Okay, the story should pick up from here. I was going to include the whole Christmas thing but I decided to do that separately. Enjoy!
"It's nice to see you haven't forgotten me," Elizabeth smirked.
"What do you want?" Dave asked,
"What? No small talk?" the woman asked, She looked at JJ and Emily then back at Dave. "Two at a time, Dave?" she asked. "That's bold even for you."
"Not that it's any of your business," Dave said, "but they're colleagues."
"Back with the FBI, I take it," Elizabeth said. "My I sit down?"
"No." Dave crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't be that way, Dave," she said. "We had something once."
"Six months of my life that I'll never get back." She started to speak again but he held up his hand. "Enough of the small talk," Dave said. "I'll ask again. What do you want?"
"I came to get my daughter," she said simply as she removed her gloves.
"Are they ice skating in hell?" he asked.
"I beg your pardon?" she asked, confused.
"Well, they must be," Dave shrugged, "because Hell will have frozen over before you get your hands on Skylar."
"She's my daughter," Elizabeth said.
"She's our daughter," Dave corrected, "and I have custody."
"She will be coming with me," Elizabeth said, dropping all pretense of nicety.
"Over my dead body," he said.
"Such a tempting offer," she smiled.
Just then, the five heard noise coming down the hall. A few moments later, Penelope and Skylar walked into the room. They came to a stop when they looked around the room.
"Agent Rossi, what's going on?" Pen asked.
Skylar saw the other woman in the room and knew immediately who it was. Her eyes went wide and she whimpered. She grabbed Pen's hand and held on tightly to it, trying to burrow into her side.
"Hello, Skylar," Elizabeth said as she walked up to the little girl. "Are you ready to go home now?" The little girl shook her head forcefully.
"Who the hell are you?" Pen asked. She didn't normally swear but something told her this situation warranted it.
"Skylar is my daughter and she will be coming with me," Elizabeth said.
"I don't think so," Pen said, looking the woman up and down.
"You would do well to stay out of things that don't concern you," Elizabeth informed her. She made a grab for Skylar and all hell broke loose.
She managed to get hold of Skylar's arm and jerked. That almost knocked Penelope down since Skylar was still holding on to her. Skylar pulled back and, when Elizabeth didn't let go, the little girl sunk her teeth into the woman's arm. That made Elizabeth yelp and pull her arm away.
"You little..." she started and raised her arm to slap Skylar.
The sound of a gun clearing leather and a round being chambered brought the room to a dead stop. Elizabeth lowered her arm and when she turned around, she saw Emily standing there with a gun pointed at her.
"You touch that precious little girl again and will drop you where you stand," the dark haired woman said.
"I think it would be best if you left now," JJ said.
"I'll show you out," Mrs. Nichols said. She motioned toward the front door.
"Come near us again and I will have you arrested," Dave said.
"This is not over," Elizabeth said. "I will see you in court."
"Bring it on," Dave said, spreading his arms. Elizabeth stormed toward the door, Mrs. Nichols right behind her.
"I see a lot of grief in your future," Emily said after they heard the front door shut. She lowered her gun and holstered it
"Oh, yeah," Dave said. "She's a vindictive bitch at the best of times." He rubbed his face with his hand.
Mrs. Nichols walked back into the room. "I'm sorry, sir," she said. "If I had known it was her, I would never have let her in."
"I know," he said, giving her a small smile. "I never dreamed she'd have the nerve to show up here."
"Super Agent," Pen said, "I think someone needs some Daddy time."
Dave looked at Skylar. She had her arms wrapped so tightly around the TA, it was a wonder the woman could still breathe. He walked over to Penelope and picked the little girl up. She wrapped around him like an octopus.
"I think it's time for us to leave," Emily said. "With the exception of the last fews minutes, it was a wonderful day."
"Yes, it was," JJ echoed.
"Thanks for everything," he said as he held onto his trembling daughter. "I'll see you all at work on Monday."
"If you need anything, you had better call," Pen said. She turned to follow the others out of the room.
"Kitten," he called out to her. She turned back around to face him. "No destroying her electronically," he said.
She put on her best innocent face. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, haughtily.
"Penelope, please," he pleaded. "It could cause more problems that I really don't want to deal with right now."
"But she so deserves it," she protested.
"Promise me," he said. She looked at him like she wanted to refuse and he raised an eyebrow. He knew what she was thinking.
"All right, I promise," she whined. She straightened up and looked fiercely at him. "But I reserve the right to declare said promise null and void if she causes many more problems."
"Agreed."
Sunday, Dave and Skylar spent the day watching movies and eating junk food. Pizza was ordered for dinner. If Skylar was a little more clingy than she had been, well... it was certainly understandable and no one would say a word.
Elizabeth Peterson paced the floor as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Mother, I don't need a lecture from you," she said.
"What were you thinking?" Evangeline asked. "Whatever possessed you to go to his house?"
"Skylar is my daughter," Elizabeth said. "She will be coming with me."
"After tonight, you'll be lucky if he doesn't have a restraining order taken out," her mother said. "Why are you so adamant that he not have the child? It's not as if you actually want the child yourself."
"Whether I want her or not is beside the point," Elizabeth said. "I don't want him to have her. This is your fault, Mother. You had to tell him about her."
"If you had placed her in a proper boarding school instead of an institution, I wouldn't have said a word," Evangeline said. She paused for a moment then spoke again. "Let it go, Elizabeth," she said. "I don't think this is a fight you're going to win."
"Oh, I intend to win this, Mother," Elizabeth said, grimly. "I don't care what it takes, I will win."
The first thing Dave did when he got to work Monday morning was call his attorney and let Ms. Cantrell know what had happened. The woman promised to get right on it and see what could legally be done to keep Elizabeth away from them.
He had no sooner hung up the phone than there was a knock at his door and Hotch walked into his office. "Heard you had an eventful weekend," he said as he took a chair in front of Dave's desk.
"Good news travels fast," he muttered. "Eventful is one word for it."
"How's Skylar doing?" Hotch asked.
"She barely let me out of her sight yesterday," Dave said. He snorted. "Of course, I made sure she didn't stray too far, either." He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and sighed. "Why did she even come after her?" Dave asked after a few moments. He opened his eyes and looked at Hotch. "She doesn't want Skylar. Hell, she doesn't even like her, much less love her."
"It's one of the oldest reasons in the world," Hotch said. "Revenge. She may not like Skylar but she likes you even less and she knows how much you care about your daughter. You showed that when you flew to Georgia to get custody. If getting revenge on you for whatever her perceived wrongs are means taking Skylar, she'll try and do it."
"Well, if it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get," Dave said, sitting up straight. "I may have only known about her for a few months but I love her more than my own life. That's my little girl and it will be a cold day in hell when I give her up."
If you don't count chapter notes, this puppy is over 30,000 words. Thanks to all my reviewers. I enjoy hearing from you.