*Trigger warning*
Chapter One: Tell Me a Bedtime Story

[Gives you hell ~All American Rejects ]

The problem with being a probationary Agent is that not a lot of people care about what you have to say. They certainly don't want to hear your opinions on things and they are mostly higher ranking than you are. The thing about Anya was she didn't care about rank or status. If she felt like she had to say it then she did and she didn't care whose toes she had to step on to say or do whatever it was she was doing. In this case, she was working yet another case with the Behavioral analyst unit, and once again She and Aaron Hotchner were butting heads.

Ever since she started working with this group nine month ago they have always hated each other. At first, she thought it was because she was always a happy person. She never showed any other emotion when it came to the pictures and images, she would mostly frown but few things grossed her out and dead bodies, while they were sad and terrible, didn't gross her out. Recently she found that anything with squishy textures grossed her out.  Normally she would be arguing with Aaron but due to the issues of their last case he wasn't exactly here now and Gideon was nowhere to be found which bothered her cause he was usually the one in charge and was also nice to her. He didn't treat her like a probie who didn't know what she was doing.

Being a probie meant she had to wait an entire year before she would be official so for now, she would join them with cases without a gun. She didn't have a badge either, she mostly just showed her credentials and that would get her into places. She had four more months before she would be an official member of the team and that decision would be based solely on the work she did over the past few months and solely by the man she despised with every ounce of her being.

Anya was walking into the round table room. Her hair was down her back a cute, t shirt tucked into her dark pants and combat boots to match. Her signature locket hanging from her neck. She was sporting some rather new bangs today they weren't real, but no one needed to know that. Figuring she would change them in a week. The sleeves of her shirt were rolled up and sat perfectly on her arms.

Derek walks in his feet sliding against the floor. His signature coffee mug was in his hand. He looks left then right. "What, no Hotch, Now No Gideon?"

"No, not yet."

"These guys have been out two weeks. You'd think the least they could do is be on time." Derek takes his seat in the chair.

"Yeah, cause you're never late." Spencer sasses as Anya chokes on her coffee trying not to spit it out everywhere, the other two agents just send him a look before Derek opens his files and then closes it.

"So, where's Prentiss?"

JJ shrugs. "Her phone keeps going straight to voicemail."

"Well, this room just keeps getting smaller and smaller, doesn't it?"

"What the hell Am I? Chopped Liver?" Anya asks leaning back in her chair.

"Oh please Doll face don't even go there." Anya smirks the one of many Nicknames that Derek gave her.

When she first arrived, she was a bundle of nerves and anxiety, Derek called her princess told her to relax and loosen up her body. They became best friends immediately then there was Emily she was bubbly flirtatious, sarcastic and hot she reminded her of her ex in a few ways, she made her drool sometimes on looks alone. But when the raven-haired woman spoke well lets just say she was a puddle, then Garcia, who was in other others a woodland pixie, she was truly the embodiment of what god would be if he was a woman. She was also stunning beyond belief as well, and speaking of Blondes JJ takes the cake, she is subtle, like a cat or a librarian she looked put together and professional but definitely is a force and well sexy in a way outside of work. Gideon was like the dad of the group always trying to push everyone to their limits, trying to get them to think outside of the box use their brains for good not evil, coaching you when you did wrong.

Anya loved everyone on her team, with the exception of their boss Aaron Hotchner. That man pissed her off to no end. Emily said she is feeling the tension. Maybe it was because they were the newbies or maybe just maybe he didnt like women, which couldn't be the case because he was nice to JJ and Garcia. So, what was the problem with Anya, why did she make his skin crawl.

Sure, he was in charge, but he only acted that way when Anya spoke, and it quite possibly didn't help that Anya didn't care for authority that she was going to say what was in her head with whoever was around. Sometimes yes there is a time and a place but for her anything she thought would sometimes get blurted out for the mere fact that her brain didn't work quickly with her body enough during that time to tell her to shut the fuck up. The point of the matter being Aaron and Anya hated each other and it's like the more they saw each other the more the hate grew stronger. They decided to just go over the case figuring they would debrief the others on the plane it was the same old thing four murders over the past three weeks, all women in their thirties, all married with kids, and all abducted around the same area in Milwaukee.

Derek asks the usual question. "How do we even know it's the same killer?"

Of course Jj drops the bomb of knowledge on his ass and they all head for the town know for Harley Davidsons, beer, and oh yeah Jeffery Dahmer. Which would be so exciting without the whole serial killer thing going on, but you know to each their own. Jj also mentioned how the unsub was literally stealing their victims Hearts cause that's fun and all.

George Washington said, "let your heart feel for the affliction and distress of everyone."

All of Anya's joy about Aaron not Joining them on the case was ruined by the presence of Strauss. Who by the way, was a massive thorn in her side. To be quiet fair, they butted heads a lot as well, it wasn't just because of her issues with authority it was because Strauss, wanted her added due to her political connections. She felt she could easily get into everyone's head and find out a way to bring down the entirety of the whole BAU and Anya didn't like it. It being the idea that she was someone's pawn in their game. To her life was about the choices you made, and how you treated people. Not how much money you have and how good you are at convincing people to do things for you. Which was basically what politics being money and power.

Two things that's Anya didn't ever want. She was a simple woman. She didn't care about Money or status, she cared about genuine people, with hearts and emotions and that was something you didn't see much of rarely. Being a woman in this profession was tough but being a woman of color well it was like playing a game of street fighter with a blindfold and a shoe string which was almost damn near impossible and yet she was succeeding at least for right now.

Anya joined the marines fresh out of high school which is how she was able to get into college, otherwise her family wouldn't've been able to afford it, not like her family cared, her dad was a drug addict, he did just about any drug, was usually half alive on their living room couch ninety percent of the time, which meant she was in charge of her nephew Wyatt, her sister Jessica died during one of her tours overseas. Wyatt's dad wasn't in the picture, and the only next of kin was her and her dad, but Anya knew her life wasn't stable enough to bring a kid into it, her dad was concussion a few times a week enough to make sure there was food in the house, Anya made sure the rent was paid and the lights stayed on. And even paid for Wyatt to have a babysitter and a tutor. All from a distance of course, the problem with having an addict as a parent is they blamed everyone in their life for  their addiction, and her dad blamed Anya for everything. The death of their mom, Jessica dying, having to take in Wyatt.

Anya blamed herself for all of it too, even though it was physically impossible for any of it to be her fault she still felt like it was, and now she was basically losing her shit in her own comfort. Yes, she was comfortable with her colleagues, and they talked like they had been friends for years but her problems well were just that Her problems and at her job no one knew of Wyatt or her sister or her dad, and she was willing to keep that a secret until the day she died. Because well she didn't need them thinking she couldn't handle this job. She needed this job, if not for herself then for Wyatt.

The jet ride was unnerving with still no sign of Emily and now Strauss everything seemed like complete and utter shit. And yet this was only the beginning.

"You know, from this angle, she almost looks human." JJ was watching Strauss as Anya just looks up from her file, her brown eyes peaking from under her bangs.

"Has anyone talked to Emily yet?"

JJ shakes her head. "She was gone before I heard the news."

"Now we're down two agents and Gideon's M. I. A." Derek was practically looking murderous towards Strauss Anya places a hand on his thigh trying to make light of the situation. He just picks it up and gives it a light squeeze as the woman in question walks over.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's protocol to brief everyone before we arrive at the crime scene."

"Yes, ma'am." Jj nods. Before leaning forward on the small table with her elbows.  "This unsub is abducting women from very public places, with no witnesses. He holds them 48 hours, with no sexual assault, and then he dumps their bodies with their hearts carved out of their chests."

Derek slaps a crime scene photo down in front of Strauss who picks it up placing a hand over her mouth to show how grossed out she looked,

"There's an obvious dichotomy in the skill the unsub exhibits in abducting these women and the fact that he cuts their hearts out so crudely."

Derek keeps his eyes trained on Strauss "We're probably looking at someone in a psychotic break. Could be a butcher. Might be a hunter. Somebody who's very comfortable being around blood, but as you can see, he obviously doesn't have the skills of a surgeon."

Strauss tosses the photo onto the table. "So do we have a working theory?"

Derek chuckles quietly. Tossing the file onto the table, "Sure we do. Somebody really doesn't like women." and with that he gets up and leaves heading over to the coffee cart.

Their first stop was the most recent Crime scene Derek was being his usual gentlemen like self he held up the crime scene tape for each woman even Strauss, which everyone could tell he didn't like her. Yet he wasn't a shitty person and everyone knew that, they asked their usual questions introduced themselves firstly and then they went down to where the body was and peeked around. Vic Wolynski was the Milwaukee detective on the scene. And after a few more bouncing of questions and theorizing before Strauss just had to open her mouth.

She tells the detective how they should've called in the team sooner how they didn't have a handle on things and for a split second Anya feels the urge to punt the older woman as far as she would go, hopefully to hell but most likely a few feet away which wouldn't solve anything and would most likely ruin her new boots and she didn't need that stress in her life right now.

Morgan comes back from a phone call with Hotch where he explains how Milwaukee schools start at 8:10 and they get out at 3:10. He continues to say that Every abduction has taken place within fifteen minutes of school getting out. And each body was dumped within fifteen minutes of the first bell. How they could easily be looking at somebody who works in the school system.

Claire Thompson. Meaning bright, famous, this woman was quiet famous at least as of an hour ago, she was meant to be home and her husband called her on her cellphone only she didn't pick up, he then decided to go find her at the store she was supposed to be at well you get the picture, for those who don't, Claire was now the newest victim and they only had four eight hours to find her before it was too late, and yet something in Anya felt like this case was going to be the hardest one they had done, and not because of the crime but because of the number of people they had working it. This was barely a team, Reid was being held together by coffee and the shirt on his back, and Derek was like a light fuse but only when Strauss spoke or breathed or did anything Strauss like. Anya was just praying that she could charm Derek for the entire time they were working this case, just so he didn't murder Strauss when she went to sleep on the jet. Garcia had located Claire on the department store footage, and they watched as a young boy approaches her. She takes his hand he seems lost. And they are out of frame from any other cameras.

"I'll get a list of missing kids, see if we can make out a resemblance to any of them." Vic explains as the group either nods or mumbles a quick Okay.

Derek's eyes were glued to the screen. "Oh, damn."

"What?"

He wets his lips standing up from his crotched position. "Something Hotch said. All the abductions and disposals have been timed around school. He thought the unsub might work in the system."

Anya nods. "Well, if that's the case then, What if this guy's actually using his own son to lure his victims?"

"Look at you becoming more and more of a profiler by each day."

Anya leans in close with a crooked smirk. "It's basically in my blood at this point." Derek just chuckles for the first time in since they landed and they proceed to talk more before deciding to give the profile. They actually let Anya do some presenting of some of the profile which was new she never really did anything when it came to that portion. She was starting to like the idea of her being able to do this more often.

Meanwhile all the way in Virginia. Something must've been in the air because before she could impose there was knock at Emily's door and when she peeked through the hole, she saw someone she never thought she'd see ever at her door. It was Hotch truthfully; she could pretend she wasn't home but from how loudly the music was playing it wouldn't work.

"Can I come in?"  she just steps to the side letting him in. he enters the apartment and for a second she curses. But he looks around inspecting the place it was quite lovely very nice. "The team needs us. They're working on a case in Milwaukee. Gideon hasn't shown up, and don't tell me you quit or I put in for a transfer."

She raises her brows at the sudden news. "You put in for a transfer?"

"They're both still hung up in the system, so technically we're in dereliction of duty by not being there."

She places her hands firmly on her hips stepping in front of the man. "I'm sorry, I can't go."

"Right. Sorry I barged in." He turns to leave and for a second, she is curious.

"Wait. Wait. Can I ask-- why are you here?"

"I told you." He sticks his hands in his pocket and she gives him her famous brow arch. " I think Strauss came to you and asked for dirt on me."

"Why would she do that?"

Hotch just stares at her. "I think if you have your eyes on top leadership at the fbi, you want to know who might stand in your way."

"And... what could I have told her?"

"That one of my agents might have murder a suspect in cold blood. Or another might have a serious drug problem which I didn't report, and if Strauss had any evidence, my career would be over. I think she put you on our team and expected something in return. And to your credit, you quit. Rather than whisper in her ear." Hotch finishes as Emily sighs.

"I told you. I hate politics."

"Come to Milwaukee." Emily shakes her head hesitant. "I'll make you a deal. If your ready bag isn't here, packed, I won't bug you anymore. If it is, I want you on that plane with me. One more case."

"I already turned in my badge and my gun."

"That's just hardware." Hotch shrugs as Emily sighs. She was caving ang rather quickly at that.

"For the record Strauss also asked Anya to spy as well." they just stared at Each other. "She declined told Strauss that if she wanted a pawn, she would have to do it herself, she never told anyone about it just me and she told me to never tell anyone either."

"And yet."

Emily just goes upstairs to get her ready bag and Hotch just thinks about Anya, he seriously thought that she was actually spying and the fact that she wasn't made everything seem so different. He looked at her differently. Not with so much hatred.

It had been almost way too much time since Claire had gone missing and they were just standing there trying to figure it all out, trying to narrow the unsub's location down.

"I have triple patrol in the area, and I've got every available unit recanvassing." Vic explains Morgan just rubs his temples he was tired.

"It's tough knowing they're out there and we're still a step behind."

"You know, it used to be a running joke that if you told people, you were from Milwaukee, all they wanted to talk about was happy days reruns. And then Dahmer happens, and they ask you about it as if it's the same thing. As if it's entertainment. But I was in that apartment."

"Gideon, one of our bosses, says that there are things that attach to you that... You can never wash off."

"All right it, t-- is it possible we're looking at this the wrong way?" Anya leans forward planting both elbows firmly on the table. A pen stuck behind her ear. She did that, got lost in thought so hard she would be littered with pens, after a long case she would empty her pockets and almost always find a million pens, forgetting a few in her bun or behind her ear.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're trying to zero in on the unsub. Now, you guys tell me, but... If he really is using his son, wouldn't the trauma manifest more clearly on the boy?" Anya explains as the profilers in the room all nod in agreement she was getting the hang of this rather quickly.

"Can your analyst get a list of all the children in the area that we're targeting?"

Derek leans forward in the chair. "Garcia can get you whatever you want." she dials Garcia's number and of course the blonde answers with her usual sexual innuendo.

"Talk dirty to me."

Jj is practically biting back a laugh along with Anya who is covering her face with a notepad from the table.

"This is Section Chief Erin Strauss."

"Ma'am, I think it goes without saying that I was expecting it to be someone else."

Strauss just rolls her eyes not caring about anything Garcia had to say. "I need a list of every grade school in the third ward and Wauwatosa."

"Yes, ma'am. The third ward has one public grade school, but there appears to be 4 private schools that draw from that area."

"And Wauwatosa?"  Strauss asks.

"That would be 9, ma'am."

"And how many students?"

"3200"

"Can you also get me a list of every guidance counselor that deals directly with the student body in that area?"

"Certainly, ma'am. And again, I'd like to a..." Strauss just hangs up the phone as Anya wants to so desperately throttle the living shit out the woman.

"You need to present these counselors with a profile of a troubled kid." she grabs her coffee cup and leaves. Derek leans forward eyes angrily glaring at the spot where Strauss Sat,

"You know even if you had super lasers coming from your eyes I don't think that would stop her from being a major bitch." Anya murmurs as Jj chuckles and Reid smirks, Derek just looks at her and she gives him a giant grin from ear to ear like a child which causes him to smile.

They scour every counselling office of every school in the areas closes to the murders. Of course, they just sent the agents back to the precinct with a stack of files there was several kids who fit the description and yet they weren't any closer to finding Claire.

"All right, the boy doesn't look like he could be any older than 7. Let's work youngest to oldest.

Start with the worst behavior. Get the names of the parents, send them over to garcia. She can cross-check for criminal records." Derek puts the files on the table before looking at his watch. "This guy's dumping bodies between 7:30 and 8:00. That gives us... A little over 12 hours to make something hit.  Let's get it done."

Anya nods, her hair was in a bun now her bangs were fanned out perfectly across her forehead. She had a pen in between her lips and one behind her ear. She looked like a crazy pen lady, a few pens were securing her bun in place she goes to reach for a file when Reid's voice breaks her focus.

"Look who's here." They all look seeing Hotch and Emily at the door.

"Hey. Where do we start?"

Anya smiles at Emily. "For a second I thought you were leaving me here with these two forever." Emily laughs as Reid scoffs. "Sorry Spence she's prettier to look at it,"

"How fast can you get us up to speed?"

"How fast can you sit down?" JJ asks as for a second everything seemed okay just for a split second because before anyone could enjoy their reunion Corella herself enters the room. Wearing her very permanent scowl which didn't help with her wrinkles at all. 

"We're only here to help."

"We'll deal with this later." Strauss just takes a seat, and they all were scouring through the files. It has been eleven hours and Anya needed to shut her eyes do the fact she hadn't blinked in so long. They were too late Claire's body was discovered a few hours later and Anya was officially annoyed. They all arrived on the scene and Hotch and Strauss head down first it was a weird place, behind a few trees and a broken fence it was also at a slant.

Strauss trips and almost falls on Claire's body. Hotch assists her telling her to take a second away from the public but that this was the reality of the situation.

"This is a different area from the other dump sites, isn't it?" Emily starts off Anya tries to get closer to look and Derek grabs her hand guiding her down the slanted pavement a bit.

"He's getting smart. He knows where all of our manpower will be so he's changing locations."

"How long before he changes when and where he abducts them?" Derek asks as they all just look at the body.

"He does that, we're back at zero."

"Claire?" They look to see her husband approaching the scene.

"No, no, no, no. We got to keep him out of here." Morgan, Jj and Emily all go talk with the husband while Anya, Hotch and Reid are left with Claire.

"Morgan says you're worried about Gideon."

"I keep on calling him, he doesn't call back." Reid seems saddened embarrassed almost and Anya gives his shoulder a squeeze, He gives her a lip shrug and Hotch takes note, Noticing how loving she was with everyone, see before, he didn't pay attention to how she interacted with the team only how will she profiled, and now after what Emily said he saw her differently.

"He's probably at his cabin. That's where he goes when he... Needs to get away. Reid, I need your head in this."

Reid stands up and nods. "I know."

Its back the drawing board, back to trying to figure out how they can find this unsub. Anya is sitting in her chair, she hasn't showered in two days and her bangs were still looking pretty damn great. She was listening while thinking or in the words of her former friend. Active listening.

"So we go back to the schools, we eliminate the third ward, and we target problem kids whose fathers have held blue-collar jobs over the last 10 years." Hotch was of course being the leader he was and that lightbulb in Anya's pretty little head went off.

"What if he's not a problem kid?"

"What?" Hotch snaps his head in her direction, and she just looks down going back to tracing circles in her palms.

"Forget it. It's off the textbook profile."

"What is it, Holmes?" Anya sat up straighter this was first time he was asking her to speak.

"Sometimes when a parent is unstable, especially if the other one's out of the picture, you'll do anything to be the perfect child."

"Like help your father abduct women?" Emily furrows her brows she seems taken aback but she isn't shooting it down either.

"They're never late for school. Even with the abductions, the disposal of the bodies, it's always timed perfectly so the kid will be on time to school. I don't think the killer would care. I think the kid would." Anya continues and everyone in the room just looks around at each other, she was making sense, and she was definitely meant to do this. Hotch just fishes his phone out of his pocket leaving while Anya looks around at everyone. "Did I fuck it up?"

"Not even in the slightest Cupcake."

David Smith was the kids name, and his father was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. His wife left him after she found out. When they went to look for him at the school, they found out that the nurse took him early to help his father. They get his address and look around the house seeing the boy was inside watching tv.

"The boy's alone in the family room." Hotch explains.

"Where are your other agents?"

"Covering the other side. They have an eye-line just in case somebody tries to sneak out the back." Derek explains.

"Is there any sign of the nurse or the dad?"

"No." Derek answers.

Anya shakes her head she didn't like it one bit.

"So, what are we doing here?" Vic asks.

"We call in S. W. A. T., Secure the perimeter, and wait for him to come out."

Derek kisses his teeth. "Ma'am, he's holding a woman inside."

"We don't know that for certain. We don't have probable cause."

"She's right." Hotch agrees as Anya starts to pace trying to think.

"If he's got her, he waits 48 hours. He's not going to kill her yet."

Derek runs a hand over his head. "He's changed the pattern of the dump sites, and now he's changed how he abducts them. Do we really want to gamble that he's sticking to the rest of the model?"

"So, let's pound on the door. Maybe he'll panic."

"But he could spook just enough to kill her early."

Anya perks up. She walks in between the group. "Let me go in alone. The boy's in the family room. He'll answer the door."

"No."

Anya turns her head to look at Hotch ignoring Strauss. "We need to get invited in that door. He's looking for female authority figures. If he lets me in, I can signal as soon as I see anything that gives us cause.

"Technically, you're not even in the FBI."

Anya shrugs, "All the better." Hotch says,

"She's interfering with a federal investigation."

"Well, if I'm not in the FBI, then you have no authority over me. I'm just a civilian knocking on a little boy's door." Hotch was rummaging through the SUV he took there and Derek had his foot on the car he takes a gun from his ankle holster.

"Holmes." he hands it to her, and she tucks it in the waist band of her pants and behind her shirt.

Hotch hands her a pager "As soon as you have probable cause, give us a signal and get out of there."

"Ok." She starts walking towards the house quietly.

Anya knocks on the door and the little boy answers. "Hi. Are you David?" He nods, "I'm Ana Your dad asked me to come by."

"He's busy."

"Would it be ok if I came in and waited?" She asks David thinks for a moment before shrugging.

"I guess." he steps to the side.

"Thank you."

He locks the door with a key. "My dad says it's unsafe to leave your door unlocked."

"Smart man." Anya looks around the house. "So... Where is your dad?"

"He's working in there." David points to the door straight ahead.

"Is he alone?' David's attention goes back to the Tv. "Would it be ok if I just let him know I was waiting? "She steps in front of his view a bit back towards the door.

"He doesn't like me to go down there when he's working."

"Oh, no, you don't have to. Um, I just going to go and see if he's too busy. And we can both be quiet, ok? Can you be quiet?" He nods and Anya heads through the door she pulls the gun from the waistband of her pants and aims it about as she walks through the door, she sees the nurse tied up and looks around before she finds herself on the ground the unsub takes the gin and David comes down the stairs, Anya is trying to get the blurriness from her vision to subsided. All while David's dad is telling him to take the gun she once had, she just clicks the pager twice as the unsub is dragging her across the floor.

The door is being kicked open and Anya is trying to blink she literally can't see a single thing before long Derek practically throws her away from the unsub all while Hotch is trying to take the gun from the kid. Before long the paramedic is rising her eyes out and she can actually see a lot better. They are dabbing at her head when Aaron walks over.

"How's your head?" He asks.

"I'll live. Is it weird I'm glad to see you back?"

He chuckles a bit amused by her bluntness and maybe it was the blow to the head making her so blunt not that she wasn't Blunt all the time just not towards him and certainly not in a good way. Or maybe it's just the fact that she hated Strauss more than Hotch.

"No not at all."

She nods as he walks away with a slight smirk still on his face.

Anya makes it back home in one piece. She tosses her bag down on the floor before looking at the view of Virginia from her place. It made her long for something, some sense of home and she wanted it so desperately that she could taste it in her mouth. Their team wasn't actually breaking up which was good because if she had to adjust to an entirely new boss she might actually beg on her knees for the current one she had to stay.

She would never do it at least not tell him she did, but Hotch wasn't a bad boss, he was just a grumpy man who really disliked her, and she was perfectly okay with that in fact she would like it if they stuck to hating each other more as long as it meant he was her boss she didn't care. Little did she know that he was looking for same longing too, coming home to a quiet house, kissing his son on the head, all of it seemed so indifferent. His wife had died, and he had this beautiful boy with him and yet something was missing. Or maybe it was someone.

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