❝ 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲? ❞
OR IN WHICH ━ Statistically it takes four months and thirteen days to fall in love when all Spencer Reid needed was an hour
╭┈...
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LIZZIE MAGUIRE WAS RIGHT this iswhat dreams are made of, twenty two year old Riley Farrell thought to herself as she checked her appearance in the small reflection of the BAU's elevator buttons. Now that she was finally here she didn't know if she wanted to jump up and down or throw up. Neither seemed professionally appropriate so she decided on biting the inside of her cheek to suppress her grin.
When she first received the letter of employment Riley couldn't believe her eyes and made all of her roommate's read it to her word for word just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Even then it still felt like a dream, so she pinched herself too many times she lost count, not stopping until the skin bruised. But she never woke up.
It sounds pessimistic and shows just how little faith she had in herself. Which was an odd and unwelcome feeling. Riley had confidence in abundance, Most of her exes would say her vanity was a flaw, she however, saw it as self sufficient. It meant she didn't have to rely on others fickle opinions or superficial standards to motivate her.
Riley wrangled with her doubts for the next two weeks, taking every opportunity to remind herself it was real. She reread the letter every morning and night, thrice if she wasn't busy in the afternoon, she poured over the email containing her employment details with eagle eyes. Convinced she previously missed the small print where the sender revealed it was a big practical joke on her behalf.
The BAU, the darling child of the FBI, the apple of the organisations eye. In just her graduate class alone Riley knew of at least thirty people who would sell an arm and a leg to join the BAU within their first year of training. She and her classmates sent out their applications together on the day of their graduation, fingers crossed behind their backs and breath caught in their throat as they all pressed send. It was a long shot. A drastically impossible to imagine ever coming true long shot. Maybe if Riley payed attention during her math lessons back in high school she might of known the exact depressing statistics, but alas she did not.
But she knew the odds wouldn't be in her favour.
Hence the utter disbelief and confusion Riley felt first opening her acceptance letter. Seriously? The BAU wanted ... her a cadet who only graduated from the academy three months ago?
It all seemed too good to be true, but she persisted despite the impending pit of doom simmering in her stomach and a lethal dose of imposter syndrome.
