A/N- So I do believe some lovely readers were asking for Strauss. And here you go!
Erin Strauss was hard on her agents, hard on the liquor, but hardest on herself. She took every infraction personally, and tried her damndest to keep her agents asses covered from internal affairs investigations. Which was why she was so mad initially when she found out about Emily and JJ.
She knew Emily since she was a girl, having rubbed elbows with Ambassador Prentiss on various occasions, but nothing could have prepared her for the force that Emily grew into. Her first encounter with Tropical Storm Emily Prentiss was around nine thirty in the evening a couple of weeks after the brunette had joined the BAU.
Strauss had gone up to the roof for a quick smoke to try and release some stress after a hard day going up against another federal agency. She was flicking ash off the end of her first cigarette when Emily pushed out of the door. At first the younger woman didn't notice Strauss at all as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and a lighter. She lit the stock with an ease that let the director know it wasn't Emily's first.
The brunette took a long drag, coughing slightly on her exhale before she noticed Strauss. She greeted the director with a curt nod, pulling her jacket closer for warmth.
"Does your mother know you smoke?"
Emily's smile was tight, she took another drag before replying, "I don't smoke anymore."
Strauss raised her eyebrows in question, "I smoked like a chimney when mother was on assignment in Eastern Europe, but I quit in college. I hadn't smoked in ten years before I joined the BAU."
The director nodded, "It's not an easy job."
"I've only gone through half a pack, but it feels like I'm losing a piece of myself each time I smoke."
Strauss merely nodded, she understood exactly what Emily meant. She would never have guessed the small girl who stood proudly next to Ambassador Prentiss with a confident smile at ten years old would turn into this picture of slight defiance, her chin raised high, arms crossed protectively across her chest, a cigarette dangling mindlessly between her fingers.
Had she seen that sight earlier, she never would have asked Emily to help her try and force Hotch out of his position. Had she understood how strong Emily was on her own without her mother's steele spine to hold herself up by.
…
The first time that Strauss suspected anything was the case after she suspended Hotch officially. Prentiss resigned, and yet the two of them showed up to help the team out anyway. It was the case with the man who abducted women and cut out their hearts with his son's help.
Strauss was standing outside the suspect's house with the team as they tried to figure out probable cause for going in and saving the woman they suspected was inside. Emily broke through the line, insisting she could go in since she wasn't a member of the BAU, and Strauss couldn't stop her.
Before the older woman could do anything, Morgan was handing Prentiss a gun, and she was tucking it into the back of her pants, pulling her shirt down over it, and striding towards the door.
Strauss watched with concern as Emily walked up the front path. She turned away, facing the team to gauge their reactions. Many of them had the same stoic expression, though JJ's eyes were trained on Prentiss's back with an unreadable, conflicted expression on her face.
Strauss wouldn't learn what that conflict was until after the team stormed into the house and took down the killer. Emily got taken out by a two by four and was sitting in the back of an ambulance with blood streaking down the side of her face and even her neck, and JJ was right there next to her. The director headed over to make sure that her agent was recovering alright, the paramedic had moved away, leaving just Prentiss and JJ alone.
Strauss overheard the very end of their conversation.
"That was incredibly stupid of you." JJ admonished.
"I did what I had to do." Emily argued back.
"You had to take Morgan's gun and go in all Gangbusters?"
The brunette merely shrugged in response.
"You did look wrecking sexy with that gun tucked into your waistband."
Strauss watched a smirk bloom across Emily's face before she replied, "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Strauss saw the air between them practically crackle with sexual energy, and just hoped that nothing had developed from it yet.
…
Strauss knew for certain that the agents were too far gone when they got back from the case in Colorado of two men killing families after they themselves had been abused in a foster home. There was one girl who survived though the rest of her family was executed.
The director wasn't there to see it, but Emily was close with the girl, she couldn't bear leaving her there without any family. JJ did see it.
They were standing in the kitchenette of the BAU, getting coffee when Strauss saw JJ run a reassuring hand down Emily's back. The brunette had been in the foster home after one of the boys snapped, she had to hold her gun at a eight year old while Morgan tried to talk him down.
Emily was taking the whole case harder than usual, having volunteered to take the girl home with her.
Strauss heard JJ's soft words of encouragement, "We did good, you know."
"I know.I'm just having a hard time remembering it."
In the jet, JJ had said she thought it was a good idea, Emily and kids, and now se couldn't help but return to it.
"We could have that, you know."
Ever the smart ass, Emily couldn't help but try and downplay her emotions, "We could also have a five story mansion in the Bahamas, but we have the job."
JJ rolled her eyes, "I'm serious." She grabbed hold of Prentiss's bicep, forcing the taller woman to make eye contact, "We could have a family."
The two shared a brief smile while Emily finally allowed herself to imagine that, her and JJ in a house with a big yard, a golden retriever, and a couple of kids running around in the sunshine.
It was a beautiful image, but Straus clearing her throat and pushing around the corner cleared it from Emily's mind. JJ's hand automatically dropped from the older woman's arm, and she picked up her coffee, turning to leave, "If you need anymore help with that report, let me know."
"Of course." Prentiss nodded.
She bit her lips while she finished stirring the creamer into her coffee, Strauss waited until JJ was entirely out of earshot before she addressed the brunette.
The director took a moment, sizing Emily up. She knew the environment that the agent grew up in, being an ambassador's daughter. She knew that the woman wouldn't make such a big move without fully considering it.
"I hope this is worth it for you, Emily. I hope she is worth it."
The agent stiffened considerably, before tapping the stir stick on the side of her mug and tossing it into the trash. She took a moment and a deep breath before she replied, "She is."
A/N- I like to think that Strauss had a sort of weak spot for Prentiss, I'll admit that this is sort of OOC for the director, but I like it that way :)
