SECRET LOVE, hotchniss

2.

(SEASON TWO, EPISODE NINE)

- 2006

Emily was excited. She had been working a desk job for the past year, and today was finally headed for the first day working in Virginia at the BAU.

Today was the first day Emily had felt excited to go to work in a long time, even though the nerves of another 'first day' were lingering.

She had been interested in human behaviour her whole life. Watching the change in her mother, and even herself as she got older, as someone of importance stepped into the room was intriguing. How they could be in the midst of an argument full of emotions with raised voices and instantly switch to big happy family. The mother she knew, and the 'Ambassador Prentiss' the world knew were entirely different people, yet they could switch seamlessly in less than a second. The change of body language, mannerisms, and even vocabulary instantly portraying exactly what needed to be shown in that moment. It was as if something else had possessed her and taken over completely.

It intrigued Emily as a child, and as she grew she learned to do exactly the same thing. Put everything not relevant to this situation into a box and seal it until the appropriate time to release it was there.

Being an Ambassadors daughter she was constantly meeting new people from all different countries and walks of life, and she noticed that, for the most part, they all had this exact same behaviour. They were prim and proper, always holding themselves with confidence, however from the stories she heard on the rumour mill it became clear that they were also putting on a mask.

It fascinated Emily so much that it lead her to get her BA in Criminal Justice before leading her to the FBI, then to Interpol. She attended every behavioural and profiling class offered and acquired a few more certificates to add her already long list. The ability to read people's behaviour not only helped her hunt down the criminals she was tasked to find, but also alter her own behaviour. Being able to disassociate with her own personal thoughts and feelings allowed her to portray the character she needed people to believe, and that had proved invaluable in her career, saving her life more times than she could count.

Getting the opportunity to work for the BAU was a career goal, one she never quite believed she would hit due to the incredibly limited number of jobs and the low turn around of agents. However by some miracle when a position was opened, they scouted her directly. She knew her credentials were excellent, her references highly recommending, and her linguistic abilities useful, however due to many failed applications for the unit she was never in a million years expecting a personalised job offer.

But here it was. Her first day.

She had spent the day prior on the phone with admin, organising her ID card, her parking space, and some final paperwork in hopes that today went as smoothly as possible.

This morning all she had to do was get dressed, and drive to the office to get accustomed to her new work space and hopefully meet the team.

She decided to go for 'very professional' as the theme, wanting to make a good first impression. She put on a long black skirt and a modest navy sweater, before donning some light makeup and brushing her hair down with a middle part. Simple. Nothing bold or out of place.

She looked in the mirror one final time before taking a deep breath to calm herself and headed to her car.

The FBI headquarters was only a few minutes drive from her new apartment, so she parked in her new parking space before heading to the front desk where she was lead to the administration department to collect her ID and some final paperwork.

The kind agent then took her up the elevator to the correct floor and pointed her in the direction of the bullpen, and finally up a few stairs to the office of the BAU chief.