Author: Ren Kayashima

Rating: T+

Disclaimer: Alas my top secret mission to steal the rights to Criminal Minds failed. At the last minute my repel line broke and I was arrested for trespassing on ABC grounds. If you would like to help me with bail money…

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Chapter One:

December 14, 2011

Rori sat on the breakfast nook table, swinging her legs back and forth as she held a newspaper in one hands and a coffee cup in the other. She wore her red and black plaid robe over her matching pajama bottoms and a grey t-shirt. The teen took a quick sip from her cup and let out a soft moan of delight, scanning the paper's newest edition, looking for any worthy pieces of information.

The Georgetown Press wasn't exactly The Washington Post, but it certainly was informative. The newest edition was always released on a Wednesday. Members of the paper got their copies Tuesday night after they came back from printing. It featured local news stories, college information, helpful advertisements, and articles from local crime to advice. Rori's own section of the paper had gained an outside following when she started covering some of the BAU's cases, and even some of the crimes plaguing the D.C. area. The paper had subscribers from all over the District, which meant the school wasn't likely to shut down their journalism program any time soon.

"Rori, how many times have I told you not to sit on the table," Dave asked, dragging his slippered feet into the kitchen. It was much too cold to be walking around in the house with bare feet. The downside to wood floors, he guessed. He moved over to the fresh coffee on the counter and pulled a cup from one of the cupboards. "It's not meant to carry that sort of weight."

"That's great," Kyle said dramatically as he entered the kitchen in heavy jeans and a George Washington University hoodie. His thick brown hair had started to take on a shaggy appearance after months without a decent cut, and Dave took a shot in the dark when he guessed that Kyle didn't think to use a comb after rolling out of bed. Yup, it was time for finals. "Give my little sister body issues." Kyle finished.

"Yeah, Dad, give me body issues. I'm a sensitive teenager with a fragile sense of worth connected to how I look," Rori said dully. She smiled as she slipped off the table top gracefully, only to lose her balance on the tiled floors. She skidded around in her socks for a moment while she waved her hands around. After a second, she was able to walk over to the large sink, bringing her now empty coffee cup along for the ride. She raised herself up on her tip toes to kiss her father on the cheek as he poured his coffee.

"My deepest apologies for committing such a grievous sin," Dave said sardonically. He chuckled slightly and looked at Kyle. "So another round of finals are today?" he asked, directing the question to both of the college students in his kitchen.

"I should be leaving for mine right now," Kyle said, grabbing a banana for nourishment from the fruit bowl on the island. He picked up his neon yellow backpack from the nook and slipped it on. Making his way back to the sink, he stopped to give Rori a kiss on the forehead. "Good luck with your finals," he said. "I'll be picking up Kono from Dulles this afternoon." He said referring to a family friend of Rossi's that was coming in from California for the holidays.

"And you'll be meeting the twins, Alice, and I at Amici's for dinner. I know," Rori nodded. The twins she spoke up were her boyfriend, Kenta Kayashima and his brother Kaoru, and they were Kono's younger brothers. She looked over at her dad as he moved to the now empty breakfast nook with a bowl of cereal and his coffee. "I'm going to head out soon too. I have to get dressed and hopefully squeeze in a cram session before my finite math final starts at eleven."

"What about your Journalism final?" Dave asked recalling that both math and Journalism were classes held on Monday and Wednesday. He looked up to find Rori already making her way out of the kitchen and back to her room upstairs.

"It's in the paper," Rori's voice echoed through the large house, and Dave winced slightly.

Kyle waved to Dave before adjusting the straps of his backpack. "See ya' later." He turned on his heel to leave the kitchen, humming a song by Puccini. "By the way, thanks for letting me borrow the Sonata."

"I don't really trust your motorcycle in this weather, so it's the least I could do to keep you alive!" Dave yelled back, knowing that Kyle was already at the door. He grabbed Rori's newspaper and started thumbing through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

Police Capture Murderer After Unexpected Breakthrough by Rori Morre-Rossi

After six months of searching for evidence in the murder of 22 year old, Tracy Beckham, police were able to make an arrest that has many people letting out a sigh of relief.

Tracy Beckham was a graduate assistant at George Washington University (GWU) when she was killed. A small town girl from Kentucky, Tracy was pursuing her Master's degree in Engineering. She was one of four female students awarded the prestigious 'Martha Lincoln Scholarship', a full ride scholarship that was created to help boost the number of women in the fields of science and engineering. The loss of such a promising individual has left the students and faculty at GWU feeling melancholy.

On June 26, 2011, Beckham was reported missing by her roommate, Alexis Price. Her body was discovered at the National Mall three days later near the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Beckham had been shot, and at the time, had been believe to have been killed during a mugging gone wrong. Her purse, backpack, and phone were not present at the scene and couldn't be found at her home or school. Witness statements yielded little results, and police were convinced that Tracy's murder would become another cold case.

However, things changed when Tracy's backpack appeared in one of the local homeless villages two weeks ago, and it was reveal that Tracy had had it stolen from her while getting a cup of coffee at a local café. In Tracy's backpack was just the evidence police were looking for.

While a simple piece of paper doesn't seem like much, Beckham's advisor, Benjamin Paine, Ph. D., confirmed that none of the numbers and notations matched up with current projects for her Master's thesis. Torn from her notebook, the equations were a part of an ongoing investigation on the part of Beckham, who was looking into some blueprints and reports put forth by a notable engineering firm. Beckham discovered that some new building in the Metropolitan area had fallen victim to some shady business dealings.

Longshore Engineering, whose stellar reputation for some of the greatest urban engineering feats have been featured in magazines like Architectural Digest, had been taking a huge cash prize while skimping on materials that didn't meet current safety standards. Beckham's equations were meant to determine how these buildings would react to natural disasters and even general wear and tear after years of use. The results were dire, and could have meant the loss of lives if this had gone unnoticed.

Detective Riordan, lead on the case, determined after further review that Beckham had had a meeting with Longshore's CEO, Henry Wiggins. During their meeting Beckham brought up the fact that several building in current constructions were not going to pass a safety inspection and that changes had to be made quickly before construction went any further. Wiggins assured Beckham that he would take care of everything and look into the issue personally.

Wiggins later called Beckham to the Mall, requesting her research to show to his team of engineers. This was a part of his plot to kill the only person who knew about the buildings being weak. Not knowing that Beckham's backpack with the equations had been stolen earlier that day, Wiggins shot Beckham when she wouldn't hand over her research.

Wiggins was arrested by police late December 19, and awaits trial for premeditated murder. Tracy Beckham's parents, Mary and Joseph, thanked Metro Police in a press conference the next day for their tireless efforts in arresting their daughter's murderer. Beckham will be forever remembered by the public, and especially by her peers at GWU.

Dave set the paper down with a smile. It was news like this that further drove Dave in his pursuit of justice. His job was by no means an easy one, but he couldn't stand the idea of murderers and rapists running about the public. He always liked to see that an evildoer got their comeuppance at the end of a case like this. Tracy Beckham was young and had a life to live, and it was a shame to see it snuffed out all because someone wanted to line their pockets.

He finished off his cereal and moved to get ready for the day. He wouldn't have to go into the BAU today after working for six straight days, but that didn't mean he had the day all to himself. Rori had given him an important task on their holiday to-do list. While cooking was his forte in the kitchen, grocery shopping for Rori's baking extravaganza that would begin promptly after finals this week was important nonetheless. She didn't have to go to the last two days of finals the following week and the family was going to spend the days leading up to Christmas making sure everything was in place for a visit by the rest of the Rossi family and even a party for friends. The house had to be fully decorated (The inside that is, the outside had been the Black Friday Project). There was work to be done, and Rori and Kyle were focused on school at the moment.

"I had thought that having two college kids around would lighten the load, not increase it," Dave grumbled moving towards the stairs so he could get dressed and ready to brave the blistering cold. He checked the thermostat to make sure it was warm enough, and with a sigh, he turned it up a little bit.

As Dave passed by Rori's bedroom, he paused for a moment to look inside. Her two dogs, now full grown, were asleep on the queen sized mattress. Zenzen, shortened to Zen only a few weeks after the dog's christening, was an orange Shiba Inu and had been a gift from Rori's military Uncle in London. ChouChou, again shortened to just Chou, was a white Akita, another gift, this time from the Kayashimas.

Rori's room had the sort of chaotic mess that only seemed to pop up when the semester was about to end. Textbooks were discarded on the floor for Rori to slip on when she woke up in the middle of the night, clothes had been thrown all over the study space as she tried to find something comfortable, but not so much so that she fell asleep in the middle of an exam, and of course, the small silver trash can had become home to several candy bar wrappers and broken pencils and pens. Dave made a mental note to ask Rori to pick it up after tomorrow's English History exam.

So much had changed, and Dave felt like the change had been right from the moment Rori moved in. He had pondered his life many times now since Rori's arrival, and he had always come to the same conclusion. Rori had given him something he had thought never could have existed. She gave him a family. A chance to have something that for a long time seemed unattainable for Dave. He never used to decorate his house for Christmas, finding it a hassle to do on his own, and frankly, he felt it hadn't been worth it. Now he was gearing up for a second Christmas with Rori, and now Dave got to add in his "quasi-son", as Rori called him, Kyle to mix. To think that only a few short years ago, he couldn't even put a tree up because of the memories it brought with the Galyean family. Now, it was an adventure just to pick out the right one.

Dave stepped out of Rori's room quietly with a small smile on his lips. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Rossi household, and he had to make sure he was ready.

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Author's Note: So almost a month later and I present to you the first chapter in a brand new Rori and Dave and Kyle adventure. Its Christmas time in the Rossi household which could mean any number of things I'm sure. Thank you to all who have followed these stories, and I hope you'll stick around for this one.

Leave me a review if you get the chance.

Ren