Shadow Unit

Agents

Special Agent Daphne Worth

Age 33

The newest member of the team, Worth is a former paramedic. Besides her emergency medical training, she's terrifically observant. Though she doesn't always "get" people in social situations, she's uncommonly good at putting facts together on the job and making the right conclusions.

She's the only member of the team who knew the Unit existed before she joined the Bureau. As a paramedic, she had a run-in with the anomaly. Shadow Unit's former media liason took pity on her and explained a little about what she'd just faced, what he was there to do (make it look as if what she'd been through hadn't happened), and who he worked for. He'd told her, he said, so she'd be able to walk away and let it go. And maybe he meant that.

If so, obviously, he didn't know Worth.

She arrived at Quantico with every intention of becoming part of Shadow Unit, if she could find anyone who knew it existed. Eventually the questions she was asking filtered to Reyes. He pulled strings to get her into the BAU, where she could get some answers. That led to her request to transfer to Shadow Unit.

Worth is geeky about medicine, history, and the literature of the fantastic. At first meeting, she seems very emotionally in control and reserved. Her family was undemonstrative, concerned about appearances. Her father, an electrical engineer, had trouble showing affection or approval. Her mother died when she was thirteen. Her older brother did everything right--and died in a drunk driving accident when she was sixteen.

She considered going to med school, but decided (over the objections of her father) to make sure she could handle the pressure and gore involved in medicine by a stint as a paramedic. After a month on the job, she knew she'd never be a doctor. She'd gotten hooked on being a hero instead, on the adrenaline and urgency and action.

Worth watches other people to fit in with their expectations, and her ability to observe helps her do that. She doesn't believe that other people are inclined to like her for herself. She genuinely cares about people; it doesn't occur to her that she ought to be cared about the same way, since anything like selfishness frightens her.

She dresses professional and tough on the job: suit jackets with trousers, conservative sweaters. She thinks she's not very good looking, and doesn't feel she knows how to be a girl, or how to dress. Or how to loosen up, for that matter. She's inclined to behave like one of the boys...but in the FBI boy's club, she's afraid that will look pushy and fake.

As much as she second-guesses herself in daily life, in a crisis she forgets her insecurities. She may worry afterward about how she came off, but in the heat of action her knowledge, training, and reflexes kick in.

She comes into any situation looking for behavioral clues. She's always done it, to survive in her family and youth; she does it with the team on a personal level, and of course, it's great on the job.

For Worth, the unit is the place she fits in--home--because she set off on the quest to find it. In particular, she's bonded with Chaz and Hafidha, who are similar to her in age, athleticism, and a certain tendency toward adrenaline addiction.