Leaning against the fence watching his nineteen year old kid sister, to him as he was thirty two, practice in the arena for show jumping he was proud of her. They had only met a few years ago completely by accident. She had walked into the center where he works for running DNA tests and she had looked scared and timid. She had been clutching an old hair brush in her hand and he had gone over and helped her. He took a swab from her and then took the hair brush and ran the test on it.
Once the results came back he was shocked to find out that their paternal half DNA was the same meaning they had the same father. James had frowned and called the girl telling her that her results were in and for her to come down for them. When she had come down for them she was shocked to find out that they were half related.
They had gotten talking and he had promised to keep it to himself until she was ready to tell him. She was champion rider in Show Jumping, Dressage and Cross Country. She always came home with either a blue or red ribbon for first or second place.
He watches as her horse stops short and she gets thrown over her horses and head and then over the jump and she lands flat on her back.
James immediately leaps over the fence and runs over and checks on her. He was in training to become an EMS so he knew what to do if she was injured.
He gets over to her and she gasping for breath. He unsnaps her helmet and gently pulls it off.
"You okay there kiddo?"
She nods taking slow deep breaths to regain her breath.
"What happened?" he asks.
"Don't know. Marine just stopped short." She said using her horses nickname instead of its show name which was, Marine Princess. She had named her horse that as her boyfriend was Lance Corporal in the Marines and he called her his princess so that was how she had come up with the name for her horse.
"Alright. Well lets call it a day." He said.
She nods as he help her up slowly then she goes and grabs her horse and guides her back to the stable.
Entering the massive stable that houses thirty five of the fifty five horses she screams seeing the stable hand lying there in a pool of his own blood.
James comes running in to see what made her scream and he sees the sight and grabs his kid sister and pulls her out as she pulled her horse along behind her he was pulling out his cell phone and calling their father. He knew once this happened the cat was going to be out of the bag.
He guides her over to one of the bleachers there gets her to sit down and let her horse graze no matter how much she was against it allowing Marine to eat while she had the three hundred fifty dollar bridle on.
A little while later the team shows up and Rossi goes right over to his son and looks at him.
"What's going on James?"
"I was here watching Christi practice for her show coming up this weekend and she got thrown off as she was about to go over a jump. I ran over and check on her then told her to call it a quits for the day. I was hanging out over here waiting for her to get back here then I hear her scream so I went to check on her and that's when I saw the scene and I called you I know you guys are working a case that concerns stable hands."
"Christi, is the young lady next you?" he asks.
"Yea. She's really shaken up and in shock. I've tried getting her to speak to me but she won't." he said as her cell rang that was sitting on her knee.
He sees it's a satellite phone number and he picks it up and answers it.
"Hey Evan, its James. Christi can't talk right now. I'll have her e-mail you later right now she's in shock."
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" he asks.
"Let's just say it has to do with our dad now coming into the picture. The both of us have just gotten sucked into a Federal Investigation." He said.
"Fuck. Alright. Tell her I'll call again as soon as I can please." He asks.
"Sure thing."
They hung up and James goes back over to Christi.
"Evan?" she asks weakly.
"Yea. Just focus on the case right now."
She nods and leans into her brothers arms.
Rossi watches this and motions for his son to follow him.
"What's going on?"
James sighs and grabs the folded multiple times, wrinkled and old DNA sheet and shows it to his father.
"That girl is my daughter?" Rossi asks.
"Yea, and the guys she's been dating is in the Marines and is overseas right now. He has a bachelors in Business. He's a good guy. I've met him."
"How long have you known for?"
"Two years. She wanted to keep it under wraps until she felt confident enough and to explain it to her mom, which she did and she freaked out and threw her out so she's been staying with me."
"Alright. Let me go talk to her."
James and nods and says, "Her name is Christina but she prefers Christi."
Rossi nods then heads over to the bleachers and sits next to Christi.
"So James told me everything. You okay?" he asks.
"I guess." She says softly.
"Things will turn out alright. Besides I hear you have a Marine boyfriend."
"Three years. He was a senior when I was junior. He finished college in three years. I'm really proud of him."
"Good kid sounds like."
"Yea. You'll like him."
"I'm sure I will."
"Hey Dad? Is it alright if I call you that?"
"Of course. I am your dad."
"Does the image ever go away? The one where you see a dead body like that?"
"It all depends on the person. So who's this gorgeous animal?"
"Her full show name is Marine Princess but the shortened version is Marine. I came up with the name because of Evan as he's Marine and he calls me his princess." She says.
Rossi chuckles at her naming method.
He sits there consoling her until Hotch comes over.
"I'll come over later tonight and put Marine away for you. Let James take you home and take care of you."
She nods and hands the reigns over to her father and gets up and heads over to her brother. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and leads her over to his car and helps her in then closes the door and gets in on the driver's side then heads home. Rossi as his children head home then brings the quarter horse mustang mix back into stable then takes all the tack {riding materials such as the bridle, saddle, saddle pad, keen/skid boots} off then puts them back in the designated room for Christi and all her tack and riding gear and whatever else. He looks at the wall and sees a picture of a guy and Christi together with him behind her with his arm around her both smiling and laughing.
"That there is Lance Corporal Evan Miller. Good kid. He comes around here a lot when he's home to be with Christi. The boy's been gone for two years now and only comes home every six months for a week long break. I give her those weeks off to be with him." Her trainer, Brock Wellington said.
"Good to know."
"She's eligible for the Olympics next year. I'm pushing her hard for it. She wants to make it." Brock said.
"How long has she been riding?"
"Since she was seven. She's a wonderful rider. She can go pro at only nineteen."
"I haven't seen her ride yet but I hope to see her ride soon."
"Well it's not going to be anytime soon. I'm being forced to shut down for a few days while you all investigate. Here's all the info the stoic one asked for. He said to give it you."
"Thanks." He said taking the folder then going to find Hotch as he looked through the folder.