A/N: I don't own Criminal Minds. But I wish I did. Sorry Erica, I'm just playing with Erin and Dave. Anyways, I thought of this while listening to Meatloaf on the way home from work. It's pre-show, so maybe 2001-2002 Erin Strauss and David Rossi. I tried to put some back story into it to make it less confusing. It's a song fic from Meatloaf's "I'm Gonna Love Her For Both of Us."
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I can't stand to see it no more, the way you're living with a goddess but you treat her like a slave, and you can't hold her back anymore, she's like a dreamer in a dungeon or an angel in a cave.
Dave, dressed in an Armani suit and way-too-expensive Italian shoes, watched as Erin Strauss lightly smiled making small talk with her estranged husband's friends.
They were at a state department dinner. Dave and Erin had some passion back in the 80s when they were both in the Academy. Three wives later, Dave was escorting a friend to this ball. Erin quickly married Michael Strauss and within six months pregnant with Amelia.
She tried to save her marriage with the birth of Issac and then was surprised when Jayne Lynn came around. Since Jayne Lynn's birth, nearly 5 years ago, Michael and Erin have split up, living in separate apartments but trading weeks in the home in Manassas, Virginia.
Dave and Erin haven't seen each other in 20 years. And for both of their sakes it was a good thing. D.C. was a big place but people tend to run in the same circles. When she walked in in the pale blue dress, her golden locks swept up framing her face, he immediately watched her throughout the evening.
Hiding being a glass of Isle of Jura scotch, Dave watched Erin be manhandled and pushed around being introduced to people she had no care to meet.
And I've been closer to you now than any other boy, and you know that what I'm saying is true; You're gonna break her up and tear her down and fade her away and then there's no telling what I'm gonna do. I'll make you pay for everything that you do
Erin turned her body toward the bar and immediately regretted the decision. She gasped as she saw an older but more well defined David Rossi smirking right at her.
Michael came up and gripped Erin's wrist. She turned, her mouth forming a thin line as she was not happy with him. Everything to the Strauss' was prestige. Erin was class, Michael was rich. Their marriage hallow but no one had the energy to officially end it. In return, the couple would make appearances together every so often.
A pin-thin department floozy gathered Michael's attention just enough to Erin to make a beeline to the bar.
But if you give me your girl, and then you give me your trust, and if you give me till the end of the night, I'm gonna love her for both of us, I'm gonna give her everything you always wanted to give
"Gin martini, dry, very very dirty, three olives," she said as she stood ramrod straight next to Dave. She sipped her martini before facing him directly. "David Rossi."
Blush came across her face, making her the most beautiful woman in the room, Dave thought.
"Erin Strauss." He deadpanned. "Fancy seeing you here." His reply cut into the night like a steak knife.
She sighed, steadied herself against the bar and nodded slightly. "Michael was promoted." To anyone else, she sounded like a happy wife.
Erin had quit the FBI after three years because Michael was a head lawyer well on his way to making partner. Dave had retired after 20 years to write books. When Erin's life finally settled into a semi-routine, she took a desk job within the bureau.
A few years later, another go at the Academy (at 30, which she would tell you was not the smartest thing) and Erin was a field agent. It wasn't until recently Dave heard through the grapevine (aka ex-protégé Aaron Hotchner) that Erin had finally made section chief.
"You're back at the bureau." Dave said matter-of-factly. It wasn't a question. He knew. She nodded. "Good for you. Have at 'em." A seat emptied and Erin took it; if they were going to be lonely souls, it was good they be lonely souls together and catch up.
I'm gonna take her every moment that she wanted to live, I'll let her shine like a jewel in the crown of the holy sun, You turned her into a ghost but she'll be burning when the night is done, You gotta give me your girl and your trust, I'm gonna love her for both of us.
Two martinis later and a drunk Erin was now sitting precariously close to Dave, who had switched to water. She wavered unsteady even sitting.
"I hate Michael." She blurted out, low enough for just Dave to hear. "Rossi, I hate him." Dave knew why she did but why was she telling him now.
Strains of Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me" piped through the ballroom. It was now or never for Dave. He had always loved Erin, ever since their days in the Academy, when her hair was much longer and she was curvier thanks to the pushups, jumping jacks and spiders.
"Care to dance, Erin?" Dave asked getting off the chair and holding his hand out. She looked over his shoulder for any chance of the man she came with and when she couldn't spot him, she nodded and let him lead her.
In his arms, she felt like she was floating. His hand against her mid back, holding her close, she laid her head on his chest. Tears sprung to her face, but she did everything in her power to hold them back. She hadn't felt this tipsy, this good, this anything in years. A fact that would appall Dave, if she ever told him.
You can't hide away anymore, you had a chance but you blew it and you'll never get it back, And your holiness was never so pure, She needs a fire in the heart and not a stabbing in the back
Michael spots Erin cozying up to David Rossi. He knew Rossi, he knew Rossi's agenda, even if Erin never saw it. Rossi had the Lothario reputation all across D.C. and it didn't surprise Michael that he showed up with some state department intern.
For all Michael knew, Dave would do anything to get into a party and schmooze. It's how he got away with the 20 years and retirement and then the bureau allowing him to write about his time. Dave knew how to kiss ass.
"Erin," Michael whispered as he stride heavy footfalls across the dance floor to where the pair were making circles to another soft song. "Erin." Her head picked up from Dave's chest so fast, she swore she had whiplash. "What do you think you're doing?" Michael spat at her.
"Enjoying company," she replied a smile crossing her face. A true smile, Dave mentally noted, as the joy reached her eyes.
Michael took her from Dave's hands and pulled her to the doors, outside the hall. Her high heeled Jimmy Choos pounding on the marble of the Hay-Adams hotel. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Reconnecting with a former colleague?" She responded straightening her shoulders. Unconsciously, she played her with engagement ring between her fingers. Truthfully, Erin hated wearing it, but she slid the cold bands on her warm fingers for the evening.
"I don't think so, Erin," he told her, his teeth gritting. "C'mon Erin, we're here together. You make me look good."
Dave rushed through the crowd of people and stood at a far enough position to not cause disruption. People tried not to stare as they went about their daily routines.
When the screws are tightnin' and the tears are falling, I can hear her crying out to be saved, And like a bolt of lightning I go answer the call, But she's singing like a siren to me over the waves, I never wanted to take away your lover, Until I heard her crying out to be saved.
Michael grabbed Erin again and led her to the coat check of the hotel.
"No," she responded. "I'll go home some other way, Michael." She tried and the harder she pleaded, the louder she got. As much as she didn't want to come to the party, it was turning out to be an okay evening, especially with David Rossi and his white knight.
"The hell you will, Erin," he retorted before throwing her beige wool long coat at her. "You come with me, you leave with me."
Dave had seen enough and watched enough of Michael talking down to his classy, prestigious, ex-wife.
"Erin," Dave said catching her attention. "Erin."
"Don't pay attention," Michael told her and kept them both walking.
Dave picked up his strides across the lobby and met them at the hotel valet.
"She's an adult woman, Michael," Dave said balling his fists up. "She can make her own decisions. You don't own her." Erin stood off to the side, the tears from the dance with Dave now making their presence known.
"She's my wife," Michael said as though that made him her keeper.
I always thought of you as one of my brothers, But she's singing like a siren to me over the waves, Singing like a siren to me over the waves, There ain't no holding me down!
It took a split second and Dave's right fist came against Michael's face. Her gasp and scream brought Dave from his trance. The Italian gentleman wanted to pummel the German state department head so bad.
"Get me cops," Michael shouted to the stunned valet. "I need a medic." Michael's nose was bleeding a heavy stream of red blood. "You fuck."
"You deserved it," Dave told him. He hated the fact he was now going to be interrogated by his fellow brotherhood, possibly lodged in jail, but Michael Strauss had it coming. In Dave's life, a man never owned a women, just because he put a ring on her finger. A man never owned a woman period.
Erin quickly rushed to Dave's side checking his fist for any marks or scars. She saw a bit of a red mark on Dave's knuckles and drew it up to her lips. It may have been a snowy February but the heat surrounding Erin and Dave in that moment was like the sun shining on them. Even Dave shivered with her warm breath on his hand.
"I'm sorry," Dave said before sitting on the curb.
The cops pulled up and so did an ambulance team. Michael had since made the bleeding stop with help from the hospitality staff, but the medics took him anyway.
"Will there be charges filed?" The police asked Michael.
"Yes." He said as he was put on a stretcher.
"Oh hell no there won't be," Erin said from her position on the curb next to Dave. "No one files anything." Rooting through her pearl colored clutch, Erin found her FBI badge and handed it over to the officer. "It was a misunderstanding, he's my husband. Everyone is okay."
"File charges against the ass, officer. He assaulted a state department member." Michael was shouting animatedly while being tended too by two paramedics.
The officer wrote some notes, including Erin's badge number and gave the okay to send Michael away.
"Your coming, Erin." Michael yelled as he was put into the back of the ambulance.
Slowly wrapping her hands around Dave, Erin shook her head.
"No, I'm not. Don't call me when you're done." She yelled as the doors were closed and she walked hand and hand back in the ball room with one David Rossi.
I'm gonna love her for both of us, I'm gonna love her for both of us; Gonna give her everything you always wanted to give.
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A/N: Comments and ideas appreciated :-).