"Erin?!"
Dave came back to his senses when he heard Penelope call out his partner's name. Slowly getting to his feet, he made for the door, gazing down into the bullpen in time to see Erin's foot catch on the bottom stair. She would have pitched forward onto the floor if Anderson hadn't been there to catch her. He let out a relieved breath as he watched Erin pull away from him and continue her exodus from the room.

Looking around, he noticed that Reid and Morgan had not left, as they were staring after Erin, and he frowned a little, knowing that she would not be pleased with that at all. Sighing, he wiped his face with his hand and then turned to look at the conference room. Penelope was lingering around the top of the stairs, as if she wanted to chase after Erin, while Blake and Hotch were in the doorway, staring after her as well.

"What did you say to her, Rossi?" Penelope demanded as she stomped over to him, fury in her eyes. The sharp jab of her pointer finger in his chest seemed to rouse him further from his lull and he blinked a few times as he focused on her face. "Did you break up with her? When her granddaughter is in the hospital? You could cause her to relapse, you know! This is so much stress to put on her shoulders right now, you jerk!"

He saw her hand raise, and braced for the sting of a slap that never came. "Kitten?"

"Save it, Rossi, I'm going to go after her. You just think about how badly you fucked up tonight." Giving him another glare, she whirled around and flew down the stairs and out the doors. Morgan went to get up, only for Dave to see Reid put his hand on his arm and shake his head. It seemed like everyone was going to be privy to their personal lives, and he knew that Erin would hate that. A small part of his heart didn't care, though. She deserved to be under scrutiny, for what she had kept from him for so long.

He slowly walked over to Hotch, wanting to get him alone. He had to talk to his best friend about what he had found out that evening. His best friend was not giving him the most welcoming of looks, however, and Dave felt his frown deepen a little as he cocked his head to one side as he regarded them. "That was rather poor form, Dave," he said, and Dave shook his head a little. "I mean it. She's our boss, and it looks so bad on us as a team to have her break down as a result of something you said. I take it that this has something to do with what we were talking about when I picked you up from the airport?"

Dave heard the sharp intake of breath from Blake, and he glanced over at her, seeing the almost eager look on her face. "It might. Do you think that we could go into your office and talk for a little bit? I think that I need to decompress."

Hotch pursed his lips, which told Dave that the answer was going to be no. "I wish that I could, really, I do. But Jess called while the three of us were talking, and Jack needs me to come home. Perhaps tomorrow? If we don't go out on a case, we can have lunch together, and hash everything out. All right?"

He knew that he couldn't argue against Jack wanting time with his father, so he nodded and watched Hotch pat Blake's shoulder before giving him a knowing look. "Until tomorrow," he said lowly as he gave his friend a short wave. The moment he was out of earshot, Blake stepped into his personal space and Dave let a deep sigh as he nodded at her. "I suppose that now you want to talk, too?"

"I think that we should." Blake spread her hand out on his upper arm, gently turning his towards his office and guiding him inside. "What just happened there?"

If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that there was a touch of concern in Alex's voice, but given the argument that had just happened in the conference room, he dismissed that thought nearly as quickly as it popped into his head. "Erin and I had a fight, and before you say it, no, she did not burn me. At least, not in the way that you think."

Blake reached out and took hold of his hand, squeezing it firmly as she looked deep into his eyes. He knew that they technically weren't supposed to profile each other, he could see that she was trying to do exactly that, and he found that he didn't particularly mind what she was doing. "It has to have been something that devastated you. You wouldn't look this hurt if she was just being her typical self."

"Her typical self is a carefully constructed fiction, Alex. I can't tell you about what's going on right now, but I can give you a little backstory on what happened back then. We had an affair, and we both fell in love with each other, but couldn't admit it. And during the Amerithrax case, everything between us went to hell, and we both nearly got caught and censured. So she pulled in on herself and did everything she could do to protect the one thing that she knew would bring her stability, which was her job. She didn't know about Ethan, she didn't know about James, all she knew was that she was about to have three children who needed their mother to provide for them, just in case Alan found out about what was happening."

Blake nodded a little, some of the tension leaving her expression, though she didn't let go of his hand. "And now?" she gently probed.

"Now, Alan is being an even larger cunt than he was back then, and Erin is terrified that she's going to lose Helena. It's not her child, but I think we both know the sort of fear that she's now living with. God, at least Penelope is being the friend she needs right now, because I can't see beyond my own nose. And I don't know who I'm angrier at – her or myself."

"Why would you be angry at yourself?"

"Because I should have been there for her! I should have seen the truth of everything, but because it didn't fit in with the story I was trying to feed myself about her life, I ignored it. She's right, if I had just confronted her on just how large an asshole Alan was, and still is, perhaps we could have avoided her drinking problem. Perhaps she would have been able to salvage her friendship with you. Kitten's right about one thing, my partner loves you as a dear friend, that never went away, even when you were so angry with her."

Blake's eyes began to glisten brightly with unshed tears. "We're both proud people."

"Her pride really took a hit when Derek had to strongarm her into rehab. She's still fragile, Alex. And I don't know…"

His voice trailed off as he thought about how he would go about apologizing for his actions. Erin hadn't deserved his anger, as it appeared that she had known nothing about the truth, had looked gutted when she told him about the fact that he was a father and a grandfather, and he had just lashed out at her rather than listened. Penelope was right, he was a pillock, and he had no idea how to fix what he had made wrong.