Chapter 1: First day of work

Lina's POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I slowly open my eyes and blink. As I roll over to turn off my alarm, I see that it is now 7:00 a.m. With a groan, I drag myself out of bed. Today is the first day of my new job and I don't want to be late.

I put on my glasses and head into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Looking at the reflection in the mirror, I see a full head of messy hair. With a sigh, I spit out the toothpaste and rinse my mouth. After cleaning up, I walk back into my room and open the closet, when suddenly a small figure sprints past my feet.

"Ahhh!!" I spin around quickly to find Pumpkin sitting on my bed. "What the heck were you doing in there?" I walk over to him and run my fingers through his orange fur.

"Meowww!!!" Pumpkin yowls and I laugh, giving him a kiss on the head before walking back to my closet.

I rub my head in frustration as I look at the limited selection of office clothes I own. I used to work in retail at a sportswear store, so most of my outfits consisted of leggings, sweatpants, or hoodies. But working for the FBI means I need to dress more professionally, so I pick out a blue square neck blouse, a black suit, along with a black skirt.

"That should be good enough." I zip up my skirt. "What do you think?" I turn around and show Pumpkin.

He looks up at me with his golden eyes and blinks.

"Thank you." I smile. After that, it is time to tackle the tangled mess on my head. I go into the bathroom and start brushing my loose, wavy hair. Should I straighten it or leave it natural? I wonder to myself. In the end, I decide to leave it natural.

I am about to leave my apartment when I think about wearing makeup. I rarely use it so when I do, it's only eyeliner and some mascara. I quickly run back to the bathroom and open my makeup bag. I look at my contact lenses and decide whether or not I should wear them. If I'm putting effort into doing my makeup might as well. I check my watch and realize that it's already 7:37 a.m.

"Shit!" I curse, quickly rushing through the makeup on my left eye and checking myself in the mirror. I have small eyes thanks to my Korean background so I like how the eyeliner makes me look more awake.

After that, I finish up my right eye and run out of the washroom. "Water." I mutter to myself, rushing into the kitchen to fill up my water bottle. But then I accidentally spill it all over my shirt and I groan in frustration. With a sigh, I head back to my room and take off my suit and blouse. Glancing at the full length mirror, I see the scars on the front of my body. The worst one is the one on my wrist, which the killer had carved a rose into. It was his signature, and they are now faint reminders of the worst moment of my life.

Flashback

"Stop! Please stop!!!!" I scream as the knife blade drags through my flesh.

Present

I shiver and feel goosebumps crawl up my arms as I remember the time my friend Phoebe and I were abducted and tortured. She was my best friend and was with me through the good times and bad. But I couldn't even protect her....

"I miss you, Phoebe," I whisper with tears in my eyes. I finish changing into a blue sleeveless blouse and put back on my suit. With that, I head out the door.

It is 7:46 a.m. when I leave my apartment. Surprisingly, there isn't much traffic so I have enough time to stop by the coffee shop near the office. After that, I drive to work and head into the building at 8:20 a.m. My heart is racing as I stand in the elevator. I wonder what my colleagues will be like—will they like me? Should I have worn better shoes?

Looking down at my feet, I let out a gasp. Not only am I wearing a pair of old Converse shoes, I forgot to change my socks and I'm wearing a pair of bright teal, banana-printed socks. No, no, no, no, noooo!!!! Before I have time to change my socks, the elevator doors open and I step out. I briefly scan around me and see agents and security guards everywhere, so I quickly rush into the bullpen before anyone can notice my socks. Upon entering, I see a serious-looking man.

"Hi, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner—BAU unit chief. You must be Lina Yang." The man shakes my hand.

I smile at him. "Hi, that's right. I'm here for my first day at the Behavioral Analysis Unit."

"Nice meeting you. Let me introduce you to the team." He glances down at my shoes.

"Y-yes, sir," I stutter and quickly start walking. Hopefully he didn't see my socks. Ugh, who am I kidding, he's a profiler and notices everything. Your socks were probably the first thing he saw you idiot! I don't even realize I'm walking alone until I hear Hotchner call me.

"Agent Yang!" he yells. I whip my head around and see him standing behind me 10 feet away. "I didn't tell you which way to go yet."

"I'm so sorry, sir," I apologize and quickly walk back to him. "Just excited to meet the team." I laugh nervously and feel my cheeks getting hot.

He gives me a small smile. "That's fine, we are all happy to have you join us."

I breathe a sigh of relief before following him into the conference room. Upon entering, I see six new faces staring at me.

"Good morning everyone, as mentioned last week we will be having a new agent joining our team." Hotchner gestures for me to come forward. "Please welcome Agent Lina Yang."

"Hey, guys," I greet shyly.

"Yay! We have another girl!!!" A blonde woman with colourful glasses jumps up and gives me a warm smile.

"This is Penelope Garcia—our technical analyst," Hotchner states. "That is SSA Derek Morgan, David Rossi, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, and Dr. Spencer Reid."

I go around and shake everyone's hands. "Nice to meet you guys." I grin. When I get to Jareau, she surprises me by giving me a hug.

"Sorry, it's just that we don't get new faces here often and I'm so glad you're here," she apologizes.

I chuckle and smile at her. "No worries. It's great to be here, too, Jareau."

"That's good to hear, and you can call me JJ."

"JJ," I repeat. After that, I quickly analyze everyone's behaviours to see how they're reacting to my presence. Everyone seems glad that I'm here so I feel myself relaxing.

"JJ, are there any new cases right now?" asks Hotchner.

Looking down at her files, JJ shakes her head. "Surprisingly... no, sir."

Everyone seems shocked at that.

"That's unusual," Rossi remarks.

Morgan stretches his back. "Well, then I guess we have time to take a break."

"Yeah, I'm gonna go take a nap in the break room. I only slept for 4 hours since yesterday's case." Prentiss gets up from the table and yawns. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Yang."

"You, too," I reply.

"When you're ready I'll show you to your desk, Yang," states Hotchner.

"Okay. Thanks, Hotchner."

He nods at me. "You can call me Hotch for short."

Before everyone leaves the conference room, I quickly study each and everyone's faces and features again. First, there is Hotch—he has dark hair, dark brown eyes, and is wearing a full suit. He furrows his brows a lot which makes him look stern.

Second is Morgan—his skin tone is a beautiful warm, dark colour and he has a beard. His T-shirt clings tight to his muscular body and I can tell he works out a lot.

Third, there is Prentiss—she has shiny, straight, black hair with bangs, and her eyes are lined with eyeliner. She is also quite tall and I find myself having to tilt my head up a bit to look at her.

Fourth, I glance at Garcia. She definitely looks like the most fun of them all. Her blonde curly hair is decorated with colourful hair clips and her outfit has fur and sequins all over it.

Fifth is JJ—she has beautiful ocean blue eyes and blonde hair, reminding me of the popular girls back when I was in high school.

Sixth, I look over to Rossi. He is the eldest out of everyone and has a thick beard. His hair is dark with streaks of white through it. I recognize him because I've read a ton of books that he's written about serial killers and profiling.

And lastly, there is Reid. I didn't really notice him at first since he was the only one who hadn't spoken to me yet, and flinched a bit when I shook his hand. But upon closer inspection, I feel a small grin spread across my face and I bite my lip a bit. He is really good-looking and very tall—6'1 or close to 6'2 but pretty lanky. His brown hair is wavy and reaches just below his ears.

But what makes me feel attracted to him are his eyes. He has the most perfect, hazel eyes which for some reason, makes me feel safe when I look into them. Not to mention, he has an amazing facial bone structure that looks like it has been sculpted by God Himself.

For his outfit, he is wearing a dress shirt with a tie and cardigan. But what surprises me most are his shoes. He is also wearing a pair of beat-up looking Converse. I don't even realize I am staring at him until I hear Garcia clear her throat next to me.

"Ahem." She nudges me.

"Huh? Sorry, what?" I ask.

She smirks. "Oh, nothing. It's just that you looked so serious in the study."

I stare at her in confusion. "The study of what?"

She grins at me. "The study of our precious Dr. Spencer Reid."

"I-I-I have no idea what you're talking about," I stutter. My cheeks fluster and I hope that Garcia can't study my behaviour.

"Hmmm... alright, alright. Since you're still a newbie here I'm letting you off the hook."She giggles. "But just so you know—Reid is a total genius but is terrible when it comes to talking to new people. Especially when they're pretty women like you." She looks at me and winks, making me blush and I give her a small smile.

"Well, thanks for letting me know, Garcia."

"No problem-o," she replies. I watch her walk away and chuckle. I can't wait to get to know her better. She seems like such a fun person. I think in my head.

Morgan comes up behind me. "That woman sure is something."

I laugh and shake my head. "I have a feeling I'm gonna like this team a lot."