Chapter 28

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Far away from the FBI where his team, his daughter, and old friend, are trying to find him Rossi is tied to a chair, bleeding from a wound in his side.

"You can do whatever you want to me. You're not going to get what you want." Rossi says, to a figure in the shadows.


"This is bad, isn't it?" Penelope asks, "Like really, really bad."

"Erin, what is it?" Hotch asks concerned, being pretty sure that he has never seen Strauss like this.

"Penelope, you're in contact with Stephen Gideon right, know a way to get in touch with him?" Strauss asks, in a way avoiding the question that Hotch just asked.

"Yeah." Penelope confirms, feeling her confusion grow.

"Call him, tell him to get in here, now." Strauss instructs, her voice stern.

"Yes Ma'am." Penelope says, pulling out her phone and heading out of the room.

"Excuse me, I need to make a call." Strauss says, stepping out.

"Is anyone else feeling as confused as I am right now?" JJ asks.

"Oh yeah." Morgan confirms, as Emily gets up and follows Penelope out.


After leaving the roundtable room Penelope walks into her father's office and calls Stephen.

"Hey Rossi, what's up?" Gideon asks.

"Um, I was told to get you to come in here." Penelope explains to her oldest friend.

"Why? What's going on?" Stephen asks, sounding confused, and annoyed, as he has plans.

"Dad's missing, looks like he's been abducted, and it seems like something to do with something that happened in the past." Penelope admits, "My bosses boss said to get you in here, to the BAU, now." Penelope explains.

"Wait, your Dad's missing?" Stephen asks worried, as the door to the office opens and Emily walks in, closes the door, and the blinds.

"Yeah, I don't know if he is okay." Penelope says, sounding worried, and upset, "And I've never seen my boss this worried." Penelope admit, "Stephen, just please come." She says, using Stephen's first name to show how serious she is, because she knows that for Strauss to be so worried then it is something bad going on.

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Stephen says, realising how serious things are, before hanging up, and once she hangs up Penelope looks like she is close to collapsing so Emily walks over to her.

"You're okay, Pen." Emily says, walking over and taking both Penelope's hands, steading her.

"But Dad's not." Penelope says, sounding worried, "Strauss is worried, Em, Strauss! And she's asked to get Stephen in here, this bad, this is really, really bad." Penelope says, starting to cry, and having no idea what else to do Emily just hugs her girlfriend.

"I know, Babe, I know." Emily says, as she hugs her girlfriend, kissing her forehead, and cheek, as she hugs her, "I so wish I could say everything will be okay, but what I can say is that no one will give up, we'll do everything we can to bring your Dad home." Emily promises her girlfriend.

"I'm terrified right now Em." Penelope admits, as they break apart, "I just keep thinking of all the worst possibilities."

"As hard as it is, you can't do that, Pen. Focus on what we have to do, we have to find this guy, and you can do that, you can find your Dad, I believe that." Emily assures her.

"I don't." Penelope admits, not having much faith at the moment.

"I do, because I believe in you, Penelope." Emily says, and because she is shocked and amazed by her girlfriend's words Penelope just kisses her, and as she feels her girlfriends lips Penelope starts to feel a little better.

As they kiss Penelope and Emily both feel the rest of the world slip away, but they are both forced back to reality when there is a knock on the door.

"Guys, Strauss is going to explain what's going on." JJ's voice says, causing Emily and Penelope to break apart.

"You got this, Pen, I know you do." Emily assures her girlfriend, having noticed that Penelope didn't react to the knock.

"You're kind of the most amazing girlfriend ever, you know that." Penelope says.

"I do try." Emily says, smirking slightly, "Let's go get you some answers." She says, and they both head back to the round table room.


Walking into the round table room about a minute later Penelope and Emily find everyone waiting.

"Penelope, is Stephen Gideon on his way?" Strauss asks.

"Yes Ma'am." Penelope answers.

"Good, when he gets here he'll be assigned a protective detail, and you will be too." Strauss reveals, "I have already assigned one to my family."

"Why is that necessary?" Hotch asks, feeling confused, as Emily resists the urge to pull Penelope in close, and do whatever has to do to protect her.

"In December 1989, I was working on White Collar case, that was connected to murder, all appearing to be committed by the same person." Strauss explains.

"You stumbled across a Serial Killer." Morgan realises.

"Yes." Strauss says, with a nod, "Dave and Jason were brought in to work the case and I was instructed to work with them." Strauss admits, "We worked the case for months. There was a total of six murders, and a profile was created." Strauss explains.

"What happened?" Reid asks, being able to tell that there is more to the story.

"The profile led to a suspect, so we brought him in and Dave, Jason, and I took turns interrogating him, but we had no evidence, and we couldn't get a confession." Strauss reveals.

"You had to let him go." Hotch says.

"We had no choice." Strauss reveals, "We were able to get a warrant, and in his possession, we found unregistered weapons, one of which went off when we were searching without hurting anyone."

"So, you were able to get him for that." Emily realises.

"At the time, it was the best we could do." Strauss reveals.

"Ma'am, with all due respect I'm not seeing why you and Dad have been so worried for so long." Penelope admits.

"On the day of his arraignment his wife and son were killed in a car accident, on their way to court." Strauss explains, "When he found out he swore that he'd get revenge on Dave, Jason, and I along with our families, anyone we love." Strauss reveals, "He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but I just made a call, he was released eight months ago on good behaviour." Strauss explains.

'That's him, isn't it?" JJ asks pointing to the picture.

"Yes, it is." Strauss confirms, "His name is Ivan Meadows." She explains, "And along with everything else he did he also caused a fight between your parents when your Dad didn't tell your mother what was going on before you came to stay with him for Spring Break." Strauss admits.

"That I remember." Penelope says, sitting down at her computer, so that she can start searching for information.

"Why couldn't Penelope find the files?" Hotch asks.

"They've been classified. I've given you access now." Strauss reveals, as that is one of the things she did when she stepped out.

"Okay." Penelope says, starting to access them.

"How did Meadows kill?" Morgan asks.

"Pro longed torture with knife, followed by fatal stabs." Strauss answers.

"Oh god." Penelope says, looking horrified, "Dad's being tortured." Penelope says.

"Don't think about that, Penelope." Emily tells her girlfriend.

"Don't think about it? How can I not think about it?" Penelope asks, "If this Meadows really has Dad then he's being tortured, he's being hurt, he…." Penelope says, starting to hyperventilate.

"Focus on me, Penelope." Emily says, turning Penelope's chair around so that she is looking directly at her, "Yes, what is happening to your Dad right now is potentially very bad, but there is also some good news, this means that your Dad is probably still alive." Emily tells her girlfriend.

"Still alive." Penelope mutters, trying to believe it.

"Yeah Pen, this means we have time to find him, time to bring him home." Emily says.

"Emily's right, Baby Girl, we have time to find your Dad, but you're the one who can do that, you're the one who can find him." Morgan says, trying to be supportive.

"You can do this." Emily says, "Just focus on finding him, not what might be happening." Emily says.

"Okay." Penelope says, taking a deep breath, before turning around and looking at her computer, "I'll find him." Penelope says, starting to type.

"I know you will." Emily assures her girlfriend, as Penelope gets started on work.

As Penelope gets started on work everyone else exchanges looks, hoping that they can find Rossi before it's too late.


For the next half an hour the team are in the roundtable room as Penelope works, all hoping that they get a lead on where Rossi is.

"Ma'am." Anderson says, walking into the room, "Stephen Gideon has arrived."

"I'll go explain what's going on." Hotch says.

"I'll join you." Reid says, and the two of them head out of the roundtable room.

Seconds later the two walk over to Stephen who is sounding near the elevators.

"Agent Hotchner, Doctor Reid, what's going on?" Stephen asks worried, "Rossi said that Dave's been taken?"

"Yes, he has." Hotch confirms.

"All the evidence is pointing towards someone who your father, Rossi, and another agent arrested in 1990, someone who swore revenge on them, and their families, who was released eight months ago." Reid explains.

"Okay, that explains why I was called in." Stephen admits, "How bad is this for Dave?"

"Bad, really bad." Hotch answers, "Do you know where your father is at the moment?" Hotch asks.

"Um, last time I talked to him on the West Coast." Stephen admits.

"Get a message to him, tell him that Ivan Meadows is free and has taken Dave." Hotch requests.

"I will." Stephen says, "Where's Penelope?"

"Though here." Reid says, and he shows Stephen the way to go.

When Stephen, Hotch, and Reid walk into the round table room they find Penelope still working hard on her computer, while the others, including Strauss, are sitting around the table, Emily sitting really close to her girlfriend.

"Rossi." Stephen says, walking over to his oldest friend.

"Hey Gideon." Penelope greats, and she stands up, once she is standing Stephen hugs his friend, "Thanks for not arguing." Penelope says, feeling grateful, as they break apart as she knows how stubborn Stephen can be, especially when it comes to the BAU.

"You called me Stephen, that was enough for me to know how serious things are." Stephen admits, "We've been here before Rossi, in this very situation, more times than either of us want to remember, it will be okay, it always is." Stephen says, trying to help his oldest friend, "Remember what we used to say?"

"Unfortunately." Penelope says, looking slightly amused, though still worried, and as she does the others in the room exchange looks, all wondering what is going on as it is like Penelope and Stephen are talking in their own language.

"It's still true today, and you've got to believe it." Stephen tells his friend.

"It's getting hard Gideon." Penelope admits, "I know more than I knew back then." Penelope admits.

"That might be true, but like I said, so is what we used to say. Focus on that." Stephen says, trying to give his oldest friend a supportive look.

"You should call your Dad, he could be in danger too." Penelope tells him.

"I will, um, is there somewhere I could make the call?" Stephen asks.

"Dad's office is free." Penelope tells her friend.

"I'll show you the way." Strauss says, standing up.

"Thank you….." Stephen says, trailing off as he isn't sure what to call her.

"Section Chief Erin Strauss."

"Chief Strauss." Stephen says, and once he does he and Strauss head out of the room, and Penelope sits back down too, as Hotch's phone rings.

"Hotchner…. Thank you." Hotch says, before hanging up.

"Hotch, what is it?" Morgan asks, as he can tell that someone is wrong.

"The lab results are back; the Blood does belong to Dave." Hotch explains, looking directly at Penelope.

"Oh god." Penelope says, sounding horrified, putting her head in her hands, and as she does Emily puts her hand on her girlfriend's back, trying to be comforting, "No, no, no, no." Penelope mutters.

"Pen…" Emily says, but before she can say more she is cut off by a beep going on Penelope's computers.

"Garcia, what is it?" Hotch asks, as Penelope looks up at the computer.

"A location." Penelope says, wiping her eyes under her glasses, "Um, I was tracking the car though street cams, and through that I was able to narrow down a radius. In that radius, there is a warehouse, that's owned by Robert Meadows." Penelope explains.

"That was his son." Strauss reveals, having come back in the room after showing Stephen Dave's office.

"Would he be bold enough to use his sons name?" Morgan asks.

"Jason and David profiled him as a narcissist, and after what happened he would think he is too good to be caught, and they both thought that he genuinely cared about his son. Using his sons name would make sense with that." Strauss reveals.

"Garcia, send us the location." Hotch instructs, as he, Reid, JJ, Morgan, and Emily stand up.

"Already done, I'm coming with you." Penelope says, standing up as well.

"No." Hotch, Strauss, and Emily stay together.

"I can't just wait here not knowing what is going on." Penelope says.

"Pen." Emily says, causing Penelope to look at her, "I promise you that I will update you as soon as we know something, okay, I promise, but you need to stay here, please." Emily says, trying to get her girlfriend to stay behind.

"I'm not a profiler, or a SSA, but I can help." Penelope informs her girlfriend.

"I know." Emily assures her, "But you're the most help from here, if this doesn't go anywhere you're the one who can find another location, you're the one who can figure this out." Emily tells her girlfriend, "I will do my best to bring your Dad home, I promise." Emily says, and as she does the others in the room are pretty sure that to Emily and Penelope they don't exist, "But you need to stay here."

"Okay, find him Em, please." Penelope requests.

"Let's go." Hotch says, and he, Morgan, JJ, Reid, and Strauss head out of the room.

"I'll do my best." Emily says, before kissing Penelope, and once they break apart she hurries after the others having made sure not to kiss Penelope until Strauss was out of the room.

After the others leave Penelope sits back down at the computer and hacks into the teams coms so that she can hear everything that is going on, just as Penelope gets into the coms Stephen walks back in.

"Where is everyone?" Stephen asks confused.

"I might have found Dad, they're going to go see." Penelope explains, "I wanted to go." Penelope admits.

"Of course, you did." Stephen says, knowing his friend, "Who convinced you to stay?" he asks curious, as he sits down next to his oldest friend.

"Emily." Penelope answers, "Your Dad okay?" Penelope asks concerned.

"Yeah, he's way out West." Stephen answers, "He said he'll keep an eye out, and he wants to know what happened to Dave." Stephen explains, and as he does Penelope just nods, "So, how long have you and Emily been dating?" he asks curious, causing Penelope to look at him

"How…." Penelope starts to say.

"Oh, come on, Rossi. I may not be a profiler, but I am an expert in you." Stephen admits, "I know what you're like when you're with someone, though Emily seems different, and I'm going to guess it's been two months." Stephen says, being pretty sure that Penelope has never felt the way about someone that she feels about Emily.

"Almost." Penelope corrects.

"I'm happy for you Rossi, really." Stephen tells his oldest friend.

"Thanks Gideon." Penelope responds, and the two of them drift into silence, and as they do Stephen realises something.

"Have you hacked into the teams' com system?" Stephen asks, torn between amusement and a little bit of surprise.

"That can't surprise you." Penelope says, looking at her friend, honestly, she would be disappointed if he was surprised.

"it doesn't." Stephen responds, and as he does the two of them start to listen to what is going on, "For the record I had to bail on catching up with Matt on the first free night he's had in months." Stephen informs his oldest friend, talking about his other best friend, and doing so in an attempt to distract Penelope from what is going on.

"Once Dad's okay I'll buy you both beer." Penelope responds,

"A lot of beer Rossi, a lot of beer." Stephen requests, "And you're joining us." He adds, as they have been through this enough times to know that that Penelope is going to need distractions and drinks once this is all over.

"Fine." Penelope responds, and the two of them drift into silence as they listen to what is going on with the team.


On the way to the location where everyone hopes Rossi is being held Emily, Morgan, and Reid are in one car while Hotch, JJ, and Strauss are in the other.

"Hey, what's going through your head?" Morgan asks Emily who is looking out of the window.

"Nothing just…. He has to be here, he has to be okay." Emily says, "It will destroy her if he's not." Emily admits, and as she does there is no question as to who Emily is referring to.

"She really means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Morgan asks, causing Emily to look directly at him.

"More than you know, Derek, more than you know." Emily says, clearly completely serious.

"Does Rossi know you're dating?" Reid asks from the back, sounding curious.

"We haven't told him." Emily admits, "But if you guys all realised then I'm betting he did too." Emily reveals.

"Have fun with that conversation." Morgan comments.

"Thanks." Emily says, sounding sarcastic, and the three of them drift into silence.


Not long after the conversation about Penelope the teams arrive at the warehouse where they hope Rossi is being held.

"Morgan, Prentiss, Ried take the front." Hotch instructs, "Chief Strauss, JJ, we'll take the back." He says, and once gives the order the group spread out.

For the next few minutes the group make their way into the warehouse, and make their way through the building, and as they do Morgan, Emily, and Reid are suddenly fired upon and so they fire back.

"You're out gunned Meadows, you're not going to win!" Morgan yells, as he, Emily, and Reid all take cover behind various things.

"I am not going back to jail!" Meadows yells, and as he does everyone hears a single gunshot goes off, and

"Meadows is down." Being said through the coms by Strauss.

"We've got to find Rossi." Emily says, managing to get over her shock at Strauss being the one to kill Meadows pretty quickly.

"Yeah, right." Morgan says, and he, Emily, and Reid continue to search, splitting up so that they can search better.

After about a minute Emily eventually finds Rossi, tired to a chair, bleeding, but looking to be conscious.

"I've got Rossi. South side of the building." Emily says, as she runs towards her girlfriends father, "We're going to need a medic." She says, as she gets to Rossi's side, "Dave, Dave, It's Emily, can you hear me?" Emily says, as she gets to Rossi's side.

"Emily." Rossi says, opening his eyes slightly, but looking out of it still.

"Yeah, I'm here. You're going to be okay." Emily says, as she starts to undo the ropes that are tying Rossi.

"Penelope, where's Penelope?" Rossi asks.

"She's at the BAU, she's safe, I promise." Emily assures him, as Morgan, Reid, and JJ all arrive at her side too and start to help her untie Rossi.


At the BAU Penelope and Stephen have been listening to everything, so they heard Strauss shoot Meadows, and they heard Emily say that she found Rossi.

"Come on, Em. Tell me how Dad is." Penelope requests, as she isn't getting much from the coms.

"I'm sure they'll let us know when they can." Stephen tells his friend, "They'll just have to secure the area, or something like that, right?" he asks, sounding uncertain.

"Yeah, I guess." Penelope answers, and as she does Stephen reaches out and squeezes Penelope's shoulder, in comfort.

For the next minute or so Penelope and Stephen sit in silence, until Penelope's phone starts to ring.

"Em? How is he?" Penelope asks worried.

"Ask him yourself." Emily says, and as she does she hands the phone over to Rossi.

"Daddy?" Penelope asks.

"Yeah, Kiddo. It's good to hear your voice." Rossi says, as he lays on a stretcher.

"Are you okay?" Penelope responds.

"I will be." Rossi responds, "I'm going to give the phone back to Emily, I love you, Penelope."

"I love you too, Dad." Penelope says, and as she does she hears the phone being passed back to Emily.

"Pen?" Emily asks

"Is he really okay?" Penelope asks, sounding worried.

"He's hurt, and being taken to the hospital." Emily admits, "It doesn't seem serious to me."

"Okay, I'll meet you there." Penelope responds.

"Get Stephen to drive." Emily instructs, as she is pretty sure it wouldn't be a good idea for Penelope to drive herself.

"Yeah, okay." Penelope says, "You'll stay with him?"

"Yeah, I will." Emily responds, before hanging up.

"He's okay?" Stephen asks, when Penelope hangs up.

"He's okay." Penelope confirms, looking amazed.

"Come on, let's get to the hospital." Stephen says, and the two of them hurry out of the office, Penelope only caring about seeing her Dad, and seeing for herself that he is okay as while she completely trusts her girlfriend she needs to see for herself that her Dad is okay.