Rossi gestures to the couch. He can tell this isn't a business visit. They both sit down and Emily picks at her nails trying to figure out how to say what she needs to say. He reaches over and takes her hands.

"You'll hate yourself if you keep doing that," he says gently.

She forces a smile to her face. "Right. Thanks." She takes a deep breath and looks up into his eyes. "You have always been there for me, Dave. Always. And…and I hope you know I can be there for you, too."

He nods, smiling. "Never doubt it."

"Good. Good. Right. Good." She takes another deep breath. "We…we know. The team. We know about you and Straus."

He sits back, chuckling. "I had a feeling you did. You are great profilers after all."

Emily nods, trying to figure out how to bring up what she came in to say. Maybe he knows and is covering for Straus. Maybe she hides it better when they are together. Maybe he just doesn't care. Maybe—

"Emily…what's wrong?"

Emily looks into his eyes. She sees concern and realizes he thinks this is about her. She sighs. "Dave…Straus is drunk. Right now. Bourbon from the smell of it."

Rossi stiffens. Obviously this is nowhere near what he thought was going to be said. "Are you sure? I mean, I know she likes a drink after work but—"

"I'm sure," she interrupts. "She gave me a hug when I told her about Rocky. She reeks of bourbon. And it's fresh, not like she's sweating it out after a bender." She sees the doubt and disappointment in his eyes. She knows it is directed at her. "Da—Rossi, if she's caught her career is over."

"And you'd like that, wouldn't you? Get rid of the 'Wicked Witch' as you've called her." He stands, obviously angry. "You're wrong, Emily. And I won't be part of your campaign to destroy her."

Emily stands. "I wouldn't do that to her. To anyone, Rossi. You know that!"

"Get out, Emily. And next time you have a vendetta, leave me out of it."

Emily stares at him a minute. She slowly nods. "Fine." She heads for the door, pausing before she opens it. "I'll still be here for you, Dave. Day or night."

He just grunts as she walks out. Emily makes her way to her desk. Morgan, on his way to his, sees the tension in her shoulders.

"Em? You okay?"

She glances towards Rossi's office and sees the man glaring at her. She shrugs. "I will be."

Morgan looks from her to Rossi and back. "Everything okay with—"

"Derek…please…not now."

Morgan slowly nods and continues on to his desk. He can tell she needs to talk but now just isn't the right time for her. She looks over and catches his eye. He smiles and nods, the unspoken acknowledgement that he'll be there for her when she needs him. She grins and nods back.

JJ is finishing up the instructions Reid will need to have take on some of the refusal duties when her job changes. This would be the last thing she would need to do to officially stop being a liaison and start being a profiler. She smiles.

"Just about one month, Prentiss, and you will be a full-on profiler. Life is pretty fucking good." Her grin widens. "And I can smack that ass in White Collar with my new creds. God, that will be a great day!"

She is still smiling about that when her phone rings. Her grin gets bigger as she sees her mother's cell number. She sends a quick email to Emily as she answers.

"Hi, Mom. How's it going?"

"Going well. Just filling in at the high school today. Thank goodness it's the Advanced Placement kids. They know what to do and just do it. Feels more like babysitting than teaching."

JJ chuckles. "Does it make you miss doing it full time?"

Sandy sighs. "Sometimes. Then they put me in with the kids who don't want to be in school and I go back to enjoying my retirement."

JJ laughs as Emily walks into her office and closes the door. "I can understand that." She puts the phone on speaker. "So, I guess you're returning Emily's call?"

"Yes. If she wants to sweep us away on another vacation it will just be me. Your father can't get another week off until Fall."

JJ grins. "Nope, not a vacation. Just had to let you know something that happened this morning."

"Oh, what?"

JJ nods towards Emily, who steps towards the phone. "We just wanted to let you know that Rocky is a perfectly healthy, developing on-time, baby girl."

There is silence on the other end of the line. Then a shuddering breath. "A-a girl? Really? Oh, Jenny! Emily! Oh, a girl!"

JJ smiles. "Yep. And from the way she's kicking she inherited my soccer genes."

"Oh, girls! I am so happy for you! Oh, oh, so happy! I can't wait to tell your father! Have you told your brother yet?"

"Nope. We figure we'll call him tonight so he and Shelby can find out together. How the hell do we pay them back for this, Mom?"

"Now, Jenny, you know they don't need anything. They were happy to do this for you."

JJ gets tears in her eyes. "I know…but it just…it's so…"

Emily smiles and squeezes her wife's shoulder. "Sorry, Sandy, our communications liaison is unable to speak right now."

Sandy chuckles. "Not surprising. Oh, rats, bell is ringing for next class. Expect a call from your father tonight. You girls be good. Love you both."

"Love you, too, Sandy."

"Love you, Mom."

JJ disconnects and stands to pull Emily into a hug. "I love you so much, Em."

Emily sighs into her wife's hug. "I love you, too, Jen."

JJ eases back and looks into Emily's eyes. For the first time she sees the slightly haunted look in them.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, something. But we can't talk about it here. Tell you on the way home."

JJ nods. "Okay. But if you need to talk before then, I'm here for you."

Emily smiles and kisses her temple. "I know, Jen. I know."

They share another kiss and Emily heads back out to her desk. She glances up at Rossi's office but the door is closed. She sighs, hoping she hasn't destroyed her relationship with him.

On the way home, JJ reaches across the armrest and takes her wife's hand. "So are you going to tell me what's going on with you today? You should be on Cloud 9 that we're having a daughter and you look like you lost your best friend."

Emily sighs. "Jen…Straus was drunk when I went to see her."

"What? But it was like 11:30! Are you sure?"

Emily nods. "Yeah. Had a bit of a flashback to my…my Dad. I missed the signs with him. I didn't miss them with Straus."

"Oh, God. We should tell Dave."

Emily wipes the tear that slips down her cheek. "I did," she whispers.

JJ glances at her…and pulls over to the side of the road. "Em…what did he say?"

"He got pissed. He accused me of making it up just to get rid of her. Fuck, Jen, if that was my aim I'd have gone to HR not to him. He said I was trying to draw him into my own personal vendetta against her. I swear, Jen, that's not it."

"I know that, sweetheart. Dave was out of line. I get that he's in shock, maybe even in denial, but he didn't need to take it out on you."

Emily shrugs. "Maybe he did. Maybe he knows and I'm just an easy target to take it out on."

"Then it will be my turn to be upset. He shouldn't have—OH MY GOD!"

JJ and Emily both jump, startled when someone taps on JJ's window. They had been so involved in their conversation they hadn't noticed the car pull up behind them. JJ glares at Dave Rossi as she lowers her window.

"What?"

"I was…hoping to give Emily a ride home," he says contritely.

"We're almost there," JJ points out.

"I know. Should be long enough for me to grovel my way back into both of your good graces."

JJ stares at him. He does look ashamed. She turns to her wife. "Em? It's up to you."

Emily squeezes JJ's hand and gets out of the Lexus. She heads back to Rossi's sedan. JJ reaches out and grabs his arm.

"Make this right, Dave. Or I swear I will make your life a living hell," she warns.

He nods. "I will, Jennifer. I promise."

He gets into his car. Emily has her arms crossed across her chest. It doesn't take a profiler to see she is upset. Even worse…she's disappointed.

"I knew, Emily." She slowly turns and looks at him. "I've tried to get her to stop but she's a functioning alcoholic. She can't work without it and, so far, it hasn't interfered with her job."

"So far," Emily reiterates.

He nods. "I know. It will eventually. And I will be there for her when she falls. She's not ready to get help yet. All I can do is hope she won't fall far when it does happen."

"Dave, if she ever goes into the field, she could derail an entire case. Doesn't she see that?"

Dave shrugs. "Not very likely that she will go out of the office but…if she does…I will go to HR myself to stop it. I swear."

"And what if you're not there? Then what?" Emily pushes.

"I…I just don't know."

Emily slowly uncrosses her arms. She reaches over and takes his hand. "Dave, don't let her actions bring you down. You worked too long and hard to help establish the BAU, to bring what we do to national prominence. Don't let her ruin that for you."

"I won't, kid. Promise." He glances out the windshield and sees JJ hasn't moved. "So, think we should get going so she doesn't strain her eyes watching us in the rearview mirror?"

Emily grins. "Yeah, probably a good idea. Stay for dinner?"

"I think I can do that."

Emily nods as Rossi pulls out and passes JJ. Emily waves to her wife. JJ sighs with relief.

"Good. Didn't want to have to kick an old man's ass today," she mutters as she follows Rossi up Route 1.