Black and Blue

Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos. That is the way we all see each other in life - Tennessee Williams

"FBI! Freeze!" yelled Rossi, weapon trained on the hooded intruder.

The suspect took one look at him and promptly dived out the living room window.

Rossi sighed. "Just once," he grumbled as he and JJ stared at the empty space their best lead had just occupied. "Just once, I'd like that to work."

JJ let out a laugh and followed Rossi as he ran back out of the house. They glanced around, trying to work out where their suspect had gone.

JJ spotted him first and dashed off down the side alley their quarry had taken, Rossi just behind her. "Morgan! Suspect heading east along back alleys!" he shouted into his mic. "Try and head him off, JJ and I are in pursuit."

"Still five minutes out," replied Morgan tersely.

Rossi growled. Without Hotch, Reid deciding to take a sabbatical and Seaver transferring to Andi Swann's unit, trying to do the job with just the three of them was a pain in the ass. Even if it was a relief not having to see Seaver's sad doe eyes and faintly hurt expression whenever he turned around too fast. He'd sat her down the morning after they got back from Alabama to apologise for his inappropriate action, making it clear that he had no interest in what she was clearly offering. Two days later, she was gone, simply finishing her report on Alabama and hightailing it out of the BAU. Swann was lucky to have her, but Rossi was just relieved to have escaped without Strauss catching wind of what had happened.

They lost sight of their suspect briefly in the twists and turns and faced with a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong, JJ turned right at the end of the alley, Rossi turned left. He rounded the corner into a tatty and untended back yard, just in time to see the suspect vault a waist-high chain link fence into another garden.

"JJ! This way!" Rossi shouted, setting off in pursuit again. "I'm too old for this shit," he complained as he scrambled first over the chain link, then a locked garden gate. JJ bounded after him like a gazelle, making it look easy.

They followed the man in a hoodie down another back alley, then out onto the main street. Rossi breathed a sigh of relief, even as he was still running. At least there'd be no more fences to climb. "Morgan, he's going south on the five hundred block of Main," he panted over the comms channel.

"Nearly there," replied Morgan. "Coming up on the intersection. Ninety seconds."

Rossi had glanced up to check where they'd emerged onto the main street, so JJ had a split second longer to spot the delivery guy ambling his way casually out of a store, trundling a dolly truck stacked high with boxes in front of him. JJ darted sideways, ducking around it. Rossi collided with what felt like a concrete wall, knocking the poor man to the ground, along with his truck. The boxes flew every which way and Rossi landed awkwardly across the truck's handles. One dug painfully into his right thigh, the other into his left hip as he hit the ground with a heart-breaking crunch.

At the intersection up ahead, Morgan had their suspect in custody, already cuffing him. JJ trotted back to Rossi, who was struggling upright, heaving for breath and clutching the sad remains of his cell phone.

"Rossi? You ok?" she asked, concerned.

Rossi nodded, wiping sweat from his eyes. He'd been better, sure, but at least the only casualty was his cell. JJ's eyes followed his hand and Rossi realised absently that it wasn't sweat running down his face when he saw the blood on his sleeve. Oh. Maybe that was why everything was a bit…

"Don't tell Pip," he mumbled as his knees came unhinged. JJ grabbed his arm to slow his fall, but all that achieved was Rossi dragging her down with him.

He heard her coming, long before he could see her. Pip had a particular way with words when she was pissed off, and she was unleashing her vocabulary on whoever it had been to have the misfortune of trying to stop her. Rossi groaned and levered himself upright. So much for JJ not telling her.

"…and if you get in my way again, you're going to be taking your teeth home in a fucking bag. See this badge? Good, now move!"

Pip burst through the curtain of his cubicle to see him sitting on the bed holding an ice pack to his head. She stopped dead, cataloguing the state of him: bruised but whole.

"Fucking drama queen," she blurted with tears in her eyes, before lunging forward to hug him. "You had me worried."

"I love you too, mad woman," whispered Rossi in her ear. Pip responded by clutching him tighter. Rossi let out a distinctly unmanly yelp as Pip squeezed his shoulder right where he'd landed on it.

Realising they could be seen if anyone came looking for the source of the sound, Pip quickly took a step back, but didn't let go of his hand.

"You shouldn't threaten hospital staff, it's not nice," he chided a little teasingly. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He would never let on that he'd told JJ not to tell her. "Not that being insulted on top of everything else today isn't just what I needed."

It was exactly what he needed, because just seeing her all worried over him made Rossi feel warm and fuzzy inside. The voice of reason in his head that had always sounded a bit like his mother, rolled its eyes. Oh, he had it bad alright. Soppy shit. If he wasn't careful, soon he'd be spouting bad poetry like a love-struck teenager.

Pip tutted dismissively as if he should have known. "We got the call from the insurers. Any of you lot need medical treatment while at work, Bureau's health insurance foots the bill. Passing out on the street definitely counts," she added meaningfully, when he tried to point out that needing an ice pack wasn't treatment. "I knew it was you from the look on Griffin's face. He scribbled down which hospital it was, I read it over his shoulder and here I am. I had to see how badly off you were, I got medical clearance for extra-curricular activities this morning. This morning," she hissed. "And this afternoon, you go charging into fuck-knows-what and get yourself all beaten to shit."

The case they were working was a local one, and she'd been to see the Bureau medic earlier in the day. When she'd returned, she'd made a point of telling him she was mended to the point where sex wouldn't hurt too much if they were careful, and there were no objections to her returning to almost-full desk duty. Now, he'd got hurt, but Rossi had no intention of squandering his opportunity for fun and games now the doctors had deemed her ready. It had taken two weeks, just as he said it would, and by now both of them were incredibly frustrated. Self-restraint was one thing, but so many things had delayed intimate relations between them in the past that any impediment was unbearable. It wasn't even so much the sex, as such. It was the opportunity to be close to one another, express themselves in a way they couldn't at work.

The look on her face said that wasn't her primary concern, however. Pip's eyes kept flickering over him as if trying to work how much pain he was hiding. Not all of it, but Rossi hoped she didn't know quite how uncomfortable he really was. Whatever was in those boxes he'd run into had been solid.

"I'm fine," he insisted. "Nothing a hot bath and a handful of painkillers won't solve, anyway," he added in response to her slightly disbelieving look. "I killed my cell though. Landed on it."

"I don't care about that," retorted Pip sharply. "Although Griff might," she mused, "that's your second in as many months, they're not free, you know." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You sure you're ok?"

"I get hurt worse sharing a bed with you," Rossi reassured her quietly. "Nothing says "I love you" like a knee in the crotch at 4am as you turn over in your sleep."

Pip gave him a watery laugh, tears of relief gathering once more. She scrubbed her face with her free hand. "I do, though," she said.

Rossi squeezed the hand he still had hold of. "I know. Now scoot, before Morgan comes back. I can handle things from here. JJ says we got our guy, go start my half of the paperwork so we can get away early." He finished with a suggestively raised eyebrow in case she didn't immediately get the message.

Pip sniffed and laughed again as Rossi solemnly handed her his handkerchief. He'd taken to carrying a spare these days, because Pip's moods were more mercurial than ever after getting back from her jaunt abroad. She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose and emerged from the monogrammed white cotton looking more composed than when she'd arrived. She nodded and vanished as quickly as she'd appeared.

Rossi leaned back on the bed with a pained groan. "Hot bath had better help or I'll never hear the end of it," he muttered to himself.

"Never hear the end of what?" asked Morgan, brushing the curtain to one side.

"Never you mind," said Rossi shortly. "Tell me I can get out of here."

Morgan thrust a clipboard at him. "Sign and you're free."

Rossi undressed gingerly, in a bathroom full of steam. If he was having a hot bath, then it was going to be a hot bath. With bubbles. It had better work too, because sex was the last thing on his mind, despite his assurances to Pip earlier. Everything hurt.

He critically examined the naked man in the mirror, the only condensation-free surface in the room. Sometimes, having money was satisfying, and a fog-free bathroom mirror was definitely worth the expense.

Usually, at least. It had been a while since his reflection had looked quite so sorry for itself.

Rossi catalogued what he saw, starting from the top and working downwards. A few more grey hairs at his temples than there had been last year. He had a fairly deep cut on his brow above his left eye and a wonderful shiner on the way. Lower, there was a heavy graze on his left shoulder, in the middle of a developing bruise that spread partway across his chest, and another graze on his elbow. He had a paunch on him now, too; he was distastefully aware he'd put back on all that he'd lost while Pip had been away, and had added a few pounds on top for good measure. Past that, there was more bruising further down, darker around his hip where he'd landed on his cell. Lower still, on the other leg, an imprinted pattern of the grip around the truck handle stood out clearly. Rossi sighed. He was a mess.

He glanced sideways as the view improved significantly. Pip stood next to him, equally naked. Rossi made an effort to stand up straighter and suck in his gut.

"I'm fine," she mocked. "Yeah, right. We make a right pair, don't we? You look as battered as I still do."

She had a point. Two weeks on, Pip's bruises were no longer dark and angry but an almost autumnal array of reddish-purple, green and yellow.

Pip elbowed him, and Rossi let out the breath he'd been holding. To his disgust, the soft bit around his middle reappeared.

"That's better." She reached over and ran her hand over it. "I quite like this," she said teasingly.

"Glad one of us does," muttered Rossi testily, turning away to get in the tub.

"Dave, look at me," ordered Pip sternly. Rossi turned back. "Do these," she said, indicating the line of bullet wounds across her body, "bother you?"

Rossi took two steps and took her gently by the arms. "You know they don't," he insisted. They never had. As impressive survival stories went, they bore witness to something extraordinary, another part of the gorgeous puzzle that made Pip Harker. They were part of her, so he loved them. "Why would you ask that?"

"Because they bother me. So, if you're allowed to like them," she reached down to stroke what could only be described as his middle-aged spread, "then I'm allowed to like this." She bent down a little to kiss it. "Now, stop being difficult and get in the bath."

Rossi chuckled, feeling better. He took her hand and pulled her gently over to the huge bath of steaming water. "Only if you're getting in with me."

"You think I'm standing here naked just for your viewing pleasure?" she quipped, climbing in first. "Oh, that feels wonderful."

Pip was right, the hot water felt blissful for his aches and pains. Rossi lounged back in the scented water, submerged to the neck, just enjoying the warmth for a while. Ah, that felt better. The joys of wealth – a bath big enough for two. Well…there was an idea…

Rossi ran his foot up the inside of Pip's thigh. "You want to come a little closer?" he asked suggestively.

It only took a few minutes of squirming and splashing to realise it wasn't going to work. No matter how they arranged themselves, one of them ended up pressing uncomfortably a sore bit, either their own or the other person's.

Pip groaned and gave up, sitting back against the other end of the bath. "Can anyone say, "passion killer"?"

"It's not as easy as I'd imagined," admitted Rossi. "Although I think maybe, when we're both…"

"No longer battered and broken?" asked Pip, reaching for the sponge.

"I told you it would take longer than two weeks." The sponge hit him in the face with a splat. "Ow."

Stretched out in bed an hour later, thoroughly relaxed and still glowing from the heat of their bath, Rossi reconsidered his options. The hot water had helped, and he wasn't giving up on the idea yet, even if it looked like Pip had. Rossi rolled over onto his side and shifted himself so he was up against her.

"You still awake, bella?" he asked, running his hand over her warm body. He cupped a breast, rolling her nipple gently between finger and thumb before slipping his hand down, finding slick heat.

"I am now," she hummed, as his hand circled and teased. "What have you got in mind?"

Rossi took her hand and guided it down to where he was swelling rapidly. "This."

She took hold of him, stroking gently. "Are you sure? You went down with one hell of a thud from what you've told me. I'm not holding you to what I said earlier."

"You just let me worry about that," he whispered in her ear. He gently pulled her leg up and over his, nudging himself inside her before reaching down once more to that all-important bundle of nerves that made her purr.

They took it slowly. Rossi was reminded of the old joke about porcupines mating: how did two creatures covered in sharp quills get it on? Answer: very, very carefully. Whether it was the position, or the fact that they had to be so slow and cautious, but Rossi could feel everything as Pip got closer and closer to the edge. He'd never get tired of hearing her utter his name in a way that made it a combination of both plea and prayer. It was such a stroke to his male pride that he followed her over the edge, unable to hold himself back.

They lay silent for a few moments, just enjoying the aftershocks rippling through them both.

"Hmm…endorphins. Best painkiller ever," mumbled Pip.

Rossi snorted. "Pleased to be of assistance," he muttered drily.

Pip grabbed his arm and secured it around herself like a seatbelt. "I love you. I don't say it enough."

"You say it every time you look at me," Rossi reassured her, and pressed a kiss to her neck. "Trust me, I know."