Michelle Lewis

Female

Dr Lewis, Michelle Hamilton (her name before changing it)

Main character, FBI storyline

36

Scars on her back and arms (from attack)

She has the body common amongst martial artists: not slender but at the same time, you wouldn't be able to make out her muscles as much as you'd think you would (given how strong she is).

172 cm

Dark brown

3c, going to research

Brown

Human

Black

65 kg

If she's nervous or restless, she tends to pull on her sleeves (she often wears shirts or suits) or the hem of her shirt/t-shirt. She has a habit of twisting her hair when she's thinking or is listening to someone talking. She usually gestures when talking, though calmly, for the most part, but gestures more widely if she gets upset or exited. When she was younger she bit her nails a lot and although she's managed to quit it, for the most part, she still does it sometimes if she gets extremely nervous. When attempting to calm herself down, she touches her necklace; she bought it after she managed to earn her bachelor's degree, and reminds her that she's gone through worse (than what she's about to do/is doing that is making her stressed) and survived.

If she doesn't know someone properly, she'll talk rather quietly and not very much. It can take a while for her to trust someone, but when she does she'll become more talkative and uses a slightly less formal language (although she often speaks quite formally anyways). She almost never curses. She has a tendency to underexplaining things, especially when she doesn't trust the person.

Michelle is very result-oriented: if she's given a task she'll do whatever she can to ensure it's completed with the best possible result. This, in combination with wanting to make sure no one has to go through what she and her family did, is what motivates her the most in her job.

Plot motivation: Michelle's role in the story is essentially hunting the Nightingale Assassin(s), so her long-time goal is to catch them; hence her long-time motivation is more or less the same as her short term motivation: complete her task and stop the Nightingale so that they can't harm any more people.

As for a person long-time goal and motivation: While part of her absolutely dreads the thought of a family, part of her also longs for the love and stability a family provides.

Judgemental: Michelle is very judgemental and quick to judge others. See Predjudices.

Trust issues: Michelle has a very hard time trusting people and letting people into her life. She might trust a person professionally, but not on a personal level (this applies to the majority of her co-workers). This, in combination with her being rather judgemental, sometimes make her exclude people from her life before getting to know them properly, as well as making her less prone to giving people a second chance. Her inability to trust people or let them into her life also stems from her fear of abandonment; as she lost her entire family at a young age she's reluctant to allow people in, in fear she'll care too much and lose them too.

Stubborn: She's stubborn to a fault and is easily irritated when things don't go her way. If she has an idea and someone opposes it she can sometimes have trouble accepting the criticism and accept that the idea wasn't as good as she first though/the other person has a better idea. If she's set her mind to doing something she'll do whatever's in her power to do it, even if it might mean sacrificing something personally.

Pride/Fierceful independence: She's very proud and can be rather aggressive about her independence. She won't ask for help unless it's absolutely necessary. Like stated above she can also have trouble accepting criticism and see the faults in her own work. She's also very keen to keep her past and private life private and can get very defensive and even angry if asked or confronted about it.

Because of her background and her job at the FBI, Michelle holds quite a lot of prejudices. This is not necessarily directed to people of for example certain race, but more towards people displaying certain character traits. It can also be people dressing in certain ways. She's learnt to quickly pick up on different character traits and while it can be helpful, for example when attempting to identify dangerous individuals, it also makes her judge people before she's seen all sides of them. She can, for better and worse, be quick at "labelling" people, putting them into certain categories she's made up in her mind.

She's very good at quickly observing and judging situations and people, which has given her the ability to make quick decisions when needed. She's a skilled martial artist (having practised both krav maga and judo for a long time).

Like stated in Prejudices, she's quick to judge people and putting people in her own made-up categories. This can sometimes be a positive thing, as it can both help her in her job at the FBI, but also sometimes helps her predict reactions and guess more or less correctly what might, for example, calm a person down. She's quite good at talking to people, as she often can guess both their reactions to things and how she should behave around them in order to not upset them, based on her own system of "labelling" people. This is, of course, useful both when, for example, interviewing people for her work, but also when trying to help friends with problems and alike.

Michelle likes to play the guitar, although she's not very good at it yet. She thinks it's fun and finds it calming. She loves comic books, especially those with female leads, and has a big collection of them. She likes to exercise, especially to go for a run or practice martial arts. She also likes to watch comedy series and superhero movies (while she prefers comics, she finds the movies entertaining as well). Although it's not really a hobby, she's developed a habit of making tea, putting on classical music and sit on the floor by the glass door leading out to her balcony. She finds this especially calming when it's raining and has found it clears her head after difficult cases.

Michelle is rather reserved, and while she is very polite, she can appear cold and in the worst-case scenario, even unfriendly. She can be harsh and rarely sugar coats things; she almost always speaks the truth, no matter how uncomfortable. However, when it comes to dealing with people struggling with different mental problems, she's learnt to suppress her cold demeanour in order to professionally take care of the person. She's good at taking care of people suffering from panic- and anxiety attacks, both from her own experience with them and from her training as a psychologist. In personal relationships, however, she's often cold and rejecting in order to keep people at a certain distance, both before and after she's gotten to know them. To some, it might seem like she's rather two-faced because she often shows a different side while working and while just being personal.

Once someone's earnt her trust, however, she becomes much more friendly and talkative. She's always rather quiet, but if she's in a company which she enjoys, she'll be more contently silent. She'll smile and laugh more; if she tells a story or cracks a joke herself, one can be sure she's happy and trusts the people she's currently with. She's very loyal to the people she likes and she's a good listener. If she's committed to something, be it a person or a cause, one can be sure she'll stick to it, often making her a very reliable person. She's also very hardworking; as she's very result-oriented she always puts in effort in her work, making her a valuable asset to whichever team she's currently working with. She's observant, and has an eye for detail and is good at remembering details about persons and incidents. Because of this, and her honesty, many believes she gives good, although sometimes harsh, advice.

Michelle comes in conflict with her own emotions a lot in the sense that she's absolutely terrified of commitment and relationships, due to her fear of abandonment. At the same time, part of her wants to refill the hole caused by the death of her family, and once she does begin to let someone into her life, this part will strongly attach itself to this person. In the end, it becomes a bad spiral: she tries to push someone away, lets them in, realises she's let them in too far and pushes them away even harsher than before. (hmmm NOTE TO SELF: read this again, idk about it)

Becoming more comfortable around people, learning how to trust people a bit more, as well as letting more people into her life after learning to trust them and getting to know them (her co-workers mainly) and generally becoming more friendly. Becoming more open about her past (but only to a very limited number of individuals).

Although she's managed to overcome it, she suffered from depression, anxiety and PTSD from the attack on her and her family. She got help from doctors and therapists, though it took a long while for her to feel better. She managed her way through uni with the help of a school therapist and earnt her degrees.

While she was raised roman catholic, she has since abandoned her faith as she doesn't believe there could be a God who would let people suffer the way she, and the victims she's worked with during her time at the FBI, has.

Although she's never been very politically active, she considers herself a Democrat, mostly because she feels that too many Republican representatives are against free abortion, something she considers to be very important.

FBI psychologist; she works as a consultant, not an agent. Although she's not allowed to carry a firearm, she's allowed "in the field" in the sense that she's allowed to follow a team to crime scenes and police stations (for example for interviews, but not when for example confronting a potential suspect.

Dark blue, black

Sweet things, and anything containing chocolate.

The necklace she bought after earning her first degree. It's a tiny gold pendant in the shape of a bird.

Cats

When the story starts, she's just earned her Ph. D in psychology

Michelle grew up with her parents and younger brother Isaac in an apartment in New York. Because her parents, both being lawyers, worked a lot, Michelle often took care of Isaac (who was ten years younger than her). She had a very close relationship with him, despite the age difference. However, when she was sixteen, a man unhappy with a conviction on a case Michelle's mother had worked on, attacked the family in revenge. Michelle was the only survivor of the attack, although badly injured. She was sent to live with her aunt and lived with her for five years before moving away from home to attend university. She suffered severely mentally after the attack and suffered from depression, anxiety and PTSD for many years after the attack. See conditions. Due to the high media coverage of the case, she changed her surname to Lewis, matching her aunt's name, to make herself less recognisable.

She began studying psychology in the hope to be able to help people who'd suffered from similar traumas as herself. At first, she wanted to become a psychologist but while she was studying for her master's degree, she met Lukas Song, who at the time was attempting to earn his PhD (also in psychology) and through him she got in touch with an FBI agent who, after her graduation, offered her a job as a consultant at the BAU. When the BAU hired another consultant she got time to work for a PhD, which she did, eventually earning it. She worked alongside Agent Jacob Coleman at the BAU; he later recommended her for the job at the special task force that she eventually got. (And now we've reached the start of the story.)

March 1, 1988

An old cat named Spencer (and later two kittens named Pippin and Merry)

When she was younger, her favourite series was Criminal Minds; she even named her cat after Dr Spencer Reid. She doesn't watch crime series anymore but likes comedy.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Rather formal/professional, she often wears suit jackets, skirts and high heels. At home, she dresses a little more relaxed, but if she goes out she's often dressed formally, even if she's only going out for a little while.

Pisces

Marie

She speaks English and French.