Hi All. Welcome to chapter six 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~

Aaron had almost expected something to go wrong, but now it was happening, and Strauss apparently wasn't going to meddle. He was actually eager to see Pepper again, though it was going to be a little odd having her as a member of the team, it was hard to believe the little girl he'd met whilst he was still a trainee profiler was now a profiler herself. It was why he was so hesitant to accept Emily's position on the team, but she'd more than proven herself over the few cases she'd worked on with them. However, if her remaining with the team had cost Pepper her spot, he would have been sad to see her go, but Pepper was always going to be joining them.

Aaron had still been finding his feet as a profiler when David and Jason got a case regarding a missing and maybe abducted child. Missing children were pretty important cases, so he half expected to be left behind, ordered to look through more cold cases and work up some profiles, but David told him to grab his passport and go bag and he had. Jason had tested him on the protocols with missing children during the flight. The details of the case were sketchy, the local Sherriff had asked for their help and would fill them in fully there, all they knew was that a vulnerable child was missing and thought to be abducted.

When they'd arrived and Jason and David learnt it was a girl called Pepper that had gone missing and had apparently been missing for long past the forty-eight-hour mark Aaron could see how everything changed. He'd been slightly confused until David called headquarters and demanded to know if anyone had seen Pepper there, the penny had finally dropped then that the little girl that was missing was the same little girl who'd become like family to his two mentors.

Very quickly during the case though things had just not added up. Aaron had still been new at the whole profiling business but even he could tell they were being lied to.

Flashback

Everything about this house screamed opulence, but even Aaron's fledgling profiling skills could detect it was for show. Oliver and Victoria Venn presented themselves as kindly and generous people who were oh so worried about their missing youngest foster child, but it just didn't ring true. The three older girls' bedrooms had none of the markers of teen and preteen bedrooms and none of them seemed comfortable in the rooms. Oliver and Victoria wore expensive designer clothes, as did their biological son Paul, but the foster girls, Rebecca, Marianne, and Charlotte's clothes were simple, basic, second hand, purely perfunctory. He didn't know Pepper, but his two mentors did and neither of them seemed to believe the bedroom that they were told was Pepper's belonged to the missing child.

The two adults hovered around the three girls, trying to show themselves to be caring parental figures, but none of the girls seemed at all comfortable in their presence. Aaron knew how to pick up the signs of abuse, signs others might miss, this house, and the people in it, were screaming red flags to him. He might have had more experience of being on the receiving end of abuse, but he knew if he could tell it was here, then Jason and David could as well.

Aaron had watched, a silent observer whilst Jason Gideon questioned the three female foster children living in the house. All his suspicions were being confirmed, the lack of eye contact, the monotone responses, the identical stories, things were rotten in this house.

"Thank you for your cooperation, ladies. I hope you won't mind coming down to the station to give official statements?" Jason checked.

"Is that really necessary, these girls are distressed enough Agent Gideon, surely they don't need the trauma of that?" Victoria demanded.

"It'll be brief I promise, but every detail helps us to narrow down who could have taken Pepper and will help us find her and return her safely to you," Jason assured the woman.

Victoria looked rather like she was sucking on a lemon before giving in, "okay, come on girls, I'll take you down, get your shoes and coats on."

"It would be best if your husband and son accompanied us as well. That way we can get all of your statements done at one time and we can focus entirely on finding Pepper rather than having to chase down your statements," Jason insisted.

Aaron could see Jason was manipulating the woman, he could tell by the look of steel in his eyes that he didn't trust her, but his tone gave nothing away. He had to admit he was impressed by both Jason and David; they were extremely good at this, and he could only hope to be at least half as good as them one day.

They left the house and Aaron managed to hold his tongue just long enough to get into the car, "we're being lied to," he blurted out.

Jason nodded grimly, "what have you observed?" He queried.

Aaron gathered his thoughts for a moment before relaying them to his mentor; what he'd seen about the rooms, about Victoria and Oliver Venn, about Paul Venn, how the girls' stories were identical, indicating a well-practiced lie.

Jason gave a small nod of approval, "well done. When we get them to the station, I want to separate the girls from the Venns, and separate the boy from everyone too. There was something about the way he referred to them as his sisters that wasn't right, and all three girls were extremely uncomfortable in his presence."

Aaron hadn't seen that, but when he examined his memories, he realized his mentor was correct. He nodded in agreement, falling silent and letting his mentor think. He could tell Jason was beating himself up over this and wished there was something he could say to reassure his mentor. He knew Pepper's story; it was impossible not to know it in their office and he had a horrible feeling in his stomach that they weren't going to find the girl alive. He knew Jason would never forgive himself if they found her body, but all the statistics and data compiled by previous cases indicated they were not searching for an alive girl.

"She's a smart girl, a survivor, she'll have found a way," Jason muttered to himself.

Aaron knew the words weren't for him, so he didn't respond. However, the words made it clear that Jason was thinking similarly to him; if they did find Pepper, they were not going to find the nearly nine-year-old alive.

They got back to the station and got everyone separated just as David, who had been at the school talking to Pepper's teachers and Principal, arrived back.

David walked straight over to Jason and Aaron, "according to the school Victoria Venn called Pepper in sick on the Thursday and Friday," he informed his partner and protégé.

Aaron frowned, "but that doesn't add up with the Venns timeline at all, they said the other foster children told them she never made it home from school on Wednesday. Why did they phone her in sick if she hadn't made it home and they weren't even there?"

"We're being lied to, and we need to get to the truth. You're going to speak to the girls again Aaron, I have a feeling they might open up to you away from the foster parents," Jason instructed. "I'll be observing, but I think they might be more comfortable with just one person in there with them," he added.

David nodded, "I'm going to walk Pepper's route home, speak to any locals to see if we can get a timeline of her movements, see if anyone saw her or saw anything."

Aaron agreed to speak to the girls, hoping he wasn't about to let Jason or David down, he wanted to prove to them they were right to recruit him for this department and to teach him what they knew. He walked into the interrogation room where all three girls were waiting and just hoped he wasn't about to find out that Pepper was dead, killed by their foster parents, or perhaps even Paul Venn, and her body hidden somewhere.

Aaron sat down and regarded the three girls seriously, hoping to install just a little fear in them, but not so much that they didn't feel comfortable talking to him, just enough to encourage honesty. He didn't even have time to ask his first question before one of the girls spoke.

"If you promise we won't have to go back there we'll tell you everything," Rebecca, the eldest of the three girls, blurted out.

Aaron was slightly taken aback but not too surprised that Jason had been correct, the girls were happy to open up out of the presence of their foster parents. "If you tell me everything, I can promise you won't be going back there," he assured them. After all the pair would be under arrest for murder, or their son would, that would disqualify them from being foster parents.

The three girls shared a look before the two younger girls nodded at Rebecca.

Rebecca sighed, "we don't actually know what happened to Pepper, but Paul…" she started.

"He sexually assaults us!" Marianne hissed. Her parents had died two years ago but they'd loved her dearly, only the fact that neither of them had any family had led to her being in the foster system. She had tried to tell her caseworker about the treatment she got at the hands of the Venns, but her caseworker didn't listen to her and took the Venns' words over hers, which only led to more punishment.

Rebecca winced but nodded, "and we can't say anything or Mr. and Mrs. Venn, they'll punish us…" she confessed.

"They beat us, starve us, treat us like slaves," Marianne stated hotly.

"They beat Pepper a lot, she doesn't complain. Any time she does well in school they accuse her of cheating and beat her and she just takes it," Charlotte murmured softly.

"Paul's never been interested in Pepper before but recently he started. We were cleaning the house after school, and it was Pepper's turn to clean the bathrooms. He must have gone in to his with her because the next thing we know his bathroom door is bursting open and she's running through the house and Paul's on the floor with a broken nose," Rebecca explained. "She ran out of the house, and we've not seen her since, Mr. and Mrs. Venn were furious but expected her to come back," she added.

"I did, I ran once, I couldn't take it anymore, but I came back after a couple days, it was better than being homeless, but then it was winter when I left and it rained all the time," Marianne admitted. "Pepper's the smart one, running now when the weather is good, it won't be the rain forcing her back there," she conceded grudgingly.

This was not what Aaron had been expecting, but Pepper being a runaway shifted the odds dramatically in her favor and there was now a good chance they weren't looking for a dead body. However, it also lowered the chances of finding her, with her having run away it was unlikely they'd still want BAU involvement, there was no unsub to find. He needed to take this to Gideon and hope they could still have the Venns arrested for child abuse, though the girls would need to give formal statements about what happened to them.

Flashback Over

It had been more of a challenge than Aaron had expected to get the Sherriff to even agree to interview the girls about their treatment at the hands of the Venns. He'd been all set to sweep it all under the rug, the Venns were upstanding citizens in the local community, salt of the earth folk. Listening to the corroborating, honest, and emotional statements from each girl was a serious blow to the man. Especially when the girls detailed what seventeen-year-old Paul Venn would do to them, the man had to excuse himself when twelve-year-old Charlotte spoke of what he'd done to her and forced her to do to him. It was probably only that, and the fact that Jason and David were determined to stay and help with the search for Pepper anyway, that convinced the man he still needed the BAU's help.

Finally getting the full story from Paul Venn, his annoyed statement that he'd barely even touched her before she elbowed him in a very sensitive part of his anatomy before slamming her knee into his nose had confirmed the belief that Pepper had simply run away. All three Venns were arrested, and the three girls moved to other emergency foster placements, but still Pepper was missing.

Pepper's intelligence was working against them here, wherever she had run to, she'd managed to hide herself well, too well. Despite their exhaustive search efforts, the almost nine-year-old could not be found. They were all starting to worry, they couldn't continue the search efforts forever, not when she was a runaway and had not been taken against her will, but how long could an eight-year-old survive on her own?

They were starting to run into the real risk that the director would pull them off the case and they'd have to leave the search efforts when Pepper had shown up at the police station.

Flashback

The search efforts were getting a little desperate now, it was baffling to all of them how no one could have seen Pepper. The girl was smart, extremely so, but she did not have the experience to be truly street smart. How could she be living on the streets, yet not been seen by a single soul? They'd spoken to the small homeless community, showed her picture round, but the only homeless kids were a couple teens, and no one had recognized the picture. There was not a large enough homeless community here for the little girl to be amongst them but simply missed by those they spoke to. The suggestion currently floating around was that the child had left the city, but where she could have gone or be going was impossible to know. Pepper did have a history of running away, but it had always been to David and Jason, there was no indication she'd done the same this time, and that brought up other worries.

Running away across multiple state lines had always been dangerous, something Aaron knew David and Jason had both done their best to dissuade the child from doing. He was pretty sure if David's teaching methods were the same that he applied with him then the lesson had been learnt. However, the circumstances were clearly extenuating here and Pepper trying to run to the BAU and falling afoul of the serious danger such a venture held was looking more and more likely. The hope that had built when discovering Pepper had been alive and had left under her own power was rapidly dwindling, they had so many feelers out now that surely someone would have seen the little girl if she was alive.

No one was getting much sleep, Jason and David only returned to the hotel when they were too exhausted to search anymore and were the first back at the police station to hit a new search area. Though they were running out of those too, there was talk of getting the cadaver dogs to start searching. No one believed an eight-year-old could survive so long on her own without access to food, water, and shelter. It was possible she'd managed to find water and shelter, but there was hardly an abundance of locally grown food sources so the chances of her succumbing by now was high.

They were about to try a new identified search area, around the back of some farmlands when the station door opened. Aaron turned, mildly curious and stared shocked at the sight of none other than Pepper, looking no worse for the wear, even her clothes appeared clean. "Pepper? Pepper Lee?" He questioned.

At Aaron's question Jason and David looked up and turned, staring shocked at the little girl before David was crossing the room and tried to draw the little girl into his arms.

Pepper jerked back when David tried to hug her. "Is this true?" She demanded. She thrust yesterday's paper at him, the paper with the headline 'Victoria and Oliver Venn, Arrested On Charges of Child Abuse' in big bold letters.

It was a complete shock to the community that the utterly respectable Venns were abusing the children in their care. Everyone was saying the same thing about never having suspected anything and it being just such a shock. Some were even refusing to believe it, insisting that it must be some mistake, that the girls must be lying, they were after all foster children.

Aaron saw the flash of hurt Pepper's rejection of David caused his mentor just as he saw him try and hide it from the child.

"Yes bambina, it's true," David started.

"Don't call me that!" Pepper snapped.

"Okay Pepper, I'm sorry. Yes, it's true," David confirmed.

Aaron could see how much this cost the Italian and he wanted to give Pepper a shake, to tell her about how sick with worry both men had been about her. He had to be a professional though and he approached the pair, "where have you been Pepper, everyone has been rather worried, and we've had quite a few search parties out looking for you?"

Pepper looked Aaron up and down, trying to get the measure of him, "I found somewhere safe," she stated simply.

Jason came over then and Aaron could see how Pepper's expression darkened further and she turned from him, refusing to even look at the man. Rather than hurt appearing on Jason's face though Aaron saw a flash of guilt that Jason didn't even try and hide.

"Would you like to give a statement, detailing your treatment whilst with Victoria and Oliver Venn? It would add to their charges," Jason offered.

"I will, to him," Pepper agreed, jerking her chin in Aaron's direction.

Aaron nodded in agreement to the looks his mentors were sending him, "come along then Pepper, I hope you don't mind me calling you Pepper?" He walked along to one of the interrogation rooms, relieved slightly when Pepper's angry countenance dropped, once they were out of David and Jason's sight, revealing a little girl that was clearly hurting.

"Pepper's fine Sir," Pepper murmured politely.

"A… Aaron, you can call me Aaron Pepper," Aaron allowed. He had been about to introduce himself as Agent Hotchner, but something hadn't seemed right about that.

Pepper gave him a small smile and nodded, "okay Aaron," she agreed softly.

Collecting Pepper's statement revealed a lot about the little girl and Aaron understood why Jason and David were so fond of her. Despite what she'd been through she was still inherently good, but Aaron could see she had very little trust left for anybody else and that worried him. She was smart, that was undeniable, and he knew that she knew Jason and David were behind the glass as she directed a few of her answers to the one-way mirror. That these answers were delivered with such a hard, angry, edge only added to the theory that she knew.

"I wasn't planning on hitting him, though I knew it was wrong I was just going to take it, like everything else, but I kept seeing what my… what my father did to those girls in my head. I didn't think, I just reacted, putting my attacker down like they taught me. Then I just ran, I'd seen what happened when the other girls complained about what Paul did. I knew whatever they would do to me for actually daring to hit their precious son would make those beatings pale in comparison. I wasn't going to stick around. Then I couldn't go back. It already seemed possible that we might not survive the summer vacation, and I've seen someone beaten to death, I didn't want that to happen to me," Pepper finished.

Aaron finished writing up Pepper's statement and then slid it and the pen across the table for her to read and confirm it was all true, "if you agree with everything written you can sign it," he advised her.

Pepper read through everything, other than a few parts where Aaron had added clarity it was word for word what she had said, so she signed it and slid it back to him.

"Thank you, interview concluded at 8:07am," Aaron stated officially for the tape, turning the recording off. "You did really well Pepper, well done," he praised. He guided her out of the interrogation room.

David came out of the viewing room and looked at Pepper, his heart breaking for her, "why didn't you tell us, tell me Bam… Pepper?"

Pepper's eyes hardened and her jaw clenched but she just shrugged, "I've had worse. Besides everyone thought the Venns were beyond reproach, no one was going to believe me."

"I would have," David insisted.

Pepper stopped and whirled around to face him furiously, "and then what? Huh? You'd have swooped in and taken me away from there and then what? Abandoned me again? Insisted my caseworker find me somewhere else again and that's if she actually believes you in the first place. So please, forgive me when I ask, what good does that do me huh?"

David recoiled as if slapped and Aaron could see the guilt lash at Jason. He wanted to say something himself but wasn't sure what there was that could be said.

"Exactly, so save it, and spare me your pity, I think I've proven well enough I can take care of myself. I don't need you anymore, I don't want you in my life anymore, I'm better off on my own" Pepper insisted. She turned back then and walked stiffly down the hall.

"I'll call her caseworker," Jason sighed sadly, "can you keep an eye on her Aaron? As she still hasn't told us where she was hiding, we don't want to lose her again."

Aaron looked at David, wanting to give the man some assurances that the child didn't actually hate him, she was just hurt and using anger as a shield, but he was sure David already knew that. He simply nodded and caught up quickly with the little girl he could see was working hard not to start crying and he was truly concerned for her. She was pushing everyone away that cared about her, he recognized the signs. He'd had his little brother that he had to care for, Pepper didn't have anyone to stop her from shutting the world away.

Pepper slumped down in the first available seat in the waiting room forcing a blank look on her face, trying not to care. "I take it someone is calling my caseworker to come and pick me up?" She asked when Aaron's shadow fell upon her.

Aaron was about to confirm this but David, who he hadn't even realized had followed him, spoke.

"Pepper, you know if I could I'd become your foster father in a heartbeat, but even if I left the BAU today, they won't allow a single male to become your legal guardian," David tried.

Pepper opened her mouth to respond, but Aaron found himself interrupting her, "she can come and stay with Haley and me," he blurted out, surprising even himself. However, when he actually thought about it, it made sense, "even if it's just temporarily, until a more suitable permanent solution can be found," he clarified. "You wouldn't be hurt in our care, you'd be completely safe," he assured her. He currently had custody of his younger brother, so it made perfect sense, he and Haley were already registered as foster parents because of Sean and for Haley's sister's kids.

Flashback Over

It hadn't surprised Aaron that Pepper had taken a little persuading, she hadn't been trusting of the offer, but by the time her caseworker arrived she was, reluctantly, onboard. Having no better options, or really any other options at all, her caseworker had been more than happy to allow her to stay with himself and Haley and hadn't even asked Pepper her opinion, just saying she'd arrange to have her stuff forwarded to them.

Haley and Sean had taken well to Pepper, Aaron had even been a little envious of the easy sibling like relationship Pepper and Sean quickly developed. Having Sean and Pepper start high school together was definitely odd, but fortunately Sean had been very protective of Pepper and had looked out for her. Haley seemed to absolutely thrive looking after Pepper and Aaron knew now it was because his wife was simply meant to be a mother.

Aaron walked past Jason's office and paused, raising an eyebrow in askance, getting the nod in return he decided not to question any more. Jason had asked that should Pepper need any of the 'unconventional' discipline he be the one to handle it, and Aaron had agreed. It wouldn't be the first time he had Pepper over his knee, though it would be the first time since she'd become an adult. Whilst he had loathed being spanked by David and Jason when he'd been under their command, he couldn't help but agree that with a job like theirs, official reprimands were the wrong move. He would have lost his job a long time ago if David and Jason had written him up at every wrong move he made, and half the team would have been booted out of the FBI if he and Jason wrote them up for each mistake. Now with two very young Agents on the team, that really was more like a family, Aaron couldn't help but feel the familial ties were going to become even tighter. They might not have one drop of shared blood between them, but they relied on each other, spent enough time together, and knew each other so well, they were pretty much a family.

~o~

There you go, that was chapter six. I hope you liked the insight into Aaron's relationship with Pepper. 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.