Hi All. Welcome to chapter three of More Than A Team: The Final Member. This is the first in a series of stories that will all be under the umbrella of More Than A Team, I hope to write new stories for this series frequently. This story is complete and was going to be written as a one shot, but it immediately became too long for a one shot, so I wrote it as eight separate chapters. Updates should be weekly unless something drastic happens. This is an introduction to my OC and not a full representation of what future stories will be like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal minds, if I did then Aaron Hotchner certainly wouldn't have left, and neither would Derek Morgan! Pepper Rosanne Lee is my own original character, but all other recognisable characters belong to Jeff Davis, I just like to use them to do my bidding.

Series Summary: The Criminal Minds team is more than just a team, they spend so much time with each other, relying on each other, and wrapped up in each other's lives they are practically family. This is how the family makes sure they stay a family even when rules are broken.

Story Summary: This is the story of Pepper Rosanne Lee, how she went from a victim of an Unsub Jason and David were hunting, to the eighth member of their team. AU, OC, AaronXHaley, starts Season two. Warnings inside please read, rated M for good reason.

Warning: This story involves Criminal Mind cases, if you've watched Criminal Minds, you know what I mean, I've tried not to be too graphic, but there is abuse, kidnapping, murder, and rape, if this is triggering, please be careful. This story also involves the spanking of minors and adults, don't like, don't read.

A huge, huge thank you to my wonderful and amazing beta, Jules Ann, she is quite literally my Magical Muse Mender and when I get stuck just talking to her can help me figure my way past a block. She has helped me so much with all my stories and my writing, I would be utterly lost without her.

~o~

Pepper glanced down at her phone, the message from her Uncle David filling her with confidence that she could do this. After her Uncle David disciplined her for it, she did actually stop running away. It was the first time she'd ever felt someone had generally cared for her and she found herself not wanting to let him down. Saying goodbye to Julie and Richard was extremely hard, especially since she hadn't even met her Grandfather yet, but he'd legally pursued custody and as she was only seven years old her opinion didn't matter. Though she didn't want to even meet her Grandfather, she had been willing to give him a chance because Uncle David asked her to. Her caseworker showing up with police officers to enforce a court order for her removal and placement with her Grandfather, almost had Pepper running, only her desire not to disappoint Uncle David again, and not wanting another spanking, stopped her.

Pepper knew now she should have known that was a bad sign, that things wouldn't go well. Part of her wanted to call David or Jason and beg them to fix this as she was driven in the police car to the airport to be delivered to her Grandfather. What was already a stressful and upsetting time became extremely traumatic. Despite being dragged from her home, Pepper tried to keep an open mind when the plane touched down and she was escorted into the custody of her grandfather.

Flashback

Pepper had stopped crying on the plane, the police officers on either side of her were not in any way comforting and neither seemed to want to talk to her. She had the strong urge to try and escape from the police officers once they landed and to get herself to Uncle David and Uncle Jason, but she didn't want another spanking. Being left to her own devices allowed Pepper to think, and though part of that thinking did initially involve escape plans, following that path lead her back to the spanking and the conversation she'd had with Uncle David before the spanking. Her Uncle David wanted her to give her Grandfather a chance and she didn't want to let Uncle David down. She would give the man a chance, she would find someone else to blame for this, the judge that signed the court order. It wasn't her Grandfather's fault he was desperate to see her and have her in his custody.

Pepper recognized her Grandfather before the officers spotted him, she could see the familial similarities between them, though he was younger than she was expecting. Grandfathers were old men with white or grey hair, wrinkled, often with a walking stick. The man who was her Grandfather was not an old man; he was probably mid to late forties, definitely not older than fifty, his hair was maybe just starting to go grey, there were lines on his face, but not wrinkles, and definitely no walking stick.

The officers spotted his sign and walked her over to him, Pepper was watching carefully and saw the moment he saw her and recognized her. She understood the spasm of pain that crossed his face, she looked just like her mother after all, and her mother was this man's daughter and she'd been taken from him and killed. What she didn't understand was how the look he had in his eyes after made her feel nervous and uncomfortable.

Her caseworker handled the transfer of custody along with the police officers and promised her stuff would be sent along to her soon. Pepper frowned slightly seeing her Grandfather's jaw tighten at this, she didn't know why or really what, but something was making him uncomfortable.

Then the police officers and her caseworker were gone, and it was just her and her Grandfather. Pepper wasn't sure how to handle introducing herself to her Grandfather and he was staring at her oddly, she had just decided to stick her hand out when he abruptly pulled her into his arms.

"Oh Pepper, it's so good to have you home, I've missed you so much Peppermint, my sweet little Peppermint," Alan sobbed.

Almost all of Pepper's alarm bells were ringing, but she reminded herself of her decision to give this man a chance, it was an emotional moment, it wasn't his fault he was upset. Her resemblance to her mother was striking, it would just take him a little time to adjust.

Alan pulled back a little and looked at Pepper concerned, "why aren't you hugging me back Pumpkin? I'm your fa… grandfather, you're supposed to hug me." His voice was pleading, desperate, and pained.

Pepper immediately felt guilty and dropped her head, "sorry." She didn't like the pain in her Grandfather's voice, she had just been surprised by the hug, she hadn't meant to make him feel like she was rejecting him.

Alan put his arms back around Pepper and hugged her tightly.

Feeling decidedly uncomfortable with the action, Pepper let her own arms wrap around her Grandfather. She was trying, really trying, but this just didn't feel right. There was nothing she could do however and maybe they just needed time, she wasn't sure how much time, but hopefully it wouldn't take too long.

Alan pulled back a beaming smile on his face, "let's go home my little Peppermint."

Though her Grandfather was smiling, Pepper could see the smile didn't reach his eyes, there was a strange, almost manic, look in them that made her very much not want to go 'home' with him. She forced back her worries and gave her own shaky smile and a nod, not sure at all that she was doing the right thing, but not sure what else she could do. She winced when he held her hand a little too tightly, trying to pull her hand out of his grip.

"No Pepper, you must hold my hand, we don't want you getting lost, I never want to lose you again. I won't lose you again. No, you'll stay safe with me, and nothing will happen to you. You'll see my little Peppermint, I'll keep you safe this time," Alan insisted.

The urge to run came again, but Pepper shoved it away, recalling with perfect clarity the spanking she'd gotten. Running wasn't the solution, maybe when they got 'home' she could call Uncle David, let him know that her Grandfather was clearly unstable… but then they hadn't even been together one day, and she was already trying to get away. Pepper sighed to herself, that wasn't giving him a chance, she had to give him a chance.

Pepper let herself be walked to the car and it was with relief that she climbed into the backseat of the car, getting a little distance between herself and her Grandfather. She needed the space to think, to process, to draw up some courage to help her cope with this. When her Grandfather got in and started driving, she let herself think, trying to come up with a plan. She had to give her Grandfather a real, honest, chance, she'd said to Uncle David that she would, and she would not let him down by not giving him a chance. Maybe she could give it a week? No, a week was too short, it wasn't enough time. Maybe a month? A month seemed reasonable right? She sighed to herself. She knew a month wasn't enough either. Six months then, she would give it six months and if things were still bad, then she'd ask Uncle David and Uncle Jason for help. Something in her settled just a little having a goal, surely six months was giving him enough of a chance, that was plenty of time, half a year! He would get to know her, and she would get to know him, and they would learn together if this arrangement worked.

Though Pepper was thinking as her Grandfather drove, she also kept track of where they drove, the part of her that couldn't ignore the alarm bells ringing needing to track an escape route. She wouldn't use the airport, trying to fly as an unaccompanied minor was foolish at best, but knowing the area was important. She spotted and mentally logged the signs for the train station, and bus station. She told herself she wouldn't use any of the escape routes she saw unless she had no choice, but she couldn't stop her mind from planning them.

They arrived in a reasonably nice neighborhood, and the mere fact there were neighbors did reassure Pepper somewhat, here if you were torturing a teenage girl in your basement someone would hear it. Whether or not anyone would do anything about it was another matter, but if things were bad, it was not so remote here that she couldn't run to a neighbor for help. She cut off those thoughts, already she was thinking things weren't going to be okay, she had promised to give her Grandfather a chance, she needed to stop assuming things would go wrong. She reached for the handle of the car and tried to open it, frowning when she discovered she couldn't.

"No Pepper, the car has child safety locks, we're not taking any chances, I will keep you safe," Alan stated firmly.

Pepper tried to ignore the spike of fear that shot through her at that, reminding herself this was her Grandfather, he wasn't someone she needed to be able to get away from. It was normal for people with kids to have child safety locks on their cars. She swallowed and gave a small nod of understanding, waiting for her Grandfather to let her out.

Alan got out of the car and went to the back opening the backdoor and immediately taking Pepper's hand, holding it tightly.

Pepper frowned as her hand was grabbed again, wincing a little at the tightness of her Grandfather's grip.

"Come on Pepper, inside," Alan urged. He pulled her up to the house and unlocked the door, getting them both inside and then locking the door tightly again, he wouldn't be letting Pepper out of his sight, not again.

Pepper's alarm bells were ringing, she did not like that her Grandfather locked the door, there didn't seem to be a need for it in this area. It made her nervous not having an escape route just in case, even if she wasn't going to use it, the locked door she couldn't ignore. "Please don't lock the door," she pleaded. At night was one thing, but during the day, she couldn't see why the door needed to be locked here.

"No. The door will stay locked. You will not leave my sight," Alan snapped grabbing Pepper's shoulders and shaking her.

The shaking didn't bother Pepper, but the wild frantic look in her Grandfather's eyes terrified her. "Okay, okay," she agreed quickly. She had to get out of here, something wasn't right, she needed to call Uncle David, she had to… she couldn't, she had to give her Grandfather a chance and they'd not even been together twenty-four hours.

Alan relaxed at Pepper's acceptance and smiled petting her head, "that's a good girl, my good little Peppermint."

Pepper gave a small shaky smile, "where's… where's my room?" She asked quietly.

Alan's eye twitched a little, "right, your room, yes, come on, I'll show you your room." He headed upstairs and went to his Pepper's room, standing in front of the closed door for a moment before he pushed it open. The room had become a shrine to his lost daughter, but he didn't need the shrine anymore, he had his daughter back.

Pepper felt herself relax a little when her Grandfather led upstairs, she'd changed foster homes enough to know the routine of settling into a new one. She stilled when she saw the room, there were pictures of her mother all over it, it was clearly her old room. She took a breath and relaxed, this was normal too, being told what places she wasn't allowed to go, this made sense. "It's okay I know, I won't go in here," she murmured softly.

"Don't be silly Peppermint, this is your room, of course you will go in here," Alan countered shaking his head.

Pepper felt a pit of dread open up in her tummy, this wasn't good, this really wasn't good. "But… um… can I decorate it differently, when I get my stuff?"

"No! No, nothing will change!" Alan barked furiously. "You will keep everything as it is, this is your stuff, that other stuff is all going to good will!"

Flashback over

Pepper sighed to herself, as she opened up her glove box and keyed in the pin to her locked security box inside the glove compartment. She took her main gun out and slid it into her main hip holster, followed by the second smaller gun she slid into the hidden holster on her ankle. She hadn't been naïve exactly, she had known it was all wrong, but she hadn't learnt to trust her instincts yet, she had been trying hard to push past them and give her biological Grandfather a chance.

Pepper knew now that her Grandfather just couldn't get over the trauma of losing his daughter and was trying to use her to take her place. Maybe if she'd been a little older and actually understood this, she might have even tried to do that, but she'd only been seven years old. Even at seven though she'd been smart enough to recognize that her Grandfather was unstable, something which got worse whenever he drank as he was an alcoholic who got nasty when he was drunk. She'd been extremely confused and warred deeply within herself, she'd wanted badly to contact David and to tell him what was going on, but she wanted to keep her promise to give him a chance even more.

Making things even more confusing for her when she was so young was the fact that it wasn't bad all the time. He was slightly unhinged when he was sober but sometimes, he seemed to be able to recognize that she wasn't her dead mother. She'd see the flicker of confusion and then understanding followed by a flash of pain when she did something that wasn't characteristic of her mother. He provided her a roof over her head and didn't starve her, she had clean clothes that were in good condition, by a lot of foster home standards she had it pretty good. The issue was when he got drunk, then he became… well, the only word for it was abusive.

Flashback

The abuse didn't start straight away, when he drank Alan would just cry a lot and occasionally throw empty bottles around, muttering about her not being his little Peppermint. Slowly though, things just seemed to get worse. The first time he'd shoved her Pepper had been ready to call Uncle David and tell him it wasn't working out. However, she could recognize that her Grandfather wasn't a bad person, he was just an alcoholic and depressed, plus she'd been through worse. When Uncle Jason made his fortnightly call to check on her Pepper found herself telling him everything was fine and trying to get off the phone quickly. She could see the pain in her Grandfather's eyes when she spoke to Uncle David and Uncle Jason and he always got really drunk after, so she tried to limit her time on the phone.

A little under a week after the phone conversation there was a knock on the door. Pepper was in the kitchen eating lunch, today was a rare, good day and her Grandfather hadn't started drinking yet.

Alan frowned but went to answer the door, surprised to see the smartly dressed woman stood in the doorway.

"Are you Alan Lee?" The woman demanded.

"Yes, who are you?" Alan answered a little warily.

"My name is Shelia Wenson. I'm a caseworker with CPS and as I was in the area, I figured I would get this welfare check off the to do list," Shelia explained.

"I'm sorry, why exactly are you here?" Alan questioned.

"We've had a request for a home check and welfare check for one Miss Pepper Lee who is your Granddaughter I believe?" Shelia clarified.

Alan frowned but stepped aside, "well you better come on in, Pepper is just having lunch in the kitchen. I can't think of who would have made a complaint, Pepper is completely fine and safe I assure you. Her safety and welfare are my top priorities."

Shelia smiled, "oh I'm sure it's just law enforcement paranoia, you work in certain environments long enough and everyone starts looking like a suspect. Honestly, you're considered a no-risk family member. I really did just happen to be in the area and have a spare five minutes between more important visits and thought might as well get this done. Between you and me, Mr. Rossi and Mr. Gideon can be a little pushy and the sooner we get this matter settled the better."

Pepper felt a faint stirring of hope when she heard the person at the door was a caseworker, maybe she could tell her what was going on? That was surely better than complaining to Uncle David, she could still say she'd given her Grandfather a chance, but a caseworker had decided this wasn't a good environment for her. Her hopes were dashed by the rest of what she heard; would she even be believed if she told the caseworker about her Grandfather's drinking? How did she even begin to explain that she didn't know why, but he just put her on edge a lot, she didn't even understand herself why even when he was sober, he felt slightly dangerous to her.

Had Shelia been open to the possibility of something being wrong here, she might have noticed Alan's slightly odd expressions, but she'd already made her decision and couldn't be bothered to properly investigate what she considered to be a baseless complaint. She followed the man into the kitchen and gave the child sat at the table a tight smile, "hello Pepper, my name is Miss Wenson, do you mind if I ask you some quick questions here?"

Pepper could tell instantly that this woman would not believe there was anything untoward going on here, even if she told the truth, she'd dismiss it. "No, I don't mind," she sighed.

"I'll just leave you too it then," Alan murmured.

"Oh no, no need, you can stay," Shelia assured him, "especially if it would make Pepper here feel more comfortable. It can be a bit scary talking to strangers, can't it?"

Pepper just stared blankly at the woman, waiting for her to ask her questions, if she was going to treat her like she was stupid then she had no time for her.

"Okay so, first things first I want you to know, you won't be in any trouble for anything you say here okay Sweetie. Now has anyone ever hurt you in this house?" Shelia asked, speaking like she was talking to a five-year-old.

Pepper had found it extremely hard to say things were fine when speaking to Uncle Jason, but it was easy to shake her head now, "no, no one has ever hurt me," she stated.

"Good," Shelia smiled, "and do you feel safe here?"

Pepper didn't, she hadn't felt safe since she'd first met her Grandfather, but she nodded, "yes, I feel safe here."

"Excellent, final question then I can get out of your hair, and you can get on with your day," Shelia gave a wink. "The reason I'm here is we had a Mr. Rossi and Mr. Gideon say they were worried about you. Do you know why they might have been worried about you?"

Pepper had to fight the urge to roll her eyes, though Miss Wenson's tone was light and seemingly friendly, she could tell she was trying to blame her for this.

Alan cleared his throat, "that might have been my fault," he confessed. "See, it really upsets me when they call, it's a horrible reminder of what my daughter, Pepper's mother, went through every time. Pepper doesn't like to stay on the phone with them for too long because it upsets me," he explained.

Shelia had turned to face Alan when he spoke, so she turned back to Pepper and gave her another forced smile, "is that true Pepper?"

This wasn't even technically a lie, at least not a full one, her Grandfather really did get upset when she was on the phone to Uncle Jason and Uncle David. "Yeah, I try to keep the conversations short," Pepper agreed.

Shelia beamed, "well mystery solved. We can consider this case closed, I can't see there being any follow up here, I'm completely satisfied that Pepper here is absolutely fine. I don't blame you at all for not wanting to talk to two adults you barely know Pepper, I'm sure you have lots more fun with other kids your age huh? I'll see myself out, so sorry to have disrupted your day."

Pepper watched as the caseworker left and her Grandfather immediately started drinking, her heart sinking down into her stomach. Her faith and trust in child protective services was destroyed, she left her half-eaten sandwich on the table and headed up to her room. If she stayed away until her Grandfather passed out, he would most likely leave her alone.

Pepper almost hadn't expected a phone call, but when the phone rang at its usual time, she had answered it hopefully. It was hard not to start crying when she heard Uncle David on the other end of the line. Even if she couldn't tell him anything real, it made her feel much safer knowing if things got worse, she could still tell Uncle David or Uncle Jason. After a brief talk about not very much she murmured goodbye and hung up the phone.

"What happened to my Pumpkin? What did my little Peppermint go through? I know you know," Alan demanded darkly.

Pepper almost jumped out of her skin, she whipped around and stared warily at her grandfather stood in the doorway. He had a half empty bottle of vodka in one hand, his eyes were glazed and not quite able to focus on her as he swayed slightly; he was drunk. She swallowed nervously, he was blocking her exit and too close for her comfort, "I don't know," she whispered.

"Yes, you do! Tell me! Tell me what happened to my little Peppermint!" Alan snarled, lunging forward threateningly

Pepper stepped back, wincing as her back met the wall, she was cornered and that was not a good thing. "She died giving birth to me, I don't know what happened to her, I don't know what he did to her," she insisted slightly frantically.

Alan took another deep swig from the bottle, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "He raped her, that's how you came to be. You killed my Peppermint," he accused.

Pepper flinched at the accusation, but fortunately she'd had enough therapy whilst with Julie and Richard to know this wasn't true. "I didn't kill her, I was just a baby, he killed her. I didn't ask to be born," she stated firmly.

Alan back handed Pepper across the face, hard, "YOU KILLED HER!" He roared.

Pepper clutched at her cheek, curling in on herself to try and protect herself from any further strikes. She didn't say anything, biting her lip hard to try and fight back the tears welling up in her eyes.

"You killed her," Alan muttered again before he stumbled away.

Pepper didn't move until she heard her Grandfather collapse into his usual armchair in the living room. She snatched the phone back up and was halfway through dialing Uncle Jason's number before she stopped. What could they do? The caseworker's words went round in her head, 'just law enforcement paranoia…' that's what it would be taken as. Would they even believe her? She'd been saying things were fine for so long now Uncle Jason had suggested maybe they should go to monthly phone calls, if she suddenly changed her story would they just think she was lying? She put the phone down and sunk down to the floor, burying her face in her arms and just cried. She was on her own and she couldn't even run away this time, not if she wanted to keep her promise.

Flashback over

Things had slowly gotten worse and worse until it finally got too much when he pinned her up against the wall and wrapped his hands around his neck. Even at only just over eight years old Pepper was able to recognize that things were escalating beyond her ability to deal with. She did consider phoning, but she'd been too worried that Uncle Jason and Uncle David would just call CPS again and she had no trust in them anymore. She knew it wasn't the right thing to do, she knew when she got there, she was going to get a spanking, but after her Grandfather dropped her off at school she hid and then fled. Running straight to the BAU headquarters in Quantico.

~o~

There you go, that was chapter three, Pepper just can't catch a break, can she? I'll see you next week for the next chapter. I hope you are enjoying this story, if you've got a spare couple minutes please drop a review and let me know your thoughts, reviews really make my day and motivate me to write more.