A/N: Revamped an old one, decided to add a chapter inspired by changes for season 7. Still threw it together in a half hour or so...so please don't expect greatness. That being said I'm looking forward to the premiere like everybody else...I'm kinda ecstatic. It's kinda sad to see.

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em...I'd have done things a whole lot differently if I did.

~o~

Dr. Reid sluggishly stumbled into the conference room with a super,extra, grande mocha, crappafrappaccino with extra sugar in his hand. He nodded his head in acknowledgment of his colleagues and sat in one of the three empty chairs near Morgan.

"How nice of you to join us Dr. Reid," the balding plump man known as Mr. Asole said in a condescending tone.

"Not like I had much of a choice now is there, sir?" Reid snapped back with a sarcastic smirk, that somewhat startled his counterparts.

"A simple, I'm sorry for my tardiness would suffice Dr. Reid," Mr. Asole said through a forced smile, as he leaned forward in his chair and reconfirmed the time on his ridiculously expensive Rolex.

"Well sir, unless it's for the nature of my profession I refuse to lie about things. Also, I've asked you before that impromptu team gatherings don't work for me. I need more time to arrange transportation that will not only get me here in a timely fashion but will decrease my chances of being further delayed by unexpected mobs."

"Let me guess kid, nerd obsessed teeny-boppers with a bad case of Reid-fever?

"Actually no, not this time, though they can be pretty bad," Reid replied wide-eyed and shuddering at the thought.

"College co-eds equally attracted to you're intellect as they are to your physical hotness?" Garcia jumped in with a bright smile.

"No, actually. They're usually more well tamed...usually," he muttered as he tried to piece together the remnants of his skinny tie while avoiding a loose button on his now rumpled shirt.

"Then who was it kid?" Rossi questioned with part amusement, part annoyance.

"The worst of them all," Reid sighed as he paused to take a sip of his too sweet caffeinated beverage. "Middle-aged cougars with a gross overestimation of my physical capabilities...not that I'm complaining," he responded with a half smirk.

"Ahhh" the others replied in unison with nodded heads and smiles of their own, with the exception of Hotch who never smiles, and was still studying his young colleague because the sarcastic attitude Reid displayed wasn't lost on him.

Mr. Asole cleared his throat. "Well then, now that that's all settled, we should get down to business." He clasped his hands in front of him and stared down at the packets before him. "I'd first like to introduce you to my colleague Eva L. Bhetch. Ms. Bhetch has had her hands in all parts of the show and many of the shows for years. She's often heard but never seen, as you may know from the statements she had to make throughout last year." He signaled to a thin, dark haired woman beside him, whose face was unnaturally tight.

"Is she smiling at us?" Garcia whispered to Morgan.

"Can't tell Baby-girl."

"I thought she was younger than me?" Erin Strauss murmured to Rossi beside her.

"Too much plastic surgery has the reverse effect. I believe my third wife had the same problem...or maybe it was my fourth," Rossi's voice trailed off as he pondered.

"Anyways, let's get to discussing the upcoming season. We start in a few days and we must go over the changes," he sighed, promptly ignoring the loud groans from those around him. His attention was finally drawn to the opened laptop on the table. " I'm sorry, who is this?"

"Ohhh, umm, hello sir!" Ashley Seaver nervously greeted the plump man via Skype. "I-I'm so sorry, I was still on vacation and I had it arranged so I could still be read in on the meeting. Actually, sir, I had read something online and I wanted to ask you about it...of course, as soon as you-"

"Right, Amanda." Mr. Asole mused in a faraway tone, acknowledging the nudge Eva L. Bhetch was giving him with a curt nod.

"No, it's actually Ashley S-"

"Yeah, right, of course. Well, I suppose we'll start with this then. I'm sorry, Abigail..." he droned in an unapologetic voice as he astutely ignored Ashley's once again correcting him with her actual name.

"We're no longer in need of your services. We..." he paused to read the index cards full of notes. "We appreciate the time you invested and you will be misse- Seriously?" He abruptly turned to Eva L. Bhetch and motioned at the cards.

Eva and he continued to engage in a very heated discussion, or so they thought, seeing as Eva's lips never actually moved in the process. Mr. Asole gave Eva a suffering look before rolling his eyes and flashing a predatory grin.

"Look Allison, here's the thing...you were temporary. I can't say that you'll be terribly missed because honestly the fanbase for the most part never seemed to warm up to you. Sure you have some supporters out there, but it's mostly out of pity. They either can't stand you or are merely indifferent but we've yet to find a poll where you are even close to being considered a fan-favorite. Those are facts. Plus, honestly sweetheart what did you expect? They dropped you into this environment with a backstory with more holes in it then Swiss cheese, no adequate excuse as to why you were really there, and you were limited to roughly three lines an episode. You couldn't have possibly expected this to be long term! Besides, we have a quota, we-"

"They only find it acceptable to have three females to every four males, and it would be wrong to have an even amount of males and females on the show at once. Unthinkable, even!" A sarcastic retort came from the back of the room. Elle Greenaway was in the shadows leaning against the wall and counting the speckles in the ceiling tiles.

"B-but it's just me and Garcia!" Ashley stuttered as she wiped away tears.

"We'll get to that momentarily..." Mr. Asole waved an indifferent hand in Ashley's direction before turning to face Elle. "Ms. Greenaway is there a reason why you lurk about these meetings despite being long gone?"

"I'm a lurker Asole," Elle quipped with a sardonic smirk, fueled on by the approving snort coming from Morgan. "It's what I do."

"Fine. Whatever," Asole rolled his eyes ignoring the angry grunt coming from Eva L. Bhetch beside him. "The point is Alexandria-"

"ASHLEY!" Seaver interrupted through angry sobs.

"Again...whatever. With the return of JJ and Prentiss-"

"Wait Prentiss and JJ are coming back?" Hotch inquired with a nervous lilt in his voice.

"-With the return of JJ and Prentiss...Ladies?" Asole gestured towards the door where both women walked in and took their seats. "We have in fact met are female quota and therefore are no longer in need of Angela's services."

"I have to admit, I didn't see that coming. Wait...are their anymore surprise returns?" Elle asked with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

Asole ignored Elle and turned to face the two women. "We are honored and privileged to have you back," he started in a monotone voice occasionally stealing a glance at the index cards Eva L. Bhetch pushed in his direction. "We did the fans, your team, and the show itself a disservice by behaving so rashly and firing you both. We underestimated the response your firings would have on fans because honestly girls...I just don't see where you all are all that imp-" he was cut off by Eva's sharp elbow slamming into his rib cage. He cleared his throat and continued. " It was a wrong choice and thankfully we have learned from our mistakes and prior misdeeds and will never abruptly fire a character without thought of the effects it could have, especially before developing the character to it's full potential."

"Wha-Seriously?" Ashley shrieked incredulously. "If you learned from your mistakes then why-"

"Amy, sweetheart, not right now-" Mr. Asole waved his hand dismissively. "Anyways, ladies your back by popular demand, that was an unforeseeable oversight on our part but despite fantastic ratings...we'll cater to our fans just this once," he said through a grimace as he felt Eva L. Bhetch elbow him again. "I mean, welcome back."

"Umm, may I be the one to point out that we do in fact have a soap opera clause in our contracts that strictly prohibit the raising of the dead?" Reid broke the uncomfortable silence. "Not that I'm not pleased to have you two back."

"Actually you aren't Dr. Reid," Asole said with a cruel smirk.

"What?"

"We'll get to that. So JJ, you're back as a profiler now, which means that we finally gave you something that makes you more useful. Isn't that great?" Asole clapped his hands together and ignored the insulted sigh coming from JJ and the agitated growl coming from Rossi.

"Things won't be easy for you though, darling. The others won't take too kindly to you're leaving out the minor detail of Emily still being alive. I'm sure most of them will forgive you quickly though," he shot a doubtful look in Reid and Morgan's direction before continuing. "But on the plus we will give you some more backstory and we will focus on your character a lot more and even bring in that sweet little son of yours and that country bumpkin fella you seem to love."

"Will. His name is Will," JJ all but sneered as Hotch patted her arm to calm her.

"Uh huh. Sure, doll."

"So again, how is Emily going to be back without violating the soap opera clause?" Reid raised a brow suspiciously. "And am I wrong, which let's be honest the probability of me being wrong about anything is slim, but am I wrong in considering that maybe you guys did this firing-rehiring stunt to boost ratings?"

Eva L. Bhetch leaned in closely and seemed to have been hissing something in Mr. Asole's ear. "Eva, love, Dr. Reid's the resident genius, it's in his nature to question such things and we're required to engage and deal with it, okay?" he whispered through a forced smile as he nodded in Reid's direction.

"Will she have a different name?" Reid inquired.

"Well...no she'll still be Emily Prentiss-"

"Will she no longer be working for the BAU?"

"Well no...see she will be still with the BAU-"

"Is Doyle dead, therefore making it safe for her to come out of hiding?"

"Well..not exactly, see Doyle is still alive-"

"Then I repeat, how is it plausible for a presumed dead agent to come out of whatever form of protection she was placed under, and still work for the agency using her given name, and the man responsible for her going into hiding, not to mention the man responsible for subsequently destroying the bond between all of us characters, is still out there? How is it probable that this doesn't defy the soap opera clause not to mention the loose grasp we have on reality as a show?" Reid glared at Mr. Asole, challenge gleaming in his hazel eyes.

"Err...I believe someone inquired about Dr. Reid's change in attitude?" Asole's face reddened under the intensity of the young doctor's glare. He looked down to his notes, "Dr. Reid and Agent Morgan will have the biggest problems with this development. Reid will be the most affected however, there will be an undeniable tension between him and at least three of the characters involved in this fiasco. We're also planning on making Reid a bit more bad-ass this year...err, as you can see, he'll do quite well with this development in his character."

Reid merely rolled his eyes and finished off the rest of his sugar coffee concoction. The others looked at him with sympathy and horror, clearly displeased with the direction he would be forced to take with his character.

"Huh, I kinda like it," Elle quipped from the other side of the room. "Knew you had a little bad-ass 'tude in there somewhere kid," she smirked at him and he smiled back.

"Wait...and I'm the other person who will take issue with the reappearance of JJ and Emily?" Morgan inquired from his spot next to Garcia. "Do we have to do this again? Let me guess, I'll be the angry one ? Don't get me wrong, I'm angry...I'm very angry, not to mention feeling a bit betrayed, but I resent the fact that you continue to perpetuate this underlying stereotype of African-American men as being impulsive or angry, through my character. I'm quite tired of being the one to always challenge everything...have you seen the polls, man? I end up coming across as some sort of bad guy practically every time I open my mouth! If it weren't for the fact that I flirted so much with Garcia, and play the big brother role with Reid, and knocked down doors and tackled people...I'd be seriously concerned that none of the fans wouldn't like me!" He finished his tirade barely above a whisper and smiled as Garcia patted him reassuringly on the arm and kissed him on the cheek.

"Sorry Der, I think they dumped some of my angry Latina off on you when I left," Elle whispered from the back.

"Huh...'perpetuate' I keep forgetting that you're actually smart too. So often we cast the all brawn no brain that I sometimes lump you in the category with the rest of 'em," Asole said smoothly.

"Are you kidding me, man?" Morgan bellowed, Hotch glared at Asole with his trademark stoic look and Garcia let out a frustrated grunt.

"Agent Morgan, I know your little hold out that came dangerously close to impacting the season,was in part due to the way in which we handle your character," he paused as he watched Morgan squirm under the reminder of contract negotiations. "But we do appreciate your character, I mean you fall under the token minority clause so we-" he was interrupted by Eva hissing at him. "Sorry, we do note your concerns about your character. We also have a bit of reflection in store for you as you contemplate an offer to run your own team in NYC."

"No...no, no, no! I can't lose anymore of my babies! I can't lose my stud muffin!" Garcia shrieked.

"Ahh, yes Ms. Penelope. No worries my dear, I doubt anything will come of it. For you, we plan on bringing up that lovely boyfriend of yours. Progression in the relationship is necessary. We'll also continue to use you to your full potential as technical analyst and you'll also be briefing the team on the cases. We will try to uphold your request for more terms of endearment for Agent Morgan, and of course we'll continue to use the relationship between you to as the light relief in an otherwise dark and angsty show. While your wardrobe won't be any less flamboyant we will work on color coordination. And no worries, my dear, we won't be lending you out to any sister shows. My God, that was a travesty. "Asole shuddered and Eva L. Bhetch nodded her head minutely in agreement.

"Umm, okay, I suppose that isn't so bad. I won't have to choose sides amongst my chickadees though will I? I can't bare having us all not getting along!"

"I see...," Asole blinked before turning his chair. "Moving on. David Rossi."

"Let me guess, you want me to 'look alive'" he said sarcastically with a smirk and air quotes to punctuate it.

"Actually, we're looking forward to you looking as if you've seen a ghost," Asole droned.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We're bringing in one of you're ex wives. We appreciate the mentor role you took on last season and the doting uncle role you took on with little Jack...it was a beautiful sight. We want to spice things up though this season, so yeah...I'm bringing in an ex-wife."

"Isn't having Erin there enough?" Rossi queried. "No offense, dear," he offered to Erin Strauss beside him as he gave her a pat on the hand.

"None taken," she quietly responded back.

"Ha! Um, no...no, that isn't enough. We haven't decided which of your ex wives we're bringing in but the more awkward the situation the better," Mr. Asole answered with a smirk. "Other than that...yes, by all means Rossi, look alive... hell, I'll settle for awake."

"And how about myself?" Hotch questioned cautiously, his face still stoic.

"Ahh yes, Hotch. Really had us on the edge of our seats there didn't you?"

Hotch merely shrugged in response.

"No worries, we'll try not to hold that against you," Asole said with narrowed eyes. "For you things will be complicated. We have understandable friction amongst your team that will affect the way the team interacts and functions. As the leader you will undoubtedly face the brunt of the wrath from your team and from superiors regarding the overall effectiveness. In fact there will be a hearing."

Emily gasped in the background and JJ gave her a worried look and grabbed her hand.

"We'll also work in some more of those senior bromance moments between you and Rossi. Might I applaud you for smiling at least twice last season? I expect to see at least one worked in this season. It's a pity that we can't see the extent of the dental plan we work so hard to give you." Asole smirked. "You and Agent Morgan will have your fair share of friction, same goes for Dr. Reid. Also there will be something we'll need to work out with you and Erin."

"Am I going to be gone?" Strauss asked nervously.

"Uh, that's need to know right now Erica-"

"Erin!" Rossi corrected with a growl.

"-and right now you don't need to know it."

"Is this part of the quota everyone keeps talking about?" Ashley asked with a sniffle.

"Um, Ashley is it? I'll discuss the workings of this show with you...I have a special place and everything..." Elle grabbed the laptop that Ashley was appearing on and held it solidly in her hands.

"Great," Erin huffed. " so first you insist on making me a...a-"

"Bitch?" Rossi offered.

"Yes, a...bitch, and then you imply that I'm somehow ill, and now you're saying that you refuse to tell me whether or not my job may be in jeopardy this season?"

"Uh..yeah, that pretty much sums it up Tootsie." Asole replied in a bored tone as he checked his watch again and stared out the window.

"Is there anything else we need to know about this upcoming season, sir?" Hotch asked sternly.

Mr. Asole and Eva L. Bhetch went back and forth whispering with one another for a brief moments, exchanging glances with one another and eying each of the team members briefly, before Mr. Asole cleared his throat nodded his head in affirmation at Eva L. Bhetch and faced the team.

" Emily will return, not necessarily to open arms. JJ is back and will be more useful than she ever was before, she too will face a bit of backlash from her colleagues. Rossi's ex will complicate matters. Hotch will be the troubled leader. Dr. Reid will become darker and more distant than ever. Morgan will be angry, tackle things, and flirt. Garcia will be happy go lucky and colorful, Anna won't be returning at all...maybe we'll explain that maybe we won't we haven't quite decided but surely no one will notice. Erica may or may not still oversee the BAU and be the bitch. And in general the team as we know it will never be the same." Mr. Asole clapped his hands together excitedly and exchanged a glance with Eva L. Bhetch. "I'm excited! So is Eva, though it's kind of hard to tell sometimes," he frowned at the plastic looking face of his colleague. " It's the season of characters folks! The season for all the little fans out there to connect with you all! You should be happy...you all will be getting just as much attention as those unsubs you chase after! I've been dying to see the unraveling of the BAU! I'm practically gleeful!"

He ignored the death glares being shot in his direction, as Garcia softly sniffled back tears, Morgan all but growled, Reid clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, Rossi did his best "Godfather glare", JJ and Emily shifted uncomfortably, Ashley hiccuped, Elle smirked, Erin smiled sadly, and Hotch pinned Mr. Asole and his companion with his best stoic glare.

"Well, Eva and I have to go. We have a slue of new shows to screw...I mean work with." He shot a glance at Eva. "Let's see next on are itinerary...we must talk to Shane about that NCIS LA show...he goes way overbudget with those damn explosions." He clapped his hands together and hoisted himself from the chair, adjusting his Tom Ford suit. "What does he think, we're made from money?" He made his way to the door with his botox mannequin, companion beside him.

"Well, that was fun," Elle said sarcastically. "What?" she responded to the looks the others shot in her direction. "As if I'm the only one thinking that."

The tension in the room was palpable as the others begin leafing through their scripts.

"Guess that rules out dinner and drinks." Elle sighed and looked at the still sniffling Ashley Seaver on the laptop screen she was holding. "Ashley, right?"

"Yes!" Ashley all but hiccuped.

"Nice to meet you Ashley. It sucks that they broke the news to you while you were on vacation like that..."

"They confirmed the news. I found out two hours ago on Twitter."

"Damn, that sucks. They've gotten more ruthless over the years," Elle said with a shrug. "Anyways, I'm Elle Greenaway. I'm sure you never heard of me before, because God forbid anyone mentions me anymore,"she said with a snort, as she rose from her seat and carried the laptop with her towards the door.

"There's a group of us girls that get together every Wednesday night roughly around 9 or so for drinks. I'll introduce you to them all. There's Hailey Hotchner and Jordan Todd, and occasionally we hang out with Diana Reid...when she isn't off singing show-tunes. It'll be fun." Elle smirked at the fresh faced blonde on the screen before turning around to face Erin Strauss. "Oh, and as for you chica, I'll extend you an invitation...you know, just in case," she whispered before shutting the door behind her.