21.Well, you kind of suck.

3.1K 97 11
                                    

Songs:
Brianstorm- Arctic Monkeys
Somebody told me- The Killers

Jane loved making people uncomfortable. It was one of the things she was best at, and she prided herself on being able to make someone grimace with one look. She did not, however, appreciate feeling awkward herself. Walking into the conference room and knowing that every eye was on her was not how she imagined her Tuesday afternoon to go. The silence that followed her appearance was not something she enjoyed. Okay , thought a rational part of her brain. Okay, lets make this situation a little less uncomfortable.

"Well, this is fucking awkward."

Nice.

A grimace passed over the faces of the people in the room and Jane fought hard to stop a similar expression from taking over her, shrugging off a cringe and rating this moment as a solid 8 on her 'awkward scale'.

She moved further into the room, ignoring the side glances of her colleagues and sunk down in a chair in the corner, waiting for a bolt of lightning to come through the ceiling and strike her down, putting an end to the mess that was supposed to be a rather pleasant day of hunting a serial killer. But she knew that was just wishful thinking.

After a few agonising minutes of complete and utter silence, Hotch ambled into the room. He was completely oblivious to the uncomfortable energy in the room, or didn't care enough to address it. Either way, Jane was grateful for his unwavering ability to only hold one expression on his face and momentarily forgot that she was supposed to be mad at him.

He stopped in front of the table and looked around the room, eyes faltering slightly when they landed on Jane. She nodded at him with as straight a face as she could manage and, to her surprise, he nodded back.

"Since this morning", and after Janes unreasonable and completely unnecessary outburst, "We know exactly where Mary will be. Agent Hanson will be going into the Dapper Chain", he said, turning to face Detective Sanders, "and the rest of my team will be stationed at all exits. Well need S.W.A.T positioned outside and ready for Hanson's word."

Nods of understanding spread across the room, each person grabbing what they needed and heading towards the door. Jane, not having anything in her hands, was first at the exit.

"Hanson, I need you-"

"Jane can I-"

Jane turned around to find Hotch looking at Reid with an unreadable expression, and the latter fiddling with his fingers, his ears sticking out of his long hair with visibly red tips. He nodded to the door behind her and walked towards the stream of people flowing out of the room.

"I'll  uh-"

"Wait for me." It was more of a question than a statement and she wasn't really sure why she said it. But it seemed to do the trick. Both of Reids ears turned a darker shade of red as he sent her a tight smile and hurried out of the door.

Once they were alone, Jane leant against the door and wrung her hands. This is ridiculous she huffed to herself. Just apologise and move on.

"Hotch I-"

"Jane, I need you to listen to me. Your life is more than just a piece of paper and I shouldn't have withheld information from you. But you have to understand that you have no authority to read classified files without the approval of a superior agent."

Jane whipped her head around to face Hotch.

"So that's you right? You and Emily. God knows that you weren't going to let me see that file. See the thing is, I don't actually need your approval to see it, I've been keeping an eye on the Evans's since I got out of jail. That's why I know all the places around here, but you knew that already didn't you?"

Jane straightened her back, crossed her arms and took another step towards Hotch.

"You shouldn't have asked me to come here. You shouldn't have asked me to join the team. I mean the FBI? Really? I'm British for fucks sake. We both know I don't have the temperament or patience for this job so why the hell am I here? Did you bring me in just to keep an eye on me? To see if you could change some poor little orphans life? Well, just a heads up, you kind of suck. You basically forced me to take the job, like it was either this or jail again. And then you saddle me with the most persistent people in existence, which is super annoying, by the way. And authority or no authority, if someone has piece of paper with my name on it, of course I'm going to fucking read it. Human rights bitch."

Hotch nodded at Jane and stood up, mirroring her position. They looked at each and after a few beats, Hotch raised his eyebrows at her.

"Finished?"

Jane deflated and uncrossed her arms. She scratched the back for neck and looked at a particularly interesting dent in the floor.

"Look, it's just- I'm not meant for this. I'm not one of the good guys, not matter how much I want to be. And I think I'm okay with that. So- thank you. For uh, for letting me try to be."

Hotch turned and picked up all the papers of the table. He faced Jane with the same neutral expression.

"I can't convince you to stay can I?"

He walked towards the door and Jane knew this probably wasnt going to fix itself, so she quickly grabbed the edge of his jacket sleeve.

"I can help with this case. I want to help with this case. But I won't stay afterwards. I'm too messy for this job, too much baggage."

A frown slowly replaced Hotchs features, but he stuck his hand out.

"I won't pretend that this doesn't upset me. You're a great addition to the team," he said as Jane shook his hand.

"Aw don't go saying things like that, you'll make me blush."

They smiled at each other and Hotch gestured to the door.

"Job first, blush later."

"Yes sir."

186Where stories live. Discover now