𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓪 𝓳𝓪𝓷𝓮 ➢ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑒

Once the plane landed back on Quantico, Mara was wide awake. It seemed an hour nap was more effective than the full eight hours. This was something Reid couldn't help but take notice of. They went into the bullpen to drop off their bags, Hotch going right to his office to finish reports.

Rossi told everyone to finish theirs in the morning since it was three in the morning. Mara sat down at her new desk and sighed, satisfied at her work on her first case.

Garcia appeared, a box of mystery materials in her hands. "Hi, I know it's obvious that I'm not like everyone else but I always like a pop of color around me."

She set the box on the desk and smiled gently. "I figured your favorite color was blue, a wild guess. With all the bad history and horrible acts surrounding you, I thought you'd appreciate this more than usual."

She looked through the box and smiled gently. "Bad history?"

Garcia's smile faltered as she realized she slipped up. The team packing up around her had noticed as well, their eyes glued to examine Mara's reaction.

"Oh, I-uh.." Garcia trailed off, not looking in Mara's eyes. "I look into all new recruits."

"You know they do background checks in the academy, right?"

"Yes, but my system is more thorough."

Hotch came out from his office once he noticed everyone was still standing around instead of going home. "What's going on?"

Mara looked up at Hotch, meeting his eyes. "She knows."

"Knows what?" Morgan asked, dropping his bag.

"Garcia, you're not authorized to do background checks on new recruits, much less dig deep into their history." Hotch said to her.

"I know, sir," she said to him. "I'm just...paranoid."

"I understand," he said before turning his attention to Mara. "You don't have to open up about it, much less on your first day, we will respect your privacy."

"No, we won't," Morgan answered. "What the hell is going on?"

Mara stood up and cleared her throat, meeting Morgan's eyes. "My original name is Mara Jane Walsh."

"Walsh?" Reid trailed off, searching his brain for the name.

"You're all familiar with the serial killer, Paul Fox, yeah?" She asked them.

"Paul James Fox, known as The Fox, killed fourteen families. He killed ten before they figured out his identity but still couldn't catch it," Reid explained to the group. "He left the state of Texas in 2011 and have yet to have be-"

"Yes, we've heard of him." Morgan cut off.

"Walsh..." Reid trailed off, thinking. "Jane and Luke Walsh were the ninth victims of The Fox. He left two kids as survivors that time, it changed everything."

Mara bit down hard on her lip to stop from crying. "He sedated the kids of his victims with ketamine so they wouldn't feel any pain when he killed them."

Everyone nodded, aware of the profile the FBI created years ago. Mara continued, "I'm one of the very few who have a severe allergy to ketamine."

"There have only been twelve known cases of an allergic reaction to ketamine, it's extremely rare."

"Well I'm apart of the 2% that's allergic to it," Mara explained. "Paul didn't know that, after he sedated my brother and then me, I went into anaphylactic shock. Him being a vet's assistant, he didn't know what was going on and it scared him off."

Morgan stepped forward, setting a hand on his newly formed friends shoulder. Mara smiled gently, biting back the tears. "He stopped killing when I turned eighteen and I still haven't been able to figure out why."

"Is this why you followed law enforcement?"

Mara nodded. "He's still out there. I'm going to find him."

All the team could do is embrace their new friend, their new ally that lost part of herself when she was so young. Although a personal vendetta is not the reason nor the motivation as to why someone should follow a career to the FBI, it gave her the will to stop people like Paul Fox along the way.

Hotch commented his gratefulness in showing trust in her new team and praising her work on their first case before going back to his office.

Morgan and Penelope hugged her tight and assured her that they were there for her no matter what. That she wasn't alone anymore. She has a "dreamy, strong god of chocolate" to protect her.

JJ felt rather protective over the girl, like the mother in her. She only smiled and hugged her before following Morgan and Garcia out the door. Rossi could only assure her that there were people here that could understand her like no one else and "welcome home."

Emily had already left, too eager to get home to her cat, Sergio. However, being so close to Garcia, she was already typing a message to explain what she has missed.

The last one left was Reid. He hadn't embraced her, the only one not to. His fear of germs were too much to reach out and touch the girl. He stepped forward, watching her teeth dig into her bottom lip so hard to keep herself from crying he was concerned she might start drawing blood.

Her eyes were red with the tears she was trying so hard to keep back as they glanced up and met Reid's eyes. Quickly, she straightened her posture and cleared her throat, blinking back the tears, remembering who she is.

"You're not tired." He said to her, trying to meet her eyes.

"I'm not."

"I'm going to my favorite coffee shop downtown, Muggs, you're more than welcome to join."

"I don't know..." she answered, looking up and meeting his eyes. "Maybe I just need to go home and get some rest."

"Oh..." Reid trailed off. "Well, get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

Reid sent her a gentle smile, moving past her and towards the elevators. Mara quickly turned around, a soft grunt leaving her lips.

She wanted to get coffee with the young doctor but she continued to self sabotage herself. Reid was the only one on the team she's connected with.

Maybe she really just needed to go home and get some sleep.