I started this story in my google docs a while ago. This fanfiction was inspired David Rossi's line, "He was left in a basket on the steps of the FBI." from season 4 episode 12
"Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most." -Buddha
Thirty year old David Rossi woke up at 7:00 am on a Saturday morning up to the voices of his children and foster children arguing.
"I can do it, Dee. I'm not a baby." He heard his five year old son Spencer Rossi insist
"Stay away from my Penny!" Said the voice of nine year old Jennifer Garcia over her twin sister Penelope's soft cries.
"I'm sorry, Jennifer." Sixteen year old Emily Prentiss' voice replied, "I'm sorry, Penelope. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."
David walked out of his room to find spilt milk on the kitchen floor, Jennifer hugging a crying Penelope, and now Emily Prentiss and thirteen year old Derek Rossi were arguing.
"What is going on out here?!" David asked in a firm voice
Emily stopped and turned to David, "Sorry for waking you, Mr. Rossi." She cowered slightly and then ran off to her room, closing the door behind her.
"Sorry papà." Derek apologized
"I'm sorry papà. I spilled." Spencer stated
David nodded, "It's okay, kids." Then he added, "Derek, help Spencer clean up the milk. And Spencer, let your brother pour the milk."
Derek and Spencer both nodded to their father.
David walked towards Jennifer and Penelope, "Hey Penelope, are you hurt? Can I see?"
Jennifer stood protectively in front of her younger twin, "Stay away from my sister. We don't need your help. I can take care of her." She takes Penelope's hand, "Come on, Penny. I'll help you. Just like always."
Penelope took Jennifer's hand as she sniffled, "Okay Jenny."
David gave a sigh. He headed to Emily's room and knocked on the door, "Emily, it's Dave. Can I come in?" There was no answer, so he knocked again.
"Emily?" David questioned before opening the door and noticing that Emily was gone and her window was wide open. He ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, "Oh Emily, where are you?"
David couldn't believe she had run again. This was the third time she ran in the five months she had been with him. He heads back out to the living room, a worried look on his face.
"What's wrong, Papà?" Derek asked as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Are Jennifer and Penelope okay?" He worried about the younger kids. He didn't worry about Emily. She had made it very clear that she didn't want to be worried about.
"It's Emily." David said, "She ran away. I'm going to go look for her. You're in charge, Derek." Then he added, "Please check on Jennifer and Penelope."
Derek nodded, "Okay Papà. I will."
David rushed out the front door and got into his car to drive around and look for Emily.
Meanwhile at the house with Derek and Spencer. The younger boy had a few questions for his big brother about Emily.
"Why does Emmy keep running away, bubba?" Spencer asked Derek, "We're not mean to her, and neither is Papà."
Derek sighed, "Emily has problems trusting people, Spence. It's nothing personal against us or Papà. She just needs help."
"Well Papà is trying to help her. Why won't she accept it?" Spencer wondered
"I don't know, Spence." Derek replied
Spencer gave a nod, "Okay bubba."
Meanwhile with David, he found Emily sitting on a park bench about ten blocks from his house. The park is across the street from the house where Emily lived with her parents. Her and her friend Matthew used to hang out every day after school.
David sat down next to Emily on the bench, "I knew I'd find you here."
Emily didn't say anything. She didn't even acknowledge him.
"You know, Emily, we've talked about this. You can't keep running. What happens if the time comes when you run away further then this bench and I can't find you? What happens if the police have to become involved? You are aware that if that happens DCPS could take you away from me." David informed the teen girl
Emily still didn't say anything. She didn't even look at him.
"Is that what you want? Is that what you are trying to do? Get taken away?" David asked
Emily just shrugged. It kind of was, but she wasn't going to admit it to his face.
"Come on, bellissimo." David urged, "Please talk to me."
Emily sighed and took a breath, "I'm sorry for running away. I just...I couldn't take it anymore though. All I do is mess up and I keep messing up. I didn't mean for Penelope to get hurt, but you know how she is. She likes to know everything about everyone."
David gave a nod, "Yes, she does. So tell me what happened?"
"She…um…she was snooping around in my stuff. I told her to stop because I had big kid stuff in it. Then Jennifer told me not to tell her sister what to do, so I backed off. The next thing I knew Penelope was crying while holding her finger, and my pocket knife was open and on the ground with drops of blood on it." Emily explained, "I didn't mean for her to get hurt. I'm sorry."
David took Emily's hands into his own as he looked into her eyes, "It's okay. I know you didn't mean for anything to happen, but why do you have a pocket knife anyway? Where did it come from?"
Emily swallowed, "Um I took it from my foster brother's room when I was thirteen. I took it for protection after…" She trailed off.
"After what, sweetheart?" David inquired
"It doesn't matter. Can we just go home now?" Emily changed the subject remembering that she couldn't talk about what had happened.
"Of course, but I will always be available to listen if you ever want to talk." David responded as they walked to his car
Emily nodded as she got into the backseat. David got into the driver's seat and drove back to his house, which he calls a mansion because of its large size.
That night when everyone is sleeping Jennifer wakes up to feel a wet bed. She feels her pants and they aren't wet. She touches her sister Penelope, who shares a bed with her, and she is wet. Penelope clothes are soaked and she is whimpering softly in her sleep.
"Penny?" Jennifer called to her sister, "Penny. Penny!"
Penelope jolted awake and turned to look at her sister, "What, Jenny?" She rubbed her eyes sleepily.
"You were having a nightmare, Penny." Jennifer replied, "Do you remember?"
Penelope shook her head. She jumped when she noticed that the bed was wet, and then she realized that her clothes were also soaked. She had sweat through them.
"It's okay, Penny." Jennifer soothed, "Come on, go change your clothes and I'll change the sheets."
Penelope nodded as she crawled out of bed. She looked in her drawer for a fresh change of pajamas.
Meanwhile Jennifer headed out to the hall to look for sheets in the linen closet. Unfortunately for Jennifer, she couldn't reach the shelf with the sheets and she didn't know what sheets to use for the bed. She tries to climb the shelves to reach the sheets, but she slips and falls. Being the light sleeper that Emily is, she wakes up hearing the noise and goes out into the hall to see what's going on.
"Hey Jennifer." Emily spoke softly, "What are you doing awake?"
Jennifer stood up quickly, "Nothing."
Emily gave her a look, "Really? Do you think I was born yesterday? Why are you looking in the linen closet?"
Jennifer took a breath, "Penny had a nightmare. The bed is wet. I need to change the sheets."
"And you can't reach." Emily concluded, "It's okay. I'll help you." She grabbed a pink and blue striped sheet set off the shelf and handed it to Jennifer, "Here you go. Would you like some help putting them on the bed? The fitted sheet can be a little tricky."
Jennifer shook her head, "No thank you. Thanks for the help though." She headed back inside her room and then closed the door.
Emily sighed softly. She felt bad for Jennifer. No nine year old should be that closed off. She stared at the closed door for a moment and then headed back inside of her own bedroom.
"Each of you has a purpose. It is different, it is distinct, it is divine." -Patricia T. Holland
Hope you enjoy. Comments are greatly appreciated.
What would you like to see happen next?