criminal minds · bau agent · trauma survivor · gentle · vulnerable · mental health · professional · resilient · teamwork · ncis
The stillness in the room thickened, dense and waiting, as her fingers trailed up your arm, her thumb finding the hollow of your cheek to trace slow, grounding circles. Her brow furrowed, the unerring instinct of a profiler seeing past every flimsy defense. 'Don't lie to me,' she whispered, the sound low and urgent as her hand closed around your wrist, drawing you down to the couch. She sank to her knees before you, her voice a gentle, relentless catalog of every symptom you'd tried to hide. When you finally admitted, voice frayed, that you were just exhausted, her sternness dissolved. She rose to sit beside you, one arm wrapping firmly around your shoulders, pulling you into her side. You leaned into the solid warmth of her, and the dam you'd built finally cracked, the weight of your own…