A/N: I just don't think there is enough Rossi/Seaver pairings, a match I think is just too ironic and romantic not to explore. So, be kind, here is my first attempt!

Post S6, 'What stays at home'.

P.s. I don't own Criminal Minds… Because if I did Rossi would be Unit Chief, not Hotch... ;)

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"Children begin by loving their parents, as they grow up, they judge them. Sometimes, they forgive them." – writer Oscar Wilde.

"I know you're too busy to just visit." Ashley said without looking Rossi in the eyes as they walked away from the FBI training course.

"I want to show you something." Rossi said carefully.

"Because of my impressive academy scores or my childhood?" She quipped.

"Lets take a ride." Rossi answered, without looking at Ashley.

(BAU)

"I told Ashley she may be able to help us with this case." Rossi explained to Hotch.

"So this isn't about my academic scores?"Ashley asked boldly after Hotch's debrief of the case. She was more than vaguely aware of how Rossi was studying her closely. Jesus, if he doesn't stop… Rossi's eyes felt like they were singeing her skin.

"No." Rossi seemed to come out of his trance.

"Right, I see." She felt disappointed.

"You have some concerns?" Hotch's stoic stare was a welcome interruption of having to address Rossi when she was starting to feel this self conscious. What is he staring at?

"I want to help, and I know that I can, but I don't think I can tell you what to look for without seeing the families for myself." Ashley Seaver had started shaky, but she ended strong. She knew she could help.

"You understand you go only as a consultant on this one case?" Hotch asked with finality.

"I understand"

"And you're to do nothing without another member of the team present?" Now with warning.

"Yes sir." She gave a small nod for emphasis.

Rossi cut in, his baritone forcing her to look at him. "This won't be easy, Ashley, this could trigger some extremely painful memories…"

"I appreciate the concern, but when your father kills twenty-five women before you're a teenager, painful memories don't need a trigger. They just are." She was becoming impatient with being treated like a child. Rossi might have been there all those years ago when the BAU brought in Charles Bohschaw, might have seen the frightened and confused little girl she was then, but it gave him no right to discount the capable FBI agent she was today.

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Watching Rossi help the little Jacobs' girl into the Las Cruces police cruiser sent shivers down Ashley's spine. An eerie resemblance to her own night being whisked away from a crime scene almost 17 years ago, the same man, much younger then, her savior… She could still feel the warm blood spatter on her face, and it was all she could do to open the SUV door and get inside. She felt weak, in the knees, in her stomach. Nausea threatened to overwhelm her, dizziness keeping her from craning her neck towards Rossi's shadow now falling over her, wordlessly closing the SUV door with a worried frown on his face.

Christ, she looks like hell… Rossi thought. He wanted to comfort her, but he was at a loss as to how. Hotch was upstairs still with Mr. Jacobs' body, with the coroner and the local Police Department Chief. He should be there, helping to wrap this mess up. Rossi took only a second to look back into the SUV, and then walked back into the Jacob's home, now quickly being taped off and the multiple official looking vehicles crowding the street.

"Hotch. I'm taking Seaver back to the hotel." Rossi announced in the upstairs room, where Prentiss and Hotch were speaking with a coroner. Holding up his hands to the retort Hotch was forming, he continued. "You can tear her ass about this later, she's a mess. Barely holding it together out there. The way she looked at that little girl…"

Hotch furrowed his brow further and silently nodded in agreement. He was furious with Seaver for endangering the whole team, for acting so unprofessionally, but he knew it would have to wait. He'd seen the look in Rossi's eyes, there was no arguing with him right now.

Emily gave Aaron a one brow raised quizzical look. She knew a little about the history of Rossi and Bohschaw case but what she had just witnessed seemed far more personal than that. Or was she seeing things? Rossi was often very intense and serious, right?

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Thanks for reading! Having a lot of fun with this one. =) Let me know what you think!