LOL…I have been forgetting to put disclaimers on this story so here goes…..Disclaimer: If I really owned Criminal Minds, Strauss and Rossi would secretly be married. Therefore, it is obvious that CM does not in any way belong to me
Please R&R, I will not update again until I have a total ELEVEN reviews on the entire story (On Fanfiction), what chapters get reviewed does not matter, but if there is no feedback, I do not feel the need to update
-Rossi's POV-
Finally! The jet is back! And a small bonus…Strauss is not with it! I quickly sent a text to the rest of the team. I had volunteered to stay the night at the BAU so the rest of the team could go and get some sleep. The girls were already with Penny, so why not?
I had looked over the case files while I was sitting at my desk and had gotten nowhere; this guy left no physical evidence and seemed to be killing at random with whatever he could, there were stab wounds, bruises, broken necks, asphyxiation marks, everything other than a M.O.
I Ran a hand through my hair, this was not going to be a pretty case, and to top it all off, it just so happens be in wonderful LA, my least favorite place in the entire world, other then my ex-wives' houses of course.
Hotch walked into my office right then, "Ready to go?" He asked, as if it were really a question. I grabbed my go bag and we headed down to the plane, the rest of the team already waiting for us onboard.
The ride was fairly quiet, most of us falling asleep. We landed in LA just before dawn, and decided to go to the hotel for a few hours, instead of going to the station at this ungodly hour. I also was never too fond of the night shift, it left your sleeping patterns all mixed up and it was difficult to sleep in hotels during the day; to much noise.
"So where are we staying" Emily asked, looking over to Hotch.
"Hampton" He replied, "and we have three rooms, JJ and Emily in one, Dave and Reid in another, and then Morgan and I will share the last one."
Oh god, I am rooming with Reid, if he says even one statistic, I am going to strangle him!
We found the hotel fairly quickly thanks to the GPS in our rental cars, we walked in to the lobby and for a second, I thought I had seen Strauss round a corner, 'nonsense, she is probably far away on some beach drinking martinis.' I quickly scolded myself, why would Erin Strauss want anything to do with LA when New York is a two hour drive away from her house?
"Rossi? Are you alright" Reid asked, waving his hand in front of my face.
"What? Oh, yea. I'm fine." I replied, looking back over to the corner I had seen Strauss, no a woman who resembled Strauss turn.
"Here" Hotch pushed my room key into my hand, I quickly turned my attention back to the team, "room 655, the rest of us are on the floor above you."
I muttered a quick thank you before heading for the elevator with my things.
"Hey Rossi, can I ask you question?" Reid said when we were both in the elevator.
"Yea?" I replied, pressing our floor key.
"Um, why did you keep looking over at the corner of the lobby?"
I turned to him "I thought I saw Strauss, she has now managed to invade my mind even when she's not here."
Reid shuttered slightly, "You are hallucinating?"
"I must be; why would she be here?"
"Well, she could be on vacation." Reid stated. The elevator doors opened and we quickly walked to our room. It was fairly nice, but not worth what the bureau had paid for them.
"She hasn't taken a vacation since she took the job as section chief." I mumbled. I walked over to one of the beds and threw my luggage onto it, I looked over at Reid who had just started "settling in" and by that I mean completely unpacking; he carefully folded each item of clothing and then placed it into the drawer before grabbing another.
I smiled and quickly pulled my luggage open and dug through it, hanging the few clothes that needed to be, and then shoved everything else into the closet. Why waste time unpacking if you are only going to be here a few days?
I climbed into bed and closed my eyes; maybe I should put in for a vacation and take the girls out for a week or so. It was not fair to make them stay with Garcia week after week waiting for me to finally get a few days off. I know the girls are not exactly fond of her, hell, they would rather stay with Strauss, but Garcia was there for them and she was like an older sister to them.
"Rossi? We have to leave." Spencer stated, lightly shaking my shoulder.
"Huh?" I replied, "I had my alarm set."
"Um, you slept through it, and I wasn't sure if you had a back up one so I woke you."
"Thanks Reid, has Hotch called yet?"
"Um, yea; He said that we were meeting at the station around nine, and it is seven right now so we have two hours." Reid replied, looking at his watch.
"Well, how about I take a shower and then we go out to breakfast? I'll pay." I offered, IHOP sounded really good right now, and I wasn't about to go and leave him by himself. Who knows what he would get into?
"Sure, that sounds awesome." Reid said, smiling at me. He, in a way, reminds me of my daughters, smart but still young and innocent.
I nodded and smiled back before walking over to the closet and grabbing my clothes for the day and heading for the shower.
Reid and I made it to IHOP with an hour to spare, so we had plenty of time to eat and then make our way down to the station. We took a seat near the window and looked over our menus. Reid, being the faster reader, chose quickly and looked out the window.
"It's Strauss!" Reid whispered, his gaze fixated on a woman across the street. I quickly turned to look and sure enough, there was Strauss, with a to go bag in her hand. We watched in silence as she walked over to an electric blue Nissan Altima and got inside, passing the bag into the back seat. She stopped for a moment and looked their way, a look of surprise flashed across her face; she muttered something to whoever was in the back seat and stepped back out of the car.
"Uh, Rossi, I think she saw us." Reid whispered, paling a little as Strauss quickly strode across the parking lot and into the restaurant they were sitting in.
"Put on a smile and act surprised." I whispered, picking my menu back up.
"May I ask why the two of you are in LA?" Strauss asked from behind me. Dang, she was not going to be nice to us either.
"We are on a case, Erin. The real question is what you think you are doing here." I replied, smiling up at her.
"What I do on my time off is irrelevant." She replied, "What is this case about?"
"Teen girls, between thirteen and seventeen are being kidnapped, rapped, tortured, the works. They are usually blonde and are abducted from parties." Reid offered, speaking for the first time.
Strauss paled visibly at the news. "Well, I better leave you to it then." She whispered and almost ran back to her car.
"What was that about?" Reid asked, watching as Strauss' car pulled out of the parking lot.
"I think she has daughters here, but they might be nieces or cousins. I'm not sure."
Thanks for reading! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! R&R!
