THREE.


THREE. THE FIRST DAY


SOMETIMES DAISY WISHED RHEA WASN'T A RIDE OR DIE TYPE OF FRIEND. Maybe if the woman had convinced her to stop after the first few drinks, she wouldn't be walking into the BAU with a hangover.


"Morning, Alvarez!" Derek Morgan cheered as she stepped through the doors, but she shoved past him irritably, headed for the coffee machine. He glanced back at his confused coworkers, before following her. She groaned as he slid up beside her, watching as she didn't bother with milk or sugar. Once the agent caught on, a wide grin spread across his face. "Party too hard last night?"


"Watch it," she grumbled, walking back past him and towards the bullpen, where she mustered the most professional face she could. In front of her were several agents, though three in particular were watching her carefully. She assumed it was the team she had been assigned to. "Hi, I'm Daisy. I got moved here from teaching at the academy."


"Wait, Daisy Alvarez?" the dark haired woman asked with a quirked eyebrow. Daisy nodded. "Didn't you lead the bust on the Fisher drug ring?


Daisy opened her mouth to respond, but Derek clapped a hand on her shoulder and spoke up for her. Daisy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "That was her, alright. Alvarez, this is Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau and Doctor Spencer Reid."


Daisy shook everyone but Spencer's hand. He settled on a rather awkward wave. "It's nice to meet you all."


"Morgan said Strauss got you this job," Jennifer muttered. She was clearly quite unsure about the new recruit. Daisy didn't blame her. She knew what kind of person Strauss was, and in all honestly, she didn't want the others to think they had some sort of special relationship.


"I wish Strauss got my foot up her ass," she responded rather curtly, catching the team by surprise. Derek's eyes widened and he turned his head so that he didn't laugh, while the others were too shocked to say anything. Daisy sipped her coffee. "No offence to you guys, but I was happy where I was; teaching kids how to identify cocaine from flour."


Her remark earned a few chuckles, though they died down when two men exited an office above the pen. Daisy's attention turned to them, and she made eye contact with the taller, dark haired man first. Aaron Hotchner. She recognised him immediately. The giveaway was the deadly serious expression on his face, and for some reason, the first thing she thought of was if he had ever laughed in his life.


"Agent Alvarez," he said, walking down the steps to the pen and outstretching his hand as he approached. He didn't smile, or make an effort to be particularly friendly. "SSA Aaron Hotchner, this is SSA David Rossi."


"Yes, Agent Hotchner, we've met," she shook his hand before turning to Rossi. She didn't bother looking at Hotchner's reaction to what she said; though deep down she hoped she'd caught him off guard. She only vaguely remembered their first meeting, but she knew he didn't. "Good to meet you, Agent Rossi. So, uh, where's my desk?"


"Opposite Doctor Reid," Hotchner gestured to the empty place by the young man. He then looked her up and down and furrowed his brows. Daisy quickly felt a little irritated. One look and he'd already made up his mind on how he felt about her. "Where are your things?"


Daisy released she wasn't holding the box she came in with. She glanced over her shoulder and saw it by the coffee machine. She smiled awkwardly and pointed at it. "Over there."


Hotchner shared a quick glance with Derek, before returning his attention to Daisy. "Once you've settled in, come to my office so we can discuss your position here."


With that, he turned on his heel and stalked away. Rossi looked at the woman and offered a warm smile. "Welcome to the BAU, Agent Alvarez."


★☆


"Agent Hotchner?" Daisy knocked on the chief's door, though she was already standing inside the office. He didn't bother looking up from his paperwork.


"Come in," he muttered.


Biting her tongue, Daisy walked towards his desk, trying her best to remain as professional as she could. She lowered herself onto the seat opposite him, placing her hands in her lap. She waited a moment, but he didn't speak. She exhaled softly, quickly understanding his tactic of intimidation. He wanted to establish his dominance as her boss - he wanted to make sure she knew who was in control. He was waiting for her to panic, to look around anxiously or to ask why she had been called in. It may have worked with others, but it wasn't going to fool her. 


So, she kept silent too. She didn't let her eyes wander. She just looked down at her nails and picked at them, wanting to appear uninterested and unafraid of her new superior. To be completely honest, that was how she felt anyway. She'd never been great with authority figures, which was quite ironic considering her career in law enforcement. Strauss struggled to tolerate her attitude, but understood her value. From one look at Hotchner, she could tell he wouldn't be the same.


Minutes passed. He kept writing things down in his case file, not saying a word. She didn't say anything either. It was clear she wasn't going to tolerate a power imbalance on the first day of her new job. She planned to respect him if he respected her in return, but the odds weren't exactly in his favour at the moment. 


After another five minutes went by, she decided that she wasn't going to bother trying to impress her new boss. She was here to do her job, not make friends with people who didn't want to cooperate.


Daisy stood up calmly and brushed off her pants, turning around and walking back towards the door.


"Where do you think you're going?"


Daisy came to a stop and looked back, sarcasm written on her face. "Ah, he speaks!"


"Excuse me?" Hotchner asked in a sharp tone. His pen was slightly elevated, as he had stopped writing.


"With all due respect, sir," she was trying her best, truly. He didn't know that, though. "If you call me into your office during work hours, I would prefer not to sit in silence for ten minutes when I could be doing something useful with my time."


Hotchner finally put his pen down and looked up. His stare was cold. It did, in truth, make her feel a little small, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. "I hope you understand how rude you're being right now, Agent."


Daisy quirked an eyebrow. "I've been told I'm not great with first impressions."


"I can tell," he muttered, looking back at his file. "Listen, Alvarez. I know Strauss got you this job, and believe that I won't be the first to say you don't belong here."


It was now Daisy's turn to glare. "What?"


"You heard me."


Daisy's jaw clenched so tightly she thought she'd break a tooth. "You have no right to say that to me."


"I have every right," he said bluntly. "I'm your superior."


"Then, as my superior, maybe you should treat your new employee with some respect so that she can do the same for you," she retorted. "I didn't come here to be intimidated, sir. I came here to do my job to the best of my ability. I have as much right to be here as anyone else, and I don't care what you think about that."


With that, she spun on her heel to exist.


"Agent Alvarez."


She exhaled loudly and turned once more.


Hotchner still wasn't looking her way. "Next time I see you, you'd better not be hungover."


Daisy bit her tongue once more. "Yes, sir."


★☆


"Good first day?" Derek asked, his hand on the back of Daisy's chair. He leaned over to examine what she was working on. It was her final contract, and considering she didn't have anything to do, she thought she'd sign it so that she had it ready for Strauss and Hotchner. 


Daisy scoffed quietly, causing Derek to smile. 


"That bad, huh?" he asked, turning and leaning against her desk. "Did Hotch give you a hard time?"


"Your boss needs a serious ego check," she muttered, signing the bottom of one of the pages. Her words caught the attention of her new teammates. 


"He just doesn't trust you yet," Emily said, causing Daisy to look up. The woman offered a smile. "It took a while for me to get there too, but you'll be okay."


"Thanks," Daisy tried her best to sound positive, but on the inside she was questioning both herself and her new coworkers. "I'll, uh, take that into account next time."


★☆


the chapters are probably gonna be pretty short for this book because i uhhh don't really want to write long chapters and that's that on that


also hotch is such a baddie 


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