Serendipity

Isabella Cartwright looked up at the tall building with trepidation. Why she was so nervous, she had no idea. This wasn’t her first job, she wasn’t a teenager. Up until last week, she was an MI5 agent, for god’s sake. She took down terrorists, stared down the barrels of various weapons, and even once defused a bomb. Why was this building so scary?

It housed the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI, that’s why. Arguably the most elite group of agents in the world. She’d heard stories about them; they dealt with the worst of the worst.  When you were at the very end of your rope, with no way out, they were the ones you call. Today was her first day as a part of that team. She was more than qualified; her time with MI5 had taught her more than any normal human should know, still, standing before this building all but gave her a panic attack. She looked at her watch and realised she’d been standing there for over 20 minutes, and she was just about to be late for her first day. Three deep breaths and a mental shake later, she was in the elevator on the way to the fifth floor.

The elevator doors opened and she stepped out into a cacophony of agents who hadn’t yet started working, but were instead catching up on the weekend doings of their co-workers. She approached the desk closest to her, where a young agent with a mop of messy hair sat chatting to a petite blond and a spunky looking girl with pink hair.

“Morning, I’m Isabella Cartwright. I’m looking for Agent Hotchner?” she asked when they looked over at her. The blond woman stood up from her perch on the desk to greet her. “Hi, I’m Agent Jareau. I’ll take you to him.”

She followed the blond up the stairs to an office with Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner written on the door. The woman knocked softly before opening the door and stepping inside. “Hotch, here’s someone to see you.” She said, as she stepped aside to allow Isabella to enter. “Isabella Cartwright. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Agent Hotchner stood up from behind his desk and extended his hand to greet her. “Welcome, Agent Cartwright. JJ, this is our new agent. Would you please get her down to HR for her badge and clearance, and then we can introduce her to the team.”

“Well, in that case, welcome to the BAU, Agent Cartwright. I’m Jennifer, you can call me JJ. Please follow me.” JJ smiled and went on her way back down the stairs. The hustle had died down somewhat and made way for the sound of computer keys and rustling papers. There was an insurmountable amount of paperwork after each case, and most agents found it much more daunting than running after bad guys. After a chat with HR, Isabella received her badge, temporary ID, and a standard issue Glock 9mm. JJ led her back to the desk with the mop haired man. The desks around him were occupied by a muscular male agent, and a woman with ink black hair. “Guys, this is SSA Isabella Cartwright, our new team member. Agent Cartwright, this is Dr Spencer Reid, and agents Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss.” She pointed to first the mop haired man, then Mr. Muscles, and finally the dark haired woman. Isabella felt an odd pull toward the woman, like she knew her, even though she was 100% sure she had never met her. She greeted each of the agents in turn, and then said “It’s nice to meet you. Call me Isabella, please.” JJ excused herself, and left the new agent at the mercy of the best profilers in the business.

The group spent a few minutes peppering their new team member with all sorts of questions, which she answered with little issue. Seeing as they will certainly be putting their lives in her hands in the near future, she figured it would only be fair to share some personal information with them. “How does a Brit end up in the FBI?”
“I have dual citizenship. My mum was British, dad’s American. I was living in London when my mum died, and I felt the need to move closer to my father after that. I couldn’t exactly stay with MI5 while living in a different country, so I applied to the FBI.”  Emily was about to ask a question when agent Hotchner’s voice rumbled through the air. “Conference room, guys. We have a case.”

The 4 agents made their way up the stairs and into the conference room. Inside was the spunky girl from before, who introduced herself as Penelope Garcia, resident tech genius. An older man entered the room just as everyone was getting seated, he didn’t need an introduction. Isabella had read all of David Rossi’s books. He had an extraordinary skill for getting into the mind of the most twisted humans on earth. She was looking forward to chatting with him.

JJ passed around files for each person and allowed them to scan through the information before speaking. “We got a call from Albany police. In the past week, they have found 3 bodies in various public places around town, one male and two females. The ME found signs of blunt force trauma on all three victims. They also had their blood drained and replaced with formaldehyde.”

“Formaldehyde?” asked Emily, “as in embalming fluid?”

“Yes, but that’s not the worst part.” JJ replied solemnly. “They were still alive when the embalming process began.”

There was a collective intake of breath, and a whole minute of silence before JJ continued. “There are no suspects thus far. There is no visible link between the victims as yet. Different genders, ages, races. It seems totally random.”

“We have our work cut out for us. Let’s go guys, wheels up in 30.” Hotchner said on his way out of the room. The team sat quietly staring at the pictures of the three victims Garcia had projected onto the screen. They didn’t look dead, which was somehow worse than the mutilations they sometimes come across.

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The flight to Albany was spent trying to figure out the newest member without actually profiling her. They had made a promise long ago to not profile their co-workers. Isabella, for the most part, happily answered their questions about her parents, shared as much as she could about her time with MI5, and revealed that her favourite ice cream flavour was chocolate. In the back of her mind, however, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she and Emily Prentiss had some sort of connection. It wasn’t a romantic connection, not because Isabella wasn’t into girls, but this was just...different. She wondered if Emily felt it too.

The plane touched down at the Albany International airport forty minutes later. The team filed out onto the tarmac, finding two black SUV’s waiting for them, along with the Albany PD detectives in charge of the case. Her first case as a profiler for the FBI, here goes everything.

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