Battered

Sirens on top of sirens sounded in the distance. Emergency personnel swarmed the surrounding area. The Behavioral Analysis Unit had been on site at a local government office for almost six hours. It was a hostage situation that turned even uglier when an explosion occurred trapping five of their agents inside the building including Section Chief Erin Strauss.

Dust and debris rained down on top of them. It clouded the air making it difficult to breath and difficult to see. Erin opened her eyes slowly. Everything in her entire body ached. She quickly took in her surroundings, catalogued her findings, and immediately sprang into action. Her days of field experience rushing back into her blood stream like they had never left.

She assessed herself for any severe wounds but only found superficial ones. Cuts and scratches and there were sure to be bruises. Her side of her forehead hurt and she touched her fingers to it only to find it wet. "Fuck." she swore. Sure enough it was blood, but it felt as though it was tapering off. She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been out of it.

A mumbled groan filled the small area and her eyes immediately fell on David. Erin was quick to her feet. "David." there was almost panic in her voice. Almost. She tried her hardest to keep it at bay. "Are you alright?" she knelt down next to him.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Yeah, I think so." He said, finding his way out of his fog. "You're bleeding."

Her eyes scanned over him, taking in as much as she could as quickly as she could. She pulled his vest back away from his shirt, her eyes following a trail of blood seeped into fine Italian fabric. "So are you."

His hand immediately went for his handkerchief in his pocket. "Here." he pulled her to him. "Let me look at that."

"It's just a cut, it's fine." she reached around him, working loose his FBI vest. "We need to get this off."

"It's not that bad." he told her. "Doesn't even hurt that much."

Erin helped him slide the vest off and then her hands went for the buttons down his chest. She made quick work of them and then pushed the shirt out of the way to assess the wound. He couldn't stop the wincing or the sharp intake of breath. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"You need sutures." she replied. "We need to control the bleeding." she rose to her knees and stripped herself of her vest. And then her shirt leaving her in only a silky purple camisole. "Do you have a pocket knife?"

"I was rather enjoying this." She was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Her hair falling down, dirt mingled with blood smudged across her face.

"David." she warned. "Knife?"

He fished in his pocket and then handed it to her. "Are you going to put me out of my misery?"

"Only if you piss me off." she started cutting her shirt into strips. "It would look incredibly bad if I let one of my agents die on my watch."

"So you do care about me." he concluded. "After all these years."

She began binding his wounds. "You would save more energy if you stopped talking." she put another layer on his shoulder.

"Avoiding the subject?"

"Not in the least." she replied. "There is no subject."

David was quiet for a while as she continued to bandage him up. Wincing a little here and there when she applied more pressure. "I miss you."

Erin's movements halted, momentarily. "Too tight?"

He reached for her wrist, stopping her movements altogether. Her eyes met his in dim light. "I miss you, Erin." he told her again. "We were good together."

"We burnt out."

"We burnt up." he corrected her. "Maybe we just need to learn how to control the burning."

"Our ship has sailed, David." she replied. "We've been down this road too many times. We both know how it ends."

"Doesn't change the way I feel."

"I think you're getting woozy from the blood loss." she told him. "That and the combination of today's events."

"I'm thinking perfectly clear."

Erin went back to tending to his wound. "Too tight?"

"No, it's fine."

She sat down on the floor next to him. "Hopefully they'll have us out of here soon."

David reached over with his uninjured arm and pressed the handkerchief to the side of her head. "You're first priority Chief Strauss." he told her. "I guess I was lucky to be paired up with you."

Erin laughed softly. "That's one way to look at it." her hand covered his to hold the cloth in place. "Thank you."

"No problem." he smiled. "How are the kids?"

She nodded. "Doing well."

"Dashiell still into baseball?"

"He's the pitcher."

"And the girls?"

"Drama, drama, drama." she sighed. "They're with Grant this week. He's taking them to Mexico."

"Sounds like fun."

Erin closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall. "I wish I would have went with them."

"And miss out on this?" he asked. "On being stuck with an old lover in a pile of rubble?"

"No offense."

"None taken." he replied. "But you have to admit it wasn't all bad."

"Perhaps not." she agreed. "But when it was bad it was so bad."

"We were different people then." he concluded. "Younger. Not really sure of who we were or what we wanted out of life."

"It wasn't just that, David." she told him. "It was the fights, which weren't really fights they were explosions. And egos. Jealousy."

"Cheating." he mumbled the words.

Erin sighed heavily. "All this happened eons ago. There's no need to rehash it now just because we're stuck here like this."

"I was going to propose."

She looked over at him. "What?"

"I was going to propose that night." he said, softly. "I came home and you were gone. Just like that. I knew that you were working closely with the congressman but I didn't think you were involved with him. Even with all the rumors."

"I'm sorry David. I truly am." she apologized. "I'm sorry that you got hurt. But I did what was best for me. Grant and I had a good marriage. In the end it didn't work out but I'm so glad I chose him."

"You're really going to sit here and tell me that Grant Collins was the better choice for you than me?" he laughed. "You're kidding me. And yourself."

"I understand that you don't like Grant…."

"I never said I didn't like him." he interjected. "I just said I was the better option for you than him."

Erin shook her head. "Still an arrogant bastard."

"Call it what you want but it's true." he replied. "You know it and I know it. I'm just the only one that can admit it. You've never loved anyone the way you loved me, the way you still love me, and I've never loved anyone that way I love you. So completely and passionately and wholeheartedly."

"I really think you should stop talking, David."

"You always did hate when I was right."

Erin glanced down at her watch. She wasn't exactly sure how long she had been trapped with David but it had to be somewhere between a decade and an eternity. And then it was over. It was all over. Rescue workers were in sight and they were being led to safety.

She sat in the back of the ambulance as an EMT evaluated her, watching as David was placed in another ambulance and taken away. She closed her eyes and fought back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes.

"Are you alright, Ma'am?"

She opened her eyes and forced a slight smile. "I'm fine, Aaron." she told him. "Only superficial wounds."

"Chief Strauss needs to be evaluated at the hospital." he told the medic. "Director's orders." he added before she could object.

"I can't just leave the site."

"You've been injured, your health and wellbeing comes first and foremost." he urged. "You trust me, don't you, Erin?"

"Of course."

/

The ache in his shoulder only seemed to intensify with every passing moment. He reached for the bottom drawer on his desk and retrieved a bottle of aged scotch. The very last thing he wanted to do was go home and relive the events of the day alone. He unscrewed the top and poured the amber colored liquid into a coffee mug.

"Hurt that bad?"

David looked up to see Erin leaning against the doorjamb. Complete in light blue scrubs from the hospital. "I can survive a few stitches."

"That's not what I meant."

"I'll be fine." he told her. "Shouldn't you be home resting?"

"My car was here." she replied. "And I knew you would be here."

"Checking on me, huh?"

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Something like that."

"I don't want or need your pity, Chief Strauss."

"That's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?" he asked, getting to his feet. "I thought you said we were done talking."

Erin shrugged. "I've changed my mind."

"What are you really doing here, Erin?"

Her green eyes locked with dark ones. "I came to tell you that you were right." A beat passed between them. "You're the one. You always have been. And you always will be."

David nodded. "You mean that?"

She closed some of the space in between them. "Yes, I mean it." she said, softly. "I love you, David Rossi."

Tears sprang forward in his eyes and he pulled her into him. He held her for the longest time. This is what he had been waiting for. Ever since he sat eyes on her twenty years prior. Erin pulled back to look at him. "We're going to do this right."

He nodded his agreement. "Absolutely.

Their lips danced around each other, hesitating, try so desperately to get it right. His lips captured her bottom lip and then her top. Their lips lingering before pulling away only to meet again, softly and delicately.

He rested his forehead against hers. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Are you absolutely sure?

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life." she reached for his hand. "Come home with me?"

/

David followed Erin up the expansive staircase and down the hall. He had never felt more at ease in his entire life. Like he was finally coming home to the one place he always belonged. He stopped in the doorway, watching as she made her way inside, flipping on the lamp on the nightstand.

"Something wrong?"

"No." he breathed out. "Just watching you."

Erin smiled. "Are you going to come in?"

"Perhaps I was waiting for a proper invitation."

She made her way to where he was. "Come on." she slipped her hand into his. "Let me take care of you."

"I'm perfectly capable."

Erin tugged on his hand, pulling her into the bedroom. "No one said you weren't." she replied. "I want to do this." Her hands skimmed down the front of his shirt, doing the buttons at what felt like a maddeningly slow pace.

"You know it's not every day that I get undressed by a beautiful blonde." he smiled. "Twice."

"Then it must be your lucky day." she pushed the shirt off his shoulders, careful not to pull at his bandages, and let it hit the floor. Her hands then went for his undershirt, sliding it up his body and over his head. She smiled at his swallowed groan. "You can lower your armor, love."

"And have you think of me as weak? Never."

Erin's eyes met his. "I've never thought of you as weak." her voice was firm and even. "Ever."

David nodded his acceptance.

"Finish undressing." she told him. "I'll draw you a bath."

He caught her hand as she headed toward the bathroom. "Erin?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She smiled and nodded before turning and heading into the bathroom.

/

Erin sat on the floor next to the tub. She carefully washed around his bandages, careful not to get them wet. She dipped the washcloth into and water and then rang it out. "You still seem tense."

"You know I'm not one for a bath." he replied. "Not without company that is."

"Your bandages must remain dry."

David smirked. "Just because you're in those scrubs doesn't mean you're a nurse."

Erin dipped the cloth back into the water. "I guess you won't get an invitation to play doctor then."

"Touché."

"Lean forward and I'll get your back." she rang out the cloth and applied a healthy amount of soap. He leaned forward and simply enjoyed being taken care of by her. "What are you thinking about?"

"You."

"I'm right here with you."

"The past." he admitted. "What the future holds."

"Mmm." she sighed. "And I thought you said you were right here with me."

"I am."

Erin shook her head. "Not if you're thinking about those two things." she told him. "Why don't you dry off and come join me in the present." she laid the washcloth over the side of the tub and got to her feet.

David entered the bedroom a few moments later with an Egyptian cotton towel wrapped around his waist. He watched from the opposite side of the room as she removed her hairpins.

Erin caught his reflection in the mirror. "You can help yourself to anything you'd like in the kitchen." she tousled her hair. "I actually went to the grocery store last evening."

"Thank you." he made his way over to her. "I'm going to take you up on your offer. But not in the kitchen."

She smiled as she turned to face him. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I feel pretty good." he took her hands in his. "Something about you energizes me." his hands slid down her sides, to where the hem of the scrub top met the bottoms. It was seamlessly pushed up her body and over her head. His fingers stroked over the silky skin of her hip bone. "I don't think I've ever needed you more."

It was different. They were different. Mature. They had grown into the people they were striving so desperately to become all those years ago. Her hands went for his. "I know this isn't going to be easy, David." her voice was soft but firm. Completely sure of herself. And of them. "But I'm willing to fight for us this time around.

"I think we're going to be okay." he brought her hand up to his lips, placing a soft kiss into her palm. "I love you."

The kisses that came next were luxuriously thorough. A dance so intimate and slow. With passion and desire building so high that sweet release seemed almost unattainable. It was as if the entire world had stilled around them. For a while it did. Time stood still. They were finally going to get it right.

-Finished.

Feedback is lovely!