Love's just another drug I have grown a victim to.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

DALLIS COHEN WAS A rough-at-the edges kind of woman. A woman with a whole lot to prove; to the world, to the ghosts forever haunting her, to herself. She was born to parents destined to fail her, forced by nature to forge herself from the scraps that remained of them. It used to plague her, back when making a name that was solely her own seemed impossible. Acceptance was a bittersweet pill to swallow. The fact that her parents were far from perfect, that she could never be enough but somehow loved them anyway created this chasm of insecurities she was only just beginning to overthrow when she joined the BAU.

David Rossi wasn't looking for an everlasting kind of love. After three failed marriages, he had decided that romance just wasn't part of the plan, and he was more than fine with that. Returning to the BAU really shouldn't have changed so much. There was definitely an adjustment period; working in a team like this was foreign territory, but he got around it. In the process, there was one who caught his eye. She was a bit younger than him -- give or take sixteen years -- but she was beautiful and strong-spirited, and she knew what she wanted out of life. By some curse (or, just maybe, a miracle?) she'd decided he was part of her plan.

On paper, neither of them were made for the other. Both knew firsthand that relationships crashed and burned at the best of times. For once, they thought it was worth it, foolishly so. But throw in a job where lives were risked and two opposing paths pulled them apart, a happy ending seemed far from promising. It was the ache that kept them coming back. The truth in every moment; that in another life, things would be different.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

( TRUST FALL )

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

STARRING. . .

RILEY KEOUGH
as DALLIS COHEN
❝Dallas? I was born in Michigan...❞

JOE MANTEGNA
as DAVID ROSSI
❝You do know how to infuriate me.❞

FEATURING. . .

young!skeet ulrich as jackson 'jacks' kelly †

tilda swinton as hope larsson-cohen

jeffery dean morgan as anthony cohen

josh whitehouse as austin cohen

melissa o'neil as mei chau

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. All rights belong to CBS and their series. I only own my original characters, as listed above, and any plotlines you're unable to recognise.

Trigger Warnings: violence, murder/death, stalking, ptsd, sexual themes, mentions of drug use, mentions of sexual assault, suicide, basically all the other themes of criminal minds

Dedications!

obliviates -trojanwar pillowzzzzzzzzz -eddiemunsons robbstark_ euphternal misshiraethsworld laevinics

Author's Note!

Okay, I think it's safe to say I'm deep in a Criminal Minds rabbit hole right now lol. This is the second of many fics to come so pls prepare yourselves. Also, I'm going to state this now so it doesn't come up in the comments of every chapter I post (here's hoping) ― yes, there is an age gap between Dallis and Rossi of sixteen years. If you don't feel comfortable, please don't read but my aim is to portray (and normalise) a healthy age gap between two consenting adults. I'm going to put the ages of every character below for reference but Dallis is already in her thirties when she meets Rossi. She's capable of making her own decisions.

Now, with that out of the way, please do let me know what you think of the summary and here's those ages as of the start of the series:

Dallis ― thirty-five
Rossi ― fifty-one
Jackson ― died at thirty-four (would be sixty-five)
Hope ― fifty-eight
Anthony ― sixty-two
Austin ― thirty-three
Mei ― thirty-six