Say It (Hotch x Reader)// ✔

The day we met

Summary:

You transfer all of the sudden to the BAU.
Your first day and first case, not knowing your every move is being watched.

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Last Thursday:

"Come in" the female voice behind the door calls out for you, and you take a breath to steady yourself before you enter.

Erin Strauss, the section director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation stands up behind the desk of the office you walk into. She's mid 50s, you assume, short blonde hair tucked behind her ears, and wearing an aquamarine blouse underneath the jacket of her suit. You knew her from the visits active agents did occasionally at the academy.

" Agent Y/LN" she says and you extend an arm for her to shake, as she approaches you.

Her office is gray, marine blue curtains adorning the windows, black leather couches and chairs set up to welcome visitors. Her accolades are spread out all around the walls of the office – certifications, graduation from the academy, and a few ivy leagues diplomas on criminology, and so are the pictures of her family, spread out at her desk and at the library behind her chair. The picture of her son positioned 1cm forward than the pictures of her two daughters. You can't help but notice the latter.

" Ma'am " you say, and she smiles politely, not quite reaching her eyes.

"I've had flying recommendations about you since you first began your education at the academy. Some had become intrigued even since your years at Harvard."

You nod, waiting. Strauss wasn't one to call you to her office just to compliment you. Without anything hiding just below the surface.

"Your experience at the Dallas office has caught my eyes since Unit Chief Aria took you into her team".

You steel your face. Unit Chief Aria wasn't one for compliments either. She was rigid, by the rules and when something didn't pan out into the field, and only as a last resort, would she ever let you offer your own deductions. She wasn't mean per se. Many agents did the same. You were just fresh out of the academy back then; nobody trusted a fresher to make quick smart decisions. Not that you ever lacked them. But now it had been 5 years and you'd fallen into pace with the team, and Agent Aria trusted you as much as the other much more experienced agents in the field.

"Which is why I think you'd be wasted there".

Your eyebrows fly up. "Pardon me, ma'am ?"

"One of my teams here at Quantico had to give away one of their agents – she was reassigned to work at the Pentagon", she looks quite proud at that, and you can't help but feel that she definitely had something to do with her transferal. "And I believe you'd be a good fit and continue your traineeship here instead of going back to Dallas ."

You feel anger bubbling up. Traineeship? You'd stopped training 2 years into working for Agent Aria and now you were an agent. Like the rest of them. Is she demoting you?

"With all due respect ma'am, I am a good fit with the unit of Agent Aria. I've had 5 years of experience in the field. I appreciate your offer for a traineeship but I would like to keep building up my career in Dallas. "

She looks quite offended, like you should have been instead.

"This isn't just a crime unit", she says and all her niceness vanishes from her face, "I am giving you a position at the Behavioral Analysis Unit, under the supervision of Unit Chief SSA Aaron Hotchner ."

Right, you think, while your shoulders fall. She's "giving" the position. So, it's all done and sealed.

"When do I have to start?" you ask, resigned now to your fate. What Strauss says, goes.