Chapter Text
“Good people will do good things, lots of them, because they are good people. They will do bad things because they are human.”
-Harold S. Kushner
-March 9th 2021, New York, New York -
21:45
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?” Said a woman with grey hair. She was wearing black jeans and a maroon blouse.
“No, it’s all yours.” A young woman replied, she was in her early 20s but looked a little bit younger. Her long curly hairs were in a low ponytail and her scrunchy was the same color as her clothes, light grey. She knew all the seats and tables were taken and she was alone so she didn’t mind some company. Her best friend had just texted her and she was busy finding a meme so she didn’t look at the person who asked to sit.
The woman put her plate on the table, sitting on the other end to avoid bothering the girl.
The young girl was wearing a shirt, pants and a vest, pretty formal for a lonely diner in a hotel, she was probably coming back from somewhere but she didn’t have a bag or something, it seemed to be just the phone in her hand, which she was working with at that moment. After a few seconds the girl finally looked at the woman’s face. “Agent Prentiss…?” Her cheeks had turned red.
“Do I know you?” Emily asked, a little puzzled.
“No. I… I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Sophia Jahani.” She took her wallet out of her pocket and slipped her badge out of it. She was an academy kid. “It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am. I’m so excited to attend your seminar tomorrow.”
Emily smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too Sophia.” Sophia didn’t look familiar which was weird cause only a few academy kids who were good enough to attend this seminar and almost all of them had tried joining the BAU as an intern.
“Is it true that the BAU will recruit an intern next year?” Sophia asked.
Of course she wasn’t an exception, what was Emily thinking. She was going to see Sophia’s file on her desk sooner or later. “Don’t count on that…” She replied. “Experience is important in the BAU and we have a few experienced agents on our list but the next priority is going to be interns. Give it a try but don’t count on it.” She tried not to break Sophia’s heart.
Sophia looked so unbothered like she couldn’t care less. “Oh okay.” She shrugged and checked something in her phone. From her face, Emily could tell it wasn’t good news.
“Is everything okay?”
Sophia nodded. “Have you seen a blonde man? He’s my age and his left ear is broken.” She said. “He’s my… friend.”
“No sorry.” Said Emily.
“If you saw him… never mind.” Said Sophia as she played with her food.
“Sophia… if there’s anything bothering you-“
“No it’s okay, really. I’m just a little worried about tomorrow that’s it.” She said.
Emily smiled as she got up. Her food was finished. “Tomorrow is going to have nothing to do with your future in BAU. Don’t worry.”
Sophia got up too. “That’s not what I’m worried about.” She said. “I don’t want to join the BAU.”
“You don’t!?” Emily said that a bit loud some heads turned around.
Sophia led Emily to the elevator as they didn’t want to continue this conversation while everyone was looking at them.
The elevator arrived, they both got in and Sophia pressed the 5th floor button. “What floor are you at?”
“5th. Same as yours… Weren’t you planning to-“
“I was asking for a friend. I’m more interested in child advocacy.”
“You can go after child advocacy and still join the BAU. Why don’t you want to give it a try?”
“Can I be honest?” Sophia’s ears were turning red now.
“Sure.”
The BAU is a little boring to me.”
“Excuse me!?”
The elevator stopped. Sophia stepped out and walked to her room. It took Emily a few seconds to digest things and walk out.
“How dare you…” Emily was so puzzled
“I’m more into action than analyzing but I like to expand my skill set by learning from you.” Sophia stopped by the door. “It was a real pleasure to meet you ma’am.” She smiled, opening the door with her key card. “I’m looking forward to your seminar tomorrow. Take care.”
“See you then.” Emily was about to continue walking down the hall when she noticed Sophia’s room is right in front of hers. She took out her key card and opened the door.
22:15
“Hey ma’am. How can I help?”
“Hi Kim. I want you to find someone for me and please don’t call me ma’am.”
“Who ma… Agent Prentiss?”
“An academy kid named Sophia with P-H. Her last name is Jahani.”
“Sophia Jahani… found her!”
“Send me her profile.”
“Sent.”
Emily hung up. She didn’t like Garcia’s replacement at all. He was smart and efficient but he wasn’t Garcia.
She had heard a lot of compliments before and had came across a lot of academy kids but something about this Sophia girl sounded wrong. Her compliments were 100% honest but something made Emily want to do a background check on her. She opened her profile and read through it. Sophia was great in many ways. She got in when she was only 20 and had aced every class she was enrolled in. Probably Emily was overthinking but something was really off. The perfect girl with all the As and titles wouldn’t stay unknown in the academy. She definitely should’ve heard about her. Diving deeper into Sophia’s academy records made her more suspicious. She was an excellent agent-to-be in her first two years but her performance suddenly dropped in 2020. Skipping a few classes, barely passing a couple of them and not taking part in seminars and workshops like she used to. She still got great results from her classes with Spencer so she was definitely going to check a few stuff with him. The girl who just said she found the BAU boring had written a perfect essay on the importance of behavioral analysis!
Emily looked at the clock, it was almost midnight and she had to wake up early tomorrow so she decided to ready for bed. She started by going to the bathroom. When she came back, she noticed she hadn’t put the door chain on, which was weird. She didn’t remember doing it either. Probably she was just too busy thinking about Sophia she didn’t pay attention.
She put the chain on and locked the door before going to her bag, which was in the corner of her room. She started looking for her pajamas but couldn’t find them. She was sure she had packed them. All she could do now was letting an angry groan out.
“Looking for these?”
Emily turned around at the voice. A young man was standing there holding her clothes. He was in his early 20s. His blue eyes were filled with rage and hatred.
The man threw the clothes on the bed and walked closer. “Your team can’t save you this time.”
Emily managed to punch him in his face right when he got close enough and tried to pick her gun from the nightstand. Even though his nose was bleeding, he grabbed Emily’s wrist and twisted her arm, then made her kneel by a quick tackle. Emily was caught completely off guard now. The man bent and made Emily look at him in his eyes by pulling the back of her hair. “You will pay for this.”
Emily felt a sharp pain in her neck and then her whole body felt numb. After a second the pain started to spread into her head and chest. Before blacking out, she saw a syringe in the boy’s hand and heard someone else enter the room.
“What the hell did you just do Declan?!”
Emily knew that voice. She had talked to her.