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

Happily Ever After-Chapter 52


Two hours later, as Dave was meeting in the kitchen with Steve and Hotch, a red-faced Paul entered the room carrying a Target bag. The three men looked up when he set the bag in the middle of the table and saw he his flushed face. He went to the sink, poured himself a glass of water and drank it all in one long gulp.

"How'd it go?" Dave asked, with a twinkle in his eye. He knew the younger man had been traumatized by his excursion to the feminine hygiene aisle of the Target store, but he couldn't resist busting his balls a little.

Paul glared at him as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table, "I want hazard pay for this! I had to go into aisle 8A. I never go into that aisle, not even for my own wife!" He told them with a shudder. "Did you know all of the packaging for this stuff looks the same, but the products couldn't be more different! Some were super, some were thin and some had wings for Christ sake! Wings! What the hell is up with that?"

"Did you manage to get what she needed?" Dave asked, barely holding back his laughter.

The security guard nodded, "I finally asked a woman who was in the aisle if she could pick out what was on the list and put it in the cart. I swear, I am never doing that again!" He proclaimed as he pulled a carton of strawberry ice cream out of one of the bags. Dave took it from him and put it in the freezer before coming back to the table. He knew that Abby got cravings for ice cream during this particular time of the month.

The three men at the table laughed at the young guard, "Your wife just had a baby girl, didn't she Paul?" Steve asked and Paul nodded, "Then get used to doing stuff like this, because my daughter sends me on tasks like this all the time." Paul paled and got another glass of water before sitting back down.

"Okay, so getting back to the security discussion, based on some of the emails we've intercepted from your account, we want to put a guy at your mother's house and each of your siblings houses," Steve told Dave, who instantly went on alert.

"Why? Have there been threats made against them? Are they in danger from Suzette?" He asked, panicked. How many more of his family members were going to have to pay for his mistakes?

"There's nothing specific, but there have been indirect references to other members of your family."

"Fine, I don't care what it costs, but I want their houses secure and I want all of them safe," Dave ordered.

Steve nodded, "I've started the preliminary work already, but we can't seem to get in touch with your sister Rachelle. Do you have a number for her?"

"I do," Dave replied, "But it won't do you any good. Last time I heard, she was doing humanitarian work in Bosnia. It's ironic, but the sister who is in a war zone might be the safest of my siblings."

Seeing the despondent look on his friend's face, Hotch said, "We're going to catch her Dave, and soon. Derek and Emily are in New York right now talking to Will's accomplice and I'm optimistic they'll get some useful information out of him. Plus, Garcia barely leaves her lair because she's so focused on getting Suzette and you know that no one can hide from her for long, alias or not."

"True," Dave said ruefully. "But Hotch, I don't want her getting sick; make sure she leaves her office every once in a while, okay?"

"Don't worry, I make her leave every couple of days, although she usually puts up one hell of a fight. Yesterday she threatened Jack's future electronic well-being for making her leave!"

Dave grinned as Steve asked if there was anything else security related that they needed to discuss. Paul spoke up again at this point.

"Agent Rossi, as you know I'm your daughter's point person and that means when I'm out on patrol around the property, I pay special attention to the parts of your house that Abigail frequents the most."

"Uh huh," Dave said, not quite sure where the man was going with his train of thought.

"Anyway, I've pulled night duty the last few nights, and each night Abigail's bedroom light has gone on at around two in the morning and it stays on for the rest of the night. I don't think she's sleeping, sir." Paul told him.

"Dammit!" Dave exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the table, "It's her goddamn nightmares! I knew she was having some, but she assured me they weren't too bad. That explains why she's been looking like shit again, she hasn't been going back to sleep afterwards!"

Hotch nodded in agreement, "I know from the times she stayed at my place that she can be very quiet during some of her nightmares.

Dave sighed, "Is that it guys?" Everyone at the table nodded and Dave stood up, "Then if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go have another uncomfortable conversation with my daughter," he said as he grabbed the Target bag from the table and made his way towards Abby's room.

Once he got to the top of the stairs, he first stuck his head into the master bedroom and checked on his wife, who was still sound asleep. Then he crossed the hallway and knocked on his daughter's door.

Abby, who was sitting on her bed reading a book for her English class, heard the knock on the door and gave a little groan; she had been dreading this moment. The first part of her morning had been beyond embarrassing and she didn't expect this part to be any better.

"Come in, dad," she called out, her cheeks already beginning to flush.

Dave opened the door, stepped inside and then came over and sat down on the edge of her bed. He handed the bag to her and said, "Here you go, honey. Why don't you check everything over and make sure Paul got the right stuff."

Abby turned bright red as she stuck her head in the bag, "Everything looks fine, dad. Awww, you had him get me some peanut butter cookies," she said, touched by his thoughtfulness. She pulled the package out and tore into them. After taking a few, she held the bag out to her father who also took one. "I really shouldn't," he said as he took a bite.

Abby nodded, "Neither should I," she said as she finished the first cookie and bit into the second.

Dave was confused, "Why shouldn't you?" He asked, "You're in perfect shape."

Abby snorted, "Yeah right, dad. I haven't been swimming in over three weeks and I haven't worked out in over two. If I keep eating all of our yummy cooking here, I'm not going to be able to fit through the schoolhouse doors once I'm finally able to go back," she told him as she leaned back against her pillows and headboard. Dave didn't miss the wince on her face as she did so.

"Cramps?" He asked, seeing the look of pain on her face.

"What? No!" Abby exclaimed, not wanting to have that type of conversation with him, now or ever. As she took another bite of her cookie, she began to feel bad for snapping at her dad, so she decided to explain. "I have a headache and cramps and I have to choose which medicine I take, I can't take them both at the same time, and my cramps were worse today, so I took my ibuprofen and as a result, my head is killing me."

Dave shook his head in sympathy, "Jeez honey, that sounds awful; I had no idea you went through this every month."

"Yeah, well, I've kind of gotten used to it."

They sat in silence for a moment before Dave spoke again, "We need to talk, Abby."

"About this?" She asked, turning even redder. "I appreciate what you did for me, dad, but we really don't need to talk about this anymore. As it is, I feel like I'm living one of those 'my most embarrassing story' columns that I read in some of my magazines."

"Why would people voluntarily share their most embarrassing stories?" Dave wondered aloud; he would never understand women, especially teenage women.

"So when something embarrassing happens to you, you know it could be worse, although I can't imagine anything worse than today," she told him. "Besides, mom had the 'becoming a woman' talk with me when I was twelve years old and, no offense, I really don't need a refresher from you."

'Thank God!' Dave thought. "Well that's good, because I wouldn't have any idea what to say to you. No, I want to talk to you about your nightmares."

"What about them?" Abby asked, fidgeting a little.

"Why didn't you tell me they were as bad as they are?" Dave asked her.

"What do you mean? They're not too bad," she said, not meeting his eye.

It was her lack of eye contact, along with her picking at her cuticles, which proved to Dave that she was lying about the severity of her nightmares. "The guys told me that your light is usually goes on at around two in the morning and it doesn't get turned off, which means they're pretty goddamned bad. Plus, it doesn't take a profiler to see that you're lying, Pumpkin. Why didn't you tell me?" He repeated.

Abby sighed, she knew she was busted, "What good would it have done? Yeah, my nightmares are bad, but you worrying about me isn't going to help them. You have your hands full taking care of mom; I can handle my own problems."

"No, you can't Abby, not if you're not sleeping!" Dave was torn, he needed to care for his recovering wife at night, but he also needed to tend to his daughter's needs. Short of staying up all night, he didn't know how he was supposed to do both. "The next time you have a nightmare and you're scared, come into our room and you can finish out the night with us." If Dave had his way she wouldn't even start out the night in her own room, she would stay with them the entire time. He was nervous about the threats against them and he would love to have both of his girls within arm's reach of him at night.

Abby shook her head, "I can't do that, dad. I'm seventeen, not seven and I shouldn't have to come running into my parent's bedroom at night."

"This isn't about age, Abby, it's about fear. You've seen and been on the receiving end of some pretty horrible things lately and it's only natural for you to have nightmares and to be frightened. I just want you to know that you can always come into our room, we'll never think that you're acting like a baby or that you should just suck it up and get over it, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly, looking at her bedspread.

"Plus, having you nearby makes your mother and I feel better too. You're not the only one who has nightmares and gets scared," he told her and she snapped her head up to look at him.

"Really?" She asked.

Dave nodded, "Are you kidding? I wake up in a cold sweat almost every night, and your mother does too. It's normal for something like this."

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, "I feel like such a baby," she admitted. "I keep thinking I should be getting over everything by now."

Dave pulled her into her arms, "You're not a baby and you need to work through what's happened to you. Once we can leave the house again, I want you to talk to a psychologist. I think you're going to need some help dealing with everything."

Abby really didn't want to talk to a shrink, but she knew now was not the time to argue about it, so she just nodded into her father's chest. "Okay dad."

"I also want you to know that you can talk to me about anything, even girl stuff. I know today's been embarrassing for you, and it hasn't exactly been a day at the park for me, but it didn't kill us, right?"

She pulled out of his embrace and gave him a smile, "No, it didn't kill us, but I think I'll still go to mom with these issues."

'Praise the Lord,' Dave thought, but of course he didn't verbalize it, "That's fine, honey. Now why don't you see if a hot shower will help your headache?"

"That's a good idea," she said as she grabbed the Target bag and hopped off of her bed. Before she moved towards the bathroom, she leaned down and gave Dave a peck on the cheek, "Thanks dad," she said softly and then walked the few steps to her bathroom.

Dave just shook his head and got up from the bed. As he left Abby's room, he had a smile on his face as he realized that they had gotten through another crisis relatively unscathed.