EVERYWHERE, EVERYTHING —
aaron hotchner.

UNTIL CAREERS DAY OF 1991 AMELIA LEVINE DID NOT KNOW WHO SHE WANTED TO BE. She was the quiet girl placed on the front row of every class, a spare seat next to her just for the naughty kids in hopes she'd be the good influence, she was 'always a pleasure to teach' and respectful, always smiling at her teachers. Amelia didn't put her hand up to answer questions and was never picked on to answer them, it had been an unwritten rule at her San Francisco high school.

Amelia couldn't of told you who she was at the age of fourteen because she was reserved, closed off from the rest of the class, as if she was frightened to approach her classmates. Most of them hadn't done anything. It had never really been the people in her class that scared her, it was more the fear that she'd make friends and she'd laugh and enjoy herself and then a moving van would be parked outside her window the next morning. Amelia believed that if she kept her distance she'd never wake up with that unsettling feeling again. And, to be honest, she never had. Not after having moved states fives times beforehand.

Until that careers day. She'd started the day off uninterested because she didn't know who or what she wanted to be in the future, how could she when she hadn't known who she was?

That careers day, come eleven o'clock in the morning, she'd already been met with the half asleep lifeguard, the quiet plumber who couldn't get them to remain quiet and then an FBI agent; SSA David Rossi to be specific. He had first asked them what the FBI stood for and Amelia had to refrain from rolling her eyes, he was a man in his mid 30s (Amelia would say closer to 36) with wrinkles that came from stress and the job he did, not from age, but there was still smile lines written on his face. He was intelligent in the way he spoke and the way he carried himself. So, what a stupid question to ask. He had clearly read Amelia's mind of her criticisms when he picks on her to answer the question, she immediately sunk into her seat in fear that even though her answer had been completely correct that she was wrong.

Her cheeks burned red when he smiled and told the class to give her a round of applause for getting his question right.

The discussion quickly moved on and Amelia tried to ignore the shaking of her leg under the table or the curling of her toes in her shoes. She tried her best to concentrate on the tape he'd started playing on the cheap TV set, and in the moments she concentrated on the tape she found herself thoroughly interested in the FBI, saving lives. It wouldn't be surprising for her interest in that sort of career considering her dad was a doctor and she'd always tried her best to save an ant colony from an approaching threat, despite the bites that followed.

Agent Rossi had told them a lot of information that day but the most important part that stuck with Amelia was his discussion on the lives they can't save; the case of Daisy Adler in particular. How the FBI had tried so hard to find this missing girl and seek comfort for her parents who sit by the phone and wait for the call that tells them their daughter has been found in a diner, with her credentials and is ready to come home.

Agent Rossi hadn't been able to make the call. Those parents still wait. But, every missing person case he solves reminds him of Daisy and reminds himself he can't save them all. No matter how hard he tries. But, he cannot hang onto Daisy, he cannot let the cold case of Daisy Adler prevent him from saving more people. David can solve more cases, save more people and fill the hole that should've been Daisy.

He handed his card out when his time was up, Amelia stared at it for at least two hours when she got home. Not because she wanted to call, not yet at least. She began making a profile on the case's Unsub. Her parents hadn't been happy to see her so invested in a 'dangerous' career path. For once, Amelia hadn't listened. Up until she was eighteen she worked day and night, switching her focus between her studies and researching everything possibly known to man about Daisy Adler.

She takes a two year gap year due to personal issues and finds herself at university in Virginia. Coincidentally at the same time David Rossi is on a book tour, she planned on presenting him with her full profile but instead she ran into Jason Gideon and spilt coffee all over his white shirt. Whoops...? Amelia, looking back on it was not sorry at all! That happy accident had been the best thing to happen to her considering it led to multiple nights spent with Agent Gideon and improving her in the profiling department but also the realities of working in the FBI.

Amelia graduates and lands herself a spot on the Seattle police force, finding herself in a tricky situation with a suicide bomber before the negotiation team had arrived. She remained calm and poised, pretending the man before her wasn't just seconds away from pushing his thumb down and blowing them into pieces. The next day she expected to spend wrapped up in her bedsheets thankful she'd survived another day but instead she found herself plucked out of the police force and straight into negotiations.

Amelia was good. Good, perhaps, being an understatement but she didn't like to be cocky. For four more years she spends her days keeping thumbs away from buttons, talking people off a ledge... it takes a toll. Even if Amelia liked to pretend it didn't. She was a firm believer in Church and State; she didn't like to bring her work home - which was a terrible idea for her considering she wanted to be a profiler. And she'd succeeded for the last four years until the work load becomes too much for even her, the demands of her unit chief can't be met and Amelia's closest friend is sent into her first solo negotiation, all alone, and never to be seen again. The flawlessly painted walls of her state start to crumble, the edges become tatted and all the bad seems to creep in.

And just when it starts to feel like Amelia can't escape to her state, she finds Jason Gideon calling her. And at twenty-eight, she finds herself in the BAU.

Wracked with nerves, her leg shaking as she sits waiting - feeling like that school girl all over again. This didn't happen in negotiations. It didn't make her nervous stood before a bomb, or someone who thought they were better off dead. She could handle this. Yet, Amelia felt as though she couldn't quite imagine handling her dreams. The Levine quickly had to wipe that idea from her mind, she couldn't doubt herself - not in front of profilers, they'd know.

Amelia lands her dream. The one thing her parents never agreed with and the job that tore her mentor down. Still, she smiles as she puts her pens into their pot and sticks a sticker over the camera of her computer. She's here. Amelia did it. Does she finally know who she is? Yes!

It's just a shame Amelia Levine isn't destined to know who she truly is.

And she might land her dream job, but it is soon going to turn into one hell of a nightmare.

AMELIA LEVINE / JESSICA ALBA

AARON HOTCHNER / THOMAS GIBSON

with...
THOMAS LEVINE / slyvester stallone
MARTHA LEVINE  / as described
KATRINA ADLER / as described
HARRY ADLER / as described
CLARA BEAUMONT 𐠒 / linda cardellini

and the rest of the criminal minds cast as themselves.

DISCLAIMERS:
much like the show, this book will depict extreme violence, murder, character death, alcohol and substance abuse, manipulation, mentions of child abuse, cannibalism, mentions of sexual abuse, verbal and physical abuse, alongside emotional abuse. and many more, please be mindful of these and if they are potentially triggering for you, feel free to skip.

daisy adler is also central to this story and is a character i have added to the show, her relevance will be explored later on in the book, but she will be mentioned throughout.

i also do not own criminal minds, or any of the characters, or plot - these all belong to the creators. i only own my characters, the dialogue between characters of my writing and this book of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
olivia shelby is my baby, but amelia is so special to me and deserves all the love in the world so please shower her in appreciation, you aren't ready for her

posting this and going back to writing my ackley bridge book 'cause i get scared 😔

BUT!!! enjoy the trauma of everywhere, everything and thank you choosing to read my book!! 🤍🤍 (ps the first two chapters aren't my best work, so be warned but i physically can't write them any better)