Erin could feel the beginning of a stress migraine forming at the base of her skull as she rubbed her upper chest in an effort to keep her heart from pounding too heavily against her ribcage. Suddenly, she knew why David had avoided coming to see her before they had left on their current case, and it wasn't because it was so pressing that they had to leave immediately. Oh no, it was because he and Aaron were going behind her back to join the Red Cell team in San Francisco on a case that the even the Director was certain didn't exist. She knew that Sam was driven, that he thought he had pieced something together, but sine there wasn't concrete evidence for that, she couldn't approve of what was occurring under her nose.

After a fruitless call with Aaron, she found herself wondering if it had really been a good thing to make amends with him, since he was still clearly hellbent on being reckless, even after the trauma he had so recently been through. It was barely six months since Haley had been murdered, after all, and he was running around the streets of San Francisco like he had nothing to lose. Letting out a long breath through her nose, Erin pushed away from her desk and grabbed her coat, pulling it on roughly as she stuffed her phone into her pocket. "I'm heading up to the roof to clear my thoughts, Helen. I should be back in forty minutes or so."

"That bad?"

She let out a breathy chuckle as she nodded. "They all know that this means I have to jump through extra hoops with the Director to try and cover their asses, not worrying about what consequences I might suffer as a result of their recklessness." Helen nodded in commiseration as she sighed. "If any truly important calls come before I return, just forward them to my cellphone, as I'm taking it with me."

"Of course, Erin."

Giving her assistant a small smile, Erin made her way out into the hall and over to the stairwell, knowing that the extra exercise would do her good, as it would help her burn off some of her excess energy that always came when she was upset. By the time she made it onto the roof, she was still frustrated, but less angry with Aaron and Sam. Erin knew that she couldn't allow them to know that, though, since they would then use that as an excuse to try and keep pushing the envelope with her, and she couldn't have that.

Stepping out onto the roof, Erin began to pace back and forth as she tried to get her emotions back into some semblance of normal. She knew that her emotions were off kilter because of the stress and her hormones, and she wished that things could just return to normal, even though there wasn't really a way to return to the normalcy that she wanted. Unable to stop herself, Erin began to cry a little, thankful that she was alone and so didn't have to worry about who might see her. Erin truly felt like she was falling apart, that she was the one who had to try and keep everything together while everyone else just blithely did whatever they wanted. A part of her recognized that that wasn't true, but as she allowed herself to wallow in self pity, Erin felt something shift in her chest, suddenly wanting to hear her fiancé's voice.

Erin pulled her phone out of her pocket and hurriedly touched his number, hoping that he wasn't busy with the case when her call came through. A relieved smile curved across her lips when she heard it connect, and she took a few a few shuddery breaths when she heard his voice. "Stellina? What's wrong?"

"Everything!"

He chuckled, which caused Erin to frown, her good mood at hearing his voice evaporating in the space between her heartbeats. Somehow, he seemed to know that she was less than pleased with his reaction, as his next words were kinder. "You're angry with us, aren't you?"

"Yes. I'm angry, frustrated, and I want to knock all of your heads together! I know that Aaron and Sam think that this is a good idea, that there is a tenuous link connecting these two cases, where there might not even be another case."

"There is."

"And how would you know that?" she shot back, feeling a white hot bolt of anger surge down her spine as she dug her free fist into her hip.

"Because we've been in contact with a woman whose husband and daughter are missing, just like Sam said would happen. Hotch agrees with all of us, there was a reason why we came out here, and that was to save these people. To catch this unsub before he kills anymore innocent people."

"And you couldn't say that to my face before you slunk out of here this morning, as if you knew that I would tell you no and ground the team so that you couldn't go against orders and behind my back?" She hated how her voice kept rising in pitch, letting him know that she was close to just losing all control and outright yelling at him.

"Sam said that time was of the essence, so we left as soon as possible. It was not to sneak around behind your back."

"And what do I tell the Director? He's already told Sam not to take on this case, and yet there he is, defying both of us and making me look bad, like I can't control my teams. I could very well end up a laughingstock, here, if not taken to task for tacitly allowing this to happen, especially if it goes badly. Do you really want to see me facing a two week suspension, or worse?"

There was no reining in her ire now, and she vaguely thought she heard two people hiss in response to that, one being David, the other coming from somewhere behind her, which told her she was no longer alone. Drawing in a few long breaths, she waited for him to answer, hoping that he would have something that might calm her down ready on his lips. That, however, was not to be, she soon found out. "We'll deal with it, if he decides to rap your knuckles with the proverbial yardstick."

"And you can deal with going home with Aaron, when this case is over. I do not want to see you anywhere near our home until you think long and hard about what you just said and why it would infuriate me so." Without giving him an opportunity to reply, Erin ended the call before shoving her phone back into her pocket and making her way back down to her office, knowing that if she didn't get back to work, soon, she would soon lose every hope of getting anything accomplished that day. And she couldn't afford to have that happen, as there was a rather important meeting that she had to attend the following morning. Drawing in a deep breath through her nose, Erin passed by Helen's desk, giving her a tight smile as she passed by, hoping that nothing else about this day would go wrong.