Special Agent ((Reader P.O.V))

Episode 2 ((Pt. 1))

'And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.'
—Meister Eilhart

Working behind screens made everything easier in my old department. The ability to tell myself the horrors I was experiencing were just pictures on a screen is what kept me sane, as I sat at the debriefing table with my team all around me, I started to realize everything I was seeing was real. This was something I would be working on in the field, this was up to me to fix.

Hotch called us into the office at 2 o'clock in the morning, something I had not been prepared for. The text I received simply stated,

'Urgent Case, Be in as soon as possible.'

I walked into the debriefing room wearing the quickest possible outfit I could've thought of, a slouchy green shirt and my favorite dark jeans, and found a seat. I was the only one there besides Hotch and Rossi, I guess the others lived further away.

"L/N, I apologize your first case has you getting up this early. You'll be able to sleep on the jet."
Hotch motioned to me, he was still wearing his full suit which led me to believe he had been up or as Garcia and I joked about later the theory that he sleeps in it.

"Ain't that just the B.A.U. lifestyle.."
Rossi grinned at me, confusing me as to whether he was referring to sleeping on the jet, or being on call for cases.

The rest of the team trailed in, with Garcia following shortly after.
Seeing Garcia for the first time was rather a shock, she seemed to take fashion inspiration from Harajuku fashion and Fancy Nancy books. From her emails, I took her to be possibly uptight or very professional, but watching her interact with everyone else on the team I could tell she was probably going to be the sweetest person alive.

She handed tablets to each of us, excluding Reid who she handed a paper file, and stood by the tv in the front.

"Oh man," She sighed, clicking the button to turn the tv on. The light flashed on and images of a young girl who looked to be about seven or eight came on screen.
"This is little seven year old Emerson Davids, who yesterday at 9am in Tucson, Arizona, kissed her mother goodbye and went on a walk by herself down the road to the bus stop. The school says Emerson made it to her classes but she never returned home."
Garcia clicked the remote again and family pictures came on the screen as well as pictures of her mother, father, and older sister.
"Her father was at work the whole day, and her older sister had already left for her school. Mother was the only one home all day. I can't even imagine how scared they all must be."

Garcia turned back to Hotch and he began to speak to all of us.

"We have reason to believe Emerson was abducted. Every minute we waste the chances of Emerson's survival decrease drastically."

I cleared my throat,
"Excuse me, do we know why it took the family so long to call the cops??"

I pointed at my case file on the tablet to the details box where it mentioned the family calling their daughter in as missing at 12am.

"I just mean, If my seven year old daughter didn't come home from school, I wouldn't wait that long to phone it in."

Reid smiled at me,

"You're right, on average around 765,000 children go missing a year with majority of the parents calling it in as soon as parents realize their child isn't where they're supposed to be. It took this family around eight hours to call it in."

At this, Jeniffer spoke up, voice groggy from exhaustion.

"Which means we only have 40 hours to find her."