routine.
You walked through the doors of the BAU and up to the office with the name card that read 'Aaron Hotchner.' You knocked and waited, "Come in." You opened the door slowly and stepped into the room with the same pace. "Agent Hotchner? Hi, I'm Aaliyah Hathins, we spoke on the phone."
He looked up from his papers and gave you a polite smile. "Just Hotch is fine, it's very nice to meet you in person." He stood and motioned for you to take a seat. "The same for me, it's nice to be here. Thank you, again, for this opportunity."
He laughed, "No, it's my pleasure. You'll be an incredible asset to the team. I hope you like it here. You'll find that we're all very close-knit, we're like a family so you should be able to have constant support. Especially given your, unique history, I thought that would be important to you."
"It is actually, thank you." He nodded and it was quiet for a moment before Hotch spoke up again, "So would you like to meet the team now?" You smiled brightly, "Yes, if that's okay." Hotch stood up and waited behind the now-opened door. "Of course. Down those steps." You walked behind Agent Hotchner once you got down the stairs. Nerves were bubbling into your chest again but you reminded yourself to breathe.
"Can I have everyone's attention please? As of today, we have a new member joining the team. If you'd like to introduce yourself?" The last sentence was directed at you as Hotch turned to face you himself. "Uh, yes. Hi everyone. I'm Dr. Aaliyah Hathins, I hope we can all get along well since... Spencer?"
A tall brunette man turned around and you came face to face with the grown-up version of a boy you knew years ago. A smile started to grow on both of your faces. "Since we'll be working together, sorry. Uh, yeah." Spencer made his way towards you with a grin larger than any of the team members had seen in nearly weeks.
When he reached you, Spencer wrapped you in a tight hug. "I missed you. So much." You held onto him just as tightly, "I missed you too, Spence." The two of you broke away from the hug awkwardly as you realized you were still in the workplace. A tall dark-skinned man was the first to speak, "You two know each other?" His eyebrows were furrowed in interest.
You and Spencer both nodded excitedly. "Since we were kids. We grew up together, even went to the same high school." The faces of the other team members looked like combinations of confusion, amazement, and just pure shock. "Wait if you two went to the same high school, and pretty boy here is 23, how old are you?"
You playfully nudged Spencer with your shoulder, "Pretty boy, Spencer? Really? Um, I'll be 21 in a few months." The group surrounding you went from shocked to dumbstruck by the new information. "You're 20?" You nodded and laughed a little.
The colorful blonde woman to the right of the man who'd spoken before chimed in, "You must be smarter than boy genius! Are you smarter than Reid?"
"Since we were kids." You found it very funny that none of their faces had dropped the surprise. "I'm Penelope. They mostly call me Garcia, but you can call me Pen, or G, or just Penelope. It's really nice to meet you." The woman went to shake your hand but you flinched. "Sorry, our brains aren't the only thing we have in common. Germaphobes."
Penelope kept smiling even after you refused her handshake, "No biggie! We've all gotten used to keeping our hands off of Reid, what's one more?"
The man from before raised his hand in a wave, "I'm Derek Morgan." You smiled at him kindly. The other team members took their turns introducing themselves before Reid spoke up for the first time in a while. "There's another team member, his name is Jason Gideon. He works with us like everyone else but he doesn't generally come into the office early unless he has to. He'll typically get here later than everyone else and stay in his office until there's a case. You know, I think you'd like him, he has this incredible way of-"
"Who's this?" An older man stepped up to the group. "I'm Dr. Aaliyah Hathins, sir." The man nodded, "Jason Gideon. You're the new hire Hotch was talking about, right? High IQ, excellent memory, all that. The one he referred to as a second Reid?"
You laughed a bit awkwardly, "I suppose so, yes." He nodded again before just walking away. Probably going to his office like Reid had described. Derek started to apologize for him but you stopped his condolences, "No, I like him."
"Where is Hotch finding you guys?" You and Reid answered, "Las Vegas, Nevada." Derek laughed like he wasn't genuinely expecting you to answer his question.
—
You and the team were all in a briefing when Emily walked out. You heard her say something about her mother. Soon after, Hotch and Emily were pulled out of the room to talk to a woman.
Straight into a case, then.
—
Everyone watched as the Agent picked up the severed finger and placed it into the bag. Just when they did, one of the women started crying for the ring hysterically. "She wants his wedding ring." Once Hotch gave the okay for them to leave the cooler, they calmed down.
Spencer walked up to the younger woman with the paper, "This note's in Russian, I need to know the exact text." Her response was quick. "Wire $100,000 to Nadka Bank, account number 155293846729 by tomorrow noon. If you don't, you will receive another body piece then another, and every six hours after."
She didn't even look a second time. Reid spoke out about what you'd noticed. The note was long, not personalized, no mention of police. They had Penelope try to find a link between the information. She found one between the account number and the bank but there was no name. "We'd have to call the bank directly," she said.
"No way. There's no way a Russian bank is going to give information on personal accounts." She sounds right.
"I can make some calls. I may still have some friends in the Eastern countries." The woman, the ambassador, left the room.
"We don't have much time, we need a division of labor. Um, Morgan, somebody needs to go to the Chernus' house in Baltimore in case they are contacted again. Hathins, you go with him." The younger Russian woman, Natalya, decided to go with you and Derek, her mother and Prentiss stayed behind.
—
The jet ride would be quick. Nonetheless, you found yourself talking to Spencer and Morgan. "So, smarter than pretty boy, huh?" You laughed quietly. "Yeah, higher iq, better memory, multilingual, I'm basically Spence 2.0." Spencer hit you softly in mock offense, "Okay, the only reason I didn't learn a third language is because you'd suggested it'd be a waste of my time."
"It would. I'd end up being more fluent regardless, Spencer. You sound like you're reading from a Spanish dictionary when you try to speak the language." Both you and Morgan laughed. "So what do you got then? Iq, memory, languages? What are they?" You smiled and glanced from Spencer to Morgan. "I have an Iq of 198. I have Hyperthymesia and just a generally above average memory. As for languages, I speak English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, and French."
Derek looked at Spencer, "Hyper-what now?" Spencer answered for you, "It's the ability to remember generally every detail of your own life with great precision." You were about to initiate another conversation but heard Gideon say something about a briefing.
When the flight was nearly over, you moved to sit at the table with Morgan and Gideon as Reid did. "She doesn't look scared." You glanced in her direction and noticed how she checked her watch. "She looks pretty calm, honestly." Gideon spoke after you, "She's a tough girl. When we get to the house, take her inside. Profile the rooms while you profile her."
You nodded and sat quietly until the plane landed.
—
"Why are they just standing around?" Derek answered her questions while you kept looking around the room. You listened in on the conversation but focused more on looking at the house and her behavior. Morgan was more conversational than you anyway. "My father never really believed, even with Democracy, that Russia could ever change. He was right. What he didn't expect was that it would allow criminals to follow."
"They prey on us here," she said. Derek spoke, "In America, they can only hurt you if you're afraid to ask for help."
"Is that really true?" "Most of the time." Bullshit.
—
You were inside the house when you heard the door open. Once you went to look you saw that it wasn't Derek who'd walked out of the door. "Morgan!"
"You! Where's my father?" You ran to grab her quickly. She kept pulling away until Morgan blocked her from the people in front of her. "Wait a minute! Do you know he has your father?"
"He's responsible for all this. Why everyone's afraid. Him and his animals." The man did look suspicious, you'd give her that. "I'm only here to help." She yelled back, "Help? You're a dog." You looked back at him, "Natalya."
The man started walking toward Natalya and spoke in Russian. "What did he say? Did he threaten you, Natalya? Talk to us and we can do something about it. What did he say?" She looked at Derek, "He said I made the wrong decision. I hope I didn't." That's a bit of a simplification though.
"Uh, Agent Gideon? I know what they said." He furrowed his brows, "Go ahead."
" 'Natalya. You didn't have to bring outsiders. Let me help you.'
'My family will never come to you for help. Get away from my house.'
'You are not right, Natalya.
You have made the wrong decision.'
There'd be no reason to lie or cut off information unless she was hiding something. I mean, 'You are not right?' I feel like there has to be something deeper."
Gideon nodded, "Good work. You and Morgan keep an eye on her."
"Natalya? Natalya?" She stepped out of a hallway, "You alright?" "In two hours, if we don't send someone money we don't have, my father will be mutilated again, so, no, I'm not really alright."
I watched silently as Morgan explained the information he'd found about their family. The more Morgan said, the more bothered she looked. You could be wrong but it looked like she was offended at the statements that showed her lack of wealth. Wanting money and wealth is only natural, but she seemed to take it more personally than that.
If you were being honest, you were more suspicious about her than the man she'd been pointing fingers at.
—
"Derek, I think she's involved." He turned to face you but you didn't look him in the eye. "Look around. What do you see?" He glanced at the room, "Family that's not close. Probably close to poor."
"Right. Now think about Natalya's behavior. Think about when you were telling her what you'd found. Did you notice how she looked offended by any statements you made that shed light on the truth about her so-called wealth? When she talked about her family she was distant, it was like she didn't care. Even if your family dies while you're young, it doesn't just stop affecting you."
You looked at Derek, "Not only that, it's something Lysowsky said. When he was in front of the house earlier, he said, 'You are not right, Natalya.
You have made the wrong decision.' Does that seriously sound like a mobster threatening someone to you?"
"You really think she's a part of this?" You nodded once, "I do."
You and Morgan were still looking around when Natalya came back into the room. "Are you hungry? I could make something."
"No thanks, I'm fine." "No, thank you." She sat down, "I guess I'm like my mother. When she's upset, she cooks." Derek laughed, "Really? Yeah, mine does, too. I think that's just a mom thing." She smiled, "Where is your mother?"
"Chicago. That's where I'm from." She looked at you, "Yours?" You hesitated, "Uh, we're not in contact." Your excuses were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Were you expecting someone?" She shook her head. Derek went to check the door.
It was just a kid. "It's Uri. He lives down the street." She opened the door, "A man said to give this to you." "What?" The kid handed the box to her, "He said you needed it right away." She opened the box to a severed ear covered in blood. "Get in the house, get in the house!"
You pulled the woman and child behind you and stood watch while Derek ran outside. You watched him look around but there was nobody either of you could see.
—
"They didn't wait, man!" I stood in the living room with Derek while he called Gideon. Natalya was still crying in the bathroom. After hanging up, Derek went to comfort her and I walked behind him. "Natalya? Listen, I know it feels like it might be too late, but Gideon thinks we're onto something." Nothing.
"Wait, Derek, she's not making any noise." He tried the doorknob but got no answer. He started to break the door down when we heard a car start. You both tried to get there in time but she'd already taken off.
"Damnit," Morgan called one of the team members and you both rushed to a restaurant she'd apparently walked into. When you got to the restaurant Natalya was already getting into a car and driving away. "What are we doing? We're just going to let her go with him?" Reid looked at him, "What choice do we have, man?"
"Oh so, what? We get on a plane, we go home, we pretend nine of this happened?" I looked at Derek, "There's a victim who claims no crime has occurred."
"Now we have a daughter of a victim who claims the crime never occurred." Reid spoke again, "Well, if she says that she talks to him and he's okay, then what proof do we have that it even happened?"
The body parts. "Where's the ear?" Oh for fuck's sake. "Natalya has it." We drove back to the house and Derek went in to look for Natalya. "She's not here. And the garbage was never taken out."
"What?" "When Hotch first talked to us, he said she noticed her father's car in the driveway when she took the garbage out. The garbage can in the kitchen is completely full, she never took it out."
—
"So we have a daughter who lied about how she discovered the crime, none of the missing body parts to prove anything actually happened, and a generic ransom note that mentions no names." "So what are we saying?"
"Natalya was a part of this." Derek sighed and shook his head, "You were right." Spencer and Gideon looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Earlier. Hathins told me she thought Natalya was a part of it. I didn't call it in because I wasn't a hundred percent. Why would she even bring us into this?" Morgan got interrupted by a phone call. "Garcia just got into the bank's system. Somebody wired $500,000 into the account 10 minutes ago."
"Who wired it?" "She didn't say where it came from,
but the name on the account is Lyov Fulenko. She said that's Lysowsky's wife's maiden name. Fulenko." Gideon spoke quietly, "Why did she need to bring us into it? Because she needed to put pressure on the other victim."
Gideon walked away and to another house in the neighborhood. You all watched as he spoke to them. Soon enough he turned around and you all were rushing back to the restaurant.
Lysowsky didn't deny paying the ransoms, but he refused to tell us why. "I think I know." You all stopped talking to let Spencer explain, "The account is in the name of Lyov Fulenko. Lyov is a man's name. A son's name. Vory v Zakone. Never have a family of your own. No wife. No children."
"Lyov. Do you know what it means? The lion. I knew when the first man was taken. I knew who had done it. No one else would be so bold and so stupid." Gideon tried to get the man back on track but you had to listen to the story as he ignored the questions.
He sighed, "Chernus will be home in a few minutes. You should be there. He's going to need medical attention. Go. Go." Gideon stood but stopped, "What are you going to do?"
"Vory v Zakona. We take care of our own troubles."
—
The drive to the house was stressful. How could you even know if he was telling the truth? Still, you held your breath as you pulled into the neighborhood. When you saw a man wrapped in a blanket, presumably Natalya's father, you were quick to act. While Gideon talked to the man, Spencer opened the door and you moved into the very back so he could sit.
—
After you'd gotten the family back together, Hotch sent you all home. While you were grabbing your things from your desk to take home, Spencer walked up to you. "Hi." His smile looked so soft in the dark lighting. "Hi. Are you heading home already? Thought a genius like you would stay late."
He chuckled, "Normally I do, but I feel like I'm responsible for making sure you get home safe." You grabbed your phone and now-full purse off of the desk and turned towards the door. "C'mon then, pretty boy. I'll give you a ride to your place."
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