Confidential [ON HOLD]

2. The Colby Simpson

C.J had known Benjamin Julian Braxton since the first day of FBI Academy. They had taken turns swinging their legs at a kicking bag. Benjamin had been friendly enough but then he had asked her what her initials stood for. C.J knew then, that Benjamin Braxton had to be kept at a distance. 

She knew she hated him when he told the head of the Academy that she was bipolar and couldn't handle the stress of being an FBI agent, just so he could see how she would react. According to him, reactions played an important role in understanding human behavior and its reasons. 

She had been sent for a week of self-evaluation. And when she returned, instead of kicking the bag, she kicked Benjamin. C.J was a cold person. She didn't like friendly company. 

But she won't deny that she did like provoking Benjamin Braxton. She enjoyed getting reactions from him. She had enjoyed it, until Benjamin chose to retaliate by throwing the object in his hand—a practice blade—at her. It was in that moment that Benjamin had started hating her too.

And after that incident they spent the night in the Academy infirmary. They hadn't spoken in the infirmary that day, but they had come to a silent agreement. They both were to be as far away from each other as they could possibly be.

Benjamin Braxton had built a name for himself in the years he had become a special agent. He held a record for the most cases solved under the least time under the age of thirty. C.J had heard about his accomplishments, instructors at the Academy liked to boast about their alumni. She may not have liked Benjamin Braxton—she hated him to be exact—but he was a good agent. 

Benjamin and C.J weren't friends, but they say to keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Benjamin knew things about her that friends and colleagues would ignore. And that was why she was worried. If Blind Spot had sent any other agent on this case, it would have been an inevitable failure. But this was Benjamin Braxton. He solved cases like they were puzzles.

Eventually he would solve this case too.

And unfortunately, she could not let that happen. If anyone were to find out the truth of Agent Colby Simpson, C.J would be finished. Trouble would follow her—heck, it already was. Benjamin had shown up at her doorstep today. And she hadn't even gotten a tip, she hadn't had the slightest idea that he would be here, unless she would have been far gone.

When she came out and offered him a cup of coffee, he was studying one of her picture frames. He took the cup from her hand and looked at it thoroughly, maintaining eye contact with her before taking a sip of it. C.J knew why he looked at her—she had briefly thought about pouring rat poison into his coffee—but she hadn't.

The apartment she lived in was large enough. Steve Anderson, her mentor had introduced her to the landlord when she had applied for a job at the FBI Academy as an instructor. The flat had the basic necessities. It had tables and lights and a T.V she wasn't sure worked—because she hadn't used it yet. The only thing that she owned in the apartment besides her clothes was the  picture frame Benjamin was looking at.

"Who is this?" he asked, his voice was thoughtful, like he was trying to be polite. C.J almost laughed at the thought of Benjamin Braxton being polite. His tone was just another interrogation tactic. He had used it constantly at the Academy, when trying to piece together information about her name or family. She had tried to ignore him at first but then she learned that hitting him square in the mouth was a much better solution to shut him up.

The photo in the frame was taken twelve years ago with her long time best friend and confidant, Carson Harvey and his parents. She was fifteen at that time and her adoption papers were finally finalized. She was finally a part of the Harvey household and that was a memory she would never not carry around with her.