Authors Note: Please review. As I come to the conclusion of Winter Quarter, and my time before finals from two weeks away to less, I won't be able to write as much, but I will try my hardest, and I'll be sure to post an update during Spring break at the latest. And to all of you out there who are in the same boat as I am, my prayers are with you, and Godspeed. But please, please review. Your encouragement is so nice to have and it helps me to know if I'm doing things right or if I'm doing it wrong, or just whatever you guys feel about this story.
Any who, on to the usual disclaimer: This story takes place in the Criminal Minds universe with the occasional crossover into the Bones universe. As such, I only own my own original characters and everything else belongs to the writers and networks, blah, blah, blah.
Hope you enjoy. And please review at the end. I love hearing what you all think of Spencer and Harley. And if you have any suggestions or ideas for this story, I may not use them, but I'd like to hear them, and I'd really appreciate any suggestions you send my way. Message me, or leave your idea in the review section, I'll be looking at both.
Thank you all for your reviews and support, and all your kind words of encouragement, weather you use your account to post the review or do it anonymously! Now on with the chapter…
Chapter 14: October 2008
"We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better."
― C. JoyBell C.
Only a few weeks later, at the beginning of October, Harley and Rossi sat down at a classy restaurant in DC. Harley's hair was styled with retro finger curls, and she had on a nineteen twenty's beaded dress that she'd found at The Way We Wore, a vintage clothing store in LA. She still wore a pair of Louboutins rather than a more vintage heel, but then she had an impressive collection of Louboutins. Rossi was wearing one of his nicer suits and he pulled her chair out for her before she sat down.
"So, forensic anthropology. How did you discover that field?" Rossi asked as he sat down. He felt it was a safe subject. And it seemed to be as Harley smiled at him as soon as he was done asking.
"One of my great aunts, her son went MIA during Vietnam. And when I was 17, forensics determined that one of the bodies they'd gotten back belonged to that missing son. And just looking at her afterwards, at the funeral that she finally got to give her son… something that was missing for her was returned. And despite the fact that her son was dead, she had this closure that came from knowing what happened to her son," Harley explained. "I found out about forensic anthropology after that. I already had a degree in forensic science, so I didn't need as many classes as I would have."
"And school? High school?" Rossi enquired.
Harley grinned indulgently at him. "I was home schooled after biting a few other children and maybe a teacher or two. It helped my gymnastics schedule when I got into gymnastics, and it let my… it gave Alma the flexibility to sign me up for as many dance classes, play groups, and scouting troops as she desired. And when I got older, it let me go with… Kieran to some of his filming locations," Harley explained. "I got to learn at my own speed. And I got to socialize with people I liked and I wasn't put in too big of groups so that the adults couldn't notice bullying behavior. I was very sheltered from the outside world, but… well I'd rather that than what happened to Spencer. And with as many cousins as I grew up with, I got used to teasing and mocking without all the intended hurt that comes with it."
"The Isley's sound like they really took good care of you," Rossi smiled sadly. Harley's smile matched his as she reached across the table to grab his hand in comfort.
"I never felt like I was anything less than their child while in their care," Harley told him. "They made sure I got all the help I needed, and the chance to learn anything I wanted while letting me be secure enough in my enviorment to express myself and to find out who I was outside of them and their household. They gave me the space I needed to grow despite their own worries and in the face of their own fears. They were fantastic parents, which is why all of this has been so challenging for me. Because I don't know you, and so I don't know wither it have been better or worse or just different to have been raise by you. And at the same time you're the one who was supposed to raise me, and you didn't get that chance because of the actions of another person. And as a result you don't know me, either. And it's all just a very unfortunate situation."
"That we can rectify," Rossi told her, as the waiter came over to collect their drink orders. "If you want to."
Harley smiled at him before turning to look at the waiter who had just asked what she'd like to drink. "Is there any chance I can get a bubbly lemonade?"
"Sprite and lemonade? I'm sure we can manage," the waiter told her.
"Thank you," Harley responder with a grin.
"I'll have a scotch on the rocks," Rossi answered. Then as the waiter walked away he aske another question. "The non-alcoholic drink is that a religious choice or just personal preference?"
"Personal preference mostly. It's easier that getting carded at all the nice restaurants," Harley laughed. "Actually Spencer and I once spent a night bar hoping to see who'd get carded more. It ended in a tie. No one wanted to serve us drinks without thoroughly examining out driver's license first. And that was just last year."
Rossi smiled at her story. "So you and Spencer are happy together."
"We are," Harley grinned. "We understand each other on a level that not many others have been able to understand us at. And our jobs help us to understand what one another goes through, which is a good thing in our line of work. I think the only down side is our own conflicting case schedules."
"But you work through it. That's good," Rossi told her. "So I know you've worked for NCIS and the Jeffersonian Institute, but have you worked anywhere else?"
"I've done modeling work, mostly when I was in college, and I also did some summer costuming and make-up design work for…Kieran over summer holidays where I wasn't on mission trips. But after my gymnastics career ended when I was 19, I went to work in the forensic lab at NCIS, and I switched over to working as an assistant and intern at the Jeffersonian at 22," Harley offered. "I've also worked as a security consultant at the Montecito Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, as well as being a financial backer to the startup of a security company that started off in Trenton a few years ago."
"Security? I don't think I've ever met another scientist that was also a security consultant," Rossi enquired, perplexed that the depth and complexity of the woman in front of him.
Harley laughed. "I dabble in computers and I can pick a card counter off the floor of a busy casino with ease. Plus… Alma and the former NCIS Director Tom Morrow sent me to FLETC to see wither I'd fail or not. I'm pretty sure there was a betting pool going."
The waiter came over, interrupting their conversation and taking their food orders.
"So, why don't we figure out what we have in common," Rossi stated, getting conversation moving again. "As I'm sure you've heard, I write books. I'm a former marine, and I have three ex-wives, your… biological mother being the first."
"Ok, I write books as well, under an alias. I'm a retired Olympic gymnast. And Spencer is my only long-term relationship outside of family," Harley responded. "So was it Vienam or Desert Storm?"
"Veitnam," Rossi answered before following up with a question of his own. "You mentioned writing under an alias. Can I ask what name you right under?"
"H S Isles," Harley informed him. "So your Italian, right?"
"Long Island born and raised," Rossi responded. The conversation picked up from there and Harley and Rossi managed to turn what had started off being a rather awkward dinner into… well, something far less akward with a small side of bonding. Their relationship still had a long way to go, but this dinner was a very good starting block for the both of them.
_._._._._
When Spencer went off to the self-sustaining ranch that the Christian cult run by Benjamin Cyrus to investigate possible inappropriate relations between young women and adult males in Colorado, Harley and the Jeffersonian team where investigating a very interesting body. The top half of the body had washed up on shore and the bikini top and implants suggested female. Upon analysis of the bottom half of the body, the victim proved to be female transsexual, with the pelvic bone of a male and a vagina to contradict that.
The team at the Jeffersonian where just discovering that their victim was one Patricia Ludmilla (the missing pastor of a close-knit Inclusion church) when Colorado state police arrived that the compound that Spencer and Prentis where currently interviewing girls at.
In Colorado, a couple hours later, as the team arrive on sight, Hotch turned to Rossi as the team exited and walked away from the SUV.
"Dave, they've left the choice of negotiators up to me," Hotch told him
"I taught most of the Hostage Negotiation Unit. You want a recommendation?" Rossi asked.
"I'm making you the lead negotiator," Hotch informed him.
"Me?"
"Why go to the students when I have the teacher?"
"Because the teacher is emotionally involved. So is the agent in command," Rossi supplied.
"I know I am. This is a unique situation. We have two agents who could affect the outcome on the inside."
"True but I can't be objective, I know them too well." Plus there was Harley's relationship Spencer, as well as Rossi's own potential relationship with Harley. Should he wish it to progress any further seemed to lay in his abilities to get the youngest agent out alive at this moment.
"This outcome depends as much on our ability to predict the moves of Prentis and Reid as Cyrus. That's why you're the best man for the job."
"Assuming Reid and Prentis are still in a condition to make moves." And God help us all if they aren't, was left unsaid.
"I know how bad this is, that's why I want you to be the one doing to talking."
"Alright," Rossi responded just as the Attorney General of Colorado rolled up to try and through some weight around, only to be stopped by Hotch.
Rossi pulled out his phone, looking at it and wondering if anyone had called to tell Harley about any of this.
_._._._._
"Hello." Rossi, Hotch and Morgan stood around the phone, listening to it that night from their base camp outside of the parimiters of Liberity Ridge.
"You killed my mommy and daddy. Are you going to kill me too?" a little girls voice asked over the phone.
"No one is going to kill you honey," Rossi responded
"This is Benjamin Cyrus, who am I talking to?" a soft spoken voice came over the line a few seconds latter.
"David Rossi. I'm an FBI agent. We sent the state police away. There's just us and the local sheriff. All we want to do is resolve this before anyone else gets hurt."
"Then leave us alone."
"I'm afraid we can't do that, Benjamin. One of the police bleed out on the way to the hospital." Plus, they had two of their agents in there. "So let's just stop this before it gets any worse. Please just put down your guns and come out."
"We're believers, Dave. We believe that God says what he means and means what he says. His laws don't depend on what state you live in."
"I have no issue with your beliefs."
"You don't. But the state does."
"I can't answer for other people."
"Oh, God will answer for everyone in the final battle, I foresee."
"That's why I'm here. To make sure that this is not that battle."
"We shall see."
"Now, the three child services workers…" Rossi started with batted breath
"One of them is dead." This caused the three men sitting around the phone to hold their breath "It wasn't us."
"I need a name. To inform the family." All the while hoping that family wouldn't end up being Harley.
"Her name was Nancy Lunde." Cue the collective exhale.
"Okay. Now, please, Benjamin, send out your wounded. I promise you, they'll be well taken care of."
"With enough supplies we can tend to our own."
"Okay. I need a few hours to put it together. I'll bring them myself. At first light." And so the plan to confirm Reid and Prentis where both unharmed began.
"Has anyone contacted Harley?" Rossi asked. Morgan looked at him skeptically but Hotch gave a nod.
"I called the agent she works with. Agent Booth. He informed me that their in the middle of a case of their own in a religious community, and he needs Harley for her knowledge in small religious communities. He'll inform her when they solve their case."
Rossi nodded.
Now all that was left was to gather supplies and wait.
_._._._._
Rossi figured Harley would end up in Colorado sooner than she did. She arrive the night before their planned 3 AM raid of the compound. With her with her was Special Agent Gibbs, who had a frown on his face and a coffee cup in his hand.
Harley was in a tight fitting but work appropriate, strapless little black dress with a loose grey cardigan over top that likely belonged to Spencer. She had a grey beanie over her hair and whatever heels she might have been wearing earlier had since been replaced by a worn pair of red Vans. She looked worried and she sagged against Gibbs' side as Rossi approached the pair.
"Spencer's in there?" she asked when Rossi got close enough.
"Yes," Rossi nodded. "But you didn't have to come."
"The last time Spencer was kidnapped I wasn't there. I wasn't going to not be here this time," Harley replied. "I don't make the same mistake twice. Not when it comes to Spencer. Besides, my own case is as good as solved, and there's nothing Booth needs from me that I can't tell him over the phone."
Rossi and Gibbs sat Harley down in a chair and then walked a few hours away from her, watching from a small distance as she seemed to curl into herself, drawing her knees up under her chin.
"There anything I can do to help?" Gibbs asked.
"Just keep an eye on Harley. She doesn't seem to be reacting well to this," Rossi informed him.
"Nearly two years ago, Spencer got kidnapped in what should have been a routine witness interview, had the witness not been the murderer. Harley was working at the JPAC center on Oahu at the time and didn't come home to be with him afterwards. This is just reminding her of that," Gibbs answered. Gibbs gave him one more look before walking back over to Harley and taking a seat next to her.
A few hours later, as the FBI moved in closer to the compound, Harley jumped as gun shots rang out.
"He's just trying to get attention," Gibbs told her, running a calming out hand up and down her arm as he took a sip of a new cup of coffee.
They sat in silence until the building blew up and then Harley was up and out of her seat with her hands covering her mounth. There was tears streaming down her face when Specner finally came to the mobile base. She race to his, launching herself into his arms arm and causing him to stumble at the impact of their collision. Spencer wrapped his arms around Harley in a tight embrace holding her closely to him.
To Spencer this was the best feeling in the world, having Harley in his arms, and knowing all was once again well. All was once again right in his world.
To Harley, the relief she felt in this moment was the single fiercest emotion in her universe at the moment. Nothing was more powerful than the feeling of all the worry draining from her body, and there was little she could do to keep herself incontrol and not cry.
A few feet behind and in front of them, Rossi and Gibbs watched on as the couple embraced. It was a powerful picture. And it made Rossi realize that in getting to know his daughter, he would also have to get to know the genius she was in love with. And Gibbs watched the two kids who he'd gotten to know and respect over the last few years with a smile on his face. It'd been 17 years since his own little girl had been killed, but he like to imagine that had she been alive she'd have found someone as good for her as Spencer was for Harley.
_._._._._
On the plane ride home, Gibbs sat with Rossi, getting to know his fellow marine, while Spencer sat in one of the chairs, reading a book with Harley curled up on the seat next to him, listening to her iPod with her eyes closed and her feet in his lap. She looked like she was asleep, though Spencer, who had many experiences of watching her sleep, knew her to still be awake.
Spencer looked up from his book as Emily slid into the seat across from him.
"Hey," Emily greeted him.
"Hey," Spencer responded softly, looking back down at his book.
"Hey," Emily started once again, pulling his book down to get him to look at her, and grabbing his hand in hers. "I need you to listen to me. What Cyrus did to me was not your fault. It was my decision. And I would do it again. Do you hear me?"
Spencer looked away and then back at her with an uneasy expression of acceptance.
"Thank you." Emily squeezed his hand one more time before drawing back into her chair. Spencer smiled at her and she smiled back as Harley's foot rubbed his knee in a silent sign of support.
Harley was his guiding force. If Harley supported him, then all was well with that force.
"Sometimes you have to kind of die inside in order to rise from your own ashes and believe in yourself and love yourself to become a new person."
― Gerard Way