Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.

AN: Thank you for the support. PLEASE, PLEASE, PELASE, LEAVE A REVIEW


A little while after her conversation with her father on the phone, Penelope, JJ, Morgan, and Emily have arrived back in Indianapolis, at the hotel where Rossi is staying. Walking through the hotel they see that Rossi is sitting at the bar, with a drink, something which doesn't surprise anyone.

"Give me a minute alone first." Penelope requests.

"Of course." Emily says, suspecting that it would be the best.

"Thanks." Penelope responds, before walking across the room and towards her father, "Hey Dad." Penelope tells her father, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Penelope." Rossi says, sounding surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you, and I'm not the only one." Penelope tells her father, looking over to where the others are, and because of that Rossi looks over too and seeing that JJ, Emily and Morgan walk over to.

"You're buyin, I'm drinking." Emily comments

"I don't think any of us could afford this place otherwise." Morgan comments.

"Yeah, I know I can't." JJ confirms.

"Go home, all of you." Rossi says looking at Penelope.

"We thought you might need some help." Emily tells him.

"You're wrong." Rossi says.

"Dad." Penelope says the simple word portraying so much.

"Come on, now Rossi. Bounce some theories off us. Fresh eyes can't help." Morgan says.

"Morgan's right Dad, you always say that fresh eyes are best when you get stuck." Penelope reminds her father.

"Maybe, but this isn't even a BAU case." Rossi points out.

"Maybe not yet, but I can make anything a BAU case if I want to." JJ says, and Rossi turns to look at her, "It's about paperwork, and I know the paperwork." JJ says, and as she does Rossi turns to look at everyone.

"Why do you care?" Rossi asks, looking between the three agents and his little girl.

"Because you do." Emily simply says.

"We're here, you might as well use us." Morgan comments.

"Okay." Rossi says, "Pick your drinks." He says, and everyone places their drink orders. Once the drinks arrive the group moves over to a place where there are five arm chairs around a table.

"Talk it over again, tell us what happened." Emily suggests, once everyone is sitting.

"I was here on a serial rapist in eighty-eight." Rossi reveals, "It was pretty short work. The guy wasn't gonna win any IQ contests." Rossi admits, "The day after, we, ah, collared him, a local detective was driving me to the airport, and he hears a call on the walkie of kids screaming in a house not far from where we were." Rossi explains, "He asked if I mind taking the job with him. We were the first on the scene, inside we found…" Rossi starts to explains.

"Found this." Morgan says, finishing the sentence and handing over the file.

"The ax had been left behind, but it has been wiped clean." Rossi explains, and as he does it is clear that it is hard story to tell, "it turns out it belonged to the family. The, uh, oldest daughter, Connie, told me her father brought it on Christmas Eve a few months earlier, to cut down the Christmas tree." Rossi explains, getting even more emotional, "Now, I, uh, always associate the whole thing with Christmas. Never been able to put up a tree myself again." Rossi says, and as he does he takes a drink of his drink, as he does Morgan, JJ, and Emily exchange looks.

"Is that why from when I was eleven you'd always come to San Francisco for Christmas when you could?" Penelope asks, as before that, since her mother moved to San Francisco, they would rotate Christmases.

"Yeah." Rossi confirms, and Penelope gives her father a comforting look.

"So, he never hurt the kids at all?" Emily asks curious.

"Not physically." Rossi reveals.

"But he would have known that the kids were in the house." Morgan points out.

"He only hurt the parents and then left." Rossi explains.

"Oaky, so, using a weapon he found at the scene, and not eliminating all of the potential witnesses, that makes him disorganized." Emily realises.

"But he left no evidence, which suggests he's organized." Morgan comments.

"There was a fingerprint." JJ points out.

"But it was behind the bedroom door. I don't even think he knew it was there." Rossi admits, "There should have been prints in other places, but they were wiped clean." He says, "An open back door, a drinking glass left in the kitchen, and the one good print, was not a match anywhere." Rossi says, sounding lost, "I've been over this a million times." Rossi admits, "I…. I keep thinking if there was just one more piece, one more thing to go on.. the answer was right in in front of me." Rossi admits.

"Dad, he might be dead." Penelope says, before Emily can say basically the same thing.

"I have to be sure." Rossi admits.

"Rossi, if he's dead, you may never really know." Morgan comments.

"When we arrived on the scene, before any of the other units got there, I could hear them before I even got out of the car." Rossi says, and as he does everyone can hear the pain in his voice, "It was a warm morning, and the uh, the windows were open in the upstairs bedrooms, and their voices, floated out into the street." Rossi explains, taking a few seconds to collect himself, "They were crying and calling for their Mommy and Daddy, three terrified children creaming for their murdered parents." Rossi explains, clearly getting upset, and because of that Penelope moves, sits on the edge of the chair her Dad is sitting on, and once she is she puts her arm around her Dad, hugging him, "I've seen so much death and pain, but that sounds, it's been twenty years and I can still hear them screaming every night, crying." Rossi reveals, "If I can't tell them for sure that whoever's responsible will never do it again, that screaming might never stop." Rossi says, needing to fight back tears.

"Daddy…" Penelope says, having tears in her eyes, and honestly, she doesn't know what to say, so she is a little glad when Rossi reaches up, hugs her head with his arm and places a kiss on the side of her head, and as he does the entire team drift into a pained silence.


A little while later it is decided that talking to the kids, Connie especially to see if they remember anything else, would be a good idea, and so the team has taken Rossi's SUV to the house where the three kids are now living.

"Hi, Connie, I brought the team…." Rossi starts to say as the five of them get out of the car.

"You need to stop this." Connie informs Rossi cutting him off.

"Excuse me?" Rossi asks, as Penelope goes to take a step forward, to say something, but JJ puts her hand on Penelope's arm, holding her back with her gentle touch.

"We thought that if we didn't call you back the last couple of times you would just give up and leaves us alone." Connie says.

"Well, I know that it hurts, but I'm only trying to make sure someone pays for your parent's death." Rossi explains.

"We don't care anymore." Connie admits, "It's been twenty years, we need to be able to move past it. Please!" Connie practically begs.

"I won't bother you kids again." Rossi says, turning back to the car.

"He's just trying to help." Penelope says, not being able to stop herself, "Trying to get you some answers."

"It's okay, Penelope." Rossi assures his daughter, taking a step towards the car.

"And you'll stop it with the gifts to?" Connie asks.

"Gifts?" Rossi asks confused, turning back around.

"What are we supposed to do with a bunch of toys that remind us of the worst day of our lives?" Connie asks.

"I never sent you any gifts." Rossi reveals, causing Connie to look horrified.


A couple of minutes later team are inside with the three siblings, and all the toys they were given are on the table.

"This is it?" Rossi asks.

"It's all we could find." Georgie, the brother, answers.

"We threw a lot of them away." Alicia, the youngest sibling says.

"I wish you would have told me about this." Rossi admits, as Penelope and JJ take photos with their respective phones.

"We thought you were sending them." Connie admits, "First we kind of liked it, and then it became a bad reminder." Connie admits.

"These are incredible cheap, aren't they?" Emily who is wearing gloves and inspecting the toys says, looking at Rossi who nods.

"Where would you even buy toys like that?" Morgan asks.

"Or why?" JJ asks.

"That's what you guys figure out." Penelope comments.

"How did you receive them?" Rossi asks.

"They were usually left out on the front porch at night." Connie explains, "Mine was found in my car this time." She admits.

"So, he's following you." Rossi realises.

"There was a pickup out the… um, where I work." Connie reveals, "I just, always thought it was you." Connie admits.

"What do you remember about the pickup?" Rossi asks.

"Uh, all I saw was the shape and the headlights." Connie explains.

"Morgan, obsessional crimes are your specialty." Rossi says, looking at him.

"Well, there's two kinds of obsessional offenders that would send gifts to survives." Morgan explains, "Sadists who want to make their families keep reliving the crime, or guilt-laden offenders, desperately trying to find some type of way to apologise.'

"Sadists usually use something they know will remind the family of the person of the crime. Jewellery, newspaper clippings." Rossi says.

"These don't look like the kind of things you would send to inflict pain on someone." Emily realises.

"So, guilt-laden." Rossi realises.

"You know, they actually look like the kind of thing a child would send." Emily notes.

"Okay, well, it's rare, but an Unsub who feels this much guilt sometimes commits the crime unintentionally." Morgan admits, "They tend to be developmentally disabled, extremely low IQ, offenders, and generally, we'll they're physically large and they're very strong." Morgan explains, "Strong enough to hurt someone accidently." Morgan says.

"Like Lennie in of mice and Men." Emily realises.

"Exactly." Morgan says.

"He needed help then. There wasn't a fragment of evidence left at the scene. That's not low IQ." Rossi says.

"Well, usually they're assisted by an older relative, and it's almost always a part, and this parent rationalizes that the Unsub would never try to hurt anyone. See, in a lot of ways, this type of Unsub, they're sort of overgrown children." Morgan reveals.

"I can work with that." Penelope says.

"Do you have your laptop?" Rossi asks his daughter.

"Of course, I do." Penelope says, "You really shouldn't have to ask." Penelope tells her father, "And I just need a few seconds to get set up." Penelope says, walking over, and sitting on the couch where she starts to set everything up, and then she starts to type something on her computer once she is all set up.

"Don't look for other homicides." Morgan tells Penelope.

"Okay. What should I be looking into?" Penelope asks.

"Look into a string of less serious offences in this area, parks, playgrounds. Offences that involve children, but not necessarily cases where children have been injured or abused." Morgan explains, looking at Penelope.

"Okay, got it." Penelope says, continuing to type, and as she does Morgan turns towards the others.

"See, an unsub like this, when they seek out children, they want to play with them." Morgan explains, "They don't really want to hurt them, but it's their size, it frightens people." Morgan explains.

"This could be the piece you were looking for." Emily reveals, and as they do the group drifts into silence, the only sound being Penelope's hurried typing.

For a few minutes the group is silence, and everyone becomes more and more tense the longer the silence lasts.

"Penelope?" Rossi asks his daughter after about five minutes.

"Still looking." Penelope says, as she hurriedly types, "Hang on, okay yeah Dad, I got the information you were looking for." Penelope says, looking up at her father, having once more spoken before thinking.

"Dad?" Connie ask surprised, as after all these years she has never known that Rossi had a daughter.

"Yeah." Rossi confirms, "Penelope, what is it?" he asks

"Something that may lead to more questions than answers." Penelope admits.

"Of course." Emily says.

"There are scads of open pretty crimes, as described, in this very area of Indiana in the last twenty years, but here's the rub a large portion of them only occur in the last week of march and the first week of April every year." Penelope explains, "And then it gets weirder 'cause the same kind of crimes crop up in Springfield, Illinois for the next two weeks, and then Des Moines, Iowa, in the couple of weeks after that." Penelope explains, looking up.

"So, he's travelling." Morgan realises.

"On a specific schedule for years?" JJ asks.

"Maybe he's a salesman?" Emily asks.

"Who takes a developmentally disabled partner on a sales call?" Morgan asks, and as he does Rossi looks at the toys, thinks of the dates, and then the answer comes to him.

"What about a carnival." Rossi suggests, and as he does Penelope starts typing.

"Carnival?" Alicia asks.

"We went to a carnival the day before. It's the last thing we did as a family." Connie reveals.

"Did anything happen?" Emily asks.

"No." Georgie answers.

"No, we had to leave early. There was this clown that made me a balloon animal. It didn't even look right, but then he kind of followed me around, he didn't really do anything, but my mom got afraid, so we left." Connie explains.

"You never told us that." Georgie says, looking at his sister.

"I didn't even remember it until now.' Connie admits.

"Penelope, pull permits. Find out if this carnival is still in business." Rossi says to his daughter.

"Bit late, Dad. I'm already on it." Penelope reveals.

"Of course, you are." Rossi says, smiling proudly at his daughter.

"Okay, got it." Penelope says, "The carnival is still in business and I have the location where it currently is." Penelope reveals, closing her laptop.

"Good, let's go." Morgan says.

"I'll will update you as soon as I can." Rossi promises the three siblings, and he, Penelope, Morgan, JJ, and Emily all head out of the house.


All little while later the team gets to the location where the carnival is.

"Penelope, I want you to stay in the car." Rossi tells his daughter, as everyone gets out of the car, as they don't know what they are going to be facing and he wants his daughter to be safe.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Penelope tells her father, and as he recognizes his daughters stubbornness Rossi knows that he's not going to be able to stop her.

"Okay, then you're with Prentiss and I." Rossi tells his daughter, "JJ, Morgan, you guys look around." Rossi says, and everyone does as instruction, and as they walk Rossi realises exactly who is in charge and so he, Penelope, and Emily walk over to him.

"You look like you're in charge." Rossi comments.

"You pulling out in a hurry?" Emily asks.

"That's the way this business words, gotta be set up where the money is. Right now that aint here." The man explains.

"Where you headed to next, Springfield? We'd like to talk to you about one of your clowns." Rossi says.

"Clowns? This ain't a circus, clowns are for the circus." The man says.

"You don't have any clowns in your carnival?" Penelope asks, not believing that, as while, due to her fear of clowns she'd rather not see any, she also believes that they are right.

"How about a guy who makes balloon animals?" Rossi asks.

"Might."

"How long's he been with you?" Emily asks.

"This guy would have been complained about. Kids are uncomfortable around him, you'd have gotten reports from parents." Rossi says.

"I can't remember every complaint I get, mister." The man comments.

"It's not mister. It's agent Rossi, FBI." Rossi says, showing his badge, "Now, do you have a son?" Rossi asks.

"A son." The man says.

"The guy we want to talk to, he'd have been a big problem for you. You'd have gotten rid of him a long time ago, unles…." Rossi says.

"It would have been difficult for him to hold down a job for long, much less twenty years." Emily says.

"Twenty years?" The man asks, getting nervous, "I really ain't got time for this." He says, turning away.

"Make time." Rossi says, putting his arm on the mans arm, and once he does the man explains all about his son, and as he gives the explanation the group hears a yell so they go running, Rossi telling his daughter to stay back, which results in Joey, the man's son, being arrested for killing the Galen's.


A little while later Penelope and Rossi are outside the Galen children's house, while the others are waiting at the airport.

"The title should be delivered in the next few days." Rossi reveals, handing Connie the keys to the house.

"You're giving us a house?" Alicia asks shocked.

"Giving it back." Rossi corrects, "It's been kept clean, and maintained. It should sell for a decide price. You'll all get a fresh start." Rossi says, looking between the three adults who he still sees as children.

"You don't have to do this." Connie comments.

"I think your parents would have wanted you to have it." Rossi reveals.

"Thank you." Alicia says, leaning forward and kissing Rossi's cheek.

"Thanks Man." Georgie says, and he and Rossi shake hands, as they do Penelope reaches out to Alicia, who is she closest to, squeezes her shoulder in comfort and gives her a supportive smile.

"You're welcome." Rossi says, and as he does he pulls something out of her pocket, "I think your parents would have wanted you to have it." Rossi explains, putting the bracelet with the children's three names on it in Connie's hand, "Well, our team is waiting for us." Rossi says, and once he does Penelope starts to walk around to the passenger seat.

"Agent Rossi." Connie says, before Rossi can get into the car, "I'd like you to have these." Connie says, putting the chain back in Rossi's hand, "Is it okay if I call you sometimes, just to let you know how we're doing?" Connie asks.

"Anytime Kiddo, anytime." Rossi says, before getting in the car, and they drive away.

For a few minutes Penelope and Rossi drive in silence, until Penelope finally decides to break the silence.

"You okay?" Penelope asks concerned.

"Yeah." Rossi answers.

"It's finally over, you finally have the truth, you gave those three kids closure. How does that feel?" Penelope asks her Dad, trying to get him to talk to her.

"Serial." Rossi admits, "I owe you a thank you, Penelope, thank you for coming here, and bringing the team."

"They wanted to come, Dad, they wanted to help. I just told them where you were." Penelope points out.

"I know, which is why I'm going to thank them too." Rossi admits.

"So, this case was why you came back to the BAU, are you going to stay now it's solved?" Penelope asks, trying to keep her voice casual, as the truth is she is worried about her father leaving the BAU.

"Yeah, I am. I'm not going anywhere Kitten." Rossi assures his daughter, looking at her, and the two of them exchange smiles.


A little while later the team have arrived back at Quantico and Penelope has just started to take some of her stuff out of her bag when her office door opens and Morgan walks in.

"I have a bone to pick with you Baby Girl." Morgan informs her.

"Why?" Penelope asks confused, turning to look at him.

"You didn't tell me you were dating Kevin Lynch." Morgan comments.

"Did JJ tell you?" Penelope asks, being a little surprised that her friend would tell.

"Only because Kevin was waiting for your Dad when we got back, wanting to talk to him man to man." Morgan explains.

"You've got to be kidding me." Penelope says annoyed, before basically storming out of her office, and honestly Morgan wouldn't want to be Kevin right now, as that's who he assumes Penelope is angry at.

"Garcia…" Emily says concerned, as she watches Penelope storm upstairs.

"Can't talk right now Em." Penelope says, as she walks straight into her father's office without knocking.

"What's going on?" Emily asks Morgan, who has returned form Penelope's office.

"I'm not sure." Morgan admits.


In Rossi's office Penelope walks straight in interrupting the conversation that Rossi and Kevin are having.

"What do you think you're doing?" Penelope asks, looking straight at Kevin, and as she does Rossi takes a step backwards, knowing that this daughter has this handled.

"I just wanted to talk to Agent Rossi, get a few things out in the open." Kevin explains.

"I said not to!" Penelope says, being annoyed by that, "How is it supposed to make me feel when you go to talk to my dad, about me, without even telling me?" Penelope asks, "Just so you can talk, man to man?" she asks, pulling a face as she says the last words.

"I didn't think." Kevin realises, realising his mistake, "I'm sorry." He says, "I really am." He says, wanting her to believe that, though he doesn't completely mean it as there is a part of him that thinks he did nothing wrong.

"I accept your apology." Penelope says, after watching his face carefully, and believing he is sincere even though he's not, "Now, I need to talk to my Dad." Penelope admits.

"Sure, I'll wait in your office." Kevin says, before leaving, closing the door behind him.

"Dad, about the other day, what you saw…" Penelope starts to say.

"There's nothing to say." Rossi tells her, "I never wanted to think about something like that, let alone see it, but it's my own fault. I barged into your apartment in the middle of the night, and there were signs that you weren't alone." He says, taking a step towards his daughter, "You're an adult now, Penelope, you make your own choices, and I respect them, but you're also my little girl, and while we usually talk about everything we really don't have to talk about this particular thing." Rossi tells his daughter.

"I really hoping you'd say that."' Penelope admits, as she wasn't looking forward to that conversation, and the two of them exchange amused looks, "What did he say to you?" Penelope asks.

"Coming to me to have a man to man chat wasn't the right choice, I agree there." Rossi tells his daughter, as the truth is he was about to say something about that himself when Penelope walked into his office, "But he did that because he cares. He wanted to make sure I wasn't going to tell any of the higher ups about you two, and he didn't want the two of us to get off on the wrong foot, because he knows our relationship is important to you." Rossi explains to his daughter.

"Really?" Penelope asks.

"Really." Rossi assures his daughter, "Considering everything that's happened today I don't think anyone would mind If you got going." Rossi tells his daughter, "It's about dinner time."

"Yeah, guess it is." Penelope says, "I might just do that." Penelope says, "I'll see you tomorrow, Dad."

"See you tomorrow, Kiddo." Rossi responds and Penelope gives her father a hug before she leaves.

After watching his daughter go Rossi walks around and sits at his desk, and as he does he picks up one of several pictures of Penelope he has on his desk, but this particular picture is from the day she was born, and it is off him holding her.

Looking at the picture Rossi still finds it hard to believe that the little baby in the photo grew to the amazing, smart, strong, talented women who just let his office, but what he does believe is in her, and he knows that he loves her more than anything, and is so beyond proud of the person she has become.