Saving Grace

Erin opened the door to the hotel room expecting to find David on the other side. Or at least room service. They always took so long. Instead she was met by an unknown face. "Can I help you?"

He was short, stocky man. Fifties. "Don't you recognize me, Erin?" The voice rang through her ears but she couldn't place the face.

"I know you, Erin." he said. "I know you very well."

"I'm sorry." she apologized.

"We worked together." he dropped another hint. "It was a while ago."

"I've worked with many people…"

"Ahh, but you didn't just work with me." he smirked. "You screwed me over."

Erin opened her mouth but he cut her off.

"I was on the Amerithax case." he paused, hoping to spark something in her memory. But instead all he saw was a shake of her head. "Still don't remember me?"

Erin felt herself backing up into the room, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. "What do you want?"

He chuckled. "You should know the answer to that." he quickly shoved her inside and closed the door behind them. "I want you to pay for everything you did to me."

/

David had called her at least a half a dozen times. He left two voicemails and sent several text messages. Something was off. It wasn't like Erin to just not answer her phone. He could feel it in his blood. Something was wrong.

"Everyone is accounted for." Hotchner told him. "Let's go up and see if Erin is in her room."

"Something's not right."

"Her phone just could have died." he tried to calm his friend down. "I'm sure she's up there."

When they reached the fourth floor David swiped the card and quickly pushed the door open. But he was too frozen to go into the room. Stuff was everywhere. Things were broken, furniture turned over, pictures off the wall.

"Erin." he called out.

Hotchner pushed his way past David and into the room. He immediately spotted a trail of blood and followed it into the bathroom. He noticed that there were two bodies. And blood everywhere.

He immediately went for Erin. His fingers pressing hard into her neck to find a pulse. And there it was. A little weak but a very consistent beat. He looked up to see David in the doorway. "She's alive." he told him. "We need some medics."

All he could do was nod. A seasoned veteran and he found himself frozen. He quickly took his phone out to make the call. Forcing himself into action.

Hotchner felt for the pulse of the man's body, lying face down, across from her. When he found none he turned his attention back to Erin. He quickly examined her for wounds. The only thing he could find was a cut above her eyebrow that would probably need a few stitches to close.

"Erin." he called softly. "Can you hear me?"

"I got him." she whispered. "Replicator."

He helped her to sit up against the bathtub. "You did great." he told her. "Medics are coming."

David was immediately at her side. "Hey, it's going to be okay." he told her. "You're going to be fine."

"I need to call the others." Hotchner said, getting to his feet.

"Erin?"

She whimpered softly. "My head."

"You probably have a concussion." he scooped her up into his arms, wanting her off of the blood bathroom floor and carried her into the bedroom, gently placing her on the bed. "Just lay back."

"It's not that bad." she said. "I just got a little dizzy."

He took his handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it to the side of her head. "Does anything else hurt?"

"We fought." the lights were so bright. "He pushed me and I hit my head on the nightstand. That's when I grabbed my gun. I had put it under the mattress when I first got here."

"Gun?"

"Mmm." she sighed. "I've been carrying a service weapon since this entire thing started."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Erin tried to sit up. "I didn't want you to worry." she winced in pain. Her ribs hurt like hell. "And I am a good shot."

"Even with a head injury."

"I shot him in the shoulder. I thought it would slow him down. I thought I could take him in alive." she said. "He came at me…"

"Shh, it's okay." he tried to assure her. "You got him. It's over now."

"You promise?" green eyes searched brown ones.

David cupped her face in his hands. "I promise." his lips brushed against hers. "I promise." he pulled her into his arms.

Erin relaxed in the comfort of his warm embrace. "This is not how I envisioned this evening turning out."

"Me either." he chuckled, softly. "Erin Strauss saved the day."

"If I were in less pain I'd smack you right now, Agent Rossi."

He pressed a kiss into her hair. "You love me."

"That I do."

Hotchner came back into the room from the hallway. "Are you okay, Erin?"

She looked up. "Yeah." she breathed out. "I'll be fine."

"You're going to the hospital and getting a complete evaluation." he told her. "You need some stitches above that eye." He was visibly shaken but fighting so hard to keep his demeanor.

Erin nodded. "No argument from me."

Hotchner smiled a bit. "That's a first." he replied. "So who was he?"

"John Curtis." she told him. "He worked on the Amerithrax case. He wanted revenge on me. Said I cost him his career."

David reached for her hand. "I think that's enough right now." he said. "Let's get you to the hospital first and get checked out. There's plenty of time for this later."

Hotchner nodded in agreement. "The rest of the team will take care of things here."

/

Erin had tossed and turned most of the night. The five hours they were in the hotel anyway. But the movement of the plane seemed to lull her right to sleep. Hotchner moved to sit next to Rossi, who hadn't left her side since last night.

"I think Erin should take some time." he advised. "Even if it's just a long weekend."

He nodded in agreement. "I've already made the plans. Liv and Dash are going to come with us and Grace is going to meet us in a few days."

"We all support you, you know." he told him. "The two of you. Together."

A smile came to his lips. "Thank you." he replied. "Means a lot."

"We just want Erin to be okay."

"And she will be."

/

The sun was bright and hot, even from under the sunshade. In the distance she watched her three teenagers frolic on the beach. This was exactly what she needed. A break. A rejuvenation.

A pink fruity drink with a cute little blue umbrella appeared in front of her. "Thank you."

David sat down in the beach chair next to her. "You're welcome."

"I think I could get used to this." she took a sip of the drink.

"Being on an exotic beach with me?"

"You're such a conceited ass."

He shrugged. "You love me anyway."

"Well that goes without saying." she replied. "I meant a nice long vacation. No phone calls. No emails. No boring meetings."

David clanked his glass against hers. "I'll drink to that." he took a sip of his drink. "You know we can stay for as long as you'd like."

"Eventually we have to go back to Virginia and face the real world."

"I rather like being here with you just like this." he told her. "The kids are having a blast. Dash is going to teach me to surf later on this afternoon."

"Surf?" she laughed. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"And why not?"

"Because parasailing yesterday with Grace didn't go so well."

"That's your opinion."

"I'm the one that had to listen to you moan and groan all night." she told him. "If you hurt yourself surfing you're going to have to sleep on the sofa."

"You would think you would make a better nurse."

Erin pulled off her oversized sunglasses. "Just be careful." she said. "At your age you could break a hip or something."

"Break a hip?" he asked, getting to his feet. "I think someone needs some cooling off." he pulled her to her feet. "A nice dip in crystal blue water will do the trick."

"But, David, I'm comfortable."

"But Erin." he countered. "You can't just sit in the chair all day." he took her hands and led her through the white sand. "Besides there's something I want you to see."

"What's that?"

He led her over to where all three of her children were suspiciously standing. "Well, what do you say?" he asked, motioning to the ground. The words 'marry me?' were written into the wet sand.

Erin laughed. "I think you're incredibly cheesy, David Rossi."

Dashiell leaned closer to David. "I told you, man." he smirked. "Should have went with the blimp."

"Now that would have been cheesy." David laughed.

Olivia was waiting with baited breath to head her mother's answer. "Come on, mom." the thirteen year old said. "Do you know how hard of a secret this has been to keep?"

Erin looked at her youngest daughter. "I'm surprised you kept it."

Grace wrapped her arm around her baby sister's shoulder. "It took some convincing."

"So what do you say, Erin?" he asked. "I have a ring and everything." he told her and then turned to Dashiell. "Where's the ring, son? Please tell me you didn't lose that diamond."

Dashiell opened his palm. "It's right here."

He took the ring from the young man and turned to Erin. Two carats of diamond glistened beautifully in the sunlight. "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes." she smiled, perhaps even brighter than the diamond he slipped onto her finger. Her lips met his softly. David wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer as he deepened the kiss.

"Okay, that's enough." Dashiell started to protest.

"Yeah, gross." Grace agreed.

Erin and David reluctantly pulled apart. And her children actually clapped. Out of happiness that they were getting married or out of happiness that their kiss had ended they weren't sure which.

"So you want to get married here on the beach?"

"No." she replied. "I want a big celebration."

"You got it." he smiled. "A new beginning. For all of us."

-Finished.