Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery

Rating: T

Summary: Rossi finds something that provided insight into Rori before he met her and the relationship she had with her mother.

Disclaimer: I really hate that I have to do this. I do not own Criminal Minds. The title and its characters belong to CBS and its original creator.

Shout Outs: and the reviews keep coming. I really appreciate all of the reviews I receive. So a special thank you to booksandmusic97, dyallon, p95000, and hxchick. I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. I really like seeing everyone's reviews. For everyone out there, I give you a shout out and I try to reply to the review as well. Enjoy.

0o0o0o0

Chapter Four:

Dave entered his home to find it eerily quiet. He saw Rori's knee length duffel coat hanging off the end of the railing for the stairs. On the ground next to the stairs was a pair of black boots. He sighed and set down his briefcase. He took off his jacket and hung it up before grabbing Rori's to hang up. He closed the closet door and headed into the family room.

Before Rori had moved in, Dave had considered selling his house and moving to a smaller cabin for Mudgie and him. Now as he stared at his daughter as she slept on the couch, he couldn't help but think that the house had become smaller, more comfortable, and definitely more lived in.

Rori's lower half was covered by her favorite blanket while a large psychology textbook rested on top of her propped up legs. She leaned into the dark brown cushion backs of the couch. Her bangs had fallen in front of her eyes without a conscious hand to push them to the side. After a day of snow and wind her long black hair had developed an uneven wave.

Dave pulled the textbook from her lap and closed it before setting it down on the coffee table. His coffee table was never bare, always covered with textbooks, paper, and notebooks. He picked up a small purple leather journal and looked at it. In the bottom right corner, her full name had been pressed in gold. He opened it and found a folded up piece of white printer paper on top of the crisp white journal pages.

He unfolded the note and was surprised to find his ex's clean cursive scrawled on the page. He sat down in his favorite recliner and turned on the table lamp. He looked up from the note as Rori buried her face into the cushion back to prevent the light from reaching her.

Dave looked around for the dogs and found them asleep on their beds in the corner of the room. Mudgie let out a stuttering breath before turning over onto his back and kicked his legs out as he chased a dream bird through the tall fields of the land of Mudgie.

Dave turned his attention back to the note he held in his hand and began reading.

Rori,

You'd think as your mother, I'd have some idea what to get you for your birthday. Unfortunately, I'm at a loss. You're growing up so fast, and your interests seem to change every day. I was talking to Giles a month ago when I saw you sitting on the couch writing in one of the many notebooks you covet so dearly. That's when I asked him to make this for you.

When I was your age, I drew the important events of my life. Graduation, my eighteenth birthday, law school, my wedding, a diary of sketches. However, you don't like to draw, so a sketchbook is out of the question. Instead, I'm giving this to you. A book to document the moments that really matter to you. Maybe one day you'll share your journal with your daughter, like I shared my sketches with you.

I love you Rori. Forever and Always.

Mom

Dave ran his finger over Christine's cursive and set the note down on the table. He opened the notebook once more and looked at the first page. A letter to her mom? he thought.

The simple print was relatively neat except for the small circles where the black ink had run from a few tear drops falling on top. Dave looked at the date at the top. August 8, 2008, less than two weeks after Christine's death.

Dear Mom,

I'm in D.C now. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. Happy? Happy that I get to see Aunt Kate, Giles, and the Kayashimas? Happy that I can see grandma and grandpa is if so desire? Happy that you're in a 'better' place as the priest told me? Why should I be happy? You're dead.

People keep telling me to 'celebrate your life', and not 'mourn your death', and I just want to yell and scream, and kick for my mom. But you can't come. You're buried six feet under and the time I need you the most… you aren't here.

You aren't here to hug me and tell me that everything will be all right. You aren't here to help me through this. I know that you would tell me to trust Kate with all of this, but she doesn't know how to be a parent. Now I have to call Kimi for someone to talk to. I can't come into your room and talk like we used to.

I'm scared mom. How can I do all of this on my own?

Dave dropped his hand so that the book rested in his lap. Was this entry really written by his daughter? This passage was written by someone who made a point to smile and laugh her way through her day. He lifted the journal back up and looked for an entry that indicated a change. He stopped flipping through the book when he found an entry exactly two years after the first entry.

Hey Mom,

I met my dad today. David Rossi, right? You know, when you refused to tell me about him, I assumed the worst. Was my dad a drug addict? Was alcohol his vice of choice? Did he beat you? I was wrong though.

My dad is David Rossi, one of the fathers of Criminal Profiling. I now understand why you were so against me joining the FBI, and why you freaked out when I bought his books. You didn't want him to know about me, and you didn't want me to find out he was my father. It makes perfect sense now.

I wish it was you that had told me who my dad was instead of Kate. Maybe then, you could have explained things better. He's not a bad guy. I have yet to see his parenting skills, but I'm sure he can't be that bad. From the looks of it, his team sees him as the wise elder, capable of extending advice. Perhaps he's what I need.

I'm sitting on Kenta's bed as I write this. It's been a couple months hasn't it? I mean since I've visited your grave. I'll bring some carnations for you this weekend. It feels odd sometimes, writing to you, when I know I'll never be able to send you a letter. Somehow, it's better than talking to your tombstone.

Let's both give dad a chance. Okay?

Forever and Always.

Rori

Dave looked up as Rori sat up her back to him. She stretched her arms out and rolled her wrists. Her back gave off a series of pops and cracks to relieve the pressure. Her body relaxed for a moment and she started looking around.

"I'm sorry Rori," Dave spoke as he closed the leather notebook and dropped it on his lap.

Rori jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned to face him and immediately zeroed in on the journal. She looked away in shame. "Have you read it?" she whispered.

"Only the first entry and the one about meeting me," Dave answered as he set the book down on the coffee table. "And the letter from your mom."

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Rori asked looking at the ground.

"Wait here," Dave said pushing himself out of the chair.

He left the room and Rori pulled her blanket around her neck and hugged her knees. He mother drew to relieve stress. Rori wrote in her journal and composed music.

Dave came back into the room and dropped a stack of sealed envelopes on the table. He walked over to the cobblestone fireplace and grabbed a gold platted letter opener off of the dark wood mantle. He came back and sat down on the couch next to Rori. He picked up a letter and opened it. He pulled the yellow stationary out and held them out to Rori.

"What is it?" Rori asked.

"Just read it Rori," he said.

Rori took the pages and unfolded them. "Who's Nonna?" she asked.

"It means grandmother. She died when I was in the Marines."

Rori quietly read the pages. Her green eyes scanning the stationary quickly. She dropped her hands when she finished and looked at her father. "So it's normal to write to dead family members?" she asked

"There's nothing wrong with it," Dave nodded taking the letter from her. "We all have different ways of coping. I was close to my nonna. After my parent came over from Italy and had me and my siblings, she moved in with us."

Rori smiled. "Was she a cool nonna?" she asked leaned back into the couch.

"One of the best. If someone messed with her grandbabies, she's give them the eye," Dave chuckled.

"What's the eye?" Rori asked eyeing her father in suspicion.

"It's said to be an Italian curse," Dave explained. "People spoke in hushed tones when the eye is mentioned. Bad things happen to you if you're given the eye."

Rori began giggling and clutched her side as it progressed into a full blown fit of laughter. Dave smiled as he watched her face light up. Tears of laughter slid down her face as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. She sat up and smiled at her dad as she wiped her eyes.

"Don't ever let nonna hear you laugh at her mystic power," Dave said.

"Oh, I need a good laugh," Rori sighed.

"You shine when you write," Dave told her as he leaned back into the couch. "Your mother was the same way when she would sketch."

"What?" Rori asked turning on her side to look at her dad.

"When you're doing your homework, writing on the computer," Dave said. "Especially when you're sitting at the piano writing lyrics and composing music. You radiate warmth and glow."

"No, I don't," Rori blushed. "I disappear when I write."

Dave laughed. "You should see yourself work sometime. You're eyes hold this-"he tried to find the right word. "Excitement."

"It's just work," Rori said as she backed into the corner of the couch to hug her knees again.

"Work you enjoy," he told her. "What were you studying when you fell asleep?"

"Stuff for my developmental psych class," Rori smiled. "Did you know that at eight months, a baby develops what's known as object performance? Before that, they fully believe that out of site is indeed, out of mind."

Dave smiled as he watched his daughter talk about the stages of childhood development while moving her hands around excitedly. He couldn't help but look at her and see her mom, and a little bit of the same excitement he held in psychology.

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: Well I really like writing this chapter. It wasn't as long as the others, but I felt this was a great place to end the chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. I've a couple more chapters to go until I get to the main plot. Because of course I have to get the BAU involved in some way. Also there is still more father/daughter bonding to go for Rori and Dave.

So now I need something from you, the reader. Drop me a review letting me know what you think. I really appreciate all reviews so don't be shy. I especially enjoy ones that tell me where to improve as a writer. This chapter took me four times to get right.

So I hope you enjoyed it.

Ren