Mother's Day Surprise

Summary: All David Rossi wanted to do was surprise the woman he loves…

Quote Notei: Robert Burns originally said and John Steinbeck Converted it to English and many others have twisted and turned it so this is an always will be an approximate quote. Now that may be an oxymoron but if you do a search for it, you will see it can be said several ways as the Original translation of Burns words differ depending on where you see it.

Quote: The Best laid plans of Mice and Men often go astray and leave us naught but grief and pain for thoughts of promised joy,

A/N 1: Don't forget to visit the Rossi/Strauss Forum You give me fever at: forum/You-Give-Me-Fever/120042/ . As always feel free to take any and all ideals on there and use them in a fan fic. The more Strossi Fic the better.

A/N 2: Yeah I know it is nowhere near Mother's day but this fic took a bit. I originally had the ideal that this would be David would eventually get to have breakfast with his lover but Rossi just won't go up those stairs. I saw him trying to sneak out before entering the room but like I said, he just decided that the rest of what happened is too embarrassing to tell. I am hoping I can one day bribe him or her to let me know but they are being tight lipped about it. I promise though, If they ever decide to stop keeping it a state secret, I will do a sequel and share the adventure with you.

A/N 3: See end of Fic for A/N 4 and Disclaimer.

Mother's Day Surprise

He punched in the alarm code and slowly entered the house. He and his companions could hear music coming from the kitchen. They had been hoping to get there before she woke up and surprise her with breakfast but their mom was a morning person and had evidently beat them to the task. Oh well they would still surprise her with their visit as she didn't expect them for hours…

In Erin Strauss' kitchen the lone occupant was busy making breakfast. The radio was turned to a favorite station and everything was coming together swimmingly for the Mother's Day breakfast that was being prepared. There were fresh baked Cornetto, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, a western omelet, Blue Berry pancakes and a fresh fruit salad. If he had been fixing breakfast for only himself, David Rossi, would just be having coffee and a Cornetto but he had decided to surprise Erin with breakfast in bed.

The team hadn't gotten in until a few hours ago. Normally they would have stayed until morning and then would have flown back but JJ was anxious to be home with Will and Henry on this Mother's Day. Since the team was given the next two days off, Morgan and Reid had Garcia book them on an early flight so they could be with their mother's. Mama Morgan would be thrilled with her surprise. Derek was bringing Penelope home with him and she was wearing the engagement ring he had given her the day before they were called away on the last case. Blake was treating her mother to a spa day and Hotch was taking Jack to lay flowers on Hailey's grave and then they were taking Jessica out for lunch, an afternoon Pop's concert and Dinner to thank her for being there for Jack since her sister died.

As for himself, Dave planned to spend the morning with the woman he loved. Just because he wasn't the father of her children, he still lamented that to this day but, it was best not to dwell on that as today is supposed to be a happy occasion, didn't mean he couldn't celebrate the fact that she was a mother with her. If things went according to plan, she would still be asleep when he got upstairs to her room and he would quietly set the tray on the settee at the foot of the bed, walk over and lean down and gently kiss his sleeping beauty awake.

Next they'd have breakfast in bed, or maybe brunch if the kiss got too intense and led to other more pleasurable pursuits, and then they'd cuddle, maybe nap together or do whatever Erin wanted to do, since it was her day, until midafternoon. He would stay until about 3:00 pm as her kids weren't due to start arriving until 4pm, that way he would be gone before they got there if they were early. Erin had told him, she wanted to tell her kids about their relationship when they were all together this weekend and if things went okay, she wanted him to meet them before they left, on Tuesday. This was a big step forward in their relationship and what he hoped was her coming that much closer to agreeing to become the final Mrs. David Rossi.

While Erin was spending the rest of the day with her children, he would make the trek out to the Cemetery to visit his first wife Carolyn and his son James. The fact that James had only drawn breath for such a short period of time would always make this day, bittersweet for him. That was another thing he wouldn't let himself dwell on at this moment. He preferred to think of much happier thoughts like how happy his own Mother would be when he called her after she got out of church later on today. She'd probably lovingly scold him for the extravagant gift he included with the flowers that he was having delivered; He always ordered them in advance as he never knew if he would be in town or off on a case, but she was getting up in the years and he didn't know how many more Mother's Days he would have with her – so he was going to spoil her while he still could. He didn't think they were going to be able to wrap up the case in time for him to get home for the day with his mother so he had promised to come see her on their next weekend off. He had decided not to tell her that he was back in town when he called her this afternoon. He would make the forty-five minute drive to his parents' home and give his mother one more happy surprise for her big day.

David was so caught up in his thoughts that the profiler who usually had ears like a cat, failed to hear the footsteps of the three people who were doing their best to stealthily sneak up on the occupant of the kitchen. The crept to the kitchen door and the oldest one put her finger to her lips before holding up her fingers and giving a silent count down… 1…2…3… They all yelled surprise.

Rossi was surprised but the three Strauss children were even more surprised as it was not their mother standing in her kitchen but a man they had never met before. Dave had muttered a very colorful invective and was currently trying to figure out how he was going to wiggle out of this awkward situation without Erin killing him. When they surprised him he had been about to place the pan of hot Cornetti on the counter to cool. The pan clattered on the counter as Dave spun around while reaching for his gun. Recognizing the three shocked young adults standing just inside their mother's kitchen from their photos all over the house, Dave, re-snapped the holster on his gun. Erin definitely wouldn't have taken too kindly to him almost shooting her children.

The seasoned profiler knew he had to think quickly. Yet, for some reason, his brain decided to be uncooperative and all he managed to come up with was a rather sheepish, hi.

Erin's three children seemed to recover at about the same time and they started firing the obvious questions; "Who are you? What are you doing in my mother's home? Where is my mother?" Then before Rossi could answer, the youngest child seemed to hit on something and blurted out, "I know you".

Her sister and brother were stunned at this revelation and turned their heads toward their younger sibling asking: What? How? Of course the oldest seemed to think about the fact that she still didn't know who the stranger was in her mother's kitchen and quickly whipped her head back in his direction, in case he decided to try something as she was still deciding if the police would need to be called.

Erin's son was more interested in what his younger sister knew, as he didn't really think the stranger was there to harm their mother seeing as how he was in her kitchen dressed in an apron, singing along to the music of the Rat Pack. No this had the potential to be something juicy as he was starting to suspect their mother had a lover she hadn't told them about. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, and he would file father those away for later examination, since his mother seemed to not make the best choices when it came to men, their feelings being the perfect example. And should this stranger be there for nefarious reasons, well he was in for quite the surprise as he along with his sisters were black belts in several Martial Arts.

While all this was going on in his head, his little sister had started informing them of how she knew who Rossi was.

"While mother has never said they were friends, she did say they worked together in the past, when I asked her why she has all his books".

The other two siblings seemed to recall seeing his face on the book jacket of the collection that their mother kept on the bookshelf in her bedroom, where she kept all of her favorite selections. The oldest was starting to put two and two together and come up with four as she knew her mother read those books over and over again. She had asked her about it once and she stated that they relaxed her, which she thought was strange as they were true crime novels. Well, well, well… she thought internally, I never took my mother for a groupie.

David was flattered that Erin loved his work. She had told him that she read his books before and she had even said she thought they were good, but she never let on that she enjoyed his writing. He also knew that if he didn't hurry up and take charge of the situation that Erin would awaken and come down stairs and see him in her house with her children and he would be in the soup.

"As you have guessed, I am a friend of your mom's. What you may not know is that we are currently co-workers also. My name as I am sure you know from my books, is David Rossi. Your mother and I have known each other for years and… ". Here is where Dave started to Embellish the truth, "when I saw how disappointed she was that the three of you wouldn't be able to make it for your traditional Mother's day brunch, as you couldn't get into town until this evening, I decided to pay her back for all the years she has been there for me as a friend and surprise her with breakfast. I knew it couldn't make up for missing you but, I hoped she wouldn't be so sad." Dave mentally patted himself on the back, that's right Rossi, play on their emotions as a diversionary tactic. These were Erin Strauss's children, he should have known that wouldn't work.

"So what you are saying is that mom doesn't know you are here? How did you get in? Why shouldn't we call the police and have you arrested for breaking and entering"?

Dang it is too early for all this thought Dave as he was faced with the three who were doing a drop dead rendition of Erin when she was waiting for an answer she was sure she wasn't going to like. Well nothing to it but to bite the bullet.

"No your mother doesn't know I am here, hence the surprise part. No, I didn't break in, we have each other's security codes and spare keys in case of emergency". Okay that wasn't quite the truth, Rossi thought to himself as that is definitely not why he and Erin exchanged these things but he and the rest of the team did for those reasons and since Erin is the boss of the team, it was plausible, at least he hoped her children were buying it. Lastly, I was just trying to do something nice for your mother, but now that you are here, my services are no longer needed. So I am just going to get out of here", he made sure the stove was completely off and started taking off the apron as he was speaking. "The food is all done, and I know she would rather spend the day with you guys than me anyway so… you don't even have to mention to her I was here", he was praying they would go for this, "just let her think you guys made it for her", he said as he eased his way towards the door where they were standing "and I'll leave you to enjoy the day with your mother".

Erin's youngest put up a hand to stop him from advancing.

"Um, I don't thinks so".

The oldest decided to throw in, "beside as delicious as this smells, our mother would know we didn't cook it anyway. So you see Agent Rossi," Strauss' son took over the conversation, "you are going to just have to bite the bullet and own up to your actions". With that the children steered him back to the food he had prepared and helped him set up the tray for their mother. Dave had fixed a huge amount of food, on the theory that Erin could eat the left overs the next day so she didn't have to get up and cook for herself and her kids before she went to work the next day. Oh well he thought, the best laid plans…

The End

CMGUYSGIRL

A/N 4/Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN THE SHOW OR THE ACTORS as if I did, Strauss won't be dead, he death would be faked and She and Rossi would be getting to know each other in the Biblical Sense on screen. I know Season 9 is starting soon. Now I am not a big Blake fan, in fact she really hasn't added anything to the show in my opinion, as of yet. It has nothing to do with the actress but Blake just doesn't really show her emotions if that makes sense. The most animated I have seen her was when her husband surprised her at the door. I was like, there she is, that's a real person. I mean she has done some good things, and I was impressed with how she was able to sign with the guy who was hearing impaired in the Silencer but I hope in Season 9 she get comfortable enough with the team to relax. That said, I do wonder if they are going to make her a traitor to the team. See the Season 8 Finale let me with some questions. One, if the Replicator just started with the First Case Blake worked on and if it was in revenge for her being put on the team, then why was he following them at the end of Season 7? This is evidenced by the pictures from the bank Robbery in Hit and Run, the Season 7 Finale. Two: What was Blake doing when Reid was trying to reach her and she was not answering her phone? It was obviously long enough for them to get back to the hotel and Strauss to take a long bath (you know she lingered hoping Rossi would get there in time to join her after that blatant invitation she threw him)? Three: How did the Replicator get a copy of Strauss' room key? Four: When did Strauss and Blake make amends? Five: What made the connection that the Replicator only started Replicating cases during the First case she work all of a sudden dawn on Blake? Five: Why didn't Curtis set off the bomb when they rescued Blake? I may be a little off on the last one as I really don't want to watch the episode again but I remember thinking something strange about that. Six: Why did he take Blake? If he only wanted Revenge on Strauss and he had already killed her, it would seem like he had already reached his endgame. Seven: If he was getting back at Blake for accepting the position, then why didn't he just kill her? The team wouldn't have known she was dead until they were already in his trap. Eight: How did Curtis get a badge that allowed him access to Quantico and looked just like an FBI badge? Wouldn't his badge be different? Wouldn't the FBI security be able to spot a forgery? Nine: Doesn't Rossi keep his door locked when he leaves the office? Ten: What did Rossi and Morga do to him? Why did he set Rossi up to harm Morgan? Did he take Morgan's glass with this intention in the first place and don't they do security and background checks on the staff at those types of functions?

i .

The actual poem:

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
(The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!)

Robert Burns, To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785)
Scottish national poet (1759 - 1796)