o. DON'T MESS WITH US
❛ you guys are the new bau team? you're like twenty eight. ❜
❛ damn! do i really look that old? ❜
in which the bau we all know and
love have decided to pass the torch
and individually pick out their su...
FRESH FACES — THE PROLOGUE ❪ WELCOME TO THE BAU ❫ ❝ I am thankful for nights that turned into mornings, friends that turned into family, and dreams that turned into reality. ❞
( just to be clear : we know this timeline isn't accurate, it's an au )
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DEREK MORGAN LEANED BACK in his chair surveying the desk which had housed him for years. The usual clutter sprawled across it was absent. It was slightly unnerving to the man who was used to files being lazily and haphazardly tossed about with overdue paperwork shoved somewhere in a drawer where Hotch hopefully wouldn't look. The BAU bullpen seemed empty and quiet for the first time in years, gone was Reid's incessant rambling about this or that astrophysicist, even Anderson was nowhere to be found. What would become of their little family? Morgan wondered. He knew they had a few cases to train their new mentees, but after that?
The only thing that reflected the teams' existence was the fact that they were all sprawled about the room. Every so often, one of them would sigh quietly. Hotch was absent from their family gathering and Derek wasn't sure if his presence would make things better or worse. The air was already tense and everyone was slightly on edge. JJ was pacing, occasionally glancing up at the door. Emily was subconsciously chewing at her cuticles. Reid sat in front of the daily crossword puzzle, taking longer than his usual eight minutes to solve it. Rossi seemed unphased but someone who knew him well, or a profiler (the team just happened to be both) would pick up on him twisting his signet ring, his only nervous tic. The worst had to be Penelope Garcia, who decided to fill the silence by talking about everything and anything that popped into her mind.
"You guys are gonna call me every day, right? Promise. Promise you'll call every day," she rambled. "And Rossi! You have to host family dinners twice a week. If you don't, I swear I'll cry right now." While anyone who didn't know her would assume that she was kidding, everyone in the room knew she was serious.
"Sure, Penelope," Rossi nodded, smiling tentatively. The bubbly blonde let out a sigh of relief and for just a moment it was silent. Emily was the one to break the silence.
"You guys know I love you, right?" she asked, her voice shaking. "'Cause I know I can be pretty closed off, but I need you to know that I love you and I'm gonna do everything I can to keep in touch."
Morgan wasn't one for sentiment (at least he wouldn't admit he was) and before Reid could start bawling he knew he had to say something. "Wow. Death might've softened Em up a bit." That seemed to break whatever tension was brewing and it felt like old times as JJ scoffed and Penelope let out a laugh.
Emily, still somewhat emotional, simply flipped him off. "Screw you, Morgan."
A knock sounded at the glass door leading outside of the bullpen. "Hey, am I interrupting something?" Carter asked, poking her head in.
