"What's your problem?" ~ Aaron Hotchner

"yes, he's my father."

"Is he always so... blunt?", queried Kay

She had pulled Garcia to the side with concerns that her new boss would be more than difficult to handle alongside a serial murder case. Garcia chuckled at Kay's apprehension but consoled her none-the-less.

"Hotch is difficult at work. He's very serious about his cases and the integrity of the team. I remember when Prentiss first got here and they had some issues getting on but they resolved it. You'll be fine in few days, mark my words!"

Kay thanked Garcia. A few days would surely pass by in a breeze, and in the meantime, Kay would do everything she could to appear the best, most dedicated agent on the team. Hotch couldn't possibly be mad at her for trying her hardest.

"Guys! New body has just been found 2 miles down the river from the last.", JJ announced, interrupting Kay's plotting.

Hotch addressed the team, "Wheels up in 30", before disappearing into his office, leaving the team to scramble together their belongings and case notes whilst simultaneously cancelling arrangements for the next few days.

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On the flight the team began making inferences about the case. JJ wondered if the unsub was spiralling at this point and that was why the victims didn't seem to have a clear linking pattern. Morgan agreed but stated that if that was the case then surely the team would have been notified about a clearly connected string of murders around the area previously to this case. 

Reid spouted some statistics about unsubs with unclear M.O.s and how they almost always know the victims before murdering them. This was because they formed a connection to their victim and murdered them for their emotional characteristics rather than their physical characteristics. The team seemed disheartened at this, an unsub with a clear physical preference was much easier to predict than one with an emotional preference. 

"So Kay Davis, huh?", Morgan spoke with a cheekily questioning tone, "No relation to Hal Davis, are you?"

His question got the attention of everyone on the team, except Hotchner of course, who Kay saw roll his eyes before returning to the case files.

"Yes, he's my father", replied Kay definitively, hoping not to be interrogated about the subject.

"No way, Hal Davis? The Greenshore Murders? He solved that case in 24 hours, he saved 11 kids! Not to mention the Banksiders, he worked for 3 years undercover before cracking their ring", reeled off Reid, as if Kay didn't know the success of her own father.

"Your father is a legend!", said Prentiss as JJ and Rossi nodded in agreement.

Morgan turned back to Kay and with that same tone asked, "How does it feel to have such a legacy to live up to?"

This was the question Kay hoped wouldn't come up. How did it feel to have so much pressure on her to become as successful as her dad and live up to the family name? Horrible, it was a crushing pressure that she felt every time she advanced in her career. That was what Kay wanted to say.

"Honestly, it's hard but I can't expect to live up to his standards.", she laughed instead.

Hotch finally joined the conversation, making piercing direct eye contact he asked, "You better hope you can, Agent, otherwise your position on this team is debatable. Remember, you're on a trial week."

Katherine dipped her head at his words, breaking his intense stare. Of course she couldn't expect to just coast through this week but still she expected some sort lenience considering this was her first week on the job. Instead she just read over the case files again, hoping to come up with some sort of breakthrough that would make her seem like a necessary part of the team.

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The flight landed at around 17:30 and the team grabbed their overnight bags and headed straight to the local station to begin work on the case. The police were useless, they hadn't even bothered to write up their interviews with the families. 

"We thought you guys had all the information you needed", was their excuse.

Exhausted, Rossi thanked the officers passive aggressively and started assigning jobs to the team.

"JJ, Reid, you stay here and start going through the files. Morgan, Prentiss and I will talk to Jackie's roommate again. Hotch, Kay, go to the scene where they found the new victim, see if you can find any links to our other victims."

Hotch cleared his throat, "Actually Rossi, I'd like to go talk to Jackie's roommate as well. I think Morgan should go with Kay."

Of course he does, thought Kay with both relief and annoyance that her own boss couldn't work with her for even 5 minutes. Morgan accepted Hotch's proposal, despite seeming confused, as if he'd missed something. 

"Come on then, hot stuff. We've got a crime scene to survey.", he flirted at Kay. She blushed but of course she'd noticed his outgoing behaviour when they met just this morning and knew it was nothing but friendliness.

Kay looked over to her boss to find him already looking back at her. She gave him her best intimidating stare to match his own but he broke contact before she could have even a remotely profound effect. Giving up, she followed Morgan to the SUV and they made their way down to the river banks.

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The ride to the banks was filled with Morgan's music and little was said between the two. Kay felt awful about the fact her boss hated her and, as a result, she was unlikely to get through this trial week successfully. She wondered why she had even been given the chance anyway, it's not like she's anywhere near as good as her father. She was an impostor who got this opportunity because of her lega-

"Hey, listen.", Morgan interrupted Kay's spiralling, "About Hotch. Look, I can see he's giving you a hard time - I mean, hell, it was very obvious the way he switched himself with me. I just wanted to tell you that already you're doing great." 

Kay looked at the man confused, he continued, "It's just that not many people can stand up to Hotch on their first day the way you did back at the Bureau. You have guts, this job needs guts - I reckon you'll sail through this trial, you know.

Kay felt a little relieved to have her position validated by at least one member of the team. Even if it wasn't her boss, it meant she was doing something right at least. 

"Thanks, Morgan. You know you give really good pep talks.", thanked Kay.

"That's what I'm here for, babygirl.", Morgan chuckled.

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A/N: Hey guys! New update, hope you enjoyed. If you have any comments feel free to make them - I take constructive criticism too lmao. Here's a little snippet from next Saturday's update:

NEXT SATURDAY: "in the field"

After Kay's rocky start, she makes a key breakthrough in the case, much to someone's annoyance. The team continue to be impressed with her.