Caution to the Wind

Chapter 1

Chapter Summary: Tara Lewis joins the BAU, and it's everything she wanted, even if it does wreak havoc on her personal life. Follows S11E1-S11E18.

The decision to apply for the opening in the Behavioral Analysis Unit had not been an impulsive one. Tara Lewis didn't make impulsive decisions. She researched the BAU and its current and former members and made sure her credentials stacked up against the highly skilled profilers she would hopefully be working with. She looked at real estate in northern Virginia to see if she could find a place she'd want to live that was in her price range as a government employee. She considered how the move from California to Virginia would affect her and her fiancé, Douglas. She looked for job postings at law firms in the D.C. area to present to Douglas when she asked him to move across the country for her. She prepared and organized all her files in the San Francisco field office to make things easier for the agent who took over for her. She considered everything, prepared everything, took the time to weigh the pros and cons and make sure she wasn't forgetting anything-because that's how Tara made big decisions.

On the day of her interview, Tara joined a dozen other candidates outside the BAU offices on the sixth floor of the FBI headquarters in Quantico. She was nervous, of course, but she was prepared. Tara was always prepared. She knew she had what it took to be a profiler, and she was ready to prove it to Agent Hotchner-Hotch, apparently, to his team, although Tara certainly wasn't going to call him that today.

"Can I have everyone's attention, please?" said a stern-looking dark-haired man in a black suit. Tara assumed this must be Agent Hotchner; his reputation preceded him. "The BAU is working an active case, so this interview process may take some time. Does anyone need to return to their field office?" The candidates all shook their heads no. "Good. Dr. Lewis, we'll start with you."

"Absolutely," Tara nodded.

She followed him through the bullpen and noticed one empty desk and one desk that looked like it hadn't been touched for months. The BAU must be pretty shorthanded, it seemed. From the looks of it, they were down two profilers. No wonder Agent Hotchner needed to keep working the case while he was conducting these interviews. Tara followed him into his office and looked around at the commendations on the wall, and the pictures of a sandy-haired little boy sitting on the desk.

"Have a seat, Dr. Lewis," Hotch said.

"Thank you," Tara said, "And you can call me Tara. The only person that calls me Dr. Lewis is my father, and that's when he's bragging...and/or drunk."

"So, your A.D. in the San Francisco field office says that you're the best field agent he's ever worked with."

"I think forensic psychologists tend to stand out in the Bureau," Tara replied modestly, "Other agents like it when I make sure the bad guys they've arrested are actually found competent to stand trial."

"How did you do that with Herzog?" he asked.

"He was a tough nut to crack in our prison interviews," she admitted, "But then I thought, why not take on the affect of his wife? Facial expressions, voice patterns, cadence. Once I did that, he told me everything I needed to know-specifically, that he was not crazy."

"Well, you're the only applicant with this much clinical evaluative experience," Hotch said, "But it's not really relevant to what we do here."

"Look, I get it," Tara said, "Interviewing a serial killer from the safety of a prison cell isn't the same as hunting them, right?"

"It's just a different skill set."