So anything in italics is a flashback. Some of this might be a little confusing but I promise eventually everything will make sense. Sorry guys, no Spencer in this chapter but I promise he will be in the next one!
Chapter 6
Rossi's POV
A few days after getting back from their last case, David Rossi offered to accompany JJ on her next visit to the hospital. Will had finally woken up the day they returned and everyone on the team wanted to see him. Hotch had told JJ to take a few days off to help Will get out of the hospital and settle in to recovery and any therapy sessions he needed to do. Today is the date that Dr. Grant had told JJ she would discharge Will if he passed his last neurological exam. He had never actually met the doctor, but he was very eager to as he had heard amazing things from everyone else who had visited the hospital. Rossi was either busy with the case or his publisher but he figured they would need some help with this, whether it be physical or emotional support, so he offered since the rest of the team seemed to have plans today.
The two agents entered Will LaMontagne's hospital room to find him still asleep. JJ walked over to the chair by his window and began packing up the remaining items on the bedside table: a book, a case file, a tooth brush and tooth paste. Rossi sat in the chair by Will's bed and began checking his email on his phone. There was some junk mail and various messages from his newspaper subscription which he disregarded, however he did open the one from his publisher. The company was trying to get a book out of him about the Replicator, but he was not quite ready to return to that subject. Thinking about the case caused his mind to wander to Erin and he could feel his eyes get a little warm with tears. He blinked a few times to clear his mind, he would not cry here. It had been a few months, he was over it and would not let it affect him. You need to move on David, he thought to himself.
The sound of footsteps entering the room jolted him out of his thoughts. He turned to see a very young, very pretty girl walk into the room. She was wearing a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard, so she must be one of the doctor's. Maybe an intern? She was so young though. When she entered the room she glanced up from her clipboard and saw Will still asleep. The girl smiled and walked over to where JJ was on the opposite side of the room.
"Agent Jareau, would you like to come finish up the last of the discharge papers outside while we let your husband sleep?" The girl asked JJ.
"Of course, although I think Will has gotten enough sleep for the next year," JJ laughed as she started to head towards the door. The girl turned around to head out when she noticed Rossi sitting in the chair.
"Oh my gosh!" She jumped seeing the older man sitting quickly to the side. "I am so sorry sir, I did not see you sitting there. Wow you are really inconspicuous."
"Dr. Grant this is Agent David Rossi. He offered to help me get Will back home today," JJ laughed as she motioned to Rossi.
"Ah, this is the famous Dr. Grant. It is very nice to meet…" Rossi stopped when he finally got a good look at the girl's face. There was something about her face. The heart shape? The freckles? The eyes? He knew it from somewhere but he couldn't place it. This never happened to David Rossi. While he was no genius like Reid, he could always place a face or a name. It was part of his job after all. But this girl, this doctor. Rossi knew her from something long ago.
He stared into her eyes, those piercing blue eyes. They were haunted, sad eyes. They were searching his for something. They were the eyes of someone who had seen things they never should have. They were the eyes of someone knowledgeable far beyond their years. But above everything else, they were the eyes of someone he knew, someone who knew him. But he couldn't remember and it was killing him.
A girl sat on the floor outside the doors of the BAU. She leaned against the wall under the pictures of the fallen agents, her knees pulled up to her chest and head resting on top. Brown hair fell in a curtain around her face so no one could she the tears stream down her cheeks, but the shaking of her shoulders gave it away. Tiny hands gripped the plush arm of the toy bunny lying next to her. Agents were running around the hallway in a frenzy so no one noticed the devastated little girl who had seen too much. No one except Agent David Rossi. He walked from his desk inside the bullpen out to the girl who he had been searching for. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shaking shoulders.
"Rossi? Rossi? Dave!" JJ had clearly been saying his name for a while before he finally registered it. "Dave are you okay?" She shook his shoulder to get him out of whatever memory he was lost in.
"What? Oh, JJ, I'm sorry. It's very nice to meet you Dr. Grant. If you don't mind I need to get a drink of water. You two go finish up whatever paperwork you have and I'll get the rest of Will's things," Rossi quickly left the two women and headed for the bathroom. He had no idea what had just happened to him or what memory had suddenly popped into his head. One thing he was sure of was he needed to figure out how this girl was and why she caused him so much sadness.
Cat's POV
Cat had never thought she would see that man again. She had made a point to have no connection with anyone from her past. Michael had told her that almost all those agents had retired or transferred. She was sure helping the BAU would cause no accidental encounters with anyone she had made a point to avoid. But then why was David Rossi sitting in Detective LaMontagne's hospital room?
She was grateful Agent Rossi had not said anything. He seemed almost as shocked as she was, if not a little bit more confused. Maybe he didn't remember anything? That might be wishful thinking but she could hope, couldn't she? It had been years since the incident. And while she was grateful for everything that team of FBI agents had done for her, she wanted nothing to remind her of her past.
"It was nice to meet you too, Agent Rossi," Cat murmured as she watched Rossi rush to the bathroom. "Um, right out here to the nurses station, Agent Jareau."
"Alright, thank you. I am very sorry about that. Agent Rossi isn't usually like that, I'm not sure what came over him," JJ responded as she followed Cat to the desk outside the hospital room.
"It's okay, I've seen stranger things here, trust me," Cat laughed half-heartedly. "Can you get the last of the discharge paperwork and payment files for William LaMontagne, please?" Cat handed her clipboard to the nurse behind the desk and looked back into the room they had just come out of.
"Probably not as strange of things as we've seen on the job. There are some crazy people out there," JJ shook her head as she leaned on the desk counter.
"There sure are."
"How are you doing?" The man said as he put his arm around her shoulders. She looked up to see a man a little older than her father staring down at her. He had a dark beard and dark brown eyes. They were kind though, giving her the kindest look she had seen in the past few days. "I…I'm scared. I don't know where to go now." She sniffled, picking up Sprinkles the Bunny and using him to wipe her cheeks. "I have no one." Realizing how true the statement was made more tears come. The man pulled her close and stroked her hair with his other hand. "You have me. I won't let anything else happened to you." That statement meant more to her than the man ever realized.
"Here you go Dr. Grant," the voice of the nurse returning jolted her out of the memory. He held out the last of the paperwork and she took it, placing it on the desk counter.
"So I just need you to sign these last couple of pages and then your husband is free to go home. I have his schedule for checkups here; I want him to come in twice a month for six months just so I can check to make sure the healing process is going as it should and he is in no serious danger for bleeds or seizures. He shouldn't be but it is just a precaution I take with my patients. There are a few therapy sessions he should go to for the next nine weeks to make sure all of his motor functions are working but other than that he is perfectly fine to go back to work. And these are the papers to fill out for your insurance and anything not covered," Cat laid out the various sheets of paper for JJ and pointed to each in turn. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and laid in down. Looking up at the woman she smiled and said, "Now I hope I don't see you back in here at any point in the near future for anything other than those checkups."
JJ looked up at her, her eyes glistening and pulled Cat into a hug, "Thank you so much. I don't know what I would do without him"
Cat was still for a moment before returning the hug. "You are very welcome Agent Jareau."
JJ release Cat from the hug and began to fill out the paperwork. While she waited, Cat looked back into the room, eyes wandering to Will who had woken up and was talking to David Rossi. She moved her gaze over to David Rossi, who looked up at her and met her eyes with his. A knowing look passed between them and Cat worried if the older man had realize who she was. Fear passed over her face and she wondered if her secret was still safe.
