Change My Mind ~ Criminal Minds (Aaron Hotchner x OC)

30.0: Helping Out & Giving Advice

A/N: Continuation of 6x04 Compromising Positions

"A man says a lot of things in summer he doesn't mean in winter."

― Patricia Briggs

There had been a shooting at one of the swing houses, Morgan and Prentiss had gone down to the house to interview the hostess while Reid, Rossi, and Crystal checked out the victims in the house. Rossi picked up the blanket from the body on the bed, "This was the last victim, the unsub came from the living room to here."

"Morgan says the hostess locked herself in here." Reid read from his phone, Rossi shook his head. "Didn't seem to slow him down." Crystal looked confused, "How'd he open the door? She locked it, so the unsub had to unlock it somehow." Reid and Crystal examined the door, Reid pointed to the lock. "This is a deadbolt, he could've easily shot his way through." 

Crystal hummed, "But he picked the lock."

"He'd only do that out of habit." Reid said as Rossi came over to them, "Deadbolt's designed for security, takes expertise to get past that." They went outside and called Hotch about their findings, Rossi was holding the phone.

"You think he's a locksmith?"

"We knew he was stalking his victims at the gym, but we never knew how he got into their lives." Reid answered and Rossi shrugged, "When you're working out where's the one place you leave everything personal?" Crystal nodded, "The locker. Once the unsub finds the alpha male he can pick the lock, get their address from driver's licenses, and duplicate keys in his van outside."

Rossi brought the phone closer to him, "That's the missing piece from his M.O, he's gotten everything he needs before these men leave the shower."

"Garcia's already ruled out gym employees and members, how's he getting in?"

"Could be a third party vendor called in to install the lockers." Crystal stated and Reid nodded, "And called back when someone loses their key."

"Alright, head back to the station. We'll work this up."

___

When they arrived back to the station Crystal noticed Morgan with Garcia, she walked over to Hotch. "Everything okay?" Hotch looked at her confused until she motioned to Garcia's office, "With Garcia, everything okay?"

"She's having some trouble at the moment balancing two jobs, I think Morgan's giving her some support and advice on how to manage it." Crystal nodded before walking over to her bag, once she found what she needed she walked over to Garcia's office.

Crystal knocked before entering, "Hi there." Garcia smiled over at her, she had her glasses back on and Morgan was sitting on her desk. "I heard you needed some support, so here." Crystal put a fuzzy purple pen in front of her and Garcia gasped, "Where did you get this?"

"I brought it along, thought it might come in handy to incase you started to take on too much by yourself." Crystal smiled at her and Morgan chuckled, "See? Even Archer knows you can do this job, but you gotta do it your way baby girl. OG style."

Garcia smiled as she picked up the pen, "I love you both, I got this." Morgan booped her nose before leaving, Crystal cleared her throat. "I also may have brought you extra clothing that is bursting with color, I snuck it in your bag if you want to change."

"You're God sent Archer, you know that?" Crystal laughed as she went over and hugged Garcia, "So are you, do this your way Garcia. I'm right out there if you need anything, we're in this together." Crystal gave her one last smile before leaving the office and walked over to the team, Hotch looked over at her. Crystal looked over at him, "What?"