A.N.- This chapter introduces a memory within a memory, meaning that I'm going to have to start defining dates.

The thing is… Hotch's timeline pre-show is a little bit of a mess. In the 5 years between 1992, when he graduated law school (dates from the CM wiki) and 1997, when Rossi took early retirement, Hotch somehow: worked as a prosecutor, graduated from the FBI academy, worked for the FBI's Seattle field office for 2 years (as stated in the first episode,) joined the BAU and formed some sort of close relationship with Rossi before his retirement.

For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to assume that he somehow went through those events extraordinarily quickly. Therefore, in this universe, Hotch joined the BAU in 1995 and spent 2 years directly under the tutelage of Rossi, who retired but still kept an eye out for Hotch. More so in the earlier years, for the premise of this story to work.

This chapter introduces my original character, Ness, and her family. Dave and Ness were quietly close prior to the start of this chapter, but weren't necessarily talking constantly. I intend for their relationship to evolve into something more actively involved as Dave grows in his parental role towards Hotch, since Ness has been there before. The life of Ness and Dave as it pertains to their surrogate children is very similar, but Ness has slightly more experience, having met her protege a year before Dave meets Aaron.

This is all to say that this story uses the following timeline.

November 2007- main plotline, Hotch worries about his continued role in Rossi's life after the man returns to the BAU

October 1995- Hotch's memory that he started to recall at the very end of Chapter 2.

December 1994- Ness's memory, relayed in this chapter.

If you read nothing else from this obscenely long A.N., just know that those are the dates I've decided on. They're subject to change based on need.

Warnings: Discussions of child abuse, references to spanking, and a spanking scene are present in this chapter.

Disclaimer: The mechanic even took pity on me when he told me the price of repairs and I responded 'I'm in graduate school.' But hey, at least my car stopped rattling?

-o-o-o-o-o-

October, 1995

Impulsively, Hotch said, "Don't give up on me, please," in a voice that was embarrassingly hoarse. He regretted what he said as soon as he realized it left his mouth, leaving him painfully vulnerable and open to the older man's rejection.

Rossi looked surprised, though he recovered his composure quickly. "Ah, hell, kid," he said, looking at Hotch too closely for the younger man to be comfortable. Apparently, however Hotch looked was enough to prompt Dave to walk around the table and encircle his arms around his protege in a very snug hug that Hotch reluctantly admitted felt good.

"Do I look like someone who looks like he likes to hear himself talk?" He asked, and Hotch couldn't help the small snicker that escaped him, causing Dave to backtrack, "Okay, never mind, don't answer that. Still," he pressed on, "What did I tell you?"

Aaron knew the answer to this; despite hiding the extent of the abuse he had suffered as a child, he was ordinarily very good at hiding his fear of being cast aside if he messed up, but sometimes those insecurities escaped him. Rossi, however, seemed to take it in stride, never hesitating to remind Hotch that he was "never giving up on me." His words were a mumble, but he looked up at Dave hopefully.

"That's right kid, I'm never giving up on you." He sighed then, pushing a hand through his hair as he contemplated something, Hotch didn't know what, for a moment. It wasn't long before he declared, "corner," and Hotch was too relieved to protest.

-o-o-o-o-o-

He was offering Aaron an out for once, a get-out-of-jail-free card, and the stubborn kid wouldn't take it. Really, Dave wasn't all that surprised; for all Hotch's wheedling to get out of discipline, he knew that the consistency and structure were good for the younger man. Hell, the kid had to understand that about himself on some level, given the amount of psychology he had to study. Not to mention that Hotch always had had a strict sense of moral justice and ethics, no doubt he wouldn't let himself off the hook without some consequence for his actions- even if Dave was willing to.

Even though Dave wanted to.

"Corner," he heard himself saying, after trying to reassure the kid that he wasn't planning on going anywhere soon; based on Hotch's still skeptical look, he was pretty sure he wasn't entirely successful in that endeavor. When Hotch felt emotionally compromised, there was about a fifty-fifty shot that he'd accept any of Dave's reassurances (not that Dave didn't try, regardless.)

He ran a hand through his hair as he watched Hotch, without argument, go stand in the corner. Dave loved every bit of having Hotch in his life… except for times like this, where he had to actively fight the urge to go wrap the kid in a tight hug and tell him everything would be okay. Hotch responded well to consistency; Dave tried to calm his own self down, but he reasonably found that difficult after the whirlwind of Hotch's emotions he just experienced.

Dave monitored the corner, and its guest, for a moment. While Aaron was slumped slightly, leaning his forehead against the wall, he didn't look like he was panicking or having another flashback. Tired, definitely, but not actively in any emotional distress. Unable to stare at Hotch any longer, knowing that he'd quickly lose his resolve to follow through if he stayed, Dave found his way to a room where he was relatively sure Aaron couldn't hear him. His protege didn't need to know that he was faltering in strictness.

Rossi let himself audibly sigh as he switched on his PDA and started scrolling down his contacts list. He wanted so badly to just let it go and start over the next day; the conversations he had with Aaron that night had been emotionally taxing, and he knew there was only more to come. It didn't take him long to come to the contact he was seeking, and he dialed the number on his phone. His thumb hovered over the call button; he needed someone to kick his ass into seeing this through, and he knew just the woman- Vanessa Bradley.

As the phone rang, he glanced at the clock- not that it really mattered, he knew his friend would answer his call regardless of the time of day.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Vanessa Bradley, fondly smiling over her peppermint tea, watched from the kitchen table as her surrogate daughter tried to swipe a cookie from the very hot tray her (for all intents and purposes, legalities aside) wife just pulled from the oven. It was delightfully domestic, and Ness savored the moment.

"Stop that, you're going to burn your hand," Cass scolded Maddy at the same time the younger woman exclaimed 'ow!' as she did, indeed, burn her finger. The same exclamation was heard once more a moment later- Cass had turned her sideways and given her a few swats before sending her off towards the table pointedly… after handing the girl a warm cookie wrapped in a napkin.

Ness rolled her eyes and muttered "softie" under her breath as Maddy slid into a seat at the kitchen table, clearly no worse for the wear after her wife's quick chastisement, and started to nibble at her cookie. The younger woman was quiet, which was never a good sign with Mads. Before she had time to fret further, the phone rang. Closest to the cordless device, Mads pulled it from its cradle.

"Bradley-Verity household, Madison speaking." And damn if that didn't make Ness happy, her surrogate daughter sounding confident of her belonging in the household. She didn't have time to dwell, however, as she watched Maddy on the phone with careful eyes; after checking the hour, she wanted to know who was calling that late in the evening. Mads was silent for a moment, clearly listening to the caller. Then, "Agent Rossi?" And damn if that didn't put Ness on high alert- Dave wouldn't call this late unless something was wrong with Aaron.

"I assume it's for you?" Maddy said as she held out the phone.

"Assume?"

"Uh, he's a little… you'll see," as Mads leaned back in her chair after Vanessa took the phone, she made the 'crazy' hand gesture and pulled a face. That… was never a good sign.

Sure enough, she heard the voice of her longtime friend as he muttered to himself, the words coming so fast as to be unintelligible. Standing up, she took the phone into the bedroom and shut the door- she was pretty sure that whatever Dave was calling about didn't need an audience.

"Dave!" Ness raised her voice slightly, trying to get the caller to snap out of it. Sure enough, the same tone that had her subordinates at work scrambling to do what she said worked on David Rossi as well. She'd allow herself to smirk about that later, there was definitely a more pressing issue on hand.

"I fucked up Ness, I fucked up," The voice on the other end of the line said, and Ness could practically hear him run a hand through his hair.

"I doubt it's that bad," she said, speaking truthfully- Dave was always a little prone to theatrics.

"His father abused him," Dave pressed, as if he were urging her to understand how bad things truly were. "His father used to take a belt to him and his mother and brother," he continued in a strangled tone, and Ness realized why, exactly, Dave called her.

It wasn't that she and Dave weren't close friends, not by a long shot. After having been each other's "battle buddies" as cadets at the FBI Academy, they would be forever friends. That didn't mean Dave called her frequently; they sometimes lapsed in periods of talking to one another, but they always knew that the other would forever be there for them. It was just that if he needed something immediately, Ness didn't exactly live close by; after graduating from the Academy, she headed up to New York, where she had stayed ever since.

There were two things, specifically, that Dave had a tendency to call her about, and this sounded like it was both: one, something emotionally charged or two, something about disciplining Aaron. Because, and she cursed herself quietly now after hearing his words, she had suggested Dave might want to try spanking the younger agent. Though… untraditional, it was what had ultimately granted her the trust of the impetuous young agent in the kitchen. It had also helped to curb the amount of heart attacks Ness had whenever Maddy decided that she'd risk her life to see a case through. And, well, from Dave's rants during the start of Aaron's tenure at the BAU, the man Dave was starting to see as a son sounded a whole lot like her own surrogate daughter.

A thought stopped her mental castigation- Aaron had previously responded well every time Dave had taken him in hand; she doubted that the profiler would have missed any signs of distress from the younger agent. No, there was something special about this time, something different.

"Dave, what happened?" she asked, trying to keep the cautious note from her voice.

A long pause and then a sigh preceded his response. "He was late to work, and I was shorter with him than usual because of it," Ness thought that sounded more than fair, and wondered where this story went horribly, horribly wrong,"Maybe I was too short with him," her friend fretted.

"Dave, so far everything you've told me sounds like the usual fare," she drawled, realizing with a wince that she had let her Southern accent show- a rarity these days. She didn't bother trying to hide it, and it would come as no surprise to Rossi; her accent was only thicker during their Academy days, having just come from a life spent in Georgia.

"I had to take him home with me instead of handling it in the office, like usual. But Jason wasn't leaving and-"

"Dave. You've only ever spanked him in your office?" Ness asked, incredulously.

"Hey, don't sound like that. There was a hotel room once-" and she could tell that he was joking, his tone lighter than it had been the entire conversation. The levity in his voice didn't last long as he continued, "seriously, I was worried bringing him home would spook him. You know how he gets about personal stuff and work boundaries." She could feel him rolling his eyes, having no such sense of boundaries, generally. Though, she admitted, he had a point- Aaron was seemingly allergic to anything other than stiffly formal workplace interactions. She knew Dave was trying his hardest to rectify that, and she truly believed that bringing Aaron home with him would be good for their relationship.

"We'll argue this later," she dismissed the topic, "continue." Because sometimes Dave needed a swift kick to the ass, and she wanted to know what the holdup was.

"Nothing was different, but it felt off. I should have stopped then, but I didn't," a deep sigh, "I couldn't figure out how, so we went on with it like normal-"

"And what's quote unquote normal?"

"Huh?"

Alright, so she'd have to guide him through that question. "Was he bent over a table, your knee…" she prompted.

"Bent over a sofa arm," the voice at the other end of the line confirmed.

From what he had frantically divulged of Aaron's past earlier, "I take it you used a belt?"

Dave's lack of an answer was answer enough. "He had a dissociative flashback. I, dunno, I held him until he was breathing right again," and he sounded how Ness felt; damn, but this was bad. "After he calmed down, I put on some coffee and asked about his past. He told me that his father used to beat him with his belt, but he never found that relevant to mention any of the times I've taken a belt to his ass. Not relevant, my ass!" His volume increased, and Ness found herself holding the phone away from her ear as he recalled the day's events.

"Dave, you need to calm down," she pointed out, and when he started to argue she cut him off, "You're hurting my ear and besides, you don't want to chance Aaron hearing you. Where is the boy anyways?"

"The corner."

"Well, then you don't want to risk him spying around and hearing you shout about him," Dave's silence let her know that she had won the debate, and her ears looked forward to the reprieve. "Wait, how'd he get from talking about his past over coffee to the corner?" She might not be a fancy profiler, but her sharp mind is what made her an excellent agent and Unit Chief of the FBI's Intelligence Branch in New York City.

"I told him that he had been punished enough, and we should just leave it be. I thought he'd be relieved?" Dave sounded genuinely perplexed, and Ness had to swallow down a grin. Oh, to be a new parent; Mads had come into her life a year before Dave had met Aaron. The young agent had been assigned to a case Ness was working; she had heard Maddy's boss grumble about her at the water cooler, and she didn't know why that made her irritated- it's not as if she knew Mads, then, but the moment she saw her, Ness's protective instincts flared up. That was why, after Mads had taken some risks in solving the case and her boss yelled at her in front of the office before firing her publicly, Ness offered her a job on the spot. She saw potential in Maddy, but it was a long and rocky road to gaining the girl's trust.

"Let me guess- he freaked out?" she said wryly, twirling a lock of red hair around her finger tip as she settled back into the pillows on the bed; this was no quick discussion and she was no longer on high alert.

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Dave, it's not like I'm unfamiliar with having a kid with abandonment issues." She still knew nothing about her protege's early life, and as curious as she was, she didn't want to pry by peeking at the younger agent's personnel file. She knew Mads would tell her whenever it was right for her, and she didn't want to push. Though not a profiler still, she knew the habits of children who had been abused- she was fairly certain that Mads had also experienced some form of abuse at the hand of a parent. Over the years, there had been a handful of instances when Dave's sharp profiling skills picked up a subtle cue from Mads that only added to her suspicion.

"How are abandonment issues relevant here?"

"Lord, you're the profiler. Think about it for a moment." David Rossi was one of the smartest people she had ever met, but all intelligence seemed to go out the window if his emotional state was amped up. "We've talked about this before, the kid needs consistency; needs you to follow through."

"Yes?" He stretched the word, still sounding confused.

"Well, to him, you prematurely stopped the punishment."

"What was I supposed to do- when I took my hand off his back he actually fell to the damn floor!" Ness winced as the mental image of Aaron slumped on the ground took form; she pushed any such thoughts away, needing to focus on the present.

"I didn't say you were wrong in stopping. Then, the fact that you wanted to just call it even and not discuss it anymore? If I was a betting woman, which I am, and by the way, you still owe me from that poker game. Anyways. I'd guess that made him worry that you didn't want to interact with him anymore in such a… paternal way. He doesn't think he's worth the effort, Dave," she elaborated, then spoke the next part quietly, with a sincerity that carried through in her voice, "They never do." Granted, she had never been quite exactly in the situation Dave found himself in, thank goodness, but she did know what it was like to find oneself gradually acquiring a surrogate child with a past that made it hard for them to trust.

"So what do I do, Ness?" He asked, with a somewhat desperate note in his voice.

"You need to follow through, Dave. I know you, I know you think the very idea of that is repulsive and appalling, but Aaron has told you that's what he needs."

"I can't use a belt anymore."

"Weak excuse and you know it. Find a hairbrush, a spoon, hell, even your hand," Ness said, rolling her eyes. She loved Dave, but the man tried her patience.

"So what? I'm just supposed to carry on like normal, just with a spoon instead of a belt?"

Ness hummed thoughtfully, thinking back to one of her earliest moments where she felt more like Maddy's mom than her boss.

-o-o-o-o-o-

December, 1994

Maddy had been trying her patience all day, but going off to interrogate a suspect alone- a suspect who turned out to be the unsub- wasn't something Ness could ignore. Putting herself in danger was one of the things her protege knew would warrant consequences. As she embraced Maddy after she had emerged from the unsub's place of residence- no worse for the wear- she told the girl as much. As much as her palm itched, they were still in public, so instead she lowered her voice so only the younger agent could hear and ordered her to go give her statement and then wait in the SUV while Ness tied up any loose ends before the pair went back to the office building.

While Maddy had initially been sulky, anger simmering just below the surface as Ness ordered her to wait in the car like a child, by the time Ness returned to the SUV it was to a quiet and fidgety protege who snuck furtive glances at Ness the entire way back to the office. Vanessa wanted nothing more but to reassure the girl that everything would be alright, but she knew she couldn't let this go. Maddy had a habit of prioritizing the case above her own self; this wasn't the first time Ness was going to have a discussion about it with her.

Still, she was a little softer with her protege as they pulled into the office building's parking garage and headed inside to complete their reports, instructing Maddy to finish her report and then find something quiet to do at her desk until Ness was ready to leave. While Maddy had been over to the house before, this was the first time Ness hadn't instructed her to meet at a predetermined time after work. Usually, they 'talked,' ate dinner, and spent some time together doing something leisurely before driving back to her own apartment. Ness could see the confusion written on her protege's face, but didn't elaborate. She was… mostly sure that this was the best course of action. She needed to get it through Maddy's thick skull that the girl was no longer alone; both Ness and Cass cared for her deeply, so could she please stop scaring years off their life and turning the pair prematurely grey. She hoped having the younger agent stay over would send that message.

She left her confused protege at her desk in the bullpen, heading for her office which, given that it was made almost entirely of glass, hardly felt like a separate, enclosed space. Part of why she started having Maddy over to the house for those particular 'discussions' was because it was hard to find a private, secluded spot in an office constructed of glass. It turned out to be a good move, though, as Maddy had come out of her shell somewhat, and Cass loved having the younger girl to fuss over once their 'discussion' was through. Truth be told, Ness didn't have that much left to do, having taken care of the bulk of it at the scene while Maddy was waiting in the SUV. Maddy probably had more work to do, actually, trying to figure out some way to frame her actions in her report that wouldn't infuriate their boss. It was a futile effort, but she'd let the kid try.

Ness picked up her phone and punched in Cass's work number, needing to inform her partner that they'd be having an overnight guest. She knew Cass wouldn't mind; in fact, the woman had a soft spot for her troublesome underling.

-o-o-o-

Dr. Cassidy Verity pushed a hand through her short, spiky black hair as she sat back in her desk chair after having just completed her last advising meeting of the day. She just had a few more emails to respond to, and then she'd be able to go home. There was just something about working on Fridays that tried her normally expansive patience- maybe it was the promise of a few uninterrupted days with her partner, though more often than not Ness ended up being called into work on the weekend.

Just as she opened the first email awaiting her response, she felt her irritation rise as her ringing phone demanded attention. Taking a breath- she had to be professional, as much as she wanted to be snippy- she picked up the phone and answered with a falsely cheery "Cassidy Verity."

"That good, huh?" The voice of Cass's partner came through the line, and she leaned back in her chair, being mindful not to yank on the corded device lest it go flying off her desk and break… again.

"Just looking forward to the weekend," Cass replied honestly.

"About that…" Cass sighed as she heard her partner's hesitant tone, she loved Ness and she knew what she was signing up for, dating an FBI agent, but she still couldn't help but be disappointed at times.

"You were assigned a new case?" Cass wagered.

"Actually, no…"

"Okay, what's with the hesitancy- I've never known you to be anything but direct," the chuckle at the other end of the line let her know her words had the intended effect.

"I know you won't mind, but I should have cleared it with you first. I was just acting on instinct-" Cass cut her girlfriend off, a little confused.

"Babe I think I'm missing something, what should you have cleared by me?"

"Madison was reckless today." And oof if that didn't bode poorly for Maddy, who was rarely frequently addressed or referred to by her full name.

"Again?"

"Yeah," her girlfriend sounded defeated, "I really thought I was getting through to her."

"You are babe, you know that these things take time. It's been, what, like 2 weeks? That's practically a record for her," she smiled wryly as she pivoted the desk chair and continued speaking, "I'm still a little confused, though. What's there that you needed to run by me? I assume she'll be coming for dinner tonight?" a questioning lilt was present in her voice as she spoke; nothing sounded different than usual, so why was Ness suddenly balking?

"I mean, I can always drive her back to the office after we talk so she could get her car, or I could drop her off at her house after we talk, but I told her that she had to wait for me so I could take her to our house for our 'discussion.' I was thinking that maybe she could stay the night?" Suddenly, Cass understood that her girlfriend called in part for reassurance that she was handling Maddy's behavior correctly.

"Babe, she can stay the whole weekend if she wants, you know that. Come to think of it, that's not the worst idea…" a thought began forming in Cass's mind, but she pushed it aside for the moment to focus on the conversation at hand.

"So you think this is the right way to go? She won't freak out?" Cass had to laugh at that one as she replied.

"Babe, Maddy freaking out is a given. But we can handle it, okay?"

"I don't want her to run away."

"I know, neither do I, but I don't think she will. Not for real, anyways. Maybe testing us to see if we'll respond…" Like any good scientist, she had done her research when Ness first brought up the idea of handling Maddy's work mistakes off-books, especially given the impressive thickness of her personnel file, which was at least 96% formal reprimands; she was extremely close to being fired at any given moment.

"I didn't know your Ph.D. was in psychology," Cass rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's sarcastic tone.

"If you read any of the websites I sent you, you'd know too," she laughed a little, remembering her girlfriend's reaction to the first email link- pure horror. Ness had only gotten slightly better at talking about it out loud, though she seemed to lose any and all reservations about saying the word 'spanking' when speaking directly to her protege.

"Okay," Ness hesitated, and Cass waited to see if her partner would voice another concern, "I guess I should put the kid out of her misery. I'll see you at home."

"I'll see you two at home." Her colleagues would mock her domesticity, but those words were accompanied by a feeling of utter contentment.

-o-o-o-

Ness strolled by her desk, her tone clearly an order, "Come on, we're leaving." She was still short with her, which Maddy ruefully admitted wasn't entirely unwarranted. She had been doing so well, too, not getting in trouble for being reckless for a few weeks. Sure Ness had felt the need to have a quick 'talk' with her at times, but those were quick discussions, handled immediately after with a flurry of swats motivated by smaller acts of disobedience. Like 'mouthiness,' and damn if she didn't hate that term. She wasn't a tantruming toddler, jeez; even if Ness often remarked that Maddy acted like one.

The younger agent scrambled to grab her bag that had sat packed as she waited for her boss. Part of her hated that the adult task of driving to Ness's house was taken away from her, leaving her feeling more vulnerable than usual. The other part of her, the little voice inside that she refused to acknowledge, loved that it felt like Ness really was her parent. She didn't have great track records with parents, though hers really didn't care whether she behaved or not, and she both longed for a parent and was terrified of having someone who cared. Well, said they cared, at least.

Maddy had known Ness for only a short time, about 3 months. The older agent offered her a job after she was fired in front of the office for her 'stunts' in solving a case- a case that she closed, nonetheless. She had a habit of prioritizing the case above herself, and she had been reprimanded by Ness multiple times during her first month for it. The older woman had instituted a 'strike' system for Maddy, though the younger agent had guessed that when she hit 3 strikes, she'd be fired.

She rapidly learned that assumption was incredibly incorrect; she wouldn't be fired after 3 strikes; she'd be spanked. The first time, a month after she had joined the Intelligence Branch, Ness had ordered her to wait until the rest of the building seemed to leave before taking Maddy to a conference room for the first spanking of her life. That had curbed her reckless streak for a few weeks. The second time, almost 2 months after she joined Ness's team, her mentor took her home, explaining that it was too difficult to find privacy in the FBI building. Those words dashed Maddy's hope of her boss taking her home because she truly cared for her- it was just out of convenience. That, in retrospect, was probably what prompted her to act out with an increasing frequency. Only a week after, she once again found herself at her boss's house for a 'discussion,' and then a week after that. It had only been 2 weeks since Maddy found herself at her boss's house, and she was headed there again. It still stung that Ness was doing this out of convenience, and maybe impatience, but Maddy liked Cass a lot nonetheless. The older woman had a habit of fussing over Maddy, prompting an eye roll from Ness, after she had experienced one of their 'discussions.'

Ness's near-parental act of driving Maddy to her home, then, didn't agree with the model of "she only invited you over out of convenience." As they drove to Ness's place- not terribly far away, but NYC traffic was bound to be terrible, always- Maddy tried to reconcile these two things in her head, and found that she couldn't; a fact that frustrated her.

That frustration only built, and by the time Ness parked in front of the brownstone she shared with Cass, Maddy had wound herself up tightly. She gratefully accepted Cass's welcoming hug before Cass lowered her voice so only Maddy could hear, and suggested that she go wait in the guest room. She nodded miserably but extracted herself from the hug and started to make her way up the stairs before Cass swept her into a hug once more, murmuring, "It's going to be alright, kiddo, I promise."

-o-o-o-

Ness loved her girlfriend always, but she especially loved Cass in that moment as her partner procured a mug of coffee for the tired agent and nudged her to the couch in the living room.

"She's tense," Cass said in a near whisper as soon as Maddy disappeared up the stairs, "When I hugged her… she's wound up."

Ness sighed, and in an equally hushed tone, wanting to ensure Maddy couldn't overhear, she agreed. She had felt Maddy's nervous energy build during the car ride over; several times, she had glanced towards her protege, who was too deep in thought, eyebrows furrowed, to even notice. That was entirely unlike Maddy, who was (concerningly) constantly vigilant to the point where Ness was relatively sure she had some sort of PTSD (though just about everyone in their line of work was traumatized, it was an occupational hazard.)

"I'm sort of at a loss here, Cass," Ness admitted, showing her girlfriend the vulnerability she hid behind her calm-and-collected Unit Chief persona.

"Why?"

"Nothing I'm doing seems to work." The words hug in the air, their implication clear- Ness was worried that she'd either have to fire the impetuous young agent or watch Maddy get killed in the field due to her recklessness. With a start, she realized Maddy had never mentioned family, and idly wondered if that was part of the agent's recklessness. She decided to voice the thought to Cass, who was better read in… this area of conversation. Her girlfriend hummed, and Ness could practically see the wheels turning.

"I don't know, Ness," the answer was truthful, and deflated Ness's hope of getting through to Maddy. She'd try everything before she gave up on the girl; she had a lot of promise as an agent, and Ness cared deeply for her personally. She just didn't know what to do in that moment- she wasn't used to that feeling, and she didn't like it at all.

"Babe, I'm going to go check on her," Cass's voice interrupted her musing, "you know that sitting alone, in trouble, gets to her." Ness nodded slightly, seeing the truth in that statement; hell, she considered it lucky that, thus far, Maddy hadn't climbed out a window to escape. Ness wouldn't put it past her protege.

She stayed sitting on the couch, miserably, as she watched her girlfriend disappear up the same stairs Maddy had. Then, after a moment of silence, she heard Maddy's raised voice, though she couldn't make out any of the words. Another moment of silence, then Ness smirked slightly as she heard what sounded a lot like a few well aimed swats to the seat of her protege's pants. A few more minutes passed silently before Ness heard her girlfriend clomp down the stairs- she often teased Cass that her heavy footsteps would make her an awful spy.

Ness leaned into Cass's hands as her girlfriend stood behind the couch and reached over to knead her shoulders. Though patience was not her particular virtue, she forced herself to wait to hear Cass speak rather than interrogating her. Finally, the other woman spoke.

"Vanessa Bradley," Cass started, making Ness wince- her full first name meant that Cass was pissed; her entire legal name told Ness that she better buy flowers for her irate partner ASAP. "I don't know what you said to that girl, but she firmly believes that you don't care for her personally."

"I… do that, you know, thing," Ness's voice started strong, but faltered as she found it difficult to talk about punishing Maddy, "because I definitely do not do that for any of my other agents," thank you very much, and she didn't intend to start.

Coming around the couch and taking a seat facing her girlfriend, Cass shrugged. Were they truly no closer to figuring out the root cause of Maddy's recent reckless streak. Then she saw the look in her partner's eyes and was both elated and dismayed; elated, because Cass definitely had an idea of what was going on, and dismayed, because Ness better get chocolate in addition to her already planned apology flowers.

"Did you or did you not tell Maddy that the reason you were bringing her home was because it was too hard to find a place in the office?" Cass jumped straight to the interrogation, and Ness was glad she wasn't forced to play a guessing game. Though she'd guess that was for Maddy's sake more than her girlfriend having mercy for her- a guessing game would only prolong the younger agent's wait for her punishment.

Ness startled, and swallowed down her instinct to immediately protest. She had to think for a moment, knowing she must have told Maddy something similar in the past- the younger agent was frequently reckless, but she was incredibly honest to a fault (it had gotten her in trouble before.)

"Oh no," she groaned as she remembered the conversation, knowing Maddy was speaking nearly verbatim.

"Oh yes," her girlfriend said, slightly more gently now that Ness had understood her monumental fuck-up.

"I need more coffee."

"No, you need to go upstairs and make things right with Maddy. She deserves to know that we love her." Ness nearly startled, recognizing the truth in those words. Over the past few months, she had grown to love the troublesome agent. Life felt more complete when she was over at Ness and Cass's brownstone, and Ness was glad her girlfriend wholly agreed.

"Any advice from the well-read one?"

"Babe, just be honest," her girlfriend said encouragingly, before pausing to think. Ness waited for her partner to voice her thoughts, "And show her you care about her personally; this wasn't just a workplace infraction that you handle at home out of convenience, this is you responding to her recklessness because we love her too much to let her self-destruct."

Cass paused, looking like she wanted to continue but was reluctant to do so.

"Just spit it out, please," Ness all but begged, and seeing her partner's clear desperation was probably what prompted Cass to finish.

"When I was talking to her, she got a little disrespectful and I, well, swatted her a few times."

"I know, I could hear- oh, crap, can you hear the whole thing." Cass nodded with a sad smile.

"I go make myself tea and wait for my girls to come back downstairs," she confirmed, and Ness felt herself fall a little more in love with her very patient partner.

"I'm sorry," she said regardless, knowing how hard emotionally it was for Cass, with a wide protective streak, to hear sounds of distress and not respond.

"It's okay," and her tone conveyed a large amount of honesty, settling Ness's nerves slightly. Until…

"Wait," Ness said, narrowing her eyes, "you didn't finish your thought."

"I really shouldn't be surprised you caught that, Ms. FBI agent," Cass smiled sheepishly. "I sort of… well, it was instinct really," and Ness had to bite back a smile- while Cass was better at discussing the topic than Ness was, it clearly flustered her as well. Her partner sighed, "I bent her over my lap to do so." Ness knew where this was going; Cass's research had suggested that particular position was useful in making sure the discipline felt personal, but Ness had yet to employ that tactic. Every time previously, Ness had her protege bend over a table or desk- she wasn't sure how Maddy would do with personal contact for an extended period of time given that she was jumpy at touch, sometimes.

"She responded well," Cass offered.

"Well?"

"She was less tense when I hugged her after."

"That could be from the… swats… themselves."

"I suppose," Cass shrugged, thoroughly unconvinced, "just consider it, okay?"

"Okay," Ness agreed, leaning over to kiss Cass quickly, "I better not make her wait any longer," she said, trying to smile.

"Probably not," Cass agreed. Ness was halfway to the stairs when she heard her partner speak again.

"And Ness? It's going to be fine," with that, some tension Ness hadn't even realized she was carrying melted away.

She really loved her girlfriend.

-o-o-o-

Maddy, sitting on the edge of the bed, was embarrassingly startled by the knock on the door. She was just too busy thinking to be aware of her surroundings, because this was a new development. Cass had assured Maddy that Ness didn't bring her to her home just for the sake of convenience- she said that they both cared for her. Then she had invited her over for dinner sometime when she wasn't in trouble, though trouble seemed to find Maddy constantly. If that wasn't enough to make her confused emotions more jumbled, Cass had swatted her! Granted, it was for something that Ness wouldn't have approved of her saying, but still… Cass wasn't her boss, wasn't responsible for her at work, and Maddy doubted she'd go that far to make her girlfriend's life easier, as wildly in love as they seemed to be.

Ness quietly came into the room; the sound of her pulling the door closed seemed impossibly loud to Maddy, who couldn't help but be somewhat on edge. She cursed herself for startling- she could have done without a display of weakness in front of her boss. Slowly, Maddy's mentor settled on the bed, sitting close to her but not touching. Half of her was relieved; the other half of her rejected even the small distance- she just really needed a hug, but it wasn't like she could just ask for one.

Maddy's mentor stayed quiet, and she assumed the older woman was waiting for her to say something. The first thing that came out of her mouth, though, was mortifying.

"She swatted me, you know," she tried to sound accusing, but even she could admit that she sounded more like a petulant toddler.

"Did you deserve it?" Maddy spluttered a little at the question, and heard her mentor's soft chuckle from next to her. "That's what I thought," and if Maddy actually pouted… well, no one but Ness could see. The pout fell off her face at her mentor's next words, though. "We need to talk about your recklessness, Madison." Okay, being full-named was never a good sign, and her weary tone reminded Maddy of the fact that they had this conversation numerous times. She was suddenly struck with the urge to apologize profusely, worried that Ness would think that she clearly never learned, so why bother with Maddy in the first place?

"I know, I'm sorry!" she blurted out, and the desperation she could hear in her voice surprised herself. Based on her mentor's now puzzled expression, she guessed the older agent was also surprised by her exclamation. She couldn't figure out if she should continue or just hope Ness wouldn't draw attention to it. She decided that it was better for her to be the one to leave, rather than being the one left again. "Listen I clearly can't learn and I'm sorry you wasted your time trying," she tried to stand up, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

"You still think I'm giving up on you," the soft voice nearly shattered Maddy's resolve to stay distant.

"It's the smart thing to do. It's the thing smart people have done. This isn't the first time someone tried to 'tame' me," she accompanied the word with air quotes.

"Well, I'm not. Giving up on you, that is. Trying to tame you, maybe," Ness let a small smile play on her lips, "just so you stop giving me grey hairs and minor heart attacks when you pull stunts like today." Maddy had to admit that her mentor had a talent of steering any wayward discussion back on topic. Wayward subordinates, too… no, she had to stay distant. Ness's words gave her a flicker of hope, but she couldn't trust them. She had been on the end of too many similar promises that turned out to be false. Instead of responding to that directly, Maddy responded to the actual topic of conversation.

"I really am sorry, you know," she said quietly, and it was the truth- when she had been sent to the car at the crime scene, she had been angry. She tried to justify her anger to herself, and failed. She had felt sorry ever since.

"I appreciate that, but there still has to be consequences."

"I know," Maddy waited for directions.

"Over the bed is as good a place as any, I suppose," Ness said after a moment, sounding almost distracted. Maddy complied quickly; she still figured Ness was leaving any moment now, but maybe if she showed how sorry she was and tried to show her mentor that she could behave, she could have yet another chance.

At the same time, given the fact that she doubted she deserved another chance, she needed to be less emotionally invested. It was a policy she had adopted two units ago; if she didn't get close, it hurt less to be forced to leave. She couldn't even make friends as she waited to be fired again; sure, everyone promises to keep in touch, but when has that ever actually been true? She had already slipped up by letting Ness and Cass in, she couldn't let herself risk further emotional pain by growing to love the two women more. She realized she was starting to, as being bent over an object waiting for her mentor to spank her always made her prone to epiphanies. This one, though, just made her sadder.

-o-o-o-

Ness adjusted her protege's position before resting a hand on the small of her back. Every time she did this, she had to work up the courage to spank the younger agent the first time. Once she did, though, she was able to settle into a rhythm. She methodically covered the girl's backside and upper thighs before pausing for a moment to mentally catalog Maddy's reactions. Nothing looked wrong, but call it a mother's intuition, something was seriously off with the girl she was starting to see as a surrogate daughter.

"Maddy, honey?" she said softly, even breaking out one of her rare terms of endearment. Still, Maddy didn't show much of a response, looking almost numb. Growing slightly alarmed, she gently pulled the girl up to a standing position and brushed her hair from her protege's downcast eyes. Slowly, Maddy stirred, blinking a few times.

"Huh? Is it over?" she asked, looking too dazed to register what she just said. Well, if the younger woman's inhibitions were lowered… maybe Ness could actually get answers without feeling like she was pulling teeth. This was a new development, and it was both perplexing and disturbing.

"Earth to Maddy, where are you?"

"Why do you sound mad? I was behaving!"

"Not mad, kiddo. Concerned," she said softly, trying to understand the reaction of her protege. The answer came to her in a mumbled explanation from Maddy.

"Why? I'm trying to show you that I can learn. I know I'm out of chances, but I promise I'll try harder. I don't want to leave your unit," she admitted the last part in a particularly quiet whisper, and Ness couldn't help it anymore- she pulled Maddy into a strong hug.

"I meant what I said earlier, Maddy. You aren't out of chances, and I know you can learn. You're exceptionally bright, and you are learning. I'm proud of you."

Ness's final statement proved to be Maddy's undoing as the younger woman clung to Ness and sobbed. The experienced agent's resolve was tested as she held her protege through the maelstrom of emotions, trying to decide how to proceed once Maddy had calmed down. She wanted so badly to call it a day but didn't even truly entertain the thought, knowing Cass would admonish her for being 'inconsistent' or whatever she read on those infernal sites that made Ness blush (though, truth be told, half the time her girlfriend's advice sounded like it came straight from a parenting guide.) She needed to show Maddy that she was wanted, and that she wasn't only valuable to Ness as a subordinate agent, but that she was important to Ness and Cass personally, and the two girlfriends didn't plan on giving up on the troublesome agent anytime soon. She also didn't want a repeat of Maddy blocking out what was happening in the present- that was of no benefit to Maddy, and Ness wasn't about to… hit her for the sake of hitting her. She needed consequences to remember next time she went off to interrogate a suspect alone, and she needed to be mentally present for that lesson.

The slowing of Maddy's tears forced Ness to act quickly, not wanting to prolong the already tumultuous event further. Besides, Cass would start fretting soon enough. As her thoughts drifted to her girlfriend, the professor's advice to keep Maddy close, over the knee close, flew to the front of her consciousness. While Ness still had reservations, Maddy had responded well earlier as per Cass's recount, and she seemed to be doing okay with touch today generally, given the extended hug she had yet to extricate herself from. Cass would love hearing she was right… again.

Before she had time to double-guess herself, Ness found herself pulling back from Maddy, whose cries had dwindled to sniffles. The younger girl looked at her with impossibly sad eyes, and Ness reluctantly committed to seeing the younger woman's discipline through. Before either woman had time to say anything more, Ness flipped Maddy over her lap and waited for any signal of the younger agent's duress.

To her surprise, it never came.

'Huh, guess Cass was more right than I thought,' Ness wondered briefly as she made sure Maddy was as comfortable as possible, all things considered. Then, the experienced agent surprised even herself by divesting her protege of pants and underwear, remembering another tidbit from Cass's 'research.' Again, she monitored for any distress from Maddy, but none came. If she didn't know any better, she'd think that her mentee looked almost peaceful.

"We've had this discussion before, kid," Ness said, bringing her hand down, reigniting some of the sting from earlier. She was careful in selecting her next words, because she didn't want Maddy to feel unduly guilty, unworthy of care, or too dense to learn. "You've been doing really well, Maddy," she reiterated from earlier, "I'm proud of you. Consider this… a reminder for next time you're thinking about going to interview a subject alone." She paused her lecture after that as she focused on increasing the tempo of her swats until Maddy was starting to squirm, making heartbreaking noises. She needed Maddy to know, in no uncertain terms, what not to do in the future. Otherwise, this wasn't about teaching- just retribution, and Cass found the very idea distasteful.

"Cass and I care about you too much to watch you get yourself killed," she picked up her lecture again after the skin under her hand had turned a dark pink. The words might have been a little blunt, and Ness decidedly avoided using the "love" word, but the words had their intended effect as Maddy started to cry softly- genuine tears, Ness could tell, not just tears from a physically painful lesson. Maddy had already been remorseful before even setting foot in the house, but these tears were an expulsion of her earlier fears and reservations.

She had previously set a hairbrush on the nightstand, intending to use it for the bulk of the repeated lesson. However, Maddy seemed to feel the punishment harshly enough on bare skin, and truth be told, Ness couldn't force herself to be any stricter with the kid. She dropped her knee, targeting the junction between ass and thighs; Cass's research had also turned up that tidbit for spanking effectively. Her protege's cries increased as swat after hard swat rained down until she ceased struggling and let herself cry. Knowing how vulnerable displays of emotion were taxing on the younger woman, both physically and psychologically, she landed a few final swats before gently righting Maddy's clothing and started rubbing her heaving back.

The amount of tears were disproportionate to the punishment- Maddy had certainly had worse from Ness- but she figured that her underling's bottled emotions and hidden fears that were previously bottled up had risen to the forefront and were only now being released.

Usually, Ness gave Maddy the space to collect her emotions before righting herself, but after all that had transpired, that level of distance felt wrong. Instead, she ignored the younger woman's squeak as she quickly repositioned them so that they were leaning against the pillows of the bed, Maddy tucked under Ness's chin, and Ness went back to stroking the younger woman's hair and back as she cried.

"All forgiven," she soothed, "It's all done, all forgiven. Clean slate," she continued babbling reassurances to Maddy as the younger woman's tears dwindled. "I'm proud of you Mads," she said, the new nickname rolling off her tongue naturally. Mads squeaked at the proclamation and hid her face from Ness, who smiled gently- "we'll work on that one, I guess." There was no anger to her voice, only a warm tone that surprised her- prior to meeting Maddy, Ness had sworn she had no maternal instincts.

"I don't bring you home just to do this," suddenly feeling chagrined, Ness remembered her girlfriend's earlier ire and knew there were still reassurances to make. "We like having you around. I know I said it was easier than finding a quiet place in the office, but if I didn't care, I would have just worked to find another office spot. Or fire you then," at Maddy's sound of distress, Ness wanted to kick herself. "I didn't do either of those things, and I don't plan to. You're like our kid," Ness's last admission surprised even herself, but seeing the hope in Maddy's eyes made her glad to have said it. She brushed sweaty hair off the girl's forehead and continued to hold her.

-o-o-o-

Maddy was thoroughly wrung out from everything that had just happened- she would need to sort through her thoughts later, she decided. Presently, she just felt too exhausted to think. While she likely could have fallen asleep where she was, after the third time she yawned, she heard Ness's soft chuckle.

"Naptime for you, I think," her mentor proclaimed. Still, she didn't make any motion to move Maddy off her lap, but the girl sleepily disentangled herself anyways. "Come downstairs, Cass is going to want to know that you survived the ordeal." Her wryly smiling mentor had a point, and she still needed to apologize- properly apologize- to Cass for her behavior earlier.

"Okay-" she cut herself off before she accidentally called Ness "mom." Besides, Ness was better than her mother. Ness actually wanted her.

-o-o-o-

October, 1995

Smiling back on the memory, Ness spoke into the receiver.

"Dave, just hear me out before you protest this idea," she said ominously.

A.N.- For anyone who read my author's note in the second chapter of "Sibling Rivalry," Maddy = Rosie; I realized having a Rosie and a Rossi would be too confusing to track. I also tried very hard to keep the technology in the 90s realistic (from what I remember from the 90s, at least) but I know I certainly stretched some of the technological capacities of that era.

But yes, here are the OCs! To summarize: Ness, an FBI agent, and Cass, a professor, are a long-term couple. Ness and Rossi are around the same age, and have been friends since the FBI Academy. Ness's protege, Maddy, is around the same age as Hotch and also has a penchant for finding trouble. Shenanigans shall ensue.

I'm currently working my way out of the nested timelines, so I hoped having the dates and differences in italics helped keep that straight. Let me know your thoughts on this installation, the way the story is going, the OCs… anything not flame-y! Until next time…

- lms