Unexpected Legacy [Criminal Minds]

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Even though Chief Strauss had left Agent Hotchner's office, Rowan knew that this meeting was not over. She could tell by both Agent Rossi's and Agent Hotchner's facial expressions that the ending was far from their grasp. They didn't need to answer her question for her to figure that out.

"There is... something more that we do need to discuss. Dave, can you get the door? The blinds too, please," Aaron requested. David did as he was asked while Aaron silently gestured for Rowan to take a seat.

"Is there something wrong, sir? I... I know that I'm not as qualified as you would prefer me to be, but I think we can agree that this decision is out of our hands." Rowan watched Aaron for any sign that there was hostility or distrust towards her, but he appeared to be holding something back. He looked uncomfortable - not distrustful.

That made Rowan uneasy. She was not sure why he was uncomfortable rather than annoyed at the situation, nor the reason he was not distrustful towards her.

"It isn't that there is something necessarily wrong," Aaron started to say, looking to David who gave him a look telling him to 'go on'. He sighed before continuing. "But there is something you need to know... about me."

Rowan shifted slightly in her seat, trying not to show that she was growing anxious, and therefore restless, at the change of the mood. She was trying to get a read on Aaron, to possibly try to predict what was wrong. She was failing to do just that.

"I have reason to believe... that you... are my daughter. The date of birth and your first and middle names matching being the two biggest reasons," Aaron said slowly, every word heavy with emotion that he couldn't place.

Rowan looked at him dumbfounded before swiveling to Agent Rossi and, again, back to Agent Hotchner. His tone was showing that he was serious about this and his expression made her realize that he was conflicted himself.

This was a very complicated emotion for Rowan to place. Her birth parents were not people that she had thought about often. Yes, she had been told that she had been adopted years ago, but the only question she asked her family was if they knew why she had been given up. She had been told that her birth parents had been teenagers. They were still in high school and not ready to raise a child. Rowan never asked about them after that and the topic about them never came up in conversation.

"When was I put up for adoption?" Rowan asked, her voice hollow. She knew this information and if Agent Hotchner could tell her the correct date, then that would solidify what he was saying to her. Though the fact that she even asked this question surprised her, just as much as it surprised Aaron.

"It was January 15th, 1986. You were nearly three months old," Aaron said quietly, looking down at his desk.

The dull ache in his chest had made a reappearance, and he was trying hard to keep his breathing steady. He remembered how heartbroken Haley had been when they had been given the ultimatum of either giving the baby up or having no support whatsoever and being shut out. They had been given three months to decide after she had been born.

"Do you ever think that fate is cruel?" Rowan whispered, knowing that he was right. Her family had celebrated her adoption day, which was the very day that Aaron had confirmed. She had also heard the pain and grief in his voice. That wasn't easy to fake.

But the idea that what she had done in her life, everything she had worked for, had led up to this moment. The fact that her superior agent - her new boss - was her birth father? It felt like an incredibly cruel act by whatever higher power that existed.

"Life is strange like that, kid. None of us could have predicted that this would ever happen," David said gently, sitting down in the chair beside Rowan. He could see the confusion in her expression, but he couldn't say that he could know what was going on inside her mind.