❝ But I'm only human
and I bleed when I fall down ❞
The Behavioral Analysis Unit team around Aaron Hotchner gets called in to assist on a serial killer case in New York where they meet the young and surprisingly talented Special Agent Skylar Brown...
!TW: panic attack, self-deprecating talk, anger, mentions of rape!
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She broke down.
After Skylar had controlled herself for the entirety of her speech, every single memory in the big trauma book of her life came rushing back in a flash. A lightning bolt shot through her chest. The air pressed out of her lungs. She cried. She slid down the wall in front of the team, her friends, her family, and she cried her heart out to the point where she forgot how to breathe. Her lips parted, the sobs rolled off her tongue. They rolled over flawlessly, converting her breath into acid.
Penelope was the first one to react. She knelt in front of her, eyes glistening with tears, and said, faintly, "Hey, Sky? I need you to calm down."
But she couldn't calm down. Skylar tried to exhale to form words, but her lungs wouldn't allow the simple, natural instinct. She shook her head as to say I can't. Then, she hid behind her hands again.
"What's happening?" Derek asked.
"She's having a panic attack," Spencer said. He jumped out of his chair. Morgan held him back.
"Reid, " he warned.
"What? Derek, I need to-"
Emily's loud voice managed to shock them all. "Get out!" Her demand echoed through the conference room. Even Hotch was taken by surprise. "There's too much testosterone in this room. Your species was the one that caused all of this in the first place. Now, get out!"
"Emily's right," JJ backed her up.
"Yeah, I know I am. It wasn't a question. You need to leave." She shielded Skylar's miserable figure on the floor with her own, arms crossed, eyes stern. The men were most definitely intimidated and backed up, though Spencer only did so hesitantly. He and Emily held eye contact for a while, neither of them wanting to budge. A weird atmosphere started to build between them, almost static.
Derek grabbed Spencer's arm. "Reid, let's go," he said to him. "Prentiss' right. Skylar needs her space. We can't help her as much as they can."
Spencer narrowed his eyes; he didn't agree with Emily's decision and that Derek was following it without objecting. In his worried haze, he completely forgot that this wasn't about him. Thinking back, maybe he should've budged before Derek had to drag him out. At that moment, he wasn't helpful and the last person Skylar needed to see. He was just so angry — he projected her problems onto himself like he always used to, and that was a disrespectful choice he shouldn't have even thought about.
"E-Emily," Skylar choked out.
Emily turned after she had closed the door. Her features fell. She moved down. "I'm here," she soothed. "You're okay. We're all here. Just... Try to breathe, alright? In and out. Wanna try it with me?" She inhaled, exhaled. "Just like that. Come on, you can do this. No one's going to hurt you. No one can hurt you here, okay? You're fine."
