As You Are 2

I get to meet the rest of the team in the conference room. I'm already standing next to Hotch when they enter.

"I hope you all had a good weekend. This is Agent Aurilee Brooks, she's going to take over as our communications liaison. She's an academy instructor for crisis negotiation and an explosive ordnance disposal tech. She is trained to go into the field if necessary, but I'd like us to do our best to keep her behind the scenes. We have enough agents now that we can afford to keep someone as the point wherever we may be set up."

Everyone looks from Aaron to me, and then back to Aaron.

A taller and darker man speaks first, "Hotch do you mean Aurilee Brooks as in..." his voice trails off. I think everyone's too worried to ask what they're all thinking for fear of bringing up my sister.

I know they were at the scene where she died. They saw a side of Aaron that day that I doubt anyone will ever see again.

Hotch nods before pointing to the screen. "Yes, Agent Brooks is my sister-in-law. Because Haley and I were divorced before her death there's no conflict of interest involved, and Aurilee will be a long-term member of this team. Now if you could turn your attention to her up at the screen that'd be ideal."

With Aaron's words, I have everyone's eyes on me. Any questions they have are dropped, and their full focus is on the case.

Aaron's right; they are a group of professionals.

This is what I was plucked out of the academy to do, but it's still been a while since I've done it last. I take a deep breath and click the screen on with my remote.

"Okay not exactly how I imagined meeting you guys, but here we are. Over the past six weeks, three men in their mid to late 20s have gone missing from Salt Lake City, Utah. Two bodies have been recovered and confirmed as two of our victims and they both have matching MOs."

They're all looking at the case files I passed out, and I'm grateful we're able to push back introductions for now and jump straight into the matter at hand.

"Both bodies have ligature marks on their wrists and ankles," the older Italian gentleman speaks. I've known David Rossi since Aaron started working with the BAU. He'd taken Aaron under his wing just like my brother-in-law had done for me.

He knows about my father, and my original struggle with pills because Aaron took time off so he could stay with me on days Haley couldn't. He doesn't know about all the times I've relapsed, but I know that if my story with drugs ever comes out, his shock factor won't be one I have to deal with. A small blessing.

Aaron speaks up, interrupting my thoughts, "Also with a single gunshot wound to the front of the head - appears to be execution style."

"Based on the cause of death there is a high probability that our killer could be a female," a skinny boy with long hair chimes in. "Statistically female serial killers are less likely to have messy overkill and are so thorough they hardly ever leave behind salvageable evidence. That factored with the fact that all our victims appear to be single men around 25-35 - I'd say if our killer is a female she falls into the same age category."

He must be the doctor. He looks up waiting for a response, earning a few head nods from the rest of the group. I wonder how long it took them to get used to his rambling.

Aaron told me about me. He said it'd take some time to get warmed up to him, but I'm already intrigued. It'll be interesting to have a human computer next to me at all times.

"We'll brief more on the jet, wheels up in 15," Aaron says while standing out of his chair.

Everyone grabs their papers and leaves. I follow suit and head to my office to grab my go bag. I have no clue where to go after. Where do they keep an entire plane?

There's a light knock on my door, and I turn to see the doctor standing in the hallway.

"Hi," I say with a small smile, "you can come in. I'm just grabbing a few things before I try and find the jet."

He laughs and extends his hand to me. "I'm Spencer, Spencer Reid. I actually came up here to ask if you wanted me to walk you to the jet. It's kind of a confusing route and lots of hallways that all look identical to get lost in."

I laugh and shake his hand, "Aurilee Brooks, and yes please I was anticipating needing to call Aaron and embarrassing myself on my first case."

I grab my bag and follow Spencer out.

"I don't think you could embarrass yourself. Your presentation was really good. JJ's shoes are big ones to fill, but I think you're going to be a great fit here."

I smile at his comment. "I appreciate that. Thank you, Spencer. It's been a few years since I've been strictly a communication liaison, but I'm hoping to find my footing sooner rather than later."

I follow him through the building, listening to his ever-flowing rants of research studies he's recently read about and his historic run-down of the building were in.

"How old are you?" I ask him. "You're so bright."

My words make him smile. "I'm 30. I've been with the team for eight years now. You seem young too. How'd you end up in the FBI?"

"I'm 26. This is my fourth year with the bureau. I got into the academy right out of college. I started running my own classes the year after."

He opens a double door for me and we step outside.

"Where'd you go to school?" He asks, giving a small wave to the rest of the team from across the runway.

"I went to the University of Michigan."

We're greeted by the rest of the team and follow them up the stairs into the jet.

"Let's catch up later?" Spencer asks before taking a seat at a small table. "I've spoken at a few classes near that campus."

I smile and give him a nod.

I take in my surroundings. This is insane. We had a jet when I worked in San Antonio, but we usually focused on cases that were within driving range.

"Hi Aurilee," a dark-haired woman approaches me and extends her hand. "I'm Emily."

I smile at her and return her handshake. She invites me to sit next to her which I gladly accept.

We sit on a long couch that faces the rest of the chairs and the same four-person table Spencer had sat at.

No one speaks while we're taking off, so I take the time to run through the list of the people I'll need to talk to once we're landed and set up. The case already has news outlets everywhere reporting it, and I'm not sure yet if it's something we can use to our advantage.

"Aaron," I say once we're fully up in the air, "I got in touch with Captain Doughtry of the Salt Lake City police department, and they're ready to corporate with anything you'll need help with for this case."

"That's great, thank you, Aurilee. When we arrive, Rossi and Morgan, I'd like you guys to meet with the coroner and see if you can find anything else that can give us an MO. Prentiss and I will conduct interviews with friends and family members of the victims. Aurilee and Reid, you'll get us set up at the station, and Reid, I want you to get started on a geographic profile. We should be arriving in three hours, so if you need to catch up on some sleep or notes, I'd do so now."