The Element of Surprise

Limelight - Part 1

I know indeed what evil I intend to do, but stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils - Euripides.

Never in the entire year I've been working for the FBI did my chair ever feel this comfortable. I nearly moaned the moment I sank down in it, smiling at the scratchy fabric under my fingers as I ran my hands down the armrests. Even the little squeak the base makes when I twirl around is music to my ears.

"Weeeeeeeee!" I exclaim as I use the floor as traction point to twirl myself around once again. My stomach twists and turns as the bullpen becomes nothing but a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree blur and all I can make out is Derek's shiny, bald head at his desk, Spencer's eye-catching sweater he chose to wear today, and Rossi's form approaching the fax machine opposite of my desk. The latter makes me reach out and grab onto my desk to stop the chair from twirling further.

"Someone really missed work," Derek comments from his desk, grinning at the spectacle he just witnessed.

"What can I say?" I'm seeing double after the spinning fest and can't decide which Derek to look at, "Everyday is a vacation if you love your occupation."

"Even if that involves chasing after killers and investigating dead bodies?" Spencer frowns adorably, not quite understanding why I would call this job a vacation.

"Don't... don't overthink it, okay?" I shake my head to rid my thoughts of dead bodies, "All I'm saying is this job gives me purpose. And without purpose, what am I?"

"Actually, you'd be a composition of chemical elements that includes water, proteins, lipids, hydroxylapatites, carbohydrates, and DNA. In terms of -"

"Kid, please, it's eight in the morning," Morgan cuts him off and runs a hand over his shiny head, "Can we reserve the fun facts for nine, maybe?"

I snort at the despondent expression on Spence's face. His abnormally sharp and energized today, which makes me wonder how many hours of sleep he had this weekend. And I've counted; he only had two cups of coffee in the hour since I've been here. It's running behind on at least two more. And that fills me with fear of what will happen if Reid finally downs his fourth cup... as far as I'm aware, the Bureau doesn't have an underground safety bunker to protect us from the full intellect of Spencer Reid.

Hotch marches down the desks towards Rossi who's examining a document he received from the fax machine, "You got something?"

"Not sure," the senior agent mutters and hands the Unit Chief the papers, "It's from an old storage unit. Case agent from the Philly field office sent it to me."

With Spencer being a tall ball of energy and me being overeager to get back to solving cases, we both just about jump over our chairs to get a look at the documents. The first thing I notice it the endless lines of descriptive words followed by a sketch of a knotted rope.

"Somebody you know?" Hotch inquires while scanning through the papers.

"She knows me," Rossi shrugs, "You know."

I freeze.

She?

Who is she and how does she know him?

"Ah, a fan," Hotch nods, "Your world's a very crowded place, isn't it?"

"You'd be surprised."

'Really now? Why don't you tell us alllll about it?'

Ignoring the voice in my head, I peer over Hotch's shoulder to get a better look at the sketches.

"This is detailed," he mutters.