(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

This is the story you guys voted for. I've been busy working on it and I'd appreciate seeing what you think of it, so please review.

This chapter is just to set up the plot, it will get better... I hope.

Also, some of the characters are a little ooc, I apologise for that.

Contains some swearing.

Enjoy.

"Dave."

"Emily."

The two seasoned agents stared at each other for a long moment. Both pairs of brown eyes sinking into each other.

This was it. Their last 'meeting.'

Their 'meetings' had been going on for several months. Emily remembered the first one, a case in Maine: a successful case in Maine that led on to drinks, too many of them, and a claustrophobic and rather energetic (as David Rossi would agree) experience under the bedsheets.

An agreement was made, a united thought of it being a 'huge mistake,' and on went their lives.

Emily went back to her on-again-off-again boyfriend Clarke who always seemed to be waiting on her doorstep like an unwanted gift from a cat. Or when Sergio started wheezing in the kitchen, dispelling a ball of hair, lavered in salvia, in Emily's path. Not the nicest description of one's boyfriend, but Emily gave her best fake smile.

She tried her best to shoo him away like any other stray but he smiled sweetly and produced a bunch of white lilies and Emily found herself playing the big spoon to his nearly naked body.

Dave had an even worse situation on his hands. Krystall was in bed thankfully, but she'd made dinner. A plate waited for him in the oven. He crawled guiltily beneath the covers with his fiancé and pressed a soft kiss against her uncovered shoulder.

Both Dave and Emily lay awake with their partners, trying to think of them instead of each other and promising it wouldn't happen again.

Then there was the High Town Strangler case. By the end of which, Emily and Dave found themselves strangled in the covers of their hotel bed again.

Emily, out of guilt, stayed with Clarke taking their third attempt at a relationship to the four-month mark, three months of which were dishonest on Emily's part. Dave avoided the looming prospect of marriage and cringed at each new piece of the marriage puzzle that Krystall wedged together. He felt like she was cutting the puzzle pieces of his life to painfully fit with hers.

They stayed out of loyalty but they wandered out of boredom, (or passion as Dave liked to think of it) and soon enough they were in each other's arms.

In the midst of a heated exchange, Emily made a suggestion. They had a hotel room for the night, something they did more frequently, with the excuse of overtime.

Emily brushed her hair back and kissed Dave. She broke from the passion for a moment and whispered, "why can't 'we' be a thing?"

Dave stopped moving and gazed into her eyes. She leaned down and kissed him again, pulling him from his stun.

"Because... Krystall... a-and Clarke."

"I don't love him," Emily snapped. She kissed Dave's neck as he stared at the ceiling.

"Y-you love me?" he murmured. Emily ground her teeth on his bare skin.

"Maybe..."

"We can't-"

"Why not!?"

Emily pulled away suddenly and the heat and pleasure in the room became cold and awkward.

"You know why not. I'm getting married, Emily. You and Clarke... you could be something."

"And what would they think about this? About us? Do you want to keep me a dirty secret from your wife?" snarked Emily. Dave looked back at her for a moment, his body sweaty and chilled as he thought of what Krystall's reaction would be. Emily grunted, threw herself off of Dave and pulled the covers over herself. They lay side by side, Dave regaining his breath and Emily simmering in anger.

Finally, Dave swallowed thickly.

"You're right," he said. His tongue felt thick as it wet his lips. He could feel Emily shifting on her side of the bed but he didn't move. "We have to tell them."

Emily turned her head toward him hopefully but he was still watching the ceiling.

"And?"

"And... we need to end this. Hopefully, our partners will stay."

Obviously, it didn't end for another two 'meetings.' The last one Dave made count, taking Emily to a quiet little restaurant and buying out the honeymoon suite, telling Krystall that Emily was struggling with PTSD and she wanted someone to stay up to watch out for her. Not their best lie but Dave would by bluffing if he said he didn't enjoy the night.

Drink was involved and they both had to scrub their mouths out to eradicate all smell of it and each other.

Emily kept her word. Clarke was lounging on her couch when she got back. She sat down with him, sweetening him up with a Twinkie before letting out her secret.

It was painful to watch his beaming, Twinkie-inspired face fall so suddenly.

He then cried.

Emily felt guilty as hell as he snatched up all his things around the house with tears in his eyes before telling her to have a nice life and leaving.

Emily chewed her nails until she was biting skin. She hadn't known what outcome she wanted but... she was going to miss Clarke. The cat's dead plaything, and the one thing keeping her in line with reality. And she sat there for a good ten minutes over-thinking the whole prospect of her and David Rossi- her colleague.

The man was so complicated that she wondered if having Clarke's two-characteristic personality was so bad.

She soon decided against that thought when she found his dirty socks under her pillow.

So Emily was relieved for the first time in three months. There was nothing holding her back.

The day after she had the conversation with Clarke, she went to work with a smile on her face.

She sat down and waited for Dave to arrive. Her eyes must have been twinkling because Morgan had given her a strange look. She saved her most brilliant smile for Dave, who showed up just a little after her... with Krystall on his arm.

He'd smiled sheepishly at Emily who had lost her smile.

Their wedding had been moved to ten weeks away instead of eighteen and they'd come to announce it.

Emily congratulated them with the same one thought cemented in her head.

Fuck you.

She glared at Dave and excused herself for the restroom.

The team congratulated the couple on their now more imminent wedding and Morgan pulled Dave and Aaron into a conversation about a bachelor party.

All the while, Emily angry slammed the stalls, tearing toilet paper from the dispenser and shoving it in her mouth so she could scream. Not her brightest idea, since the toilet paper stuck to every moist crevice of her mouth. Once sated of her immediate rage, Emily washed her mouth out, adjusted her hair, set her smile in place, and joined the team in the conference room.

She took her seat as the others talked. She soon found herself grinning evilly at Krystall as she chatted to JJ. She could tell her. Fuck up their plans, rip apart Dave's life just as she had been prepared to do for him.

But Emily kept her mouth shut. And she spoke not a word to Dave for several days until a case pulled her lips apart.

As if her mood could not get any better, Emily started getting sick. It was the third morning she was waking up to a surge of nausea and she was on her knees before the toilet.

She had a thought then. Not a pleasant one. Realistic? Perhaps. Necessary? Certainly not.

She couldn't get the thought out of her head until she was finally sat with a pregnancy test on the counter, her knees pulled up to her chest, waiting for three minutes to be up.

Her timer went off and Emily sobbed so suddenly that she doubled over in shock to clutch her face.

Hormones, check, she thought dismally.

"It'll be okay," she whispered, her voice cracking like an upset child. "Whatever it says I'll be okay."

Emily pulled herself together, scrubbing both her hands roughly up and down her face. She got to her knees and carefully picked up the test that would decide her imminent future. She covered the little hole where the lines appeared as she sat back on her butt. She held it up in front of her and removed her hand.

"No..." Emily whispered. She stared at the two ruler-straight and most definitely present red lines on the test.

She leaned her head back on the wall and sighed. "Shit," she muttered.

All of which lead to their current situation.

A discussion of the fetus. Not a baby, Emily thought. She wouldn't attach herself to it.

"You're not keeping it?" Dave whispered, his voice was low, scared perhaps. He raised his eyes to Emily and she could see something lost within them.

"I don't... I dunno."

"It's um... khm, your decision of course," he added.

"I know. But why do you care whatever I decide?" Emily regretted the snarky retort but she stood firm as Dave pinched his bottom lip.

"I do care."

"If you cared you would've told Crystal before I told you I was pregnant."

"I wanted to-"

"But! It's always an excuse with you, David! Did you stop to think about how I felt!?"

"You aren't innocent in this. What about your boyfriend? Craig? What about him?"

"His name is Clarke and I broke it off with him after we spoke about it. You know why? Because I care about you! And I cared about him and his feelings."

Dave let her out a heavy sigh and sat down in his office chair. Emily stayed stood, her arms folded.

She gritted her teeth before starting again, pressing her words through them.

"Why would you want to bring a child into this broken relationship?" she hissed.

Dave pinched the bridge of his nose and stared down at his desk. He didn't speak so Emily filled the silence.

"You don't want me to abort it but you're too obsessed with your own image to raise it."

Dave huffed. "That's not true."

"Isn't it? You only stayed with Krystall because she made you look good. But me? I'm ten years younger with a history of bad choices behind me, including many boyfriends and an abortion. Who would look better on your arm?" Emily turned her back and self consciously touched her stomach which felt harder than normal. She fluttered her eyelids to dispel the wetness inside her eyes.

"Emily."

Emily breathed deeply. She knew if she were to speak she'd start to cry. She heard the chair creak behind her and after a moment a hand fell upon her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

Don't forgive him you idiot.

Emily turned and found Dave's eyes.

Don't forgive him. Don't-

"What are we going to do?" Emily mumbled, splitting her thoughts in two. Dave grimaced and glanced behind her. After a long pause, he wet his lips and said: "I care for you, Emily. No matter what you think. You're right about a few things though. I am selfish but I don't want to be. And I'm not cut out to be a father but if that's what you want then I'll always be here for you and..." He glanced down at her stomach and smiled fondly. "And the baby. But if you get rid of it I will still be here... f-for you."

Emily stared at him. That was the most honest thing he'd ever said to her. All the whispered promises broken by the next day. The sweet talk, the lies. Sure, he was honest at work but David Rossi's personal life was rife with lies.

"I don't want an abortion," Emily said quietly. She was sure she saw Dave smile in the corner of her eyes but when she looked up his face was placid.

"Okay, if that's what you want I can turn the guest room into-"

"David no, no just... I don't want to keep it but I don't want to kill it."

Rossi frowned. He tried to hide the hurt in his eyes and Emily was too distracted with her own thoughts to notice.

"So um... what will we do?" he asked.

"Put it up for adoption. People do it a lot. It's like being a surrogate."

Dave nodded slowly.

"You won't go through this alone though," Dave added.

"Thank you..."

Dave and Emily faced so much judgment throughout her pregnancy. Krystall showed up on Dave's doorstep shouting spiteful names at Emily. Dave had insisted Emily move in with him so he could look after her. The arrangement wasn't a bad one but Sergio wasn't best pleased to be living with Mudgie.

Clarke got into contact with Emily and cleared the air. Krystall occasionally called to yell at Dave but they coped.

They didn't speak about the child growing inside Emily.

Until, of course, it made itself known.

"Emily?"

"Yes?"

Emily looked up from the small bundle in her arms.

"It's time." Dave smiled sympathetically and stepped aside for an official-looking woman. Emily nodded and smiled too. She shifted the tiny baby boy in her arms. Two weeks premature but perfect all the same.

"Okay," she mumbled.

The parents adopting their little boy had insisted Emily spent time with him before they took him home just in case she changed her mind. Dave had picked them, old friends of his who had tried for the better part of their lives to have children only to find infertility in both their genes.

Emily had insisted against it but Diana had begged her to hold her newborn son, guilty for even being there to take him from them.

So Emily held him. She hadn't given him back for two hours.

She underestimated how beautiful he'd be. She remembered people saying that they fell in love with their children as soon as they laid eyes upon them and Emily was no exception. Neither was Dave. He held the baby close to his heart, kissing his forehead and gently passing his fingers through the soft sprouts of hair pressing to the newborn's head.

Emily stroked the baby's cheek and leaned over to kiss him. The baby stirred, making sweet little sounds against his mother before she started to hand him over.

Dave took the baby with a sad look in his eyes and whispered something close to his ear. The baby was fussing when the woman took him and he started to cry as the door closed behind.

Dave and Emily watched it for a moment before Emily's face dropped into her hands and she started to cry.

Dave was quickly at her side, his hand gently caressing the back of her neck. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I'm so sorry."

"I-it's for the best," Emily whispered, lifting her tear-streaked face to look at Dave. He nodded reluctantly and pulled her head against his shoulder so she could cry some more.

He let her cry for some time and when she found the courage to rub at her eyes he pushed her hair from where it had stuck to her cheeks.

She chuckled to herself, glancing up at the bags of fluid that seemed to be keeping the pain at bay. "Thanks," she said.

"You did good."

"I'll quite happily not do that again... he... um... he was... beautiful, wasn't he?" Emily asked hesitantly, she weaved her fingers together and Dave dropped his hand on top of them.

"He was... he is. We make good children."

Emily laughed then and leaned her head back against Dave, breathing deeply and looking out at the window.

Dave rubbed her shoulder and quite suddenly and to his own shock he pressed a kiss to Emily's cheek, very close to her lips and said: "I love you."

From there Dave and Emily's lives just grew more and more complicated.

Sorry that was a blur. I got bored. Next chapter will be more exciting. I promise.