Peace, Love and War-Chapter 1

~Thanks to Kdzl for her help with the title of the story and Ilovetvalot for her knowledge about the military.


David Rossi looked up with a smile on his face as he heard a gentle knocking on his open office door. Standing there, with her hands on her hips, was Emily Prentiss, the woman he loved, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, if only he could muster up the courage to ask her if she wanted the same thing. As he stared at her, her look of frustration changed to one of love and she came over to his desk and perched herself on top of it.

"Come on Dave, didn't you hear Strauss? It's a half-day today and she gave us tomorrow off! Let's start our long weekend already, before the woman's soul flees her body in terror."

Dave snorted at the imagery Emily had conjured up. "Just a minute Em, I just have to finish this report."

"But Dave," she whined, "We were supposed to be out of here by noon, and it's nearly one!"

"I know, but if I don't finish this, then I'll have to work on it tomorrow. You don't want that, do you?"

"No," she pouted, using her lips to her advantage. Some guys were leg men, others went for the boobs, but David Rossi loved a set of luscious, pouty lips and she knew how to use them.

"Jesus Em," he groaned as he signed his name to the bottom of the document. "That's dirty pool. What happened to our rule about keeping it professional at the office?"

She shook her head, "It doesn't apply after hours."

He was about to argue that it wasn't quite after hours yet, but before he could, she planted those lovely lips of hers onto his and he got lost in the moment. They both stayed like that for a minute, until they heard an "ahem" from the door way. Pulling apart, they saw their unit chief standing in the open door with a slight smile on his face.

"It's technically after hours, since you sent everyone home early," Emily said quickly as she turned bright red. Aaron Hotchner was well aware of their relationship, as was the rest of the team, and his only mandate was for them to keep it professional at the office. Beyond that, he didn't care what they did as long as it didn't interfere with the team dynamic.

"You're just lucky I'm not Strauss," Hotch said with a smirk. When she'd first caught wind of the illicit relationship, she'd seen it as a way to get rid of two large thorns in her side. What she hadn't counted on were all of Dave's connections; it seemed as though everyone above the rank of section chief owed him a favor and he'd called many of them in. As a result, the fraternization policy had been re-written and Strauss had been crushed; now it seemed as though she looked for any excuse to come down on the successful team.

"I'll let my big, bad boyfriend deal with Strauss," Emily told him with a smirk of her own.

"Anyway," Hotch said, glancing backwards into the outside corridor, "there are a couple of people here to see you, Dave." The unit chief moved out of the way and man dressed in a military uniform and a woman in a business suit walked in.

"David Rossi?" The soldier asked.

"Yes," Rossi confirmed, looking confused.

"My name is Lieutenant John Carter and I am a Casualty Assistance Officer stationed at Ft. McCoy in Wisconsin. Do you know a Mark Smith?"

"Of course, Mark is an old military buddy and a good friend," Dave told him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I think I'll leave the three of you alone to talk," Emily said quietly as she got up from the edge of Dave's desk. She took exactly one step before Dave's hand clamped around her wrist.

"Please stay Em; I doubt these nice people have come just to catch me up on my friend's life," Dave told her with a pleading look on his face. She nodded and pulled an empty chair up next to him as his two visitors sat down in the chairs across from his desk.

"I'm afraid you're correct sir," Lt. Carter told him. "I'm sorry to say that Major Smith was killed in action in Afghanistan."

"Jesus," Dave breathed as he tried to absorb the news. While Mark was a close friend, he hadn't seen the man in many years…it was almost impossible given both of their schedules. With Mark out of the country more than he was home and Dave on the road 200 days out of the year, it was hard to get together. Besides that, Mark was constantly being re-stationed around the country, so it wasn't like they could just meet at a local tavern for a beer…but still, he felt a profound sense of grief at hearing of his friend's passing. Thankfully, Emily chose that moment to give his hand a gentle squeeze and he managed to clear his head and ask the questions that needed to be asked since he knew the military would not fly two people to Quantico just to break the news to him about his friend's death.

"When did it happen?" He asked, still stunned.

"Just over four months ago," the lieutenant replied.

"Four MONTHS?" Dave asked incredulously. How in the hell hadn't he known about this before now?

The soldier nodded and then glanced around the room. "Agent Rossi, are you aware of what your friend's role was within the military?"

"I am; Mark was in an Army black ops unit," Dave replied and then saw the uncomfortable look on the lieutenant's face. "Anything we talk about here, I'll eventually tell her," Dave said, nodding towards Emily. "And I'm assuming the woman sitting next to you has clearance to hear about Mark's work, so let's not beat around the bush, okay?"

"Yes sir," Lt. Carter said. "As you can imagine, the men in the various black ops units are quite secretive and Major Carter was no exception. It took us this long to locate his will and we only learned about you because you're in it."

"Mark put me in his will?" Dave asked, confused. Sure they were good friends and Mark made a decent living, but his friend knew he was wealthy and he didn't need any money. "He shouldn't have done that, he should have left it to his…Oh God, Mark has kids, two girls! Do they know yet?"

"They were informed of his death soon after it happened, sir," Lt. Carter said. "That's actually why we're here; Major Smith didn't leave you any money in his will, sir, he left you his daughters."


A/N 2: And now for some shameful self-promoting...I've been nominated for the Profiler's Choice Criminal Minds Awards in numerous categories! Pease check out the final ballot at http : / / forum. fanfiction. net /topic /74868 /51253709 /1 / (remove the spaces) and be sure to vote by November 30, 2011.