Dave stepped off the plane in Wichita and shook out his shoulders. He had spent the entire flight wondering how he would react to Erin, and Penelope, when she found out, but he hadn't come up with anything concrete by the time the plane had started to taxi to the gate. Though he had checked his phone the minute they had gotten service. There were a few texts from Penelope and Erin, and he chose to ignore them, instead focusing on the one he had received from Aaron, informing him of where they would meet when he got in.

Following the stream of people towards the baggage claim, Dave sent a quick text to Erin telling her that he had landed safely and would be mostly unreachable for the duration of the case, since they were out in the countryside where the cell coverage would be spotty at best. Signing off with an I love you, Dave turned off his ringer and slipped his phone in his pocket before making his way outside. Hotch was near the doors, and he waved at his best friend before coming to a stop next to him.

"How was your flight, Dave?"

"It was okay. I prefer private jet to first class, but I'll take what I can get when I have to get to a case." He smirked a little at Hotch as they started to cross the road towards the parking lot. "Is the case going well?"

"Well enough where you didn't have to come out here. I don't appreciate being lied to, you know."

Dave felt his face fall a little as he tried to think of words to say to cover his ass. "Why would you think I lied to you?" he finally asked, wanting to know what Hotch knew before he said too much.

"Penelope called me with your flight information, and mentioned that she thought something was a little off with you, like you were avoiding something, though she couldn't say what, exactly. And I wasn't entirely certain that you were lying until you answered me like that. So, spill. What is really going on with you?"

Somehow, he knew it would be so much easier to decompress with his friend, and Dave let his shoulders drop a little as they climbed into the SUV. "How would you react if you found out that Jack wasn't yours?" he asked cautiously, not certain how he would answer.

"I would be disappointed, of course, but I would still love him. He's the only reminder that I would have of Haley, and how much I loved her. Though I have considered that possibility, since I knew that she was having an affair."

"How did you know?"

Hotch took a deep breath as he tightened his hands around the steering wheel, and Dave wondered if he had asked something that would stretch their friendship beyond repair. "There were little things that told me she was sleeping with someone else. From the way that she never let me look at her cellphone any longer, to the new perfume she wore when she was heading out, it all added up to her having another person in her life. And it hurt, but I understood. Why?"

It was his turn to take a deep breath, and he pulled out his phone to see Erin's face smiling up at him. Running his thumb over her face, he then turned his eyes to watch Hotch, needing to see his micro-reactions to what he was about to tell him. "You already know that Erin and I had a connection previous to our current relationship. Well, I may not have told the whole truth. We were sleeping together back then, all the way up until I retired for the first time. She had just told me about her pregnancy with Karen, and I reacted less than happily, since I knew how bad her mood swings were when she was pregnant. That, that was what led us to breaking things off, since she felt like she couldn't trust me any longer."

"How long were you sleeping together?"

"Eight years. I knew it was wrong, but Alan was no prize, and I thought she deserved at least a little pleasure in her life. And then, Helena became ill."

Aaron nodded, his face tightening a little. "I remember when we went through Jack's illness. It is never fun to be a parent with a child that's in the hospital."

"And Erin is taking it so hard, since Helena is her first grandchild, too. And mine."

He was surprised by how quickly Hotch stopped, pulling into the first driveway he found before putting the car in park and turning to stare at him intently. "Did I just hear what I think I heard? And what makes you think something so ridiculous?"

Dave swallowed a little as he looked down into his lap. "Alan told me. He made certain to pull me away from Erin, so that he could drop his little truth bomb on me, and I knew that I had to get out of there before I said or did something that I regretted."

"And you just blindly believed the words of Erin's ex-husband? From what you've told me about him, he is an abusive, lying, ass of a man, and Erin should have left him years before she did. You know the man better than I do, why didn't you think to question him about that? Or did you not think about that before you ran away from Erin? I mean, my God, Dave, she could very well lose her sobriety over something like this, since it is a crisis situation, and her support system has decided that it's better he's in Wichita than by her side."

A part of Dave knew that his friend was being honest along with being right, but he chafed at hearing the criticism of his decision. "What would you have done, if you were in my place?"

"I'd have stuck around and asked Erin if there was any validity to his revelation. I would have reassured her that I loved her. Basically, the complete opposite of what you did. I really hope that you didn't do anything to set her recovery back. That's all you've been able to talk about since she agreed to date you – how you would never do anything that might derail her."

Those words seemed to dig beneath his skin, and he blushed a little as he looked at his hands. "And I would never forgive myself if I did cause her to fall off the wagon. Aaron, I just don't know what to do in this situation. If I've had three children all this time, how do I ever forgive Erin for keeping something like that from me? And how do I go about having a relationship with them, when they're almost grown, and already have a father figure that they love and adore?"

"That's something you'll have to address in the future, when you know for certain that things are as Alan said they are. Don't just blindly trust the words of a man who has been jealous and bitter about the bond between you and Erin for years. That bitterness causes rot in the soul, as well you know, since we see it every day with the job we do."

Dave nodded before turning his head and looking at the scenery passing by. There was good advice in what Aaron had just told him, and he only hoped that he would be able to utilize them once they returned to Quantico and he could ask Erin what was really going on.