Title: The Interrogation
By: snoozie2105
Pairing: JJ/Rossi
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Rating: G
Disclaimer: As ever, I do not have any claims to CM or its characters.
Author's note: My most sincere thanks to Annika for giving me this idea. I hope I've done it justice! Thanks to Michele also for reading a draft.
Summary: Anna Jareau Rossi is hot on the trail of an Easter chocolate thief ... will she get her Unsub?***
Four-year-old Anna Jareau Rossi scooted her folding step stool over to the kitchen counter and climbed up on it, looking for the brightly-colored box that held the last piece of her chocolate Easter bunny. Her mother had given her a piece earlier, after dinner, and now that she was in the shower, Anna thought she could grab the box, run up to her room and finish off the chocolate bunny in peace and quiet, savoring each nibble.
Her dark brown eyes lit upon the box, and she grabbed it quickly, knowing that she had to be fast if she was going to finish her bunny before Mama got out of the shower. She bit her lip in concentration as she was careful to not make any noise whatsoever. When her small fingers had opened the box and she reached her hand inside, her eyes grew wide in disbelief and her pink lips formed an O.
The last piece of her bunny was gone! Someone had eaten it! Someone had taken her last piece of chocolate with no remorse or guilt!
And she had a good idea of what that someone might be.
The empty box in hand, she stomped up the stairs to her father's study. "Daddy!" she yelled angrily at the top of her lungs. "Daddy!"
She took at his door until he turned around to look at her. "What's wrong, cara mia?"
"Don't pretend like you don't know." She put her hand on her hip, just like JJ did when she was mad, and glared at him.
Rossi bit back a laugh at the murderous look on his daughter's face. "I'm sorry, Anna, but I don't know what you're talking about."
"I. AM. TALKING. ABOUT. MY. BUNNY." As proof she held out the box, opened it, turned it upside down and shook it to prove that it was empty.
"What about your bunny?"
"It's gone! There was one piece of chocolate left, and I was going to eat it. It was mine!"
"But you had a piece after dinner. Mama might've eaten what was left."
Anna shook her head. Her mother loved her; her mother would never do such a terrible thing. "No. There's only one person who could've done this and lie about it so well."
"And who, Agent Rossi, do you think that would be?" he asked seriously. "Mudgie?"
"Mudgie doesn't eat chocolate – it's bad for him," she explained, seething. "It was you!"
"Me?"
"Yes, you!"
"Let's talk about this," he tried to reason with her. "What makes you think I ate the chocolate?"
She crossed the room in the biggest steps she could take her on her short legs and stood in front of him, just daring him to proclaim his innocence. "I'm the one asking the questions here, mister."
He held his hands up in surrender. "Of course. I'm sorry. Fire away."
She cocked her head to the side and tapped her chin with her pointer finger as she circled his desk chair slowly. "Let's see.... Mama didn't fix dessert tonight. You said you wanted something sweet. I watched cartoons while you and Mama cleaned up the kitchen. You came up here to work. Mama gave me a bath. Mama's in the shower now. No one can account for your whereabouts for the past hour. No one can give you an alibi."
"So that makes me guilty?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Guilty as sin."
"No one can place me at the scene of the crime or anywhere else – as you pointed out, I have no alibi. Do you have fingerprints? DNA evidence?"
"No," she snapped. "I don't need it. I know you're my UnSub."
"But you have no proof!"
"Oh, but you're wrong," she replied shortly, climbing up on his lap. She studied his face carefully and touched her finger to the corner of his mouth. "Exactly as I suspected. Chocolate. You didn't wipe your mouth."
"What?" He took her hand and look at her finger. Sure enough, there was a brown smudge that could only be chocolate.
"Don't deny it. This is all the proof I need to put you away for chocolate Easter bunny theft."
Rossi rubbed his face and sighed. "Okay, Agent Rossi. You've got me. I admit it. I ate the last piece of the chocolate. It looked so good, and I was so hungry ... do you think the judge will be lenient with me?"
"Not if I have anything to say about it. I'll come back for you when the judge gets out of the shower. Sit tight ... I'll be sitting outside the door in case you think about running."
***
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