#Slugger meets his Nephew/ Niece

[slugwithdrugs]

Hey Uncle Slugger, you might not know me.. But that’s fine! I was adopted by your brother, who is now my Papa! I just wanted to say hi and hope your day is going well!!

-Foxy 🦊

"Oh....my days been .........fine..i guess..."

[stunudo]

Then The World Changed

One of the Six: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction

Featuring: OC x BAU Team     Setting: Prior to Pilot Episode

Self-prompts: Who left the opening in the BAU for Greenaway to fill? What was the BAU like before Gideon’s sabbatical?

My name is Bethany Devereaux. I was one of the six agents killed by Adrian Bale and this is my story.

Warnings: Terrorism, grief. I do not own the image of the Pentagon wreckage or the characters from the show. I refused to release this on the anniversary, it’s going to be rough as it is. Sorry in advance! xoxo Stu

1265 days remain

It was a Tuesday morning. I woke up. I ran. I got ready. I went to work. Just a day.

The bank of computers were aligned on the wall. The phone cords and power strips a jumble beneath the old wooden table top. The internet was connecting with springs and hissing progress. I was working on weather patterns affecting the comfort zone of an unsub in Northern Texas. Hotch was on the phone beside me, talking to Haley. The two had been married for less than a year, it was rather nauseating to witness. They were so happy. I continued to get along well with Haley; she is smart and keeps Aaron on his toes.

“I love you, too.” Hotch hung up, a small smile still on his lips.

“Alright, Lover Boy, if I was an UnSub hauling bodies into the dessert. What vehicle would be most discreet?”

“Something all terrain, a Jeep maybe?”

The phone rang dragging me out of the haze of concentration. Erin Strauss’s voice yelled into the phone.

“Listen to me Agent. Tell Gideon there has been an attack in New York. All hands on deck, the BAU needs to clear out immediately.”

It was September 11, 2001 and the world and the work would never be the same.

1334 days remained

It wasn’t Grammy’s sweet tea anymore, but it was the same big porch. My folks had inherited the family land after she had passed in ‘96. Daddy tried his hardest to keep the Devereaux Fourth of July barbecue going strong. There we were sweating in the 90 degree sun. Charlie’s boys were chasing Manny’s kids ruining their perfectly matching outfits.

“Auntie B! Auntie B! Tell Charles he can’t be mean to be, I am the littlest!” My brothers were stifling their laughter as I rolled my eyes at my niece’s dramatics. I crouched down and put my palms on to her shoulders.

“Amelia June, do you think being the littlest saved me from anybody’s mean-ness?” Her brown eyes went all puppy dog.

“No?” She asked, “No, ma’am.” Correcting herself.

“That’s right. You are going to have to ignore them and play by yourself or push back.” I shook her a little to bring out some natural aggression. “Now get!” I tickled her a little and sent her running towards the gaggle of cousins. I strolled over to my brothers’ over sunned faces.

“Manny, those kids need a Devereaux summer. Don’t let my only niece become a whiner.”

“Don’t look at me, Bets!” Manny’s lazy smirk nodded towards his dolled up wife sitting in the shade. “You think I can get Jill to agree to anything besides riding lessons or tea parties?”

“Man am I glad we only have boys, girls are tough!” Charlie cracked, asking for retribution. I slurped over the ice from the bottom of my glass. I just shook my head, rolled my eyes and chucked the ice straight into my oldest brother’s smarmy face. He tried grabbing me, but I was too quick. Sprinting towards the barns.

“Somebody’s been spending too much time behind a desk, Colonel!” I screamed across the yard. He hadn’t even tried following me. Everyone was laughing, well except Mama and Jill. I took an overplayed curtsy, because girls are tough.

1265 days remain

I worked 37 miles away from my big brother for the past year and a half. I had seen him a grand total of twice in that time.

I remember telling Gideon to shut up when the announcement of the third crash hissed over the radio. The nausea and powerlessness paralyzing me.

There are official reports about where we were and when. They can tell you about the hours stuck in traffic and the details we were piecing together from news stations and phone calls. I am not reliving that day. Frankly, because I can not. I have buried it in the dark spaces. The spaces that open only in slumber and self doubt.

Charlie was inside the Pentagon when Flight 77 collided with the western face at 0937. It took two days to confirm what we were all thinking: Charlie was gone. The day my mother called me we were still in New York. After days of horror, exhaustion and smells too pungent to name, I threw my television set out the window of my third floor studio apartment. The images from the endless news updates seared into my memories.

I sat beside my mother during the service. Daddy sat beside Charlie’s wife Cynthia, the only time I saw her move unassisted the entire day was to take the flag. I had to stop myself fidgeting in my uniform. My mother cried silently while I tried not to strangle the bugle player.

Never had Devereaux children sat still as long as my nephews and niece did that day. The service was for Charlie, but I felt it was for us all. America was grieving. I was wiping off the counters in the kitchen when a little hand tugged my jacket.

“Auntie B? What’s it like?” Amelia asked.

“What’s what like, Slugger?” I petted her fly away hair.

“Not having your big brother no more?”

“I don’t know yet, I am just figuring it out, aren’t I?”

“Oh, right.” She nodded. “Well, good luck.” She bounded away, tugging at the tulle on her dress.

Over the next few weeks I finally got to meet the famous David Rossi. After the attacks, he came back to the BAU in a consulting capacity. I could tell he knew there was more unsubs to catch and his military background ensured his return to duty. Hotch and he worked the Boise Idaho School Bombing case that was the only thing to fill the headlines after the Towers.

Gideon, Hansen and myself were still working on paperwork from the office in Quantico; evaluations, ensuring that the behavior of our first-responders and clean up efforts were stable, profiles on potential next targets. Long hours and lots of probables for the new Department of Homeland Security to consider along with the endless intel from the CIA.

Rossi left just before Halloween that year, which was disappointing. He had a sort of lone wolf mentality, but our work was exponentially better with him around. “You’re a lot more reserved than Katie, eh?” He asked over a meal at Hansen’s house.

“I focus on the work, if the unsubs bring out our emotions, we’re no good to the team.”

“Yeah, but burying it doesn’t make it go away.”

“True, but neither does surrendering to it.”

1214 days remain

Hansen had drank my V8 again. I had the stupid six pack hidden in the back of the community fridge, labeled and still: gone. I trudged back to work unsatisfied. There they were, Strauss and Hotch looking all superior.

“What do you mean they’re moving the unit upstairs?” Hotch looked at Strauss as if she had told him we had been released into the wild.

“Orders are to have a workable office with the latest technology by the first of the year.”

“Where is the funding coming from?” Hotch was always worrying about damned budgets.

“Just take the upgrade, Aaron.” Strauss huffed. “Don’t make me regret allotting you one of the private offices.” She clipped off to wherever her office was now.

“You think Gideon wants his office? Because I could really use some leg room, Chief.” I teased.

“Don’t get too excited, Bets. I think we’re all better off if he has a place to hide.”

Next Chapter: Upgrades

@dontshootmespence @criminalwriting @cherry-loves-fanfic @imagicana @hotchnerfuckmeup @teatimewithtiya

[cherishedvisit]

hc + meeting joe's family

it appears that running off & escaping her royal duties for twenty four hours is so much easier than trying to pry out any information out from joe about his past. in time, he tells her the basics ; that he was born && raised in manhattan, that he has a sister ( julia ; nieces & nephews too ) that he was once close to ( once upon a time , before the WAR ).  a mother - both of whom he hasn’t spoken to in years. it takes ann months to piece together what drove them apart ( she doesn’t UNDERSTAND how family isn’t integral in his life the same way it is in hers - doesn’t understand the guilt that he faces or the fear that he has ), tries to locate his sister in the chaos of the news following their engagement ( MANHATTAN SLUGGER MARRIES INTO ROYALTY ), but julia beats her to it. 

ann’s first made aware of the julia’s appearance by a guard ; letting her know that there’s a woman out there, demanding entry, claiming to be related to her royal highness’ betrothed. trusting & trying to believe in the good of all people as always, ann takes a chance, says that she’ll see the girl alone in her quarters - she’s greeted by julia, nothing like the few stories she’s heard of from joe, 5″5, in comparison to ann’s mere 5′2″, brown ringlets framing her face - furious and hurt. both ladies are incredibly hurt by how little joe has revealed ; about why he stayed away from his family && why he hasn’t told ann any of it. they bond over a mutual frustration in this man, before realizing they’re actually quite similar and become close friends. 

she doesn’t meet joe’s mother, elizabeth, till later. before the wedding, but after she’s prodded all information out of joe & julia in preparation. she’s terrified of joe’s mother ; wants to impress her mother in law as best she can. she may be royalty, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not nervous to meet her mother in law at all. she tries to be as normal, as ordinary as a girl every time she encounters mrs. bradley ; doesn’t want joe’s mother to think of her as ROYALTY but of a dutiful daughter in law.

she tries to encourage joe to talk to his family as much as she can ; wants them to go back to the way things were, even though she knows there’s a charles sized hole in it all. it will never be the same ; they can’t make up for the last few years, but she’s determined to patch things up, to have elizabeth & julia in their lives. INSISTS on having them invovled in the wedding. 

she doesn’t get to meet joe’s father, but they go visit his grave whenever they’re back in manhattan. she hears stories about him, from julia & elizabeth - not so much joe, he’s still riddled with guilt & she wishes ( more than anything ) that she could’ve been there to help him cope with it all.  she suggests ‘charles atticus’ for their baby ; charles, after his father, atticus, after the philosopher, hoping that it’ll bring their families closer to one another, attempting to fill some of that hole.