N I N E T E E N

SCOUT PASSED THE file towards Xander, letting him inspect it further.

"And how do you plan to get the team's trust with this guy?" He picked up the photo and held it closer to his face.

She rolled her eyes, "He's basically the baby of the team. They all protect him and if I can get him to trust me, then I've got the whole BAU by the balls."

"Doctor Spencer Reid? Doesn't sound that special to me."

"He isn't. In fact, he's an awkward geek with a social disorder but he just so happens to have fallen head over heals for me. And don't ask me why, cause I have no fucking idea."

Xander glanced up at her, "So why did you shoot him?"

"It gave me an excuse to get closer to him." She shrugged, "If I shot Morgan like we planned, then I wouldn't have been able to visit him while he got better."

A smile crept its way on Xander's lips, he pointed at her teasingly.

"You're getting good at this, you know."

"Sadly."

"So then, what's the plan?"

Scout grabbed the picture of Spencer before placing it back in the file, "Easy, I get the nerd to miraculously fall in love with me. And when I do that, I'll have access to his credentials which will get me to whatever case you want about the BAU."

"And Rossi?"

"What about him?"

He clicked his tongue, "The first file I gave you was about Rossi. I want him to be the endgame, not this guy."

"Well, I can't exactly seduce an old Italian guy that would be the same age as my grandpa." Scout sighed but kept her gaze at the man in front of her.

"Besides, I don't get what the big hype is around him. He's just another agent that got famous off a few books. Every retiree from the FBI does the same thing."

"Look - just focus on the geek, we'll cross the Rossi road when we get there. For now, do what you got to so that the BAU trusts you. They aren't as easy to trick."

"And after?"

"What do you mean after?"

Scout looked away, "I mean, what happens after I'm done with this case. I - I want out. I can't keep doing this anymore. And this case...it's a big one. It has to be enough to cover whatever my dad did to owe you. I can't keep living like this."

"You don't want to know what your father did but you're not even close to covering his mistakes, I can tell you that." Xander narrowed his eyes at the girl. "But, you're getting closer. If you do everything right. Then maybe. But it's not my decision to make. Got it?"

Scout nodded and grabbed the file, not saying anything else.

The phone in her back pocket buzzed, she dug it out and unlocked it to see a text from Hotch lighting up the screen.

ANOTHER CASE. CONFERENCE ROOM IN 30 MINUTES.

"I've gotta go, another case." She mumbled before gathering her things and stuffing them in her bag.

Scout sent a quick goodbye to Xander before she left and drove to the BAU. The drive didn't take long but it was enough to allow her to compose herself for the case.

As she parked, Scout noticed Spencer grabbing his things from his car.

A bang of guilt her her chest. She didn't want to use Spencer but it seemed the logical way to finish this mission. Besides, it's not like she actually cared about him. But she needed to protect her mother and herself. After this, then Xander couldn't ask her to do anything else. This had to be the endgame.

"Hey stranger," She smiled at him as she got out of her car.

She watched as his face lit up. He was making it far too easy for her, it was like the guy had never had female attention before.

"Scout, hey. You ready?" He asked as he waited for her to sort out her bag.

"Are you? Hotch said that you weren't allowed back until your shoulder got all healed up. Did you get the okay?" Scout questioned.

He shrugged, "I should be good now. Shoulders don't need a long time to heal. In fact, the skin is much harder than-"

Scout mentally groaned, here he goes again. There was always a fact about something that never really mattered. It was cute, but also - tedious to listen to.

"Hey, where's everyone else?" She interrupted him.

Spencer looked around, "I don't know. They should be here by now. I see Morgan's and Hotch's car over there but other than that. No one else."

They both shrugged and walked together in silence as they rode the elevator and reached the BAU floor. It wasn't entirely quiet but it wasn't as full as she was expecting it would be for the briefing of a new case.

In fact, it sent her in edge.

"Hotch?" She asked as she saw the dark haired man with Morgan. They bother talked silently but the agents looked like they were in distress.

"Reid, Wiley," He nodded at the pair. "We'll join you in the conference room, just - give me a second."

Reid nodded and walked directly towards the room but Scout lingered. She made eye contact with Morgan, sending him a puzzled look on his face. When he didn't respond but give her a stern look at the room, she obliged and followed her teammate.

Something was off, and Morgan knew what it was all about.

When she walked in the room, Spencer was already sitting down as going through the pictures in the iPad for them to look at. She walked behind him and leaned over his shoulder.

"What is it?" She questioned.

The doctor looked at her and blushed from how close she was, "Um, I'm not entirely sure."

"No body," She stretched her arm out and swiped through the pictures. "That's weird. Did you see the look Morgan had on his face when he got here?"

"No, not really."

"He looked - mad, maybe anxious about something. And Garcia isn't here. She's always here. She's the one who gives the briefings for our cases."

"Not always."

Scout sent him a look, "Look, I'm just saying that something feels off."

"It's because your new."

"Excuse me?"

He looked up at her, "What?"

"I've pulled my weight whenever we had a case. Hell, I took on that Yellow Wallpaper guy all by myself. And what about that last case in California? No one would've guessed that the wife killed her husband if I didn't go back and talk with her."

"Actually, we both talked to her."

She waved her hand, "I'm trying to make a point here, Spence. Stop trying to steal my thunder."

Then the sudden sound of heals clanking on the wooden floor brought both of their attention, "Lover's quarrel? Should I come back?"

Spencer's ear reddened a deep shade of scarlet and Scout rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, after I slap him around a bit and he pulls my hair. we planned on having animal-like sex here on the floor." Scout joked.

Hotch came walking in with Morgan behind him, "Not on company time."

Scout eyes widened as it was her turn to blush. She proceeded to sit down away from Reid to calm herself. The image of that was too - realistic. Even though, she didn't like him that way, not one bit.

Garcia giggled and proceeded to pull up the pictures on the screen that the pair just viewed in their iPad. There was a lull of silence between everyone on the room as she gather her materials to speak.

"Wait, where's everyone else?" Spencer questioned, putting down the electronic and looking around. Scout rolled her eyes as he just started to notice.

"This case isn't for the whole team. It mainly for you two." Hotch said.

Scout glanced at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hotch opened him mouth to say something but instead signaled at Garcia to start the briefing. The blonde nodded before she pulled up an image of a dirty building with neon lights on the large screen.

"This is the Lusty Leopard in New Jersey. For the past few months, an - exotic dancer - would go missing without a trace. Almost like they disappear off the face of the planet and records are wiped of them ever existing."

"Social media?" Spencer questioned.

"Gone. There's absolutely no way to bring back any page, believe me. I've tried." The blonde pushed up her glasses. "Even Social Security, the government never knew they existed because any file or tax record gets erased."

Morgan rubbed his temple, "Sex trafficking isn't apart of the BAU."

"No, but we've personally been asked to help with this case." Hotch said.

"What is there to help with?" Scout shrugged. "If we can't even find records that they existed, how can we assumed that we're not just being played with?"

Garcia spoke, bring back their attention. "The video record from the club. Their the ones that reached out, saying that it's becoming a real problem after the 10th girl went missing."

"10 girls missing?" Scout exclaimed.

"Now you can see why it's a problem and why the BAU needs to get involved."

"How?"

"Undercover work." Morgan sighed and stood up from the chair. "You can't ask her to do this, Hotch."

Scout perked up. Her? We're they talked about herself when they were arguing outside of the conference room.

"She's the only person capable on this team."

"It doesn't matter. She doesn't have the training and it's too risky."

"Uh," Scout raised her hand. "The girl in question would like to know what exactly you guys are talking about."

Reid turned, a sudden hard look on his face that she had never seen before. His ear were still red from before but Scout could tell that it wasn't from embarrassment anymore.

"You're going to send Scout undercover at a strip club, all the way in New Jersey? By herself?!"

Scout's eyebrow stood up, "Wait what? You can't be serious?"

Morgan sat back down, "Told you she wouldn't go for it."

She look toward him, "Okay hey, I never said that."

"What," Spencer glared at her. "You aren't actually considering this, Scout?"

A million thoughts were running through her head. It made logical sense and she could tell where Hotch was coming from. If the team wanted inside information about the strip club, it's not like they could just show up like they normally would. And the girl there wouldn't just give them the facts that they needed to know.

Besides, no one else on the team could fit the role. JJ was older and had a child and a husband. Garcia would never be okay with it and Blake was - out of question. Scout would be the only option. Even if she was a bit tomboyish and awkward, she fit every category to a T. It would have to be her and only her.

"You aren't going to be by yourself." Hotch nodded towards Spencer. "Reid will be going undercover with you."

Scout laughed sarcastically, "Wait, don't tell me. They're hiring male strippers too." She pointed at Spencer. "This is gonna be your big break, Doc."

Hotch narrowed his eyes, "This is serious, Wiley. You're either in this case or not. It's as simple as that."

"Sorry," Scout coughed, clearing her voice. "Just trying to relieve the tension."

She looked toward Spencer, "But why Reid?"

Garcia perked up and swiped the iPad so that the screen showed the pictures of both Spencer and her. It was the picture from their ID badges. Scout's face looked indifferent, almost bored while Spencer's was nervous, hinting at a small smile at the corner of his lips.

"You both could almost pass for siblings. Same hair color, eyes color. That's what you'll be posing as. The FBI will have you fitted with new identities and a place to stay in New Jersey. You won't have to worry about anything else besides the case. And Reid can handle all your researching needs for where you set up camp, I'll teach him as much as I know."

"And this will only be for a month. If it isn't solved by then," Hotch glanced at the pair. "we pull you out, got it?"

Scout sighed and looked toward Reid, "I'm game if you are."

"I-" He stuttered and looked at everyone in the room. It was a lull of silence before he nodded.

"Okay...sis."

Scout scrunched up her nose, "Yeah, never call me that again."

Reminder, comments are love and motivation.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Sorry for the late update but my house is currently near by the Saddle Ridge Fire in California. There's been evacuation warnings going on all day and it's been crazy. Now, there smoke everywhere but my family and I are safe, as well as our house.
I'll try to update soon but I already wrote this chapter and I don't have another on standby so please be patient and keep California in your thoughts.

a special thanks to readers who comment:
@cyn161
@tearsthatrain037
@becauseturtles
@ell_hound
@gabriella_green203

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