In Elle's defense, she had not dropped a cup of coffee in at least two weeks. This was why she was so disappointed, when she turned a corner too fast, striding into the bullpen, she bumped into someone walking in at the same time. Thankfully, most of it spilled on her. Well, she was thankful until the hot coffee seared against her skin.

She pulled the fabric of the white button-up away from her stomach, yelping. "Ow, ow, ow!"

A man's hands reached for her while she heard an unknown voice say, "Oh god, I'm so sorry,"

She tried brushing her shirt off before looking up, "No, no. It's totally my fault," when she finally looked up, her hand froze against her stomach. A tall, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed man stood in front of her. A visitor's badge hung off the bottom of his leather jacket. A small black necklace hung from his neck. A teenage Elowyn was somewhere in time screeching in absolute jealousy. The ultimate cool guy she fawned over in high school, she thought.

She stuttered, looking away and continuing, "Uh, n-no." she shook her head. "No, my fault,"

JJ must have heard the commotion because she suddenly stood next to Elle, taking her arm.

"What happened?" she asked. She looked Elle up and down. "Are you ok?"

Elle nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." she groaned, pressing her palm against her forehead. "I cannot believe I just did that,"

The man had strode to Reid's desk, bringing back a handful of Kleenex. "I'm so sorry," he said again. Something about the way his contriteness lined his face so seriously reminded her of someone. He gave her a kleenex while he took another while trying to soak up remnants of coffee.

She cleared her throat, her eyes landing on everything except the man's handsome face. She attempted a smile which was becoming increasingly difficult as he wiped away the stain.

JJ noticed her discomfort and grinned slyly. "Elle, have you met Sean?"

Elle found no reasonable means of escape and was forced to answer.

"No, but I think I just introduced him to my coffee order," she said, working up the nerve to look up at him. He gave her the kind of smile that caused a warm flush all the way up to her ears. "I wasn't paying attention." she hoped her voice showed her remorse.

Any worry he had about the collision slid over him like water. He never lost his cool. "I've been trying to quit caffeine anyway. Why risk the temptation?"

"I'm sorry, but I just heard the words 'quit' and 'caffeine' in the same sentence," Elle said horrified, glancing at JJ. "I think I would end up on the murder board,"

Sean laughed, but JJ nodded gravely.

"I would be right there with you," she said.

"I don't think I caught your name," Sean mentioned as they moved further into the room. She tried to catch her reflection to check her appearance. She should have put on a brighter lipstick today.

She pulled her bag further up her shoulder before extending her hand. "Yeah, sorry. I'm Elowyn O'Connor," she replied. "But everyone calls me Elle." her eyes drifted to Hotch's closed door. "Well, mostly everyone. I'm a consulting analyst in the BAU. Resident new girl." she shrugged.

"Really?" he crossed his arms, leaning against her desk. "Wait, you're that girl,"

Her face must have shown offense because he suddenly reached out.

"No, no. Not like that," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I meant you're the one with the theories he mentioned at Thanksgiving,"

Sean still wore that gorgeous easy grin, which widened when Morgan approached with Prentiss close behind. Elle didn't have an opportunity to ask what he meant.

"Derek," he greeted warmly, pulling the man into a hug. "How you been, man?"

As the two men talked, Elle looked over Morgan's shoulder to Prentiss and JJ. She squinted slightly, lifting her shoulders. She was obviously missing an important detail about this interaction. Her friends gave no hints, only hit secretive smiles behind their hands.

Sean waved at Prentiss, who offered a coveted smile and genuine greeting in return.

"Anyone seen Reid?" JJ asked.

Taking his opportunity, Sean looked back at Elle. "So, new girl," he mused. "Maybe you could answer a couple of questions I have,"

Elle pushed her glasses further up her nose. "Well, I can't guarantee a correct answer… but also, a disclaimer- I'm kinda the crazy lady around here,"

"Good." he voice seemed relieved? Excited? Playful? She knew she was thinking wishfully when she guessed flirtatious.

She lifted her water bottle to her lips.

He leaned closer. "So where do they keep the aliens?

She choked on her drink.

-O-

Hotchner's door was closed when he first heard it. He rose from his hunched posture, cracking his back as he did. How long had been working like that? From the ache in his shoulders, too long.

The noise floated to his ears again. It was light, pleasant. Something too seldomly heard in the BAU offices. He recognized it as a woman's laughter. Whose laughter, he had no idea.

A faint glimmer of a smile flitted across his own face.

He stood from his chair, leaving his pen atop his nearly completed field notes and assessments. He lifted the edge of the closed blinds. Searching for the source, he saw Rossi and Prentiss' backs and a flash of JJ's blonde bob. He was beginning to get an inkling of who was laughing. Suddenly, Hotch needed to know what was causing her to laugh like that. His fingers had wrapped around the doorknob and opened the door before he realized what he was doing.

No one heard him exit his office as the team gathered around Elle's desk. Not an unusual sight. But then he realized what was making Elle laugh. Or who rather. His brother, Sean, brushed against Elle's side, and any levity he may have been about to present vanished.

His smile dropped while his jaw flexed.

Hotch had forgotten Sean would be dropping by while he was in town. He jogged down the stairs. He caught Rossi's eyes first. Rossi offered a smug, knowing smile. Hotchner's frown deepened as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sean," Hotchner meant for the name to come out friendlier. It hadn't.

Sean whirled around, that easy smile still on his face (damn him), bumping shoulders with Elle.

"Hey, Aaron,"

Elle couldn't remember anyone besides Rossi calling him 'Aaron' and living to tell the tale.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, standing next to Rossi.

"Going to get lunch, remember? My treat," his eyes moved to Hotch's office. "I was going to wait until you came down,"

Morgan laughed. "Yeah, you would've been waiting for a while, man,"

Hotch cast a stern glare in Morgan's direction. The other man refused to be bothered.

"Besides," Morgan continued. "I thought the psychic would know when you were ready," he teased, turning back to Elle.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, I never said I was psychic. I just said that certain possibilities can be discounted simply because of the discomfort it may cause to a skeptical-" her eyes went to Rossi. "Ital- um, I mean person,"

Rossi became longsuffering as he wrapped an arm around the tops of Elle's shoulders. "She wasn't always like this, y'know." he said with a faux paternal disappointment. "I remember the little teenager in New Orleans who was obsessed with that-" he snapped his fingers trying to recall, "band with Justin Timberlake and the cute lisp because of her braces,"

"Rossi!" she nearly shrieked, burying her face in her hands.

The team laughed while JJ and Prentiss threw in a well-timed 'aww!'. Hotchner smiled a bit until Sean leaned over to Elle.

"I don't know," Sean said, and Elle turned her ear to hear him more clearly. She forced him to read his brother's lips. Sean continued, his lips quirking upward. "I think the smile was worth the braces,"

Hotch imagined the shyness which always appeared when someone complimented Elle. He knew Sean saw it too when his smile widened. Every day, Hotch put a conscious effort to not profile his team, but the desire to know what she was thinking overwhelmed him. His thoughts went as follows:

Elowyn O'Connor, 29, 1 sister: living, Father: in prison, Mother: deceased

Consulting analyst specializing in evidentiary analysis, witness statement analysis, comparative crime scene expert, and sometimes, also an expert in paranormal occurrences

Introverted

Calculative in the way she chose her words for fear of being dismissed

Eidetic memory

Early childhood trauma

Private with secretive tendencies

Can never keep a manicure because of constant nervous picking

Her self-esteem issues lived like a demon on her shoulder

Insecure internally about intrapersonal relationships

Mild disinterest in regular social parameters

Intellectually gifted

Empathetic

Caring

Beautiful…

He shook himself. No. However, all the idiosyncracies lined up well with Sean's opposing personality.

"So, you ready to go?" Hotch asked, slipping past Rossi to stand in front of Elle and Sean.

"Yeah, sure, bro,"

Hotch wished he could have taken a picture of Elle's face when the pin dropped. Her green eyes went wide behind those wire-rimmed glasses while her mouth dropped a bit. Hotch managed to keep his poker face.

"Chinese?" Hotch offered. Rossi's stare was disbelieving because Hotch was never this eager to leave the office.

Sean seemed surprised too, giving a strange expression. "Sure, sounds great." he picked up his leather jacket where it had been laying across Elle's chair. "See you guys later?" he was looking at Elle when he said that.

Elle nodded.

Sean followed Hotch out of the bullpen while Hotch listened carefully, trying to determine whether he needed to perform damage control.

He heard Elle ask quietly, "Wait, so there's two of them?"

Morgan chuckled deeply. "Yeah, you love that, don't you?"

Hotch was pleased as Elle stuttered for a reply while the door closed behind them.

Hotchner waited until the elevator door closed behind them before he slapped his brother upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

END…