DESENSITIZED//CRIMINAL MINDS

1.15 | 'he's douching it up all over the place'

AFTER THE EMOTIONAL turmoil the last case had caused her, sierra had been feeling a little down. it had just hit her that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't save everyone. the bad guys would always win a few battles before the bau would even arrive — and then undoubtedly more once they got there. it was a tough feeling, knowing there was nothing she could do to save lives.

so, when hotch interrupted sierra's marathon of baby daddy with a case — for the first time ever she was reluctant to go. she wanted to run and hide from that helpless feeling, but she figured she'd have to get used to it quickly. so even though it was a saturday night, she got herself ready and made her way over to the bau office.

she arrived just in time for the night janitor to be shining the floors of their beloved office, and before she could remark how late it was, the ding of the elevator grabbed her attention, spencer, hotch, elle, and morgan walking out. "what'd you guys split a cab or something?" the girl remarked.

but morgan ignored her sarcasm, continuing their conversation from inside the elevator. "hotch, have they been here all night?" he asked, as sierra joined the group and walked towards the conference room.

elle let out a scoff. "where else would any of us be on a saturday night?" she asked sarcastically. "it's not like we have lives or anything."

sierra let out an offended chuckle. "speak for yourself." she retorted, with a sarcastic eye roll.

morgan raised his eyebrows at the girl, not believing that she had a more interesting life than any of the rest of the team — especially himself. "oh yeah? what were your big plans tonight?"

sierra wanted to fire back with something cool and exciting, but she couldn't — she had no plans. mia and atticus went out every saturday night for date night, so she didn't even have them around to talk her into doing something spontaneous and fun. "bingeing baby daddy again." she admitted with a sigh.

"oh, i love that show!" elle exclaimed excitedly. "danny or ben?"

sierra scoffed. "obviously danny." she answered, as if everyone should already know that. "he's a new york ranger."

"guys, we're about to meet max ryan." spencer started, hoping to divert the conversation. though he had never seen the show before, as soon as sierra started talking about some super athletic guy, he felt a pit begin growing in his stomach — and he didn't know what it was. "he's responsible for catching the boise child murderer." he informed the rest of the group, before turning to hotch. "have you ever talked to him before?"

hotch nodded. "he's pretty intense." he told the team. "not much of a bedside manner."

elle let out a chuckle. "sound like anyone else we know?" she asked, laying her briefcase on her desk as the group passed their desks — each of them placing their own briefcases and bags on their respective desks.

"i heard he was forced into early retirement." morgan told them.

hotch shook his head. "no, he chose to retire." he corrected the younger agent. "he wrote a book on the keystone killer case, and moved to philadelphia to be closer to the crime scenes."

sierra raised her eyebrows as they continued on their way to the conference room. "that's retirement?" she asked.

morgan chuckled, grabbing her shoulders from behind her and playfully pushing her forward. "bau style." he retorted.