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Annie stepped out of the elevator onto the sixth floor at exactly 7:55 am - twenty minutes before she would be meeting the unit chief of the Behavioural Analysis Unit. Taking in a breath, she clutched at the strap of the duffle bag that was slung around her shoulder a little tighter before pushing the glass doors open. She took in her surroundings, taking notice of the dozens of desks that made up the bullpen and the offices at the top of the stairs along with a meeting room. Fortunately, it was early enough that only a few agents were wandering in and around the bullpen which meant there were only a few people that would see her freak out.
As a part of her internship, Annie was shadowing different teams to get an idea of the range of things she could do if she chose to join the FBI (which she could now confidently say she would). She was set to work with the BAU next and it was safe to say she was definitely nervous about it. No, scratch that - nervous was an understatement. Annie was terrified. The BAU was often considered one of the most elite units on the force with one of the highest case success rates; it wasn’t hard to be at least a little bit intimidated at the prospect of joining them albeit even if it were for just a couple of weeks.
She had heard rumours about the team too. Apparently, the unit chief was a drill sergeant with a stick up his ass and never smiled. The team also had the youngest agent the FBI had ever recruited who was supposedly a human encyclopaedia. Everyone always said that he was incredibly weird or annoying. Annie had been told that the world-famous profiler now author, David Rossi, was on the team too and was a pretentious ass who just walked around Quantico like he owned the place. She also heard on more than one occasion women fawn over a certain Agent Morgan, often describing him to be something along the lines of a “statuesque god”. She wondered if this Agent Morgan would be anything like Jeff. Jeff certainly didn’t try to hide how highly he thought about his appearance and that made him somewhat selfish and pretty narcissistic - in the beginning at least. Now that she thought about it these women did act a lot like the Dean around Jeff.
After checking the time once more, Annie made her way up the stairs and towards the door labelled ‘Aaron Hotchner’. She stopped in front of it and began her process of composing herself. Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, she forced the feelings of anxiety down before knocking on the door three times. After a faint call of “Come in,” she opened the door and entered the room. SSA Hotchner was exactly as Annie visualised; he had frown lines ingrained deep into his face and hard, steely eyes that seemed to bore into her soul. This was definitely the face of someone who had stared into the eyes of some of the most vicious serial killers.
“Agent Hotchner, I’m Annie Edison, your new intern. I’ll be shadowing your team for the next couple weeks,” Annie said, her confident manner almost completely masking how absolutely nervous she was, as she firmly shook her new boss’ hand.
“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Annie’s head tilted, curious to hear what had been said. “The unit chiefs at the Counterterrorism and Crimes Against Children units have both said you are an incredibly dedicated worker and exceptionally hard working. I hope to see that level of diligence here,”
Annie’s mouth grew into a smile and stood a bit taller. “Absolutely, sir. I have heard a lot about the BAU too and I’m eager to prove myself,”
“Your letter of recommendation was impressive too of course,” he added on. Though her smile remained, Annie’s eyebrows furrowed. Surely he was exaggerating; what was so special about a letter of recommendation from the dean of a community college? From Greendale especially, a school that barely fitted even the loosest definition of a school.
“Now if you don’t have any questions, someone will be here to show you around shortly,”
“Actually, I, uh, was wondering what you were referring to when you said my letter of recommendation,” Agent Hotchner frowned, indicating for Annie to elaborate, “Well, the only one I submitted was from the dean of my college but I assume you are not referring to that?”
“Yes, you’re correct. I received a recommendation from Agent Emily Prentiss from London’s Interpol office. She previously was an agent with the BAU.”
“I’m sorry sir, but I don’t think I’ve ever met this agent. If I’m being honest I had never met any kind of agent before starting my internship here,”
“That’s peculiar. The letter seemed to describe you perfectly and everything you have done so far during your time at the Bureau has supported what has been said in your recommendation so I don’t doubt that it has been mistaken for someone else. But I’ll look into it,”
“Thank you, sir,”
As if on cue another agent came knocking at the door, ready to show Annie around. She found the tour interesting enough but despite how hard she tried to focus on what she was being shown, there was a nagging voice at the back of her head that kept wondering who this Emily Prentiss was.
--
Shortly after she had finished her tour, the other members of the BAU team started to trickle in. As she began to introduce herself to all of them, Annie couldn’t help but to compare her new team to her study group back at Greendale (it felt a little odd to keep calling them her study group; they were so much more than that by the time she left). Eventually, she came to the conclusion that it was the urge to feel some sense of familiarity that made her make so many connections between the BAU and her community college family.
Annie had met Doctor Reid, although he insisted she called him Spencer, first who undoubtedly was every bit of a genius she had heard him be. Not long after they had introduced themselves to each other, he went on an enthusiastic tangent about chemistry after she had inquired what he had gotten his PhDs in. Annie found it fascinating and made sure to listen intently; she couldn’t really understand how other people found him irritating. She drew the similarities between Abed and Spencer immediately. Sure, they were both incredibly intelligent young men with a tendency to ramble but that was only on the surface. Annie had been there for only a couple hours but she could already tell he was the heart of the group, the person that kept the group together much like how Abed’s TV-related hijinks had ultimately brought their study group together despite how reluctant they had all initially been at the idea of them.
Rossi was far less of an asshole than everyone made him out to be. He had been welcoming when Annie had introduced himself and didn’t even seem bothered when she asked a question or two about his books (because obviously book smart, nerdy Annie Edison had read his books in preparation for this job). He was like a much less offensive, Italian Pierce in how he was the rich father figure that gave good advice. Though in retrospect, it was weird how the insulting, rude and often racist person that was Pierce had come to play a paternal role in Annie’s life but no matter how much of a jerk he was he did always seem to care deeply about his friends. He always went out of his way to help them as well even if he did have some ulterior motives at times. (Annie recalled when Pierce paid her rent as a form of blackmail so he could have a bigger part in her anti-drug play but she also remembered how he managed to hire Sophie B. Hawkins to play at Britta’s party just to make her happy and not feel like a complete failure.) It was times like these where Annie really missed Pierce.
Annie was right in likening Jeff to Agent Morgan because Derek Morgan was undoubtedly attractive. But beyond his remarkable physicality, she could sense that Derek was a deeply dependable person - the person you would think to call first when in a predicament. Annie was reminded of how her study group would flock to Jeff with their problems as if he could magically solve them. Both of them were the pillars holding their respective teams up. Even when everyone was crumbling they would still stand tall to support everyone.
Jennifer, or JJ as she preferred to be called, was supportive straight off the bat, offering to be Annie’s guide and help her navigate the whirlwind that was the BAU. JJ’s eyes lit up when she enquired about the various photos on her desk, immediately starting to talk excitedly about her children. Annie had recognised the unspoken obligation that all mothers had to show off their children any chance they got - Shirley had often done the exact same thing (even more so after baby Ben’s birth). There was something similar about the two women but Annie chalked it up to their shared maternal energies.
The team had been nothing but welcoming but Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia had been the most so. She had quite literally welcomed her with open arms as Annie was immediately engulfed in a hug upon introducing herself. Penelope Garcia was not hard to miss; she wore bright colours and was basically a walking, talking rainbow that exuded positivity. Annie thought her energy was kind of similar to the Dean’s, although his outfits were always far more extravagant and flamboyant - it was much harder to get away with wearing a Lady Gaga cosplay in the FBI than at Greendale. They were both the pop of colour in the sea of dull monotony, trying their hardest to make sure everyone was happy and having a good time. Annie reminisced on the ridiculous number of equally ridiculous festivals and dances the Dean held to maintain school spirit.
Penelope had excitedly expressed that they finally had enough girls on the team to host a girls’ night again. Apparently, two people were far too small of a group to be considered a girls’ night and the number of female agents in the BAU had been lacking since someone called Emily had left. (There was that name again, Annie thought.)
--
Not much of the day had gone by before they were inevitably called into work on a case. The one they were presented with was quite nasty, several women in L.A. had been found dead face down in shallow graves bound and raped, but Annie had a feeling she would be seeing a lot more gruesome things during her time at the FBI. Immediately, the team started spit balling ideas and Annie was in awe. Even when just brainstorming initial thoughts, they were so in sync as they threw different facts at each other and built off one another’s theories. No one ever cut anyone off and everyone took every thought into consideration which definitely took Annie by surprise - she had always taken the brunt of the work when doing group projects throughout the entirety of high school and even most of college.
After a while, Annie found herself the centre of attention as the group of profilers stared at her expectantly, obviously trying to include the newbie. She urged herself to recall everything she had read before on profiling. “Maybe...” she started hesitantly, not wanting to mess up her first contribution to the team. “The unsub could be feeling remorse for the victim so that’s why he places them in their graves face down,”
Agent Hotchner added on to her idea by saying “or it could be a sign of his sexual insecurity - he doesn’t want the victims to see him and judge him,”
Annie smiled slightly, proud that her contribution was successful. In her mind she took note of how much psychology went into profiling, maybe she could show off to Britta one day.
The back and forth of exchanging ideas continued for a while more before Hotch announced, “Wheels up in 30,” and everyone stood up and made their preparations to leave. “Edison, do you have a go-bag?” He added as he collected his files and papers from the table.
“Yes, sir. I do,” Annie responded eagerly.
“Good, you’ll be coming with us to Los Angeles,” If it weren’t for the awful murderer they were tasked to find, Annie would have been excited at the idea of going to L.A.
As she exited the conference room, she noticed a crowd forming in the middle of the bullpen. The rest of the team, who had left before her, seemed to be gathered around a dark-haired woman.
“Annie, come over here and meet Emily,” JJ called out as she gestured for her to come closer. Emily? Emily Prentiss? The agent that wrote her letter of recommendation?
Annie heard bits and pieces of the conversation the team was having with the agent. “I thought you were in London?” Spencer had asked.
“Well, I was in town for business so I decided to visit,” Emily responded.
Annie frowned. That voice seemed awfully familiar. But the person that voice was supposed to belong to should’ve been miles away in Colorado, not right in the middle of the BAU surrounded by FBI agents who seemed to know her really well. As Annie got closer to the woman and started to get a better look at her face, she realised she did recognise Emily Prentiss just probably not in the way Agent Hotchner expected.
“Frankie?” She said slightly too loudly than the whisper she intended. Emily seemed to smile at the name whilst everyone else looked a bit puzzled.
“It’s been a while, Annie,” she said, offering Annie her hand which she shook slowly, not quite comprehending what was happening.
“Yes...it certainly has been,” she said, equally as confused as the rest of the team.
“Can someone tell me, what the heck is going on right now?” Garcia called out. But the tech analyst’s question was never answered as Hotch called Annie and Emily over.
“Edison. Prentiss. Come with me,” Leaving the group of profilers to whisper amongst themselves, the two were led into Hotch’s office.
“As you recall this morning, Edison, you weren’t aware of who Agent Prentiss is or that she had submitted a letter of recommendation on your behalf. I spoke to her and she insisted she come in to properly explain herself. Usually, I would let you two talk about this between yourself but I’ve been informed that this is involved with a bigger investigation. So I would like to know how exactly you know each other,”
Investigation? How in the world would she be involved in an investigation - let alone anything concerning the FBI? Frankie - Emily? - took a breath as if she was gearing up to explain her side of the story but Annie spoke up before she could start, “Agent Prentiss introduced herself as Francesca Dart when I met her at Greendale, my college. She was hired as an efficiency consultant to improve the school...after the roof collapsed under the weight of thousands of frisbees,” she trailed off at the end, still quite embarrassed at how much of a mess her school was. Hotch opened his mouth to say something but closed it as if he decided he wasn’t going to ask for Annie to elaborate. Instead, he just looked to Emily, wordlessly asking her to explain her side of the story.
“My team at Interpol tracked down an unsub to Colorado from England where a team and I followed him from. This particular unsub tended to target universities so I, alongside others, went undercover at several college campuses around where we assumed to be his base of operations so we could catch him before he went on another spree. I was assigned to go undercover at Greendale Community College.”
Annie’s mouth dropped. She knew Frankie - Frankie was a friend and she was sure nothing about Frankie would surprise her anymore but apparently not? Because Frankie was not Frankie; because Frankie was Emily. Annie didn’t know Emily. How could the most normal person that Greendale had seen in years work for fucking Interpol? How could she have been a secret agent the entire time?
“Wh-? H-How? What?” Annie sputtered, not being able to find the words despite millions of questions racing through her head.
“Annie, I am so sorry. Truly,”
Hotch’s eyes darted between the two women, immediately noticing the completely confused expression on Annie and Emily’s guilt-ridden face as her hands fiddled with each other, fingers anxiously picking her nails.
“Prentiss, we’ll talk more about this later,” He looked to Annie, “But I’ll leave the two of you to talk this out between yourself,”
Annie found herself watching her boss as he left, desperately forcing her eyes anywhere else but on Emily. A thick silence befell the room as the door shut with a slight click. Annie was suffocating. She wanted to scream and holding it in made it feel like something was clawing at her throat.
She could recognise the sound of Emily taking an inhale before starting, “Ann-”
“What about Greendale? Did you just leave them?” Annie interrupted with a little more malice than she intended, failing to mask the rage that was bubbling up to the surface.
“Yes, unfortunately.” She said regretfully. “The investigation was over and I had no justifiable reason to stay but please believe me when I say I really didn’t want to leave,”
“How much of what you told us about your life was a lie?” She shot back bluntly. Had their entire friendship been fake? Was she really just putting up with Greendale until her investigation was over or did she actually like being there?
Emily sighed, “Only my name and the vague outline of my past. I don’t really have a mentally challenged sister, or a dead sister either - those emails about you and everyone else to her were check-ins with my superior. I had to let them know that the unsub wasn’t any one of you.”
“You know I can’t suddenly forgive you or act like everything is okay after you just told me that everything I previously knew about you wasn’t real, right?” Annie spat, not even attempting to conceal her anger anymore.
“I know you must be feeling a lot of things right now but I really want you to know that I really, honestly, truly loved being at Greendale. Being with all of you brought out another side of me that I’ve never experienced before. Never before have I had so much fun or let myself be so free as when I was at Greendale. Sure, maybe some of it was an act at the beginning but after a while none of it was. I really do love everyone at Greendale and I wouldn’t change that for the world,”
Annie softened at the words and found herself smiling against her better judgement. Greendale had a strange way of making you miss it (a more rational person would have suspected that it could be considered Stockholm syndrome) even if you only held hatred for it in the beginning. She had despised the school at first, considering it as a constant reminder of her failure, but it didn’t take long before Annie accepted that she had become a Greendalian Human Being through and through. Honestly, Annie thought Emily might have drawn the short straw when they decided which college campuses to go undercover on; there were definitely easier, less chaotic colleges to infiltrate. She was sure Emily didn’t expect to be dealing with a dysfunctional group of adults that acted more like children when she was originally there to catch a serial killer.
“Wait, what about the others? Did you tell them the truth?” she quickly asked at the reminder of her friends.
“Yes. Not all of them took it well which is understandable but I just hope they come around to it eventually. They never might and that’s fine. I felt it just was really important for them to know. They deserved to,”
“I can’t say I completely understand but if you would be willing to, I would like to talk about it with you? And maybe get to know the real Emily Prentiss, not Emily as Frankie trying to hide who she really is,”
“Yes, I think I’d really like that,” Emily started with a smile, “And I think you’ll find that they’re more similar than you think,”
Emily slightly opened her arms, hesitantly testing the waters to gauge if Annie had forgiven her enough to give her a hug. Fortunately, the younger woman had managed to calm down from her previous rage and accepted the hug gratefully. It was sort of odd. Frankie never really hugged anyone - she never let herself get too close to the Save Greendale Committee; she never let herself get attached to them in the same co-dependent way some of the older members, Annie included, had. Perhaps, she thought, it was because Emily knew she would eventually have to leave. That one day, she would have to strip the façade of Francesca Dart and return to being Emily Prentiss once again. She guessed that plan backfired - Emily seemed to have warmed up to Greendale’s bizarre ways and let herself care for it more than she expected.
One conversation and a hug wouldn’t miraculously heal their relationship. Annie knew that. She still felt a twinge of betrayal pang in her heart if she let herself think about it enough. But this was a step in the right direction. Maybe after thinking about it for a while, she would find the heart to fully forgive Emily. How long would that while be? Who knows? But Frankie, and by extension Emily, was still a friend and Annie never had it in her to hate her friends for very long.
A sudden knocking drew both of the women’s attention to the door. JJ popped her head into the office, a somewhat apologetic look on her face, “I’m really sorry to interrupt whatever is going on here but we have a plane to catch,”
“Oh yes, of course, I won’t hog Annie for any longer. JJ take care of this one, she’s a bright one and I’m sure she will do amazingly,” Emily said with a smile as she patted Annie on the shoulder. The younger woman gave her one last hug before moving to join JJ’s side.
“So how do you two know each other?” JJ finally asked the question that was on the tip of everyone’s tongues as the pair of them stepped into the elevator.
“It’s a long story I’ll tell you later, maybe when there’s not a sexual sadist on the loose,”
Well like they said, there was never a boring day with the BAU and if Annie had any doubt in that before she definitely believed it now after her eventful first day. But she was sure she could handle it; she did have a lot of experience in unconventional situations after all.
--
“True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart,” - Helen Keller