'reflections'

act one.

chapter one: chocolate chip pancakes

"The best people come unexpectedly"
-unknown

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"DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT DATES PANCAKES BACK TO THE STONE AGE?" Vienna Prescott asks as she sits at the kitchen island, watching Judd Hawkins prepare pancakes for herself and the other Naturals.

"I did not." Judd says quietly, flipping a couple pancake, the half-cooked breakfast items sizzling as they hit the pan once more. "That's quite interesting."

"It is! In fact, historians speculate that 30,000 years ago, they were making pancakes by grinding grains together with water and cooking them on rocks. Though the first written record of pancakes wasn't until Ancient Greece, when a poet called Cratinus described pancakes in one of his writings. Ancient Rome also  referred to their fried pancakes as 'alia dulcia' which is Latin for 'other sweets'." Her voice was very quick.

Judd slowly turned around, plate of pancakes in hand, looking rather tired. It was early in the morning.

"Exactly how much coffee did you have before I came in here?"

Vienna grimaces. "Not more than usual."

Judd gives her a look as Micheal Townsend and Dean Redding entered the kitchen.

"Uh oh, what have you done now, Vienna?" Michael plops down in the seat next to her, Dean on his other side.

"I was just telling Judd about the history of pancakes and then he accused me of drinking a ton of coffee." Vienna explains.

"Did you drink a ton of coffee?" Dean piped up.

"That's entirely beside the point, I think." Vienna traces her finger on the rim of the crisp white mug in front of her.

"You know, this wouldn't be an issue if Sloane hadn't gotten you addicted to caffeine." As if on cue, Sloane Tavish and Lia Zhang enter the kitchen.

"I liked coffee before, Sloane just taught me how to do it right."

Sloane smiled as she looks at Vienna.

"You're an enabler." Michael looks at Sloane. "Both of your hearts are probably going to stop one of these days because of the pure amount of caffeine you both consume."

"Actually, you'd have to consume over 400 milligrams of caffeine per day for an extended period of time, years even, to even have a very small effect on your lifespan." Sloane says.

"Even the 'dangerous' caffeine devices such as energy drinks don't change your lifespan, unless you're drinking more than two or three per day." Vienna adds.

Everyone in the room stared blankly at the two girls. They were very similar in the sense that they were both incredibly intelligent, though Sloane was way better at numbers and their statistics than Vienna was, because she was more into books than Sloane was.

They were basically the same person, just flipped.

They really understood each other, though. Since Sloane had joined the program a few months after Vienna, she had felt truly understood. She and Sloane were very similar, and that had been a very comfortable feeling for the both of them.

"Oh, well we stand corrected then." Lia says, a smile playing at her lips.

Michael tapped Vienna's arm with his fork as Judd pushes a plate of pancakes in front of him.

"Vienna, we've got to go soon."

"Go? Where?"

"To Colorado."

"Colorado? For what?"

"Briggs is sending me to get the new recruit, and he's letting me bring someone along."

"Aw, and you're bringing me? How sweet." Vienna smiles jokingly.

"Yeah, don't get used to it though." Michael says, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Since Vienna's arrival at the program two years ago, she had grown very close to all of the other members of the program, but she had always felt like there was a special connection between herself and Michael. They understood each other, and Michael was able to tell her things that he struggled with. Vienna was a special kind of person, one that could be trusted with difficult information, and Micheal was the first person whom she told about her father, and her mother's depression.

Despite their deep understand for each other, they also had a friendship that was built on playful teasing, and it seemed to ease the tension of constantly solving serial crimes.

"Who's the new recruit?" Vienna asks curiously. "Briggs, Locke, or Judd never told me who it is."

Michael furrows his brow. "And that didn't stop you from finding out?"

Vienna rolls her eyes. She had broken into Briggs's files when he had mentioned getting a new recruit, which had been Sloane. He hadn't mentioned who it was, so Vienna had taken matters into her own hands.

This had resulted in a lecture from Briggs about boundaries, so that's why she didn't snoop this time.

"No, no, I learned my lesson." Vienna moved her pancake around on her plate.

"Aw man, so no more snooping around?" Michael pouts.

She lowers her voice. "At least not for now."

Michael grins. "I like the way you think, Prescott."

Vienna chuckled. She had never broken many rules before coming here, but she and Michael had gotten into a fair bit of trouble together since Vienna arrived at the program nearly two years ago. She was a timid fifteen year old when she joined, she was now a more outgoing seventeen year old. She had Micheal to thank for that, and a bit of Lia's influence too.

Agent Locke walked into the kitchen, Briggs following.

"Morning everybody." Locke says with a weak smile. She looked very tired. She and Briggs had just gotten back from a fresh murder scene where they had been all weekend, and it was now early on Monday morning.

"Nice to see you both." Vienna says with a smile. "How was the case?"

"Nice to see you too, Vienna. But we didn't get anywhere on the case." Briggs says, defeat prominent in his voice as he poured himself some coffee.

"Yeah. This unsub's good at what he does. Leaves absolutely no trace." Locke grumbles as she sits down in the last empty seat next to Vienna.

"That hasn't stopped you before." Vienna attempts to reassure her.

Locke cracks a smile. "You're right, Vi. Thanks." Not many people referred to Vienna as 'Vi', at least until she joined the Naturals program. Locke was the first one of the group to call her that, and then everyone caught on. Her father was the first and only person to call her that as a child, and Locke mostly referred to her as Vi. She enjoyed the nickname, especially from Agent Locke.

Agent Locke had been part of the behavioral science unit in the FBI for nearly a year when Vienna had arrived at the program, and she had mostly been working with Dean because he was a profiler, though Vienna had developed a close relationship with the agent and even considered her to be somewhat of a second mother figure.

Briggs crossed the room to Michael and Vienna.

"Are you two about ready to go? I'd say we're leaving in a couple of hours." He sips from his coffee mug.

Vienna's eyes perk up to Briggs'. "Who's the new recruit anyway?"

"Her name is Cassandra Hobbes. I'll tell you more about her when we get on the plane. But what I will say now: I  know that she will be a great asset to the program."

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THE FLIGHT FROM DC TO COLORADO was as normal as any other flight that Vienna had taken with the program. Since joining the Naturals, Vienna  had realized that the FBI jets were a lot faster than commercial flights, due to the fact that there wasn't any stopping, and there was no airport security with federal aircrafts.

On the plane, Briggs told Vienna about Cassandra Hobbes. She was seventeen, the age of everyone else in the program,  an extraordinary profiler, and she lived in Colorado with her extended family, after her mother's murder.

"Wait, Cassandra Hobbes.....her mother Lorelai, as in Lorelai Hobbes?" Vienna asks.

Briggs nods. "Yes, Lorelai Hobbes's daughter."

"Oh, now I see why you want this girl to join us so badly." Vienna gives him a knowing look, but the man didn't confirm nor deny her statement.

The Lorelai Hobbes case had been an anomaly to all law enforcement, including the FBI. Lorelai had been presumably murdered in her dressing room before a show, as she was an actress in local theater programs.

The scene  had been discovered  by Cassandra Hobbes, then twelve years old, but no body.

The FBI had access to the case, as they had been invited to work it five years ago when it was a fresh murder, but even they didn't have new leads. Vienna wasn't in the program when the presumed murder occurred, she was only twelve, like Cassandra had been. But the in-house library in which she lived was home to many case files, mostly cold cases, and Vienna had read everything that there was on the Lorelai Hobbes case.

She was fascinated by it.

Young Cassandra had only left her mother's dressing room for five minutes, her mother was alive when she left, and the room was bloody when the girl had returned.

The ability to kill and flee the scene with the body in that short amount of time was an astounding feat.

Lorelai had presumably been stabbed to death, and due to the blood spatter on the walls, it was multiple times.

Vienna knew that death by stabbing can take anywhere from a few seconds to minutes, depending on where the wounds are inflicted, and if the victim tries to flee.

She was presumed dead, though Vienna always wondered about that.

They had never recovered the body, dead or alive, so maybe she's still out there? The odds were stacked agaisnt her, but what if...?

Michael spoke, snapping Vienna from her thoughts.

"Vi, don't go overboard asking this girl about her mother's murder, alright?"

Vienna gives him a look. "Michael, of course I'm not going to ask a girl who doesn't know who I am what she thinks about her mother's murder. What do you think I am, a psychopath?"

"Maybe I do."

"Michael." Briggs says sternly.

"Sorry."

Briggs had been around Vienna and Michael long enough to know that when they are together, they are not the most serious duo.

"Maybe I should've brought Dean and Sloane along instead of you guys..." Briggs speaks with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"No, no, Briggs! We can handle it just fine." Vienna says, sighing quietly under her breath.

She loved Michael dearly, but he was nothing if not a menace, at times.

The jet grew eerily quiet, and of course, Michael was the one to break the silence.

"You're both annoyed at me, wouldn't be the first time." His voice had a layer of joking to it.

"We're not annoyed, Michael, at least I'm not." Vienna says.

"Yes, I'm not annoyed with you either, Michael. I just really hope that Cassandra will take to this program like everyone else has. She would be very good." Briggs lets out a stressed sigh.

"Ah, yes, because we really need one more teenager to track down serial killers."

Vienna kicks Michael under the table in which they were sitting on the plane.

"Ow!" He grumbles, Vienna's shoe had hit him directly in the shin.

Briggs says nothing, but Michael can tell that he's getting increasingly more annoying at each of his comments, so he chooses to stop, at least for now.

"Since it's late, I don't think she'll be at the diner anymore. You guys will go in the morning."

Briggs had planned for Vienna and Michael to go to the diner that Cassandra works at, and leave his business card there with her.

"Alright. Where are we staying the night then?" Vienna asks.

"I've got us a hotel with three separate bedrooms, and we'll stay there." Briggs answers Vienna as the plane touches down in Colorado, jolting the three people in the cabin.

It rolled to a halt, a few minutes later, they were getting off the plane. Vienna slings her bag over her shoulder. Michael studied her face carefully: the furrow in her brow so subtle that nobody would ever notice, except for him, because he was an emotion reader, that's why he was here after all.

Besides being an emotion reader, Michael knew Vienna very well. He knew there was something off with her, he had noticed her mood shift after Briggs had confirmed that this new recruit was the daughter of Lorelai Hobbes.

But, he didn't know exactly what was up with her.

He steps toward her, voice low as he whispers the words to her. "Vi, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong."

Michael looked her in the eye.

"Dammit. I hate that you can read my emotions." She mutters, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"But it's good that I can. So tell me, what's wrong?"

"Michael, I'm just fi-"

"Vienna, Michael, come on." Briggs pokes his head back into the jet, motioning for them to follow.

Vienna nods quickly, speed-walking away from Michael and after Briggs, as fast as she could.

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WHEN BRIGGS HAD MENTIONED A three bedroom hotel room, Vienna had expected tight quarters, especially since it was only for one night, but each room was huge.

The perks of being in the FBI, she assumed.

She set her bag down on the foot of her bed, removing the clothes she had brought for tomorrow, her toiletries, a couple of books, and her headphones.

That was all she had brought for this short trip, it was all she really needed.

It was nearly 10pm, and Briggs said that Michael and Vienna were to be up at 6 the next morning, so she unpacked quickly. She wanted to have time to read or listen to music before she went to sleep.

She had been out on the town with Michael and Briggs for a couple of hours, he was showing them around, since he was sending them out entirely on their own tomorrow.

She laid out her outfit for tomorrow: her favorite pair of jeans, a striped sweater, and a jacket. It was quite cold in Colorado.

She sat on the edge of her bed, putting her headphones on her head, and putting on her favorite Taylor Swift album, which was evermore.

She put the album on shuffle, the first song played: cowboy like me.

Vienna went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and take her contacts out, putting her old glasses on, which she only wore at night. She had horrible eyesight, so she couldn't even see her book without contacts or glasses.

A knock came from the other side of the door, and Vienna quickly replied "come in!"

Michael opened the door, waking toward her. Vienna removed her headphones, staring at him.

"What's up?"

"I need to talk to you. You never answered my question earlier."

Vienna looks at him with confusion. "Which question? You tend to ask  a lot of those."

Michael scoffs at her subtle dig at him. "When I asked you if you were alright. You just walked away."

"Briggs was calling us."

"Well yeah, but whenever I'd approached you all night, you would quickly share a random fact so I wouldn't be able to talk to you." Michael sits beside her.

"What are you now, a profiler?" Vienna avoids eye contact.

"Definitely not. But I know you, so I know the difference between your info-dumping because you want to, and when you are hiding something."

She shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

"Vi."

"It's stupid, it's nothing."

"It's not nothing, and it's not stupid."

"Alright, fine." Vienna surrenders. How could she not when Michael's eyes were boring into the side of her head?

"I'm worried for this Cassandra girl."

"Why?"

"Because...well, I've read a lot on her mom's case and all. I don't know...it just doesn't seem right..."

"What doesn't?"

"The whole Lorelai Hobbes thing. It doesn't sit right with me."

"Well it shouldn't sit right with you. It was murder." Michael states.

"Well yeah, but..." she trails off. She didn't want to get into why she didn't think this case was a murder. Since joining the Naturals, she had gotten way better at writing up psychological profiles for cases and the killers themselves. She sometimes wrote them even when Briggs didn't require her to, not for 'fun' but for research purposes. She had written one about a year ago in her notebook about Lorelai Hobbes.

And she doesn't think the woman was murdered.

But it was ruled as a murder five years ago, and everyone, even Michael, would say she was crazy if she argued otherwise.

"But what?" Michael presses.

"I don't want her to think we have answers when we don't. And I don't want her to think that she's in the program because of her mom. I know what it's like for people to look at you differently because of something that happened to you, and I don't want that to happen to her."

Michael shook his head. "You know how Briggs is. He wouldn't single someone out because of their trauma. He knows that's a bad look, alright?"

Vienna nods, but she wasn't so sure. "Alright."

"Vienna, I want you to believe me."

"I do."

"You don't. I know these things, remember?"

"Right."

"This Cassandra girl will do great in the program. And she won't be in the program because of her past. That's not why Briggs picked you. He picked you because you're smart, you know that?"

Vienna smiles gently. "I do."

"So why would it be any different with this girl?"

"I was just thinking...."

"You tend to do that a lot. Why don't you just turn that racing mind of yours off for once to get some sleep? We've got an early morning tomorrow, and another Natural to recruit."

"Alright, I'll try my best."

"Good." Michael stood up from the bed, crossing toward the door.

"Thank you." She speaks up.

"Of course. You know I'm always here for you."

"Here for me....more like nagging me until I crack." Vienna jokes.

"Oh come on. You know you love it." He opens the door.

"Jokes aside, thank you."

Michael smiles. "Night, Vi."

"Night Michael."

And he shuts the door gently after himself.

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THE DINER WAS A SMALL YET COZY space, and it was strangely empty for a Saturday morning, Vienna had thought it would be more packed than it was.

There was a girl in the diner uniform, flaming red hair tied in a ponytail on her neck, and she was carrying breakfast platters to two men across the diner.

That must be Cassandra.

Vienna spotted a 'please seat yourself' sign, and motioned for Michael to follow to an open table by the window.

The girl set the plates on the men's table and turns around sharply. She catches sight of Vienna and Michael across the diner, shouting a quick "I'll be right with you!" to them.

She returned moments later at lightening speed, quickly placing a glass of water in front of both men's plates.

She hustled over to them at lightening speed.

A name tag was on her shirt, reading 'Cassie'. A nickname.

"Hi, what can I get for you today?" The girl smiles at the two in front of her.

"I'll just take some eggs, please." Michael says.

"What kind?" The girl makes a note on the pad in her hands.

"You tell me." Michael was trying to be difficult this morning.

"Tell you...?"

"What kind of eggs I want." Michael clarifies.

Cassie looked confused, but Vienna could also see the wheels in her head beginning to turn.

"You want scrambled eggs." She answers after a moment.

He raises an eyebrow. "Do I?"

"You're unsettled. You didn't sleep well last night. You're looking for something safe, comfortable."

"Scrambled eggs are safe."

"Scrambled eggs." Cassie scribbled something onto her notepad. "Are boring. Maybe boring sounds nice to you now?"

"That sounds good."

Cassie gives him one last look before turning her attention to Vienna.

"And you?"

"I don't know, what do I want?" She follows in Michael's footsteps.

"Oh, again?" She says. "This is an interesting morning." Cassie starts thinking.

"Pancakes." She decides. "They're a favorite of yours. You also want something comfortable. But you also like most of the same foods as you have for years. You don't typically branch out. You only like butter on your pancakes, no blueberries or anything like that. You like chocolate chips on special occasions."

Vienna nods. "Is it a special occasion?"

Cassie ponders this. "You don't want it to be, but it is. You want to treat this like every day, that's why you came to this diner, it seems normal."

"So, do I want the chocolate chips?"

"You do. You didn't want them initially, but after I brought them up, your sweet tooth kicked in."

Vienna smiles, chuckling slightly. "You got it right."

"Alright. I'll have those right out for you in just a moment."

Vienna smiles. "Thanks." The girl walked back to the kitchen with the orders.

"Wow, Briggs is right. She is good." Vienna states.

"Maybe better than Dean." Michael adds.

"Maybe don't say that to his face."

"No, I definitely won't."

"Did you remember Briggs' card?"

"Of course I did." Michael pulls the business card out quickly, with the words "CASSANDRA, PLEASE CALL" in Briggs' bold handwriting written on the back, the same that had been written on the card that Michael placed in the Jane Austen book two years ago.

"Put it away, put it away." Vienna motions for him to put the card away as Cassie walks to the men across the diner.

Michael tucks the card back into the pocket of his jeans as Cassie walks toward the kitchen, the door swinging behind her.

She returned mere moments later with Michael's eggs and Vienna's chocolate chip pancakes.

"Here you both go." She smiles. "Holler if you need anything."

And she walked toward the diner's newest guests a couple tables away from Vienna, an older couple with a young boy accompanying them.

Michael bit into his eggs, Vienna her pancakes.

"Are your pancakes good?" Michael asks.

"Amazing." Vienna couldn't help but smile as the familiar flavor of pancakes, her favorite food, mixed with the melty chocolate chips. "What about your eggs?"

"Comfortable." Michael grins, and Vienna laughs.

Minutes later, both of their plates were finished, and Briggs had informed them to not linger in the diner long enough to get the check, so Michael just left $20 on the table, along with the business card, and they were out the door the moment Cassie looked away.

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cam's notes!!

first official chapter is complete omg I'm so excited!

I thought this was a good introduction of everyone's dynamic with each other, especially the scenes with Michael and Vienna. I'm also super excited to write more of Sloane and Vienna's dynamic :)

lmk what you thought of this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one!