normal ‹ supernatural/criminal minds crossover ›

ii.

ii. pinkie promise

--

rosalind and the rest of the team stayed relatively silent while taking their spots on the jet. she felt a little awkward but eventually took a seat next to emily. in front of her were derek and aaron. her blazer had been discarded and was hanging off the back of her seat. aaron's eyes discreetly looked rosalind over and stopped on a plain silver ring with some carvings on it.

"aaron hotchner. unit chief. i called you earlier," he said as to properly introduce himself. for some odd reason, his knee was bouncing and his hand was shaking just a little. he wasn't sure why he felt anxious talking to rosalind. to be fair, he wasn't blind. rosalind was attractive. he enjoyed following the twists and curls in her hair that led to a simple ponytail that cascaded down her shoulder.

rosalind felt aaron's eyes on her and smiled a little. "rosalind taylor. i was the one who picked up pretty grouchily earlier."

aaron smiled at her and even chuckled a little. the team looked at rosalind in a sort of disbelief. who was this woman who was able to make his hands shake and make him laugh and where had she been his whole life? spencer and derek made eye contact, both sharing a very confused look.

it was then that aaron realized everyone was staring and he fixed his posture and put his serious face back on. he started handing out the manila folders with information in them to the team. rosalind's fingers accidentally grazed his when she took the folder from him. the lightest of blushes came to her cheeks but she hid it with the curls hanging in front of her face.

"so for the past two weeks, women have been going missing and turning up dead exactly two days later with different words carved into their chest. the police have been trying to piece them together but they're all in latin."

rosalind perked up at the sound of latin. not only was rosalind an expert in neuroscience but she knew all sorts of languages. even enochian. though that isn't really fair because she's part angel.

"do you know latin, spence?" jj asked the resident genius.

"i only know a few bits of conversational latin. it's an ancient language. very few know latin let alone are able to speak it fluently and regularly."

"google translate?" derek offered.

rosalind decided to speak up. "i know latin."

"fluently?" aaron asked.

"yes. fluently. my father had me study it at a very young age and i was fluent by age fifteen. i didn't think it'd be any use but look where i am now."

"pretty boy does have competition," derek teased.

"do you know what these words say?"

rosalind looked closely at the pictures. there were a few words carved into each body and she was able to translate them quickly. she said the words as they came to her. "upon the threshold, red-eyed murder stands, fresh from his slaughter-house of human meat, blood on his broken teeth and hands, blood on his nails and on his purple feet..."

"it's a poem. murder by leon gellert. it's not well known. either someone searched for poems about murder or they have studied english or poetry," spencer said after rosalind finished reciting what little of the poem was carved.

"it's an older man doing these killings so it's not an english student," david inputted.

"and since the poem wa translated into latin it must be someone who's intelligent or someone who is capable of using a translator however the former seems more likely because this was translated without error. google translate can't do that," rosalind said.

everyone thought on it for a moment. rosalind's mind worked at a high speed and suddenly something stuck out. "why would he translate the poem into latin in the first place? perhaps he understands that not a lot of people know complex languages like it and would make it harder to trace him down. he knows he's intelligent and he's cocky about it too."

"she's right. he has the mindset that he's smarter than everyone, that he knows more than anyone else. he thinks he'd be the only one to be fluent in latin and to know the poem. it's some sort of superiority complex," emily spoke up.

"so what we have so far is a middle aged, white male. studied english or latin or even both. self-absorbed behavior. intelligent but cocky about it. likely frustrates his coworkers and talks down to them. had some sort of stressor in his life that made him break and start killing. because he's so confident, it's unlikely that he's left his job, started to move away, or hide in any sort of way. in fact, it's a possibility he's bragged about the murders to a stranger, coworker, or friend," aaron said with finality.

everyone nodded, took notes, and agreed with aaron's summation of the profile so far. rosalind let out a loud yawn and rubbed at her eyes. "feel free to sleep. the flight lasts for another four hours," aaron said when he noticed her very sleepy state.

she mumbled a thank you and curled up in her seat, falling asleep five minutes later.

--

when rosalind came to, bright sunshine was coming in from the jet's windows. she slowly opened her eyes to adjust to the brightness. from what she could see, mostly everyone around her was asleep or had their eyes closed with the exception of aaron who was mindlessly flipping through the folder.

"i take it you're not one to sleep on flights?" rosalind spoke quietly so not to wake the people around them.

aaron looked up, startled at the sudden voice after a few hours of quiet in the jet. rosalind was watching him from her seat in front of him. he smiled a little. "no not really. i don't sleep much on cases."

"i would say you should just knock out right here but looks like we're landing soon," rosalind told him while looking out the plane window.

"i promise i'll get some sleep eventually," he said with a smile.

rosalind returned it and held out her pinkie finger. "pinkie promise?"

aaron shook his head at the childish behavior but nevertheless wrapped his pinkie around her very much smaller one. "pinkie promise."

they pulled apart and leaned back in their seats. "you're gonna fit in this team," aaron declared.

"thank you," rosalind whispered. her heart fluttered a little at the gesture. she could definitely get used to this new life.