Chapter Text
It may not have been her first time in the building, but it sure as shit was the scariest. Jules nerves through her body as she walked through the familiar entryway to make her way to her new job, a behavioral analyst for the FBI. All she could think about was everything it took to get her here, all the blood, sweat, and tears just to end up in a job she knew nothing about 6 years prior. In the academy she worked her ass off, she had to work three times as hard as her male counterparts to prove she belonged, to prove she could succeed. Being a woman, let alone a bigger woman in a male dominated field took work, but her work paid off. As the elevator took her up to the fourth floor, she took the time in the thankfully empty elevator to breathe. Everything was going to be okay, it was going to work out, she could do this. The doors opened and she took in the scene before her, as the giant glass wall with big glass doors gave a view of her new office. According to the email she received, she was to make her way to Aaron’s office. The main question is, where was that? Jules only made it a few feet from the elevator before she ran into JJ, a member of her new team that she recognized purely based off Aaron’s descriptions of them to her when they had discussed her joining.
“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you but do you know where Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner’s office is?” Julianna asked JJ
“Oh you must be Julianna Slater. I’m Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me JJ. I’m the media liaison for Hotch’s team.” JJ introduced herself, she was wearing a light blue blouse and a long black pencil skirt.
“Sorry I should have introduced myself but yes I am Julianna Slater, you can call me Jules if you’d like though. It’s nice to meet you”
“Oh wait you asked about Hotch’s office, let me introduce you to the team and then I’ll send you his way. Welcome to the BAU by the way.” JJ spoke as she walked Jules over to where most of the team were at their desks.
“Thank you”
“Guys” JJ announced, grabbing the group's attention, “This is the new agent, Julianna Slater. Jules this is Derek Morgan-” JJ paused as Derek put his hang out to shake “Emily Prentiss” Emily repeated a similar action to Derek before JJ continued “and Doctor Spencer Reid” Spencer lifted his hand up to wave as JJ finished.
Aaron had told her about the team, basic things like Spencer doesn’t shake hands or if she hears Penelope and Derek flirting to not question it, that’s just how they were. She didn’t take Spencer’s lack of hand shaking bad, just giving a small wave back in acknowledgement.
“It’s nice to meet you all, You can call me Jules if you’d like, I know Julianna is a mouthful”
“Hotch’s office is right up the stairs, the room with the blinds closed at the top is his” JJ told her
“I should probably go meet with him now, it was nice to meet you all. I’ll see you in a little bit” Jules announced to make a pleasant departure before she went to meet with Aaron
At least meeting most of the team went well, she still had to be ‘officially’ introduced to Dave and she had yet to meet Penelope, the one person she was most excited to meet. Aaron had said Penelope is a sweetheart, very easy going and as soon as she warmed up to you she was quick to take you in as family. A quality Jules adored. It was only about 30 seconds before she had been left to face Aaron’s door, she knocked and waited for his invitation before she came into the room.
“Close the door behind you” Aaron said as she walked in, Dave was also in the office which she wasn’t expecting but it didn’t bother her.
“Hey” She said as she closed the door, making sure to hear it click before going over to hug Dave
“Hi Bambino (child)” Dave said as he reciprocated her hug
“How have you been?” She questioned the older man
“Eh” He said as he waved his hand in a so-so motion, “You ready?”
“I hope so”
“I know I’ve told you already, but I want to reiterate, the team does not know about our relation towards each other. I know you want to keep it that way, so make sure you do not call me Aaron or Rossi Dave” Aaron reminded her
“I know don’t worry, make sure you don’t get too big brothery then” She retorted, her tone mostly joking but he knew she didn’t mean it in a bad way
“I know” Aaron said in response
“I should probably leave before the others get suspicious. I will see you both in a bit” Dave spoke before leaving the room, knowing the group downstairs was definitely going to start having questions if he stayed any longer.
“You packed a go bag right?” Aaron questioned her
“Yes Hotch” She said, emphasising the second part to prove a point
“Good, we more than likely will be leaving for a case in the next couple hours. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the team. One of them will be able to show you which desk is yours when you go back down”
“This is really it?”
“This is really it. You put in the work, now it’s time to show it on the field”
“I should probably get back to the rest of them. What should I tell them we were talking about if they ask?”
“Just say I was having you sign some last minute paperwork, I will see you soon”
“Alright, see you soon” Jules replied as she made her way out the office and back to the group who had clearly just been watching the door but made themselves look busy when she opened it.
She knew they were curious, Aaron had warned her about that. She knew that they were close knit so newcomers took a bit to be properly welcomed, hell Dave was only just reaching that point with them and he has been with them for two months. That was her main concern once she found out she would be joining Aaron’s team, well besides the obvious fact that she also didn’t want them thinking she was added due to nepotism or something. Joining groups that are that close were difficult, you have to take extra precautions to not accidentally overstep or bother the wrong person because the odds of redemption reduced to a number she didn’t want to think of.
“I was wondering if one of you could show me to my desk, if you’re not too busy that is” Jules requested, not trying to let them know she knew
“Yeah of course, your desk is actually next to Reid’s and across from mine” Emily says as she points to the empty desk across from her
“Oh cool, thank you”
“Yeah of course, did everything go well with Hotch?” Emily questions
“Yeah, I was just signing some paperwork that the agency forgot to give me. What do you guys typically do between cases?” Jules asked the other three as she sat down, all three of her coworkers attention on her
“Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. Sometimes we get to consult on cases but a lot of it is just paperwork from cases we’ve already done” Derek answers
“Oh the joys of legality” Jules joked
“It’s a delight. So newbie, what made you want to join the BAU?” Derek questioned her
“Well I have a masters in psychology and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to help people. A friend actually mentioned the BAU and the more I looked into it, the more it felt right” Jules answered mostly truthful, she couldn’t disclose the friend was in fact their Unit Chief
“I’m surprised, the BAU isn’t a super well known branch of the FBI” Emily mentioned
“Yeah, I couldn’t tell you where they heard about it but here I am”
“Where are you from?” Spencer asked, he had been pretty quiet the entire time which from what Jules knew was very unusual
“I grew up in Jersey, central to be specific. Hence the slight accent”
“I’ve never been but the amount of history up there is fascinating, did you know Napoleon's brother actually used to live in New Jersey. It’s rumored that he shot the Jersey Devil with a shotgun” Spencer reiterated the fact like he had been waiting for someone to give him a reason to share
“I didn’t, but that is really interesting. I actually used to drive through the Pine Barrens all the time to go to the beach when I was younger, but I never got lucky enough to see anything Jersey Devil related”
“Isn’t the Jersey Devil the cryptid that has like dragon wings or something but a mule face”
“Yeah something like that, what I can confidently tell you is that even if he isn’t real, that state has me wholehearted believing in the existence of ghosts”
“You think ghosts are real?” Derek asked with major skepticism in his voice
“Listen, when a place is that old, has that many battlegrounds, and was one of the starting places of the country, you can’t convince me they aren’t. The amount of times growing up where I saw weird unexplainable electrical shit occur or saw figures out the corner of my eyes has me a permanent believer” Jules explained, her arms flailing around as she spoke, the passion in her voice making it very clear she would not change her mind
“Eh, I don’t know. Reid, you got any stats to back her up?” Derek asked the man, who was deep in thought
“Due to the nature of ghost investigation clips, its hard to say clearly in either direction. Technology is progressing a lot which makes it hard to not consider tampered evidence but at the same time the belief in ghosts has been considered for thousands of years, before technology was so present” Reid stated
“If we ever get a case in Jersey and we have free time, I will be taking you to a haunted location Derek, you will believe. I’ll even make it a team activity if that makes you feel better” Jules said with determination, if she has to make him see it to believe it she will if its the last thing she does
“Game on, if we don’t get any concrete proof you have to admit ghosts aren’t real” Derek said
“Bet” Jules said
“Oh no, you made fatal mistake number one” Emily said
“Which is?”
“You made a bet with Derek Morgan” Emily said
“I will prove you all wrong, mark my words” Jules said even more determined
“For your sake, I hope you do. If not, Derek will never let you live it down” Emily said
The conversation ended there as it wasn’t long before JJ was calling them all into the conference room. They had a case in Los Angeles, California. Seven victims in a two week span, all killed with a bladed weapon, most with limbs separated from the body. The team had been told to gear up, they were going to be leaving later that night to be ready in LA by morning. The pictures of the victims were very gruesome and gory. Jules had never been so glad to forget to eat breakfast, not that she had a weak stomach but the pictures were a lot. She had finally gotten to meet Penelope though. Granted there wasn’t much time to talk, she was excited to meet the infamous girl. Someone who dresses so fun and out there was someone who was openly themselves and she truly appreciated that. Jules knew Garcia had just come back from work after being shot, which, how do you hurt that precious of a person Jules never knew but she was truly looking forward to getting to know her once she was doing a bit better.
Julianna had left her go bag in her car, an old but reliable Toyota Highlander. With how little she drove, that car would probably outlive her. While essentially stalling to meet with everyone on the tarmac as she was incredibly early she took the time to call Haley while sitting in her car.
“Hey, how are you holding up?” Jules asked, knowing what was going on between Haley and Aaron
“I’ve been worse, but Jack is keeping me going. I don’t know how I am going to do this by myself” Haley admitted to the girl
“You aren’t by yourself, you have me and even though this is all happening you still have Aaron, even if it takes a bit to find a new normal”
“I know, but this is terrifying. I mean I never thought it’d come to this point”
“I know, but things change and life moves forward. Everything will work out I promise. Just because this is happening, doesn’t mean you can have love for him. Sometimes that love just changes how it's shown but it all takes time. Don’t be afraid to have your parents baby sit and do a self care night. You deserve to be happy too”
“I will, but right now a certain toddler wants to talk to Juju”
“Juju?”
“Hey flapjack, how are you?”
“I’m playing with my truck!”
“That’s good, hey do you remember what I said about getting to work with your daddy?”
“Yeah”
“Well, me and daddy are going to be going to work soon. But as soon as we are home I will make sure I stop by, maybe we can even convince Mommy to make cookies with us. Does that sound ok?”
“COOKIESSSSS” Jack yelled, and by the fading out she can tell he had run away at the mention of them. Well at least she tried
“What about cookies?” Haley asked her
“I was telling him we were getting sent on a case but when I come back maybe the three of us can make cookies together? Like old times?”
“That sounds great, but now I need to go grab him before he tries to find cookies. I’ll talk to you later Jules, stay safe and I love you”
“I will try, I love you too” Jules said before the phone went quiet
This was going to be her first time properly away from the duo since Jack had been born. She tries to come by at least a couple times a week to see them but now that is going to change. Jules prayed Jack would be alright, he was a kid. They can adjust, she hopes. Well she knew but it was hard. She eventually grabbed the energy to leave her car and get to the tarmac. It was about 7pm but it was pitch black outside due to it being the middle of November. As Jules left her car, she was scared by Aaron who had just gotten out of his but she hadn’t paid attention to notice him even pulling in.
“The tarmac is over this way, we will be departing in 20 minutes. Everyone else should be here soon” Aaron told her as he led her the right way
“I might have promised to make cookies with Jack when we get back”
“Oh I know he’s excited about that”
“I don’t think he even heard what I said, cause all I heard was him yell cookies before completely leaving me in the dust”
“Sounds about right, how are you feeling about the case”
“A little nervous, but overall alright. I mean a less bloody case probably would have been appreciated but this is my job so its not unexpected”
“Hopefully this won’t be a rough one, the team has had a lot happen recently”
“We will end this, and then I want cookies and hot chocolate because this weather sucks”
“You can say that again” Derek said as he approached the two
“If it’s gonna be this cold, I’d at least appreciate snow. Then it’d look nice”
“You lost me, snow means shoveling my driveway”
“Okay but snow also means it looks pretty”
“Ignore him, he wants a tropical vacation” Reid said as walked up with JJ
“Kid come on, you can’t convince me that a tropical paradise isn’t better than snow” Derek directed towards Reid
“I mean, it's way easier to add layers to warm up compared to trying to cool your body down when you’re too hot” Jules preposed
“He just wants an excuse to see girls in bathing suits” Emily said giving Derek shit as she joined the group, Dave had joined at some point but sat watching the interactions amused
“The plane is ready for us, lets go” Aaron cut into the riveting conversation
The team began boarding the plane, Jules followed behind JJ. By the time they would get to LA it would be too late to start working so they would be in a hotel for the night which would suck but it would at least give time to breathe before they truly went head first into the case. From the lack of details, it was bound to be a rough one. They had already reviewed the case earlier and they would go over it again in the morning after visiting the crime scenes but until then they had about 16 hours. Julianna sat in one of the solo seats in the plane, trying to grab a baring on what her life had become. She’d never left the east coast before so she was very excited to head out west even if the circumstances were not the best. One day she’d have to plan a vacation or something out there. She was worried about Aaron, despite the two trying their best Jules knew that things weren’t going well and that they were living separately. It was hard to watch as the two people closest to her who deserved love didn’t get a chance to explore that enough. It was no one’s fault, and that’s what made it more difficult. Haley respected Aaron’s want to make the world safer and she loved the ambition he had to put these people away behind bars but she hated that it came at the cost of not getting to see him. Aaron enjoyed doing the work he did but it killed him to not see Jack and Haley more often than he got the chance. There was no hate, maybe a slight resentment for the job but the two still loved each other. That’s the problem with relationships, love wasn’t always enough. Between the commitment, time, energy, and all the work it took to keep a relationship functional, love came way further down on the list than most people wanted to acknowledge. Julianna was watching their love change as it went from romantic to platonic. The two held a common ground of forever caring but left room for change in relationships. Something that’d take all of them time to get used to.
The plane began descending as they reached arguably one of the worst airports, LAX. It was about 9pm local time which meant it was midnight back home. Everyone was tired and ready to call it a night to start fresh in the morning. They were met with cars at the tarmac, two big SUV’s which split the team in half. Derek driving Spencer, JJ, and Emily in one vehicle and Aaron driving Dave and Jules in another. She felt bad for Derek and Aaron but not enough to offer to drive. She just hoped traffic wouldn’t be that bad and they’d get to the hotel soon as she had to put in a lot of effort to not sleep on the plane. Jules knew the other car was probably confused about the split of cars but it could all be chalked up to the Unit Chief wanting to keep an eye on her so she tried not to think about it too much.
“How long is the drive” Jules asked from the backseat as both cars got ready to leave the airport
“About 45 minutes, might be a bit less if we are lucky” Aaron answered from the front seat
“People enjoy doing that? If it took me 45 minutes to go 15 miles, I think i’d go insane” Jules said
“That’s the city life my dear, you get used to it” Dave answers her
“Oh I forgot you’re ‘Mr. I wrote a famous book and toured the country multiple times’” Jules said sarcastically
“Ouch” Dave joking clutched his hand to his chest, knowing the girl was just kidding around
“You know you can sleep in the backseat, correct?” Aaron asked her
“If I do that, that means one of you need to wake me up and I don’t trust half awake me to not do something stupid, also I won’t be able to fall asleep tonight if I sleep now” She replied honestly
“When do you plan on telling them? I know if we wait too long some of them won’t be too thrilled” Aaron questioned her
“In a few months? I haven’t thought that far ahead, I just want to be accepted before I do it. I worked too hard for this, you know?”
“We know Bambina, but they won’t be like that”
“I also need to prove I can handle this, I know the BAU retention rate is low and I don’t want to add to that”
“You don’t need to prove anything. You can do this job, do not doubt yourself or it will eat you alive” Aaron said in a serious tone, agents who felt they had to prove themselves lasted a lot shorter term then those who just did what they knew they needed and he didn’t want Jules to fall into that.
“Okay” was all Jules could really get herself to say, she knew what he meant but it was still hard to get out of that mindset
Dave and Aaron spoke in the front seat while Jules sat in the back just watching buildings pass, really fucking slowly if she was being honest. Her concerns with meeting the team had eased a bit but she was still nervous about how she’d fit in. Growing up she struggled to fit into places, she was always too much, too overwhelming, or they just didn’t view her as a person but someone they could use. It wasn’t until she got into college she found out she had ADD, a diagnosis that changed how she viewed her life previously. It gave reasoning to who she was and why she was the way she was. Yes, she grew more comfortable with herself as she got older but inside there was a scared little kid who felt they never belonged and if that happened on this team she wasn’t sure she could handle it. They seemed welcoming enough already but what if it was only temporary? What if they decided she wasn’t working out? What if she didn’t fit in? What if they secretly hated her? Jules worked on her anxiety over the years but it still leached onto her like a shadow, there was no true escape from it.
After a long drive, the hotel finally appeared before them. JJ and Aaron were at the attendant’s desk getting their room keys as the rest of the group looked ready to drop dead. No one was talking but they all did sit near each other, the music in the lobby filling the silence. Thankfully due to how late at night it was, it only took about five minutes for check in and it wasn’t long before the two came over to the rest of the group.
“Here are your room keys,” Aaron said as he passed them out “We are all on the third floor, the key will have your room number. Be ready to regroup at 7:30 tomorrow”
“Everyone has their own room?” Jules’ asked
“Yes, when we have the ability to we try to get everyone their own” JJ responded
“I cannot wait to go to bed” Derek spoke up
They all made their way to the elevators, everyone carrying small duffel bags or carry-on sized suitcases. They didn’t typically bring more than a week of clothes on cases, if they needed more that’s what washing machines were for. As they approached the floor, everyone began to break off towards their rooms. Aaron had put her room between his and Dave’s while everyone else was scattered nearby. There was little Jules wanted more than to go lay in bed but the room still had to be inspected for bed bugs, there was no way in hell she was testing her luck. It was in this moment that she realized she forgot how to check for bedbugs, fuck. She took her phone out to call Aaron.
“Agent Hotchner speaking”
“Aaron, how do you check for bed bugs?”
“I’ll be there in a minute, be ready to open your door” Was all the man said before hanging up
It was only about 30 seconds before she heard a quiet knock on her door. She looked through the peep hole and there stood Aaron. Jules opened the door to let him in while he quickly made his way through the threshold before any of their teammates could see him.
“I’m sorry”
“It’s fine. To check you need to lift the corners of the bed and pull the sheets out. You need to check under the mattress and by the headboard as well” He explained as he did the actions
“Is there anything else I need to check?”
“Not really, you just need to check around the base of the bed” Aaron’s tired expression wore prevalent on his face
“Thank you”
“You’re welcome, do you need anything else?”
“That was all, thank you” Jules said before going to hug the man “I love you, goodnight”
“Love you too, goodnight” Aaron returned her hug before getting ready to leave
He made his way back to his room, while Jules put the deadbolt in place after he left. She was exhausted and ready to drop. She hazily made her way out of her work clothes and into her pajamas before doing a very minimal nighttime routine. Bleary eyed and ready to sleep she went to her bed and called it a night, setting an alarm for 6:45 the next morning and plugging her phone in she went to sleep.