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Growing Up Again	By : hatochiisai Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 21443 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor do I make any financial profit off of writing and posting this work.

Chapter List
- 1-Re-Birth
- 2-Age 1
- 3-Age 2
- 4-Age 3
- 5-Age 4
- 6-Age 5 & 6
- 7-Age 7
- 8-Age 8
- 9-Age 9
- 10-Age 10
- 11-Age 11
- 12-Age 12
- 13-Age 13
- 14-Age 14
- 15-Age 15
- 16-Age 16
- 17-Age 17
- 18-Age 18
- 19-Age 19
- 20-Age 20
- 21-Age 21
- 22-Age 22
- 23-Age 23
- 24-Age 24
- 25-All Grown Up
- 22
- 23
- 24
Growing Up Again
Ahmose Inarus
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Criminal Minds, nor do I make any financial profit from writing this.
SLASH! H/R Just… nothing while Reid is "under age". ^_^

Twenty Three Years Old

Aaron Hotchner woke Spencer Reid in the morning with gentle kisses over his shoulders and a hand stroking up and down his spine. He smiled when his lover sucked in a deep breath and stretched… but then he winced.
“Ooh…”
“What?”
“Oh God… I’m so sore…” Reid groaned. Slowly, Hotch grinned and chuckled. “SHUT UP, YOU JERK!” Reid shrieked, walloping Hotch in his head with a pillow. “It’s YOUR fault!”
“I didn’t hear you say “no”, Spencer.” The man pointed out, then yelped “OW!” when Reid smacked him in the face.
“Oh GOD!” Reid groaned, forcing himself out of bed and to his feet. Hotch just sat and watched Reid hobble into the bathroom with a pleased smirk on his face. “You’re a JERK!”
Hotch laughed and got out of bed calling “I’ll go make breakfast.”
Soon enough, Reid limped down the stairs, they had breakfast and were on their way to work.
The team looked up when they walked in… or… limped in.
“Damn… Pretty Boy! Look at you! Hotch wasn’t kidding!” Morgan laughed. Reid’s eyes widened, he turned red and slowly looked at Hotch.
“About WHAT?!”
“Nothing, Spencer.” Hotch said quickly, and hurried to his office. Reid stared after him, then narrowed his eyes and glared.
“Doctor Reid.” He turned and looked up when Strauss walked in with JJ.
“Ma’am?”
“Ready for your first day back, Spence?” JJ asked.
“We have a case?!”
“You got it.” JJ said, and Reid grinned and hurried to refill his coffee before heading to the Round Table Room. The rest of the team gathered, and Strauss joined them.
“I will be accompanying you on this case.” She said. “Just to observe. After that, Agents Reid and Hotchner will meet with Dr. Brennan again, and we will decide if any action needs to be taken.” The team glanced around, but Hotch merely nodded and sat.
“JJ.” He prompted, and she smiled and nodded, pointing the remote towards the screen.
“Alright. We are going to Boston.” JJ announced. “We have nine dead… Alicia Bertucio, 19, David Lorenzini, 67, Sara Big Crane, 56, Elaine Ward, 28, Alan Mortimer, 45, Sally Booth, 62, Julio Campos, 23, Stephen Lundquist, 44, and Raquel Washington, 30.”
“… all different ages, three different races, very different physical appearances…” Emily said, looking over all of the victims.
“What was the cause of death?” Morgan asked.
“… Multiple stab wounds…” JJ sighed, and flipped to the crime scene photos.
“Oh!” Garcia gasped, promptly lifting up a folder to hide her view. Strauss winced and looked away as well.
“Sally was stabbed thirty two times…” Reid read out loud. “Alicia forty seven, Sara eighteen times, Elaine nine, David twenty, Alan was stabbed twelve… Julio was stabbed nineteen time, Raquel was stabbed twenty two times and Stephen was stabbed twenty seven times…”
“These people have virtually nothing in common.” JJ sighed. “Different neighborhoods, different social classes, different marital status, some had kids, some don’t, different religions…”
“They were all attacked at night in their homes.” Rossi said, slowly.
“Garcia.” Hotch said. “I want you to check all of their financial information, credit cards, see if there were any common places that they all frequented.”
“Yessir.” Garcia nodded.
“Alright. Wheels up in an hour.”

Strauss sat in the back of the plane, watching the team. Reid was curled up next to Hotch. They were nearly touching. Emily Prentiss had stretched out her legs across the aisle and her feet were resting on the seat between Hotch and Reid. Agent Reid’s arm was lightly draped over Agent Prentiss’ shins and cradling a book in his hand. The team had discussed the case at first, but Hotchner had told everyone to relax and get into the mindset to hit the ground running. Rossi moved away from the coffee machine and sat down across from Strauss.
“You look like you have a question.” He stated.
“Why did you all stop working the case?” Strauss asked.
“Let’s just say that it’s beneficial to step back after the initial discussion and let the team all relax, unwind and ‘find their happy place’ before really compartmentalizing and becoming ready to buckle down and dig in.” Rossi said. “It’s a moment of calm before the storm.” Strauss nodded her understanding.
“Five dead…” Strauss sighed, looking down at the case file that she had. “They should have called us in sooner.” Rossi frowned and stood, moving to sit with the team. Strauss noted him murmuring to Hotchnner. The Unit Chief was frowning and the other members of the team glance back at Strauss. Not long after, the plane began to descend, and Strauss bit the bullet and moved up to sit with the team.
“I want you to know,” She began, “my presence does NOT mean that I don’t have faith in the ability of your team to perform their jobs. It’s just a different kind of review. I know that you don’t want me here, and believe me when I say that I don’t enjoy being the field. I just want you to know that I’m not here to steamroll or get in the way. I’m just here for observation purposes.”
“I understand.” Hotch nodded. “However, there are some rules that I will expect you to abide by.” Strauss blinked, looking incredulous. “A while back, you accompanied the team on a case to Milwaulkee.”
“When you were considering a transfer and Agent Prentiss had resigned.” Strauss clarified.
“Yes. Right after Gideon left.” Hotch affirmed. “JJ told me that you insulted the lead detective on the case only minutes into our investigation.” Strauss blinked, a blank look on her face. “You told the detective that they should have called us in sooner.”
“And they should have.” Strauss said, frowning.
“You can’t go telling them that.” Hotch said firmly.
“This case that we’re going to…” Strauss said, still frowning. “there are nine victims. They’ve known for a while that this was a serial…”
“Yes… but if we come in and insult them, they’re not going to want to co-operate.” Hotch said. “I don’t care I there are a hundred dead. Do NOT insult the local law enforcement or imply that they didn’t do things right. If we come in and tell them that they did things wrong or should have called us in sooner, it alienates them. And we need them to work WITH us. As it is, it’s usually a blow to their ego to have to call us in anyway. Giving them another blow to the ego will make our job that much harder. And if you piss them off enough, they can, and WILL, rescind their request for Bureau involvement. And then people die because we had to go home without catching the killer. Do you understand where I’m coming from?”
Strauss was silent, her expression thoughtful.
“I know it’s frustrating.” Hotch admitted to her, and she looked him in the eye. “A lot of times, we could have, and SHOULD have, been called in sooner. But we don’t tell the LEO’s that. We come in, thank them for having us, like you would thank a host, and then you respect them like a guest SHOULD respect the host. We are there to HELP them, not to take over. We are their assistance, not their leaders, even though we technically are their superiors in official rank. We never act like it, and we never pull rank unless absolutely necessary. This is CRUCIAL. We are there to assist THEM. NOT the other way around. And you need to remember this. If we go in there, take over, insult them, act superior, and make them look like fools, they get PISSED. And believe it or not, they DO talk to each other between districts. And word spreads. Piss them off, and they stop calling us in… Do you understand this?”
Slowly, Strauss nodded. The team just stared, eyes wide. They were impressed at how Hotch had just lectured Strauss. And it looked like it got through. She turned and stared out the window, deep in thought.
When the plane touched down, the team disembarked and headed to the two SUV’s that were waiting. Strauss obviously followed Hotch and Reid, and Rossi tagged along. JJ and Emily were more than happy to join Morgan in the other vehicle, watching Rossi hold the door open for Strauss to allow her to take shotgun while he sat in the back seat with Reid.
“So what’s the plan?” Strauss asked as they headed away from the airport.
“We head to the station to introduce the team to the LEO’s and get started on setting up. We’ll divide up jobs from there.” Hotch said, and Strauss nodded. The drive to the station took twenty minutes, and soon the team was walking in. A surly looking captain greeted them, obviously not pleased that the team was here. Thinking of what Agent Hotchner had told her on the plane, Strauss kept silent, watching as the Unit Chief held out his hand.
“Captain Howard.” He greeted. “Thank you for having us. I’m Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner and this is my team.” He turned. “Supervisory Special Agents Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, David Rossi and Doctor Spencer Reid.” The captain shook hands with the ladies and seemed to perk up at Rossi’s name, but just nodded to Reid when the young man hung back and offered a little wave. “And this is Section Chief Erin Strauss.”
“Thank you very much for having us.” She said, taking Hotch’s lead.
“I uh… We have a conference room set up for you people to use.” The captain told them, and they followed after him. Inside was a long table, an upright cork board and a white board.
“This will do perfectly.” JJ said with a sweet (slightly flirtacious) smile.
“All the evidence is in these files here.” The Captain said, sounding a bit more eager. “Was there anything else you needed?”
“Where can I get a map of the city?” Reid piped up.
“Uh… I’ll locate one for you.” The Captain said, eyeing Reid up and down skeptically. Strauss frowned slightly, seeing this.
“Okay.” Hotch said, now paying the captain no attention whatsoever. “Reid, you do your thing. Emily, Morgan, I want you to head down to the ME’s and get a firsthand look at the bodies that are still there and get their impressions of the first victims.” The two nodded and headed out immediately. “JJ, I want you to get a handle on the press. See what they know, what they’re saying, and what they should NOT be saying.”
“Oh, joy.” JJ drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes and smiling as she touched up her lip gloss and mascara and let her hair down, fluffing it a bit. “Captain, if you would join me?”
“Huh?” The man asked.
“It’s been your face that the press has been seeing, has it not?” JJ asked, and the man nodded. “They already see you as the face of the investigation, and it’s best to keep that continuity.”
“Um… alright then… what are you gonna do?” And he looked at Hotch and Rossi.
“We’re going to head out and look at the crime scenes.” Rossi said as Hotch took up his car keys again.
“What about the kid?” The Captain asked as they all left the room.
“He’s going to set up in there.” Hotch responded.
“Oh. He an intern or something?” Strauss looked at Reid as the young man bit his lip to try and hide his grin.
“Or something.” Rossi’s amused tone floated back.
“What’s HE do?” the Captain asked.
“When we return, you’ll see.” Hotch responded, also sounding amused.
Strauss and Reid turned to face one another.
“… I get that a lot.” Reid shrugged.
“Do you get left behind a lot?” Strauss asked.
“Yes.” Reid answered, knowing she was wondering if leaving him behind was a new development after the last three weeks.
“Why?”
“I’m not the best field agent, ma’am.” Reid responded, taking off his messenger bag and coat. “But we need this set up for the team when they get back, and Hotch wants me to work on what is one of my special skills.”
“And that is?”
“I’m going to make up the geographic profile.” Reid announced.   “But also, I can get everything organized and on the boards faster than anyone else can. So it’s also a matter of leaving me to do this is more efficient.”
“So you don’t go into the field much?”
“I do.” Reid contradicted. “But not as much as the others. You know that exceptions had to made for me to go into the field. Hotch has always known this and therefore, unless necessary, I am not on the front lines, so to speak. Plus… I can’t kick down doors and tackle UnSubs like Morgan can.”
Strauss was unable to suppress a smile at that one.
“And…   you’re happy with your role on the team?” She asked.
Reid looked up at her with a smile that she found to be very open. “Absolutely. I’m doing what I do best to help them, and countless people. This is why I joined the Bureau.” Strauss smiled back and moved closer.
“Can I help?”
“Sure!” Reid said with a grin, and began to talk her through putting up the evidence onto the boards…

When the team returned from their jobs, they found JJ standing in the doorway of the conference room, grinning. Reid was standing with Strauss, explaining what he was doing as he worked on the geographical profile.
“She put together the evidence boards under Spence’s direction too.” JJ whispered to the team, who all suppressed chuckles.
“If you all would stop giggling in the corner…” Strauss said suddenly, without turning around. “I believe that you all came here to do a job?”
“… Busteeed!” Reid sang, snickering.
“That’s enough, Agent Reid.” Strauss said, but the team could hear the amusement in her tone as they all guiltily filed into the room. She turned and smiled at the team, and they observe the work that she and Reid had done.
“Anything interesting with the geographic profile?” Hotch asked Reid, as the captain eyed the map that Reid had, in his view, officially ruined.
“Not really… If you look,” Reid ran his hand over his map, “there’s no rhyme or reason to the murder sites. They’re mostly just… where the UnSub managed to catch up with the victim. There’s no defined comfort zone. These are NOT victims of opportunity… they were chosen for a reason. And because of the violence of the attacks, it’s pretty safe to say that this UnSub killed them out of anger… and possibly revenge. They have SOMETHING in common.”
“But what?” Strauss asked.
“That’s what we need to find out.” Hotch said, and Morgan got out his phone and dialed, then held it up.
“Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia. How may I assist you?” Came the very professional greeting. Hotch, Emily and Rossi all stared at the phone, baffled. Reid, Morgan and JJ all met glances and grinned as they remember the LAST time Garcia had answered the phone while Strauss was on a case with them… as they recalled it, Garcia had told Strauss to “talk dirty”. Strauss was NOT impressed.
“… Garcia? Everything okay?” Emily asked, confused.
“Of course…” Garcia said, hesitantly… then she hissed, “is she there?”
“You mean me?” Strauss asked, and Garcia let out a little ‘eep!’. Morgan, Reid and JJ all burst out laughing, and even Strauss couldn’t hide her grin.
“Alright, what’s going on?” Hotch asked.
“We’ll explain later.” Morgan chuckled, and Hotch, Rossi and Emily shared baffled glances when Strauss shook in suppressed laughter. “Listen Baby Girl… we need you to work your magic.”
“What is it that you require of me, Agent Morgan?” Garcia asked.
“Please, Kitten…” Rossi called. “I don’t care WHO is here, it’s just weird listening to you talk like that. Drop the act. We don’t care HOW professional you sound, or don’t sound… you make us smile and you get the job done.”
“Oh. Well, be still my heart… such flattering words from my Italian Stallion… No wonder you’ve had such a plethora of women…” Garcia purred with a giggle. Strauss stared at the phone in surprise, but the rest of the team just grinned and Rossi said “That’s better, but leave my exes out of this.”
“As you wish, Master Jedi. Now…   What can I do for you my fine, furry friends?”
Hotch and JJ’s eyebrows shot up and Strauss watched Hotch lean over and murmur to JJ “Have we had her drug tested lately?”
“I think her high is just a natural one…” JJ murmured back, amused.
“Garcia, we need you to dig into the victims’ electronic lives and check their financials. This UnSub is HUNTING them and choosing them specifically. We need to find out WHY.”
“All over it like a suit on Hotch, but this will take a while. All for one and one for all!” And she was gone, Hotch shooting the phone a look and Strauss eyeing Hotch’s suit up and down, appreciating the reference.

At 8 pm that night, Garcia still had not uncovered anything, and Hotch had ordered the team to dinner, and bed. It was odd having a team dinner with Erin Strauss, but she mostly just watched and listened, and found the team to be quite humorous. When conversation trailed off, she allowed curiosity to get the better of her.
“So tell me.” She said, and the team looked at her. “What were your impressions of the last few weeks regarding Agent Reid.” Reid’s eyes widened, but Emily grinned.
“Oh, he was trouble.” She said, and Reid looked at her.
“I was not!” Reid cried.
“No he wasn’t.” Hotch agreed.
“Letting that bull frog loose in the house WASN’T trouble?”
“Oh yeah… THAT.” Hotch growled, and glared at Reid. Reid’s eyes widened.
“That was an ACCIDENT!!!”
“You THREW IT at me!” Morgan argued.
“I did NOT! I shoved it in your face and then I dropped it!” Reid debated.
“You kept making the thing SCREAM!” Morgan cried.
“And you made it chase me!” Emily blurted.
“How could I POSSIBLY make a frog chase you?! I didn’t herd it around!”
“No, you just brought it into the house and then dropped it.” Rossi drawled.
“You have no room to talk, Dave, you weren’t exactly helpful.”
“I was not touching that slimy thing.”
“Sissy.” JJ snorted, and Strauss grinned, quite pleased at the entertainment she had unwittingly managed to get for herself. “That moment when he was two and took off his hat in the bullpen was pretty awesome.” JJ announced.
“Aw, c’mon, man!” Morgan groaned when Hotch promptly glared.
“Why?” Reid asked. “What happened?”
“You had a MOHAWK.” Hotch snarled.
“I WHAT?!”
“You don’t remember?” Emily asked.
“No!” Reid cried, and JJ leaned over and let Reid see the pictures on her phone. Reid looked them over, and grinned. “That’s awesome.”
“It was not!” Hotch insisted.
“I was just impressed that Reid was two, and reading!” Morgan said, and the whole table agreed.
“You were so CUTE.” JJ told Reid.
“What did I do?”
“You read The Teddy Bear Picnic and sang it to us.” JJ told him, and Reid smiled.
“I always liked that one as a kid.” He said, finishing off his coffee (Strauss wondered why he was drinking coffee right before bed).
“I’m just impressed about the whole episode with Morgan’s truck.” Rossi chortled, and Reid’s eyes widened.
“Uh, shouldn’t we be heading to bed?!” He asked, desperate to end this conversation.
“Yes.” Hotch said, not wanting Strauss to hear about that fiasco. And so the bill was paid and everyone headed across to the hotel. They all bid each other good night, and Reid shot Hotch a wistful look as the two retired to their own, separate, rooms… With Strauss about, there could be no hanky panky on this case…
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Growing Up Again