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"Remember that people are only guests in your story – the same way you are only a guest in theirs – so make the chapters worth reading."
― Lauren Klarfeld
Replacement
Yes. Yes, you do... Thank you." Rossi heard as he walked up to Hotch, who was on the phone. Hotch's expression was etched with annoyance.
"How you doing?" Rossi asked, noticing Hotch's discomfort. Hotch glanced at his team, their faces solemn, before turning back to his friend.
"I'm alright. I'm worried about the team, and Strauss thinks that adding a probationary agent is going to solve our problems," Hotch replied, heading toward the office where the rest of the team was gathered.
"Seaver knows she's not replacing Prentiss," Rossi added, abruptly stopping behind Hotch. No one could replace Prentiss.
"I know. She has potential, but we need an experienced profiler, and we need one now," Hotch said, making Rossi sigh.
"Have you started looking yet?" Rossi asked, aware that finding someone good enough to replace Emily would be a challenge.
"Strauss has, and she should be here in five minutes," Hotch replied, checking his watch as they entered the briefing room. The team stopped talking when they heard Hotch's heavy steps.
"Where's Seaver? I made cupcakes to celebrate her graduation! Well... I mean, there are two letters missing, but it's still graduation cupcakes," Penelope rambled, looking around.
"She's not going to be working with us anymore. Strauss hired an experienced agent to help us," Hotch explained, sitting down as the rest of the team followed suit. Silence filled the room. They hadn't expected Prentiss to be replaced so quickly.
"When is this new agent coming?" Morgan asked, echoing the others' curiosity.
"Should be in a couple of minutes," Hotch responded, glancing at his watch again.
"What's their name? I can try to find them. Just give me a name, and I can track every place she's been in the last year," Penelope exclaimed, taking out her tablet, nervous about the new agent joining while the team was still grieving. The least Strauss could have done was give them a grieving period.
"Garcia, I'm sure they've already looked into their background," Hotch said as Garcia hesitantly put her tablet down. He looked around at his team, noticing their sadness and annoyance. "Guys, I know how hard this has been for all of us, but please welcome this person with open arms. We all know she's got big shoes to fill, and I'm sure it's going to be fine." Everyone sighed and nodded slightly.
"It just feels like we are replacing her... It feels wrong," Reid muttered as the rest agreed. Garcia sighed loudly, poking at her cupcake.
"This is dumb. We don't want an extra agent. We have each other. This is a family. Emily was family. So if this new agent thinks she can replace Emily, then she's got another thing coming because I can hack into all of her social and financial accounts and frame her for fraud if I wanted to," Garcia threatened, looking down, none of them hearing the pair of heels clicking towards the room.
