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SIX: "The both of them were exceptionally good at ignoring their past."
This would be Anna's first case with the BAU. She was excited, of course, to finally be on this path. She had a bright future ahead of her and this was just the beginning.
She took a seat on the nice leather seats on the BAU's private jet. After the initial case debriefings were over, she took a moment to really appreciate where she was.
Anna practically grew up on the road. Her family had a trailer, which wasn't quite big enough for the five of them. When people asked about her parents and her past, she had the script down. Her father was an engineer, her mother an artist, and she grew up everywhere for her dad's work. It wasn't entirely wrong.
Her father was an out of work engineer, running from tax collectors. That's why they moved so much. Her father would make up intricate stories about how he was a fugitive on the run from the FBI. But it wasn't so interesting, it was just tax collectors that they were running from. He made up the stories because he was an alcoholic, living in his own world. And her mom was too invested in finding the beauty in the world and manifesting it through her art to even notice that her husband was an alcoholic.
So, that was her past. Some had it better, some had it worse. But she wasn't bitter. Some people would be traumatised for life after the things she had seen, but her and her siblings managed to overcome it all. Now three out of four of them worked in law enforcement. And now, here she was, on a private jet, something she would have never seen for herself as a child.
Her childhood was part of the reason Spencer leaving unexpectedly hurt her so much. Anna wasn't the type of girl to be upset if a one night stand hadn't called her back. She didn't care that it was only a one time thing, she didn't even know him well enough to have anything to form a crush on him with. She was upset because he just left without warning. That was literally her whole childhood. The second she was finally settling into the new trailer location, they would have to move again. She didn't understand why he couldn't at least give her warning, or why he couldn't just explain himself afterwards. The man was a genius, and if they ever actually got around to talking about what happened between them, the "I didn't know how to contact you" excuse wasn't going to work on her.
Anna wasn't the only one deep in thought. Spencer had his head in a book, but he wasn't reading it. Well, he was, but not at 20,000 words per minute.
He had something else on his mind, and that was Anna's long blonde wavy hair. He noticed it more now that he was closer to her than he was in the lecture hall. She really was beautiful, and that's what got him so damn caught up. He shouldn't have slept with a student.
Spencer practically tortured himself with his thoughts. And it was worse because he knew that she was probably more upset about it than he was. He felt bad for being upset when she was upset too.
God, he just needed to talk to her. But it still wasn't that simple. How does one apologise for that? He surely couldn't just say "sorry for having sex with you then leaving without any word," but if it wasn't that, then he didn't know what to say.
And there was his identity crisis again, he only knew how to either be awkward Spencer, or dominant Spencer. He was somehow incapable of just having a regular conversation like a regular person, and he knew that whatever he did end up saying to her would probably just make it worse. It may be better to just ignore it after all.
"Looks like Phoenix PD just recovered a third body," said Garcia over the phone, breaking the silence on the plane.
"Allright, Prentiss, you and me will head to the newest crime scene. Rossi and Morgan head to the first scene, and Reid take Harper to the second one and show her how we do things in the field. JJ set up at the station and head to the medical examiner if there is time," instructed Hotch.
Anna admired Hotch for his ease in decision making. He was a natural leader. While she didn't want to be in a car, alone with Spencer, she understood why Hotch paired them together. Spencer was a talented teacher, and he had taught her before, but that didn't mean she was excited about being taught anything by him now.
The plane landed an hour later, and the team wasted no time in heading to their instructed locations. It was a work trip, after all.
Spencer lead her to an area with black vans and police cars.
"Usually, when we come in, the local PD will have transportation ready for us so that we can start working right away, and one of us sets up at the local PD. That's usually JJ, though," said Spencer.
It was the first thing besides an introduction that he had said to her all week. The both of them were exceptionally good at ignoring their past.
"Why is it JJ," Anna asked.
"Well, years ago, her first position on the BAU was as our communications liaison. She would manage the media and communication between us and the local police. Even though she's worked her way up, she usually starts cases in her old position, but she does get lots of field time too," he explained.
"That makes sense," she responded. At this point they were in the car. "What about you, what was your first role?"
Spencer was surprised that she was just launching into casual small talk with him, but he went along with it. The tension between them was the same as when he was her teacher, though, and neither of them could ignore it.
"Well, I started as an agent. The FBI ultimately had to make exceptions for me to join, because I failed almost every physical training portion," he started, making Anna laugh slightly. "I was eventually allowed in the field, but I stayed indoors a lot on early cases."
"That's why you let me fall asleep in class that time," Anna said nostalgically. She immediately regretted it because it acknowledged their past, which they seemed pretty keen on forgetting.
"Yeah, exactly," he said, and the rest of the ride was silent.
They finally arrived at the second crime scene. Whatever tension they had from the car had to be masked, because they were at work, and dealing with dead bodies.
"So, what we try to do at crime scenes is look not only at what's here, but also what's not. We can tell a lot about a killer based off of the things they have taken or broken. I know you've heard that exact line of instruction at the academy, but it's different when you're actually in the field. You need to pay attention to every little detail," Spencer explained.
"Got it," said Anna. She followed Spencer into the house and followed his lead as he gave possible explanations for the ritualistic symbols painted onto the wall.
He was talking the same way he used to in the lecture hall. She found herself making the same eye contact with him, the kind she made when she was so intrigued by him. There was a time when Anna just wished she could get to know her teacher better, and those feelings were creeping back up again. The way he spoke was melodic. No one she knew had that much knowledge in their brain, and whenever he spoke those intelligent thoughts, thats when she liked him best. But her whole relationship with him was complicated. And now she couldn't figure out if she had a crush, or if she hated him. Because no matter how nice his voice was, that didn't make up for the fact that he just left after doing what they did.
There was so much to figure out, and Anna couldn't do all the figuring out on her own. She needed to talk to him, no matter how awkward it may be.
