Hey all! time for the next chapter! Massive thank you to everyone who had read, reviewed, favourited and subscribed to this fic, it is appreciated beyond belief!

This chapter was wicked hard to write, I dunno it still doesnt feel 100% right but rather than stress about it I'm posting it. :)

Anyhooo, here it is, you be the judge!

Building Bridges

Chapter 4

Turning on the spot where he stood, David Rossi allowed his smile to take hold.

After driving Erin home she had invited him in for a cup of coffee, an invitation that he had accepted without hesitation. He'd never been inside her home. This one anyway, he'd been in the home she had shared with her husband but only the one time.

He still remembered it as if it were yesterday. Could still remember how it had felt, how it had smelled. This one was different. This one was not the suburban stepford house, not the classic family home with the huge garden and the double door garage. No, this one was purely Erin. The townhouse suited her, the decor was entirely to her taste, an extension of her personality.

Perhaps that was more the profiler in him. Know the home, know the person.

This house may never have been inhabited by the Strauss children when they were young, but they were certainly all over it now, whether they knew it or not. Erin's eldest children, Kate and Adam, had left for college before Erin and Richard had seperated, they'd never really stayed in this house past perhaps the odd night. Megan on the other hand, had put her mark on her own bedroom before Erin's stay in rehab, before her relationship with her mother had crashed and burned in a ball of flames.

Aside from all that their pictures were everywhere, on the walls, on the tables, every spare surface bore an image of a Strauss child, spanning their life to date.

She missed them. That much was evident to David as he picked up a framed photograph of Erin with her children, he guessed taken around the time leading up to Kate's departure for Harvard.

"Something amusing you David?"

Jumping as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, David turned sharply to see Erin leaning against the door to the lounge.

"I was just thinking about how much of you I see in these children."

Erin rolled her eyes and moved further into the room, handing him a mug of hot coffee before dropping onto the couch and folding her arms, the smile creeping in nonetheless. "Hardly."

"You cant see it?" He asked, handing her the photograph as if asking her to really look at it.

"Well people often say Megan looks like me, I guess its the blond hair."

"Megan bears the most obvious resemblance to you I will admit, same blond hair, blue eyes. But Kate has your smile, she tilts her head the way you do, and Adam, he has your nose, the same expression."

Lowering himself to sit beside her on the couch David watched as she stared at the photograph clutched in her hands, a mixture of sadness and pride coursing through her veins.

For a long moment David just continued to watch her. The transformation in her as soon as she walked through her front door had been a vision in itself. It was as if she had physically changed, the walls she erected around herself on a daily basis fell to the ground on her doorstep.

He loved the way she moved around the house, so fluidly as if not even thinking about it. What he had loved the most was watching as the first thing she did was kick off her heels, leaving them haphazardly in the hallway. Still clad in a floor length black satin strapless evening gown and expensive jewelry and yet the shoes were discarded without a second thought.

It put her shorter than he had ever seen her, and his first thought was how adorable she looked.

Adorable and absolutely stunning. He could watch her all day, just count the unending list of things he loved about her.

"You thought about calling any of them yet?"

Erin looked up from the photograph. "Its all I've thought about."

"Plan?" He pushed her a little, knowing that it would be infinatly easier for her to just let the time pass her by without confonting the issue, despite the loss she would sustain in the long run.

"Not so much. Although I have figured out one thing."

"Oh?" Dave's attention was caught as she placed the photgraph on the coffee table and turned back to face him.

"If I want to get back all three of my children, I need to crack Megan first."

"Keep going?"

"Well she's the youngest, the most tempremental. But Kate and Adam take care of her they always have, if she doesnt like something they stand right behind her and back her to the hilt. If she's upset by something they attack it, if she loves something they support her completely. If I can win back her trust, she can convince the other two with just a few words in the right places."

Erin always doubted her parental skills, David couldnt understand how when she could offer up a complete assessment of her children so easily. He just sat there and listened as she continued.

"I can guess, no, I know Kate and Adam aren't as mad at me as Megan is, she feels the most abandoned and I get that. As long as she hates me, as long as she wont talk to me the other two wont either. My children are nothing if not loyal to each other, thick or thin they stick together."

"Operation 'crack Megan' is up and running then." His words caused her smile to widen, despite the brief falter.

"Could be a long operation." She raised her eyebrows but he just smiled back at her.

"Surely it'll be worth it in the long run though right?"

"Sure will, if I can convince her to talk to me."

"Sounds as if she's a lot like her mother. Stubborn and headstrong."

"Hey!" Despite herself Erin laughed a little at his words.

"And beautiful!" He added, watching as her mock glare turned to a mixture of surprise and a little something else.

"David..."

"I wont take it back Erin. I've always thought you were beautiful. Tonight though I must say you look even better than I could ever have imagined."

Erin diverted her gaze away from his, she couldnt look at him, his words had stirred feelings within her that she hadnt been sure she would ever feel again. For years she had battled to deny her attraction to him, she couldnt allow herself to consider that the attraction could be mutual.

"Well you dont look so bad yourself either Agent Rossi." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, though she mentally cursed herself for entering into this new game. Despite her curiosity.

As the seconds turned to minutes Erin began to doubt her words, the silence was pushing her towards regret, until finally he spoke.

"I'm torn."

"Torn?" She whispered her reply. She could feel it, the tension, as if she could hear him breathing, mixing with the sound of her own heart hammering against her ribcage.

"There's a side to you that I know will most likely slap me for what I'm about to do, certainly the professional side of you. But I'm curious as to how the woman inside that tough exterior will respond."

Her eyes returned to his as he shifted where he sat, somewhere in the past few minutes her own body had twisted towards him, perhaps subcontiously in preparation for this very moment.

For a long moment her gaze held his, she had barely registered the movement when he was there, his hand was on her cheek and his lips were on hers.

In the second it took to realise what was happening she had melted, her hands came up to rest on his chest as she felt herself being pushed back a little against the couch cushions, his body moving closer to hers though not pushing her too far, and it was heaven. The hand that had previously been on her cheek had slipped into her hair, the action alone enough to weaken her knees, but it was the tenderness of his kiss that really did it. There was a passion there oh definately a passion as his tongue skimmed around hers but there was more, there was heart, softness, trust.

Eventually the essential need for oxygen drove them to seperate, their eyes closed, foreheads touching they remained in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry..." David whispered, feeling more than seeing her shake her head.

"Only say sorry if you mean it David."

"Then I'm not...I'm only sorry I didnt do it earlier."

Finally he drew back from her, just enough to look into her eyes as they finally regained some sense of reality. Not only was that smile still on her face it was in her eyes aswell, and if she hadnt spoken when she did he would have surely drowned in those beautiful eyes.

"You know if you had I would have actually let you."

"Ever since you've been away Erin, I couldnt get you out of my head! Was as if I'd finally realised how much you mean to me."

Somewhere in the depths of their minds they both knew this was insane. As if they'd flipped into some weird alternate universe and yet it felt right.

"I meant it when I said I cared about you Erin. I care a lot about you I always have. And I have always, always thought you are the most beautiful woman in my life, in my world and if there is just the smallest chance that you might..."

"David.." Her whispered voice made his eyes close, together with the feel of her fingertips as she reached up to caress his lips already smudged with her lipstick. "Dont speak, not now, just kiss me again."

The alarm bells in her head had gone off before the words left her mouth but she ignored them. She didnt want to think of the consequences, she didnt want to think about tomorrow. All she wanted to do was feel. For once in her life she wanted to let go and just go with it.

Unsure of just how it had happened, moments later they both registered the fact that they were now standing up. Erin somewhat weak knee'd but he held her, supported her as he had since the day she had returned to the office, only now at a more intimate height.

For a moment they pulled apart from each other, attempting to regain some sort of normality to their breathing and heartrate. Erin's heartrate was definately in no danger of slowing down, not when she realised she was now pressed against the wall of the lounge, the journey to this point was nothing but a haze but she didnt care.

Slowly leaning forward she caught his lips with her own, carefully he matched her soft kiss, allowing her to draw him in. She didnt care if she had suddenly taken leave of her senses, surely she must have if she was behaving like this, never in her life had she been so...wanton.

Right now the only thing David Rossi could think was that he finally knew what it felt like to be seduced by Erin Strauss. She controlled this kiss, this entire embrace. Her passion was being unleashed on him and true to her style it was powerful, controlled and yet, so very soft, slow, deliberate and undeniably heaven.

Pulling back from him barely a fraction of an inch, Erin reached down to take his hands, taking a step back she looked into his eyes. What David saw there nearly snapped his control in half. Those beautiful blue eyes were practically on fire, almost burning through him as she tugged on his hands.

Wordlessly he allowed her to lead him through the house, not daring to speak until they reached the stairs.

"Erin...are you sure..."

"Shhh." Her whispered response silenced him, together with the kiss she pressed to his lips as she moved up a step, looking down slightly as they parted. "Take me to bed David."

Was that his heart stopping completely? When he'd driven her home a little while ago a part of him had hoped it would lead to this, in his fantasies it certainly did. But to hear those words leave her perfect mouth it felt almost too good to be true.

Seconds later, after his initial surprise had worn off it was as if something within him had snapped and he became the primal passionate force he'd always wanted to be with her.

And he took his control back.

The remainder of the journey to her bedroom was a fast blur, like a whirlwind they moved up the stairs, ricocheted off a few walls until Erin found herself colliding with her bed, lowered onto the soft mattress with an expertly executed lift from the man who made her heart literally ache.

The moment he found himself laying above her was the moment the earth slowed down, for the first time he realised they were both almost completely stripped, the memory of their journey to this position a mere haze of thought.

"You're beautiful." He whispered as he looked down into her eyes, his hands tracing a feather light path over her skin.

"When you say it, I believe it."

Her words were met with another kiss to her lips. His mouth leaving hers a second later to travel over her cheek and down her neck.

Is this what heaven felt like? She was sure it was, nothing could feel better than this. In all her life she had never felt so on fire and yet her whole body shivered at the same time. David Rossi was taking her to new heights of passion she had never thought it possible to exist.

Together they reached a new level of intimacy that was a whole new realm for the both of them. It was slow, tender, passionate and perfect. As if they were both pouring out every emotion every thought every feeling they had ever wanted to share with each other. Like a dam had burst somewhere the fire burst through them with an uninhibited mission.

In that moment David Rossi took her so high she had to look down to see heaven. Never would she feel so safe, so protected as she did when she was in his arms. Never once did he let her go, and provided she would let him, he never would.

reviews? anyone? errr please?

:)