The chapter everyone has been waiting for. It wasn't easy to write but I hope you enjoy it.

If Dave wasn't feeling confident when he took the stand, it didn't show. His demeanor as he was sworn in and sat down was cool with just a touch of 'don't fuck with me' thrown in for good measure. Once he was settled, Ms. Cantrell stood up to start the questioning.

"Agent Rossi, when did you find out you had a daughter?" she asked.

"In late April of last year," he said.

"And how did you find out?"

"Elizabeth's mother Evangeline came to my office and told me," he said.

"She also told you where your daughter was staying at that time, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did. She said she was in a juvenile psychiatric facility in Georgia."

"What did you do then?" she asked.

"There was a DNA profile in the file Evangeline had left with me," he said. "After I informed my boss that I needed some time off, he said he would take it to the lab. I told him that I needed some time off and that I wanted him to go to Georgia with me. I called my lawyer and let him know what was going on. The next morning, Agent Hotchner and I left for Georgia."

Ms. Sawyer took him through what had happened in the time since he had been given custody of Skylar, hitting the highlights as she went. It took a little over two hours for her to get through his testimony. She finally finished then sat down. As Franks stood up, the judge raised his hand.

"It's after five," he said. "Let's hold off on your cross until tomorrow morning. Court's adjourned until nine a.m."

David tried to keep dinner that night as normal as possible but he could tell he wasn't really succeeding. Skylar was fidgety and only picked at her food. After a while, she was excused and she headed for her room. Dave left the table shortly after that, going into his study and pouring himself a drink. He had just taken a sip when his phone rang. It was Hotch.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"About like you'd expect it would," Dave sighed. "Elizabeth had her say. My testimony started today and will finish tomorrow."

"Anything you didn't expect?"

"Not really," Dave said. "Elizabeth still doesn't think she's done anything wrong. According to her, what she did was perfectly acceptable behavior."

"Which is why I don't think you're going to have any trouble winning this case," Hotch told him. "How's Skylar?"

"Nervous," Dave admitted. He swirled the liquid in his glass. "She's afraid that she's going to end up going back to her mother."

"It's not going to happen," Hotch said firmly, "but in the unlikely event it does, what are you going to do?"

"Where my daughter goes, I go," Dave said. "If it's in the states, I'll transfer to another office. If it's in Europe, I'll resign. I'm not letting her get away from me."

They talked for a few more minutes before hanging up. Dave decided to go upstairs and check on Skylar. He found her on her window seat watching as it began to get darker outside.

"You okay?" he asked as he sat down next to her. She just shrugged.. "I know it's a little scary," he said and she nodded, "but I want you to know that, no matter what happens, I will always be your father and this will always be your home. Nothing and no one will ever change that. You have my word on that."

She crawled into his lap. Nothing was said as they sat and looked out the window.

As soon as court was called to order the next morning, Dave was on the witness stand. He knew Elizabeth's lawyer was going to use ever trick in the book to make him look bad. He just had to remember what was at stake here and he'd be all right.

"Mr. Rossi, how many women have you dated?" Mr. Franks asked.

"It's Agent Rossi and I couldn't say," he said.

"You must have some idea."

"Mr. Franks, I've been dating since I was fifteen," he said. "That's around forty years. I didn't keep count."

"Twenty? Thirty? Fifty? A hundred?"

"Your Honor," Ms. Cantrell said, standing. "Agent Rossi has already said he doesn't know...twice. Counsel is beating a dead horse."

"Move on, Mr. Franks," the judge said.

"Yes, Your Honor," Mr. Franks said. "Agent Rossi, do you have any other children?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Dave said. No one missed the humor in that statement.

"If you did, would you fight as hard for them as you seem to be for this child?"

"That would depend," Dave said.

"On?"

"On whether or not the child's mother had them locked up in a psychiatric facility for no reason," he said.

"I had a reason," Elizabeth muttered but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Her lawyer turned and gave he a look that clearly said, 'Don't speak.'.

"Agent Rossi, you've been married three times," Franks said. "Commitment issues?"

"I'd call it an over developed sense of optimism," Dave said.

"Why'd you divorce?"

"The first two times, you'd have to ask my ex-wives," Dave said. "The last time was because I caught her in bed with our next door neighbor."

"I see," the lawyer said. "Were you ever unfaithful to any of your wives?"

"No," Dave said.

"How about when you were dating?" Franks said. "Did you cheat on your girlfriends?"

"Not every relationship I had was exclusive," Dave said. "I've never lied to any woman I've dated."

"Were you 'exclusive' with Ms. Peterson?"

"After about the first month, yes."

"She remembers it differently," Franks said.

"I'm sure she does," Dave said.

"Why did you quit seeing each other?"

"She wanted to get married," Dave stated. "I didn't. That made her mad. It also made the last month we were together...unpleasant."

Mr. Franks did his best to rattle Dave but it didn't happen. As he had told Ms. Cantrell, he's had a lot of experience testifying and this lawyer wasn't as good as some of the defense attorneys he'd gone up against.

Skylar watched as her father was on the stand. The longer this hearing went on, the more nervous she became. She knew what her father had promised but she was still afraid. If her mother won, she just knew she'd end up in a place like Bancroft, maybe worse. She tried to concentrate on what she was coloring but she couldn't.

Dave was about to leave the stand when he heard Elizabeth mutter, "He'll leave her," he said, "just like he leaves all his women."

Dave could let that pass. "I would never abandon my daughter," he said. "She is more important to me than anything else in this world."

"Counselors, control your clients," the judge said. There were whispered admonishments from both attorneys to their clients. Elizabeth, however, just couldn't keep quiet.

"It's no wonder the child is damaged," she said. "Look who her father is."

"Any damage done to her is from you," Dave said. He knew better than to let her get to him but he couldn't help himself. "You're the one that had custody of her not me."

The judge banged his gavel. "One more time and I'm going to hold you both in contempt," he warned.

The pair either didn't hear him or they didn't listen. "You should have left her in that place," Elizabeth said. "It'll only get worse as she gets older."

"All you had to do was show her some love and she would have been fine," Dave said. "Your own child wasn't good enough for you. You can't love anyone but yourself."

"That's rich coming from an egomaniac like you," Elizabeth threw back.

Skylar was watching all of this, her eyes wide and filling with tears. She knew something bad was going to happen. She just knew it.

"Okay, that's it," the judge said banging his gavel again. "Since neither of you seem to be able to follow the simplest of instructions, I'm holding you both in contempt. Let's see if a overnight visit in our fair accommodations can cool those tempers. Bailiff, escort them downstairs."

The bailiff grabbed Elizabeth's arms then walked across the court and got Dave. They were heading for the door at the back of the room when a scream pierced the air.

"NO!"

TBC