FRATERNIZATION | DEREK MORGAN (ON HOLD)

FOURTEEN

Theresa looked through all of the photos that Elle had taken earlier, analysing each one to see if anyone seems suspicious. So far, they'd come up with nothing.

"We've been at this all night, and we've got nothin'." Derek announced. His eyes flickered over to Theresa, who stood in the darkest corner of the room, not wanting to be seen.

The girl made eye contact with Derek for a split second, causing her cheeks to heat up in embarrassment. He had caught her looking at him. A smile etched it's way onto his face as he noticed the way she fiddled with the sleeves of the knitted jumper.

"Look at these expressions." Derek paused, picking up a photo. "We got fear, a touch of horror, even a little bit of panic. Where's the guy gettin' off?"

"When asked about his motives, Peter Dinsdale said, 'I am devoted to fire. Fire is my master.'" Reid announced. He turned to face Theresa and motioned for her to come and sit down beside him, which the girl did.

Theresa rested her head on Reid's shoulder as she watched Derek carefully. He seemed so focused on finding out who their unsub was, as did the rest of the team. But it made the girl curious as to what he was like on her case.

"Okay, so who was our boy's master? Any idea's, Tess?" Derek span on his heel to face the pretty brunette.

"Th-There's 10,000 plus students." Theresa stuttered, causing her breath to get caught in her throat. Instead of continuing what she was going to say, she shuffled closer to Reid and hid her head in the crook of his neck out of embarrassment.

"And one has a serious fascination with fire." Derek continued, flicking on the lighter in order to distract the team from Theresa's vulnerability.

He tossed the lighter to Theresa and offered the girl a playful wink as she caught it. She flicked the lighter on and watched as the flame danced. She became fascinated by the faint sound of the gasoline burning.

"Fire starting is one third of the homicidal triad." Elle spoke up, once again trying to prove her worth. "An early predictor of adult disassociative criminal behavior. If we looked in his childhood, we'd probably find all three. Bedwetting and cruelty to animals."

"Absent or abusive father," Gideon stood up from his slouched spot. "trouble with the opposite sex, chronic low self-esteem- M. O. would be dynamic."

Derek made his way behind Theresa, his hand quickly passing through the flame, a party trick that he used to do. Theresa looked up at the man and let go of the button that kept the flame going.

He used his fingers to move her hair to one side so that he should lean down and rest his head on her shoulder. He knew that she wasn't exactly comfortable within the team right now, mainly because they all saw her at a vulnerable state, but he didn't want her to feel that way.

"Evolvings, fire setting escalates, they thrive on panic, fear. It's just the standard profile of a serial arsonist." Gideon continued to explain as he stood in front of all of the agents.

"Based on hundreds of interviews." Reid responded, looking up at the man from his laptop.

"Based on precedent." Derek whispered, causing the hairs on the back of the girls next to stand on end. "Tess."

He wanted her to speak out more, so he placed his hands in front of the girl and allowed her to be distracted by them instead of over thinking what she was saying.

"This is everything that the unsub should be, according to all the research, it's just-we're just wrong." Theresa spoke as played with Derek's hands, she began fascinated with tracing patterns on his palm.

She knew that everyone was looking at her, either waiting for her to stutter again or shut down and stop talking, but instead of thinking about what her fellow colleagues were thinking, she continued to trace patterns on Derek's hands.

"We're off the mark." Hotch nodded in agreement.

He couldn't help but allow a proud smile to form on his face at the girl. He wondered what she meant by Derek saved her, he didn't want to question it incase it was a personal matter, but that didn't mean that he didn't worry about the girl.

"Because of the 2 missing elements." Gideon waited to see if any of them got it.

"Sex and power- the 2 motives that drive a serial arsonist." Derek responded, finding comfort in the way that girls fingers danced over his palms.

Theresa linked their hands together and placed them on her lap as she looked up to Gideon with a smile. She enjoyed listening to him work, it was fascinating the way that he got his answers and figured out the unsub before anyone else. But this time, he seemed just as confused as the rest of them.

This unsub wasn't like their regular unsubs, it appears as if they didn't have a sexual drive or a power trip over starting the fires, which was rather unusual considering how many fires had been started.

"And without 'em, we do not have a profile." Gideon chuckled, shaking his head.

The girl looked around at the group, they could stay here all night and try to work up a profile for their unsub, but without more evidence or more reasonings as to why they start the fires, it would be useless.