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THE PAPERWORK is probably the easiest part of the BAU's job. Although it rehashes case after case, it's almost a comfort to do the paperwork after a case because, most of the time, it means its over— it's been solved. Spencer seems to be the only other person who relishes in paperwork days, but Stella is sure that he likes them for the bureaucracy that comes with it. Stella likes the fairly constant working hours, the ability to tell her sister that she'll be somewhere and then to actually make it on time and without interruption.
In Counter Terrorism, there was much less stability, even on the paperwork days. They were on call 24/7 because anything could happen at any moment and they needed to be constantly reachable. It's similar in the BAU, but they get to come home so much quicker. Juliette Drew used to joke that Stella would miss her own wedding because of a case one day. Instead, she just skipped trying to date in her early twenties all together and then had a 'long-term' boyfriend for her late twenties before breaking up with him after he tried to pressure her into leaving her job to become a housewife. Domesticity doesn't suit her much.
But she's decided that she doesn't need anyone to 'complete' her, not for lack of trying on Juliette's part. Which is part of the reason she is stretching the particular sheet she's working on filling out for much longer than it needs to take as a half-assed stalling technique.
"Why is that piece of paper going to disintegrate before you're finished with it?" Derek asks, rolling his chair over to her desk like a child.
"It's not! I'm just taking my time, I don't want to miss anything," she objects.
Derek's scoff proves just how feeble of an excuse that is. "You can fill these out in your sleep. Fess up." He steals her pen from her hand so that she has to answer.
She sighs heavily. "Juliette is trying to set me up on a date with another of her co-workers," she tells him, an eyeroll accompanying.
"Didn't you swear off of dating outside the Bureau like six years ago?"
"When has that ever stopped Juliette? I swore off of vitamins after I nearly choked on one when I was fourteen and now I get supplements sent directly to my door courtesy of my darling sister," Stella points out. "Julie doesn't understand the word 'boundary' when it comes to family."
"Hey, maybe it's a good thing." he suggests optimistically. "A cute doctor?"
"A questionable decision," she corrects. "Last time I subjected myself to Julie's matchmaking services, said date went on a twenty minute rant about how the gender pay gap exists because women aren't capable of doing certain jobs to the same capacity as men and then cited the FBI as proof. She's not allowed to set me up with men anymore."
