Hi All. Welcome to chapter four 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~

Jason sighed to himself as he worked through the basic profiles he'd been asked to compile for people. The cases weren't important enough for the whole team, but if it helped the local police find their unsub, he was willing to do it when they weren't busy with a case. He admittedly had a few mixed feelings about today, though he tried to convince himself it was purely to do with how it would affect the team dynamic, there was more to it than that.

Not that Jason's concern about how Pepper's joining the team would affect the team dynamic was completely baseless. Well, it was less about the team as a whole and more about one particular member of the team… Spencer. Jason wasn't sure if Spencer had ever come across someone who could rival him in intelligence, though Spencer had more degrees and Jason was pretty sure Spencer had a couple extra IQ points over Pepper, she could still give him a good run for his money. Jason knew Spencer was insecure and still felt the need to prove himself. The fact that Pepper had only needed exemptions because of her age and had aced the physical parts of the FBI qualifications, along with being right up there with him in terms of intelligence, would probably bruise his ego.

Jason hoped maybe he was worrying about nothing, maybe Pepper and Spencer would instantly click and become as thick as thieves. Pepper had certainly been a wonderful big sister to his son when he and his ex-wife became her foster parents.

Flashback

Jason was fighting a yawn as he almost stumbled back into headquarters, David would be okay, the doctors were able to stitch him up just fine. His longtime partner had even been charming the nurse that had come to check on him just before Jason left. As much as he wanted to go home and just pass out asleep in bed, there was paperwork to do and sometimes it genuinely felt like if the unsubs didn't kill, him the paperwork just might.

If it wasn't for the flash of very familiar bright red hair, Jason might have ignored the confrontation between the unfamiliar security guard and the child trying to get in through the visitor's entrance. However, he knew that hair. He sighed to himself, he and David had known something was going on with Pepper and her Grandfather, and it had to be pretty bad for her to be here. Unfortunately, that didn't excuse her running away, again, and as David wasn't here to deal with it, the responsibility fell to him. He cleared his throat, "Pepper Rosanne."

Pepper whirled around, sagging in relief when she saw Uncle Jason. She ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck when he picked her up on automatic, burying her face in his neck as the sense of peace and safety filled her.

Jason saw the bruise on Pepper's face and around her neck when she turned to him and he picked her up instantly, like he would his son if he'd come running to him.

The security guard was a little confused, "do you know this child?" He asked the agent. He'd only been working here a week, but a kid coming and demanding to see Special Agents Jason Gideon and David Rossi hadn't seemed right to him.

"Yes, this is Pepper Lee. If she comes here, she is to be taken straight to Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi or myself, if neither of us are available she should be taken to Senior Supervisory Special Agent Max Ryan, and we are to be contacted as soon as possible. Though these rules apply to anyone coming here and asking to see us, you bring them in and take them to see the person they have requested" Jason explained. The paperwork could wait he decided, Pepper was the greater concern right now. His wife was visiting her sister with his son, so his house was empty, he could take Pepper home with him now. "Come on Pepper, I'm going to take you home so we can talk," he sighed.

Pepper nodded in acceptance, trusting Uncle Jason would make things right.

Jason turned and went straight back to the car park, setting Pepper down in the back seat, "you know you're in trouble don't you Pepper?"

Pepper gave a small quick nod, yes, she knew that she knew the rule about running away, but she'd needed to see Uncle David and Uncle Jason.

Jason sighed to himself and got into the front seat, driving them both back to his home. It was empty, as he had expected, so he unlocked the door and ushered Pepper in, taking her through to the living room and sitting on the couch. "Come here little one," he called softly.

Pepper was silent on the ride home, finally just allowing the tension she'd been living with to bleed out of her, letting herself relax and trust that everything was going to be okay now. She trusted that she wouldn't have to go back and live with her Grandfather anymore, that Uncle Jason wouldn't allow her to live in an abusive home. When they got to the familiar house, she felt a sense of coming home again, she'd only stayed here for a couple of days before, but it was more a home than her Grandfather's house ever was. As soon as she was called over, she almost flew across the room and climbed up onto Uncle Jason's lap, burrowing herself into his chest.

Jason wrapped his arms around Pepper, tucking her head under his chin, and running his fingers through her hair. You didn't need to be a profiler to tell the poor child had been through it, again. Pepper just didn't seem to have any luck when it came to finding a good home. She was only eight years old, yet had already had a very hard life, she needed a safe and secure environment before she became jaded and closed off to the world. "How did this happen?" He murmured softly, lightly touching the bruise around her eye, and cupping her neck tenderly.

Pepper soaked in all the comfort she could from being in Uncle Jason's arms, "he hit me, s'not the first time, and he pinned me up against the wall by my neck, first time he did that."

Jason felt a flash of fury surge through him, and he had to push it back firmly before he could continue asking Pepper questions, "why didn't you tell Uncle David or me?"

"I wanted to give him a chance, like Uncle David told me too. He only hurt me when he was drunk. He missed my Mommy, I think… I think he wanted me to be just like her, because I look like her, and he didn't like it when I didn't act just like her," Pepper confessed.

Slowly, Jason was able to get the whole story from Pepper, he was furious at how his and David's real concern was handled by the caseworker and couldn't blame Pepper for losing her trust in CPS. She'd been badly let down by them, first in how she was removed from Julie and Richard's care, and then in how the visit was conducted. "You don't have to go back Little One, you can stay here again until they find a new foster family for you," he assured her. He was going to speak to his wife, see if she would be amenable to them becoming Pepper's foster parents, they would at least be a safe and secure environment for her. He didn't say this to Pepper though, not wanting to get her hopes up just in case Elaine didn't go for it, things hadn't been great between them lately, and he didn't want to put her in an awkward position.

Pepper felt like a huge weight had lifted off her when she finally told Uncle Jason everything. When he said she didn't have to go back and she could stay she just started crying in relief, though she knew he wouldn't send her back, having somewhere she already felt safe to stay was the final thing she needed.

Jason rocked and rubbed Pepper's back as she cried, letting her cry it out. He felt a little cruel, knowing he was going to make her cry again shortly, but she knew running away was wrong, she expected to be disciplined for it, to not do so now would give her the wrong message. He and David were her pillars of safety, security, and stability, if they started going back on promises, even ones involving punishment, it would damage her trust in them. He wished more than anything she was just a few years older, and her world was more secure, so he could make an exception, but it would just confuse her right now. Once she had stopped crying, he gently tilted her chin up to look at him again. "Listen to me Little One, what happened with that caseworker wasn't fair, however you still should have told Uncle David or me what was going on. You know we will always believe you and take you seriously," he scolded her lightly.

"I know, but I thought you'd just call CPS again and they'd just send her again. Things were getting worse and worse, and I just had to leave," Pepper insisted.

Jason nodded in understanding, "and you could have left, you could have gone to a neighbor, or the police and contacted us from there. If you told us everything, including how that caseworker had treated you and we would have made sure it was dealt with properly. You had other options besides running away to here, didn't you?"

Pepper squirmed uncomfortably, Uncle Jason wasn't wrong, she knew these things, but she wasn't keen on admitting to it.

"Pepper," Jason prompted warningly.

"Yes, Uncle Jason," Pepper gave in with a pout.

Jason didn't want to make Pepper feel if she genuinely had no other options she couldn't run away, he just wanted to make sure she only ran as a last resort. "And what did Uncle David tell you would happen if you ran away when there was another choice again?" He asked her.

Pepper wished she could look down at her lap, but Uncle Jason was still tilting her chin up to look at him. "A spanking on my b-bare bottom," she mumbled with a pout.

Jason knew this of course; he and David were on the same page when it came to little Pepper, "can you think of any reason why you shouldn't get your bare bottom spanked?" He was almost hoping she would come up with a reason, any reason, so he wouldn't have to do this when she'd already been through so much.

Pepper tried to come up a reason, any reason, but she knew she had broken the rules and she'd had other options. Reluctantly she shook her head, "n-no Uncle Jason," she whimpered.

Jason knew he had to do it now, she was brilliantly intelligent and very advanced in some ways, but in others she was far behind, and she just wouldn't understand extenuating circumstances right now. He lifted Pepper up and turned her over his lap, even now at eight she was still a tiny little thing, not that much bigger than his nearly four-year-old son. He flipped up the back of the skirt that even he could recognize was second hand and about a decade out of date if not more, it had probably belonged to her mother. He felt another flash of anger at Pepper's grandfather, he'd been trying to force Pepper to replace her mother and that was a burden no child needed. Pushing away the anger he tugged her panties down to her knees, at least these didn't look like they were from the late seventies. He rested his hand on her little cheeks and cleared his throat, "I'm going to spank you now," he warned firmly, "ready?"

Pepper squeaked as she was picked up and turned over Uncle Jason's knee, squirming to try and get in as comfortable position as she could. She let out a mewl of protest as her skirt was flipped up and her panties were pulled down. Uncle Jason asking if she was ready confused her for a second, "um maybe?"

Jason allowed himself half a smile at Pepper's response, only because she couldn't see, he couldn't fault her for honesty. Finally, he raised his hand and started bringing it down firmly over Pepper's little bottom.

Pepper yelped at the first swat and immediately began squirming and drumming her legs as she gripped onto Uncle Jason's pant leg to prevent herself from reaching back. It did not take long for tears to well up in her eyes and for those tears to start spilling down her cheeks.

Jason continued to bring his hand down over Pepper's little bottom, her cheeks were small enough that his hand covered both. He made sure to give plenty of swats to her little sit spots as well, knowing it would be a good reminder every time she sat down for a little while afterwards.

As the spanking just went on and the pain in her bottom built Pepper's tears shifted to crying and then to crying hard. She begged and pleaded and apologized over and over, kicking her legs hard and practically dancing over Uncle Jason's lap.

With Pepper now crying hard Jason decided it was nearly time to wrap up this spanking, he gave the back of her thighs a flurry of hard swats. Her cries tugged viciously at his heart strings, but he forced himself to continue. Running away across multiple state lines was just too dangerous for a little girl to be doing, anything could happen to her whilst she was running, and no one would know anything.

Pepper howled when the swats started on her thighs, her hard crying shifting into hysterical sobbing as her kicking and squirming started slowing.

Jason knew he could end the spanking now, so landed ten more hard swats to Pepper's cherry-red little sit spots before he stopped and scooped up the sobbing child, pulling her panties back up. He clutched her to his chest and cradled the back of her head, rocking them both and murmuring comforting nothings into her ear, letting her cry herself out.

Pepper clutched at Uncle Jason as soon as he picked her up, burying her face into his neck and sobbing her heart out. She was utterly exhausted from her emotional ordeal, from running away, and holding onto so much stress and fear for so long. Despite it not being that late she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open as her sobs slowed and started trailing off.

Jason wasn't surprised to find Pepper drifting off to sleep in his arms, it was a natural reaction to the emotional outpouring, and he imagined it had been a while since she'd slept well. He continued holding her, rocking, rubbing her back, and murmuring softly to her until she felt soft and heavy in his arms. He carefully carried her carefully upstairs to the spare bedroom, setting her down in the middle of the bed and covering her with a blanket. It was too early to actually let her sleep now but napping until dinner would do her the world of good.

Jason left Pepper napping and went back downstairs, first phoning his wife, explaining the situation, and asking her opinion on them becoming Pepper's foster parents. She didn't sound fully on board, but she agreed. With his wife's tentative agreement, Jason got to work talking with the caseworker and making it very clear that her Grandfather was not an appropriate guardian, letting them know everything Pepper had told him.

Flashback over

It had been a bit of a battle, but Jason kept his promise, Pepper never returned to the custody of her Grandfather. He'd been furious to discover that the man had thrown out all of Pepper's things forcing her to only use her mother's old things. He and David put together to get Pepper all her own things, it wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough for her to have a functional wardrobe and plenty of toys.

Pepper really went from strength to strength living with him in the Gideon home, she became quite attached to Steven, protective of him and acting as a really good older sister to him. She bonded even more closely with him, as they build a father daughter relationship. Things with Elaine weren't as good, but Jason made more of an effort than he usually did to spend time with his family, actively trying not to let his job come first. Slowly it even seemed that having Pepper around was actually helping to repair the damage in his relationship with his wife, at least for a while.

What happened next was entirely his fault, Jason knew that, if he could go back in time and change what happened he would have, no matter the cost. This job and family really didn't mix, and he admired Aaron for being able to hold down both, Haley was a truly rare creature in how accepting she was of how this job worked. He was pretty sure Elaine would have forgiven him for missing their anniversary after all it was just one of many events that he'd missed, it was missing their son's fourth birthday that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Flashback

There was always a level of satisfaction that came from catching the unsub with no complications. When the profile lead directly to the right suspect and they were able to nail the bastard to the wall. Jason really felt it was a job well done this time, and he was happy to take David up on his offer to bring everyone over to his for dinner. Despite almost living in each other's pocket on the job; before Pepper they hadn't spent any time together at all outside of work. Being Pepper's foster father meant he was seeing a lot more of his partner and that was bringing the two of them much closer.

Getting back to headquarters, and the seemingly never-ending pile of paperwork, Jason split the pile with David with a shared grimace and then sat down in the cubicle. He knew he was putting off going home, the argument he and Elaine had was still bothering him. He felt awful about missing Steven's fourth birthday, but they'd had a case. Elaine's scathing reminder of his promise not to miss anything important for Steven stung, but what could he do? He pushed the thoughts aside and focused on getting the paperwork done, if he could get this done then he could spend the next couple days focusing purely on his family and making it up to Steven.

Jason heard David's phone ring and looked over at his partner as he answered the call, hoping they weren't about to be called out to another case.

David groaned as he answered the phone, the case hadn't been too rough, but they'd just got back, "David Rossi, how can I help you?"

Jason couldn't hear who it was on the other end of the line, but he watched David's expression shift from warily resigned to shocked and confused.

"Bella bambina, calm down please bambina, I cannot understand you," David urged.

Jason felt a wave of dread and fear wash over him, the only person he knew David called bambina was Pepper and he couldn't think of any good reason for Pepper to be calling David in distress. He grabbed his own phone and tried to call Elaine, praying she would pick up.

"What do you mean? Where are you? Are you safe?" David asked in a rush.

Jason listened with one ear to David whilst the phone rang without being picked up. Had something happened to his wife, to his son? Pepper was obviously somewhere safe enough if she could call, but why wasn't she with his wife and son.

David covered the mouthpiece of the phone, "get home Jason, Elaine's fine but I think she's going to leave you," he warned.

Jason dropped everything and ran, sprinting out of the building and into the garage, borrowing one of the cars so he could use the siren. It was a huge misuse of equipment, but he needed to get home before Elaine was gone. He had his foot almost flat on the accelerator, but even as he approached the house, he knew he was too late. Elaine's car wasn't there, the curtains were open but there were no lights on. Denial forced him forward as he screeched the car to a stop and threw himself out of the passenger seat, running up the path and trying to open the locked door. Scrabbling for the hidden spare key to unlock the door and rushing inside.

The house was empty, even as Jason took the stairs two at a time to get up, calling for Elaine and Steven. He barely glanced into his son's empty bedroom, all his toys and things gone, still not wanting to believe it, but his wife's wedding and engagement rings left on top of a folded over letter on their bed forced reality to hit him.

Jason moved like a zombie as he all but collapsed onto the bed, picking up the rings and clutching them in his hand. With his other he unfolded the letter, his heart breaking when he could see evidence of her tears on it.

Dear Jason,

I need you to know I never wanted to do this, but as much as it breaks my heart to sit and write this, I know I have to, for our son. I long ago accepted the fact that your job took you away from me, the missed birthdays and anniversaries became normal to me, it was just part of being an FBI wife. However, you promised Steven, and me, that he would always come first, yet time and time again you let us down, let him down. You broke his little heart when you weren't here for his birthday. He's only just four years old, he doesn't even know about the evils of the world you're out there putting away, all that matters to him is that his Daddy wasn't there.

You aren't a bad man Jason, I know this, and when you're actually here, you aren't a bad father either. That would actually make this so much easier, if you were just a bad person, but you're not, you're good, one of the best, you are kind, caring, patient, and passionate about doing the right thing. I think that's the problem, you're so devoted to your job, to the good you see that you do with your work, that you prioritize that above everything else… including us.

I was okay with this life, it hurt spending anniversaries alone, missing you on my birthday, always coming in second, but I won't put my son through this. He shouldn't have to feel that your job is more important than him, so we're going. Please, don't follow me and don't make this hard. I'll be contacting a divorce lawyer and I suggest you do the same. You can come see Steven whenever you want, I won't stop you from seeing him. You can keep the cabin, but I think it's best if we sell this house, there's too many sad memories for me.

I've terminated Pepper's placement here with Child Protective Services, maybe you can figure out a way she can stay your foster child, but I only agreed as I really thought it would mean you'd be home more. I'm a little ashamed to admit it actually hurts that I was wrong about that.

Elaine

Jason's heart shattered as he read the letter and tears ran down his cheeks. He wanted to ignore his wife's wishes and hunt high and low for her and his son, but even if he promised to do better, he knew it would be a promise he wouldn't be able to keep.

Flashback over

Unsurprisingly being abandoned like this hurt Pepper a lot, and Jason knew she quite rightly blamed him for it. It was his fault after all. Though he was pretty sure she had forgiven him now, forgave him a while ago, they were never able to get back that father daughter like relationship they'd been building. Her trust in him was not just broken but completely shattered and that was on him. It only got worse when her caseworker wouldn't allow her to stay with just him, and when she'd pleaded with David to let her stay with him and he'd had to refuse too Jason worried that they'd lost her.

David had still made an effort to keep up with Pepper, despite the fact that she refused both of their phone calls, he still contacted her caseworker to keep tabs on her. Jason hadn't been able to bring himself to do so.

Things had since gotten a lot better, and Jason wasn't worried about her interacting with him on the team, he knew he could trust her to listen to him and to serve as an invaluable part of the team. No, his only worry was how she and Spencer would get on. He'd already discussed how the off the books team discipline would work with Aaron, he would still handle Spencer, as he always did, but Aaron would handle any discipline Pepper needed, Aaron hadn't let Pepper down the way he had after all.

~o~

There you go, that was chapter four. I hope you liked the insight into Jason's relationship and history with Pepper and I'll see you next week for the next chapter. Drop a review and let me know your thoughts, reviews really make my day and motivate me to write more.