Fitting In.

Left.

Nothing had to be thought of twice as Elora watched Strauss nod and lean on her elbows.
"You will answer anything? My bosses have the most reservations about you." A simple nod could have answered the question but Elora wanted to wait for a moment.

"As long as it isn't too emotionally challenging for you and as long as it isn't about my work undercover. You know the rules." Strauss had opened her tablet up before she tapped away and opened something up.

"You said that your mother was seeing a specialist. Why? I need to know in case my bosses know and try to claim that you were emotionally led by the presence of the children." A tone of honesty had begun as finally the real set of questions were asked.

"She was sick, she uh, had cancer."

"They test for pregnancy before giving treatment and she would have shown symptoms. It wasn't her first child." Strauss retorted.

"She was under a lot of stress, her dad had just passed away and when in the later stages of pregnancy the hormones that the test tests for are in lower quantities. It gave a false negative which is far more common than a false positive." Honesty seemed to be the only policy between the two and Hotch could be seen with eyes narrowed and lips puckered as his uncertainty was written all over his face.

"You said that you spent some years working the jobs you used to work while in university. What were they?"

"Performing. Ballet, piano and a few waitressing jobs. I tutored on occasion too." For a while, the two had a standard conversation with a constant back and forth.

"Hotch, how would you profile Elora?" His presence was finally noted as he became a part of the interview.

"She got into the FBI very young but she was strong. She had a lonely childhood and so has grown into a person who thrives in silence but she is naturally an extrovert so she struggles to find a happy balance. Elora had no control as a child, that makes her resent people who give her no choice but she has learnt it is for her good. This is a possible trigger for her OCD to be as severe as it is. She struggled personally in her youth and so she gained a good work ethic, she revised so well at school that it became a habit. When she started she was not bothered by Derek and his cold attitude, at first, I assumed that it was because of her work before us but now I know that it just made it easier for her to not care for him." Strauss was typing quickly on the tablet before then looking up once again.

"Distancing yourself from people who could become important to you. What about her mindset in this case?" Without thinking of it Strauss began to look at the woman from head to the point where her waist was covered by the table.

"Elora has never shown a desire to be violent. Cases with children are naturally worse for all agents so it would be expected that she was struggling with it but she never showed more upset than others. There was a lot of pressure from the press and from you. All of her actions could be reasoned." His voice never lifted or dipped as he spoke directly to his superior.

"You seem to believe in your team. More than most would." The three fell into a silence as Strauss had finished up the conversation where it was.

"Am I able to leave now? This is only just shy of the amount of time you spent with the others. I can't see how you could have any more issues." Strauss lifted her hand and then pushed it down. Elora seemingly getting the message as she stopped trying to stand.

"Your team made a lot of mistakes in this case, at one point I believe that you took a step back. You flew to Texas while the case was in progress. The case before you had caused the team to delay leaving by almost an hour." Short blonde hair was shaken slightly as her hand ran through it.