Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.

An Unconventional Family-Chapter 38

"Okay…" JJ said, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. She didn't like the tone of voice he was using, she had heard it, hell, she had used that tone of voice before and nothing good had ever been spoken with it.

Dave took a deep breath, "This isn't working."

"What isn't working?" She asked.

"Us. I don't think we should be together anymore," he said, not looking directly at her.

JJ felt as though the floor had shifted a bit and she was glad she was sitting down. What did he mean they weren't working? They were great together, JJ had never before felt the way she did with him and she was fairly sure he felt the same way. How could he think they weren't working? 'Easy Jen,' she told herself, 'Something must have happened while he was out of town.' She took a deep breath to try to keep her lightheadedness at bay.

"I don't understand Dave," she said calmly, but shakily. "We were fine when you left, did something happen on your trip?"

"Nothing happened on my trip and it's not another woman, if that's what you're thinking."

That was exactly what JJ had been thinking and she was relieved to hear that it wasn't someone else; she could work with almost anything but that. "So what is it then?"

"It's not any one thing, I just don't think we should—look, I don't have to explain myself, I don't think we'll work and I want out of our relationship. That should be enough!" He was almost to the point of shouting, which wore away at JJ's tenuous hold on her patience.

"So that's it? You just want out?!" She yelled, "Well I guess I should at least be grateful that you're at least telling me this time!"

"I would never just leave you again, you deserve better than that," he told her, quieter this time.

JJ leapt out of her chair, slammed her hands on his desk and got in his face, "Great! So I deserve better than you just deserting me, but I don't deserve the truth?!"

Dave finally snapped and stood up to meet her, "What do you want to hear, JJ?! We both know I'm a fuckup! We both know I'm not cut out for family life! We both know I am not someone who does long-term relationships! Isn't it better we end this thing now before I break your heart?!"

"Before you break my heart?" She repeated, "What in the HELL do you think you're doing now, you jackass?!"

"Yeah, but at least I'm not doing anything unforgivable; you will still be able to work with me. Better to break up now than after I do something I can't take back," he told her.

"Where is this coming from, Dave? When you left, you were secure in our relationship and now all of the sudden you're convinced you're going to screw it up?" JJ had tears streaming down her face and it nearly broke Dave's heart. He wanted to be with her so badly it made his heart hurt, but he knew it was better for all of them in the long run if he just ended things now.

"It doesn't matter where it's coming from JJ, I want out."

JJ sank back into the chair, this was really happening, all of those happy months with him were over. She felt like she was twenty years old again. She cried for a minute and then looked up at him. "Fine, you want out. I'm not going to beg you to stay in relationship that obviously makes you so unhappy," she said quietly as she stood to leave. "We'll talk later this week about setting up a visitation schedule for you and Abby." She took one step toward the door before his next statement made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Dammit woman, weren't you listening, I want OUT!" He shouted, his own heart breaking with each word."

JJ whipped back around. "No," she said forcefully.

"JJ-" Dave started, but she wouldn't hear him.

"No! You do NOT get to walk out on your daughter! You want to leave me, fine, I'll get over it, there are other fish in the sea and all that, but you ARE NOT leaving our daughter!"

"I am JJ, I'm not going to hurt her further on down the line either," he said.

JJ exploded at this, "You son of a bitch! What the fuck do you think you are doing to her NOW, you miserable bastard?! Do you really think this won't devastate her?! Do you really think she'll just bounce back from this? YOU'RE HER FUCKING FATHER! You don't get to just leave when the going gets tough, which IT HASN'T!"

"When you think about this later, you'll see that I'm right about this! We both know it's better for me to hurt her now than it will be for me to fuck things up and hurt her later on." Dave said, quietly. He knew JJ was entitled to her rage, so he wanted to let her get some of it out of her system.

"See, that's the thing Dave, I DON'T know that you'll screw things up later on in our relationship. You've been a great father and a loving boyfriend so far, so why do you automatically think you'll fuck everything up?!" JJ was still yelling, but not as violently as she was before.

"Because I WILL! We BOTH know I will! For Christ sake JJ, no one on that goddamn tour could believe I had turned into a family man! That I was able to take care of a sixteen year old girl! It was the fucking joke of the century! Hell, my own family and friends here don't think I can do it! And they're right, I CAN'T DO IT! I've been married three fucking times and I couldn't make any of those relationships work! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I couldn't even keep my little sister alive, how the fuck do you expect me to take care of you and Abby?!" Dave was out of breath after his explosion.

"They all might have told you differently, but I'm not, I'm telling you that you CAN do this! I know you can!" JJ said forcefully. She couldn't let this happen, she couldn't let her daughter get hurt because of another mistake she made, because of another man she let into their lives. Granted, the hurt wouldn't be physical this time, but it would be much harder for her to get over.

Dave sighed, "It doesn't matter what you think JJ, I'm done. It's over, our little family charade is finished."

JJ shook her head in disbelief, "God DAMN you, it wasn't a fucking charade, we were a real family! This is exactly what I was trying to avoid! This is why I waited to tell Abby about you and if it hadn't been for that goddamn driver's ed class, she still wouldn't know about you! I begged you, I told you that you needed to be sure about your place in her life and all I kept hearing was, 'I'm a changed man, JJ' and 'I'm in it for the long haul.' Let me tell you something Dave, the long haul is usually longer than two months!" Again, she flopped down on the chair, tears still leaking from her eyes. She was prepared to accept that their relationship was over, but she couldn't believe he wanted to abandon their daughter as well.

They sat there in silence, each of them on either side of the desk, for a full minute before JJ finally spoke. "I'll get your things from the apartment packed up over the weekend and bring them in on Monday," she said wearily.

"Don't bother, I got in to town at noon today and I already went to the apartment and got all of my stuff," he told her.

JJ shot out of the chair, "What?!"

Dave was confused, "I thought you'd be happy that you wouldn't have to pack up my stuff. I figured it would be easier for you and Abby this way."

"Is that really how you want your daughter to find out you're gone, by seeing all of your shit gone from the apartment? By coming home from school to see that?!" JJ was halfway to the door before Dave spoke again.

"For what it's worth JJ, I'm sorry," he said quietly.

JJ opened the door, stepped out of his office and turned to face him. "Go to hell, Agent Rossi," she said before slamming the door behind her.

**********

JJ broke several land speed records in the hopes of getting home before her daughter did. This was going to be hard enough to explain without her finding the apartment half empty. As she walked down the apartment hallway to her door, she kept repeating, 'please be at the library, please be at the library, please be at the library.' Apparently the fates weren't taking her calls that night because as she opened the door to the apartment, she could hear the music coming from Abby's bedroom.

Taking a deep breath, JJ walked down the short hallway and stood in the open doorway to her daughter's room. She was sitting on her bed, surrounded by numerous textbooks and notes, but she looked happy as she sang along to the song on her laptop. She finally noticed her mother standing in the doorway.

"Mom, you scared me! How was your day?" She asked.

JJ gave her a weary smile, "Interesting, definitely interesting. How was yours?"

"I had my history final today and I'm pretty sure I aced it!" She said happily.

"I'm sure you did honey." JJ said.

"Hey, where's all of dad's stuff? I got home from school today and I thought we were robbed at first, but then I realized it was just dad's things that were missing. Did he need them back at the cabin or something?" Abby asked, confused. She was a smart girl and on any other day, she would have put two and two together and gotten the answer, but she was coming off of the strange weekend in New York with her dad and with finals that week, she had only been getting a few hours of sleep each night, so her brain hadn't yet made the connection, something that JJ was grateful for.

"Come on honey, let's go into the kitchen and talk." JJ didn't want her daughter to associate the memories of their upcoming talk with her bedroom, she wanted her bedroom to remain a comfortable place for her and the kitchen was the most neutral room in their small apartment.

"Ooookkkaayyyy…." Abby said, nervously stretching the word into about six syllables.

When they were both sitting at the kitchen table, JJ didn't know how to start the conversation, it made the big sex talk seem like a walk in the park. She took a deep breath, "There's no easy way to say this, honey…" JJ trailed off.

"What mom? Whatever it is, you can tell me," Abby was scared now, whatever it was, it had to be big.

"Honey, your father and I talked in his office today-"

"He's back in town?" Abby interrupted.

JJ nodded, "He is and…well…he doesn't want to be a part of this anymore."

The teen looked confused, "A part of what?"

Her mother tried to clarify, "This," she said, spreading her arms apart, "Us. He doesn't want to be a part of our family. He's moving back to his cabin, that's why all of his things are gone."

JJ saw the look of confusion change to a look of dawning on her daughter's face, "What?" She whispered.

"Honey, I'm so sorry," JJ said, tears building in her eyes. She saw the look change to one of anguish on Abby's face, "Was it…was it something I did?" She asked in a pathetic voice.

JJ was horrified, "NO! God, no baby," she said, jumping up to put her arms around her now crying daughter.

"I knew when I left New York, when he sent me home early, that something was wrong. I should have asked him about it, something obviously happened when I was there. This is all my fault!" Abby was crying so hard she could barely get the words out.

"This was NOT your fault Abby, it just happened." JJ told her.

Abby cried for another few minutes before stopping abruptly. "You know what? No, I can't do this, not right now. I have two finals tomorrow, and two papers due and a final on Thursday. I can't break down now, I can't think about this." And right before JJ's eyes, she watched as her daughter took a page out of both her father's and Emily Prentiss' book and slid this piece of information into a giant box in her head.

"Sweetie, we need to talk about this." JJ said, a little frightened by the way Abby was able to put the thought out of her conscious mind.

"Not now mom, please?" She begged, on the verge of losing it again. "I promise that as soon as my finals are over with on Thursday we'll talk, but I've worked too hard to blow everything now. Please!"

JJ thought for a minute, it was only for two days and Abby was right, why should this mess up everything she had worked so hard for? "Okay Abby, we won't talk about it again until Thursday night."

Abby exhaled loudly. "Thanks mom, I've got to get back to studying." JJ watched her as she walked back down the hallway. She could almost convince herself that Abby had managed to forget the conversation, but she saw the stoop in her shoulders and knew that it was still heavy in her mind.

For the first time, JJ wondered what would happen at work the next day and the thought worried her.

**********

Three chapters in a single twenty-four hour period? I think that's a personal record for me and the muse is finally back!

I have a question for all of you out there, I will be out of town for spring break the week after next (March 27 through April 4). I will have access to a computer, I just won't have time to write. My question is, would you like me to keep posting regularly for the next week (nearly every day) and then not post anything while I'm out of town, or would you rather I keep writing a chapter every day, but post them every other day? This would allow me to stockpile them and it would allow me to be able to post on a somewhat regular basis while I'm out of town. I can go either way, so if you have some definite feelings on the matter, let me know.