Alex’s P.O.V

“Alex about last night,” David snapped me into reality.
“Mmmm,” I mused pulling out my headphones I wasn’t in the mood for classical music.
“Don’t tell anyone, and I mean you can’t even tell Jose,” he replied quickly, “it’s just Erin lost her husband because of this job and I don’t want her to lose her job because of this relationship.”
“Oh god, please don’t call by her first name, and save the sop story I know the drill,” I sighed.
“What drill?”
“Don’t tell Hotch, don’t tell Morgan, don’t tell Reid, don’t tell Garcia, don’t tell JJ, don’t tell the newbie. Don’t tell anyone, this isn’t exactly the first relationship you’ve been in,” I reminded him
he sighed and continued driving

I got to my desk and found another woman in Emily’s seat. I figured she must be the new agent. I don’t know why but I kind of expected her to be a male. Just because agents of the FBI are generally male it’s the linguistic, the tech analysts, communications liaisons and the foreign affairs agents that are female.

“hello I’m Alex Blake,” she smiled as she introduced herself,
“Alex Stedler,” I replied shaking her hand “quick question, full name Alex or Alexandra?”
“Alexandra?” she answered in a confused tone
“Dam, prefer to be call Alex or Alexandra?”
“ Alex, I hate it when people call me Alexandra,”
“dam, by this team you will prefer to be known as Alex or Blake,”
“ well everyone in my old department  called me Blake,”
“cool,”  I smiled  “welcome to the BAU agent Blake,”
“its doctor, do you mind explaining what those questions were about?”
“well, as I said I’m Alex,  my full name is Alexandra except I hate being called Alexandra, same as you, David Rossi is my godfather so I’ve known most of  this team most of my life, and I am also trying to get my sir name changed to his so soon I will be Alex Rossi,  so we can’t call me by my sir name cause it might change soon and there is already a agent Rossi, so I was trying to figure out what to call you,” I explained “that sounds really rude,”
“no it makes sense,”
“hey Alex,” Reid called, “who is this,” his eyebrows raised
“don’t be rude,” I said slapping his arm, “this is doctor Alex Blake, Blake this is Doctor Spencer Reid,”
“doctor, I’m impressed,”
“ why,”
“you can’t possibly be over 28,”
“I’m 30,”
“oh well my original estimate was going to be 23,”
“Alex, Reid, doctor Blake, round table room,"  JJ called over the banister. "We got a local case,"

A case in DC. 'I have not been dormant since I arrived in DC,' the line ran through my mind like a cheetah through the Savannah

"Throughout the past 4 months 6 girls have been starved raped and beaten to death," JJ started the briefing with a tone of sorrow "all the girls had been between the age of 14 and sixteen, the details are on your tablets,"
"All of them wore glasses, all blonde hair, all with sisters ranging from 10 to 13,"  I said
"What happened to the sisters?" Asked Blake
"Nothing," replied David, "the victims went away for the weekends and they never came back,"
"All of the girls were senior scouts, they were supposed to be camping on the weekend of their deaths but never turned up," Hotch explained further
"Scout camps?" I asked in wondering tone thinking about the camp jay was telling to me about last night
"Yeah? Why? What are you thinking,” JJ questioned
"Last night," I started getting a glare from David. "I went out with jay and he was talking about a camp he had this weekend most of the scout groups both boys and girls go and hike through the middle of the night 7.5 miles separated by challenges to do with scouting and teamwork,”
"When is it?" asked doctor Blake
"This weekend 10th and the 11th of August," I answered
"I'll make a few calls,"  Hotch was about to walk out of the room when I called him back
"Actually sir, the army uses this camp as a training activity maybe we could to,"
"What do you mean,"  he asked
"We could all go undercover as a team who just want work on our teamwork skills," I suggested
"Doesn't jay's troop know you," asked Reid
"Not undercover, but we go there as if we are just there to partake in the hike," I said trying to make everyone unconfused
"So we are undercover as ourselves,"  asked Blake
"Exactly," I agreed
"It could work, how big are the teams?"
"Minimum of 4 maximum of 8," I answered all the questions shot at me
"How does the army use this as training?"
"They use it to work on their stealth they hide in trees and grass and stuff if they are spotted scouts are supposed to yell out to them, they also help people if they get extremely lost if you are one or two degrees of on your  bearing you can end up miles away from your destination," Reid explained taking the weight of my shoulders " what I've read about it,"
"Alex can you find the number and put us in as a team,"  asked David
“with one phone call,” I replied  and walked out of the room

I found the number and dialed it immediately
“hello Washington DC scouts association,”
“hello my name is Alexandra Stedler, I am an intern with the FBI I was wanting to enquire about the camp midnight trail that is occuring this weekend,”
“is there something going on?”
“oh know I was informed that the army use this as a training exercise and I was wondering if my team the behavioral analyst unit was able to also do this,”
“I don’t see how a team of FBI agents who work in behavior can use this camp as training,”
“well, we recently got a new team member so we figured we could do the senior scout course to work on our team work skills,”
“well one team of 6 just pulled out, so if you have a team of six that would be perfect,”
“that is perfect do you need our names”
“yes who is the team leader,”
“Aaron Hotchner, H-O-T-C-H-N-E-R,”
“and the rest of the team,”
“David Rossi R-O-double S- I, Alex Blake, Spencer Reid R-E-I-D, Jennifer Jareau J-A-R-E-A-U  and myself Alexandra Stedler S-T-E-D-L-E-R,”
“thank you I will just need your team leaders email address to confirm team numbers and campsites,”

I gave her the email address as Reid came up and sat in his chair “you okay?  “
“Don’t profile me, I’m fine,”
“I did mean to it’s just you seemed distracted when JJ started the briefing and when you talked about you date with jay Rossi was glaring at you did you get into a fight,”
“no its nothing like that I just found out that Dave has a new girlfriend,”  I started, then my eyes widened, “I shouldn’t of said that,”
“no pressure, I thought it was maybe the you know it is kind of like Epps,”
“who’s Epps?” asked doctor Blake walking over to her  desk which was linking onto ours.
“No one,” I lied glaring at Reid

the email arrived for Hotch only a couple of hours later, we spent the days leading up to the event narrowing down possible groups of people scout leaders, parents, activity organizers and care takers each group gave us more problems than they actually solved. Parents were only allowed on certain camps, different activity organizers and care takers at each of the previous camps and leaders there were at least two leaders per scouting group. I don’t know the exact statistics Reid would be able to tell me but I couldn’t care less. I was about to pack up for the night when Hotch called me to his office, we all planned to get to bed early because we were pulling an all-nighter tomorrow. “Alex I want you to head over to the campsite with Jay if they want to introduce us on parade you go up, make some excuse about us breaking down or something,” Hotch said as I entered his office
“sir I don’t understand?”I was generally confused
“it gives us the advantage of concealment, this guy won’t know what we look like and you are roughly the same age as all the scouts so you won’t stick out,” he explained
“so while I’m talking in front of the parade you and the team will be?”I asked
“Spread out through the crowd looking for people with suspicious behavior,” he confirmed
“oh ok that makes sense, I’ll just tell jay I can’t stand to listen to anymore classical music,” I agreed

That night my sleep was riddled with nightmares. One of the bases jay had told me about all of the team was blindfolded except one, in my nightmare that one was me and Howard Epps was the leader running the base. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. I wanted to kick and fight and scream but I found it impossible. He dragged me away from my friends and ran his hand up the inside of my shirt. He kissed me and I had finally found my strength. His arms were no longer around me so I head butted him and ran back to the others. They were all slumped on the ground blood coming from different parts of their bodies. They were tied I ran to David and pulled at the ropes but the harder I tried to get them undone the tighter the knots got. “It’s no use,” a voice behind me said at first I thought it was Epps but when I turned around it was Jay.
“Why are you doing this?” I cried
“well you see, I’m not a big fan of being lied to Lexa,” he sneered
“don’t call me that,”
“oh dear Lexa, you never mind me calling you that previously, but as I was saying I don’t like being lied to, and you lied to me, didn’t you?”
“No I never did,”
“what about your mother? What about your feelings for Anna’s father? what about Steph?” he pulled a gun out from behind his back and fired three shots one at Dave one at Hotch and one at Reid
“Jay, how could you!!!,”
“one death for one lie, let me see two or three more, you told me that the BAU only takes one intern at a time, I got accepted, guess there is no BAU anymore,” he shot JJ, “and last but certainly not least you told me you loved me, I believe this is punishable by two deaths,” he shot doctor Blake and pointed the gun at me his finger squeezed against the trigger. I woke up with a jolt.

It was 3am the sun wasn’t up yet and I didn’t need to be up for another 4 hours. I walked into my bathroom and stood above the benison, looking at myself in the mirror. My hair was all matted, my eyes were red and puffy, I was pale and clammy and I looked as if I had seen a ghost. I walked downstairs careful not to step on the creaky step. And walked into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. I grabbed a blanket and sat on the side of the porch waiting for the sun to rise.

I couldn’t help the dream from running through my mind watching Jay kill all my friends. What would I have told Will or hennery or Strauss or Josie or Beth or Jack or even Blake’s husband? What about Desiree or Sarah or Fran or Cindi or Yvonne or even little Anthony? How would Reid’s mother Dianna react? I had barely noticed how much time had passed until David came onto the porch and sat down beside me.

“Here I was thinking I would have to wake you up,” he joked
“I didn’t realize you were awake yet,”  I looked up
“it’s 6:30 what time did you think it was?” he wrapped the blanket around his shoulders as well
“I have no idea I’ve been up since three,” I admitted
“bad dream?” David gave me a concerned glance
“something like that,” I turned away from him
“you want to talk about it?”he asked
“I know it won’t come true,” I admitted
“you sure,” he pushed
“positive, it was jay he shot you, he shot the entire team, he said each shot represented a lie I had told him,” I explained
“something is seriously messed up in that mind of yours,” he laughed
“tell me about it,” I sighed
“come on let’s get some breakfast,” he said pulling me to my feet.

We got ready and I drove Josie and Anna to Amy’s house. I arrived home just before jay turned up.
“Remind me again why you’re coming to this camp with me and not with the team?” he asked as I climbed into the car.
“I would shot myself if I would have to listen to classical music for three hours until we reach Gettysburg national park,” I replied “and I am camping and hiking with the team just not driving there,”

We arrived at the campsite almost half an hour before opening ceremony I helped jay and his troop set up their camp all the guys kept staring at me and I could not help wondering what jay had told them about me. “you know what I imagined her different,”
“is it true she has a kid that’s not jay’s,”
“look at that scar I wonder how she got it,”
“am I the only one who thinks it is weird she is wearing a long sleeve shirt in the middle of summer,”
“surprised jay is even dating her he could do so much better,”
most people acted really kind to me until they thought I was out of earshot then they would start talking to each other about me. Parade could not have been called any sooner.

“This year I would like to thank the military, Washington local paramedics and the owners of Gettysburg National Park. But this year  would also like to welcome the Behavioral Analysis Unit from the FBI are you out there, hello how about we get you all to come out and address the parade,” the person running the parade introduce my team and jay squeezed my shoulder.

I made my way out to the front of the parade I could feel every bodies eyes piercing into my soul. I had never gotten stage fright before but now my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest. I was handed a microphone and I started saying whatever popped into my head. “Hi umm... your probably thinking that this is an extremely small unit, but I am only the intern there are seven other members in our team two of them are in London at the moment and I have literally no idea where the other 5 are they may have broken down on the way here or something but I drove here with my boyfriend so well anyway I might just introduce them by name you will probably only know one of these names there is our boss agent Aaron Hotchner, he is a big softy until it comes to his family or there is a case that he can relate to then he will probably turn into the hulks baby brother, then there’s my godfather David Rossi author and celeb now he can get on anyone’s nerves with his classical music and three ex wives working on wife number four at the moment, Alex Blake and Spencer Reid they both have several doctorates and are probably genius’s like I’m talking noble prize stuff and last Jenifer Jareau she is the communications liaison she talks to the press and the families of victims so yeah that’s us we are here at this camp because Alex Blake has only just joined our unit so we want to test her skills, so yeah I’m going to go now,” I handed the microphone back to the man running the parade and almost ran back to my spot with jay
“well she seems a little nervous,” the man joked and most of the parade laughed before continuing the parade.

 I couldn’t help blushing; I turned my eyes to the crowd looking for any suspicious behavior. I caught Hotch’s eye and he nodded encouragingly. And then my heart froze, among a group of girls scouts in a leaders uniform was Howard Epps. My entire body froze I could feel the blood pulsing through my ears, I felt like I was going to be sick, I felt like I was going to faint. I had never felt so much hatred in my life; I had never felt so sickened by one person. I looked around the crowd desperate for one of the other members of the team to notice him. Blake looked at him and then looked past him. She didn’t know who he was or what he had done. Jay must of noticed how tensed I was because he pulled me into his arms. At first I shifted uncomfortably thinking of all those hideous things Epps did to me, but the longer I stared at the real Epps I realized it was someone I trusted holding me close.

The parade ended. Jay and I made our way back to his campsite where his leader laughed at us kindly. “This must be Alex, we’ve heard plenty about you,”
“of course its Alex, no other girl would get anywhere near jay,” one of the other scouts sneered
“your just jealous,” jay replied almost crash tackling his friend

I was sitting around watching them attempt to set up a kitchen fly, when somebody’s hands covered my eyes my instant reaction was to defend myself. I threw my elbow back into the person behind me. They yelped with pain and I instantly felt bad. "JJ I'm so sorry I didn't realize it was you," I jumped up from my seat and went over to her.
“I'm okay I think. well I was told to come get you, we need to set up camp," she replied clutching her side
"When did you get here," asked Jays leader
"Just after the parade ended, I’ve spent most of the time looking for you," she replied messing up my hair
"Have Morgan and Garcia been told not to contact us tonight?" I asked
"Where are they?" asked Jay
"London, helping Emily get settled," JJ replied
"We'll I will talk to you tonight or tomorrow," Jay said hugging me

JJ and I walked away and somebody in Jay's troop went "aww, that's so cute," I couldn't help smiling to myself. As the day wore on and night drew closer we sat around the campsite jay came over and sat with us for a bit, Hotch pressured him into saying why I deserve someone like him, when they pressured me I couldn't think of a reason because he deserves someone better than me. By the time 7:00pm came we were heading up to headquarters to start our hike. Jay walked with us to HQ where we got bombarded by different leaders and scouts wanting the details of our relationship. By the time he left we were called up to the desk. Several minutes later we had started walking. We completed base after base about first aid, construction, knot tying, navigation and initiative. The night wore on and nothing really happened. At each base we had some amount of a Benefit just from being with the FBI at the first aid base Reid and Blake were blindfolded because they were both doctors, Reid did not react well, his fear of the dark had enhanced with his headaches. I was the only one who he had told about them, apart from Emily and some other doctor. I had tried to convince him to tell the team but it’s the same reason I went to him with all my problems we are the youngest so we fear that everyone else will just treat us like kids. I mean I legally am a child but they still treat me like I am an agent. I walked with JJ most of the hike. At one point I almost had Hotch convinced to give me a piggyback because the grass was taller than me and I kept tripping over on the loose ground but then the grass began to clear and the base became visible. I didn’t realize that this base would be the one to announce the team’s fears

We walk passed Jay’s troop, “hey babe what base is next?” I asked him.  
He replied, “Cocoa, best base of the night.”

We entered the base and a man greeted us. “Girls there is a toilet down there for you, and boys, there’s some trees just past there, you have only have twenty minutes at this base so grab something to eat and a hot drink,”

We dumped our bags beside a tree and JJ and I rushed over to the toilets. JJ seemed to be taking an extremely long time in the toilets and I was waiting outside for her. A girl who was just older than me came over. “Are you waiting?”  She asked
“no I am just waiting for JJ but she is taking an extremely long time.” I replied banging on the door
“oh ok,” she seemed relieved, “hey your that girl who spoke on parade,”
“yeah,”  I hung my head,  “that was embarrassing,”
“did the rest of your team turn up,”
“yeah they are just over there under the tree and one of them is still in there,”
“good, nobody will see this then,” she pulled a gun out of the pocket of her coat, “don’t scream, don’t run or I will shoot,”
“you do that you will have my entire team on you within seconds,”
“ I don’t care about jail I don’t even care if they shoot me he wants you and only you, turn around and walk toward the woods, make it look like you’re going willingly,”
 I turned around and shoved my hand into my coat pocket where I clutched my phone I ran my fingers over the key pad until I found the three button I pressed it. Speed dial for Hotch.
I glanced back to see Hotch pull out his phone and glance around.
“You said he wants me and only me, may I ask who you are referring to,”
“I think you already know. After all he is the father of your daughter,”
“you mean Howard Epps is here in these woods just behind the toilets,”
“yes,” she sneered, “now keep walking,”
“ why are you doing this, why are you helping him do you know how many girls just like us he has killed,”
“72, but all up he has 74 victims, two have survived,”
“he tried to kill you,”
“yes, but he showed me kindness, he showed me how to stop people like you ruining my life anymore,”
I turned to her and shoved her in the stomach
“Hotch!” I yelled and began to run but I tripped on a stick and smashed my head against the base of a tree.
“You idiot, they aren’t going to hear you scream,” the girl sneered, “They are too busy laughing and joking without you. Too busy to care. ”
“Well done Clarisse,” his voice came out of the darkness.
“Alex where are you!!!” I heard JJ call
“not again,” Epps muttered before running into the darkness.
“JJ, help me!” I yelled scrambling and running in that direction. The girl named Clarisse followed.  Before I knew it knew it I had run straight into doctor Alex Blake and Hotch leaped out from behind a tree and tackled Clarisse into the ground and handcuffed her before she had time to struggle. 
“Your under arrest,” Hotch spat at her pulling her to her feet
“Alex is he here, Alex did you see him,” David asked touching my arm lightly and kneeling beside where I had fallen
“yes, I mean no, I mean yes…I’m not sure,”
doctor Blake pushed bake my hair where I had hit the base of the tree. “She hit the ground with some force it is already bruised, she might have a concussion,” she confirmed
“Alex I’m going to pull you out, ok?” Hotch said it wasn’t much of a question

“No!” the panic was clear in my voice, “if he truly is here, it’s dangerous if I alone, you said so yourself, and if you pull me out I will be at camp all alone, please Hotch, I know I can get through the night.”

He looked to Reid and Blake to see if what I was saying was true, “she will be fine, she will just have a bit of a headache,” Reid confirmed

“if you feel like you can’t go any further tell me and I will pull you out with either JJ or Blake and I won’t you to move into one of their tents tonight,” he sighed

I agreed and we went on our way Clarisse was taken to the local police station where she admitted to getting Epps his victims. She was soon charged with accessory to murder and would be locked away for at least 20 years with her bail posted at 1 million dollars.  The night past and the sun was starting rise by the time we got back to camp. My head was throbbing and I could barely keep my eyes open. I got back to camp and crashed under the kitchen fly. Reid lied down beside me. The next thing I remember was jay poking me I was lying under a blanket and the rest of the team were also asleep under the kitchen fly.
“Go away,” I mumbled rolling away from him, “it’s too early.”
“I know I was just telling you we just got back and there’s a fire at our campsite,”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” I muttered and crawled over to where JJ was and pinched her pillow
“ok babe I will talk to you later,” he kissed me on the forehead and picked his way through our group to get to his campsite.

I was woken again by Blake sliding out of her sleeping bag, “sorry I didn’t mean to wake you,”
“it’s ok,” I smiled, “are you going somewhere?”
“To the toilets,” she replied
“want some company?” I asked
 she nodded and scribbled a quick note on a piece of paper. I pulled my shoes on and we walked around the others to get to the path that leads to the toilets.

“Alex? Last night the others kept referring to him, like where is he? Is he here? Couldn’t help feeling that I have been left out on something,” she sighed refusing to look at me, “when I asked Reid about it he said you should be the one to tell me,”
“two years ago I was raped and tortured for three days by a man named Howard Epps,”
“oh,” she didn’t even bother to offer sympathy, “you don’t have to explain,”
“we were on a case the police department in  Atlanta had found a mass grave of 65 girls who had all been raped, all had blonde hair and blue eyes. We were called in because another girl matching the same description had been taken she wound up murdered three days later, we had no leads, only a small profile that couldn’t narrow down our techs search very far, so that’s when the detective had the brilliant idea of baiting the Unsub, catch him in the act that kind of thing, I was the only person he had access to matching the emo. The officers slacked off and I was taken the only way we identified him was he set up a live feed to the police department and to Quantico,” I explained
“you didn’t have too,” Blake offered
“I figured you would find out sooner or later,”