Anyone But You-Chapter 10

~Warning: This chapter deals with issues of child abuse.

Dave, who finally gained hold of his senses, realized he had pretty much told his daughter that he hadn't wanted her to move in with him, that he saw her as nothing more than a responsibility. "Oh God," he breathed. "Did I really just say all of those horrible things to her?" He was shocked and appalled by his own behavior and he knew he had to make things right with the teen before his words had a chance to lodge themselves in her memories. He also knew he would never forget the hurt look on her face as the meaning of his words had dawned on her.

JJ just stared at him in a horrified shock. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked in a quiet voice, but Dave could hear the pure, unadulterated anger in her voice. "Your daughter just told you that her mother has been abusing her since she was 9 years old and you rant and rave at her and tell her she's nothing more than a responsibility of yours? Are you INSANE?"

"JJ," he said but she wouldn't let him get any farther.

"You have advanced degrees in psychology and THIS is how you treat your own daughter? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR EVER-LOVING MIND? Think about it for a minute Dave, if you treated an abuse victim like that on a case, what would Hotch do to you?"

"He would kick my ass and then fire me on the spot."

"You're goddamn right he would have! That girl was terrified that you would blame her, but I assured her you wouldn't, so shame on me, shame on me for not realizing what a self-centered, inconsiderate bastard you are! God, not only did you blame her, you exposed her mother's infidelity and then you told her she is no more than a responsibility, a duty to you!" JJ shrieked. "Are you trying to scar her for life?"

"No, God I'm really not…I just…this threw me for a huge loop and…Jesus, I have to go talk to her," he said shakily. He took exactly one step toward the staircase before JJ stepped in front of him to block him.

"What you need to do is leave her alone for a little while and let her re-group. Right now you have a microscopic chance of having her talk to you again sometime in this decade but God knows if you open your asinine mouth and spew any more of your vitriol at her, you'll lose her for good!"

He shook his head, "JJ I have to-"

"The only thing you have to do is shut up and listen," JJ snapped, pointing at a kitchen chair. Dave, who was still horrified by his behavior with his daughter, sank into the chair and prepared for an ass chewing of epic proportions. He wasn't disappointed.

"You are an idiot, a horse's ass and for a supposedly brilliant profiler, you can't see what's happening to your own daughter," she said. "And I'm not talking about the abuse, because she hid that pretty well, I'm talking about your blatant neglect of her."

"I've never-" he started, but he quickly closed his mouth when he saw the fire in her eyes.

"I swear to God, Rossi, if you open your mouth one more time, I'll put duct tape over it!" Dave knew it wasn't an empty threat, so he made a concerted effort to keep quiet.

"She feels abandoned, Dave," JJ said. She knew she was breaking the teen's confidence, but someone needed to set her clueless father straight. Besides, she'd already betrayed her trust, so in for a penny, in for a pound. "She doesn't think she's as important as your work, as your writing and after watching you with her for the last few months, she's right to feel that way! Can you remember one time in the last month when you spent any one-on-one time with her? When you had a nice conversation with her instead of ordering her around? Your priority list is pretty fucked up, Dave! She should be first, her needs and wants should be your top concern. God, I can't believe I actually have to tell you this!"

"I always assumed she didn't want to spend time with me," he whispered. "She's a teenager, for God's sake; no teen wants to spend time with their parents."

"If you talked to her once in a while, if you weren't such an ass towards her, then you would know that she's desperate for some attention from you! Why in the hell do you think she gets into so much trouble at school? The only time you pay any attention to her is when she's in trouble! And if that's not bad enough, she sees you making time for everyone else in your life, including me and Henry! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why she feels like a guest in her own home."

"She shouldn't, she knows this is our house," he said with a confidence he didn't feel.

"Really?" JJ said sarcastically. "Look around Dave, do you see anything that would indicate a 15 year old girl lives here?"

Dave went into profiler mode and slowly glanced around the room. Damn, she was right, there was nothing in the kitchen or, as he thought about it, the living room that was girly; the décor was totally him. To be fair, he'd had the house decorated before she moved in with him but he realized he should have let her do some things to help make it her own.

JJ saw the look of dawning in his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, so not only does your daughter feel neglected by you, which she totally is, but her house doesn't feel like a home. Add in the fact that you're always leaving town with the BAU or for to do something for one of your books, and you can understand why she thinks you don't like her."

"I love her!" He protested vehemently.

"And up until tonight, she knew that; she told me you loved her like any parent loves their kid, but she didn't think you liked her and there's a big difference," she said. "Although after your astounding display of jackassery just now, she now probably doubts your love for her as well."

"Damn," he breathed, wondering how he'd manage to fuck up so badly in such a short amount of time. Ever since he saw the bruises on his daughter's back, he'd been pissed at Angela and at himself; as JJ had pointed out numerous times, he was a world-class profiler and he'd missed this in his own daughter? He'd missed how she'd been feeling living with him? A green recruit coming out of Profiling 101 could have picked up on all of this, yet he missed every bit of it. Unfortunately, he'd projected his anger onto the most fragile target and he wondered if he would ever be able to make things right with her.

As if she could read his mind, JJ said, "You need to take your head out of your ass before you completely lose her. You have to start making her happiness and well-being the main concern in your life. You have to get it through your thick skull that the universe doesn't revolve around you and your wants and needs. You have to start acting like a caring father towards your daughter and even then I don't know if it will be enough; you REALLY fucked up tonight!"

"It will be," he said. "I'll do whatever I have to in order to fix things with Lucy."

"Good," JJ said firmly as she picked up her purse. "And I think you and I need to take a break."

"What?" He asked in disbelief.

JJ nodded, "You can't focus on Lucy with me and Henry in your life, you'll be stretched in too many directions. Besides…"

"Besides what?"

"Honestly? I don't know that I want you around Henry anymore," she said and her words cut like a knife to his heart. "If you can act like that with your own daughter after she admitted that she's been abused for the last six years, then God knows what you're capable of saying to my son."

"JJ, I was overcome with guilt and anger towards Angela and I temporarily lost it, but it won't happen again, especially not with the kids."

"The only way you'll ever be able to prove that to me is by making things right with your daughter. Until then, I think it's best if we didn't see each other outside of work."

"I will prove it to you; I'll prove it to you and Lucy," he promised.

"Good," she said as she headed for the stairs. "I'm going to say goodbye to Lucy."

As she went up the steps, she wondered what she would say to the girl. What could she say? She'd just had all of her worst fears confirmed by her father and then some; what could she possibly offer the teen? She stood outside her bedroom door for a moment and was somewhat surprised that she didn't hear crying coming from the room. She raised her hand, knocked and wasn't surprised when there was no answer. She knocked again.

"Lucy? It's JJ. I just wanted to let you know that you're more than welcome to stay with me if you need to get away from here for a little while. I know tonight was-" She was cut off as the door flung open and revealed a livid Lucy Rossi.

"Stay with you? WHY would I stay with YOU?" She shouted. "You TOLD him! You told him everything! I begged you not to, I told you it would make things worse and you told him anyway! Not only will I NEVER stay with you, I HATE YOU!" The teen ended her tirade with a scream and slammed the door in her face.

JJ felt like she'd been punched in the gut; sure she hadn't expected Lucy to be happy with her, but she hadn't expected this level of anger from her either. With a sigh, she went back down to the first floor. After Dave worked things out with her, she would give it a go because she would be goddamned if all of the work she put into helping the teen for the past month was going to go to waste.

"I'm sorry, JJ, really I am," she heard Dave say from the entryway to the living room.

"Don't tell me, tell her," she said, jerking her head towards the stairs. "But I would give her a little longer to cool off if I were you."

He nodded and held the door open for her. He watched as she got into her car and drove off into the night and it felt like a piece of his heart had gone with her.

After watching her taillights fade out of sight, he closed the door and walked back into the kitchen. Once he was back in the room, his anger returned, except this time it was directed at his ex-wife. He saw red as he picked up his cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Hello?" His ex-wife slurred and he could tell she had been drinking, probably for most of the day, if not the entire long weekend.

"How could you?" He snarled through clenched teeth. "How could you do that to your own daughter, our daughter?"

"David, is that you?" She asked, unconcerned by his tone.

"Yes it's me, you bitch! How could you hurt Lucy like that?"

"I have no earthly idea what you're talking about, David," she told him as she made herself another screwdriver.

"Then let me refresh your memory!" He yelled. "I'm talking about OUR DAUGHTER arriving home COVERED in bruises; bruises YOU gave her!"

"Oh, it's not that bad," she scoffed as she took a gulp of her fresh drink. "She had it coming to her."

Dave was astounded, "So you're not even trying to deny hurting her? What in the hell did she do that warranted such a beating?" He yelled. He was ready to go to the cabin to murder her. His father always taught him to never hit a woman, but he sorely wanted to give Angela a taste of what his daughter had gotten from her.

"She didn't do any one thing, it was a lot of little things. Trust me Dave, the only thing that girl understands is a good crack to the back or stomach. Besides, I never leave marks where anyone can see, so what's the big deal? It's not like anyone will ever question it, although I am surprised she told you about it since I told her to keep it to herself. I'll have to discuss that with her the next time I see her."

Dave, who was both shocked and disgusted by what he heard, was silent for a moment. The one thing he remembered about his ex-wife was that alcohol worked like a truth serum for her and he'd gotten the most honest answer he could have out of her.

"You listen to me, you bitch, and you listen well," he said lethally. "If you ever come near my daughter again or try to contact her in any way, I will kill you. I know people say that a lot, but I really mean it. I. Will. Kill. You. I always knew you were a selfish, crazy bitch but I didn't realize how bad it had gotten until now."

"You can't take my daughter away from me David, I'm her mother," she slurred tearily.

"You have never acted like it, so this shouldn't bother you at all. If you're very lucky, I won't press charges against you, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one if I was you."

"I'll fight back! I'll dredge up every sordid detail from our marriage! I'll ruin you in the court records!"

"I don't care! Do what you want to me, but I'll die before I let you hurt Lucy again!" With that, he slammed his phone shut and had to resist throwing it against the wall.

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After JJ left, Lucy paced for a minute, still wondering what she should do. As she wiped yet another tear from her eye, she spotted her go-bag near her closet door and the idea hit her. Her father saw her as nothing but a responsibility, so she would remedy the situation, she would no longer be his responsibility. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and into regular clothes, grabbed her bag, threw her wallet and the small amount of cash she had in the bag and zipped it up. Fuck this! She didn't need any more of her dad's bullshit and she sure as hell didn't need any more adults coming down on her; she didn't care if she had to beg for money in the street, it had to be better than this.

As she opened her door, she heard her dad yelling at her mom in the kitchen. 'Perfect!' She thought as she crept down the stairs. She would have sauntered out past her dad if she'd had to, but this way she could leave with little hassle.

Without a backwards glance, Lucy made her way to the front door and stepped through it, shutting the door firmly behind her. She had no idea where she was going to go, but wherever she went had to be better than staying here. She took a deep breath, started down the sidewalk and disappeared into the night.