Hey lovely readers! wow its been a while since I posted, but I'm here to rectify that! As always thank you all so much for your reviews, I reeeeally love to hear your thoughts!

This next part is quite random, its also quite short by my standards but I felt I had to address the Emily Prentiss situation, so here it is. Plus it's a bit of a filler for the next part which is tied in some way to this one.

Hopefully the wait for the next chapter wont be so long, its already half written. :)


Erin sat back in her chair, her eyes moving from Emily Prentiss to Aaron Hotchner. He was still maintaining his usual poker face, yet his eyes said so much more. He'd seen this coming but at the same time he wasnt happy about it.

For a long moment there was silence, Erin took this time to pull herself fully into Strauss mode, even if she had been thrown off balance by this latest development.

Emily couldnt hold the Section Chief's gaze, nor could she maintain eye contact with her unit chief.

"And your decision is final?" Erin's voice broke the tension that was beginning to settle over them, so much so it was almost unbearable.

"Yes Ma'am." Emily replied with a confidence. Erin narrowed her eyes at her, she could tell it wasnt an easy decision for the younger woman to make, but she was faithful to her conviction, that much was evident.

Sighing heavily Erin sat forward on her chair, reaching out a hand over the top of the desk towards Emily who, with a slight split second of hesitation, handed over the crisp piece of paper.

Her resignation.

"There's really nothing we can do to change your mind?" Hotch broke his silence, both women turned to look at him, still his expression said nothing.

"I've made my decision Hotch." Emily nodded once, her gaze finally fixed on Hotch as he stood by the window, arms folded, keeping himself seperate. "It wasnt easy, I do love this job but...its time to move on. Thats not to say that Im not grateful for the second chance you gave me," her gaze shifted from Hotch to Strauss, "because I am. I hope that the bonds I made here at Quantico will stay strong, my best friends in the world are here. This is just something that I have to do."

"London Interpol?" Erin arched an eyebrow, half reading the official letter of resignation in her hands.

"Yes Ma'am. An offer was made to me a while ago and after some consideration I realised it was an opportunity I couldnt reject."

Erin nodded slowly, briefly looking to Hotch then back to Emily. "I understand, Agent Prentiss. For what its worth I'll be sad to see you go."

Erin's words were met with a look from Emily, disbelief and surprise at the least.

"You're a good agent, a good profiler, it will be a loss to the team. None of them, or me however, would stand in your way. Maybe our paths will cross again some day."

Strauss got to her feet, walking around her desk she extended her hand to the younger woman. For a moment Emily seemed to simply take a deep breath, before she raised herself up tall and looked her former nemesis in the eye.

"I'll look forward to that Ma'am. Perhaps you could consider this move simply as building a bridge overseas, I certainly have no doubt that we may need each other from time to time."

Against herself Erin smiled, just a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. She'd meant it when she said that Emily's departure would be a loss for the team, and yes to some extent she herself might miss the younger agent...just maybe.

There was however, a group of people three floors down that would miss her much more than she would.


For the second time today Erin Strauss found herself in silence. Only this time there were only two people in the room.

David Rossi sat beside her on the couch in her apartment, in silence.

She hadnt been surprised when he turned up at her place that evening, knowing that Emily had intended to inform the team of her decision immediately after officially submitting her resignation.

He hadnt taken it well. True to his style he kept his emotions to himself, wished her well, and intended to make sure that the her final two weeks with the team would be good ones.

Shortly after though, David had retreated to the only place he knew he could vent. Even after only three weeks of official dating, Erin Strauss was the one he needed to be with right now.

"Will she be replaced?" David broke the silence as he turned his head to look at Erin, she shrugged, not looking at him as her gaze remained fixed ahead.

"I dont know yet. I'll be meeting with the Director in the next couple of weeks to discuss it. I would say so but it all depends on the budget."

Erin could feel him tense beside him, he hated the politics the budgets the whole bullshit thing but he always respected her position. She could tell he wanted to curse it out but he kept silent.

"Will the team be allowed input on the replacement? If it happens."

"Agent Hotchner will be invited in on the selection process as the Unit Chief." Erin turned her head to finally look at him, to any other person he would look just the same as he always did, but she could see the look in his eyes. David didnt like change, it was something they had in common, losing Emily was a change he wasnt sure he could adjust to very easily.

"David are you alright?"

"I dont like change." That made her smirk a little, he had to know she'd been thinking that very same thing.

"I know you dont."

"Emily is a very good friend and I wish her well, I really do, its a marvellous oppourtunity and she'll do a really good job at Interpol."

"But you'll still miss her."

He nodded, smiling a little as he reached out to take her hand in his. "I'm sorry Im not very good company tonight."

"You got a shock today its fine really, I'm glad you came over." Erin squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"Promise me you'll never leave the bureau."

Erin laughed a little, looking over at his sad face, the face he seemed to use quite often in their short relationship, he learned pretty quickly that she couldnt say no to that face.

"What?"

"I can live with changes in the BAU...just! After all you cant deny when I came back to the team, I had to get used to that change, I did it."

"The great David Rossi learned how to share his toys in the playground."

"Exactly, but if the senior heirarchy, i.e you...and I guess Hotch too, were not there, thats when I lose it."

"There was me thinking you just wanted me around for the fun of it, instead you want me around to keep you from losing it"

"I want you around for a lot of reasons baby." David leaned over and kissed her softly. Just being around her had a calming effect on him, it was something he often thought about, tried to figure out just exactly how she did it. Seems it was the one thing he simply couldnt understand. Either way he wasnt giving it up.

Without hesitating Erin deepened his kiss, her arms snaked over his shoulders as his crept around her waist, pulling her closer. "Anyone would think you only want me for my body." She whispered her words against his lips as David gently repositioned them on the couch. He was lying above her now, taking back what little control he had left today.

"Your body is amazing Erin but theres so much more that I want from you."

"Right now?"

"Ok right now I want your body."

She giggled softly as his lips found her neck, his hands tugging the creme coloured blouse from the black pencil skirt she hadnt changed out of when she got home from the office.

Erin surrendered to him completely, it was what he seemed to need right now. Who was she to deny him, or herself. David needed to grasp his control, he needed to feel stable and secure and she always gave him that.

In truth the both of them were control freaks, they battled for it in the office and in their personal lives. The only difference was that when they were together, the control was a game, and when it came to the finish line neither really minded surrendering to the other.

But that was the only exception, in every other aspect of their lives, they had to have control. This thing with Emily leaving, it threw David's control issues right into the hurricane. Usually he was very good at reigning it in, only a handful of people in the world knew and understood David's obsessional tendencies. Erin's however were right out there for the whole world to see, every crazy, anal, perhaps even freakish issue was out there.

Even she wasnt naive enough to believe she could hide it all from a group of world class profilers.

Right now though none of that mattered, when his lips were anywhere on her body David had the power to drive all coherent thought from her mind. Somewhere in the haze of very little thought he'd managed to unbutton her blouse, his kisses moving from her neck to her collarbone.

He loved the way she moaned beneath him, he loved the way her back arched when he kissed just the right part of her. At this very moment his lips were moving across her chest, placing feather light kisses to her soft skin, slowly descending to the sweet valley between her breasts.

Undoubtedly the perfect time for his cell phone to ring.

With a frustrated groan David dropped his full weight on her, his lips still practically glued to her skin as he fumbled in his jeans pocket for the offending accessory.

"Rossi!" He growled into the phone. Beneath him Erin attempted to shift herself from under him but he held her there. Secretly she loved that. She loved just laying with him, she loved his weight around her, keeping her safe.

"Damn, alright I'll be right there."

As soon as he ended the call his lips were on hers again, this kiss wasnt soft like his previous one, it was hard and passionate, possessive even.

"You have a case?"

"Oregon."

Erin sat up as David stood and rebuttoned his shirt, she didnt even remember unbuttoning it. "The dead hikers? That one crossed my desk it wasnt classified urgent."

"Well three more just went missing."

She nodded as he pulled her to her feet and kissed her again. "I dont know if I'll be back in time for the weekend."

"Its ok I have the kids this weekend anyway."

"Oh right I forgot. Hows it going with Lauren lately?"

Erin raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Two weeks til the end of finals, I'm sure she'll return to a human state when they're done. She did say she was gunna come this weekend she wants my help on her english lit revision. Oh and Jess wants to talk to me about something aswell she's being cryptic I dont know what to make of it."

David smiled and squeezed her hand as she walked him to the door. "I'm sure its nothing bad baby, you know teenagers, they're the definition of cryptic."

Erin nodded, putting her arms around him one last time as he kissed her goodbye. "Be safe David, and do try and behave I'd rather not have to do a clean up this time."

"Oh I'll try, no promises though. Thank you for letting me vent to you tonight."

"Well you know Im the only one who can handle it! Call me when you get back in town."

David nodded his agreement as he left her apartment. She watched him until he got in the elevator before going back inside.

She wouldnt have let on to him but it meant a lot to her that he chose to come to her tonight. When he needed someone she was his first thought, and that was a fantastic feeling.

Truth be told, she was falling fast.


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