Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

Happily Ever After-Chapter 7

~I've had a horrendous couple of days, which is bad for me but apparently good for my muse, as it came out of hiding and hit me full force. As a result, the next couple of chapters are pretty much written, all I have to do is polish them up a little...enough reviews may motivate me to post the next chapter today instead of waiting until tomorrow...


David Rossi was not a happy man. He was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it and right now the hapless hotel desk clerk was not giving him what he wanted.

"I'm sorry sir, but we have you down for one room," she told him, looking at her computer screen for the millionth time.

Dave was not known for having an abundance of patience, and the little he had was hanging by a thread. "I know you have me down for one room, you've told me the same thing the previous five times you looked at that computer. What I'm telling you is that I booked a two bedroom suite and I want a two bedroom suite." He watched as the clerk looked down at her computer screen once more and he knew that if she responded with the same answer again, he may very well pull his weapon. "Look," he said through clenched teeth, "Is there someone else I can talk to about this? A supervisor perhaps?"

Looking relieved, the young girl nodded, "Yes sir, one moment." She left the desk and went over to the concierge desk. After a short consultation with him, the concierge nodded, looked at his computer and then came over to where Dave was standing.

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but it seems there was a mix up with your reservation. We have you down for one room with two beds instead of two bedrooms. My apologies sir."

Happy that he was finally getting somewhere, Dave smiled, "No problem, mistakes happen. Can I get the keys to our suite now? We drove up from DC and we want to go out and grab some dinner." Dave had wanted to leave the previous night, instead of waiting until Friday at rush hour to brave the traffic to Philly, but JJ had meetings she couldn't postpone and it was the last day of school before Abby's finals, so it wasn't feasible to get to the city any earlier. Because of the traffic, what was normally a three hour drive had turned into a four and a half hour drive, and the three of them were tired and hungry.

"Again, I'm sorry sir but we are completely sold out, all we have left is the one room."

"You're shitting me, right? A world class hotel like this can't even get their reservations straight?" Dave said loudly.

"I'm sorry sir-" Dave interrupted him. "Save your sorry's buddy, we'll just stay elsewhere."

"Well that certainly is an option sir, but I'm afraid that all of the hotels of this caliber are completely booked up for the weekend." The concierge told him, a little fearful for his life.

"WHAT?" Dave bellowed.

"Yes sir, there is a large gala benefiting pediatric leukemia research taking place nearby tomorrow evening, and everything is completely booked."

Intervening before her husband had a stroke, JJ approached the two men. "The one room will be fine for the weekend," she said as she took the keys from the concierge. "Really David, it's not a big deal, it might get a little cramped, but we'll survive." Nodding a thank you to the concierge, she took Dave's hand and pulled him to the elevator. Abby followed behind them, still in awe of the fancy lobby of the hotel. Other than when she stayed with her father at a swanky hotel in New York, she had mainly stayed at Super 8's and Holiday Inn's when she traveled with her mother.

The elevator whisked the family to the fourth floor, and a long hallway led them to their room. Dave opened the door and was nearly bowled over by his daughter, who wanted to check everything out.

"God, this room is gorgeous!" She exclaimed, laying down on one of the beds. The bedding was as soft as she had ever felt, and it was a luxurious gold color. As Dave and JJ stepped into the room, Dave groaned when he saw how small it was.

"It's tiny!" He whined, "We'll be tripping all over each other."

"Now honey, it's not that bad, " JJ said, trying to soothe him. "Just pretend we're back at the apartment," she said as their daughter went to check out the bathroom.

Grabbing his wife around the waist, Dave pulled her close to him and growled, "I'd rather pretend we're back in your dorm room."

"Unfortunately that is one activity that is off the menu for this weekend David," JJ said sadly.

"Oh, I think we can get our daughter out of the room for an hour or so," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

Abby came out of the bathroom to find her parents in each other's arms and just rolled her eyes. "Are we going to get some dinner or what?"

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day, after a long morning spent taking turns in the shower and bathroom, the family set out to sightsee. To JJ's delight, most of the things they saw did have an educational component, but it didn't bore her husband and daughter. In the morning they went to Independence Hall, they saw and took many pictures of the Liberty Bell, they visited Benjamin Franklin's grave and they explored the National Constitution Center. After a lunch of authentic Philly Cheese Steaks at Geno's, the three of them went to the Rodin museum for JJ and then they went to the Museum of Art so that Dave could see and run up the steps from the Rocky movies. Once he got to the top of the seventy-two stairs, he thought he'd need CPR, but it had been worth it. After that, they wandered around downtown Philly before returning to their hotel at around five that evening.

Once they got to the room, the three of them practically collapsed on the beds. "I'm so tired," Abby moaned.

"I hear you Pumpkin, we must have walked ten miles today," Dave said from the bed he was sharing with JJ. His wife was practically asleep next to him. "Our dinner reservations are for seven-thirty, so why don't we all take a nap until then, unless you want to study?" He was a little worried since Abby's semester finals began in less than two days and he hadn't seen her crack a book all weekend.

Abby turned on her side to face him, "Forget studying, I'm taking a nap," she said sleepily. And for an hour, that's exactly what the three of them did.

Four and a half hours later, the three of them were finishing their meal at Vetri's and they were reminiscing about their first dinner together as a family.

"At first I thought you were a little creepy," Abby told her father, "The way you kept watching me was a little weird, but then again, I didn't know who you really were, I thought you were just one of mom's co-workers. Thankfully you'd brought me a CD when you first arrived, so I focused on that more than your staring."

He laughed, "Yeah, well I was still reeling from finding out that I had a fifteen year old daughter, so sue me for being a little weird."

"God Abby, you should have seen his face when he found out about you!" Her mom exclaimed, "It is one of the few times I've ever seen your father truly speechless!" The three of them laughed as if it was the first time hearing these stories, even though they had been told numerous times before.

"She should have seen your face when Hotch first re-introduced us! I though you were going to drop your files right there in his-" Dave's eye caught someone across the room and his train of thought derailed. "Shit," he said as the object of his attention began making her way across the restaurant towards their table.

"Dave?" JJ asked, confused. "Are you okay?"

He smiled tightly, his eyes still on the quickly approaching woman. "I'm sorry; I'm so, so sorry for what's about to happen."

"What are you-" JJ never got to finish her sentence.

"David! How wonderful to see you again!" JJ watched as a woman, who looked to be in her mid-forties, bent down and kissed her husband on the cheek. She lingered a little too long on the kiss for JJ's taste.

"Suzette," Dave said, curtly. He frowned as the woman took an empty chair from a nearby table and pulled it up to theirs. "Jennifer, Abby, meet Suzette McNeil, my second wife."