TW: typical case briefing, mentions of missing person, a stalker, significant injury, blood, gore and murder/death. This is another reminder that there is an age-gap of 14 years. Case based on 3x06.
"Good morning, Pretty Girl, you better have that coffee for us," Morgan greets you with ease, reaching for one of the many coffee cups in your hands as you walk towards the desk.
"You know I do, when have I ever let you down? But it wouldn't hurt you to bring the coffee for once y'know?" you rebuke with a teasing smile as you set your bag down and begin to distribute the drinks.
"Hey Paisley, did you-?"
"Of course I got your doughnut Spence, I've worked here for a year, why would I start forgetting now?" you reply jokingly as you sit down and haphazardly throw the greasy paper bag to your left onto your adjoining desks.
"What glorious gossip am I being left out of today and why am I not being clued in?" Garcia's chirpy voice carries across the bullpen as she enters.
You chuckle and reply to her instantly "No gossip PG, just Reid needing his mountain of sugar before the day even starts" you sit back and listen to the chatter as you rifle through the paperwork on your desk, taking a sip of your tea, you'd never liked coffee, it must be the British in you.
"Statistically a high sugar intake-"
"Come on Reid it's too early for that, and I am here to inform you all of my masterful party plans for this weekend and I am promising big things, it is Paisley's one year anniversary after all!" Garcia reveals, bouncing up and down on the spot excitedly.
Morgan's eyes light up at the mention of the word 'party' and as Garcia is about to spill over with details of her immense party planning, Emily slides into her chair "What are we celebrating and when, actually no - don't tell me, I'm already in".
You're about to respond, telling her you didn't want to celebrate, let alone do anything extreme, but you stop yourself as you notice Hotch and JJ in the corner of your vision. "Party planning will have to wait, sorry Garcia, we have a case" Hotch informs you all as you all make your way to the round table.
The case briefing is quick and efficient as always, JJ informing the team that you're off to Carrollton, Texas. You quickly learn from Reid that Carrollton is home to 117,000 residents. You read over the case file; four days ago a local woman, Michelle Colucci found a missing person's poster of herself taped to the front door of her home and upon notifying the local police department, was brushed aside and told it would just be a neighbourhood prank. Clearly this wasn't the case if the BAU had now been called in and as you read further into the file, you come to understand why; hundreds of the same poster had been taped to the walls of her home and it was at this point that Michelle Colucci was declared officially missing. That was until yesterday when her body was discovered floating in a small creek, just outside of Carrollton. The most horrifying detail being that her face had been removed and you notice Garcia's face visibly pale as she looks away from the case notes.
"The use of the missing person's poster suggests the unsub wanted to psychologically torture her and then continue to do so with the use of physical torture." Emily states, being the first one to take up the discussion.
Looking up from the file, you flick your gaze toward Hotch and speak up, "This unsub is none other than a textbook sadist".
He nods in reply "A highly sophisticated one at that, the level of display shown by the posters is incredibly elaborate."
"Reid, what can you tell us about the type of mask that was left at the victims house?" Morgan asks, shifting in his seat.
"In fact, this particular type of mask is known as a false face and more commonly worn during Halloween or Mardi Gras." Reid rattles off in mere seconds, spurring the discussion on for another five minutes or so, various theories echoing round the room.
"JJ, where's Rossi at?" Morgan asks, brows furrowing together "It's not like him to miss a briefing."
You slide into your usual seat on the jet opposite Hotch, greeting Rossi as you stow your bag underneath the seat "Well look who's decided to grace us with his presence at long last" you joke and out of the corner of your eye, you see a small smile make its way onto Hotch's face.
Laughter can be heard coming from your co-workers, Rossi included as he replies "You know me, got to keep you all on your toes". Reid interjects with a multitude of questions about Rossi's book tour, asking about lengthy and complex theories of criminal linguistics that provides the basis of Rossi's book.
"Come on kid, let him breathe, besides I wanna know what Pretty Girl Paisley over here can tell us considering linguistics is her specialty" Morgan interrupts him, sending a smirk in your general direction.
You'd graduated from university at just nineteen with not only a masters degree in literature, language and linguistics, but another masters degree in criminology and psychology. Literature had always fascinated you, and you were often found reading multiple books at once and you had a tattered copy of your favourite book in your go bag that you would read after particularly hard cases, but you normally had a small collection of books you would make your way through on a regular basis. It wasn't like you were short of choice, you had hundreds of books to choose from, your apartment was basically a library and therefore it wasn't unusual for the team to find you enthralled in a book, completely captivated by various writing techniques and the theories behind them.
Looking over to the rest of the team, you shake your head and smile before replying "Psycho-linguistics is an incredibly dynamic field and primarily focuses on the study of interlinking linguistic factors and psychological aspects."
Rossi clears his throat, "With knowledge like that, you'll get that doctorate in no time Paisley" you smile back in thanks and hear murmurs of agreement from the others. You were studying for your doctorate in criminology and psychology and at this point you'd started to think the team was more excited than you.
Hotch looks to you with what could possibly be seen as a smile before continuing, "I agree with Dave, but we need to refocus, what do we have on victimology?" he states, steering the focus back to the case at hand.
You return his smile, taking the time to admire his features and adjust your position in your chair before replying "Michelle Colucci, worked as an architect and is described as a typical workaholic, meaning that attacking her would have been fairly low risk. If the unsub wasn't somebody she knew personally, then it's a possibility she was being stalked".
It's Morgan that picks up on your train of thought "Maybe he met her casually, she's an attractive woman, it's possible he made her part of some sort of fantasy"
"She rejects him, so he tortures her out of anger perhaps?" Emily asks, looking toward Reid for his input. One of the many things you love about the BAU is how easily you can all bounce theories and ideas off each other, it comes as second nature to all of you.
Picking up a crime scene photo of the mask, Reid continues "Masks typically represent a state of mind, in this case, it's blank and expressionless, it doesn't really coincide with anger."
"Come on Reid it's hard to imagine he did this out of anything less than rage-" Morgan starts, but the familiar sound of Garcia's voice cuts him off.
"Hello my pretties, I managed to find a list of our victim's work clients, she mostly designed big corporate office spaces".
JJ greets Garcia "Hey Garcia, were there any private clients, any one-on-one contact?"
"Nada, nothing, sorry my loves"
"Alright thanks Garcia". She disconnects and eventually the cabin falls into a steady silence with the remainder of the flight passing quickly, with each individual member of the team wrapped up in either their own thoughts, or thoughts of the case. Yours were occupied with the latter, wondering what you would be dealing with once the jet touched down, thoughts of Garcia's absurd party planning long forgotten.
A/N: Massive thankyou to Kiley (ssa-ki99) for reading and checking over the first two chapters - lots of love!🖤

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Aeipathy
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