FRATERNIZATION | DEREK MORGAN (ON HOLD)

SIXTEEN

"Okay, gorgeous. I've put this thing through every audio filter I've got. There's only one thing I can tell you for sure." Garcia paused. "This guy isn't saying Karen, it's more like 'Ka-rown'."

"Garcia, what the hell is 'Ka-rown'?" Derek questioned, his eyes flickering over to Theresa, who was also listening to the conversation.

The brunette shook her head, she didn't exactly know what Ka-rown was either. She took a seat on the edge of Derek's desk, allowing him to place his hands on her thighs and trace patterns in order to help him think.

"If I figure it out, does it earn me a night of passionate lovemaking?" Garcia questioned, making Theresa have to bite her bottom lip to hold in a laugh.

"Most definitely sweetness." Derek didn't let his eyes leave Theresa's as he spoke, he winked at the girl before continuing to say, "With Reid. Bye."

Reid turned around at the mention of his name, his brows were furrowed in confusion. He eased up a little once he saw the smile on Theresa's face. He knew that if she was smiling, it couldn't have been anything too bad.

"Hey, Reid. Garcia says it's not Karen, it's actually something more like-"

"Charown." Gideon rushed into the room, cutting off Derek. "I do it because of charown." He spoke directly to Reid, knowing that he would probably known something about charown.

"That's Hebrew." Reid responded, causing Theresa and Derek to make their way over to the pair.

"It's God's burning anger." Gideon continued.

Theresa stepped back into Derek's chest, allowing his arms to wrap loosely around her shoulders. She brought her hands up to play with his fingers.

"The motive is now religious?" Elle questioned curiously, walking towards the four with furrowed brows. The fact that it was religious went against everything that they already had in the profile.

"Well, you know in a lot of religions, God is related to fire." Reid explained as everyone gathered around the whiteboard that Gideon was now writing on.

"Well, Agni is fire in Hinduism." Hotch spoke up. "And the Jews see God as a pillar of fire. And Christian's worship God as consuming fire."

"Okay, so we're looking for a theology major. Maybe he's punishing the other students for their sins." Derek summed up, causing Theresa to shake her head.

It was almost too obvious if their unsub studied theology. Her thoughts were cut off by Elle throwing her a salad. She scrunched her face up, she couldn't eat yet, not when they were getting so close to figuring out their unsub.

It frustrated her that she couldn't tell Elle that she didn't want the salad, so instead, she tossed it to Reid. The man furrowed his brows, looking at Theresa, who shook her head, hoping he would understand that she didn't want it.

"I don't want this." Reid just passed it back to Elle, who looked at Theresa in confusion. 

"What's the most sinful place on campus?" Elle questioned, her eyes flickering towards Derek and Theresa.

"Come on, Elle, when I was in college, it was everywhere. Tess?" Derek looked down at the girl, knowing that she hadn't spoken yet and she probably was dying to say something.

"I don't think he's a th-"

Before the girl even got to finish telling the group that she didn't think that their unsub was a theology student, she was cut off by Elle.

"Campus bar?" She continued to suggest places which could have been seen as sinful to their unsub.

Theresa lowered her head and pulled away from Derek and went to take a seat at his desk. She anxiously pulled on the sleeves of her sweater.

Gideon glanced over to the girl and offered her a sympathetic smile. He couldn't imagine how hard it must've been for her. Elle was new to the BAU, she didn't know that she needed to address Theresa in order for her to talk or that she couldn't speak if someone cut her off.

"No, because that's not consistent with previous targets." Hotch responded to Elle.

"What about the idea of baptism by fire?" Derek questioned, glancing over to Theresa who had pulled out a small notebook and began to make her own notes. "Aren't we all supposed to be tested through fire in Revelations?"

"Look, it's good, it's good." Gideon nodded. "But listen, please do not jump to conclusions. Religion might be a part of it, but it's not necessarily the prime compulsion. What were you going to say, Tessa."

Theresa looked up from her notepad and noticed that everyone's eyes were on her. She cleared her throat and closed the notepad before saying,

"I don't think our unsub is a theology student, it's too obvious. If anything they're more than likely going to be a science major, biology, physics or chemistry." Theresa paused, her eyes flickering up to Gideon, who nodded in approval. "We should take it slowly, don't rush to conclusions."

"Tess, rush to conclusions, jump to conclusions, who cares?" Derek questioned, making his way to stand beside her once again.

"We are running out of time." Elle snapped towards Theresa, making her flinch back slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by Gideon.

Reid was trying his hardest to think of something, anything that could back up Theresa's theory. He hated that Elle instantly turned to snap at the girl, especially since she was new to the BAU and Theresa had been here nearly two years now. What the group quickly learnt when working with Theresa was that she was rarely wrong.

"Compulsion." Reid spoke up, making Theresa turn and look at him with a small smile, knowing that he was going to understand before the rest of them.