Family Ties-Chapter 21

Katie was met with dead silence from all of the adults. "Talk to me about what?" She repeated, this time a bit louder.

"I thought you were going to soak in the Jacuzzi, Belle," Dave said, trying to change the subject.

"I was, but I wanted a glass of ice water before I got into the tub," she told him. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"It's nothing honey, go take your bath," Dave told her and then pointed at the stairs. She quirked an eyebrow and just stared at him silently with a look on her face that said, 'you've gotta be kidding me.' Hotch gave a bark of laughter at her expression, having seen it on her father's face at least once a day, but then tried turning his laughter into a cough behind his hand once Dave's glare fell upon him.

"Come on Garcia, I think we should leave," he said, watching as the two Rossi's stared at each other like something out of an old western movie.

"I think you're right boss," she said, as the tension in the room built. Hearing his friends get up to leave pulled Dave from his staring contest with his daughter and he helped them gather up their things, including Hotch's sleeping son.

"He didn't even stir when I lifted him up," Dave said a moment later as he carried a sleeping Jack out of the den. He transferred the boy into Hotch's arms and Katie draped a bag full of leftovers onto his wrist.

"Thanks for hosting this shindig, guys," Garcia said as she picked up her purse and her bag of leftovers.

"Thank you for your help, Penelope," Katie said as the woman hugged her.

"Go easy on your dad, he's just looking out for you," Garcia whispered and then straightened up. "Give me a call tomorrow and we'll set up a time to go shopping."

"Okay," Katie agreed as she watched her and Hotch walk out the front door. Once the door was shut, Katie turned and faced her father. "What do you need to talk to me about?" She asked for a third time.

Dave sighed and went back into the great room with Katie on his heels; he'd hoped she'd forgotten about that with all of the hubbub that had surrounded Garcia and Hotch's departure. He should've known better. As he took a seat on the sofa, Katie sat down in an easy chair in front of him and waited. Mudgie, who could feel the stress in the room, got up from his doggie bed near the fire and retreated into the recently vacated den.

"Honey, if I asked you to just let this go, to just trust me to take care of things, would you?"

"No," she replied immediately. "I do trust you, but I want to know what's going on."

"Fine," Dave said, shaking his head slightly. "Your…Erin Strauss has had a change of heart and she wants to get to know you."

"What?" Katie whispered. Of all the things she had expected him to say, THAT had never even crossed her mind. She'd made peace with the fact that her biological mother didn't care about her and this news was sending her emotions into a tailspin.

"She wants to get to know you and have some sort of relationship with you, Belle and I was trying to deal with it on my end," he told her. "I know you've had a rough time with Erin rejecting you earlier in the fall and then with Hailey dying, I didn't want to put this on you." His daughter was silent for a moment as she processed what he had said and Dave took her silence as a good sign, so he continued. "You don't need to worry about this Katie Belle, I'm going to handle it-" He was surprised when she interrupted him.

"YOU WERE GOING TO KEEP THIS FROM ME?" She shouted and Dave was amazed by the volume she got from her small lungs. "I don't BELIEVE you! What is WRONG with you? You can't keep this stuff from me! God Dad! You promised me, after all I went through this fall, after the way you kept everything a secret from me, you PROMISED you wouldn't do that anymore! She's my mother, for God's sake and you weren't going to TELL me?"

Dave ignored the shouting for the moment and focused on what he saw as important, "Do you want a relationship with Erin, Katie?"

"No, of course not, not after the way she's treated me, but that's not the POINT!" The irate teen shouted. "The point is that once again you made a decision for me! Once again you decided what I need to know and what I don't need to know! I'm not a little kid anymore, you can't keep hiding things from me! From now on, I want to know about EVERYTHING that affects me, not that I can trust you to tell me!" The volume of her voice had decreased, but only a little and there was only so much yelling Dave could take before he yelled back and he had hit his threshold.

"Wait just one minute, young lady!" He said loudly. "You CAN trust me; I was withholding this information from you to protect you, I didn't want Erin tearing you apart again, it took you a long time to bounce back from it once and I'll be damned if I let her do it again! And you, little girl, ARE a kid and I'm the father in this relationship and if I think you don't need to know something, even if it affects you, then I AM going to keep it from you and if you don't like it, well that's just tough!"

Katie was speechless, she couldn't believe he had just told her that he would be the gatekeeper of information and that he would choose what she needed to know. Where did he get off deciding what to protect her from? Where did he get off calling her a little girl? As she stood there in silence and pondered everything he'd said, her anger built up and she finally exploded.

"You're an ass!" She shouted and then ran out of the room. After a few seconds, the loud slamming of her door was heard throughout the cabin.

Dave just sat in shock as he processed his daughter's dramatic exit. Sure, he'd expected her to be angry, but he hadn't expected her to be THAT angry. Deep down, he knew she had a point, maybe he was being a bit too overprotective of her, maybe he should've told her about Erin right away but that did not give her the right to talk to him the way she had.

Slowly the shock turned to anger and he began to see red. If she thought she was going to get away with yelling at him the way she had and then swearing at him, she had another thing coming. He bolted up off the sofa and took the stairs two at a time. He stomped down the second floor hallway and pounded on her bedroom door. "Let me in, Katie," he ordered. "We need to finish our discussion."

There was a loud thud against the door and then he heard her yell, "No! Go Away!"

Her response ratcheted his anger up another notch and he decided to enter the room without her permission. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it and was surprised to find the door locked; she'd never done that before. "Unlock this door right now, young lady, and let me in!"

"GO AWAY!" She screamed.

"Kate Lynn Rossi, you open this door RIGHT NOW! Trust me when I tell you, you will NOT like the consequences if you don't!"

There was another thud and then, "I'm NOT letting you in!"

Dave stood outside of her door for another couple of seconds before he bolted back down the stairs; he was seething with anger and it was probably a good thing there was a wood barrier separating the two of them at that moment. He entered the kitchen, opened the junk drawer and pawed through it for a minute. Upon finding the master key, he slammed the drawer shut and then made his way back up to the second floor, counting to a hundred as he did so.

Without warning, he jammed the key into the lock of his daughter's bedroom door, turned the doorknob and burst into her room. To say she was surprised would be putting it mildly, she was stunned that he had actually forced his way into her room. She stared at him with huge eyes and he thought the phrase 'deer in the headlights' had been tailor made for this moment.

"Dad! How did you-"

"Save it, Katie!" He bit out and then looked around her room and saw what she was doing. "Why are you packing?"

"I'm sure as heck not staying here with you!" She told him, as her surprise faded and her attitude reappeared.

"Yes you are!" He responded as he jerked her duffel bag away from her and dumped it's contents on the floor. "Didn't we already have a discussion about running away? I thought I made the consequences pretty clear to you; do you really want to test me on it tonight?"

Remembering that he'd threatened to put her over his knee the last time she'd tried running away, she decided that no, she really didn't want to see if he'd follow through on his threat. She remained silent, so Dave continued.

"I don't care if you disagree with me or if you don't like what I'm doing; heck, you can be mad and yell about it all you want, but you WILL show me some respect! Whether you like it or not, I am your father and you will NOT call me names and you most certainly will NOT swear at me! If you EVER call me an ass or any other name again, I will wash your mouth out with soap. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she spat, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Good," he said as calmly as he could. "And when I tell you to open a door, you'd better damned well do it! I don't EVER want to have to use the master key again!"

"Fine!"

"And since you chose to resort to swearing and name calling, you're grounded for a week. I want you home from school by four and in bed by eight. Got it?"

"But I'm supposed to go shopping with Penelope, JJ and Emily tomorrow," the teen protested loudly, not realizing how easy Dave had gone on her. If he'd ever sworn at his father, he'd probably still be locked in his bedroom.

"Tough," he shrugged. "You should have thought about that before you decided to behave so poorly." He saw the anger begin to build back up in her, so he decided to end their confrontation. "Get ready for bed, I want these lights out in ten minutes." With that, he left her room and shut the door behind him. He knew that any reply she would've given him wouldn't have been a polite one and she was in enough trouble already.

With a loud sigh, he made his way down to the first floor, grabbed a beer from the fridge and then went and sat with the other occupant of the cabin. As he scratched Mudgie's head, he sighed and said, "You know what, Mudgie? Sometimes this whole 'being a dad' thing really sucks."