Aaron returned home from a case in Atlanta to find that they had visitors at their home. He hadn't been expecting anyone, and Erin hadn't called to let him know that something was happening, so he frowned a little as he parked in the garage. Grabbing his go bag, he dropped it in the laundry room before making his way into the living room to see the Director sitting across from Erin in the more comfortable chair in the room. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, Sir," he said as he carefully sat down next to his wife, his hand taking hold of hers as he looked at their boss.

"I wasn't really expecting to be here. But Erin said that she had something to discuss with me, and I thought that you needed to be looped into this conversation as well, since it will affect your team, as well as Erin, in the long run."

Her hand tightened around his, though she refused to meet his gaze when he looked down at her. There was a guilty flush on her face, as if she didn't want him to know that she had done something rash without consulting him first. It had been three weeks since her incident in her office, and while they all had just started to adjust to her working from home, there had still been a little struggle to separate home and work balance. Still, Shepperd seemed to understand that this was a revelation to him, as the man gave him a small smile as he tilted his head towards Erin. "I, I've made a decision, Aaron. It isn't healthy for me to bring the work into our home as I've been doing, as I'm afraid that I'll still overdo things."

"We can support you, Erin," he started to say as their hands began to squeeze an unspoken tattoo between each other, as if trying to say things without saying a word. "But that's not good enough, is it?"

"I wish that it was, Aaron. But I know who I am, and how much I want to pour myself into my work. I am damn good at my job, despite receiving it in the worst possible way." Her face turned to look at Shepperd, and Aaron watched the man flush guiltily before looking away from her. "So I think that the time has come for a complete sea change. Much though I don't want to leave the BAU, if this pregnancy is going to be so uncertain, I have to think about our health before my pleasure. I know, that's an odd way to consider a career, but when it's something that you've loved as long as I have, well, it has been a pleasure to be in that position of power."

"So you're going on maternity leave, then."

Shepperd cleared his throat, catching Aaron's attention as Erin subtly pulled away from him and started to caress her growing baby bump with her free hand. "It will be a little more involved than that, Aaron. We were discussing Erin's early retirement options. Since certain promises were made after Wyoming, there is a lucrative benefits package that will follow her when she leaves the BAU."

"And will that assuage your guilt?" he pointedly asked, again watching a guilty flush stain the Director's face.

"Nothing will ever completely absolve me of my role in what happened there, but I will do everything in my power to make certain that Erin is financially compensated for the exemplary work that she did for the BAU following that incident. Now, I am going to leave you two to discuss this further, as I would rather keep Erin in her position after allowing her a year off on maternity and then paid leave. But I know that the final decision will be up to Erin, and I will await it with bated breath."

Shepperd got to his feet, moving through their house like he was intimately acquainted with it, a power move that bothered Aaron no end. Still, he didn't want to get up from his position next to his wife, so they instead listened as Jessica let the man out before coming to join them in the living room. "I didn't know what time he would leave, so I'll order pizza for us tonight?"

"That sounds delicious, Jess. Ham, bacon, and extra cheese, please? And an order of breadsticks?"

Aaron chuckled at Erin's request, and she elbowed him sharply. "Ow!"

"Didn't Haley ever have cravings when she was pregnant with Jack?" He nodded. "Then no comments on my cravings. Okay?" Again, he nodded, and she relaxed against him as she looked up at Jessica. "I would dearly love some soda, too, but I know that the caffeine is not good for the baby. I suppose that it will just have to be juice for me tonight. Would you please take Jack with you to pick it up, so that Aaron and I can have a few minutes to talk about what happened here today?"

"Of course, Erin. But in case you don't hear it from him, I am one hundred percent in your corner on this decision. Because you need to do what's best for our family." Erin nodded a little as Jessica came over and hugged her quickly. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Jess." Aaron smiled gently at his sister-in-law as she left the room, only to feel that expression slip off his lips when they were alone once more. "All right, now comes the difficult talk. I know that you're not happy with the fact that I went behind your back to talk to Harold while you were on this case, but I also knew that I had to talk with him before I lost my nerve."

"But early retirement? Is that truly what you want?"

Erin scooted over on the sofa so that she could contort her body to look into his face a little more easily. "I think that it is, darling. Because I want the opportunity to be a proper mother to this little one and to Jack. This is my third chance at motherhood. The first was taken from me when I had to give Georgia up for adoption. The second chance was squandered by my job aspirations, that I felt I had to throw myself into, to prove that I didn't just get the job because of what happened. And there was a part of me that didn't want to bond too much to my darlings because I was afraid that Erik would pull them away from me, too."

She burst into tears with those words, her voice breaking as she buried her chin in her chest. The forlorn look crushed Aaron's heart, and he closed the space between them once more, pulling her into a tight hug as he rocked them back and forth a little in an effort to calm and soothe her. "You never told me that, Erin."

"How could I tell you something that frightened me so much? And that I know is totally irrational now?"

"Because it would have given me another puzzle piece in the picture that is you. Oh, my Erin, you are learning to trust and let us in, but I hope that you will trust me more as your pregnancy progresses."

"That's my hope, too, Aaron. I'm trying my best to let you in. Your love has been changing my heart, slowly molding it into something beautiful, and I love you all the more for that." She rubbed her face against the fabric of his shirt before pulling her head back to look up into his face. "Please, let me talk about this decision, and when I've finished, then you can ask me questions?"

"All right, I'll try."

A watery chuckle slipped from her lips as she reached up to cup his face, her thumb tapping against his nose before she leaned in and kissed him softly. "So, we both know that I'm am unhealthily obsessed with my job, and that I will do anything to get my way, because I know that my way is generally the correct way of doing things."

"You?" he said with mock horror, and Erin smacked his shoulder sharply.

"That's one, you get two more." He nodded before quickly kissing her. "Those sweet kisses won't buy you brownie points, even if they're the sweetest I've tasted in a long time. Anyway, I ruminate, I bring things home to the cathedral of my mind, and I allow myself to dwell. I've noticed, in the three weeks that I've been having Carri bring the work here for me to go over, that I haven't been able to separate work and life as cleanly as I would like." She took a deep breath as she slid her hand down his neck and spread it out on his chest. "I don't want Jack to have this horror bleed into him, and I don't want this new baby to have it be normal that I work so much. I would love to have this opportunity to be there for them both, to show them that great love is possible, even when their Daddy is pulling long hours to put away the worst people in the world. And I truly feel that the only way I can go about that is by retiring and providing them with that stable foundation. And this would give Jessica and Tom more time together as well. I would never keep Jessica from us, from her family, but I know that it is so difficult to try and have two separate lives when wanting to start a family of her own."

That was news to Aaron, and he suddenly realized that it would make sense for Jessica to want to start getting more serious with her partner. "And there's nothing I can say that will change your mind. Because you are as thoroughly stubborn as I am when it comes to decisions that you know in your heart are correct." She nodded. "So what does the timeline look like?"

"I will work from home for the next month and train you to take my place. Carri likes you, because she knows how you rescued me, like a knight in shining armour, and she'll make things as easy as she can in the transition time. And I know that Harold will allow you to take over from me, as it will be my last request for what occurred in Wyoming. I know that I shouldn't use his guilt against him like this, but I've managed to reconcile that knowledge with the knowledge that he also knew what would happen to me all those years ago."

Aaron nodded as he leaned in to kiss her once more. "But that means there will be two open positions in our unit. Who will take over for me? And who will replace me?"

Erin lifted her chin a little as she shrugged. "I think that you can decide who will take your role as Unit Chief, though I would like to see David elevated to that position. He has been a faithful and loyal friend to you, to us, and he deserves to be recognized for that. I know that I had Agent Morgan fill that role when you were dealing with Haley being in WitSec, but his conduct left a lot to be desired, and I feel that he still has a lot of room to grow as an agent and a leader before we promote him."

He nodded a little as he rubbed her stomach absently, letting out a long breath as he thought about the time in front of them. "I only get a month to learn from you?" he asked, only half teasing her.

"Do you honestly think that you need more than that?"

She gently turned his face so that she was looking into his eyes, and he could see that she was truly worried about him. "I would like to ask for six weeks. I don't know how many cases we'll be called out on, but I can't let that take the backburner while you get me ready for this transition, especially since Dave isn't quite ready to return to the field. Would that be an acceptable compromise?"

Erin nodded before leaning in and kissing him softly. "I think that we can make that work. Thank you, Aaron." He gave her a tiny smile before kissing her once more, his mind still spinning around the fact that things were about to change so drastically.