A/N: Hey all! Here's the next chapter. I've postponed the actual date chapter until chapter 5. This one's all about Emily and two specific men. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds (Season 7 premiere's Sept 21!).

Chapter 4: Survival:

Emily slipped the last few pages of her report into the case file, letting out a massive sigh of relief. She was done for the night, finally. Now, she could go home and relax… maybe have a bubble bath, some champagne… She reasoned she needed a nice quiet night before a sure to be hectic third date set-up by Dave.

She really was thankful for Dave's help. She'd come to realize, in the few weeks since Dave had made the proposition to her, that her attachment to her boss was very unhealthy. But, she had her doubts that Dave could find her someone that wasn't going to bore her death or kill her to death. Anything outside of attempting to kill her would be nice.

Emily got out of her desk chair and made her way towards Hotch's office. The last thing she needed to do for the night was drop the file on his desk.

Just the hint of Hotch's name in her mind had her thinking wistfully. She let out another sigh. Why couldn't she find someone distinguished and handsome like Hotch? Someone who was good with kids and loyal?

She really wanted a man who could put a smile on her face, make her laugh when she needed, and know when a hug would do just the trick. She was beginning to think finding that man was impossible. And she was just about ready to live her life as a cat lady.

She approached Hotch's door and found it closed. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Come in," came his deep voice.

Exhaling, she opened the door. He, of course, was writing away in a file. She rolled her eyes at his typical behaviour. Always working…

"Hotch, here's my report on the Mueller case," she said quickly.

When he looked up at her with those dark, unreadable eyes she approached his desk quickly, dropped the file, and turned to go. She had to get out of there.

"Have a good night," she blurted quickly.

Emily couldn't remember a time they'd been completely alone together since the drunken night they'd shared. Well, there was one time, but he'd been busily apologizing over and over again, that at the time she wanted nothing more than to never be alone with the man again. And she'd made sure to keep it that way, afraid to get a repeat of the extreme apologies. No one wanted to hear someone say sorry for a night they'd thought was pretty amazing.

"Emily," Hotch cut off her retreat.

She turned around slowly, silently cursing her slowness. Emily lifted her eyes off the floor to meet his and right away thought, Oh no. Come on! He was going to bring it up, again.

"Hotch—" she started to protest.

"Emily." He shook his head. "We need to talk."

She laughed nervously. "About what?"

He gave her a knowing look.

"No," she shot him down. "Let's not. You already said you were sorry," –many, many times— "I'm good. You're good with JJ, right?"

Hotch's eyes lit up. Oh yeah, he was definitely good with JJ.

He nodded.

"We're good, Hotch," she assured wholeheartedly. No more, please, I can't take another sorry…

"Ok," he gave in.

She turned to go again, with a sense of relief and finality in her heart. When he said her name again, though, she let out a little scream inside her head. This time when Hotch looked at her, he seemed almost amused.

"Yes…"

"Did you really," he started, "go out with Agent Anderson?"

Emily looked at him in disbelief, and then let out a groan as she walked straight out of Hotch's office without a word.

That's the last time she ever broke the FBI fraternization rules…

The sound of rushing water was literally music to Emily's ears. She was sitting on the side of her tub, waiting for it to fill. She sprinkled in some bath salts and actually giggled as they fizzed. She was going to enjoy this bath. Nothing but warm, soothing water, and an old copy of Pride and Prejudice—if she couldn't have an epic romance in real life, she'd just have to read about it.

When the doorbell rang a second later, she almost screamed out loud in frustration. Was the whole world against her?

She threw on a robe and stormed to her front door. If it was anything less then an emergency she was going to so chew them out. She used the peep hole to see if it was even worth opening.

Dave? she thought, confused. Ok, if he was here to check on her after another date well he'd gotten his days mixed up.

Letting out a sigh, she opened up her door to a smiling Rossi. She wondered briefly, what was he so happy about?

"If you're here to check on me," she said, cutting him off when he was obviously going to speak. "The date's tomorrow."

He just kept smiling. "I know that Em, I'm the one who set it up for you, remember?"

Yeah, who could forget that…

"So, what are you doing here, then?" she questioned him uncertainly.

He pushed past her, inviting himself in. She let out another sigh, resigning herself to not having a bath tonight, and shut the door behind them. Emily turned around to face him only to find him not there anymore.

Rolling her eyes at his presumption, she found him sitting comfortably on her living room sofa. Before she could say anything, she watched as his eyes roamed her body from the tips of her toes, up along her bare legs that disappeared under the too short robe, up to rest a moment extra on the open 'v' of her robe, to finally meet her eyes in an intense gaze. He wasn't smiling anymore, she noticed. Nope, he was now watching her like he wanted to… eat her.

Emily should have felt outraged at him blatantly checking her out. But she felt oddly… aroused. But that was completely ridiculous; this was Dave she was talking about. Her good friend. Not a… a… potential boyfriend.

"Nice… robe," he practically purred.

Emily gulped down her sudden trepidation. Was her body really trying to tell her that she was attracted to David Rossi? No… no, not possible. "Careful Dave… I might start to think you're trying to sexually harass me…" she attempted to joke.

His gaze only grew more… hungry. "I think you'd like my type of harassment…"

They held each others gazes a moment longer. In that moment, though, there was nothing more she wanted to do then slip that robe off and climb right on top of him.

She shook her head from the images she'd suddenly created of the two of them and tried to laugh off the tension, instead. "Funny Dave…" She took a seat on the couch next to him, grabbing a sofa cushion to press protectively against her racing heart. "Now, what are you doing here?"

It wasn't that the fantasies of Dave were exactly new to her. Oh, she'd dreamed about getting some Italian loving on numerous occasions. But they were just fantasies… your fantasies never came true. She knew that pretty well now.

His smirk returned and the air officially cleared of the sexual tension. "I came to equip you with your very own date survival kit."

"Huh?" she said so eloquently.

He lifted a bag off the floor that she hadn't noticed before. "Like you said, I suck at the matchmaking, so far. I've left you defenceless against these guys. I'm here to give you this as a just in case…"

"Ok…" Emily said unsurely.

He pulled the first item out of the bag and handed it over to her. She took the little box from his hands, her curiosity getting the best of her, and eagerly examined it.

"An IPOD?" she questioned him.

He pulled something else out of his plastic bag. "An IPOD shuffle," he corrected. And he handed her what he'd just pulled out. "With these you can listen to music and your date will never know."

The second package contained tiny wireless ear buds.

She still wasn't following. "All right…"

He gave her a wry grin. "To help keep the boredom away when all he talks about are the Blackhawks and Red Wings..."

She laughed out loud at his clever idea. "Nice, thanks."

Dave shook his head. "Not done yet." His hand disappeared back into the bag and pulled something else out.

When he handed her the small package she actually laughed heartily. "Band-aids?"

It was a small, travel size package of Band-aid brand bandages.

"Just in case," he chuckled. Reaching in, he pulled out a small aerosol can. "But, hopefully using this will keep you from needing those."

He handed her the can and she was unsurprised to see that it was mace. She shook her head at the man sitting on her couch, not able to help her grin.

"Or… you know, you can just find me my perfect man…"

"I'm on it, I swear," he reassured. "In the meantime… you'll need something to put your survival kit in…"

She was about to say, 'what do you mean', when he showed her exactly what he meant. The very last thing he pulled out of his bag was a small clutch purse, wine colored, in a mottled pattern. He put it in her hands and it took her breath away.

"Dave, this is gorgeous…" she breathed out. Her eyes were literally glazing over at how beautiful it was, and how expensive it was sure to be. She found herself pushing it back on him. "I can't take this… it's too much, Dave."

He held his hands up. "It's yours Emily. Enjoy it."

"But… but…" she stuttered. "It's way too extravagant. I've got old purses that I can use."

"Emily," he implored gently. "Take it, it's a gift. Think of it as my sorry for Anderson and Rawson if you want. Either way, I bought it for you."

She looked up from his outstretched hands and up into his eyes. They were telling her something. They seemed to be saying, "It's all for you, Emily."

But that couldn't be right. She blinked a couple of times; the look was still there. She sat back, trying to distance herself, trying to decipher his true meaning.

"Um… ok," she took it from his hands. "Thanks."

He slapped his hands down on his knees and stood up. "Well, I just wanted to give you that… I'll see you on Monday."

Emily followed him to the door, somewhat in a daze. "O… ok…"

Dave opened her front door and stepped out. He turned around to face her with a smile. When he leaned into her and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek she was wide awake for it. This time his kiss not only left a lingering sensation but a burn that was travelling throughout her entire body.

When he pulled back, she found it extremely hard to mask her surprised expression.

"For good luck," he explained.

And then he was gone. Emily shut the door behind him, only to lean up against it. What just happened? Her mind was a complete haze. She urged her mind to catch up to her speeding heart… but, she just couldn't figure it out.

That's it for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Not sure if they've invented wireless ear buds yet. If not, well they did in this story. Lol.

Thanks to everyone who's taking the time to read and to those who are taking the time to review: Longbourn22 (Viper, hmm…); miaa29; HansonFanGermany; DracoMalfoysSweetGirl92; Jotchprossi18; hot4booth; greengirl82; p95000; and anlemi.

Thanks again! I'll try to update soon.

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