FRATERNIZATION | DEREK MORGAN (ON HOLD)

TEN

Theresa sat beside Derek, her legs slung onto his lap, making him playfully wink towards her and rest his hand on her calf. He began to subconsciously tracing patterns whilst he filled out information on the fires.

"There are 2 common stressors for a serial arsonist." Reid announced as he set up a game of chess to play.

"Loss of job, loss of love." Elle responded swiftly before anyone else could get a chance. She wanted to prove to everyone that she was worthy of this job.

She was the newest recruit, which meant that she had the most to prove. She wondered what it was like on a team mainly filled with boys. She wondered how Theresa coped with it, especially since she worked so closely along side them.

"When was the first fire set?" Derek questioned curiously, his eyes flickering to Theresa who had began to flicker through the case file.

Reid looked towards the pair, Theresa was in her usual cable knitted jumper, which he vaguely remembered he dad constantly wearing. He wondered if he gave it to her as a keep sake or if she took it as a remind of him when she left home.

"March." Hotch replied.

There was a brief pause as Hotch flicker through the case file, trying to find the dates that the fires occurred on, whilst also looking for a pattern as to why they happened.

"Uh, the next one was in May, and the third one wasn't till September, then 2 weeks later there were 3 in one night."

Theresa leant forward slightly, watching as Derek placed the dates of the fires in the calendar, attempting to map them out in order to predict when the next fire would occur.

She wanted to catch the unsub before they did any more damage or hurt anyone else. She hated that there were people like this, people who did things purposefully to hurt people.

It made her wonder what could have happened to her if she went down the opposite path. She wondered what would have happened if instead of throwing herself back into education to become a part of the BAU, she turned to drink and drugs instead like she was so tempted to do.

She couldn't imagine hurting anyone, no matter what she went through she couldn't picture herself putting someone through the same pain that she went through.

"He's speeding up. Fire's are closer together." Gideon spoke, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

Derek looked down at Theresa's legs that swung so effortlessly over his, he had to bite back a smirk as he watched the skirt that she wore raise. He would be lying if he said he didn't find the girl attractive.

"Hey, Reid, you got a statistic on arsonists?" Derek glanced back towards the boy. His hands now rested under Theresa's calf's and pulling her closer, making her let go of a small gasp.

She almost felt guilty for making a sound, especially when Hotch looked at her. She anxiously began to bite on her bottom lip, wondering if he was going to say something, but instead he nodded, silently telling her that it was okay.

"82% are white males between 17 and 27. Female arsonists are far less likely, their motive typically being revenge." Reid responded instantly.

Theresa smiled towards Reid, she remembered back when they were in high school together everyone used to bully him for his eidetic memory, but now it was used to their advantage.

"Sounds like our boy's a student, right, Tess?" Derek turned to face Theresa, not expecting her to be so close to him, despite the fact that he pulled her closer.

Her warm breath hit his face, making his grip on her tighten. He didn't know what it was about the girl, but it felt right to be close to her. It felt right to protect her over everyone else in the team, even though he knew that morally that wasn't right.

"I wouldn't be too sure. If you rely too much on precedent, you never allow the unexpected." Theresa responded, relaxing slightly as he traced patterns on the inner of her thigh. She wondered if he even knew what he was doing or if it was all instinctual.

Gideon looked towards Theresa as she spoke, he noticed the way that she and Derek were so close. He never said anything and never would because he understood why she relied on him and preferred to stay by his side.

"If he went from setting one fire to 3 in 2 weeks' time-" Gideon was cut off by Hotch before he even had a chance to finish.

"Rapid escalation." Hotch's eyes flickered down to Derek and Theresa.

It was no secret that the two were close. Derek always found a way to be beside her or touch her. But it was against the rules for any sort of fraternization between two colleagues. Hotch just hoped that it wouldn't go any further than the meaningless touches and sneaky glances.

"He's gone from the power to damage a building to something far more satisfying." Gideon shook his head. "The power over life and death."

Theresa continued to flick through the files, with Derek looking over her shoulder. She looked at the different people who had died in the fires, seeing if they had any sort of connections or anything in common, but so far she hadn't come up with anything.

"Who we talking to first?" Gideon questioned curiously.

He took his time to look around the agents and the doctor, wondering if they had anyone in mind that they particularly wanted to talk to first. If they had any sort of suspicions as to who could lead them to their unsub or who could potentially be their unsub.

"Dean of students, Ellen Turner." Hotch responded swiftly.