𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑔𝑜, 𝑠. 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑑 & 𝑒. 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑦

chapter one, ssa clarissa mae

CLARISSA MAE DOESN'T LIKE HAVING BREAKFAST. once when she was ten, she passed out in class because she had been skipping breakfast, then lunch and only really had dinner. her mother drilled her about it on the drive home but when you're ten, you don't need a drill sergeant, you need a parent which ironically was the only thing her mother couldn't be for her.

years later, breakfast is still her least favorite meal of the day, she has an ice coffee instead but on this rainy morning, she can't drive to her favorite coffee shop like she does every day and she knows she will be grumpy for the rest of the day, or at least until she gets her coffee.

that morning when she walks into the bullpen though, there is a fresh ice coffee on her desk, no note, no indication of who left it there, hell, there's no sign of anyone at the office when the phone on her desk rings. she picks it up, shrugging off her raincoat, dropping her bag as she grabs her coffee and falls on her seat that she had been the owner of since the past three weeks.

"this is ssa clarissa mae, what can i do for you today?"

"ah, she has her own catchphrase now," the voice on the other end teases as she gets more comfortable in her seat, "why are you not at work?" she was moving back and forth, still sipping her cold drink as she looked around. it was unusual for the place to be so deserted. usually, morgan would be asking her to go on runs with him, spencer would be giving morgan some statistic that no one else knew, hotch would be asking her if she could stop blasting carly simon so loudly through her headphones, you're listening to that, kiddo, not the entire bullpen, he would say, and she would only lower the volume the slightly.

"you got this all wrong, kid, you're the one who isn't at work." morgan's words made her jump off her seat, grabbing her jacket and her bag off the ground, that was why she was all alone, everyone else was on a case and no one told her. she was halfway to the elevator when she realized she had no idea where she needed to go so, she ran back to her desk, still pulling on her red raincoat as she realized she also never hang up the phone.

"we're at the jet," derek was still on the other end as if he was waiting for her when she thanked him, "i told hotch you went to get a coffee so hurry up. hotch looks like he's gonna set himself on fire in rage."

"please, hotch is never upset at me." within ten minutes, she was on the jet with them, finishing her coffee as she flopped down between morgan and hotch, who was in fact, not upset at her after she explained she felt a bit sick that morning.

"okay, we need to catch the sickly cat up on the case." morgan looked over at her as she shoved him lightly before she looked over at where gideon stood. his medical leave seemed to be over but when she got there, he hadn't been back yet, "welcome back, agent gideon we haven't formerly met," she held out her hand to him, "i'm clarissa mae." he looked over at her and then down at her hand before shaking it, "i know who you are."

he didn't smile or look upset, he seemed to have no emotion on his face, even his body language seemed a little mechanic in a way, so she really had no idea if him knowing who she was, was it a good thing or a bad thing.

"his first victim was 26-six -year-old melissa kirch. stab wounds and strangulation." spencer read from his file, looking up at clarissa for the first time since she boarded the jet. it was safe to say spencer wasn't a fan of how negligent the younger girl could be, how she was always late for one reason or another. because he could never make himself be mean to her, he just avoided her.

"so he stabbed her, then strangled her or the other way around?"

"other way around." morgan answered the question like gideon had answered his when he first asked it. "well, what most people don't know is that strangling some to death is pretty hard maybe the strangulation was to show how much power he held over his victim and when he realized he wasn't strong enough to get the job down, he got angry and stabbed her- wait how many times did he stab her?" clarissa held the document closer to her face, she forgot her glasses at home, again.

"six times, not enough for it to be overkill but just enough to showcase his rage. good job on picking that up, agent mae." gideon looked up from his file and she thanked him as they ended the debriefing and she went to go make herself some tea.

"good job, agent mae." derek teased, following her into the kitchenette, she rolled her eyes and placed a teabag in her favorite mug, that she may or may not have brought from home. "there's no shame in admitting you're jealous, morgan. we spend five seconds together and he's already complimenting me."

"okay, check yourself," morgan smiled at her as she poured three spoons of sugar in her tea, "all i'm saying is if we spend five minutes together, he's adopting me." she returns his smile with a cheekier one before pushing him slightly out of her eyeline with the palm of her hand.

"dr. reid, would you like something to drink?" her voice was slightly louder so it could reach him, he looks up at her, mumbling a quick no but thanking her for the offer. he went back to the book he was reading, and she wanted to throw herself out of one of the windows and have a cactus break her fall.

"finally, someone who likes little old derek morgan than clarissa mae." derek stepped in front of her, blocking spencer from her sight which was a good thing, she couldn't spend another minute stressing about someone who clearly didn't like her.

"don't worry, you can have your pretty boy, i prefer men."