Disclaimer: This is a Rossi/Strauss story, I love Rossi, I love Strauss and therefore I love Rossi and Strauss. I don't own the characters or anything dealing with Criminal Minds, except this story. I don't like the way they killed off Erin, so I change it to suit my own twisted mind. I like writing Erin's kinds into my stories, so they will be in a lot of them.
Reviews are appreciated. This isn't my best, but I came up with it driving to out of state family and listening to Carrie Underwood's song Quitter
'
Don't Quit
'
Erin looked at herself in the full length mirror, make up was perfect, and her hair the way he liked it, wearing an ice blue off the shoulder formal with matching stilettos. She really didn't feel like going, but Andrew hadn't given her an option. Sitting at her vanity she remembered the day this mess began.
'
Andrew Shepherd called her into his office; entering Dave sat on the couch. She looked from one man to the other, "David, what's going on?"
He shrugged "I don't know any more than you."
"Sit down, Erin. We'll explain everything in a few minutes."
Looking again at Dave, she took his hand. Once more he shrugged. A few seconds later the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff walked in.
Once everyone was seated, Director Shepherd spoke, "We've asked you both here because we have a delicate matter and we think Dave is just the man to help us." The three men explained why they wanted Dave, why he was the best man for the job, the pros and cons of the mission. They also explained it must remain top secret. Standing, Andy told them they needed a decision today and they'd give them some time to talk it over.
Once they were alone, "No, Erin, I'm not doing it, I don't want to be away from you and the kids that long. What about the team?"
Stroking his arm, she didn't want him to go, but she knew if she told him not to he would probably resent it and her later, "David, you need to consider this, they need you, this mission needs the best and you're the best negotiator and interrogator there is. If anyone can do this it's you, besides if you don't you'll regret it later. You'll always look back and wonder if you could have made the difference. I don't want to let you go either, but they need you, David. You have to do this. The team will be fine."
He knew she was right, but it still didn't make the thought of leaving her easier. Reaching for her Dave kissed her deeply and held her tight only letting go when the three men walked back into the room.
"Have you made a decision?" Shepherd asked.
"Yes, Andy. I'll do it, when do I have to leave?" Dave asked, not letting go of Erin.
Standing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke, "Agent Rossi, we need to leave as soon as possible, we were hoping you would go with us now."
"I can't just leave right this minute, What about my family, my team?" Dave questioned.
"I'll talk to the team." The Director said, looking at Erin for help convincing her husband to go.
"David, Amante, I'll take care of the kids and I'll talk to the team. Will it be easy without you? No, but you need to do this. Go, if you don't I might not let you go," Tears forming in her eyes.
Hugging her tight, as tight as he could, he whispered in her ear, "I love you, Erin. Do not quit on me." Kissing her several times, before stepping out of her embrace, he looked at FBI Director Andrew Shepherd, "You better take care of her, Andy."
"I will Dave, I promise," he said wrapping his arm around Erin Strauss-Rossi's shoulders.
Leaning in to kiss her once more, Dave turned to the other two men, "Let's go."
Erin stood with Andrew watching him get on the elevator, trying to smile, she saw him mouth before the doors closed, "Don't Quit, I love you."
'
Shaking off the memory, she wiped at the tear rolling down her cheek. That was 6 months ago. She knew he was safe, Andy reassured her of that, but she'd only talked to him twice. She had received one or two line notes now and then, but no real communication. They told her it was for his protection. Retouching her makeup, she stood grabbed her clutch and shawl, and headed downstairs and the waiting limo.
The ride to the hotel seemed to take forever. Staring out the window, not seeing the sights that passed she remembered the day she was informed she had to attend the FBI Agent of the Year banquet.
'
"Erin, can you step in here for a minute?" The director asked from the conference room as she passed through the bullpen. Stepping in he motioned for her to take a seat between JJ and Morgan. "Now that you're all here, I wanted to give you these." Handing them each an engraved invitation to the upcoming banquet. "As the alpha BAU team, I expect each one of you to be there. No excuses will be accepted."
Erin looked at the invitation in her hand sighing, "No disrespect, Director, but I'd rather not."
"Give me one good reason why you shouldn't go?"
Smiling sadly, "David's not here and I don't want to go to one of these alone anymore."
"I'm sorry, but it's not optional. Every member of this team, with the exception of Dave, is mandated to be there." Moving to stand behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I know this is hard on all of you. Erin, I know it's exceptionally hard on you, this is important. You've gone every year and as a deputy director you know you have to attend these functions."
Handing her a piece of paper maybe this will help some.
Erin opened the folder note and read: Baby, I'm okay, I love you. D.Q. David. This was the first note in over a month. Looking at Andrew, she nodded and he left telling them he would see them two weeks from Friday.
Standing, Erin walked towards her office only to be met by Penelope Garcia, "Excuse me ma'am, but could you please step into my office?"
"What can I do for you, Penelope?"
"It's what I can do for you, but it has to be very hush-hush and you can't tell anyone you heard this."
Flipping a switch, they heard a recorded message. "Kitten, play this for Erin, please. Hey, Baby. I'm fine and I love you very much. D.Q, baby, D.Q. "Penelope, how…?"
"I have a phone that no one knows about, except Rossi. The night he brought me to your house after the school bus kidnapping, he found out about it. It's only used for emergencies and it's very scrambled so no one can find it. I haven't checked it for a few weeks and when I did this message was there. It's from three weeks ago. I've put it on a tape for you and removed all traces of it from my phone so no one will find he called. I thought it might cheer you up just a bit."
Hugging the younger woman, "Thank you, it does help to hear his voice." That was the last communication she'd received.
'
She was brought back to the present when the car stopped and the door opened. Sliding out, she was met by Derek Morgan who was her escort for the evening, well at least part of it, the second half she would share him with Savannah who was going to be late, due to her schedule at the hospital.
"You are beautiful, Mrs. Rossi." Morgan said offering her his arm.
"Thank you, Agent Morgan, you look pretty good yourself." Smiling she let him lead her into the ball room and to the table reserved for the team and herself. Already seated were JJ, Will, Aaron and Beth. Holding her chair Derek sat next to her, soon Reid and Ashley joined them, followed by Penelope and Sam.
"There's twelve seats at this table, is someone joining us?" JJ asked.
Hotch was the one who answered, Savannah will be here later, she had to work so that's eleven and the director thought it was appropriate to have an empty chair in honor of Dave. He's supposed to bring by one of the ribbons that signifies that one of our own is not with us."
"Aren't those for when an agent has died? Dave's not…" Reid saw the looks he was getting and shut up.
Erin saw the looks and commented, "There are two, the white ones are when an agent is deceased, there are blue ones that are for agents that can't be with us for a reason beyond their control or because they are on assignment, like David."
Just then a young intern brought the blue chair ribbon over quietly asking Erin which chair she would like it on. Every one moved one chair so the one to her right was vacant. "I guess right here."
'
Once she was gone, Erin felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up into Andrews green eyes, she smiled, "Dance with me, Erin."
Taking his offered hand she walked to the dance floor with him. As they began to move, she asked, "How's Maggie? I didn't see her."
"She's fine, she's talking to some senator and his wife. How are you, Mrs. Rossi?"
"I'm okay, Andy. I really miss David, especially at things like this, but I know he's doing what he needs to do."
"Can I ask you something?" Shepherd said twirling her.
"I guess, doesn't mean you'll get an answer."
"Every message you've received from Dave has come through my office, every message ends with D.Q.. What does that mean? Will you tell me?"
"No because it will make me cry." She told him looking at her feet.
Pulling her closer, "Come on Erin, tell me what it means, it obviously means something."
"All right, but so help me God, Andy if you make me cry tonight, I'll rip your heart out with a spoon and feed it to you through your nose." She saw him nod and chuckle.
"Such a threat, better watch those, Strauss." He said teasing, this was the first time he'd called her Strauss since she said I Do and became Mrs. Rossi. He always called her Mrs. Rossi or Deputy Director Rossi, Never Strauss-Rossi like rest of the FBI.
As they slow danced she began, "I've always been a quitter when things got tough, I wasn't in control or I got in too deep. As you know years ago when we were young, David and I were together. Thought we loved each other. He was called away on a long term operation like the one he's on now. He was gone for what seemed like forever. Actually it was only a couple months, but he had that damn reputation and I let it get into my head. I let people get into my head. There were those out there that told me he was cheating on me and I got it into my head, or I thought he was. So I gave up on us…on him…on a life together. I broke things off, never giving him a reason, or telling him anything except I didn't love him, I never did. When he got home I was seeing Jack and shortly after we married and as they say the rest is history. He let everyone think because it was in my head he cheated that he did. He never told anyone what really happened. The D.Q. is his way of telling me not to quit on us this time." Tears forming in her eyes.
"Oh, Sweetheart," he said kissing her temple, "I remember that, I was on that operation with him. Erin, he never cheated on you, I've known Rossi a long time and he's a lot of things, but he's never been unfaithful to someone he loves and I've never known him to lie to you, even when you two were sparring." Pulling back to look her in the eyes, "Kiddo, he loved you then and he loves you now. I know for a fact, Erin, he never stopped loving you." He saw her smile a little. "Can I ask you one more thing?"
"Go ahead."
"We don't know how much longer he's going to be, you aren't going to quit…leave him are you?"
Erin Strauss-Rossi looked at him like he had three heads, "No Andy, I'm not. He's my heart. I love David, I think I always have. I'm hanging on to him and never letting go."
"Good, Stay strong, Erin you know Maggie and I and the team are here for you." Shepherd whispered as they walked back to her table.
'
Talking to her friends at the table made being there a little easier, more bearable anyway. It was announced that dinner would be served in 30 minutes. Hotch stood and asked if anyone wanted something from the bar. Erin requested a club soda and a scotch. Everyone looked at her in shock, except Hotch who smiled and nodded.
Bringing the drinks back to the table, he placed the scotch in front of the empty chair with the blue sash. "I know you guys won't understand, but it will help Erin ease the loneliness of Dave not being here. She won't touch it, but if she looks that direction and the glass is there, it's like he's just off talking to someone. I understand, I did things like that when Haley left."
"Thank you Aaron." Everyone went back to talking and enjoying themselves. Erin was talking to Savannah, who had joined them and Penelope. Not paying attention to what was going on around her. She just wanted this night to be over. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aaron Hotchner smile, then Reid was standing, smiling, but what really caught her attention was when JJ stood, brought both her hand to her lips and threw a kiss in the direction of the door. Turning in her chair, she saw what or who they were looking at.
'
He was there, positioned just inside the doorway, beside Andrew looking right at her. Standing up, she slowly walked towards him, tears streaming down her cheeks, hand covering her mouth. He was dressed in a tux, arm in a sling. The first thing she noticed as she made her way to him was how thin he was. When she was just a few feet away, he opened his arms as best he could and she walked into them, holding on tightly.
"David." She whispered his name, before pulling back and letting his lips capture hers. He kissed her until she couldn't breathe, but she loved the feel of his lips on hers, his tongue exploring hers, his hand hold her close. She'd missed him and it was obvious from the way he wasn't letting go, he missed her as well.
All eyes on them, he rested his forehead on her shoulder. "Dance with me, Baby." He said leading her to the center of the floor. As if his team understood he needed a couple minutes without the eyes of the entire room on them, each couple followed, dancing and surrounding them to block out prying eyes. "I'm sorry, I couldn't contact you more, Erin. I did what was expected of me as fast as I could."
Kissing him, "David, I'm so proud of you. I know I'll probably never know where you've been or what you did and that's okay, but I'm always proud of you and the way you do every job." Running her hand down his back and back up, "You've lost a lot of weight."
"I'll gain it back once our lives get back to normal."
"How did you hurt your arm?" She asked, her hand moving down his face and across his shoulder.
Laughing, "I fell down the steps of the plane when I was getting off. I just have to wear this for a couple days. I'm fine Baby, I really am. I'm just happy to be home and in your arms. I love you, Erin."
"I love you too, David." When the song was over, he led her followed by the team to their table. Before anyone sat, he was greeted by a round of hugs and welcome homes. Holding the chair for Erin, he noticed the blue ribbon and the scotch.
Sitting, he picked up the scotch, "Is this mine?"
"Yes, it made me feel more like you were here." She commented, never taking her eyes off him or letting go of his arm.
Dinner was being served when he leaned in and kissed her once more. "Baby, not that I want to let you go either, but I need this hand to eat."
Smiling, she let go of his hand, moving closer she kissed his cheek, "welcome home, Amante."
"Thank you, Baby. You look stunning incase I haven't told you. That's a new dress, and I love the shoes."
"Thank you." Taking a bite of her chicken, she looked at the man next to her, "Oh, and David," she watched as he gave her his undivided attention. "I didn't quit."
Laughing, he hugged her the best he could, "No, baby you didn't. Thank you, I'll show you how grateful I am when we get home."
Winking at him, she went back to her meal. Thankful he was home beside her and she hadn't given up on him or his love this time.