Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words and they are the product of my twisted mind. I am a firm Rossi/ Strauss fan.

This is another short chapter.

Reviews are appreciated.

Chapter 21

They next couple days passed with no incidents. Dave went to see Dr. Phillips and it was declared, Jack had done minimal damage. There were extensive bruising, but nothing life threatening or that would set back his recovery. He went to his regular therapy appointments and worked at the BAU four to five hours a day. Erin went to work as well, if she needed to stay longer, he sat in his office reading or playing video games. Garcia made sure he had a decent lunch each day and bullied him into eating it…all of it.

Erin and Dave were sitting in the living room, putting ice on the bruise that now covered 75 percent of his chest, the contusion that Jack Strauss had caused, when her children came in. It was Friday night; the kids generally spent the weekend with Erin and Dave if they were home from school.

"OMG, Mom what happened? How did Dave get that huge bruise?" Katie asked.

"I had a small accident, it looks worse than it is." Rossi answered. "I'm fine."

Jessie walked around to get a look at what was going on, "Does this have anything to do with what I heard Dad telling Stacy?"

Dave took the ice pack from Erin so she could question her daughter. "Honey come here," Jess did sitting between her mother and Rossi. "What are you talking about, honey, what did you hear your dad tell Stacy?"

"Dad told Stacy that he was taken to the BAU to answer questions about a case they were working on. That someone had taken the Deputy Director…"

Before she could go on, Katie interjected, "Mom, you're the Deputy Director."

Erin shook her head; she wanted to hear what Jessie had to say. "Go on sweetheart."

"Anyway, he said that the man who took her was mad because they thought he hadn't done his job. He said that he wanted to leave and two agents tried to stop him. He said he was bullied to the ground, but not before he did some damage to one of the agents. I heard Stacy ask if they were going to press charges, since he hit a FBI agent and Dad told her the agent wouldn't dare, that if the agent did it would make life miserable for a lot of people." She looked at her mom, then Dave and then back to her mother. "Mom were you the Deputy Director that was taken and Dave the agent Dad hurt?"

"It's complicated, Honey…" Strauss started.

"We aren't little kids anymore mom, we want the truth." Daniel chimed in.

Dave sat forward, took Jessie's hand, "Erin, they deserve the truth at least about the kidnapping." She knew he really didn't want to tell them their father did this to him, but if she was going to tell them about that day she was going to tell them everything.

"Okay sit down, all of you and I'll give you the condensed version of the day." After everyone was seated and listening, "I dropped David off at his therapy, went to the office, and as soon as I walked in someone slammed my door. They asked where Jack was, since I didn't know I told them that. They decided that I should go with them, that if they had me, they could get your dad. I left David and the team a clue. Luckily we had talked about if either one of us was ever in this kind of situation we would find a way to leave a hint for the other one if at all possible. They figured it out and brought Jack to the BAU. At first he didn't want to cooperate, but eventually he did and the team was able to fine me. The kidnapper's son was a client of your dad's and he was upset that his son went to prison. I need to add that I was not hurt in anyway, he was actually very good to me. I was only afraid in the beginning." Erin stopped there; she knew the kids would have questions.

"Even though Dad knew it was you the kidnapper had and it was because of him, he still didn't want to help?" Katie asked.

"Well, honey, you know your dad and I aren't on the best of terms."

"But mom, you're the mother of his children." Dan commented. "Did he do that to Dave?" pointing to the bruise on Dave's chest.

Erin looked at her lover, he nodded. "Yes, when he decided he was going to leave, David and Spencer stood in his way; he put his shoulder into David's wound. Reid laid him out."

"Way to go Spencer!" Jessie commented.

"Okay, guys its over. No one was hurt. Let's order some dinner and watch a movie or something." She said, taking the ice pack and heading to the kitchen.

Katie looked at Dave who was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. She thought about what her mother had just told her. The more she thought about it the more angry she got with her father. She knew she should let it go, but she couldn't. Getting up she excused herself, motioned to Dan and headed to Dave's Den.

Once in the den, they closed the door, "I'm calling dad, I can't believe he acted this way." Katie said looking at her brother.

"Okay, let's do it." Daniel agreed.

Dialing the phone and putting it on speaker so both could hear, their father's new wife answered on the first ring. "Hello, Stacy can I please speak to my dad?" Katie asked.

A minute later, "Hello, Honey, what's up?" Jack Strauss asked.

"Dad, Danny and I have a couple questions and we want the truth. When you went to the FBI the other day, the person you were there to help was Mom?" She questioned.

"Katie isn't not as simple as that," He said.

"Yeah dad, it is." Daniel added. "Someone you defended, their family member took our mother hostage and you had to think about helping her? I know you and Mom aren't on good terms but, what kind of father does that? We could have lost our mother."

Not giving her father time to answer, Katie went on, "Then on top not wanting to help mom, you intentionally hurt Dave? You knew he was recovering from a gunshot wound and you tackled him, putting your shoulder or whatever body part you used into his chest. You should see the damage you did. You're lucky he isn't pressing charges, because if you had done that to me and was not going to help someone I cared about, I'd press charges in a heartbeat." Katie looked up to see her mother walk into the room, putting her finger to her lips.

"What do you want me to say, I screwed up? Well maybe I did and maybe I wasn't thinking of anyone but myself." Jack said.

"That's your problem dad, you don't think of anyone but yourself. The only other person you remotely care about is Stacy. If you really cared about us kids, you would have help mom and not even thought about it." Daniel was angry and he didn't care if he pissed his father off. You can be such an asshole."

"Why don't you three come over here and we'll talk about it?" Strauss asked.

"Sorry, but we are staying with mom and Dave this weekend. Then Dan and I will be going back to school Sunday night." Katie countered.

From the doorway, Jessie yelled, "I'm staying with mom; I don't want to see you for a while. I can't believe you did that, dad."

"I see your mother has turned you against me, you heard her side but you haven't heard mine." Their father said.

Jessie moved farther into the room, "That's where you're wrong Father; Mom didn't tell us anything, we had to pull it out of her. I heard every word you told Stacy, you should learn to close doors and talk softer if you don't want others in the house to hear."

"We may in time forgive you for what you did to Mom and Dave, but we will never forget. You tell us you want to be a better father and then you do this. Sorry Dad, not buying it." Katie was crying now, "Leave us alone for a while, Dad. Give us time to get over this."

"I'm sorry, kids. I can't change what I did to your mother." He said. "I'll be honest, I'm not sorry for tackling Rossi, I can't stand that arrogant, self centered, smug bastard."

"That attitude right there is one of the reasons I…we don't want to see you for a while. Dave may not like you either, but at least he tries to get along, for us. I've never heard him call you names or say anything bad about you, not in front of us. He cares about us, right now that's more than we can say about you. Leave us alone, Dad, we'll call you when we are ready. Bye." Katie hung up the phone looking at her mother.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Mom, but I couldn't let him think we agreed with his choices. As we've been taught, when you make bad choices you have consequences." Daniel said hugging Erin. Now let's go watch that movie like a family. There is a man in the other room who actually cares about us…all of us."