puzzles of a heart | spencer reid ✓

three

Aaron Hotchner tapped his pen against the desk of the conference room with a sense of urgency, his eyes trained upon the fresh cup of coffee a few feet away. The silence was stuttering, and Spencer danced his gaze across the people around the table; Derek Morgan, hands together cupping his chin and beside him, blonde, pretty eyed Jennifer Jareau was chewing her lip. David Rossi adjusted the collar of his suit and a grim Emily Prentiss sat back in her chair, her arms crossed. It was a bizarre combination, the mixture of personalities and talents of quirks and imperfections.  

"Where's Garcia?" JJ broke the hush of the room. "I mean, she's part of the team. She should be here if we're briefing everyone on a new case."

Hotch brushed his hand over his tense jaws. "She's just running a bit late, she phoned in ahead of time." He turned to Spencer, who had been playing with his thumb and avoiding eye contact. "Reid, where is the intern?"

The room had blossomed into confusion and a rumble of noise, they had not been told of the new arrival yet and Hotch struggled to silence everyone with his typical glare. JJ and Prentiss exchanged glances across the room with Spencer, who had looked away promptly from their questioning eyes.  

He held up his hands to defend himself. "Hotch, I swear, I picked her up this morning and we checked in at half-past eight. We were drinking coffee inside this very room but she excused herself for the bathroom. I wasn't about to follow her, that would be weird. And uh, not to mention - extremely creepy." 

"So where is she now?" Prentiss asked.

"Uhm, I'm not sure about that."

"You're not sure about that?" Hotch shook his head to himself. "Reid, so you just decided to sit here and wait for her to turn up? It's been ten minutes. She probably got lost and wandered into the evidence or the file rooms, you know how tight the protocols are. If I get in trouble for this-"

"Sorry, Hotch I really didn't mean-" 

"Will someone brief me on this intern shit?" Morgan perked up and took a sip from his own cup, his lips smacked in approval of the exquisite produce of the BAU coffee machine. "Like, what are you guys even talking about? Come on, get me in the loop."

"Just wait," but Hotch had stood up, flattened his suit, and his eyes swivelled to the door. He signalled towards the doorway across the room to everyone. "Here she comes."

Six heads of the Behavioural Analysis Team spun to the door at the uncomfortable entrance of Valeria Quinton, who was dressed in a light jumper and a pair tight-fitting flared pants. Her hair was clipped back by two gold-rimmed clips and soft around her. She faltered a bit from the attention, hesitated but tilted up her head to Hotch at the end of the table. 

"I apologise. I received an urgent phone call from law school." Her light eyes swept the room swiftly, and met Spencer's in the split second that she did before focusing on Hotch again, "it's good to finally meet you, Mr Hotchner. Your emails were vague and I've been intrigued ever since."

Hotch mastered a forceful smile and gestured at the empty seat next to Morgan. "Please, Ms Quinton. Welcome, I'm the supervisor of the Behavioural Analysis Unit and this is my team." He gestured at his BAU unit sitting around the table. "I hope Senator Quinton is well?"

Valeria smiled faintly around the room and produced an awkward wave. "Yes, she is! And hello everyone..." 

The team mumbled back unenthusiastically and Spencer felt for her. Everyone within the room was trained on her movements as she settled into the chair next to Morgan and placed her bag under her seat. He made a conscious decision to not stare at her and make her even more nervous.