Fresh Eyes, New Mind (CRIMINAL MINDS FANFICTION)

Chapter 2 : The Game |EDITED|

Nicki's POV

"Oh, hello everyone. My name is Nicoletta Jerone, and I'm currently trialing with every unit of the FBI, and this week, I'm here at the BAU. So, I guess I'll be assisting on this case with you guys."

"Nicki, I'll introduce you to everyone later on the jet, but for right now, we need to hear about the case," he nodded at the curvaceously beautiful blonde, "Garcia, go ahead."

"Alright my fine furry friends, today you all will be jetting off to Sunnyvale, California. There has been a series of murders, five young women to be exact." She said, clicking a button on a remote, causing the five pictures of the ladies to pop up on the screen behind her.

"Lauren Jameson, Skylar Mars, Jackie Reynolds, Maria Samuels, and Casey Langston. All girls in their early twenties, all brunettes, however, that is where the obvious similarities stop. All have different jobs in different parts of the city, one has a husband, one has two kids, etcetera."

I nodded along, staring at the pictures of the girls. Wait a second, what's that?

"We are currently being called in now, as opposed to earlier because the locals thought that they could handle it on their own. There have also been riddles being left at the crime scenes."

"Alright, thank you, Garcia. Wheels up in ten," Aaron said, turning to me, "Nicki, I trust you have a go-bag with you?"

"Of course, Aaron. I'm ready when you are." I hadn't let my gaze shift from the pictures of the ladies on the screen. Something seemed different, just slightly, between the two eyes. One of the eyes on all of the ladies has clear lines around the sclera of the eye.

They were all wearing a contact in one of their eyes. Each one of them. They were either blind in one eye, or, judging by the fact that the coloring of both of the eyes is slightly different from each other, they have heterochromia.

I shook myself out of my head, deciding it'd be better to leave it until I can talk to the families, or someone talks to them anyway.

I followed the group of agents out of the building to the jet, not wanting to be late, or get lost. I, at first, was struggling with where to sit, before deciding to just sit beside Dave.

He smiled at me, rubbing my right knee with his left hand. I returned the smile at the gesture, him immediately picking up on the fact that I was quickly becoming anxious despite my calm facade.

"Alright, I suppose we can do quick introductions now," Aaron spoke, "Nicki, these are my agents, Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, or JJ, Emily Prentiss, Doctor Spencer Reid, and you know Dave and myself. Penelope Garcia is our technical analyst, she's the one who presented the case. We call her anytime we need information." Aaron told me, pointing to everyone as he went along the list of names.

"Well, it's lovely to meet you all. My name is Nicoletta Jerone, but most people just call me Nicki or Jerone. I'm also a doctor," I say directly to Spencer, "I'll only be with you for the week, or until this case is over if it lasts that long," I paused, sparing a smile, "I hope I can prove to be a great asset."

"Perfect. Now, for assignments. I want JJ and Morgan to go handle the families. JJ, since you yourself have a family, you should be able to empathize more. Morgan, I'm having you go because you're pretty good with children and I can't send Emily because of possible similarities between her and the victims."

"I would send you, Nicki, but you look a lot alike to the victims and we can't risk that. I want Reid, Emily, and Nicki to go to all of the crime scenes, Nicki I want you to focus on the riddles that were left. Dave and I will go get set up at the station."

We were all understanding of our roles, knowing what we were to do and where, and I was more than prepared to look at these riddles.

"Perfect. Now, we've got five hours ahead of us, so you can take this time to do as you please."

Cool, inadvertently throwing me to the wolves, thanks, Aaron.

"Hey, Nicki? Wanna join our poker tournament?" Emily called over, a friendly smile residing on her face.

"Oh, um, I don't know if, -" I was cut off from my warning by Dave.

"She'll play." I was trying to warn them for a reason. Regardless, I got up, moving over to where the majority of the group was sitting.

"Okay, so, Reid is kinda perfect at this game because the kid grew up in Vegas, so he isn't going to play until we find the winner between the four of us." Morgan spoke, shuffling the cards.

We played off against each other, myself breezing through each game I played.

(For results, check the image in media, for clarification, here are the results. JJ vs Emily, JJ wins. Morgan vs Nicki, Nicki wins. Emily vs Morgan, Morgan wins. JJ vs Nicki, Nicki wins. Morgan vs JJ, Morgan wins. Morgan vs Nicki, Nicki wins. Nicki vs Reid, Nicki wins. Emily got fifth, JJ got fourth, Morgan got third, Reid got second, and Nicki got first.)

I could feel everyone's shock radiating off of them as they all stared at me. I won the tournament, which clearly no one was expecting Spencer to lose. I smirked, collecting the cards back into a stack.

"Sorry guys, I was going to warn you," I spoke, "until Dave over there decided to interrupt me. I didn't want to be rude."

"Wow, yeah, um, how did you do that?" JJ asked, clearly still very much so in shock. I couldn't blame them.

"Oh, I count cards." I smirked, standing to go get some coffee. The groans of disdain and annoyance only fueling my smirk more. 

"Nicki, would you, uh, would you want to, um, to play a game of chess?" I could tell without turning around that it was Spencer, via his stuttering.

"Sure, Spencer. Do you have it all set up?" I asked, walking back over with a mug of coffee in my hands.

"Yes, uh, it's over here," he brought me to the boards, allowing me to sit, "do you, um, prefer a certain color?" I was glad he asked, I do have a specific color I always play.

"Well, you see, I've never lost with black," I responded, a coy smile on my face, "unless you prefer black?"

"Oh, it's actually perfect because I always prefer white."

With that, our game began. I digress, he was giving me a run for my money, it got to the point where we had to call a stalemate because we had been playing for hours and were currently about to land. 

"Well, thanks for The Game, Doctor Reid. I hope we get to play again soon."

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. THE MORE CHAPTERS I EDIT OVER THE WEEKEND THE CLOSER I GET TO ACTUALLY UPDATING A NEW CHAPTER. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR BEING SO PATIENT. I LOVE YOU ALL