CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS OF GRAPHIC SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN 4X02

FOUR; HER FIRST MISSION

IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE THE TEAM WERE READY TO BEGIN THEIR NEWEST CASE. Derek had waved Daisy towards the conference room, where she awkwardly followed behind the group, unsure of what she was supposed to do. She assumed, that for the first case, she should sit back and watch so that she could participate later on.

Once she made it inside the room with red painted walls, a television and a round table, she found herself with a small smile on her face as Spencer offered her the chair beside him. She sat down and picked up the case file before her, opening it and swallowing when she saw the gruesome pictures of a bloodied corpse.

She felt the need to make a comment but decided against it, as the team surrounding her probably wasn't aware of her personal coping mechanisms. So, she ran her fingernail up and down the edge of the file, her brain trying to convince her that she was doing just fine.

Hotch walked into the room last, appearing rather concentrated on whatever thoughts were running through his head. He twitched a little as he sat down, and didn't acknowledge anyone except for Jennifer Jareau (who insisted Daisy call her JJ). "Let's get started."

JJ nodded, before pointing to the projector screen. "This is Delilah Grennan. She was bludgeoned and raped during the night at her home in Lower Canaan, Ohio."

"Lower where?" Emily asked. Of all the people in the BAU, Daisy had decided that the feisty dark-haired agent was her favourite. In the few days they'd known each other, the woman, ten years her senior, had taken her under her wing and made sure she was comfortable in every aspect of the new job; something about 'understanding the hostility' from their coworkers.

"Small town forty miles outside of Cincinnati," JJ replied. She was kind, but always too busy for small talk. She'd insisted Daisy join her, Emily and the tech woman, Penelope Garcia (whom she was yet to meet) for a girls night, before she was pulled in another direction by something more important.

"Staging the body face-up with the arms across the chest like that..." Spencer trailed off in thought, studying the gruesome picture with a skewed sort of fascination.

"Ritual," Morgan finished his sentence, before walking past the young genius and ruffling his hair. "Nice hair, by the way."

Daisy glanced across. She didn't realise he'd gotten it cut. Spencer awkwardly smiled and fixed his dark locks. "Thanks."

"Uh, there's more," JJ continued, using the remote to open a new file on the screen. "Small puncture wounds on her stomach. Note the lack of blood."

"So, they were done post-mortem?" Daisy asked softly, more to herself than anyone else. She was surprised to hear hums of agreement from everyone. She cleared her throat and averted her eyes from the others. "Were there any other victims?"

JJ grimaced. "Kind of."

Everyone turned their attention to the heavily pregnant blonde.

"Victimology and signature match a serial killer from the same town ten years ago. Six victims spanning over ten months. He called himself-"

"The Angel Maker," Hotch interrupted. "I remember the case."

Daisy's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought they caught that guy."

"And executed him," Rossi nodded her way. He too had been supportive over the last few days. Unlike Hotch, he didn't seem to care all that much that Strauss had given her the job. It was rather comforting.

"That's right. He was put to death by lethal injection a year ago yesterday," JJ finished. Daisy noticed how close the team were just by the past few minutes of conversation. They finished each others sentences and all seemed to be on the same wavelength constantly. She worried that she wouldn't be able to catch up with them in time.

"Yesterday," Emily hummed, deep in thought.

"So, we're looking for a copycat," said Morgan.

"Honouring the anniversary of his hero's death."

Spencer hadn't stopped fiddling with his hair. "It says here they found semen at the crime scene. Perhaps locals will get a DNA match when they run it through VICAP?"

"Well, that's where it gets weird," JJ muttered.

That's where it gets weird? Daisy exhaled a spell of warm air, not looking forward to what the liaison had to say next.

JJ tapped her pen against the table. "They ran it already and they got a match, too."

"Well, if they already have a name, why'd they call us?" Emily asked, crossing her arms.

Rossi scoffed as he read the report JJ handed him. "They've got to be kidding. The match they got back on the DNA is to a Cortland Bryce Ryan, otherwise known as...the Angel Maker."

Daisy's eyes widened, and this time she couldn't help herself. "Plot twist."

Morgan snickered softly, alerting the new recruit that she'd said her thoughts out loud. Her head shot up and she looked around to see that everyone was staring at her with amused expressions. Besides Hotch. He didn't look all too impressed. He seemed to refrain from rolling his eyes, and closed the case file, standing up. "Wheels up in thirty."

★☆

The longer Daisy spent in the company of the BAU, the more she realised that she wasn't ready to be back out in the field. Even stepping on the private jet seemed to be a difficult task for her.

For that reason, she hung back and chose to be the last one to climb in. She hated planes -- she hadn't been in one for years, and that was a choice she'd been happy with. She knew crashes weren't common, but they weren't exactly impossible.

"Something wrong?" Hotch didn't look up from his phone as he walked past Daisy. She swallowed, and tried to find the words to say.

"No, I..," she trailed off, realising he wasn't actually listening and had walked into the entrance of the jet without so much as a glance her way. She sighed through her nose irritably, feeling nothing but disdain for her boss. She gripped her bag handle tightly and swallowed her fear, walking up the metal steps, feigning purpose.

Spencer was the first to smile at her once she stepped in, and he offered to take her bag and stow it away (which meant handing it to Morgan to deal with). Nonetheless, Daisy appreciated the gesture and chose to take the seat opposite him. Emily sat beside her, and was quick to notice how she picked at the skin around her fingernails.

She leaned forward and rested her hand on Daisy's knee. Daisy stopped and looked at the Agent. "Everything okay?"

Daisy noticed how the question caught everyone's attention. She cleared her throat and gestured to the compact space. "Yeah, just the...you know..."

Spencer sat up a little in his seat. "According to the United States National Transportation Safety Board, airplane accidents are ninety-five-point-seven percent survivable. With an average of only thirty aircraft accidents a year, you would be better suited to concern yourself with the fact that general aviation such as this particular jet are two-hundred and seventy-two times more likely to be involved in an accident in comparison to commercial planes."

Daisy made eye contact with Emily, who sighed and shook her head. "Don't listen to him."

"It's kind of hard not to," she muttered, and Spencer furrowed his brows in confusion. Daisy looked over at him and nudged his knee with hers. "Two-hundred and seventy-two times more likely? Well, if we survive this one, you can buy me a candy bar when we get to the hotel."

Spencer smiled rather awkwardly and shrugged. "You've got a deal."

Daisy managed a smile back, before reaching for Emily when the plane started to take off. The Agent didn't seem to mind all too much, shifting her focus to her case file as the rest of the team gathered around them.

Once in the air, they set to work further dissecting the case. Spencer used his pen to outline a few details. "The Angel Maker's victims were beaten with the assailant's bare hands. Delilah Grennan was bludgeoned with a heavy instrument, maybe a hammer."

"Okay, so this Unsub's a weaker guy, but at least someone who perceives himself that way," Morgan began.

"So he brought along the hammer to make certain his victim wouldn't fight back?" Emily finished his thoughts.

"They have parachutes on-board, right?" Rossi interrupted, his question mostly directed at Spencer.

"They should," the young man responded with ease. "It's standard on all federal air transport."

"Maybe we can give one to the elephant in the room, get him out of here?" the senior agent quirked an eyebrow, and Daisy found her lips twitching a little in amusement.

"That'd be the elephant with the dead man's DNA," she muttered, eyeing the autopsy report.

"Well, obviously somebody planted the semen on the victim," Hotch said matter-of-factly, and Daisy bit her tongue to withhold her response.

"In the victim," Morgan corrected his boss.

"That's one theory," Spencer spoke up.

"There's another?" JJ asked curiously.

Spencer crossed one leg over the other. "Think about who shares the exact DNA makeup of another person."

Morgan sighed. "Reid, you're not seriously floating around the idea of an evil twin, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Spencer insisted. "I'm floating the idea of an eviler twin. Traditionally, the concept is a good twin and an evil twin. But in this case, it's evil twin, eviler twin."

Daisy couldn't resist the smile that crept onto her lips. It seemed she was the only one who found the hypothesis amusing, as everyone else stared at the doctor with confusion or blatant annoyance.

Hotch placed his head in his hand and winced. Initially, Daisy thought it was because he was frustrated with Spencer, but on further inspection he seemed to be in pain.

Morgan noticed too. "Hotch? You have been cleared to fly, haven't you?"

Daisy wondered what he meant by that. She could briefly recall Strauss mentioning an accident a month or so prior when the team was in New York. Hotch had been involved in...an explosion of some sort?

Hotch didn't answer Morgan, he instead just closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat in clear discomfort.

Daisy started picking at her nails once more. It was going to be a long flight.

★☆

okay what do i do cause i realised that with hotch i HAVE to write domestic content and i hate writing that shit with a PASSION ugh i love writing angst and will they/won't they slow burn shit and i knowww that i have to do the whole uwu fluff shit constantly cause hotch needs a stable relationship

i don't want to do that thoughhhgh :((((

so, for now, i've decided to leave daisy's love interest open-ended!! i want her to grow and flourish as a character first cause that's what's more important to me as a writer rather than engineering her to a certain love interest

however, i would LOVE to know who you guys would love to see daisy with in the long run!!! let me know dudes!!!

also thank you for the response to this fic!!! i rly appreciate it xx