A/N: Hello everybody! Here is the sequel to "Compass That Guides", featuring the team on vacation. :) The fic is not yet finished, but I've decided to start posting anyways. Mostly because I'm not certain how long I want to make it and such. There are seven chapters written but I have not yet decided whether I should try to finish it after just a few more or continue on. We shall see. :)
In truth a family is what you make it. It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit.
Marge Kennedy, English novelist and playwright
There were times when Rossi regretted returning to the BAU. When they had to work for days on end, when they failed catching the UnSub, when one of the team got hurt. When he was stuck in a car with the team, who had seemingly regressed to five year olds, for hours on end.
At the time he'd made the decision, it had seemed reasonable that they drive to Leroy; it was only eight hours or so and flying, including the drive to the airport, checking in and waiting time, wouldn't be particularly more time-effective. But of course, he hadn't counted on the team driving him insane not even half-way to Maine. Because, quite frankly, weren't they supposed to be mature FBI agents?
"Did you know that gummy bears where first manufactured in Germany in 1922 by Hans Riegal?"
It was Reid, of course, and Rossi fought the urge to bang his head against the steering wheel at this at least hundredth random piece of information, and apparently he wasn't the only one feeling that way if Morgan throwing some of said gummy bears at the young man was anything to go by. Unfortunately, he instead hit Prentiss, resulting in her punching Morgan's arm, who retaliated by throwing more of his candy at her. Prentiss turned in her seat to get better aim for her next attack, but was interrupted by Garcia, from the back seat.
"Hey!" she yelled, "Don't touch my chocolate god!"
Prentiss just grinned viciously and ignored her warning; repeating the action of punching Morgan, who actually winced and looked prepared to hit her back. Which Rossi suspected would turn into a full blown mock-fight; something he definitely did not want.
"Do I need to stop the car?" he snapped, "You aren't five years old, damn it! I'm trying to drive, here."
That stopped his two team mates, but made them smirk in an absolutely insufferable way instead. Rossi merely glared at them in the rearview mirror. To his slight annoyance, all of the team seemed amused by his reprimand rather than chastised, probably recognizing that he wasn't really all that serious. But still. With a small huff he shook his head and turned on the radio, ignoring the smug smirk Hotch sent him from his place in the passenger seat.
And for a while, the team was silent, listening to the radio going on about the wildlife of Kenya. Then Reid broke the comfortable moment of peace, though to his credit he did sound a bit embarrassed about it.
"Eh… guys?" he said, "Could we stop for something to eat?"
Rossi glanced at him, frowning, before he replied disapprovingly. "We left home four hours ago, Reid. You can't exactly be starving."
"Uh… well, no, I guess," Reid mumbled in return, fiddling with his tie and studying his feet despondently. Rossi immediately felt bad about his gruff rebuttal and heaved a deep sigh.
"All right," he said, "Yell when you see something."
The smile that got out of the kid was almost worth staying at some run down diner, so Rossi decided not to be too annoyed and his decision held until Hotch caught his eye and mouthed "going soft" to him with an unusual penchant for teasing. Rossi just glared warningly at him, which Hotch ignored completely.
It didn't take long before they spotted a small diner ahead and on the team's, too loud, in Rossi's opinion, pointing out of it, he pulled over and neatly parked the car. There were no other guests, it seemed, and although Rossi told himself not to worry, his long career inevitably brought up pictures of murders committed in roadside diners. A side effect of the job, he supposed.
"Okay, guys," Hotch spoke up as the team prepared to exit the car, "We don't have all the time in the world, so we'll be quick. And remember it's not a meal, just a snack. Oh, and Reid, it's better if you stay in the car. What do you want?"
Rossi suppressed a smile at his boss's obvious mothering, but didn't say anything, instead followed the team into the diner while Hotch remained behind taking Reid's order. He couldn't help throwing a glance behind him as they entered to check up on Hotch, still concerned about the man's injuries. Hotch apparently caught his glance and frowned slightly in response. He never had dealt well with concern from others.
"Afternoon, folks," the thin and wiry man behind the counter in the diner greeted them.
"Good afternoon," JJ returned his greeting, out of habit taking on the role as their outwards face. "Is it possible to get our food to go?"
The man shrugged disinterestedly. "Sure," he said, "What'll it be?"
They ordered, though the selection of foods turned out to be pretty limited, and sat down at a table to wait for the burgers to be finished.
"So…" Morgan began slowly, "Who is this Leroy guy?"
Rossi shrugged, exchanging a glance with Hotch who silently told him that this was his question to answer before he turned back to the eager team.
"Don't you think it's unfair if I tell you when Reid's not here?" he teased. Morgan rolled his eyes and Prentiss scoffed. Apparently they weren't impressed. Rossi spread his hand in a placating gesture and grinned, "Okay, okay… I'll talk. He's a guy I used to work with, before the BAU."
The team was silent for a while, apparently waiting for him to continue. Rossi, feeling like he deserved a chance to annoy them after the car ride they had just out him through, remained silent. After a while, Morgan lost his patience and gave Rossi an irritated look.
"What, that's it?" he said.
"Well, yeah," he said, "What else did you expect? He's just a guy I know."
At this, Prentiss chimed in, in her usual relaxed manner. "You implied that he was family."
"Okay," Rossi responded with an eye roll, "He's a guy I know very well. Happy?"
Prentiss raised her eyebrows, looking far from impressed, but smiled a little anyway. "Ecstatic," she drawled, earning a small chuckle from Morgan and a tolerant smile from JJ.
Rossi was about to retort when the man behind the counter called out that their food was ready and instead he just shot his team a grin before they grabbed the food that the man had neatly stacked into papers bags. And seven large cups of coffee.
Entering the car again, Rossi felt the need to issue a warning, considering the team's recent behavior with their edibles. "If anyone gets food on the seat, they're cleaning it," he warned firmly. The team, however, seemed too busy eating to answer him and he rolled his eyes as he realized that he'd get no other response than Hotch's small grin, which he wasn't sure annoyed or delighted him.
Because whereas yes, it was annoying to have Hotch smirk teasingly at him when he was prepared to tear his hair over having to listen to the team, it was also nice to see the younger man relaxed and prepared to have some fun instead of being the responsible leader. Rossi guessed that it was because this was no longer work, and Hotch felt more comfortable letting go of some of his control. And possibly because Rossi had spanked him just a few days before and that had reminded him that it was okay to rely on the older man.
The following few hours were quieter, because the team had tired of their antics or because they had decided to act their age Rossi wasn't sure, and he could listen undisturbed to the radio while Reid napped, Garcia played with her laptop, Morgan listened to music, Prentiss read, JJ either napped or rested and Hotch also, it seemed, listened to the radio.
He should have known that this peace and quiet wouldn't continue, he supposed, but he still groaned when Reid three hours or so later piped up an almost ridiculously childish question.
"Are we there soon?" he asked. Rossi took a deep breath before he answered.
"You probably have the entire country memorized, Reid," he said, "You tell me."
For a moment, Reid seemed a bit surprised at the rather gruff retort but then he shrugged and began telling Rossi. In great detail.
"Well, we just passed into New Hampshire," he said, "So I'd say that, assuming we take the major roads, there's, eh… 177 miles left, which will take… 2 hours and 36 minutes. That is, of course, if you keep your current speed as an average. But since we will travel at least some part on the interstate in Maine which has a higher speed limit it will in fact be something more like, eh…"
The kid seemed to be about to go off on a long rant about the various potential timeframes and Rossi vaguely considered stopping him, but settled on just zoning out. It wasn't as if the kid was hurting anyone. At least, Rossi didn't think so; Morgan, on the other, apparently did.
"Kid!" he said loudly. Reid quieted and gave him a wide-eyed innocent look, and Rossi had a hard time deciding whether it was pretend or not. "Shut up."
Reid's brow furrowed and he glared at Morgan. "He asked," he defended himself. Morgan just raised his eyebrows.
"Rhetorically," he said.
"No, it wasn't," Reid retorted, now glaring at Morgan with some real annoyance. Rossi silently reminded himself never again to drive with these kids for longer than two hours.
"No offense, kid," Morgan said, "but you're not exactly the authority on that."
It actually was quite offensive, considering Reid's insecurities about his ability to read social cues, and Rossi was about to call him on it, but Reid forestalled him.
"What, and you are?" he asked sarcastically. Apparently, Rossi wasn't the only one whose mood had been affected by what seemed like an endless car ride. He glanced at Hotch, looking to see if the younger man wanted to handle this, but Hotch had turned away and was leaning against the window; obviously leaving this to Rossi.
"Guys," he said warningly. They both looked disgruntled for a moment, but heeded the warning and turned to stare out their respective windows. Pleased, Rossi turned his attention back to the driving and for another hour or so the car was once again silent, apart from the radio which was by now talking about the Thirty Years' War.
But, as always, it didn't last and this time it was Garcia who broke the silence.
"Don't you think it's time for dinner?" she asked. Rossi shrugged and shot Hotch a questioning glance, because even though the younger man seemed content to let Rossi make the decisions for the moment, Rossi knew that it might very well annoy him if wasn't at least consulted with. But Hotch merely shook his head disinterestedly, again delegating the decision to Rossi, and Rossi immediately felt worry that he was worse off than he seemed flare up. He reminded himself to interrogate Hotch when they reached Leroy.
"Well, I guess it is," Rossi said, "but if we wait an hour or so we can get a proper home cooked meal. So unless you guys are starving..?"
There was a general agreement that no-one was in fact starving and that they would continue driving, a decision Rossi greeted with relief because he was definitely looking forwards not only to meeting his old friends but also to take advantage of said friends' comfortable beds. With this is mind, he sped up a little.
It was close to half past nine when they finally reached the Leroy's remote house and Rossi had a feeling he wasn't the only one who was starving and he probably wasn't the only one exhausted either; even though he had driven the absolute majority of the way, two of them were injured. With this in mind, he hoped that Leroy and Jo had decided to play perfect hosts and had already made their beds for them.
They had, at the very least, cooked, if the smell that came over them as soon as they stepped out of the car was anything to go by. After making sure that Morgan was helping Reid out of the car, and that Hotch wasn't grimacing in pain which would mean that he had probably reopened all nine of his wounds, he turned to the house.
Just as he was wondering whether he would really have to actually ring the doorbell, the door was thrown open and Leroy and Jo exited, both smiling brightly. Rossi found himself smiling equally brightly in return and embraced the man emphatically.
"Dave!" Leroy said, "You came."
Breaking away from the hug, Rossi mock glared at him and shook his head. "As if we had a choice," he said, "You have control issues, my friend."
Leroy didn't answer, as Rossi was by then overtaken by Jo who had finished her hugging of Hotch, and instead turned to Hotch and hugged him, more gently than he had Rossi considering his recent wounds.
"Jo," Rossi greeted the woman who was now hugging him tightly, smiling charmingly, "You're as beautiful as ever."
Jo returned the smile wryly, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "It's good to see you, Dave," she simply said before she took a step back and joined her husband, who had finished his enthusiastic welcoming of Hotch, in surveying their newly arrived guests, raising her eyebrows demandingly at Rossi who took the hint and began making introductions.
"This is my team," he began, addressing the two, "or well, Hotch's team, really. Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia, Derek Morgan and Spencer Reid. Guys, this is Alexandre and Joanne Leroy."
They proceeded to exchange handshakes, except Reid who kept in the background and just smiled and waved shyly, and Garcia, who hugged both Leroy and Jo without hesitation.
"Well, if we're all done with the introductions," Leroy said, as soon as they were in fact done, and gestured invitingly toward the house, "there's dinner waiting."
The team didn't need to be told twice and immediately followed Leroy into the house and the dining room, taking their seat at the table at Leroy's invitation. The table was already set, including the food, and all that was missing was a good wine, which Rossi was pretty certain would be produced within seconds. And indeed; Leroy soon exited the kitchen with two bottles and began filling the team's glasses. Hotch stopped him with a shake of the head, and Reid did as well.
"We're both on medication still," Hotch explained and though Leroy seemed skeptical about the validity of that argument, Jo nodded approvingly.
"Your loss," Leroy said with a philosophical shrug, probably realizing that he could hardly press the point. "Do you want anything instead, or just water?"
Both Hotch and Reid were content with water and Leroy went to get a pitcher of it and when he returned they could finally get onto eating. Rossi was starving, and the aromas from the chicken that was on the table had made his mouth water and his stomach grumble. From the enthusiastic way the team filled their plates he wasn't the only one, either.
"So…" Leroy began after a moment of silence, "How long are you expecting to stay?"
Rossi gave him an incredulous look, raising his eyebrows. "Ignorance doesn't suit you," he drawled. His old friend didn't even bother to hide the smirk on his face and shrugged, somewhat smugly.
"Well, you might not stay here the whole week."
"That's the idea," Hotch chimed in and the reply only served to make the self-satisfied grin on Leroy's face even more self-satisfied.
"Do you have any plans?" Jo asked. Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Hotch and then Rossi when Hotch just shrugged. Rossi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, because surely they could make plans without him, and shrugged in turn.
"Not really," he said, "I figured I'd rope you into going hunting with me," he nodded at Leroy, "but otherwise I guess we'll just go with it."
Leroy eagerly seconded the suggestion to go hunting and also made a large number of other suggestions for what activities you could do out here, most of which were rather silly, and for a while the conversation stayed there; then it drifted off into other areas and for once Rossi was a bit grateful for Leroy's innate ability to talk about absolutely everything because at least that ensured there were no awkward stretches of silence.
When the meal was over a large apple pie was produced and served and when it too was finished the clock was nearing half past eleven and Rossi decided that it was bedtime at least for his two injured companions. Reid, who already looked absolutely exhausted and had been fighting yawns for the last half hour, agreed immediately and Hotch only needed a glance before he too conceded. They were shown to their bedrooms by Jo, who took the opportunity to check on their injuries, while the rest of the team helped with the dishes.
By midnight pretty much all of them were exhausted and seemed to be content just washing up and creeping into the beds they'd been allotted. Rossi too was tired, and wouldn't really have minded going to bed, but when Leroy appeared from nowhere with two glasses of whiskey he decided that sleeping could wait a few hours yet.
Thank you for reading and please review! :)