The Dictionary of Parenthood

by scarleteyes21

Detective Morgan should have known who she was once he saw her at that coffee shop, he knew he should kept in touch after he left. But now five years later, his anger and lack of bravery have come back to haunt him as the BAU is called to a case affecting the DMV area. He knew his daughter was not going to get along with him during the case. Why would she?

2. B-Bestow

The Dictionary of Parenthood

B-Bestow

Derek stood still silently as Park and Frankie stared back at him. Park's glaze was one of interest and admiration, Frankie's looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else.

Derek couldn't blame her one bit.

He would have to work this case with his estranged daughter for however amount of time.

Park was the first to break. "Let's get started."

Frankie was the second to move, she waved her hands over to Derek, "Coming Agent Morgan?"

"Yeah." He followed suit.

He wondered how long he could keep his relationship with Frankie a secret from the others. Knowing how his history went with the team, not long at all.

He tried not to stare at Frankie for too long of a time. She hadn't changed too much in the last five years. Her hair was longer and no longer red, but back to what Derek assumed she would look like the first time he had met her. Her black curly hair was loose and hanging past her shoulders, she no longer looked like a Cali girl, but now, seemed to fit in with the rest of the DMV residents in her black hooded pea coat that was half way unbuttoned to reveal a batman and joker shirt.

"How does this guy manage to slip from everyone's sight?" Park asked astounded, the houses where close together with very little trees to block anyone viewpoints.

Frankie kept her head up, "There's no way he could have sat on the roof of any these houses, their roofing on them are standard circa 1990 to 91, there roofing material would creak at any sort of extra weight, most of the roofs show damage already from the storm last year."

Derek blinked, the shock of him having to work with his daughter was the first thing on his mind, and the second was how the hell did she make it to detective already?

"People inside the house could have been asleep or not even in their homes." Park added on.

Frankie frowned, pointing to the houses on the opposite side of the Kemps. "Maybe, but I don't think so. There's still ice buildup on these houses."

"And?" Park questioned.

Frankie looked at her watch, "It's barely noon, the temperatures haven't even hit the highs yet. If Kemp's shooter was on the roof any of these houses then he would have made an imprint or caused some sort of cracking on the ice."

Park sighed, "Kemp's windows are closed from all angles, either he knew exactly when to shoot Kemp so he wouldn't have to sit out here too long or he was lucky."

"But why Kemp? There were three other people leaving their houses at the same time Kemp was." Morgan asked, finally finding his voice. He looked down at the notes that where in Park's hand "May I?" he asked as Park handed him her note pad.

"Of course."

Morgan flipped through the book to see that two other neighbors were about to leave, one of them a college student at a community college. "What are the chances that the unsub is from here? This exact neighborhood?"

"Little to none," Frankie answered him, "All of the residents have maintained a residency here for the past ten years. We've spoken to the neighbors on the other side of the block, the most recent family to move in moved here three years ago from Michigan. And so far they don't meet the description of the assumed unsub."

Morgan looked between the two of them, Hotch hadn't informed him about an assumption of their unsub's behavior just yet.

"Assumed unsub?" he repeated, "Isn't that my job to figure out who this guy this? That's why we were called, correct?" He asked with slight humor.

Park laughed, rolling her eyes as she put her hands up in a mock surrender move, "Don't question me, Frankie here is the one who can't break the habit of analyzing criminal behavior" she smirked. She turned to the girl in question. "You're assumption of an older white beta male still in play?"

Frankie groaned, giving her head a little shake, "With this? I don't know. My best guess would be an envious beta who recognized a beta who could be risk to his ranking or an alpha who he wanted to prove he could top." She rubbed her face, "I'm still going with an older beta male, possibly late thirties or early forties."

Park grinned like a proud mom, Derek on the other hand felt out of place. "And what about the location of the shooter?"

Park looked up and pointed to the trees on the far right of them, "Only trees that would be high enough to shoot someone from a distance, plus pretty hard to see from the angle that Kemp was at."

Frankie stretched out her arms, one arm pointing to where Kemp was shot the other at where Park assumed the unsub shot Kemp. "Possible angle, it's slightly off but…ME has yet to say it was the correct MO."

Derek flipped through the earlier set of pages to find a description of the shooter M.O. "Damn." He huffed more to himself than to the women, "He takes a piece of their skin?"

Park flinched, "That was with the first two shootings." Park answered with a scowl of disgust, her shoulders shivered as she recalled how now the shooter somehow found a way into the victim's rooms and stole a personal belonging.

"We still don't know how he manages to sneak into their rooms without alerting any officers."

Before Derek could ask his next set of questions his phone went off, he smiled as he saw Reid's name flash on his screen, "Give me a sec." he asked the two before answering. "Hey pretty boy, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Reid answered somewhat excitably. "I just wanted to know what it's like working with the great Doctor Franklin Rustin."

Derek resisted the urge to look at this phone, "Wait, doctor?" he turned around quickly to see Frankie and Park with their head close together, giggling for some odd reason.

"Yeah," Reid replied, "Franklin Rustin is renowned for her alpha/beta/omega criminal profiling and behavior theories. Her papers on the social construct of dominant personalities in the police force and criminal justice system affecting and eschewing the idea of a postmodern racist society nearly brought the house down at Stanford. Really Morgan, you're absolutely lucky to get the chance to work with her!"

Morgan could feel the start of a migraine starting to form, he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. It was way too much information about Frankie to comprehend. "So she's what a-?"

"A genius." Reid answered excitedly, Morgan could already imagine Reid waving his hand frantically around to prove how big of a deal this was. "I mean, I think I have like ten points on her when it comes to I.Q points, but she's like the "it girl" in forensic psychology now."

Morgan brow farrowed at all this, "But isn't she pretty young? I mean she's like what? Twenty five?"

"Twenty-six, actually." Reid corrected.

"Twenty actually, turning twenty-one in December." Derek remembered her saying that five years ago.

"Her birthday is in December." He repeated to himself out loud, forgetting that Reid could hear him.

"Yeah," Reid sounded perky and surprised by Derek's knowledge, "How did you know?"

Derek was quick to come up with a lie, "I heard Frankie bring it up with Park a moment ago."

"Oh," Reid sounded like he believed him, "If you could, could you ask why she's been turning down lectures at Columbia and M.I.T? Every time I find out she's doing a speech and RSVP she turns around and cancels, frankly I'm beginning to think it's me."

"I seriously doubt it kid." Derek huffed, most likely Frankie knew that Reid and he were co-workers and didn't want to risk the chance of having to bump into Derek or risk the chance that Reid could figure out their relationship.

"Yeah, maybe. But you at least find out why she's turned down working with us?"

Derek felt like someone had punched him in the gut, "She was offered a job at the FBI?"

"Agent Morgan!" Frankie yelled, he turned to see Frankie looking impatient and slightly unnerved. He cursed to himself as he realized she most likely overheard his conversation with Reid.

"Any day now." Frankie called out with hands on her hips, "We're losing time."

Derek nearly snapped at her but withheld his composure, "Yeah Reid I-"

Reid sounded like he was shaking his head, "Yeah, I heard, go. And keep track of how she gets evidence." Reid stated. Before Derek could hang up he heard Reid call him again, "And see if you can jot down how she conducts her interviews, I hear her methods are unorthodox but affective."

"Will do, kid."

"Morgan!"

"What?"

"Don't forget to ask her why she didn't take the job offer, I mean she should be working with us, don't you think?"

Morgan hummed his answered back, "Sure pretty boy, I'll ask."

Reid sounded somewhat satisfied, "Okay, good," there was a slight pause, "Yeah I better go. Rossi is giving me that look again."

"Then you better hang up fast." Derek smiled into his phone as he heard the call disconnect. He turned around to see a smiling Park and an annoyed Frankie.

"Can we go now?" Frankie asked, showing more petulance than Reid when he was her age.

"Yeah, sure." He answered following the two, "So Doctor Rustin, huh?" he asked conversationally, "Why go by detective?"

He heard Park groan as she turned around to face him while still walking, "The ever humble Frankie, always likes to play down her genius." She playfully flicked Frankie in the neck.

"Maggie, quit it." Frankie warned softly, not turning to face Derek.

"Seriously chica, I will never understand you. Corinne is always bragging about you, so is Rice. At least take that position at BAU so that your career is on the same level as that brain of yours." Park chided gently, it sounded like an argument the two had often.

Even though Derek promised Reid he would look into why Frankie never joined the team, it was a moot point to ask why since he knew he was the answer. He wanted to know who Corinne was. Derek remembered Camilla telling him that she only had an older brother and her mother's name was Madeline. She never remembered a Corinne in the family tree. As far as he was concerned there was no head officer at any of the DMV precincts whose name was Corinne.

"Who's Corinne?"

Park beat Frankie to the punch, "Her girlfriend."

Derek couldn't help but raise his brows at the answer, Frankie still hadn't turned to face him or ever turned her head to look at him. But he could see that she had turned stiff.

"Girlfriend?"

They were finally at the spot, "Yes," Frankie's voice was as dark as her eyes in the shaded area. She lifted her head up in defiance, "Got a problem with that?"

Derek shook his head no quickly, "Of course not. Why would I?" he asked her back, daring her to slip in front of partner.

Frankie smirked, realizing the bait for what it was, she turned on her heel. "Good." She combed her fingers through her hair as she looked up at the tree and then backed down at the ground.

Derek couldn't help but smile as Frankie started to bounce on her toes.

"The ground is still frozen." Said Frankie as she looked at the ground.

Park hummed in agreement and stared up at the lowest branch, "Based on the height, he impact would have left a mark on the ground."

"That's if he jumped," Derek reminded them, "He could have scaled down." The ground was even and untouched, except for the prints they had just made. "You still think it's a male in his thirties or forties?" He asked Frankie.

He received a wordless nod, "Then he's in good shape, definitely a background in military if he's using a Remington." He rubbed his head in frustration, "CSU probably won't get any good prints of the tree. Let's hope this SOB scrapped a piece of clothing somewhere." He called out to the CSU techs who were lagging around the houses close by. He ordered the techs to collect any fibers or gun residue on the tree if possible. Derek shrugged and then decided to tell the CSU team to search for foot prints south of the houses where the path led to small set of trees and more homes. "Good chance that the sniper didn't just right back into the neighborhood he shot at." Derek noted as the lead tech nodded in agreement and ordered the team to start taking pictures of the scene.

"Crap." He heard Frankie hiss.

"What?" He looked over at the two, Park leaned her head close to Frankie to listen in. She had a pinched look on her face.

"You sure it's him?" Frankie asked to whomever was on the other line. Frankie huffed as she rubbed her head in frustration, her eyes glanced over at Derek for a moment. "Yeah, I'll tell him."

Derek ignored that nagging little voice in his head that made a point to note that he and Frankie rubbed their forehead when they became frustrated with something.

"Tell me what?" Derek asked.

Frankie flinched, her head twerking to the side. "There was another shooting, an hour ago." She looked to take in Park and Derek's reactions.

"What?" Derek shook his head, "The unsub usually takes two days to find his next victim." He looked at the scene. "So is this a copycat or what?"

"Where was the shooting?" Park asked.

Frankie bit her lower lip, "Annandale."

Park's arms dropped to her side, "What?" she pressed her lip together, trying her best to hold herself together, "Who?"

"White female vic, in her sixties or seventies." Frankie looked at Derek this time, "What are the chances that she was a victim of a copycat?"

Derek shrugged, "What are the chances that Kemp's shooter was a copycat?"

"Kemp's shooter was the DMV sniper." Rice's voice broke through their conversation.

"How do you know? Ballistics haven't come through yet." Derek told her.

Rice looked slight disheveled, her right eye looked puffy.

Derek became alert of her appearance, as did Frankie. "Chief?"

"Kemp's watch is missing." Rice told them, "One of the officers went up to Kemp's room to retrieve something when he spotted a man in a CSU jacket rifling through Kemp's belonging. When he approached the man attacked."

The three, along with the CSU crew who had stopped when Rice came to the scene stared in shock. "How the hell did he manage that?"

Rice looked frighten almost, "I don't know, he had a CSU jacket. He could have easily sneaked without question."

"Is the officer alright?" Park asked.

Rice nodded, covering her mouth with her hands for a bit, "Yeah," she nodded again, "yeah, he'll be fine. But he didn't see much of the guy."

"Well how much did he see?" Derek asked.

Rice closed her eyes, "Not much at all. He was able to confirm it was a white male. That's it. He was knocked out for a while it looks like."

Frankie let her head become lacked, "So...there's a start." she slipped her phone into her pocket. "You hear that-?"

"Yeah." Rice answered her, she looked at Park. "Chief is waiting for you to head over there first." She pointed a finger at Frankie, "You let me know what you pull up."

Frankie nodded and followed a stunned looking Park to their car.

Derek nodded back at the CSU crew, "We're assuming that the sniper used this tree to get his shot. We're sure it's a man with military experience, none of the ground is broken or uneven and there's a good chance that he's comfortable with this area, or at least with this neighborhood specifically. I told CSU to search the grounds behind us to see if there are any tracks." He rested his hand on Rice's shoulder. "We'll find him Chief." He promised the older woman.

Rice looked resolute. "We better." She inhaled and exhaled, "Hotch is planning to give an interview in three hours. You better meet up with your group in Virginia." Rice told him. "I'll let you know if CSU finds anything." She promised as she turned around to go back to her injured cop.

Derek found Park and Frankie leaning against Park's car, with Park humming to a song that sounded slightly familiar to Derek.

He saw Frankie's line of vision shift to Park. "Maggie." Frankie laughed, she seemed to recognize the song, "Stop."

"What?" Park asked innocently, she avoided staring at Derek with a smile that was not at all innocent. "It's a pretty good song, don't you think Frankie?" Park stressed 'pretty' too much for his liking, Derek decided to let it go once Frankie got Park to stop laughing.

"You started it." Park accused Frankie as they pulled into the highway.

Derek could see the trust between Park and Frankie, the comradery was obvious between the two. They clearly trusted each other and were comfortable.

"I was trying to cheer you up." Frankie replied.

"How long have you two known each other?" Derek asked, reminding the two that he was sitting behind them. He directed the question more at Park than Frankie, knowing he would get a direct answer.

Park smiled at him through the rear view mirror, "Three years." Park turned to smile at Frankie before setting her eyes back on road. "DCPD and FCPD had a case that they matched together, I got the honor of working with Frankie here. Bonded over hating the Redskins and having to deal with the pricks at Ann Arundel County." Park smiled at Derek's reflection. "She's a great partner to have, better friend even."

Frankie had her head casted down, "Better not let Ramzi hear you say that, otherwise he's gonna want to switch partners." She said gently.

Park rolled her eyes, "You're smart, chica, stop putting yourself down. Okay?"

Frankie didn't say anything which led to Derek wanting to know why Park seemed so adamant about giving Frankie a moral boost.

Frankie, according to both Reid and Park, was a genius. So why did it seem like she was so quiet about it?

Derek decided to file that question for later.

Once they had made it onto the new crime scene Derek took a look at the surrounding. The sniper decided to shoot an old woman at a strip mall that was now full of people behind police tape. He could see a couple of reporters begging the chief and other Fairfax county cops to answer their questions. He reconvened with Rossi, Moore, and Reid. "Is it just me or this dude getting ballsy by the second, his wait time was two days, now six hours?" he asked the group once Frankie and Park met with them.

"It is really a surprise though?" Rossi asked, "No witnesses and no viable prints. With every shooting so far he's becoming neater about tying up loose ends. He's becoming smug about this." He concluded, he peaked over at the news stations waiting for one of them to answer their questions. "God help us if any of the security cameras caught a white van driving by, that's all we need." Rossi frowned as he looked at the cameras mounted on the roof of the strip mall.

"He couldn't be getting that smug that he would shoot someone at a crowded mall where cameras are places at every possible angle." Reid concluded.

"He would if he knew the area." Frankie told him, she pointed at where the victim was shot. "The vic was shot in the neck, just like everyone else," she reminded them with disdain. "Depending on how and where the vic was facing, sniper was most likely on the roof. And if I'm correct the stores over there," she pointed to the small set of independent stores across the street from the strip mall "Don't have cameras pointing this way, and if they did the height and level would be off by several feet and eight inches."

"Seven inches." Reid corrected her with a slight smile.

Frankie didn't look taken aback by the correction, "Eight," she repeated again with assurance, "You're forgetting the mount of the cameras and taking in the lens space."

"Shoot." Reid looked slightly put off but impressed.

Rossi looked between them with a grin. "All hail the queen." He bowed down to Frankie before taking her hand. "David Rossi. You must be the Doctor Rustin that our Reid here won't stop going on about."

Derek and Frankie both rolled their eyes at the same time without either of them knowing. "Yes, but please, it's just Detective Rustin or Frankie if you wish."

"Frankie then." Rossie turned to Derek's, whose attitude was clearly on display. "Any guesses on who our probable unsub might be?"

"Well according to Frankie here, we might be looking at a thirty to forty year old white male, the race was confirmed when an officer was attacked by a man disguised as a CSU tech." Derek told them.

Moore let out a low whistle, "No wonder he's becoming ballsy. Snuck onto a hot crime scene without getting caught? We just upped the ante for him."

Derek agreed before continuing, "Looks like we might be facing an ex-soldier. He highly trained and fit. With a -" he turned to Frankie, "Beta personality, you said?" his tone was condescending.
"Yes." Frankie said smoothly, not daring to pay attention to the way Derek was speaking to her, "We might be looking for someone who has a power imbalance, he's a beta who wants to be an alpha and to do so is taking out probable alphas and betas who are a risk to him."

Reid start to wriggle, "Fascinating, how do you think his power imbalance could have affected his military status? I mean, he couldn't have been a beta when he entered, most like he was an omega who…" Reid started to break off when he realize that Rossi and Derek were staring at him.

"If it is our guy, chances are we need to look into locals in the area who have been dishonorably discharged from the military. Easiest start."

Derek pursed his lips for a moment, "Nice hunch Frankie, but our victims don't add up. We have three victims in their sixties and seventies and three other victims who are a lot younger than your assumed unsub."

Rossi, Moore, and Park stepped back at the power play that was beginning to unfold in front of them. Reid on the other hand just looked unsure at Derek's defensive stance.

Frankie crossed her arms, her head tipped back to look at Derek straight on. "Kemp was mostly likely an alpha who reached the status at a very young age compared to the unsub who has not reached that stage. Forsee was also an alpha and Conner was an omega who came from a wealthy and privileged background much like the two oldest vics so far. So I can deduced that the unsub takes pleasure from taking out those who are a risk to his status. He's reaching middle age and has notice he hasn't achieved any notoriety or ranking, so he levels the playing field in the way he sees fit." She stepped closer to Derek till they were face to face with each other. "You want to add on something, be my guest, just don't excuse my work as if doesn't matter or if it's a joke. Do I make myself clear, Agent Morgan?"

Derek cocked his head, irritation apparent on his face, "Perfectly clear, Detective Rustin."

"It's like alpha versus alpha." Park commented from the sideline. Moore and Reid shook their heads silently in agreement.

Rossi found it weird but also entertaining that Derek had met his match. He would have assumed that Frankie would have clashed with Reid, but her personality was just as rough and assertive as Derek's. The perfect mix for an explosion to occur later he realized as he broke the two apart. "Come to think about it, there is someone who matches your description. In some ways." Rossi stepped between them.

Frankie was way ahead of him, "Allen is dead and Malvo has been in lone cell since they got arrested."

"Doesn't mean talk doesn't make its way through the prison system." Moore reminded her. "Why don't you and Park head over to-"

"Ooh," Reid covered his mouth with his hands as he noticed what he just did.

Rossi almost laughed, "Yes, Reid."

Reid cleared his hands away from his mouth and adjusted his sweater and coat. He cleared his throat, "Would it be okay if I joined Doctor Rustin for the interview?" he looked at Frankie who bristled at the prefix being used.

Rossi shrugged, "Two geniuses are better than one." He turned to Frankie, "Would that be okay with you?" he asked Frankie who just turned to Park for an answer.

"Go." Park smiled, passing her keys to Frankie. "I need to meet with the chief anyway."

"Sure." Frankie agreed earning a "Woo!" from Reid.

Frankie only smirked as Reid ran ahead of her to Park's car, waving goodbye at Rossi and Morgan.

Once they were gone Rossi pulled Derek aside, "What was that about?"

"What?" Derek asked as the two made their way to where CSU was collecting evidence.

"You and Frankie, that was one hell of a power struggle game that you two were going at."

Derek rolled his head in disappointment in his friend, "Oh c'mon Rossi, you too?"

Rossi looked surprised at his friend's defensive tone. "You seemed to be really annoyed by her. Why?"

Derek laid back against one of the cops' car and crossed his arms, "I'm not, just not believing in any of this alpha/beta crap Frankie is spewing."

Rossi didn't look like he believed him one bit, "It's a theory that we've used at BAU before. It was Frankie's creation and you've never questioned it before until now." Rossi looked back at where Frankie was standing moments before. "Is it Frankie's theories that you have a problem with or with Frankie herself?"

Derek clapped his hands together, smiling, "Neither Rossi, okay?" he pushed off the car and walked around to speak to the techs but Rossi grabbed him again.

"Not okay, Morgan." He pulled Derek closer so it was only Derek who could hear him, "Hotch and Rice are seriously considering transferring Frankie to our team after this, so you better figure out a way to accept her."

Derek moved his arm out of Rossi's grasp at the news, 'You can't be serious." He sighed.

"I wouldn't joke at a time like this."

"She can't join the team, Rossi." Derek stately wearily.

Rossi shrugged, "Well that's not up to you Morgan." He patted the younger man on the back, "So like I said, you better figure out a way to accept her."

Derek craned his head back with his hands blocking his vision of the sky. Accepting his daughter onto the team was easier in theory.

Not in practice.