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Hey so...I've gotten this many favorites and followers on one chapter! That has never happened to me before, so I'd like to thank you.

28 favorites, 11 reviews, and 39 followers...I might start crying tears of joy :')

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One week later...

The gruesome weather wasn't being particularly nice to those like Penelope—the ones that weren't able to stay in a room with heat, simply because they didn't have one. How she yearned to get away from the chilly snow that buried her feet—she didn't even have snow boots.

She, along with her friends Shane and Stephen, wished that they didn't have to work together in order to steal from people in order to provide for themselves. Food, water, clothes, money, etc,. It didn't matter. Originally, Penelope had a rule that she wouldn't steal from small children or the elderly, but that was a long time ago. Desperate times call for desperate measures, especially during the heinous winter season.

Penelope was dreaming about sitting next to a bonfire, soaking up as much warmth as she could before her dream ended. She placed her hands close to the fire, hoping to warm them up due to having no gloves. She sensed a group of other spirits surrounding her—making her feel belonged and happy, as they soaked up the warmth with her. She smelt freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, as well as smores with roasted marshmallows on the inside—a feeling of family. Just as she was handed a roasted marshmallow on a stick —

"Pen! Penelope, wake up! We...we gotta run."

Penelope's eyes snapped open. Such dreams would never be a reality. Not for her, at least.

The first thing that Hotch heard was seven knocks on the door, in a rhythmic pattern that only he understood. Had anyone else been in the living room—with, maybe, the exception of Haley—then they would've looked weirded out by the childish rhythm and they wouldn't have known the person who was behind that door. Haley took Spencer to a therapy session that was scheduled, Derek was at a friend's, and Emily and JJ were in their rooms—something about french braiding?

Hotch smirked and opened the door to reveal a friend from lawschool. Well, he wasn't a friend at first, mainly since the legendary David Rossi was teaching him at the time, but since he'd graduated from law school, the two became close knit friends. Rossi had retired a couple of years back and had moved to Florida.

"David," Hotch greeted eagerly, immediately stepping to the side to let him in.

"Aaron," David greeted back, giving the man a hug.

"What brings you here? I thought you were in Florida?" Hotch asked him, watching that smug look on his face go wide.

"Oh yeah. I'm retired, you're not." Hotch playfully punched him in the shoulder as the two men sat down in opposite chairs of the living room. The older man continued. "I still am retired, but Florida is too hot sometimes. I missed the snow."

Hotch snorted. "You say that now until you have to go back to shoveling feet of snow outside." The two men shared a laugh, a laugh that the two are having together as good friends, pals, and the stress of not seeing one another for a while gone completely away.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to get used to it." Once Hotch read inbetween the lines of what David was saying, and he realized it must've been true when he saw the large smile on the other man's face.

"You're moving back?" Inquired Hotch, almost in disbelief.

"Next door," David confirmed. "You didn't know your neighbors were moving?"

Hotch bit his lip. "We don't talk to our next door neighbors much." Or at all. They've moved next door with them a good seven months ago. They've given him and Haley the cold shoulder, because they had a bunch of kids—which was stupid, since everyone else on their block seemed to love them. So, as awful as it sounded, Hotch wasn't going to miss them at all, and gladly accepted the idea of his old mentor moving next door.

"So, how's Haley?"

"She's great—"

"Daddy! Who's at the door!? Who's at the door?! Who's at the door?!" A small high pitched voice came from upstairs. To David's surprise, the holder of that voice was running down the stairs excitedly. To him, she looked like a mini version of Haley—blonde hair and all. She stopped short when she didn't recognize the man Hotch was talking to. "Daddy, who's your friend?"

"Daddy?" Dave inquired, looking from JJ to Hotch. "I didn't know you and Haley had a kid."

Hotch chuckled weakly. "Yeah...it's a long story."

"Daddy didn't tell you?" JJ piped up. "He adopted me three months ago! And I've been living with them for almost a year now!" She goes up to Dave and grabs his hand in a firm handshake. "I'm JJ! Who are you?" Hotch tried to cover his smirk as the bewildered Dave was caught off by the sudden energy. She knitted her little brows together and faced Hotch. "Daddy does your friend talk?"

Hotch couldn't hold back his chuckle. "Yes he does."

Dave was still in shock. "Um...I'm Dave."

"Nice to meet you, Dave," JJ said.

"Erm...nice to meet you, too." Hotch have Dave a look that said 'We'll-talk-later.'

Another voice—a much older voice—caught Dave's attention. "Dad, the Wi-Fi is garbage, can you fix it?" The young girl—who looked to be about a teenager—looked nothing like the little girl, and she was calling Hotch 'dad' as well. "I need to call Tara about—whoah, who's this?" Emily stopped her conversation short when she came face to face with David Rossi. To him, she looked a little bit like Hotch—dark hair and all. Was she adopted too? It would've made sense, she's a lot older than the little girl, and he hasn't been retired for that long.

"My name's Dave," he said, being polite, but was honestly confused by all this.

"Emily," she acknowledged for a moment, then she faces her father. "Dad...I know I don't ask for much—"

"You were asking dad a week ago for your own room," JJ interrupted.

"Well besides that," Emily retorted to her sister. "—but the Wi-Fi? It's important."

"The Wi-Fi is always important," Hotch says, according to Emily.

Dave let out a small chuckle. "Hotch, you never told me you had two daughters—"

"I'll save you the trouble, I'll keep it brief," interrupted Emily, beginning to go into a long explanation. "All four of us were in the foster system, and then we were adopted three months ago. Our lives before coming here sucked, but it's all good now."

JJ nodded enthusiastically while Hotch face palmed.

Dave didn't know whether to be amused by this blunt response, or sad because he didn't know their home lives that sucked, as Emily put it.

Wait, four?

"F-Four?" Dave said aloud what he was thinking. Emily smirked at his shocked reaction. Damn, she loved doing that to people. Just as things couldn't get more confusing, a black boy of about eleven walked into the home.

"Hey dad," said Derek, stopping short when he saw Dave. "Ummm...bad time?"

"No, a good time actually," Hotch stepped in. "Derek, this is my friend Dave, he'll be moving in next door."

"Our evil neighbors are moving?!" Derek asked enthusiastically, with a wide grin across his face.

Hotch knew he should've corrected his son's behavior, but found himself turning the other cheek. "You said it, not me."

Derek eagerly shook the older man's hand. "You have no idea how much justice you have done."

Dave chuckled again, although a bit awkwardly. "Well, I'm glad to help?"

Finally, when the door opened once again, he recognized someone, and that someone was Haley, who was holding a little boy's hand, Dave could only assume was the couple's fourth child. Haley didn't bother to hide her surprise when she saw him. "Dave?!" She let go of Spencer's hand ran over to him and gave him a bone crushing hug. "How are you?!"

Dave smiled. "I'm good, I'm good...so uh, I'm moving next door."

Haley's eyes go wide. "Really!? That's great news! I knew the Jensen's were moving, but I didn't think you bought their house!"

"Yep," he says, still smiling. "I was introduced to almost everyone."

Haley understood what he was trying to say inbetween The lines. "The three of us we'll catch up quickly," reassured Haley, she looks toward her husband. "Right?"

"Right," said Hotch. He knelt down in front of Spencer. "Spencer, do you want to meet a friend of mine?"

A small nod. "Sure." He makes eye contact with the man, who his mother referred as 'Dave'. He gave him a small wave. "Hello, I'm Spencer Reid Hotchner."

"Don't shake his hand or hug him," Emily whispered to Dave discreetly. He nodded and met the boy's eyes. "Hello Spencer, I'm Dave. Nice to meet you."

"Do you four mind if the three of us caught up on things?" Hotch said, and the children didn't mind, the loud and quick shuffling of eight feet running up the stairs and the sound of doors closing is what followed after he said that.

"I'll kick your little fucking asses!" A man screamed at the three homeless children after they stole food from a local grocery store. Penelope was realizing that maybe they've gone too far this time, since the man was chasing her, Shane, and Stephen down an alley with a baseball bat. "Stay away from my store!"

Penelope and Stephen hated when things came to this. It's not like they wanted to steal, but the opportunity was so great. Shane on the other hand, loved it when they stole from stores. He loved the thrill and excitement of trying to run away when someone was chasing you. To him, this was a game. But what Shane really loved to do, was egg the people on. He was flipping off the old man as they were running with a smug smirk across his face. This, of course, made the man angrier. "Little pricks! Get back here!" This happened almost every time, a man shouting profanities at a bunch of kids for stealing, it was nothing new.

"Shane," Penelope said to him, as they were running. "You have to stop bugging them. Just steal and don't say a word."

"You'll get us pinched," Stephen informed, the old term confused Penelope and Shane.

"Pinched?" Penelope and Shane inquired.

"Arrested," Stephen clarified. "—and when we're arrested, they'll realize we're homeless and they'll send us to a shitty foster system."

"But it's fun," whined Shane, sounding much like a little child. Well, he was, but he was taught at a young age to grow up, and grow up fast.

When the man eventually gave up and went back to the store, the three of them sat down on small garbage bags as if they were chairs and checked the food in the small baskets—their prizes. Stephen carried fruits—apples, oranges, and whatever else. Shane carried a bunch of junk food with him, and Penelope was more focused on staying hydrated with water.

Everything was put into the small baskets—as if it were their own little picnic.

"Guys," Penelope asked after a long time of silence, since everyone was focused on their meals. The two boys looked up as Penelope let out a sad sigh. "Will we ever find a family?"

Shane scowled bitterly. "You're joking right? This is your family. No one wants a street rat. All people want are babies, not kids." Shane didn't even have to look to see Penelope's distraught face. "Sorry, Penelope, but it's true."

"You've heard about the system," Stephen said. "People are paid to love you, and they can't even do that right."

Penelope drank another gulp of water.

Should she really stop dreaming?

"Alright, ask any questions you want," Hotch said, already getting comfortable in his chair after all his kids went upstairs. Haley was sitting on the couch beside Dave, trying her best not to laugh aloud at Dave looking stunned at the whole situation.

"What...how...when..." Dave sighed, struggling to form words of what to make of this. "You know what? Just start from the beginning."

"Okay," Haley started off calmly. "You know how Aaron and I have been trying for a while now. Well...we went to a doctor's office and it turns out I was infertile."

"I'm sorry," Dave said sincerely, but nodded her to go on.

"Yeah...so I was depressed for months. And...you know Kate Callahan? My best friend that works in CPS?"

Dave only nodded.

"She said that this girl needed emergency foster care, she was thirteen, and has gotten into a fight with her foster sister."

"Emily," applied Dave, doing the math.

"Yes, so I took her in."

" —without telling me," Hotch says with an amused smirk.

"...I regret nothing," was Haley's reply, equally as amused. "So...she was the first one to come here, and soon JJ came here—"

"The little blonde girl that looks like you," said Dave, making Haley laugh.

"People say all the time that she can pass as my biological daughter," she says, but she got back on track. "Her father's in jail. He um...abused JJ, and her mother currently has breast cancer. We keep in contact with the mother, but the father is long gone."

"That's...terrible," says Dave with a sour expression on his face. "Who was next?"

"Spencer, our youngest," Hotch supplied. "Quick question—did Emily whisper to you anything about Spencer?"

"Yes she did," Dave answered, wondering where this was going. "She said not to hug him or shake his hand." He paused for a minute, processing that information. "He's on the spectrum, isn't he?"

Haley and Hotch didn't say anything at first, but nodded their heads.

"Asperger's?" Dave pressed further. Both Haley and Hotch give him a lingering look and nod once more. This time, however, Haley speaks.

"Yes...but he's so smart. He reads books that I haven't read until my senior year of high school. He just can't read social cues and facial expressions. His mother is a schizophrenic who was instituted right after he came here. His father is no longer in the picture."

Dave wasn't going to ask many more questions. "And Derek?"

"He came after," Haley said. "The whereabouts of his father are unknown, but his mother was a drug addict who gave him up years before, and she turned up recently and tried to snatch him away."

"Look Dave," Hotch said, getting straight to the point. "I know this is a big shock, and that these kids have had horrible lives, but biological or not, these are our kids and we love them. It doesn't matter where they come from, but If you have anymore questions that you don't understand, ask us about it."

Dave was taken aback, to put it mildly. He saw the fierceness in Hotch's eyes with the way he talked about his kids. "I wasn't trying to say I didn't like them or the idea," he started off slowly. "I think it's a beautiful thing. Don't get me wrong—It's gonna take a while for me to see you as a dad."

Haley and Hotch smiled.

A/N: I hoped you liked this chapter. I never got to introduce Rossi in my first story, so I decided that now would be a good time for him to make his grand entrance.

So on top of working on LMHYW, I've been working on another story in the making called Turmoils At Quantico High, which features lots of Criminal Minds characters set in a High School AU. As soon as I finish LMHYW, (Which is shortly) I might think about uploading the first chapter of TAQH.

More info about that story on my profile.