One: We Meet Again.

11x01 | The Job.

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        Part of Julia Cortez just wanted to walk out and not come back. She wondered just what the hell she was thinking deciding to apply for the BAU after an opening was made. Surely, she got lost and just wound up here.

These people around her were way more professional — they would probably get the job over her, if she were being honest. There was no way she was gonna get this job. She didn't belong here — this could not have been her forte.

Most of these people probably ate oatmeal in the morning and probably lead normal, ordinary lives, trying to make a living. They probably had normal beige colored walls and clothes and needed this job more than she did. That was a total lie — she did need this job. But she ate Lucky Charms cereal, simply for the marshmallows, had pastel green-colored walls and colorful blouses, depending on what mood she was in that day. She did not fit in with these people in the slightest.

But she needed this job.
Julia had finally sent in her letter of resignation just about a month ago. She'd finally gotten tired of Ryder taking advantage of her and how the other people there seemed to treat her.
          And she'd had no luck with job searching. So, this was the next best thing she could do. Agent Rossi always did offer, if she changed her mind.

          She had the skills, she had the brains and the degrees. But she worried that maybe she wasn't what they were looking for. And she didn't do well with rejection. It was her biggest weakness — and maybe they were about to profile that today. Based on the way she anxiously bounced her leg up and down and how she twitched her fingers against her resume every now and again. And how the room seemed to get smaller and hot.

And she wasn't the only one who seemed to notice she was anxious.

"Nervous?" The woman beside her asked and Julia turns to her, realizing that someone is talking to her. "Oh, no." Julia chuckled nervously but then gave it up in an instant. "Maybe a little." The woman threw an understanding smile at her. "I take it you don't go on job interviews that often?"

"Haven't needed to in a while, if we're being honest here." Julia shrugged and extended her hand to the woman. "Julia." She almost says her last name but wants to avoid the "nepotism" of it all. The woman's own hand connects with Julia's. "Tara Lewis." She introduces herself.

"Break a leg at your interview." Julia nods at her. "You, too." The woman nods.

          Before Julia could go back to being a nervous wreck, a man entered the room with the other interviewees. "Can I have everyone's attention, please?" Julia stood up from her chair, as well as the other people sitting down and turned their attention towards the man that Julia knew as Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner. She remembered him from the Indianapolis case about eight months ago and wondered if maybe he'd remember her.

         "The BAU is working an active case, so this interview process may take some time. Does anyone need to return to their field office?" Agent Hotchner questions, turning to the possible agents, but everyone simply answers with a 'no' or shakes their heads.

          So, Agent Hotchner nods, "Good. Dr. Lewis, we'll start with you." The woman standing next to Julia nods and Julia bids her with a small "good luck".

         Their interview seemed to be quick because just thirty minutes later, Julia was then being called into Agent Hotchner's office. So with her heart in her hand, she walks up the stairs to meet with Agent Hotchner (and nearly falls up the stairs because she's too busy listening to her anxious heart pounding against her chest).

Agent Hotchner closes the door behind Julia as she enters the office and Julia just takes a deep breath. "Have a seat, Dr. Cortez." Agent Hotchner advises, noting to the seat in front of his desk, facing his chair.

       "Oh, Julia works, Agent Hotchner." Julia says as she sits down on the chair.
        "You helped us with a case in Indianapolis about eight months ago, correct?" Agent Hotchner asks as he sits down and looks at her file as he recognizes her name.
         Julia smiles at the man. "Ah. Yes, sir. The bomber."

        "And your mother is Eve Cortez, right?" Julia humbly nods, almost wanting to walk out of the room for the man even bringing up her mother. "Yes, that's right. Did you know her?" She wonders.

"I had the privilege of working with her in the past on a few occasions. How is she doing?" Agent Hotchner asks and Julia can just tell that the man may have found her mother difficult but he definitely wasn't going to say that. "Fine, sir." Julia stated finally and dully, wanting the conversation to be about anything but her mother.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" Agent Hotchner stated as he pulls himself closer to his desk. Julia nods and straightens her posture, hoping to God she's not slouching in front of her future boss.

"So your superior at the Forensic Science Unit says that you're the best medical examiner he's ever worked with." Agent Hotchner stated and Julia shakes her head, modestly. "Oh, that's an overexaggeration, sir. It's no profiling, that's for sure."

        "Well, you're the only applicant with no current employment, is that right?" Agent Hotchner looks up at Julia, confused. "I, uh, sent in my letter of resignation from the FSU a little over a month ago." She acknowledges. "Can I ask why?" Agent Hotchner asks.

         "I was the youngest in the unit. A lot of colleagues believed that when you're young, they assume you know nothing. Needed something different." Julia explained and by her staring straight into Agent Hotchner's face as she spoke, he could tell she was telling the truth.

          "Well, I see that you also are the only applicant with this much autopsy knowledge and bomb defusing experience, but it's not really relevant to what we do here." Agent Hotchner stated.

          Julia nodded once more, "I'm aware of that, Agent Hotchner." This could make or break the job and Julia could tell her area of expertise wasn't something that could be of use, unfortunately. "To be honest, I don't really know what I'm doing here." She admitted.

         "I don't think I have the skills or the assets or am even equipped to work for a place like this. In fact, it's the last thing I really wanted to do. But Agent Rossi believes otherwise. He's pretty much the reason I considered even showing up here." Julia explained. "And I can tell you're hesitant. You're hesitant because you are two agents down and you don't want to let anyone else into your team because you worry they'll leave. I heard about Agent Callahan's leaving in passing. That's why the position opened up."

        "You're also hesitant because you know my mother. And how she works. Believe me when I say I'm not like her. At least, I hope not. People say we look alike and I'm sure that's where the comparisons end but I don't know, I'm a little high-strung like her and I've been told that I am very stubborn like her, not that I could be but — God, I'm blowing this — anyways... tell me what you need in a profiler, Agent Hotchner and I can be that. I can try to, at least."

       Agent Hotchner finds himself trying to hide his small smile at her rambling and somehow she oddly reminds him of Penelope in a sense. And by her small profiling she'd pointed out in him, he could tell she wasn't too afraid to express her opinion. A little timid, maybe, considering how he knows he can come across — but other than that, she seemed useful, viable. He could see her being a part of this team. Possibly.

Before he can give her an answer, Agent Hotchner's cell phone vibrates and he checked it quickly. "I need you to wait a few minutes." Agent Hotchner tells the woman and Julia nods, "Sure."

With that, the man leaves his office and Julia begins to beat herself up for how that went.

I blew it. I blew it. I totally blew it. I'm not gonna get the job and I'm gonna lose my apartment, and I'm gonna live out on the streets and Einstein and Newton are gonna be street cats and fighting over food and may die from starvation and they're gonna wanna eat me because I can't feed them! Okay, too far.

Julia sighs, was that a face of consideration? Did he feel bad? Did he think she was using her mother's authority to get into the BAU? She certainly hoped he didn't think that. That'd be a damn shame, if he did.

It could not have been that bad. Perhaps, she'd find out later after the case the BAU team had been currently dealing with. She'd just have to wait and see.

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Soon enough, Julia and the other applicants were called into the bullpen of the BAU. They were faced with the BAU team and Julia had recognized and even threw a small smile at Agent Rossi, who had been surprised to see the woman standing there with the rest of the applicants.

          Julia also saw Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid, all of the men standing beside Agent Hotchner, who had addressed to the group that the case they were currently dealing with had two victims thus far - a suburban dad and a drug dealer - killed in two days, in two different cities across the country from each other, namely Albany, New York, and Seattle, Washington.

         The only reason they were able to identify the two deaths as being tied is that both victims had their face painted much like a pulchinella.

         It isn't until the autopsies are done that they learn that both were killed by a massive injection of a liquid nutritional supplement, much like one would would consume if one has trouble eating. They had tied this evidence together to determine that the unsub has suffered a facial injury that does not allow him now to speak or eat.

         When a third victim emerged in Charlottesville, Virginia, the team had a clearer picture of the unsub's background, and the nature of his victims and they'd figured out their profile, like the one they were giving to the applicants now.

        "The unsub that we're looking for is a contract killer who is doubling back to kill his former customers." Agent Morgan started. "This man is highly skilled and well-trained. Under no circumstances should he be engaged without back-up."

        "So, is this a case of organized crime tying up loose ends?" Dr. Lewis started in with question but Agent Rossi shook his head, "Organized crime's got nothing to do with this, at least not in the traditional sense."

         Dr. Reid had continued. "In 2013, the Bureau took down the Silk Road Network. Our initial assumption was that it was an encrypted online market for illegal drugs, which it was, but upon further inspection, we were stunned at the breadth of goods and services being traded online. Weapons, child porn, even hit men." Julia knows she should not be thinking this right now but — holy cow, did Dr. Reid look good.

          There are people dying, Julia, fawn over him later! She thinks in her head.

         "And the payment scheme was escrow based, in which the buyer would put down half as a deposit and the other half when the seller delivered." Agent Hotchner explained.
         "We've now confirmed that all three victims hired the unsub over the past year through a similar escrow system." Agent Morgan added.

        "So, why is he killing his old clients, then?" Julia wonders, asking for the other applicants, as well.

        "Hit men don't leave a message unless you pay them to," Agent Rossi answered. "The exception is to leave a warning for customers or competitors."
        "This unsub suffered some sort of injury to his jaw or voice, most likely as a result of something these customers did." Dr. Reid also added. "The pulcinella mask is his statement on revenge and justice -- betray the oath between customer and contractor and you pay the price."

          "Now, normally a man with this kind of defect would attract attention. The fact that he hasn't indicates that he has deep pockets and a network of resources at his disposal." Agent Morgan stated.
 
         "Share this profile with your local divisions and with law enforcement. Search for escrow payments to match the unsub to his clients. One of those clients will be his next target. Thank you." Agent Hotchner nods to the rest of the group and Julia decides to take this opportunity to speak with Agent Rossi.

          "Agent Rossi, we meet again." Julia smiles politely at the older man. "Dr. Cortez, it's good to see you again." Agent Rossi greets, smiling at the woman as he shakes her hand.

          "Didn't know you considered profiling, Dr. Cortez." Agent Morgan chimes in. "I didn't either, until Agent Rossi persuaded me to. It's good to see you all, again." Julia said, nodding to Agent Rossi as well as Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid.

          "Are you no longer working at the FSU?" Dr. Reid wonders and Julia looks at him and almost doesn't even answer him until she nods, "Uh, yeah— no. I, uh, sent in my letter of resignation a little over a month ago over there. Moved down here a couple of weeks ago, took some training classes at the academy, still kind of am, and I guess, uh, here I am."

           "Well, good luck to you." Agent Morgan tells the woman and Julia nodded at the man, "Thanks."

         With that, she'd gone to work. She'd seemed to pair up with Dr. Lewis, working on their proofing together and trying to get some type of answer from the profiles they were delivered.

          They'd been there all day, until Agent Hotchner rushed into the office. "Dr. Cortez, can I speak to you for a moment?" He asks and Julia nods at the man and wonders if maybe they were going to pick up where they left off from her interview.

           Agent Hotchner pulled her outside of the bullpen and looked at Julia, speaking to her quietly. "You have interest with bomb defusing, but do you have any with grenades?" He questioned and Julia shrugs, "Uh, a little, why?"

           "Agent Rossi just informed me that one of our victims, Al Eisenmund, has a grenade glued to his hands. If he sets it off, everyone there is dead. Agent Rossi suggested we send you down since you have experience. Now, I believe it is too risky, so, I can always send—"
           "I can." Julia says with no hesitation and hates that her mouth worked faster than her brain just now. "Are you—Are you sure?"

Julia nodded, "Yes, sir." You idiot, what are you doing?!

With that, Agent Hotchner had sent her out there to where the rest of his team was, clad in an FBI vest and ready to take on anything. Truth be told, Julia sincerely was having second thoughts as soon as she'd arrived to where she needed to be. She felt her chest heaving even harder than when she was in Agent Hotchner's office. She prayed and prayed that the outcome of this was gonna be fine. Agents Rossi, Morgan and Dr. Reid had been waiting outside for her.

"Dr. Cortez." Agent Rossi greeted. "Thanks for getting down here." Julia nods, "Don't mention it. Agent Hotchner explained to me what was going on. I just want to be of help."

"You can always sit this one out, Doctor." Agent Morgan suggests. "No offense, but you look like you're gonna hurl."

"Okay, I deal with bombs after they've exploded. Forgive me if I'm just a little nervous here, Agent." With that, Julia turns to Agent Rossi. "Where is he?"

"Agent Hotchner prefers if you were outside while we figure this out." Agent Rossi told. "Well, then I can't help." Julia said and the agents turn to her in confusion. "I'm a visual learner. I can't help unless I see what the device is in front of me."

With hesitation written in his eyes, Agent Rossi shows her and walks towards the building. Morgan and Reid exchange a look as they follow behind.

"Al, this is Dr. Cortez, she specializes in this sort of thing." Agent Rossi said, some truth to it. "Well get you out of this. I just need to know what our guy used."

"Over there." Al nudged his head towards the table he was sitting next to. Dr. Reid kneels in front of the man as Dr. Cortez looks at the bottle next to Agent Morgan. "It's dried and set and he glued over the pin. Do you have any acetone?"

"That's not gonna work." Julia shakes her head. "Reid, she's right. This is industrial acrylic. It holds car parts together." Agent Morgan agrees.

"Bomb squad's 10 minutes out. I'm gonna take out my men and set up a perimeter. Maybe we can still box this guy in." One of the SWAT members tells and Agent Rossi nods at the man. "We're staying." The SWAT member leaves.

Al looks at Julia, "You gotta do something, okay?" She nods at the man, "We will, we will, but you need to stay still. It's the only way we can help you."

"He--he pulled the pin. I'm holding down this clamp here, but my hand is cramping, so you--just do something, all right?!" The man yells.
"Morgan, four cars." Dr. Reid speaks and Agent Morgan turns towards his colleague. "What about them?"
"Each car has a battery, right? Each battery has an electrolyte solution of 62% water, 38% sulfuric acid." Dr. Reid explains.

"But, Reid, that's not gonna work." Agent Morgan debunks. "Why not?" asks Agent Rossi. "Because the acrylic will still stay bonded to the metal." Morgan stated.

Then, Julia chimes in. "That's true, but it will also create a saponification effect on his skin. The grenade will slide out of his hand like a wet bar of soap. That's where you going with this, right?" She asks Dr. Reid and he nods, "Yes!"

"Of course, there will be an intense burning sensation on the skin, and the smell will be horrendous—" Dr. Reid adds.
"You can't--you're not burning my hands! You're not gonna do it!" Eisenmund begins to shake his head in a panic.

"Stay still!" Agent Morgan shouts. "Hey, listen, pal — you got yourself into this mess, so unless you got a better idea, just shut up." Agent Rossi tells.

"Okay, okay, okay," Julia nods. "I have a plan." She says. And it was simple.

"Someone's gotta hold the grenade while this thing is-- right?" Eisenmund asks. "That's my job." Julia nods, pulling the leather gloves on so the grenade doesn't land in her bare hands.

"Are you sure you don't want me to—" Agent Rossi chimes in but Julia looks at him and nods, "I got it."

Dr. Reid looks at the man. "This is gonna hurt, but you'll survive." Eisenmund nods. "Is everybody ready?"

"Yeah. Just watch your end, kid." Agent Rossi nods, holding one hand while Morgan holds the other and Julia's hands are under the grenade, locating the lever and Dr. Reid is holding the solution in his hands to put it between the grenade and Eisenmund's hands.

"All right, my hand's on the lever." Julia announces to the agents. "All right, I need you to help me pull." Morgan looks at the man and both he and Rossi nods at each other.

So, Dr. Reid drops the solution into Eisenmund's hands and he begins to scream out of pain and Julia's sole focus is getting the grenade and pulling as carefully as she can. Eisenmund's hands foam up with the sensation and finally, Julia announces — "I've got it!"

Agent Morgan gives Eisenmund something to cover his hands with and he looks at the woman. "We safe, Cortez?" He asks.

"Yeah, we're good. The lever's st--" Julia then looks down and sees that the lever's been pulled in the process of grabbing it. "Run!" She yells.

Nobody hesitates to move as they begin to make it out of the building and Julia throws the grenade across the lot as she moves faster than she ever has before.

And luckily, she'd made it out in time before the building exploded with her in it. She covers her head and her ears ring as she lands behind a cop car, covering her, Eisenmund and the other agents. The explosion ended and Julia looked back at the building.

"You guys okay? Anyone hurt?" Dr. Reid asks the group. Eisenmund rushes towards the opposite side as he pukes from the events that just occurred. Reid then turned to Julia. "You okay?" And Julia nods, "Yeah. But let's just say, if I don't get the job after this, I'm gonna be so pissed."

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To make a long story short, they'd discovered that Captain Wilson from the SWAT team had been helping the unsub. Or more so, being coerced into helping. After what happened out on the field, Agent Hotchner was a little stressed with the fact that Julia had gone in after he specifically ordered that she should've stayed outside. But it showed her determination. And frankly, he had a lot of other things to worry about.

They'd tried calling Captain Wilson and tried to warn him about how the hitman was going to kill him after he helped with his "errand". He'd hung up and they'd found out that Captain Wilson's wife had hired the hitman to kill her drug dealer after getting addicted to painkillers and the drug dealer wouldn't leave her alone.

Agent Hotchner kept his eyes on both Dr. Lewis and Dr. Cortez when Agent Hotchner's technical analyst had spoken up. "Oh, dear. Uh, Captain Wilson is calling us. He's calling home, but- I can try to fake it. I don't know..."

"All right, everyone quiet. Stay off your phones." Agent Hotchner ordered the room. "No one make a sound. Lewis, you're up." Julia looks over at her partner as she walks on over and grabs the phone from Agent Hotchner's hands.

"H-Hello?" Dr. Lewis started. "Hey, babe." They'd all heard on the other line. "What is it? Is everything okay?" Dr. Lewis continued.

"Yeah, I just-- Sorry for snapping at you earlier." Captain Wilson stated.
"Phil? Just do what you need to do and get home, okay?"
"I will."
"Sweetie, I can hear it in your voice. What is it?"

Agent Hotchner whispers into his cell phone. "Morgan, do you have a shot?" Julia hears that Wilson is in the way and they don't have the shot.

"Honey, talk to me, baby." Agent Hotchner motions to Dr. Lewis to try and get Wilson down and prevent him from getting shot. "Tell me where your head is at." Dr. Lewis continues.
"This whole thing, I never meant for any of this to happen."
"I know. I'm so, so sorry about all of it, but just keep your head down and we'll get through this. Okay? Do you hear me, baby? Just keep your head down."

In an instant, gunshots are heard and Julia flinches at the sound of them. And the line cuts off on both ends. From Agent Hotchner's cell and Captain Wilson's.

And then about five minutes later, Agent Hotchner's technical analyst's cell phone rings. "It's Reid." She answers and puts him on speaker. "Reid, what happened? What happened? What happened?"

"We got both of them." Dr. Reid responds. "Alive." The woman gasps and nods, "Yes!" Julia takes a sigh of relief at this and nods as she smiles,
patting an also relieved Dr. Lewis on the back for her performance.

"Good work. We'll see you back here." Agent Hotchner tells and Garcia hangs up the phone.

Dr. Lewis turns to Agent Hotchner. "Look, I just want to say, even if I don't get the position that this was the best job interview ever." Julia nods in agreement, "Hands down. I mean, is it always this thrilling? I'm sure it is, but — wow. Nothing's gonna top this." There's a pause. "Although, I kinda hope I do get it, 'cause I did almost kinda die, so..."

The technical analyst stands up and introduces herself. "Penelope Garcia." Julia takes note to her bubbly personality, clothing and happy cloud-like demeanor next to Agent Hotchner. She shakes Dr. Lewis's hand before shaking Julia's. "You're marvelous. Both of you."

Garcia turns over to Agent Hotchner and whispers, "They're marvelous."

      "Dr. Cortez, I believe I asked you to wait and that was about 36 hours ago." Agent Hotchner spoke and Julia nods at the man. "It was completely worth it."

      "Maybe we could have that sit-down now?" Agent Hotchner asks, "Along with Dr. Lewis, as well, if you don't mind?"

       Julia looks at the woman next to her. "I do not mind, at all." She nods. "Yes. 2am is my jam." Dr. Lewis agrees and the women begin to head on up to the office.

       "Sir?" Penelope speaks, looking at her superior.
       "Yes?"
       "Do I have to organize the other applicants to follow them?"
      "No, you can tell them the positions have been filled."

        And something told Julia that her and Dr. Lewis may have just swooped and taken the positions right from under every other applicant.

       Agent Hotchner had seen how the two worked together in a pairing, much less than the other applicants and had helped each other with the profile and had seen each of their skills in time-sensitive scenarios. And although, his intention was to only hire one person for the job, he figured he could make an exception with two.

       And this was where the story would soon begin . . .

chapter one is now out!
i am so sorry if this is so bad i literally could've done more to make it accurate but oh well what can you do? 🤷‍♀️
sorry for the lack of reid and julia but y'all know how i love to make my ocs have actual storylines hehe
very excited for what's to come 🤭
-mya <333