It was two weeks later now and Derek was coming home. Christi had skipped home school to meet him at the airport. She had Damon drive her there, and Derek would drive her back to his place then later she'd walk home, since Derek's apartment was on base only a few streets away from her house.
On the downside, Veronica and Jack were both going to Afghanistan in two weeks together. Veronica had finished high school earlier than Jack and had just finished medical school. She was a child prodigy and finished high school at the age of fourteen, and she had gone straight to medical school after that since she was so advanced in science.
Veronica was only Christi's age, but she was so advanced that the Marines let her in and let her go to war to be a medic. They were all very happy she was going to help, but all very worried too, since she was so young. Veronica was optimistic though, and told them not to worry. She said she'd be alright, and not to say goodbye because she would make it out safe and okay, that she would make it home.
Christi saw Derek walk out of the hall leading to the plane and she ran to him. He looked very handsome in his uniform, and she couldn't help but squeal and jump on him. She wrapped his legs around his waist and kissed him. He held her and kissed back, hugging her very passionately.
When he put her down, many people were staring. They blushed and he picked up the bag he dropped. They headed over to the baggage claim, unknowing that someone saw their little scene, someone they, knew, and someone who could do some very serious damage to both of them.
"I missed you so much," Christi laughed.
"I know, I can tell." Derek smirked, referring to when he came into her sight for the first time in months, "I missed you a lot too."
"I know," she laughed.
"I thought your ballet performance was great a last week, by the way." he said.
"I know, you told me like, eight times." Christi laughed.
"Well," he chuckled, embarrassed.
"It's okay, I appreciate my good critics." XXX
Meanwhile, Jack had just picked Veronica up from her final training seminar and then they were going to have dinner with her parents and grandparents.
"How was training?" Jack asked as he put her bag in the backseat and climbed in shotgun.
"It was informative," she smiled, "It was very good, I am at the top of the class."
"That's great, and surprising since you're so young." Jack teased her.
"I am smart, youth has nothing to do with my brain." she scoffed. They got to Veronica's parent's house quickly. They walked arm-in-arm to the door and Veronica used the key in the lantern mounted on the wall to open the door.
"Hello, children," Veronica's grandmother said, smiling. Veronica's whole family was Hispanic and deeply religious. They always had dinner together and had a lot of family dinners, since the whole family lived in Virginia, near DC and Quantico and in Richmond. Every couple had many children, and Veronica planned on it. She had a lot of siblings, all of whom were from the same parents. All the women in the family were very fertile, and the men were like sperm banks. Luckily, Jack wanted a big family too so there would be no problems.
"Hello, Nana Sophie," Veronica greeted her grandmother, "Nana, this is my boyfriend, Jack,"
"Well," Nana Sophie said, "Nice to meet you. You best be treating my granddaughter right,"
"I am, and I will always treat her right. I promise to protect her with my life, and be faithful and loyal to her," Jack said.
"Why, you're an ideal soldier and husband." Sophie pinched him cheeks lightly. Then she turned to Veronica, "Gracie needs your help in the kitchen. Jack, why don't you go watch TV with the other men."
"I didn't hear Nana Gracie call me."
"We're twins, we share a mind. I can tell what she's thinking." Sophie laughed and went to the kitchen.
"This seems like a very sexist household," Jack muttered to Veronica when they turned away from Nana Sophie.
"I assure you, this house is run by women. The men here are emasculated. But I won't do that to you," she smiled and kissed his cheek, "Now go,"
"C'mon, sweetie," Sophie said. Veronica smiled and went to the kitchen. Jack went and sat on the couch among other men.
"Hey, you're Veronica's new boyfriend." one man said.
"T-C's got a new boyfriend?" another guy asked.
"How old is T-C now, anyway?" another guy asked.
"She's seventeen, right?" the first guy asked Jack. Jack nodded and assumed T-C was a nickname from her middle names. Veronica's full name was Veronica Theresa Caprice Ortiz.
"Turning eighteen next month though."
"Yeah, the Marines almost didn't let her in," Jack said.
"She's going into the Marines! Damn, our girl's tough!" a man sitting in the opposite armchair whooped.
"My girl is tough," a man Jack recognized as Veronica's father, "I thought we told you."
"Nah, Emile, you don't tell us nothin' no more!" the man in the armchair said.
"He tells me stuff," the man who questioned Veronica's age asked.
"You're his brother, Francisco, and I'm only his Cousin Scruffy." the man in the armchair grumbled.
"Aww, Scruffy, don't be like that!" Emile said.
"His name's not really Scruffy," Francisco said to Jack, then pointed at a few guys, "But his name is Danny, and there's three Danny's in the family, Danny T, Danny, and then Danny Scruffy. There's a lot of multiple names, so we make nicknames and use initials, last names and stuff. The guy with the real first name is lucky."
"Oh," Jack said, "So Veronica said you were all emasculated.
"Nah, we ain't man," the one called Danny T said.
"You kidding man?" Scruffy scoffed, "Juana nearly got me a vasectomy,"
"Ooh, the loss of manliness cut," Emile laughed, "That's hilarious."
"Hey," Veronica came and sat down next to Jack, "Talking crap about Juana, are you, Scruff?"
"This girl right here has us all wrapped around her finger." Francisco pointed to her.
"Liar," she stuck out her tongue, "I just tease is all."
"So, Girly, you're going into the military?" Danny T said accusingly.
"I'm gonna be a medic in the Marines. I'll be helping out the Marines who get hurt out there. Jack's gonna be with me throughout it, but he's gonna be a Marine, not a medic."
"You better protect her," Francisco warned.
"I will do everything I can and more to get her home safe to you." Jack swore.
"Okay, so before this gets super duper awkward, Jack, want a beer?" Veronica interfered.
"I'm not old enough to drink." he said.
"Neither are half the people who are currently drinking right now, right here." Veronica smiled, "Don't worry, I won't get you drunk and take advantage of you."
"Wait, have you two done the deed yet?" Veronica's cousin, Alejandro, asked.
"I don't wanna know about my daughter's sex life!" Emile interrupted. Veronica discreetly nodded and laughed.
"Want a beer?" Veronica prodded Jack until he said yes. She jumped up and sprinted to the kitchen as a crash came from the kitchen, laughing. In the kitchen, only a cabinet of pots and pans clattered open and the contents fell to the ground.
"Damn it," Veronica's mother, Daniella, grumbled.
"I suggest putting those on a lower shelf," Veronica said, helping the cleanup. Soon the dinner was ready. They all sat around the table as Veronica's grandfather, Antonio, said grace.
"We thank You, God, for the food we eat and the lives we live. We thank you for the company here today, and we pray that Veronica will come back safe."
"Amen," they all said. Then they started talking and began to eat.
"This is really good," Jack said.
"Why thank you, you should try the jalapeno cornbread, Veronica made that last night." Daniella suggested.
"Oh," Veronica blushed.
"I didn't know you could cook." Jack said.
"I only cook Mexican food," she shrugged, "And it takes a lot of work. I only cook with my family, when they buy the ingredients."
"She mooches off us," her cousin says. Jack laughs lightly and smiles.
"So, Jack," a strongly accented woman said, "You're a marine?"
"Yes, I will be going to war at the same time as Veronica, in a few months."
"Well protect her,"
"I will do all I can to ensure her health on our journey." he promised them.
"Yeah, you better protect my niece," the woman said.
"By the way, Jack, that is my Tia Bernice. None of my little cousins or nieces and nephews or any little children are here, they're all sleeping upstairs."
"Speaking of sleeping," a man said, "Some of us need to get our kids and go back to the hotel. We leave tomorrow, most of us."
"Alright, by Octavio." Daniella said. There was still a lot of food left, so Veronica helped pack a lot up for about half the table, who went upstairs, got a lot of kids, and left. They heard several large cars leave and then they finished eating. They talked a lot about Kyle and the men joked about how if he hurt Veronica, they'd mess him up.
"They're joking," Veronica said hurriedly, glaring at them. The rest of dinner went fairly well and ended with the family liking Jack. XXX
Later that night, when Christi got home, Hotch was waiting on the couch.
"Where were you?" he demanded.
"I told you, I was studying with Jennifer." Christi said.
"I saw you at the airport Christi." he said.
"I wasn't at the airport." she said, beginning to head upstairs. Hotch stood up.
"Stop right there. I caught you at the airport when I was picking up an army buddy. I saw you all over Derek." Hotch said sternly. Christi stayed silent. "You're gonna stop seeing him."
"No, I'm not," Christi said, "I'm my happiest when I'm with him, why do you wanna take that away?"
"I don't, but Derek's bad for you!"
"No he's not! You don't know him, why don't you just try?" Christi yelled.
"Because I know him well enough! He's a player, he's gonna hurt you!" Hotch yelled back.
"You're judging a book by its cover! I know him and I know he's actually good! He loves me and I love him! Why can't you be happy for me that I'm happy for once?" she screams.
"I want you to be happy and stay happy, if he dumps you, you'll get depressed." Hotch yells.
"He won't do that, I know Derek better than you think! He's nice and good! He loves me like I love him!"
"Damn it, Christi!" Hotch booms, whipping around and throwing his hands back. All of a sudden, there was a thud and Christi was on the ground, holding her eye.
"You hit me!" she screamed. Then they saw Jack standing at the door, his eyes wide. XXX
They all had an understanding that it was an accident. Hotch didn't mean to hit her when he threw his hands back. Surprisingly, it was a surprisingly hard accidental hit. She had a big black eye. She was going to cover it with concealer until it healed. Jack wasn't going to say anything because he knew Christi wouldn't say anything. It was, after all, an accident. Hotch would never dream of intentionally hurting one of his children.
Hotch had actually told Christi to keep her mouth closed. Everyone knew they were fighting and it wouldn't take much for a rumor to get around that he was abusive. He would lose everything if that happened. He didn't want to lose anything, not his job or his kids. He had taken Christi's grounding off, and now she was free from punishment. She knew it was a bribe and not for the right reasons, but she went with it. Now she was free to see Derek. She was headed there right now in fact.
She had put on more concealer when she got back from ballet class and then headed to Derek's apartment, which was a few blocks from Hotch's place. She was walking there, in fact. She hadn't noticed the condensation in the air, and there was soon going to be rain. She hadn't brought an umbrella and she wasn't wearing a hood or anything that would cover her head. She hadn't worn waterproof concealer.
She started to run to Derek's house to avoid getting soaked. She got there and went up the elevator, hoping the concealer was okay and nothing showed. She wrung her hair out and fixed herself up in the elevator mirror. It had come off a little, but she hoped Derek couldn't notice. Or maybe he would think she had worn purple eye shadow.
She stepped off the elevator and walked down to 5-B, which was the apartment he lived in. She knocked on the door, smoothed her clothes and waited. He opened the door and raised his eyebrow curiously.
"Why is your eye all purple?" he asked. She didn't answer and he raised his hand to touch it. He did lightly and she grimaced in pain. He pulled her in and wiped off the concealer carefully, revealing a big purple black eye.
"What happened?" he growled.
"Well, the other night when you came back, I went home that night and he got really angry. He didn't hit me on purpose. He turned his back to me and yelled, and he flew his hands up and accidentally hit me." she said. A deep growl came from his throat.
"I'm gonna hurt him," he said, heading for the door. She stopped him.
"Don't, it was an accident,"
"Still, he hurt you," he turned to her, "No one is ever allowed to hurt you."
"Please," she said, thinking of something to stall him. She kissed him passionately, "Take me to the bedroom." XXX
Derek and Christi lay naked in bed, her hair still damp from the rain. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you, too," he said. Suddenly, the front door burst open. Hotch came storming through the bedroom door and growled when he saw them in bed together, shocked at him being there.
"Daddy, why are you here?" Christi asked.
"What the hell are you doing in bed with him?" Hotch boomed.
"I'm a woman, I can sleep with who I want!" she yelled, "I'll be eighteen in a month!"
"You aren't a woman until then! I still have control of you until then!"
"No one controls me, least of all you!" she yelled.
"You know what, if you wanna be a woman so much, just get out of my house then! I'm kicking you out, you aren't welcome there anymore! When you come back, your stuff will all be on the porch." Hotch sneered.
"Daddy, don't do this!" Christi sobbed as he left. She flinched as the front door slammed. Derek hugged her and she cried into his chest.
"You can stay here," he offered.
"Really?"
"Yes, you're always welcome here."
"Thank you, Derek, I love you so much." Christi cried.
"I love you too,"