｡ ⋆ ⁺ ୧ ₊ ⋆ ❥  ACT  ONE ♟️ ༄ ⋆ ₊⁺ ⋆
⠀࣪₊ ✎ 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 ╱ (  ⠀࣪. ᨳ 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟬𝟲,
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟬𝟭. ◛ ₊﹅ .   )

꒰  › ‧₊˚ꗃ◞ ￤ BRIGHT WHITE LIGHTS SEEMED TO FLICKER FROM ABOVE ▬▬▬▬ It made her eyes water a little and her blinking speed increase, it was far too early for this. Coffee was the only thing on Bea's mind, coffee and bagels ... and what she would be putting on her bagel, and if there were no bagels to be found then she would most likely die. Bea had decided to make the trip upstairs for her daily coffee, for some reason it tasted better than the pot Zahid would make in the lab.

She had yet to actually run into anyone from the team, but they were probably busy with reports or whatever it was they actually did when they weren't working on a case.

It would seem her thoughts might've had some sway with the universe ( maybe she was magic and had yet to discover her powers ). As soon as she turned around she almost did run into someone, the tall lanky doctor himself. "Woah," Steadying the mug in her squeaky clean hands ▬▬▬ making sure not to spill any of the scolding hot liquid inside it, Bea straightened up her posture before looking up towards the doctor ... who had been staring at her wild attempts to save her drink.

"Howdy to you too, Reid." The brunette woman breathed out a quiet laugh, happy not to have ruined the boy's shirt or vest; both of which were colours that screamed 'stain me, please!'.

"Hi." Reid gave her a small, awkward wave, but his voice was almost quiet enough for Bea to miss. She didn't like when he'd get like this. The closest thing she could relate it to was a turtle crawling back into it's shell. ( Something might've been wrong, or maybe she made him uncomfortable for some reason ▬▬▬ and if she had it wasn't her intent at all. )

Furrowing her plucked brows with a slight frown adoring her lips, Bea slightly tilted her head while talking a soft step forward. "Hey," She went to place a hand on his arm but remembered how he was about being touched, slowly she retracted her hand back down to rest against her cup. The brunette tried to make it look like she was fixing her hair instead, but failed miserably and Spencer gave her a look of confusion after he followed her quick glance to his arm. "What's got you all pouty this morning?" A tight smile now sat upon her face, no dimples, no pearly whites, just a straight line that left a person wanting more, because even strangers knew there was so much more to offer.

Reid had failed his evaluation to carry a gun in the field, twice. Even with Hotch's help the boy genius seemed to be quite unsteady with a firearm, most shots falling far from where he intended or just missing completely.

( Though, he didn't exactly want to tell that to Bea. It was embarrassing to say the least, an FBI agent who can't shot a gun? She'd laugh at him for sure. This was someone Reid hoped to get to know better, he didn't want to drive her away with his overall wimpy-ness and lack of coordination. )

( But she wouldn't laugh at his failures ▬▬▬ in fact, she'd probably offer to help him herself. Not many people knew much about Beatrice Winters, perhaps that were for the best. The team didn't need to know about her fascination with dead animals growing up, or her farther teaching her to shoot potato criminals at age seven, they'd probably suggest she drink less caffeine ... or locate some form of psychiatric help. )

Spencer began playing with the cuff on the sleeve of his formal fitted shirt, the one he tucked into his pants and wore underneath a pale grey vest; Pretty Boy was nervous. "Nothing really, I just-" Gulping down his pride, the doctor decided it best to word vomit out his worries, with the help of two fingers crossed behind his back ( figuratively of course ). "I just failed my um- my firearms qualification, that's all." Spencer finally looked up to met her curious eyes and, as he suspected there was a smile on her face. All he had to do now was wait for the ridiculing to begin.

"Oh," Breathing out a thankful sigh Bea pushed forward on the balls of her feet, beginning to walk down the stretch of carpet between desks. "Don't worry, you'll get em' next time." Reid was surprised by the way her smile turned into a cheeky grin and her hand raised to give him a thumbs up, it made him follow quietly after her looking down at his feet to hide his own smile.

The two doctors hadn't made it far before the taller of them decided to ask about something he'd noticed that morning, or rather something he noticed when he walked in and saw the brunette across the office. "Are you alright?" Slightly bent towards her level Reid gave the girl a once over. Anyone could tell the way her clothes were slightly coated with water from the discolouration across each piece, and he just so happened to know it had rained earlier that morning.

"Hmm?" At first she had been confused by what he meant, then she followed his glance down and realised where his finger was pointing towards. "Right! Yeah, yes." A soft chuckle fell from her pale lips, it was enchanting to many men ( and some women ), including the boy genius himself. "As soon as I got out of my car it started pouring down and I didn't have time to go back home to change," Placing her hand back over her mug she'd been taking small sips from, she looked at the doctor beside her while explaining why she looked like a wet dog, and he gave her his undivided attention. "So, I thought air drying would just have to do."

( Said outfit that had been ruined by a small sun-shower consisted of a pair of denim low rise jeans she got on sale two months ago, a navy blue 'Fleetwood Mac' t-shirt with a white long sleeve underneath, both stopping just before they met with her jeans leaving a sliver of skin noticeable, and her favourite pair of Chuck Taylors. )

Being in such a hurry that morning she hadn't had time to properly style her hair, leaving it quite messy, especially after it was covered in rain water. She'd just decided to put half of it up in a small bun and let the rest flow freely.

Above the two on the small balcony like landing, Aaron Hotchner opened his office door to announce the team had a case. "Winters, you'll be joining us," This seemed to be a regular occurrence nowadays, not that anyone minded one bit, getting out into the field was starting to become fun for the Winters woman. "I suggest grabbing whatever you may need now." With that the man gave her an astute nod and walked towards the briefing room, leaving the girl behind to give him a two fingered salute before looking towards the boy besides her.

"You should probably━"

"I should go."

Spencer turned to look down at the girl now stood behind him, noticing she'd barely drank from her mug, the coffee inside had probably gone lukewarm by now. He'd thought about offering to buy her one, but he didn't want it to be perceived in anyway other than friendly, dating was the last thing on his mind after the debacle with JJ.

He placed his hands in his pockets only to take them out again, Spencer didn't know what to do with any part of himself. In some eyes ▬▬▬ for starters the girl stood in front of him, just to name one ▬▬▬ he looked like the embodiment of those inflatable men outside of car dealerships, the ones that moved with the wind and looked as though they were dancing.

The point was, Reid was a shy, rambling mess and had no clue how to talk to girls, including the brunette he was trying to at least be friends with. So, instead of standing in front of her acting like a fool, he did the next best thing.

"Bye." And just like that, he was gone.

Watching as Reid stalked his way towards the round table in a very speedy fashion, Bea slowly let her now raised hand fall to her side. "Bye, Spencer..." She mumbled out slowly, but it sounded closer to disappointed than cheerful, even if it was almost 8 in the morning, the morbid doctor at least tried to be cheerful. It's not like she thought they would be going the same way, but she didn't expect him to basically run away from her either.

Pushing it aside, the brunette made her way towards the elevator and begun her descent back to the lab to grab the small satchel like bag she now kept there for cases, her very own go-bag if you will. As the doors closed and the soft music began to play in the background she felt a mix between calm and closed in, why didn't she just take the stairs? It was going to be a long day, that's for sure.

━━・ ✦ ₊ 🧠 ⊹ ° .  ❫ ━

"So the FBI has never caught a━ what did you call them again?" The team had arrived in Illinois after being called in about multiple shootings that had accrued, however only one person had died from these attacks, which had been quite the relief to some. Elle walked beside her as they made their way down the halls of a general hospital, one of the hospitals higher ups was currently leading them towards a room to meet the surgeon responsible for the victims of the shootings.

Bea hadn't been paying close attention as she and Gideon spoke, she'd been more focused on reading the case file as Elle made sure she didn't walk into anything or anyone. "Long Distance Serial Killers." After learning the term herself earlier that morning, the Greenaway woman found it encouraging to already be able to teach it to someone else, it made her feel all that more like a profiler now. "Right, better know as L.D.S.K," The doctor beside her snapped her fingers together, pointing towards the woman with assertion and an acknowledgment filled nod.

Bea looked up from the files in her hand to the woman on her left, flipping aside some of the hair from her face in the process to see better. "And the FBI has yet to catch one of them using a profile ... that just makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside." Her sarcastic comments made a small chuckle leave Elle's lips, if she were being honest she too hadn't had high hopes going into this, but she had faith in herself and the teams abilities enough to catch the Unsub before the end of the week, hell maybe even the day if they were lucky.

Soon enough they had reached a conference room where two men appeared to be mid arguement, but it came to a stop as soon as they realised they weren't alone. "Good morning, doctors." The woman announced as she lead them into the small room, sheets of paper were spread out across the table along with x-rays against the holo-lite board, Bea assumed they were for one of the victims of the shootings.

"Forgive us, we were just reviewing the cases at hand." The man in the suit excused his earlier shouts for a more calm and professional tone, one that made everyone in the room more comfortable.

"This is Dr. Neil Erstadt, chief of surgery," Gideon shook hands with the man while Elle and Bea stood closer to the door observing the interaction ▬▬▬ well, Elle was observing, Bea was trying not to focus on how small the room was because of the giant table taking up all the space. "And our trauma specialist, Dr. Barry Landman." As Gideon tried to also shake the man's hand in greeting, as any normal person would do in the situation of meeting someone in a professional manner, the doctor pulled his hands up in a surrender motion to avoid contact.

Dr. Landman shook his head and sighed out as he looked towards Jason. "You'll have to forgive me, I don't shake." Gideon slowly lowered his hand back to his side, allowing the man to continue. "My hands, you understand?" Barry finished, it wasn't all that bizarre really, but it was still a little weird ( of course that was all a matter of opinion, one someone doesn't just blurt out━ ).

"Not really..." Beatrice thought she had been quiet enough to go unnoticed as usual, but as many heads turned her direction she realised how loud she had actually been. "Sorry." Suddenly the single spec of dirt on her shoe became very interesting.

The doctors and Jason had gone back and forth about the patient and his wound, Dr. Landman being a bit more arrogant in his charge to perform the surgery he wanted to do, almost like his ego exceeded the patients well being. He did seem like a very narcissistic and overly confident man, then again that was a normal factor in surgeons. Now the trio had been sat around the table, their own notes regarding the case surrounding them as they discussed the Unsubs methods and timing of the shootings.

"If I'm the Unsub," Elle began, causing both Jason and Bea to look up from their yellow coloured not pads, almost perfectly in sync that it jarred the Greenaway woman at first before she continued her question. "Why do I shoot my victims between 2:55 and 3:15?"

"That's when I'd do it." Jason stated as he pulled the notepad towards him and adjusted his glasses. "There are fewer cops on the street." Bea remembered her father's schedule quite well from when he was a beat cop, ▬▬▬ dispute being six at the time ▬▬▬ she remembered how she'd wait for him at the door and he'd always have a chocolate donut for her ( with the pinky promise of not telling her mother ) accompanied by a bone crushing hug, those were happier times for the woman to recall.

Elle raised her brow, her interest now peaked. "Why's that?" Bea placed her own pair of circular rimmed spectacles against her head, while jotting down a grocery list for after they got back home. She was definitely low on dog food, but couldn't remember if there was any milk left. "The police overlap shifts," She started as the two looked towards her, Gideon with a look of surprise he hid well, he'd honestly thought the girl would clue in more to the medical side of things.

"Second shift starts at 3, first shift walks at 3:30." She continued barely acknowledging the people staring at her, after finishing the list she just started doodling on the paper. "In theory there should be twice as many cops on the street because of it, but somehow they still slip through the cracks." Jason gave a nod in her direction before turning to Elle once again.

"First half-hour of your shift, you're in roll call, your not on the street." He clarified what Beatrice was trying to explain, but by the look on Elle's face she'd only gotten about half of how the doctors strange mind worked. "And the last half-hour your at the station, you're finishing reports, you're booking prisoners." Gideon explained quickly.

Finally raising her head, coming out from the hair she subconsciously used to hide in, Bea looked at the pair in front of her. "Basically the twenty-five minutes around your first and second shift is a bad guys window of opportunity."

Now with her full attention divided between the two, Elle spoke up from her spot at the table. "How many people outside law enforcement would know that?" This caused them both to look Beatrice's way seeing as her field was less 'hitting the pavement' and more of the gruesome side to the job.

Pointing towards her chest the girl in question tilted her head. "My dad's a cop, well was a cop." Both individuals nodded her way, knowing how unlikely it was that many people outside of their world to know information like that. "So, the Unsub knows about the shifts." Bea stated. "And he's already thought of that, right?" Elle gestured towards Gideon with her index finger, coaxing a nod from the man.

"I had considered it."

Bea rolled her eyes in a playful manner before resting her head against the table, caramel highlighted the waves flowing after, just to be interrupted from their peace by Dr. Landman who now sported scrubs as opposed to his lab coat and a tie. He placed the bullet on the table for all to see, and only after Gideon had asked about the patients well being did the doctor tell them he was to make a full recovery.

━━・ ✦ ₊ 🧠 ⊹ ° .  ❫ ━

The Unsub struck again and the team had given the local police their profile, using all their skills combined they ended up back in the park of the original shootings that brought the team to Illinois in the first place. They wanted to reenact the first shootings in hopes it would help in lighten the team on something they had missed. They'd been walking around with hand-held cameras to get different prospectives and angles of the victims themselves, while someone laid in the trunk of a car playing the part of the Unsub.

Bea and Elle had been walking together through the park, Elle holding the camera and Bea with a walkie talkie in her hand so the two could communicate with Hotch and the rest of the team. She'd heard Spencer over the line a few minutes ago, he thought his line of sight matched with the Unsubs, unfortunately it didn't and they were back to the start. "So, your dad was a cop, huh?" The Greenaway woman asked as the two walked.

Bea looked over towards her, squinting to block of the suns rays that pulled through the trees. "Yeah, he uh━ made sheriff, stayed there for almost thirty years before retiring." Elle let out a short whistle at that, she would honestly love to met the man, judging by the smile lit upon the doctors face as she spoke of him. "He's got a bunch of old cases tucked away in the garage back home, used to let me try and figure them out with him way past my bed time." Bea let out a soft laugh at the memory, her mother had been so mad at the two.

"He sounds awesome."

"Yeah," The brunette smiled brighter while she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking ahead as Elle's phone began to ring. "He is."

In of a couple minutes all hell had broken loose. Elle had pulled Bea with her behind a tree, Derek had basically tackled Spencer towards the ground, and there was smoke covering the car they had the man playing the Unsub in.

Safe to say that Beatrice was quite confused by the whole ordeal, but Elle just shook her head as to tell her not to worry about it. The agent was more focused of checking their surrounds then explaining what Hotch had told her ▬▬▬ they were covered and safe, she didn't feel the need to cause the doctor any unnecessary stress.

Once it was deemed safe for them to move again, the doctor made her wave over to Morgan and Reid, though she did stay in a halfway crouch position as she moved across the park. "Hey, Bear Down, the hell was that?" She called out to the man who apparently thought himself a kin to a pro-footballer. The girl clicked her fingers in front of Reid's groaning figure, checking over the doctor ( who wasn't all that well made, especially not to be man handled in such a way ). "Reid, hey, are you alright?" She asked, her knees now planted on the grass.

"Boy Wonder is fine," Derek had said from beside the pair, gaining a rather heated stink eye from the girl. Reid began to sit up, ▬▬▬ with the help of Beatrice ▬▬▬ rubbing the back of his head looking towards Morgan with his brows furrowed. "See?" Although, as soon as the word left the man's mouth a gunshot echoed through the park, causing Derek to rush the three out of sight in a rather rough way. The minute they were hidden, Bea let out her complaints of the pain running along her arm from the way he gripped it. "Really, your gonna yell at me for saving your life?"

"No, I'm yelling at you because I'm pretty sure that's going to bruise!" Pointing towards the place he grabbed her before scurrying to safety, the girl exclaimed and smacked Derek's arm much harder than he had grabbed hers. He gave her a pointed glare that said 'I swear to god, Bee', which made the woman shrink into herself as Reid held back his laugh at the interaction he'd been witness to. He was unsuccessful, causing both parties to look his way with their own set of narrowed eyes and frowns adoring their faces. At this point, Derek just wanted to go home.

━━・ ✦ ₊ 🧠 ⊹ ° .  ❫ ━

Now, your probably wondering how on Earth three FBI agents got into a position such as being hostages to a psychopath with an automatic rifle, and you'd be right to wonder ... because so did Bea. She was wondering how one minute Hotch, Reid and herself had been discussing the Unsubs habits and how he most likely worked at the hospital in the ER, and the next Reid had been smack over the head and she'd been shoved to the ground with the barrel of a gun pointed towards her.

Sitting on the cold, tiled floor in the dark with her hands tied together wasn't exactly ideal, but it was better than the alternative ▬▬▬ the alternative being Aaron Hotchner talking to the Unsub in hopes of deescalating the man's attempts to shoot everyone and everything around him. Bea definitely did not want to be Hotch in that moment. Not that she didn't admire his bravery, but she was still scared to her wits end, and it had ended a very long time ago.

Bea found herself constantly glancing at Spencer from the corner of her eye, checking to see if his head was alright ▬▬▬ if he was alright. Most of the conversation between Hotch and Nurse Ratchet had been muffled, bouncing from one ear to the other, but never going through enough to register.

Everything was still buffering in her mind, fuzzy yet clear, her eyes slightly watered and her wrists grew pink due to the plastic binds being a little too tight. Soon it all went silent before she felt like her ears would burst from the noise finally being heard, Aaron's voice, the man's voice, it all mashed together until she heard those words come from her superiors mouth.

"You know why they took away boy genius's gun?" He stated all too calmly.

Hotch had a look in his eye, one she'd never seen before ... it honestly scared her a little, but she knew it could be for any other reason than to manipulate the Unsub into putting down his weapon, or waiting it out until the team burst through the doors and took the guy down themselves.

"He failed his qualification." Now he'd gained both doctors undivided attentions, though Spencer looked hurt by the words he knew were to come, Bea looked a mix between confused and curious with a hint of terror at the back of her dilated pupils.

"Twice a year I gotta listen to him whine about re-qualifying," His voice was starting to sound irritated as it raised in volumes, one glance at Spencer showed the girl how hard he took the words ▬▬▬ even if they both knew Hotch could never mean something so cruel towards people he cared for. "So, I tutor him, and he fails again." He was projecting the Unsubs on emotions back at him, and he fell for it quicker than a drop of rain in a thunderstorm.

Raising one brow towards the profiler the man above them spoke, he was falling right into the trap laid out before him and he couldn't even see it for what it was. "You think you got it rough? These people done nothing but undermine me since I got here." What a rough life that sounded like, ▬▬▬ truly ▬▬▬ Bea could relate in a way, but the difference between the two was that she didn't let her rage build up enough to kill people at random to finally feel noticed.

"Put them next to the barricade." Hotch spoke calmly as he practically told this armed man how to murder the people he'd grown to hate, it made the doctors next to him send their superior crazed and questioning looks of doubt. "That way when they blast their way in here, both of our problems are solved ... that sort of thing could ruin a cop's career." The agent spoke once again, but instead he sounded more genuine with his words as his voice broke and his eyes slightly watered, and the Unsub just smiled.

"You are one sick dude."

"How do you think I found you?"

For some reason the brunettes hands began to shake uncontrollably as her breathing slowly began to speed up. She could some what hear the sounds of the hostages around them, some cried, some stayed silent and others prayed for someone, anyone to save them. While she was busy looking for a single object in the room to focus on instead of her now rapidly paced breaths, Bea had yet to notice the boy watching her falling apart.

Reid knew the signs of a panic attack, he knew of ways to help a person cope with one too, although he didn't want to agitate the Unsub into firing off a round in the girls direction simply for being scared. Slowly and carefully Reid shifted his weight a tad closer to Bea in order to reach her hand, and the minute he was close enough he grabbed her pinky with his own causing her chocolate eyes to land directly on his side profile.

At first she had jumped not know what touched her, ( it could've been a spider for all she knew ) but when she looked down and found it to be the hand of the doctor, she latched on tight. In that moment Bea didn't see some scrawny, wimp with a brain bigger than Einstein, she saw a boy willing to for-go his own issues to help her ▬▬▬ and because of that, Spencer Reid was her hero.

"I wanna kick the snot out of this kid," Hotch motioned his head in Reid's direction as the boys head whipped to face his fellow team member. "He's made my life miserable for three lousy years." And so the panic settled back in, but instead of fading it grew much heavier and swallowed her deeper into the water. Bea's shoulders felt like they had boulders strapped on to them as she tried to claw her way to the surface.

"Knock yourself out." Spencer's hand was gone, Bea tried to hold on for dear life, and Hotch leapt forward surging towards the boy genius that had apparently made his life a nightmare. Letting out a gasp at the pure rage displayed in his actions, Bea screamed at Hotch to stop ... she was seriously starting to doubt whatever plan he had if it meant actually causing Spencer physical pain. "Shut up!" With a gun now pointed towards her the brunette shrunk down and went silent as she watched Aaron Hotchner kick the crap out of her friend.

What the woman ( and the Unsub ) had yet to realise was that by doing this, being the cruel, Hotch intended for Spencer to grab the gun he kept concealed at his ankle. So once the beating had stopped Bea carefully scooted close to a now cradled Reid, his groans only causing her worry to increase. "Spencer, hey, are you alright?" The response she got wasn't what she expected, but she listened anyway.

"Cover your ears and move." Those were the words Spencer had mumbled out, along with a few groans and motions of pain. The next thing to happen was quite the shock to all in the room, especially the doctor now holding the gun. Reid had shot the Unsub ... directly in the head.

━━・ ✦ ₊ 🧠 ⊹ ° .  ❫ ━

Sitting in an ambulance with a blanket around her shoulder and her legs dangling off the side, Bea turned to the doctor beside her. "Thanks... for everything." Her voice was still a tad uneven from the stress of such a situation, and her cheeks were still red with tears stained all over them in patchy spots, but she was safe and breathing easy again. Reid gave her a small smile in response as Hotch made his way towards the two. "You alright?" The man asked with concern lacing his words, a much different omit one from the one he had not long ago.

Spencer let out a soft "Yeah." before looking back down towards his shoes. "You did good for someone that failed their qualifications." Bea said through a sigh, her emotions had been all over the place. "I was aiming for his leg." Spencer looked towards their superior as Bea struggled to hold in her laugh, even after covering her mouth with her hand some giggles escaped the cage she put up.

Aaron explained his reasons for being so hostile towards the doctor ▬▬▬ and despite still being a little made at him for being so rough, Bea could see why he had done it, and it appeared so did Reid. "Well I hope I didn't hurt you too badly," His genuine care for his teammate shinned through as he barely looked towards either of the two people sat close to one another. "And I apologise if I worried you, Beatrice." The girl shook her head in a way of saying 'don't worry about it', she'd understood perfectly now.

"Hotch, I was a twelve year old child prodigy in a Las Vegas public high school... you kick like a nine year old girl." No longer being able to contain the agony of not laughing, Bea let out one of the most unflattering snorts ever made by a person, even Aaron gave a small chuckle at the doctors words. Though Reid found himself looking towards the joy they had made a certain brunette feel, and that made his smile grow.

Once Hotch had left the two and her joy had settled back into her stomach, Bea finally took the chance to look over at the bruised growing on Spencer's face. "Are you sure your gonna be okay?" She asked as she searched for any more that might not have been as obvious to the eye. "Y-yeah, I'll uh━ I'll be fine, don't worry." He nodded in her direction and he tried to contain whatever weird feeling had begun to grumble from within his chest.

"Okay..." Pushing against the floor of the ambulance, she planted her feet back against the road beneath them. "Just make sure to check if you have a concussion before falling asleep." She began to fold the blanket back up and left it beside Reid as she staring to walk backwards away from the vehicle. "I will." Reid lifted his hand to wave her off as he watched her walk away past Morgan, who was starting to make his way over.

Before the man could even say a word on what he'd just witnessed, Reid threw the whistle he'd given him earlier that day back, causing Derek to instinctively catch it. "Touché kid." Looking down at the object Morgan realised the deal it meant, leaving him to look after Spencer with a small smirk creeping on to his face.

━ AUTHORS NOTE. 🗒 ━━━━━
having to research an american football
reference from the early 2000's was so
god damn stressful and unnecessary to
the plot, but if i didn't put it in it would've
been on my mind all day.