Hey guys! Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for awhile! Initially it was because my boyfriend was in town for spring break, then midterms, then I just got lazy and busy. :(

Anyway, I wanted to update ASAP so I won't be responding to reviews this chapter, but for sure next chapter! :)

Enjoy! :)

Seven forty-five in the morning and my doorbell was ringing, over and over. And over. And over. It was like a bad dream, except that it was reality. A bad reality that wasn't much better.

I clambered out of bed, rubbing my throbbing temple and stretching my extremely sore muscles. I stretched my arms up to stretch my back and yawned. I walked over to my bedroom door and opened it, suddenly realizing that I was surprisingly well-rested.

I frowned, wondering when the last time I felt this refreshed was as I opened my door. I didn't even care that I was just in a t-shirt and shorts. I just stepped aside to let Jace in, then turned and went into the bathroom, letting him let himself in. Not a word from neither him nor I.

Was it just me, or was there more tension, and not the awkward angry tension, between us than before? Was it just me, or did I see him rake his eyes over me as I opened the door?

I quickly showered. As I stepped out, I noticed my long blonde hair was drying in slight waves. I cursed, knowing that sometime within the next few weeks I would have to go get my straight perm done again.

Ten minutes later, I was dressed and ready to go. A quick glance at the clock told me it was only eight-ten.

"Ready, blondie?" Jace asked, completely monotone, as opposed to his usual plaful tone.

I motioned toward the door. "Lead the way, boss," I replied, overly sweetly. If he wanted to play this little professional thing, fine. I would play along. But I sure as hell wouldn't be the one to give in first.

"Got any bruises from your ass-whooping?" Simon wondered as we all gathered in the training area.

I continued to stretch, wincing, but I shook my head. "Actually, no. I have a feeling I'll get a lot of them in the field, though. I appreciate you guys not giving me any. People might start questioning my badassness if I constantly have bruises."

Simon chuckled and Jace frowned. "Enough chit-chat," he snapped. "Simon, Magnus, go work together. I'll stay with Clary so she can stay focused."

Simon, Magnus, and I all exchanged confused glances. What was going on? I watched, sadly, as Magnus and Simon went to a different combat room, while I was left with a questionably moody Jace.

"Everything alright with you?" I asked as I followed Jace into the training room we used yesterday.

Jace rolled his eyes. "You need to focus, Clary. If we keep going at this rate, you'll never make it past training. And then my time will be wasted."

I tried to ignore the twinge of hurt that his words gave me, but was more confused than ever. Somewhere along the way I had chosen to try to let these people in, even though I'd known Jace all of twenty-four hours, and Simon and Magnus for less.

"What rate?" I demanded, getting angry now. "I've been doing this all of one day. You've hardly given me a chance."

Jace halted and turned to face me. "Hardly given you a chance? Are you kidding me? After how hard I pushed for you to be here-,"

"Exactly," I interrupted. "For someone who was so persistent to have me here, I and probably several others would expect more than this shitty attitude that you seem to be in today. Have a bad day, that's fine. But don't take it out on me," I snarled, then turned and stomped out of the room, leaving a speechless Jace behind me.

I went into Simon and Magnus's training room, fuming. They stopped and glanced at me in question. I needed to fight to take my temper out on something.

"Magnus, let's fight," I said. He nodded, and I took the first swing.

I applied everything they had taught me yesterday. Magnus beat me twice, pinning me down, surprisingly strong for his lanky self. Simon beat me once before I forfeited.

"I just don't understand," I cried, panting as I pulled myself to my feet. "Why am I still losing at this?"

"Because you're trying to take your anger out," Jace said from behind where we all stood.

How long had he been standing there?

We all looked at him expectantly.

"If you let fighting get too personal, you're more likely to lose your focus and therefore lose your fight. You can't let it be so personal, Clary. You'll lose sight of your mission."

"Speaking from personal experience?" Simon joked.

I could tell that Jace was, indeed, speaking from personal experience. I didn't have the heart to make fun of him. Instead, I simply asked, "Are you feeling better?"

He smirked. "Are you?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Answering a question with a question again, I see."

"Evading my questions again, as always, Miss Fairchild. Ready to actually train?"

I was simply satisfied with him being back to his normal self, so I abandoned my hopeless fights with Simon and Magnus and once again followed Jace.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Jace said as we took a lunch break. My sandwich never tasted so good. I was so hungry after the physicality of the training, but could tell I was making small improvements.

I shrugged. "It's whatever."

"No, it's not. You were right. I shouldn't take it out on you, or anyone for that matter. You're not the only one with a temper."

I tilted my head as I looked at him, scrutinizing his behavior. "You got in an argument with someone last night, didn't you?"

He smiled. "You're going to be a great profiler, Clary."

We didn't say anything for a few minutes, just ate our lunches. I finally decided to break the silence out of pure curiosity.

"Who did you argue with?"

Jace sighed. "You don't let anything go, do you?" He paused before responding. "I was fighting with this girl I started seeing a few weeks ago.

Slight disappointment coursed my veins. I shouldn't be surprised. "What was it about?"

"Me spending too much time at my job and not enough time with her."

I snickered. "And you guys have only been together a few weeks?"

He rolled his eyes and nodded. "Stupid, I know. I think she's uncomfortable with me spending time with another woman," he admitted, glancing at me.

I shoved his shoulder. "Tell her not to worry. I'm only interested in being coworkers and possibly friends," I said, even though part of me knew it wasn't true. A brief look of longing flashed in his eyes before it was gone.

I inwardly grinned. Game on.

That night, I finally decided to talk to Tessa. I was parked in front of her place, feeling nervous about how she would react to me being there, but knew it had to be done. After a deep breath, I climbed out of my car and walked into her apartment building, and then knocked on her door.

The door swung open, and Tessa stood there, obviously surprised. "Clary? What are you doing here?"

I looked down at my hands. Now or never. "You told me to call you when I was ready to talk. I figured this was better than calling."

Tessa cocked an eyebrow before stepping aside to let me in. "I thought it would take you longer."

"Under normal circumstances, it probably would," was all I responded with.

She sat down at her table, tucking one leg underneath her. "Well?" she asked expectantly. "What makes these circumstances 'not normal'?"

I glanced around her cute little apartment, cozy and library-like, before sitting down in defeat. "I got a job."

Her jaw dropped. "No way! Where?"

I didn't make eye contact. She was probably going to ask a lot of questions that I wasn't sure I was prepared to answer. "The FBI. Remember that guy at the gym?"

Tessa nodded. "He was also at a bar we went to a few weeks ago. But yes, I remember him. Why?"

I scowled. How did she remember him when I didn't? "Well, turns out he was recruiting me. I've been training for the past two days, and let me tell you it's been far from easy."

"What kind of training?"

"Firearms, combat, some profiling techniques. It's exhausting."

She nodded again, and silence followed. It was awkward, which was highly unusual for us. Silences weren't usually bizarre between us.

"So… are we going to talk about what happened at the gym last week?" I wondered quietly to break the silence.

Tessa rubbed the back of her neck and stood up to walk into the adjacent kitchen. "I don't know. Are you ready to talk about it?"

"Am I ever ready to talk about it?" I asked rhetorically, watching as she prepared two cups of tea.

"The answer to your rhetorical question is no. It's not like I'm ever really ready to talk about my past. Just sometimes it needs to come out. How are you supposed to grow and move on if you don't?"

I hesitated. "I was molested and raped for two years. My mother didn't know. I was too young and didn't have the heart to tell her when she was on her death bed," I admitted, my voice barely audible.

Tessa froze as she dunked the tea bags into the cups of warm water before slowly turning around to bring them to the table. She didn't say anything for a moment, and just out of my pure discomfort, I remained completely silent. The truth was out, and I couldn't say it was a relief. If anything, it felt like tearing open new wounds.

"How old were you?" she finally asked, after nearly three minutes of sipping on too-hot chamomile tea.

"I was freshly five when it started," I said. "I left home on my seventh birthday."

She bit her lip. "You're right," she paused. "You were too young. Much too young to even understand it. No one should ever have to go through that."

"No one should ever have to deal with crack-addict parents," I replied, hoping to take the spotlight off me.

She laughed softly. "Unfortunately, the world is a cruel, dark place, Clary. You and I just happened to see that part a little more than most people."

I exhaled sharply. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

There was another pause.

"Hey, Tessa?" I started.

"Yeah?" We finally made eye contact.

"You didn't apologize. Therapists and people I told when I was younger always apologized."

She shrugged. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you should never apologize for something that isn't your fault, nor should you apologize for something like that. I mean, what is the other party supposed to say? That it's okay? Because it's not. And it will never be okay. But somehow, in the midst of all the chaos of the world, we find a way to be okay. We find our own way of moving on. Somehow, we have to learn to let go of the past and stop hiding behind it."

I stared down at my cup of tea. She was right, of course, and this conversation was long overdue. I smiled shyly up at her, sensing that our friendship would return to normal, if not on a deeper level than before.

A couple weeks passed. I was now three of four weeks into my training. I grew increasingly more comfortable with Simon, Magnus, and Jace, and had been doing exceedingly well in all areas of my training. I still struggled with the physical training most of the time, but was triumphant in the few times I beat each of the guys.

Today we were meeting the rest of the team, and I had to admit that I was a little bit anxious. We were told to dress nice, so here I was, dressed in slacks, heels, and a nice dark green button-up.

"Nervous, blondie?" Jace asked from beside me while we waited in the conference room for everyone else to show up.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't usually do well with new people."

"That's an understatement," he muttered.

I elbowed him in the ribs, and then glanced over at him to get a better look at him. "You look nice in that shirt, by the way. Date tonight?" I complimented. He was wearing a light blue button-up with a black tie and black trousers. His golden waves were neatly pushed back.

He nervously pulled at his collar. "Yes, with that girl I told you about a few weeks ago. I'm finally taking her out on a nice date."

I opened my mouth to respond when several people walked through the conference room door. There was a gorgeous dark-haired woman, who dressed borderline inappropriate for a workplace, but she was a tall goddess to say the least. She also had the biggest bitch look on her face, and I knew one day her and I would get along.

Robert followed behind them, nodding at all of us. "Welcome to the team. While I'm aware you guys haven't yet finished your training, we need your assistance on a case. Before we start debriefing, I'd like for you all to introduce yourselves."

There were two tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed men, one of which was named Will, and the other one was Alec. Alec was slightly thinner and had a more narrow face than Will, while Will looked elegant and lonely. The dark-haired girl was Isabelle, and there was another blonde girl named Emma. They were both tough-seeming women.

Just as we were finishing introductions, a man threw the door open. He had shoulder-length black hair and bright green eyes, with spritely features, but he was seething. "I quit. I can't keep doing this job, Robert. You'll have to find someone to replace me," he snapped, tossing his credentials on the table before storming out.

We all stared at the door and then back at Robert.

"Who was that?" Magnus asked.

Robert sighed. "Our Technical Analyst. Do any of you know how to do computer work like that? Hacking and whatnot?"

Magnus's hand shot up. "I've been playing with computers since I was a kid. I can certainly help work some magic."

One of the guys, Alec, looked at him with curiosity. "You did computer hacking?"

Magnus's face dropped. "Well, no. But I know how to. I could work your computer systems."

Robert nodded. "Great. I'll consider your training done then. You'll be our new Technical Analyst. Now, onto the case. Clary, Simon, Jace, you'll stay here to work out of the office here. The rest will come with me, but first I need to debrief you on it."

Isabelle clicked a button on the remote she was holding, and the large TV screen on the back wall lit up. "Okay, so far three bodies have been found completely drained of blood in Boston. All the victims seem to have had nails through their hands, but the nails were nowhere to be found." She displayed a few of the crime scene photos, and I fought the urge to look away. "Cause of death was from slits in the wrists, throat, and ankles. It also appears that more blood was removed from a two IV's in the arms and legs."

"The bodies aren't on display," Jace observed. "They were dumped carelessly."

"No remorse," Will said. "He must not care for them after they are of no more use to him."

"All the victims are white males in their early thirties. Married, and have children. They're the typical blue collar American," Isabelle said. "Clearly he's a preferential killer."

"They could be a surrogate for someone else," Simon spoke up, and everyone, including me, looked over at him. "What? I'm just saying. Don't preferential killers usually have a type because they're surrogates for the real cause of their anger?"

Jace nodded. "Yes, usually. This could be the case guys, and we have no evidence to prove otherwise."

I was beginning to feel a little bit left out in this conversation, but I had nothing to comment on.

"Were there any signs of sexual assault?" Alec wondered.

Isabelle shook her head. "None. Rape kits came back clean."

"How frequent are the kills?" Emma said.

"First victim was found two weeks ago, second victim five days ago, third yesterday morning. Judging by the missing persons report, he's holding them for about two days before disposing of them. I think that's all for now, we can discuss more on the flight there?"

Robert nodded. "Yes, wheels up in thirty minutes."

"Wait," I said before I could stop myself. I was examining the pictures more closely now. "You said there were no signs of sexual assault."

Isabelle refrained from rolling her eyes. "Yes, that's what the report says."

I scowled at her. "So that means it's unlikely that the… um, suspect—," I stopped, looking for the word.

"Unsub," Will muttered.

"Right. The unsub. That means it's unlikely that the unsub is getting off on this."

Alec and Emma scrutinized me before Emma spoke up. "Correct, or the kill himself is what's getting him off."

"Mmm, I don't think so," I said.

"How do you reckon?" Robert wondered.

I approached the TV screen. "Well, look. It's kind of hard to see in these photos, but aside from the dirt on the clothes, they're in good shape. There is no blood on them, and the wounds are wiped clean."

Jace smiled at me. I could tell I was making him proud.

"So the unsub is most likely a woman," Robert said. "Good work, Clary. Jace, take care of things here. We'll be in touch."

We watched as the team left, while the four of us stood in the room.

"Damn, guys, that was impressive," Jace said. "Good eyes."

"So now what?" Magnus asked.

"Oh, right. We will go get you set up in your office. Simon, Clary… I'll come find you later."

Okay everyone! I know it was kind of short, but I hope you liked it! I've been watching a lot of Criminal Minds lately so shout out to them for my terminology! Haha. Anyway. Let me know what you thought in a review! I will be responding to them next chapter!

Thanks for reading! I promise I'll be back soon, just be a little patient please! :) But please review any thoughts at all!

-Caitlyn