Author: Ren Kayashima
Genre: Family/Thriller/ Mystery
Rating: T
Summary: Rossi meets some of Rori's friends while also trying to get to know her a bit more.
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.
Chapter Five:
Rori unlocked the door to Kate's apartment. Rossi stood behind her. She let him into the small foyer and looked around the small apartment. "Kate?" she yelled.
"I'm in my room," Kate's voice came from the left side of the apartment.
"Dave's with me," Rori stated. "Can he stay for dinner?"
Kate came out of her room and looked at Rossi, "As long as you make it."
Rori nodded and dropped her bag off on a small chair in the living room. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a sauce pan. "Why don't you make yourself at home," she told Rossi. Kate came into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
"Dave, do you want a beer?" she asked.
"No thank you."
"We have wine. Well Kate has wine, I won't touch the stuff." Rori answered.
"Just water."
Rori moved to the sink and turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. Kate positioned herself on the bar stool in front of the seventeen year old and opened the bottle. As soon as the smell hit Rori, she dropped the pan and gripped the counter.
Both Rossi and Kate stopped what they were doing and focused on Rori. Kate set her drink down and looked at her niece with worry. "Rori, are you all right?" Rossi asked.
After a minute Rori blinked and looked at the adults. "What?"
"What just happened?" Kate asked.
Rori picked the pan back up and filled it with hot water. "Nothing, I'm fine." She placed the pan on a burner and turned up the heat. "I hope everyone's all right with Cappelini, I'm not really in the mood to make Chicken Tarragon."
Kate nodded and ppicked up her beer while looking at the young woman busy herself with the cooking preparations.
"Do you want help?"Rossi asked.
Rori looked around. "In the meat drawer is some fresh ground sausage. Can you brown it in a pan?" she asked.
He nodded and Rori place a top on the pan before heading to the bathroom. She closed the door and leaned against it for a moment.
Rori could smell cheap alcohol, but she couldn't see the source or anything else for that matter. She felt weak and afraid. Somewhere in the background she heard screaming, but she couldn't even tell which direction it was coming from.
Rori moved to look at herself in the mirror before turning on the faucet and splashing her face with some water. What the hell was that? she thought. She dried her face with a clean hand towel from a drawer and washed her hands before leaving the bathroom.
Rossi looked up from a pan of quickly browning chunks of sausage. He watched her wash her hands at the kitchen sink. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out fresh prepared angel hair pasta and a jar of Prego.
"What do you want me to do once the sausage is browned?" Rossi asked the girl.
"If you could add the prego and let it simmer for a little bit, when you add the sauce I'll add the pasta to te boiling water." Rori explained. "How about a ceaser salad to go with the meal?"
Rossi nodded. Kate stood up. "Why don't you hand me the plates and silverware, I'll set the table."
Ten minutes later the three were seated at the table eating dinner. Kate took a bite of salad and looked at Rori. "So what did you do today with Dave."
"I hung out with Penelope, she's the techie for the BAU. She's tons of fun." Rori answered. "What about work?"
"Tiring, I spent most of the day getting everything ready for Italy."
Rossi looked at his ex-sister-in-law. "What is it that you do exactly?"
"I'm a PR representative for the company I work for. I'm going to be heading the PR department of the Italy branch." Kate answered. "I have to arrange any press conferences and events the company is featured in."
"Lots of people count on Kate's ability to keep a level head. She's organized and prompt making her perfect for the job." Rori explained.
"You know Rori, there was a time where you wanted to do what I do." Kate said.
"Then I discovered mental disorders and thought they were so intriguing."
"There was a time also where your teacher told your mom, you might have been scitzophrenic."
Rori scrunched up her face in confusion. "What?"
Rossi looked at the two women. Kate wiped her moth with a paper napkin. "Your teacher in elementary school told your mom about a conversation she had with you. You told your teacher you heard voices."
Rori looked at her aunt. "But I've never been diagnosed with something."
"That would be because; you told the counselor later that the voices told you what was good and bad to do. The counselor had come to the conclusion that you had assigned your conscious a different voice."
"Like the whole angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other?" Rossi asked.
Kate nodded and took another bite of pasta. "Christine decided then that you were doomed to an overactive imagination and had the intelligence to go with it. Instead of reading books to you, you would tell epic tales."
"Why don't I remember this?"
"It could have something to do with the car accident." Rossi answered. "It could have repressed a lot of your earlier memories as well as the accident."
Rori chewed on some salad while thinking about it and nodded. "Probably, I really only remember her reading the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books to me when I was maybe five or six. I still have all of them in storage somewhere."
"You have an entire library of mysteries in storage. When are you going to stop buying books and get a library card?"
"Because library books aren't taken care of. I also lend them out to people."
"What other genre's do you read?"
"Anything, although Stephan King creeps me out."
"And yet you still read them."
"The man's a genius at writing, he's just crazy and demented." Rori justified.
Later that night Rossi had come to understand Rori a little bit more. She was definitely something else. In the past two days he had come to the conclusion that Rori was a confident individual who wasn't easily fooled. She never fell to the vices that afflicted teenagers her age: peer pressure, sex, drugs, alcohol. This made him proud that there were a few who knew to avoid such things until they were legally able to use them.
He stood looking into her room. The walls were bare, but the rest of it read like a whole other world. Dark wood furnature and warm colors. He red bedding with the grey and tan pillows oozed comfort and sophistication. Her bookshelf told a small story. Top had four hats: a black baseball hat that had ranger written on it, a pink and white baseball hat, a white fedora, and a black pinstriped fedora. The top shelf held her most precious of stuff animals. A large teddy bear drew in all of the attention. It had on a black character hat with long black ears to double as a scarf. The inside of the ears had a red, black, and yellow plaid pattern.
Below that shelf was an old jewelry box that he remembered belonged to Christine. The next shelf had her favorite books on the left and graphic novels on the right. They were separated by a large white binder. The bottom shelf held three wooden baskets for random storage.
"Like what you see?" Rori asked walking up.
Rossi turned and looked at her. "You have your mom's jewelry box."
Rori walked over and pulled it off the shelf. She moved to her bed and Rossi joined her.
"Kate put a lot of my mom's valuable's into a safety deposit box, but let me keep a few pieces." Rori explained. "I don't wear a lot of jewelry, mostly necklaces. I like to imagine what she looked like with jewelry on though."
Rossi opened the top and marveled at the assortment of rings and earrings. He picked up a small diamond ring. "This was our engagement ring." He explained.
Rori looked at him. "Do you want to keep it?" she asked. "I don't wear it. Her actual wedding ring is in the safety deposit box."
Rossi looked at the collection and spotted amethyst earrings. "The amethysts are yours right?"
Rori nodded and picked them up. "Mom thought I should have at least one pair of good earrings, so she got me these because they're my birthstone."
Rossi stood up and looked at her. "Thank you, for everything."
"You're welcome."
"I should probably head home. I'll call you when I get the results."
"You have my number," Rori smiled. She stood up and walked him to the door. When he was gone Rori looked over at Kate who was watching some reality show. "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow."
"I miss her too Rori."
"I know, I just really wish I could remember the last trip with her."
Kate looked at her. "Maybe it's best if you don't remember. The accident was pretty bad."
Three days later Rori was chasing after little kids in a large open field. Kenta came running over with her phone. "Tag, it's Agent Rossi." He said before running after the kids to take her place.
Rori took the phone and headed into a small wooded area away from the screaming children. "Hello?"
"Do guys normally answer your phone."
Rori smiled, "Not normally, I'm a counselor at a camp. I was in the field so I'm not allowed to have my cell phone on me. Only a walkie, Kenta's in charge of answering all cell phones in the main office just in case there's an emergency."
"The results came in."
"And?"
"I'm definitely your father, but I had a feeling that would be the case."
Rori's smile widened only to move into a frown. "Now what?"
"Have you heard of Ricco's?"
"High end Italian in Quantico."
"Do you want to meet me for dinner And we can talk about it?"
Rori looked around the woods, "Yeah, that sounds great, but you sir are not allowed to order capellini."
"I won't. Seven sound okay?"
"I get off at five so that should most definitely work." Rori answered. "See you at seven."
Author's Note: Yay! Chapter five is out and the DNA results are in, but really we all knew how this would end. Of course she's his daughter. Anyway, I am working on Chapter six right now so it should be out soon. Remember I like reviews, so drop me a comment on how you think the stories going or point out some mistakes. I write to please you the reader.