When his boss had informed him that he would be shadowing members of the BAU team, Cooper knew that this moment was going to come. The murders were occuring in the Washington DC area and that meant they could work out of the Quantico office. When the team got the call that there was another body matching the MO of the killer, Cooper did not want to go, but there he was in the car while Liam drove to the scene and Chancellor sat in the passenger seat.

Chancellor was settled back in his seat, just texting with Mick as he looked over his own notes. The discomfort in the car was palpable but he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. He hadn't spoken much of anything to Liam since their little meeting in the conference room, or to Comfort since the day before. He was still in a mood and still had nothing to say to either party.

Cooper was in the backseat, going through his breathing techniques as quietly as he possibly could. The last thing he needed was to have some sort of panic attack on the job. He was under the impression that if he tried hard enough, he could overcome anything through sheer force of will. Liam pulled through the police barricade and got out of the car without speaking either. Cooper followed. As they got closer, it became apparent that the woman was blond, average height, shot in the head with a low calibur weapon. Without thinking, Cooper actually grabbed the back hem of Chancellor's suit as if to hold him back from what was a dangerous area.

Chancellor was used to this. There wasn't much that phased him anymore. So he got out of the truck and started to the scene. When Comfort grabbed the back of his shirt he stopped and looked back at him with a questioning look. The agent's discomfort was written plainly on his face and Chancellor could tell that he didn't want to get any closer. "Do you want to stay back?"

He wanted Chancellor to stay back too. It wasn't safe in there--at least that was what his brain was telling him. He looked very young just then, eyes slipping back and forth between the distant body and Chancellor. His fingers tightened and he sucked in a breath that didn't come so easily. Why did people want to be around death? He could see the onlookers being held back by the PD. He couldn't find words.

Chancellor glanced back at Liam and then lifted his hand to touch the one Comfort still had tangled in his shirt. "Okay, let's go back to the truck." Because he didn't want Comfort to have a full on meltdown at the crime scene.

Cooper shook his head. "No. No, I'm fine." His breathing was starting to even and the color was coming back into his face. When he felt Chancellor's hand on his, he pulled it away. "Please, continue. Don't let me hold you back. I'm--perfectly capable." An obvious lie.

"If you can't handle it then you should tell me now before we get up there." He didn't want a scene near the body or any of the evidence to be contimanted if Comfort got sick or freaked out.

"I can handle it." He was struggling for composure and he was gaining ground rapidly. Straightening his tie, he brushed past Chancellor and went to catch up with Liam who was currently examining the way the woman was laid out. "Disorganized. Remorseful." Liam said, thinking the footsteps belonged to Chancellor, but when he looked up, he frowned to see Cooper standing there.

Chancellor moved up behind him and he went to crouch down next to Liam. He examined the body, studying everything about how she was laid out. "He closed her eyes, folded her arms over her chest to cover her."

He just tried to focus on how the two were interacting, if they were doing their jobs right, not the fact that the woman was naked save for the litter that was around her body, covering parts of her. The body was fresh enough not to smell bad, but there was a weight to the air around her. He'd seen things like this before, bodies tossed in the middle of a littered back alley. Liam stood up, looking around at the area. "Somewhat secluded, but public enough to be found, obviously. Just like the others. This is definitely our guy."

"I think that we have a real problem if he keeps on this pace. Less than a week this time. He's either getting more confident or he is devolving." Chancellor looked around the ground, trying to find anything that might help him build his profile.

The rest of the team was gathering evidence as well, talking to the forensic team and the like. Liam had his hands on his hips, finding some comfort in the odd mundane quality of this. Business as usual. His eyes landed on Cooper. Except for that little mess. "Enjoying yourself?" Liam shot at him and Cooper frowned, shaking his head.

Chancellor walked over to Liam and touched his elbow to get his attention. "May I have a word?" He wasn't terribly fond of Comfort but he knew enought about PTSD to know that Comfort was in a world of hurt in that moment and doing everything he could to keep it together.

Liam assumed that it was about the case, something that he didn't want Cooper to hear and so he went willingly, leaving the boy alone with that body. Cooper turned his back on it, trying to make it look like he was just looking somewhere else. "What is it?" Liam said once they were out of earshot.

"The kid did two tours of duty in Iraq. He's about to lose his shit. Maybe keep your attitude in check iuntil we get off the scene so we don't have a situation on our hands.

Staring at him, Liam could not believe what he was hearing. He didn't have to say anything because his eyes were telling the story just fine. Turning away from Chancellor, he simply walked back to the scene, walking it as if he were the unsub. Cooper was still a little pale faced, but he had settled into observation mode. When Liam was finished, he headed back to the car with his notes.

Chancellor was distracted by the way that Cooper looked sick by he observed as much as he could and then he turned to go back to the car, assuming that Comfort would follow.

Liam was doing a few breathing exercises of his own. The very notion of Chancellor defending that little prick was infuriating, but he was not going to show that to Cooper. Cooper didn't follow immediately, held up by a stumble on a pop can. It clanked against the asphalt and sent Cooper into an embarassing crouch. He tried to make it look like he'd just tripped, but he was breathing to heavy for it to be just a stumble.

Chancellor turned and went back to him. He didn't make an attempt to help him up but he was there in case Comfort needed him for any thing. His heart did go out to the kid. He'd never served in the military but he had been in similar situations and he knew how traumatic and difficult it could be to get over it.

Thankful that Chancellor wasn't making a big deal out of this, Cooper stood up on his own and brushed off his knee from the bits of debris. "Sorry to hold you up." He said stiffly and headed back to the vehicle. If the ride there had been tense, the ride back was almost unbearable. As soon as they got back, Cooper excused himself to the bathroom.

Chancellor wanted to follow but instead he kept in pace with Liam. "You are an asshole." He said as soon as Comfort was out of earshot. He was pissed for more reasons than one but it was starting to build up so he couldn't stop himself from saying it.

"Because I didn't take the time to get to know the guy who came to investigate me? That doesn't make me an asshole. Why are you defending him?" It was bothering Liam a great deal and he wasn't going to hide that fact.

"Because if you weren't so fucking narrow minded about the othr case you could have figured out that the kid had something going on out there." He stopped and tugged Liam to a stop. "Pull your head out of your ass, Liam. You don't get to treat everyone like shit because you are having a bad month. I will let you treat me like shit but no oneelse."

Liam snorted, an angry, derisive laugh. "What exactly is it about him that's pulling up this protective instinct of yours? You should be eating him alive. He's everything you hate."

Chancellor would have hit him if they hadn't been standing in headquarters. But he was so he just turned and stalked off back to his desk. He was furious and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Liam in that moment.

"I'd really like to know!" Liam called after him, but didn't follow. Instead, he went to his office with his notes. He believed they were just going to knock this case out. It was typical.

Chancellor went back to his desk and he sat there, trying not to explode, though he had a feeling he was failing. He wanted to punch Liam and he wanted to yell at Comfort and just in general he was very aggravated.

Cooper didn't come back from the bathroom for a long time and when he did, he went to find Beckett to interview him. He needed to get this investigation seriously rolling and get the hell out of there.

Chancellor stayed at his desk for the rest of the afternoon. He calmed down considerably once he actually got back to work but he still wasn't in a very good mood. So he just put his headphones in, glasses on, and he started writing up a very indepth analysis.