Got a little bored, had a little writers block, so I'm putting this up lol. Just a short from Seaver's POV on the 'family' at the BAU. Will have another part to it, it'll be a two-shot. Next part, naturally, is her talking about Reid. Cause, well, he's my favorite. I can't help it lol A few spoilers in here for Revelations and Profiler, Profiled. I don't think any others. I don't own them, btw, so can't sue, sorry :D

When she joined the BAU, Ashley Seaver had known that she was joining a kind of large, extended family. She'd witnessed that on the consult trip they'd taken her on. And for the first few weeks, she thought she understood the dynamic between them. She thought she understood them. She'd taken the time, looked them all up individually. Googled them, really.

Aaron Hotchner, a workaholic to the bone. He was the stern team leader who had lived through so much and yet, as time went by, apparently seemed to be the better for it instead of worse. He had a way of talking to you that made you stand up and pay a little more attention. There was the understanding that, if you messed up, he might not shout at you, but his stern lecture and his disappointment would be so much worse. The other members of the team respected him, even David Rossi, and they all listened to him as the leader he was. Or, as the 'father' of the group.

David Rossi really hadn't changed much from the person she had known. He was still the same easy-going guy, quick to smile when the humor in life struck him. Dressed in his casual and yet professional jeans, shirts and suit jackets and, of course, the shoes. Always with the nice shoes. But then, Ashley thought with a smile, David had always had a thing for Italian leather.

He was quick to throw his opinion in when the team bounced their ideas off each other. Sometimes he even seemed to be the one to ask the question that no one else would. But he didn't do it in a condescending manner. He was almost like, well, like the Uncle of the group. Enjoying them all, occasionally running herd on them, yet not fully stepping into the role of parent.

Derek Morgan. Now, at first glance, Ashley had thought that he would be easy to profile. Easy to understand. How wrong she had been! There was so much to the man that she wondered if anyone had ever figured it all out. At once glance a person would see a tough FBI Agent, not afraid to chase down and tackle an Unsub or kick his way through a door. They'd see the muscles and the stern face and think he was tough.

On another side of it, in the privacy of the team, she would see a great sense of humor come out. The way he laughed with Emily, or picked on Reid, or even occasionally joked with David and Aaron. In that humor it was easy to see the love and respect he held for his team members. There was trust there, too. Trust that Ashley had learned was very hard for Derek to give. She didn't know the whole truth, but she heard things around the FBI, things about Derek and a man named Carl Buford. If even half the rumors were true, there was no wonder that the man trusted as little as he did.

Next on Ashley's list of observation was Emily Prentiss. This woman took a little work to even begin to understand. But some of what Ashley saw was easy. Emily was the tough girl of the group. Soft on the inside in some ways, yet hidden underneath humor and a thick outer shield. Not many people got to be close to Emily's heart. She would talk with you, laugh with you, and work with you. But trust? That was something she didn't give easily or lightly.

But Emily trusted her team. Maybe it was a fragile thing, still. Maybe it wasn't fully formed. But it was there. She loved them as well and respected them. That part was easy to see. She was also highly protective of them. Most especially of one particular team member.

Then again, Ashley didn't think there was a single team member that wasn't protective of their Dr. Spencer Reid.

Out of all of them, she had thought that Dr. Reid would have been the easiest to profile. The absolute easiest. When she'd first met him and he'd listed all the things he'd had problems with in academy training. That, eventually, they'd had to make exceptions to let him enter the field. She'd been nervous about working with him, if she was honest with herself. Afraid that maybe those field skills hadn't improved. How did you trust someone like that to have your back?

Sure, she'd heard all about his eidetic memory and his 187 IQ. She'd heard that he was a pretty good profiler. But, as she watched him, she saw how socially awkward he was. A nerd who never quite felt comfortable speaking to anyone but his team unless he was allowed to speak the facts or statistics that seemed to just roll off his tongue. She had thought he was the easiest to peg and had been confident in her understanding of him.

It was amazing exactly how wrong she was. As time went on, she saw more and more how different the real Spencer Reid was from first images.

Yes, the man spouted out facts and statistics as easy as some people breathed. He was a fountain of useless knowledge in some moments and yet, in others, he carried exactly the information they needed at just the right moment. He was viewed as the weakest link on the team, but the more she learned about him, the more surprised she became. There was an inner strength to him that no one could see unless they knew where to look.

When she had first learned of what had happened to him on that long ago case in Georgia, she had been sure the stories were exaggerated. So, out of curiosity, she'd asked David about it one evening. He'd sat her down and told her the whole story. When she'd finally left her office, it had been with wide eyes. Kidnapped, beaten, drugged, and made to dig his own grave before he finally managed to shoot his captor? The team hadn't even technically rescued him! They'd arrived right after he'd been forced to shoot the man who had been holding him captive. That should have been enough to make anyone want to retire. To never want to step foot in the BAU again.

All of them had been through some serious events in their life. Each member of this team had been knocked down almost as low as a person could go. Yet, here they still stood, one giant, dysfunctional family.

Smiling to herself, Ashley Seaver looked around at the team. Her team. Working with them was going to be a learning experience, that was for sure.