Hello All! It's time for a new fic, since my other epic, 'Home Advantage' is on hold due to re-write here's another one to keep you all going! You'll be happy to know that I have a lot of this written so posts will not be as sporadic!

This starts following the lines of the show, in respect of Rossi's introduction to the series so in that respect it's arguably canon. Time scale is roughly the day before the events of season 3 episode 6, our main man's first ep.

But I will admit it goes AU, in the fact that it's all about the Strauss/Rossi love! It's a guilty pleasure, I've given them their own backstory and their futures will be forever altered by my imagination!

Hope you enjoy, drop me a review and let me know!

She dropped her pen to the desk and released a sigh, flexing her fingertips Erin willed the cramp to leave her tired bones.

Almost 9pm and she knew she should be at home by now, and yet still here she remained, waist deep in reports and paperwork. She could curse Jason Gideon for leaving her high and dry like this. Did he have any idea how much paperwork had to be filed? Did he appreciate for just one second just how much his 'life altering' decision would affect her? No, he didn't, but since he was currently AWOL somewhere across the country, she'd have to wait a while to slap him upside the head.

Five personnel files sat on her desk, five possible candidates for his replacement. She'd handed a copy of them to Aaron Hotchner just this morning, though since the team had headed off to Oregon to solve another case the decision would be largely left to her.

So it should be. Erin mused as she sat back in her chair, damn it this was her section, she called the shots around here, Aaron Hotchner and the rest of alpha team needed to learn that, sooner rather than later.

Taking a deep breath Erin pulled her chair back to the desk. Just one more hour, then she would definatly call it a night.

Her pen had barely touched the paper when the knock on her office door reverberated around the room. Her assistant had gone home hours ago, she had no idea who could be arriving unnanounced at her office at 9 o'clock on a Wednesday.

Uttering a rather confused 'come in', Erin sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing in the direction of the door.

"I knew you'd still be here!" The Deputy Director of the FBI poked his head around the door, grinning a little as he watched his colleague and friend of twenty years, roll her eyes.

"Take that back Andrew, I do not like the implication!"

Andrew Anston stepped into the room, closing the door behind him he walked casually over to a chair in front of Erin's desk, dropping into it with a contented sigh.

"Oh you know me Strauss, you know I rarely take anything back."

"What do you want?" Erin asked him outright, although her tone was much more relaxed than she usually allowed it to be.

"I just got out of a meeting with Director Lewis. He has a request."

"What kind of request?"

"You won't like it Erin. I told him you'd never agree to it but he insisted."

Erin raised one eyebrow and folded her arms. "Out with it."

"David Rossi has officially requested release from retirement."

"You're saying he wants to come back?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Erin..."

"I said no, Andrew."

"I repeat, the Director insists upon his reinstatement. It's not up for debate."

Erin clenched her fists as her arms remained folded, ignoring the bubbling feeling in the pit of her stomach she fought against the sudden rise of hatred and bile, a touch of heartache only making her all the more angry. She would deny until the ends of the earth that her heart had bounced the moment she heard his name.

"He's been out for ten years why the hell would he want to come back." Her voice rose of its own accord, but she pulled it back. Erin Strauss did not lose it.

"I admit I don't know his reasons Erin. The Director thinks it's a good idea. Good for publicity at least."

"Oh so he wants Rossi to be the next bureau poster boy? That should suit his egotistical, self-obsessed arrogant persona so very well indeed!"

The deputy director narrowed his eyes. "Just what went down with you and David, Erin?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

It was a lie. A great big fat one at that. Erin knew perfectly well what Andrew was talking about. It was practically ancient history now, but that didn't mean she didn't remember every single part of it. Every single thought and feeling was still locked in her mind.

"Fine. I won't push the matter. But let's face facts Erin, Gideon left you in a bit of a sticky position. You need someone in the BAU, and you need them now. David Rossi solves that problem."

"And he'll just love every second of it. He'll swoop in and save the day, crown himself the hero!"

And wouldn't he just. They'd both known Rossi for a long time. He loved being the man of the people, especially with women.

Andrew Anston released a long sigh, he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He'd known Erin long enough to know that when she was as combative as this, conversation was futile.

"I'm not asking you to like the situation Erin, I'm asking you to deal with it. David Rossi will be back in the bureau by next week, you will return his call tomorrow and schedule a meeting."

Erin opened her mouth to retort but the deputy held up his hand. "If it helps you can look at this way, ten years ago he was your superior, and now, you will be his boss, you can crush his nuts to your hearts content!"

"Don't tempt me." She tried not to smirk but she had to admit that the thought was at least a little appealing.

Watching the deputy director leave the her office Erin ran a hand across her face. She hadn't thought of David Rossi in ten years. That wasn't entirely true but it's what she kept telling herself. When he'd retired from the bureau Erin truely believed she would never have to deal with him again. She pursued her promotion to Section Chief, safe in the knowledge that their paths would never cross again. Naive perhaps but not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Taking a deep breath Erin stood from her desk and moved to the window. Nobody, inside the bureau or out, knew of her history with David Rossi. A few summised that they did, it was common knowledge that Strauss and Rossi had butted heads in her early years in the bureau.

The truth was far from what was perceived on the surface. It ran much deeper than professional rivalry.

He was the first man she ever really loved, the only man she'd ever really loved. Just thinking like that made the guilt rise in her throat. She had a wonderful husband who truly loved her with everything he had, waiting for her at home right now and where was she? Pacing her office, thinking of an age old love affair that was doomed from the second it began.

A part of her knew she had married Micheal Strauss on the rebound, just to spite David to hell. For ten years before Rossi retired she tortured him with that fact. Of course she told David, when he called her drunk three days before her wedding that she loved Micheal more than she ever loved him. It was a lie and they both knew it. But Dave was just as much to blame, he married his second wife out of spite for her aswell.

They were both too stubborn and hot headed to settle their differences amicably, and so David Rossi retired from the bureau as the great hero, the brilliant profiler about to embark on a very successful writing and lecturing career. Erin knew the truth, he'd yelled it right in her face the day he left the bureau. They'd tiptoed around each other for ten years and he couldn't take it anymore. The truth was that he couldn't stand to think about her for one more day. Erin was climbing the ranks faster than he did, her name was thrown around almost as much as his and he couldn't stand it. He hated the fact that she had the perfect marriage, on the surface anyway. He hated that smug look on her face as she convinced the world that she was happy.

David turned her into a character in his first novel, killed her off by chapter two.

When she really thought about it, Erin had no idea where all that venom between them even came from. But love, lust, jealousy and anger did crazy things to people. In reality they'd both been victims of their own festering subcontious thoughts. They'd loved each other once, once upon a time. It still stunned her how quickly that descended into heartache, devastation and an insatiable need to make the other miserable.

Maybe it just went so far that they just couldn't come back from it.

She had to put that behind her, up until now she truly thought that she already had. Erin Strauss had literally been thrown into the hurricane.

In a matter of days she would be face to face with him again. Erin knew that the venom would still be there between them. Just as it had always been, nobody would ever know the truth, she was the master of discretion and secrecy, they both were. She was in control of the situation, she was the superior now. She could have his balls for earrings if she wanted and he would have no choice but to surrender them.

Erin Strauss would make him work for his position in HER section. Sure she, the team, may need him right now, but she was not about to let him know that.

Most importantly Erin would make sure that he knew that she was over it. Over everything. She'd heard through the grapevine that he'd married and divorced for a third time. She was still happily married, wasn't she?

He'd lost and she was the winner. She'd won...hadn't she?

If ya liked it, if ya didn't, let me know! :)