I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the characters represented in this entirely fictional story.
Chapter Four
Finn walked into Rossi's kitchen the next morning fresh from the shower and feeling a little bit more than embarrassed. Her hair was wet and it stuck out from her head in a series of curls. Her head was throbbing despite drinking the bottle of water and taking two of the painkillers that had been left on the bedside table. She had stood in the shower for ages trying to think of a decent story to cover why she had gotten so drunk the night before. She couldn't tell him about the nightmares she had been having for the past couple of years or that she found working at the BAU more emotionally draining than she thought she would. Nor could she tell him that she found his presence and his close monitoring of her work disconcerting. She needed to talk to Penelope. Finn doubted that there was anyone anywhere who knew more about Rossi.
Rossi was sat at the kitchen table reading the morning paper. Finn stood and watched him; all the time thinking about how she would say thank you to a man who she really didn't get along with whilst trying to get out of his house as soon as possible.
"You don't need to stand in the doorway. You're more than welcome to come in and get a cup of coffee." Rossi looked over the top of his paper at Finn. She had found the sweats and t-shirt he had left for her in the early hours of the morning when he couldn't sleep. He had crept into her room and left them on the end of the bed. He had resisted the urge to take another look at her scars. He had started to formulate a plan then; a way to get her to tell him what had happened without her realising that she was telling him. He had discarded that plan at about six that morning. He felt for sure that she would see through it. After walking Mugsy until the poor dogs' slow steps made him turn around he decided that he would go for the up-front approach and deal with the outcome later.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to disturb you."
"It's a pity you didn't think about that last night."
Finn went to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup of coffee. She loaded it with sugar and cream and went to sit at the table with Rossi. He ignored her and carried on reading his paper.
"Rossi, about last night…" Finn cradled her cup of coffee in her hands.
Rossi put his paper down and looked straight at her. The man was definitely one for eye contact.
"Go on."
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to be inconvenienced in any way and I had no idea that Daniel was going to call you. If he had mentioned it to me I would have made sure he didn't bother you but I think I was bleeding over him at the time."
"Finn its fine. You apologised plenty last night, you don't need to carry on apologising today. But, there is something you can do for me in return for me rescuing you last night."
"Ok." Finn sat back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her.
A classic defensive pose if ever I saw one, thought Rossi to himself. This is not going to be pretty.
"How did you get the scars on your torso?"
"I'm sorry, what? How the hell do you know about them?" the answer dropped into Finn's mind before Rossi had a chance to answer. "You saw them last night didn't you? What were you doing? Having a quick look at my rack while I couldn't stop you?" Finn stood so forcefully she pushed the chair over. She turned to stalk out of the room.
"Finn please. Just listen to me."
Rossi was out of his chair and straightening the one that Finn had knocked over.
"Finn, just sit down and let me explain. I can promise you I was not checking you out while you couldn't stop me. It was nothing like that. I glimpsed them last night. Your top had ridden up and I could see them." Rossi figured he'd better leave out the part where he took pictures of them. "I just want to know how you got them."
"Why?" Finn leant against the centre island and hugged herself with her arms.
"Why?"
"Yes, why? Is there a bloody echo in the room? Why do you need to know how I got the scars on my torso? Scars by the way, that I did not invite you to see."
"Those scars are not just something random that happened. Now either you did them to yourself or someone did them to you. From what little knowledge I have gained of you over the past few weeks, you aren't a cutter so that only leaves the option that someone did them to you."
"How do you know I wasn't involved in some freak accident?"
"Because they are not random enough to come from an accident; freak accident or not."
Finn rubbed her face and massaged her temples. The headache she had when she woke up now came back with a vengeance. She had no idea what to do. There were very few people out there who had seen the scars on her torso. They weren't something she advertised and now she had the chance to talk to someone about them; to explain how they happened and to maybe stop the nightmares she had been having ever since. But the problem with that was she was already talking to someone about them. She had weekly appointments with a therapist and talking to her made no difference. Finn chewed her bottom lip as she contemplated telling Rossi what had happened. She could imagine the pity on his face and decided that she did not want someone she worked with to look at her like that. Besides, she was pretty sure that if Rossi knew, then so would the rest of the team. And how would she explain to Penelope that she'd kept something so major from her? Finn looked straight at Rossi; her face resolute. She stood up straight and kept eye contact when she spoke.
"No matter how nicely you ask the question you are not going to get the answer."
"Why? What is it you are hiding?"
"Agent Rossi, what happens when you are undercover is classified. The information you require is sealed. And it's above your pay grade; way above your pay grade. The only way you will get the answer is to go through Section Chief Strauss and I cannot see her giving you access to the files."
Finn walked back over to the table and took her bag from the chair.
"Now if you will excuse me, I am going to call myself a cab and go home."
