"Did you hear the latest about Chief Strauss? Rumor has it, she's fallen back off the wagon. She was seen wobbling and weaving last week leaving her office." Rossi clenched his fists tightly as he listened to two members of another profiling team gossip about his lover. While he knew that she had been ill and that that had affected her balance these last few days, well, weeks really, if he was honest, he had no idea who was spreading these vicious rumors about her.
Looking around the room, he saw the small, knowing, smile on Blake's face and felt his jaw clench even tighter than his hands. He took a step forward when a small hand on his upper arm stopped him. "She's not worth it, David. I have some news for you, but I need to have you sitting down."
He felt his brow furrow as he took hold of her hand, leading her up to his office. Garcia peeked her head out her door, a wide smile on her face. "What does she know that I don't, honey?"
"Just hold your horses, okay?" Erin opened the door and stepped inside, making a beeline for his sofa. While she sat there, he took a good, long, look at her. There was a slight glow to her face and he felt a wave of understanding wash over him. Staggering over to her, he sat and reached out for her hand, clasping it tightly.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?" he whispered, looking into her deep blue eyes. She nodded and he felt the bottom of his stomach drop out as he gulped. "We're having a baby?"
Her eyes grew luminous as she smiled. "Yes, we are. I assumed that we'd be okay without using protection, since you said you'd be faithful, and we got tested. You have really strong sperm, I guess. I'm having a baby at fifty." The first few tears rolled down her cheeks and he reached up to wipe them away. "Will you tell me that everything is going to be okay? Because I am about five seconds away from breaking here."
"We're having a baby! Oh, cara, everything is going to be fucking perfect." He leaned in and kissed her passionately, his hand coming to rest on the small rise of her stomach. "How did I not see this? We've been making love for more than a year now. How far along do you think you are?"
"Maybe two months. It's the reason I've been so dizzy. I didn't put two and two together until I realized the nausea was occurring at the same time every morning. Are you okay with this?"
"I am more than okay. I'm going to be a dad!" He hugged her tightly, rubbing her back. "Can I tell the team?"
"Well, about that…I want remind Alex of her place. Nicely, mind you, but still, she has to know that there is only one top dog in this office, and that is her Section Chief. Will you gather everyone in the round room?"
"Of course I will, cara," he replied, kissing her once more before helping her to her feet. "We'll be there in five minutes." She nodded and stepped out of the office. Penelope seemed to have a sixth sense that something big was happening, and she stepped out of her office as well, a huge grin on her face. The two women talked lowly as they went to the round room, and he shook his head, the smile on his face growing as he went to Aaron's door.
Peeking in, he tried to school his features. "Erin wants to see us in the round room," he said. The man looked up at him, a slight frown on his lips.
"Is there another case so soon? I mean, we just finished the consult for Omaha this morning."
"No, I think she said that she had an announcement for us."
"Oh god, I can only imagine what this is about." Aaron stood and made his way over to Dave. "Do you have any idea what she's going to say?"
"Maybe." He was certain his grin would give him away and Aaron did look at him oddly. "But, you'll find out in about five minutes. I have to go round the others up."
"Let me do the honors." They stepped out into the bullpen and Hotch cleared his throat. The other four members of their team looked up and Rossi tried to tamp down his grin as they frowned. "Alpha, I need to see you all in the round room, please."
Turning on his heel, Hotch stalked over to the round room, Rossi hot at his heels. Slipping into the room behind his boss, he went over to Erin's side, pulling her away from Penelope to hold in his arms. The other woman swatted him on the arm, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey, I was the one who was with her when she found out! You should be nicer to me!"
"Found out what, Garcia?" Reid asked as he stepped in the door.
"Nothing, my sweet genius," she sang out, reaching for Erin's hand. This was something new, something Rossi hadn't noticed before, and it warmed his heart to know that finally, someone was reaching out to his girlfriend. "Where's everyone else?"
"Right here, Baby Girl. Are we going out on a new case?" Morgan asked when he saw that Erin was in the room with them.
"Nothing like that, Agent Morgan. Please, take a seat." He nodded and sat next to Reid, a thoughtful look on his face. JJ and Blake were the last ones in, and Blake closed the door behind them. "I'm glad to see you're all here. Alexandra, I believe that you have some news about me that you would like to share with the rest of Alpha?"
Rossi tightened his arm around his lover's waist and she looked up at him as Blake gaped at them. "Well, Blake, what do you have to tell us about Chief Strauss?" Hotch's voice was hard, as if he was beginning to have an inkling of what was about to go down.
The woman cleared her throat, trying to appear calm. "Well, she has been happier lately…"
"Oh, dearest Alexandra, that's not what you've been telling the others out in the bullpen. Haven't you been telling tales about my fall off the wagon? I still have ears and eyes everywhere, even if I have been a bit declawed by love."
The woman had the grace to blush bright red, something Rossi was surprised she could still do, and she looked up at Hotch pleadingly. "I wouldn't do anything like that, Aaron. Really, I wouldn't. Remember, we made amends in New York!"
"Somehow, I don't believe you, Blake. I'd heard those rumors starting to spring up myself, and wondered who had started them. Why would you do something so cruel?"
"It's no less cruel than what Erin did to me during the Amerithrax case. She threw Curtis and me under the bus."
"Professionally, Blake, she did what she had to. I would have done the same had I been in her place. You made a mistake, and she had to clean up after you. I've done that with countless agents, including some members of this team." Hotch's mouth had settled into a deep frown and Rossi knew that look. The man was extremely pissed off, and he did not envy Blake one bit.
"But, but…"
"But nothing, Blake. That was a really low blow to deal to Erin. I was the one who took her to rehab, and I saw the change in her when she got back to us. Yes, I know that she's been stumbling a little bit lately, but that doesn't automatically mean she's fallen off the wagon. For all you know, she could be ill."
Rossi heard his lover sigh a little over the passionate defense that Morgan gave her. "Thank you, Derek. And in a way, you're right. I am ill, or at least I am in the morning." JJ began to smile a little, looking at Erin's mid-section. "I haven't gone to the doctor yet, but all signs point to there being a new little Rossi entering the world in about thirty weeks."
Rossi rubbed her stomach gently. "We're extremely overjoyed by this recent turn of events," he said, hearing the tenderness he couldn't mask in his voice.
"And we'll thank you to quickly spread this rumor around the office. The Director has already approved our romance, so this won't affect anything in that regard. And, Alexandra, I would like to tell you something, personally. In the words of Penelope Garcia, you're my bitch now." Garcia giggled sweetly and stuck out her tongue slightly at Blake.
"I, well, Aaron, do something here!"
"I believe my boss has spoken, Blake." A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and Rossi smiled in return. "I'd count my lucky stars that she didn't go to the Director and ask for your immediate dismissal. This certainly warrants it."
"I don't believe this!"
"She warrants more loyalty than you," Morgan replied, smiling slightly at Erin. "She's proven herself to me, and Penelope."
"Thank you, Derek." Erin took a deep breath. "I think, for the next few months, I'd like to see all the reports completed by Agent Blake. Aaron, you've been working so hard lately, and you need a respite. Your family is so important to you."
Reid looked like he was going to protest the order when Morgan squeezed his shoulder tightly. "Sorry, kid. This time, we're closing rank around the pregnant lady." He nodded in faint agreement, looking apologetically at Blake. "And if anything should go wrong with the pregnancy, Blake, we'll know whose feet to lay it at."
Blake stood suddenly, glaring at him and Erin. "Fine, stick by her side! See if I care. She'll only end up treating you just as shabbily as she treated me." She rushed from the room, slamming the door behind her.
"I'll go after her," Reid said lowly. "She probably still likes me."
"Sounds good, Reid," Rossi said lowly, pulling Erin all the closer to his side.