I do not own anything but Paige, Paul, Paige's mother (whose name will be revealed later), and the plot. Everything else belongs to CBS. Please read and review!
"Mom? Mom?" The girl dropped her backpack on the couch and went back to her parent's room. Knocking first, she pushed open the door only to find her mother sitting on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands.
"Mom? What happened? Are you sick?" She asked, sitting down next to her mother.
"There's something you need to know, Paige." The woman said.
"What? Is it bad? Is the cancer back?" Paige asked. Her mother shook her head.
"Then what is it, Mom?"
"Paul left. He's divorcing me. He packed up all of his things and moved out while you were at the dance convention."
"Dad left? Why would he leave? Did you guys have a fight?" Paige asked, the news hitting her hard.
"Honey, there's something else. Paul isn't your father."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Paige stood up, pacing.
"Listen, sweetie. Before I moved to Florida, I was married to a different man. I met Paul, and he seemed perfect. We started having an affair, and I got pregnant with you. I wasn't sure who the father was, so I divorced my husband and moved here with Paul. My first husband wasn't exactly the fathering type. He worked a lot, so I assumed the father was Paul. But now I see, you must be Dave's daughter, not Paul's. Paul confronted me about it the day after your fifth birthday. He would have left then, but I got sick and he just couldn't leave me to take care of a little girl while undergoing chemo. So he stayed. But the cancer went into remission a year ago, and you're seventeen now. I guess he felt like he didn't need to stay anymore. So he left." Her mother said, tears flowing.
Paige sniffled, trying not to cry.
"You mean to tell me, he's not my dad and you've known for almost thirteen years and you're just telling me now?" Paige yelled.
"Paige, I'm sorry. I know you won't believe me when I say this, but I really only kept it from you to protect you. I didn't want you living your whole life wondering about your father, what he's doing, where he is, if he's safe. You had too much going on already, with everything you've been through. You didn't need that."
"I can't believe you would keep something like that from me! How could you? I hate you!" Paige screamed, storming out of her mother's room.
Looking at her situation now, Paige wished she could take those words back. A week later, her mother got sick again. The cancer had come back and progressed to Stage IV. The doctors said that her mother was resisting chemo and there was nothing they could do. They were very sorry. But sorry didn't make the situation better.
Paige had begged her mother to let her stay, but her mother didn't want to hear it. She sent her to Virginia to find SSA David Rossi, which is where Paige was now. She was sitting on a bench, waiting for the subway. Her shoulder length black hair was pulled into two braids, random streaks of blue weaving in and out of them. Her green eyes were full of sadness, and her full, crimson lips wore a pout. A nose ring gleamed in the dim light of the subway station. She was clothed in a black and red Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt, black skinny jeans and black converse. A simple black sweatshirt and a book sat next to her on the bench. At her feet was a black suitcase and a purple backpack. She had earbuds in and she was listening to loud metal.
The subway approached, so she stood and gathered her things, following a few other people onto the car.
The ride to the next stop, which would bring her close the FBI headquarters at Quantico was around thirty minutes. She listened to her iPod the whole time, trying to block out all of the thoughts that were swimming through her head, but it was no use. She couldn't help but think about how unfair it was that her mother was dying, how unfair it was that she had to leave. How crappy it was that Paul, the man that raised her, had just left them a few months back. Left her mother to fight the cancer without him. Left her to die. Left Paige to fend for herself. Life was pretty unfair.
It was about 9 p.m. when the subway reached her stop. She had already put her book in her backpack and pulled on her sweatshirt. She wasn't stupid, so she'd made sure that her little keychain pepper spray was in her hoodie pocket, ready to use in case she needed it. She grabbed her suitcase and backpack and got off the subway, making her way up the stairs and back to the world above ground. She started walking, using another fifteen minutes to reach front doors of the FBI headquarters. She looked at her watch. It was about 9:20. She hoped that Agent Rossi was still in there. She tried the doors, but it was no use. They were locked.
"Dammit," she said, sitting down on one of the steps. She was tired, and her mother had only given her enough money to get there. With all of the debt from previous hospital stays and treatment, and her mother's current stay in the hospice wing, they were barely able to scrape up enough money to get her to Virginia, let alone stay anywhere. Paige had lied and said that one of her friends had moved to Virginia a few months back and that she could stay with them to put her mother's mind at ease. She didn't need the added stress on top of all of the pain she was in. Paige could take care of herself. And if not, who cared anyway? She didn't have much to live for anymore.
Paige heard voices and footsteps coming closer. She looked up and saw two young agents exiting the building. Maybe one of them could help her.
One of the agents, a slender blonde woman with blue eyes stopped.
"Can we help you?" She asked.
"Maybe. Do you know Agent David Rossi?"
"Actually, yes, I do. We both do. He works with us. I'm Agent Jennifer Jareau, and this is Agent Derek Morgan. What's your name?"
"I'm Paige. Paige Haller." She said.
Derek studied her. She didn't look much older than sixteen. And judging from the looks of her, she seemed to be under some kind of stress.
"How old are you, Paige?" Derek asked.
"Seventeen. Is Agent Rossi still here?"
"Are you in some kind of trouble?" J.J. asked.
"No. I just need to see him. It's kind of important. But I swear, I'm not in trouble or anything. It's kind of a family emergency." Paige told them. Derek wasn't sure if he believed the girl. From the expression on J.J.'s face, it didn't look like she did either.
"I believe he's still in his office, unless he went out one of the side doors. Why don't you come in and we'll see." J.J. said. She and Derek led Paige inside and up to their floor. Paige followed them right to the bullpen, and J.J. went to find Rossi, but found that he'd just left. She grabbed Hotch from his office instead. He came down from his office and stood in front of Paige, wearing his signature stern expression.
"Miss Haller is it?" He asked.
"Yeah. Paige. Are you Agent Rossi?"
"No. I'm Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner. Agent Rossi is a colleague of mine. He's already left for the night. Is there something that we can help you with? Can we call your parents maybe?"
"Look, I don't know what you're all thinking, but I told you. I'm not in trouble. I'm not a runaway. I just need to talk to Dave Rossi. It's urgent." Paige was nearing hysteria. The train ride up from Florida was exhausting, and she hadn't eaten anything since she left the house that morning.
"I'll call him." Hotch said. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
"Rossi," the other man answered.
"Dave, we've got a girl here at the Bureau by the name of Paige Haller. She says she needs to talk to you and it's urgent."
"I'm not familiar with that name. Ask her what it's about."
"Paige, he wants to know what you need to talk to him about."
"I need to talk to him because," she paused. "I think he's my dad."
A/N: Okay, so I know that a lot of you read the original version I had up and liked it, but I really wanted to edit it and fix some of the stuff that I didn't like. This version will still have a lot of the same storyline, but I'm changing things up just a little. And of course, the writing will be better. I've taken a couple of writing classes at my University and I think my writing style has developed and gotten better. I will leave the original up the way it was, but I will not continue that version. Instead, I will be re-working the old chapters into this fic, and continuing the story from here.