╭ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╮

𝑷 𝑶 𝑽
❝ 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎 ❞

╰ ⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸⊸ ╯

ㅤ𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐄𝐍𝐃 of Finley's phone call when she entered the brunette's dressing room. She was going to help her get wired again; after the announcement of her getting into the Top 15 and walking in a swimsuit for the last time, she was now getting fitted into another long gown to walk with the other Top 10 candidates.

"...yeah, I'll let you know. Thanks, Steve," Finley said into her phone before she spotted Emily. She quickly ended the call, grinning at her. "Hey!"

"Hey," Emily greeted.

"Where's Jennifer?"

"Hotch assigned her to watch Laurie," she answered, before narrowing her eyes at Finley suspiciously. "So, is he the reason why you keep turning Spencer down?"

"Huh?" Finley frowned, tilting her head in confusion.

"Steve," Emily stated. "Are you sleeping with him?"

"What?! No!" She shook her frantically, grimacing at the thought of her and Steve sleeping together. "Steve's one of my closest friends. I would never!" Then she tilted her head. "Well, I've thought about it, like, once, but no."

"So you aren't sleeping with each other?"

"No! God, Emily," she scoffed. "Steve's a close friend, that's it. We never dated, we never had sex. If anything, I...I dated his best friend." She wasn't ashamed of the fact, and even shrugged at Emily's expression.

Emily raised her eyebrows. "Right. So his best friend was your ex? And you're still friends with him?"

"Just because I dated his best friend does not mean we can no longer be friends," Finley defended, pointing a finger at her. "We were friends way before I dated his best friend. And we run in the same circles so we can't really ignore each other--anyway, please just put the wires on me before this gets even weirder."

"I agree," Emily laughed, walking closer to her and placing a hand on the small of her back. She handed her the earpiece before holding up the little mic. "Where do you suggest we put this?"

"Since Finn got into the Top 10, she'll go out on another evening gown portion," Rossi began to explain, gesturing with his hands as he looked towards Spencer who was listening intently with his brows furrowed. They were once again seated near the stage. "If the judges like her, she'll go into the Top 5 where she'll have to do a question and answer, and that will determine her place."

Spencer nodded, a hand on his chin. "That's nerve-wracking."

"Yeah," Rossi chuckled. "Pageants, as barbaric as it may appear, really does measure not just your beauty but also your brains." He pointed at Spencer. "You know what? You can definitely be a model if you weren't so...introverted."

"What? Why?"

"I mean, you've got the looks," the older man pointed out.

Spencer insecurely patted his face slightly. "Really?"

"Pretty Boy as a model?" Derek spoke up through their comms, a hint of a smile obvious in his tone. "I can see it."

"See?" Rossi humored. But before he can add more to the conversation, the hosts announced that the Top 10 will now be doing their evening gown walk. "Here we go."

The first one called out was Miss Mississippi. She was wearing a black and white gown. She confidently walked down the catwalk, posed, and walked backstage again to make way for Miss Vermont who had a silver gown on.

"Since Finn was called third earlier during the announcement of the Top 10, she'll be the third to do her walk," Rossi whispered to Spencer who nodded as he stared up at the stage. "You excited?"

"Of course," he nodded firmly, clasping his hands together in anticipation. And soon enough, it was Finley's turn. He gaped. "She looks like she's on fire."

"That's one way to say someone's hot," Derek joked, but he nodded to Hotch in agreement as he stared up at the stage. There Finley was, walking down the catwalk wearing a dress that resembled lava. The slit on the right side of the dress was reminiscent of the one from her dress before, but the one on her chest that teased her cleavage and toned abs was enough to incite interesting reactions from the team.

Hotch couldn't help himself from clearing his throat as he shared a look with Derek. He tilted his head as he subtly scanned her up and down, but apparently it wasn't subtle enough, as the dark-skinned man beside him nudged him with his elbow.

"You good, Hotch?" Derek grinned.

"...No," he admitted, crossing his arms.

"Jesus," Emily huffed. "This girl..."

As soon as Finley reached the end, she posed, grinning at the crowd. Her dress had caused the judges to gape and even talk amongst themselves.

"She's beautiful," Rossi nodded, grinning like a proud dad. "I wouldn't doubt she'd get into the Top 5."

Right beside him, Spencer was speechless. He ran a shaky hand through his shaggy hair as he watched her walk back up the catwalk and disappear backstage. He then spoke directly into his mic. "Finn, I-I don't even know if my vocabulary is wide enough to express how beautiful you are."

Finley blushed at his words, making eye contact with Miss Hawaii and sharing an encouraging smile. She wanted to reply to Spencer, but that would only earn her strange looks, so all she could do was continue to walk backstage. She was met with a grinning Emily, who rushed towards her.

"You...you are amazing," Emily almost didn't get to say what she wanted to say as her brain was a little scrambled.

"Thanks, Emily," Finley pulled the woman into a hug, and used the distraction to whisper her thanks to Spencer discreetly. The raven-haired woman gave her a knowing look before looping their arms together.

"Now, come on, JJ's got something for us."

As soon as the two entered the dressing room, they were met with the sight of an unconscious JJ.

"Jennifer!" Finley exclaimed in shock, running towards the unconscious blonde. There was an obvious injury to her head, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened. "Laurie knew she was being watched. Emily, call 911." She scanned the room and noticed a pipe. "Stage scaffolding," she muttered to herself.

"Guys, what's going on?" Derek asked with urgency.

"JJ's been attacked; Laurie just attacked a federal agent," Emily explained, pulling out her phone to call 911. "Garcia, can you pull up the surveillance footage?"

"On it," Penelope spoke through their comms. "I've sent the feed to your tablets. It was definitely Laurie Wilson. This is the first time we caught her on tape."

"She's always been careful and smart, what happened?" Hotch frowned, his voice going deeper than usual. They could all hear Emily frantically talking to the 911 operator.

"She's panicking, devolving," Rossi spoke, sharing a look with Spencer. By then, none of the team was even paying attention to the competition. "We need to head to Garcia's room. We need a plan."

"Wait, we shouldn't leave Finn alone," Spencer protested.

"I won't be alone," Finley shook her head. "I'll be surrounded by all the other girls. As long as I don't stray from them, the unsub has no chance of grabbing me. I'm more worried about Jen."

"She's right," Derek nodded. "She's safer in a crowd. We'll have the comms open for you, Finn. Hang tight."

It wasn't much of a shock that Finley—Catriona—got into the Top 5, and was the last one to be given a question. She was standing at the end of the catwalk, smiling brightly at the crowd while paying close attention to the FBI presence that doubled since the unsub attacked JJ. They now had assurance that Laurie was the unsub, and were now closing in on her.

She made eye contact with Hotch in the crowd as he informed her through the comms that they couldn't find Laurie. Right before the host moved on to her, she whispered, "She's hiding in the crowd," while still smiling.

"And for our last contestant, Miss DC, please pick a number," the male judge smiled at her kindly. She did as she asked and was given a question from judge number one.

"Good evening and congratulations," the judge greeted. "My question for you tonight is, with the recent unfortunate circumstances in this year's Miss USA, how do you think this will affect people's opinions about beauty pageants?"

Finley nodded as processed her words, carefully grasping the mic offered to her. "What happened here was terrible, and it was very sad, no one can deny that. And it could definitely make people think lowly of beauty pageants because they'd assume that because it pitted women against each other, we had it coming. But that's not the case at all, because not only was the perpetrator not a candidate, she's also sitting right there in the crowd," Finley smirked as she pointed her out. "Laurie Wilson, you're under arrest for the murders of Pia Gray, Margie Diaz, Gloria Wurtzbach, and Kimberly Peck. You have the right to remain silent..."

"That was such a power move," Penelope gushed as she rushed towards Finley the second they arrested Laurie. The entire team—including JJ who had a concussion but was allowed to leave the hospital, all while sporting a bandage for her injury—was surrounding the brunette beauty. Penelope gave her a hug. "I love you, please marry me."

Finley laughed, looking down at the redhead. It was a little awkward as she basically towered over everyone in the team. With her heels, she was an inch taller than even Hotch, who was the tallest at nearly six-foot-two. She smiled at her boss who found the height difference amusing judging by the little smile on his face.

"I would love to marry you," Finley humored, looking back at Penelope. "Where's my ring though?"

JJ laughed carefully, a little cautious with her concussion. "As long as I'm the maid of honor, I agree with this union."

Spencer pursed his lips slightly before moving forward to envelop Finley in a hug, an action that continuously surprised the team. They knew of his aversion to physical touch and slight germaphobia, and rarely did he initiate any form of physical affection. But recently, he's been so touchy with Finley that they couldn't even make fun of him for it; they found this little development endearingly cute.

Finley hugged him back, resting her chin on his shoulder as she smiled. They would've hugged longer if it weren't for one of the judges coming up to them.

"I assume you're not actually named Catriona Moran, and you're not actually here to compete," the judge spoke, the same one that asked her the question earlier.

"No, I'm not," Finley shook her head, letting go of Spencer before offering a handshake towards the judge who eagerly took it. "I'm SSA Finley Barrett from the FBI. I was sent undercover."

The judge smiled at her, giving her a firm handshake before letting go. "I can't thank you enough, Agent Barrett. You know, if you were actually a candidate, you would've definitely won Miss USA. Never have we ever seen a candidate more deserving than you, and it's unfortunate you can't actually represent us on an international level."

"Thank you so much for your kind words, but I'm sure you'll find someone more deserving than I am," she smiled, watching as the judge gave her a grateful smile before walking back towards where the other officials were. She turned to the team. "You guys up for some Korean barbecue? The second we get back I'm gonna drag you all with me. My treat."

"If I don't have to pay, I'm in," Emily joked, hugging her around the waist.

"Me too!" Penelope grinned.

Finley looked towards JJ and Hotch. "If you guys want, you can bring the kids. We need to celebrate."

JJ nodded with a smile. "I'm sure Henry would be excited to see his Auntie Lee."

"Yes!" Finley cheered. "Now come on, I need to get out of this dress."

"Nuh uh," Penelope immediately protested. "Not before we all take a picture with you. Come on, you're looking all gorgeous and we don't take pics? That's a crime."

"Alright, alright," Finley giggled before allowing her to do whatever she wanted. One by one, each member of the team was able to take individual pictures with her. Some were formal, others were goofy. And they even took several group photos.

Penelope grinned down at the group photo that was taken by a random person she pulled from the crowd. "Aww, we all look so cute. I'm so gonna have this printed out."

"As long as you give me a copy," Finley told her with a smile before she began walking out of the hall, the rest of the team following her.

"So, where exactly is this Korean barbecue place you were talking about?" Derek asked as they all entered the bullpen. They had just gotten off the plane and were more than ready to eat.

"I'll send you all the address and we can meet up there, I'm sure we all need a bit of time to freshen up," Finley smiled.

"Alright," Emily nodded. "Everyone's coming right?"

"Y'all better," Finley narrowed her eyes playfully at the team. "I nearly won Miss USA, this is the least you guys can do."

Rossi chuckled. "We'll all be there, bellissima, don't worry. If one of them doesn't, I'll banish them from the mansion."

"The mansion, really, Dave?" Hotch grinned, rolling his eyes fondly at his old friend. "I'll make sure Jack comes. It's not too late anyway, and it's not a school night tomorrow. We'll be there."

Spencer agreed. "As long as no one forces me to use chopsticks, I'm good to go."

Finley couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Chopsticks? That's your weakness?"

He pouted. "It's like trying to forage for dinner with a pair of number two pencils."

She shook her head at him while laughing. "Don't think about it too much. I'll make sure they prepare a spoon and fork for you."

"How?" He frowned.

"I know the owners," Finley chuckled, watching their surprised expressions. "I crave samgyeopsal all the time, and they serve the best ones, I swear. You guys will love it." (Grilled pork belly)

"I'm sure we will," Derek winked before looking at the others. "I'll see you all there."

The team actually arrived earlier than Finley, and they were instantly ushered to a big table in the middle of the restaurant when they came in. There were only a few patrons that night, and the restaurant was about to close, so the attention was mostly on them.

Spencer nudged Penelope as he sat beside her. "I think I'm gonna win tonight."

Penelope grumbled at him. "You got lucky. I didn't expect Finn to invite us to a Korean restaurant."

He only gave her a smug smile, shrugging a little.

"What are you guys talking about?" Emily laughed, sitting across from the pair.

"We have a bet going on," Spencer explained. "We predict which language Finley uses next. She knows thirteen languages and we choose a random one we think she'll speak next."

"Ten dollars every bet," Penelope continued. "We have to witness her using the language before either of us earns anything. I bet Filipino and he bet Korean."

"Well, I think it's Spence's lucky day," JJ teased while hugging Henry close, leaning against Will. "Where is she anyway?"

"Here, I'm here," as if on cue Finley walked into the restaurant with a smile, greeting everyone with a wave. She was wearing the most casual outfit the team has ever seen her wear; a pair of dark skinny jeans, a black halterneck crop top, and her black high-cut Chuck Taylors. She wasn't even wearing makeup, and her hair was left straight down her back. She looked towards the store owner who greeted her with a bow. She bowed back before grinning. "Annyong Jisoo-onni!" (Hi Jisoo-onni! — onni/unnie: older sister/female)

She didn't notice Penelope handing Spencer a crisp ten-dollar bill.

"Finley-ah!" The older Korean woman grinned. "Naneun TV-eso dangsineul bwassoyo!" (Finley! I saw you on TV!)

"Aniyaaaa!" She whined playfully. (Noooo!)

Spencer watched Finley converse with the owner with a fond smile. They were conversing in Korean rather animatedly before the two of them suddenly turned serious, and though no one could actually understand them, they began whispering. The two women nodded here and there, and soon, Finley walked back towards the others and sat on the only vacant chair, in between Spencer and an overly excited Jack Hotchner.

"Miss Finley!" Jack greeted, blond hair flopping at his excitement, hugging her tightly. He unexpectedly clambered up to her lap and hugged her neck.

"Finn effect," Hotch chuckled, patting his son on the back before smiling at Finley. "Hope you don't mind him clinging to you like a koala."

"Not at all," she grinned.

Hotch sighed dramatically at Jack. "Don't forget, I'm still your dad, Jack."

The little boy giggled at his father, burying his face in Finley's neck. The team watched as the boy clung onto their youngest member while sucking on his thumb. The little boy then lifted his face away and whispered into Finley's ear.

"Is Captain America coming?" He asked softly.

Finley cooed. "Not today, sweetheart." She hugged him even tighter, before releasing him slowly. "You wanna sit on your own chair again?"

"No," he giggled, still clinging to her. She laughed before she began playing with his hair as they waited for their food.

"Wait, we didn't order anything," Derek stated, frowning a little in confusion.

"I let Jisoo choose what she wants to serve us," Finley explained. "She's the one that knows which meat is the best so I let her have free reign. I trust her."

"So...we're gonna cook the meat ourselves?" Rossi asked her, pointing at the grill in the middle of the table. "Because that's...unique. I've never seen a grill in the middle of a table before."

Finley nodded. "Yeah, she's just gonna give us either raw or marinated meat and it's up to us to cook it how we want."

"Interesting."

As soon as Jisoo served them the meat, Finley took the initiative to teach them the basics. She explained the different side dishes and described their taste as much as she could so they won't be too surprised if they tried it out. She explained the process of ssam, and how great everything tastes with ssamjang. They all laughed when Jisoo went over their table and handed Finley a tub of the dip, explaining to the others how Finley always asks for more.

"It's not my fault you serve so little!" Finley laughed, watching as the older woman rolled her eyes fondly while tutting at her.

Jack was still clinging onto Finley, so she decided on feeding him as she ate, explaining to him how chopsticks worked. Spencer couldn't help himself from intervening.

"These are not fun," he shook his head at the little boy who giggled at him as he waved his unused chopsticks.

"Just because you don't know how to use them does not mean Jack can't learn," Finley lightly scolded, shaking her head at him while chuckling.

Hotch watched the two youngest members with a fond smile before nudging his son. "You think you can let go of Miss Finley now? She can't eat properly with you on her lap, you know." The little boy thought for a moment before nodding at his father and sitting down on his own chair. He gave Finley an amused look. "Can you teach him how to use chopsticks?"

Spencer grumbled as Finley laughed and nodded, leaning down to explain the basics to Jack while tying the very end of the chopsticks together with her hair tie. He watched as Jack nodded along to Finley's instructions, clutching the tweaked chopsticks as best as he could with his little hands.

Derek watched as the little boy successfully picked up a piece of meat and held it for a few seconds before it dropped back onto the plate. He laughed at a pouting Spencer.

"The kid's officially better than you at using chopsticks!"

Spencer sighed as his lower lip jutted out. "Unfair."

Everyone laughed at their interaction, and everything was going smoothly. It was way past the restaurant's closing time when they were about to finish their meal; they were the last ones there. They all laughed at something Penelope said, when suddenly all the lights went out.

"What the hell?" Hotch asked, looking around even though he couldn't see anything as his hand inched towards his gun. The others, the ones who carried their own firearms, were also slowly reaching for them.

"Jisoo-onni!" Finley called out, but there was no answer. She let out a shaky breath before closing her eyes and pressing her feet firmly on the ground as she felt for vibrations. She could feel several pairs of feet marching towards where they all sat. She clenched her jaw and gently placed a hand on Hotch's arm. "Get Jack under the table," she instructed, turning towards where JJ sat. "Jen, get Henry under the table too. You stay with them."

"What's going on?" Emily demanded, blindly gripping the table in front of her. "Finn?"

The emergency lights suddenly turned on, casting a dim light around the restaurant. The team all looked around and froze in shock; they were surrounded.

Finley glanced at where the kids were sat and sighed in relief when she saw that they were safely under the table, along with JJ. Will gave her a frightened look as he worried over his wife and son. She turned away and focused her gaze on who she can assume as the ring leader, standing behind Derek's chair, which was directly across from her.

The man gave her a sadistic grin. "Ilya sends his regards."

She couldn't help herself from rolling her eyes. "Give him mine too," she tilted her head. "That is, if you live long enough to see him again."

He scoffed, gesturing to his henchmen, each carrying an assault rifle. They were all dressed in all-black tactical suits. "You're surrounded, my dear. You shouldn't be so smug."

"Oh yeah?" Finley taunted, ignoring Hotch's intense glare that was practically drilling a hole to the side of her face. She casually leaned back against her chair. "Then why don't I introduce you to Severus first, I think you'll like him."

"Who?"

Finley gestured to the floor and the man looked down and frowned in confusion, leaning closer to see what she was talking about, just in time for the saw-scaled viper to strike, biting into his face and fangs buried in his cheek. She smirked sadistically at the sight of him screaming and flailing before standing to her feet and looking at the henchmen who all moved their pointer fingers down to their rifle's trigger. 

She grinned, tilting her head as her eyes flickered to amber, resembling that of a snake's. "Are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to fight?"

author's note: cLiFfHanGeR ehehehehe

tell me what you think ;)

and thanks for 21k!!!