"So, tell me about your new partner."

Aaron looked up at Dave over the book in his hands. That was one new habit that Erin had passed on to him and Jack, and he found that it helped settle him while out in the field after a long day spent dealing with the dregs of society. "What makes you think that I have a new partner?" he asked before trying to turn his attention back to what he was reading.

"Well, that answer sort of tells me that I'm right. And you've seemed a lot more at peace with yourself these days. I remember when we first met, and you and Haley were trying for a baby. There was that same feel about you then as now. So, when did you meet her, and why have you kept her under wraps from all of us?"

He knew that he would never be able to lie his way out of answering Dave's questions, they had known each other too long for that to happen, so he placed the bookmark in his book before closing it and setting it on the nightstand as he sat up a little more and took a deep breath. "I've been keeping Erin close to the vest because it's rather awkward to explain how we met."

"What, did you walk in on her in the shower at the gym or something?" Dave teased as he plopped down on his own bed, staring at him intently. Aaron let out a snort of laughter as he shook his head. "Oh, then did she come across you flat on your ass after tripping over your own feet?"

"No, nothing like that. We actually met thanks to you."

That caught Dave's attention immediately, and he leaned forward as a look of sheer delight covered his features. "Why do I not remember introducing you to someone? Were we both drunk at the time?"

"No," he replied shortly, knowing that he would have to tell the whole story now, and hope that his best friend wouldn't think him insane. "So, have you explored all of your property at the cabin?"

"Not really, but I know that I don't have a single neighbor."

"You're going to think I'm insane when I tell you this. I still think that I'm insane, but seeing as how three other people can corroborate this story, I don't think that it's a case of folie au deux. So, across from your cabin, there's that huge willow tree. And, up until two months ago, there was a statue of a beautiful woman beneath it. Here." He grabbed his phone and unlocked it, calling up his photos and scrolling through until he had gotten to the ones he had taken of Erin while she had still been under the effects of her curse. "This is what the statue looked like."

Dave took hold of the phone and brought it closer to him, swiping through a few of the pictures before handing it back to him. "Yeah, I've always wondered about that statue, it's so lifelike."

"It was the woman whose family used to live in your cabin, David." His friend raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "And before you say that Garcia told me that, you'd be partially right. I did have her research the history of your property after certain things started happening. Like the fact that the statue started gaining color. And then, after learning more about the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, I did the crazy thing and kissed her."

He called up the latest picture that Jessica had taken of the three of them together, out in the park on Sunday. Erin looked completely out of date, as she had worn one of the day dresses that had been in her trunk, and they had tried to ignore the looks from some of the other parents there, knowing that their opinions didn't matter. Smiling down at the image, he again showed his phone to Dave, watching his eyes first narrow and then widen in shock. "That's not…"

"It is. I don't even pretend to understand how it happened, or the fact that I have to believe in some sort of magic that permeates the world that we live in. Though it just seemed to prove to Garcia that the world truly is full of magic. I'm still skeptical."

"I would be, too, Hotch. But this is completely uncanny. I've studied that statue when I've been at the cabin, I've made up a thousand stories about who sculpted her or who she was in real life. And now, you're telling me I can actually talk to her and know the answers to the questions I have. She's just as beautiful like this as when she was marble."

"Let me guess, you want to meet her now?"

Dave nodded. "I have to meet the woman who helped fix my best friend's broken heart. I know that you're still grieving, but that burden seems to be so much less now that this Erin is in your life. But did you really have to fall for a woman who has a name that sounds the same as yours?"

Aaron chuckled as he shrugged. "I don't think that there really was a choice there, honestly. I fell for her before I knew what her name really was, and it's not like I can ask her to change something that makes her, her. And at least we're not both named Jamie. Then it would be same sound and spelling."

"That is a very good point, Hotch. So, can I come home with you after this case and have dinner? I'd be willing to shell out for the food."

"I think that Jack would like to see his Uncle Dave, and it would be nice to introduce Erin to more of my friends. It is so hard to keep this under wraps, since I don't want people to judge me for moving on so quickly. But you know that Haley and I had been separated for so long before she was murdered, and even though I still loved her, I had learned to move beyond that pain, otherwise I would have driven myself insane. But Erin has helped heal this wound that was my heart, and she's great with Jack, too." Sighing, he set his phone on top of his book and then looked back at Dave. "Haley's last words to me were that I needed to find love once more. I think that I should feel guiltier that it happened so quickly, but I don't."

"Aaron, it's not like you went out a remarried her best friend two weeks after she died."

"That sounds like a personal story."

Dave nodded. "One of my friends from church. His wife died in a car accident on Thanksgiving, and he was married by December twelfth. His children were livid and to this day, still don't talk to him or the new wife. That is a much different story than what's happened between you and Erin." Leaning forward, he patted Aaron's knee and then stretched out on his bed. "I suppose that the real question that I need to ask of you is, have you two slept together yet?"

"And you don't think that's a little personal?" he asked drolly as he followed suit, slipping beneath the covers and turning onto his side so that he could look at his friend.

"No, I've told you about my escapades."

"This is true, but I'm still not going to fill you in on the intimate details of my relationship with Erin. The most you need to know is that we are a couple in every sense of the word." Dave nodded, a knowing smirk on his lips as he reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, darkness falling over the room as they readied themselves to sleep.