"The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other." -Mario Puzo
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The air still smelt heavy of rain. The very night before there was a huge thunderstorm. Lucy loved the rain. Back when she lived in New York, she used to watch the rain for hours from her small apartment window. She used to let herself fall asleep watching it. She never missed that experience more than she had the night before.
Lucy could feel her bones shake as she started the car. It was cold out, but that's not why she was shaking. It was the first day of her new job. She was transferred to the FBI's behavioral analysis unit in Quantico, Virginia. Figures.
Nervous was an understatement. The last time she started a new job, it wasn't nearly as much of a big deal as this was. A profiler for the FBI? She'd spent the entirety of the past few years working towards this: a huge chunk of her life. Lucy had heard stories about the BAU in Quantico. Amazing stories. They had managed to solve almost every single case ever brought to them. More importantly, though, she'd heard the stories about the boy genius with an IQ of 187.
Lucy was a something of a genius herself with an IQ strikingly close to his, but she didn't graduate high school at 12 years old or have an eidetic memory. Nor did she like to brag. She adjusted her glasses, which were resting on the very tip of her nose. She sniffled. Lucy also definitely could not read 20,000 words per minute and retain every piece of information.
Lucy tugged at her hair. The heat was cranked way up high and the radio was playing softly. Her phone dinged in the cup holder; most likely texts from her best friend wishing her luck and promising to make a visit soon. Promises that had never once been fulfilled since Lucy moved away from New York 3 years ago. The woman passed on the phone and instead reached for the tea sitting in the cup holder next to her phone. Lots of sugar, lots of milk, just how she liked it. It was lukewarm though. She stuck out her tongue in disgust.
Her car pulled into the lot and she finally forced herself to take a deep breath. Here we go, she thought. Shaking once again, she took the key out of the ignition and sighed. This was it. She was going to help hundreds of thousands of people everywhere, just like her dad used to.
She pushed the car door closed behind her and made her way to the building.
She pushed the pull door. "Fuck," the girl mumbled under breath.
"It's a pull door!" Somebody shouted from behind.
"Gee, thanks. My next thought was to lift from the bottom." Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Funny." The voice was closer now. "I would've just used my head." Lucy didn't laugh. In all honesty, she couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. "I'm agent David Rossi." A hand was extended forward. "The man who helped you get this position."
Of course, she had just embarrassed herself in front of her co-worker. Of course, she had just completely blown her chances of impressing the pants off everyone. Of course, she just insulted the man who got her this job in the first place. Of course, she had just failed completely.
"Oh... Hello. I'm Lucy." She shook his hand back, but the whole time she was worried about her own hands. Although it was cold out, she had terribly sweaty palms and a very weak handshake. The man didn't seem to notice at all. Or maybe he was just trying to be polite. Probably the ladder. "My dad speaks very highly of you."
However, he did catch onto the fact that she was nervous. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and followed her inside. "Just breath." He smiled and carried on. "Everyone here is really, honestly nice. I've seen your paperwork enough times to know you're the best of the best. You belong here, Lucy." The quick reassurance went a long way. Lucy readjusted her shoulders and stood up straighter as they stepped deeper inside.
The sound of their footsteps apparently carried throughout the whole building because the second Lucy looked up, she could tell that everyone inside was starring. Instantly, the encouraging words of Agent Rossi melted away. Lucy turned back around to face him, but his face was now hidden in his hands. Clearly, he expected more from his team. She felt her face grow red hot. "Hello." She offered a little wave. Most smiled at her and some even said hi back.
"Hello," one person said with a wave of their own. "I'm doctor Spencer Reid. You must be Lucy... Applewick, is it?" He walked over to her. Lucy took note of how awkward he did so."It's nice to meet you! We've been waiting to finally put a face to the name." The man was tall and skinny. Nothing like the way the stories about him made him seem. Lucy had a picture in her mind of a big, strong man that had nearly every girl falling at his feet.
"Oh, yea I'm Lucy." She scratched the back of her neck. "Hi, Dr. Reid." She somehow felt more uncomfortable now than she had before. Everyone was watching, lots of people were laughing. She couldn't tell if the laughing was for her or the other genius, but she felt as though it was intended for both.
Lucy heard someone whisper "she's the a female Spencer Reid." That sealed the deal for her. In her mind, all of the other agents had already formed their opinions on her. She just hoped that this Spencer person- whoever he was- well well liked around here. She watched as the man shook his head and tucked his hands back into his front pockets with an awkward smile plastered across his face.
"Hey guys, up for a trip to the big apple?" Lucy turned around to find a blonde woman asking this as she skipped down the stairs. She thanked the FBI gods. "Garcia says five different families reported their daughters missing within the past six week- Oh, you must be Lucy! Hi. I'm JJ!"
Lucy stopped and looked up. "Yes, hello." She gave a weak smile, but she felt like melting to the floor. Was she reliving high school? What was going on right now? She felt so embarrassed. No, so nervous.
"I'm sorry if I just completely embarrassed you in front of everyone." She smiled. She appeared to be completely apologetic, but Lucy could rarely tell the difference between that and anything else these days. "We don't get very many new people around here, let alone new girls."
"That's true." The man who was laughing the hardest during Lucy's interaction with Reid had spoken up. "I'm Derek Morgan."
"Hello." Again, the same awkward, weird smile was given.
"JJ, it looks like we're going to New York. We need to get over there. Everyone, wheels up in thirty." Arron Hotchner. He sounded very demanding. Lucy felt scared already. "Looks like you get a bigger first day than most of us did, Lucy."
