AN: I want to offer a big apology for how long it as taken me to update this story. After I posted the last chapter, I had a block on this story and for the longest time couldn't work past it. It is not quite what I had planned for this chapter but after rewriting it numerous times,this is what I have ended with. The next chapter is almost done and I hope to post it later this week or early next week. The epilogue just needs to be edited and will be post shortly after chapter 30.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

CHAPTER 29

Sam Cooper walked into his office and closed the door. Sitting down at his desk, he contemplates what had been one of the strangest months in the BAU since he joined it. Given the mandate for the unit, that was quite a feat.

First, in the beginning of December, there were rumors that Dave Rossi and Emily Prentiss were having an affair after they were spotted disappearing into a room together. Cooper had rolled his eyes and shut the rumors down hard when he heard them.

Those rumors reignited after Dave punched AD Donaldson a few days later when he approached Dave and Emily during a conversation. Again Cooper had shut down the gossip as he overheard it, knowing there had to be another explanation.

Cooper had known Dave for a long time. They had worked together on the original BAU team that Dave and Jason Gideon had formed. Even back in the days when Dave was dating his way through the Bureau, he had some hard passes on who he would and wouldn't become involved with. No married women. No one who couldn't accept that he wasn't looking for a relationship. And no one on the team or who worked closely with the team.

Cooper wouldn't believe that those passes had changed unless he heard from a reliable source.

A couple of days later a summons to Strauss' office along with the other Unit Chiefs of the BAU filled him with dread. There had been no word from administration since Dave had punched Donaldson. Dave had not been seen in the office since that day. Emily was seemingly out of the office as well. Hotch and his team were in the office but had closed ranks.

When they were settled in Strauss' office she slowly explained the sequence of events that had been happening. Cooper had been floored when Strauss had stated that Emily was Dave's missing daughter. Of all the possibilities of what she was going to say, that didn't even come to his mind.

He had known about Sophia almost as long as he had known Dave. He had seen the picture that he knew Dave carried in his wallet for years. He had helped look for her. Now it turns out that she had unknowingly been under all their noses for a few years now.

Strauss had continued that Dave was suspended because of his actions in assaulting Donaldson. Then she said that Emily was taking some time off and explained who was going to be covering her job responsibilities during that time.

Cooper had been glad to hear that Greene was assigned to handle all intake of cases and consults for the BAU because they had been discussing his options after his last medical checkup failed to allow him back into the field.

Now over a month later, Cooper was again walking back to his office after a meeting with Strauss. She had asked for his help with issues on Aaron Hotchner's team, namely issues surrounding Derek Morgan. It was his openness to assignments like this which had Strauss willing to overlook his frequently late paperwork.

She asked him to help informally because if she needed to get involved, it would make it official and that would make things messy. She wanted to avoid that step if she could help it. But now he needed to think about what he could do to help.

Strauss had mentioned that he hadn't taken the news of Emily's paternity well and as she was observing the team, there was friction with his teammates and that was even before Rossi returned from his suspension. Hotch had remained professional however he was difficult position because of the unique circumstances.

Generally in a situation such as this, Dave would be at the center of bringing members of the team together to working out whatever the issue was. However, in this case, although he was in the center of the issue, he wasn't going to be able to fix the dysfunction. In fact, Strauss had shared with Cooper that from what she had observed, things may actually get worse once Dave was back in the office if the conflicts weren't addressed before then.

And if that happened or things didn't improve soon, she would have to seriously consider making some hard choices about team compositions within the BAU. Given Greene's current medical limitation, she had mentioned that Morgan may be coming over to his team. Cooper sighed. As much as Morgan would make a strong addition for his team in the field, this is not the way he wanted to gain an agent.

####

When Derek Morgan walked into the bullpen after lunch he was confused about the message he had received. From Cooper needing to talk to him. He mentioned to Blake where he would be if anyone was looking for him. Based on how things had been recently, he didn't expect that to happen.

He walked down the hall to Cooper's office and knocked on the door. He walked in after Cooper waved him in as he finished a phone call. Once he hung up, Cooper gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

After he sat down, Derek looked over the desk and asked, "so what's up? Your message was vague on what you needed to see me about?"

Cooper sighed and leaned forward with his forearms resting on his desk as he said, "Yeah Derek. I need to talk to you about the tension that is going on with your team right now. More specifically, your role in it."

Derek sat up straight and glared at Cooper before he said harshly, "Hotch put you up to this?"

Cooper shook his head before responding, "It wasn't Hotch. As far as I know, Hotch doesn't even know that we are meeting or what we are going to talk about today."

Derek huffs and crosses his arms over his chest before asking, "then who asked you to talk to me?"

Cooper paused as he noted the impudent response from the younger agent. Trying to hide his annoyance he responded with a seriousness in his tone, "Strauss. She has been observing your team since Dave's suspension. He comes back next week and your team goes back on rotation and she understandably has some concerns."

"Is that so?" Morgan fired back.

Cooper shook his head and for a second wondered if he should even try to get through to him before remembering that he had promised Strauss that he would try. Straightening his back he responded, "yeah, I talked to her this morning. What is up with you Derek?"

Derek stood up and started pacing in the room as he said, "It's about finding out that Rossi is Prentiss' biological father. We've all heard the rumors about him sleeping his way through the Bureau back in the day. She just accepted it with open arms without knowing how invested he is in being a father. Every time I think about it, I remember the stories she had told about growing up. I think about all that has happened over the last few month to her. I get angry."

"At what or who?" Cooper asked though he was almost certain he knew what Morgan was going to say.

Morgan gumbled, "Rossi."

Cooper sighed before saying, "Derek, this wasn't Dave's fault."

"How do you know man?" Morgan asked irritatedly.

Cooper stood up and said forcefully, "Derek, you're way off base. He left Emily's mother because he was a Marine being who was being deployed not by choice." Cooper paused and sat back down before continuing, "I worked with Dave for a long time. It wasn't long after we met that I heard about Sophia. I know he hasn't shared that part of his life with all of you but back when I started, we all knew about her. He looked unsuccessfully for her for years. After he was forced by a former director to stop, there were some of us that keep looking for her."

"So he wanted the baby?" Derek asked skeptically as he sat back down. This was not how he expected this conversation to go.

Cooper smiled at him before becoming serious as he said, "very much so. He didn't give up custody. She was illegally given up for adoption when her mother, Emma died. By the time he was discharged from the Marines and able to get back, Emily was already gone."

Derek huffed and cross his arms in front of him as he said, "I just have a hard time with as many women as he has been with he would be that devoted to one woman and one child."

Cooper sighed before saying, "Emma was different for Dave. I didn't know him then but I'm guessing Dave was different too."

Derek cocked his head before asking, "different how?"

Cooper sighed as he hoped that his old friend wouldn't be upset at what he was going to share with Morgan. He shook his head before saying, "Emma and Dave were high school sweethearts though from what he said they knew each other longer than that. They planned to marry but that was delayed when he went into the military. It was evident anytime he spoke of her how much he loved Emma. For Dave, Emma was 'The One' for him."

When he looked back over at Morgan after making air quotes around 'the one', Cooper could see the change in Morgan's expression that told him he was making some progress. They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before Morgan said stunned, "that's why he was so determined to find their child?"

Cooper slowly nodded and sighed before looking back over at Derek and calmly saying, "I think Dave would have wanted to be involved in the life of any child of his but in this case yes, Sophia was the only link he had left of Emma. Proof of the love they shared, the love he had for her. At one point he mentioned that he felt like he would have failed Emma if her stopped looking for Sophia. He couldn't let go of trying to find her. And I can guarantee that as upset as you are about stories she has told about negative things that happened when she was growing up are affecting him more than they are you."

Cooper paused before continuing, "I don't know if she has figured it out yet but he will do anything for Emily now that he has found her. And I mean anything. She holds a lot of power over him." Cooper scratched his chin as he wondered if anyone had spoken to her about it. He would need to check with Katie and Strauss and make sure one of them did.

Derek shook his head not at all ready to concede to Cooper's declaration about what Emma was to Dave as he blurted out, "but he married three times Cooper."

Cooper nodded and answered sadly, "yeah he did. He was trying to move on. We all met his first wife, Caroline. She is a wonderful woman and care about Dave very much. All of us were hoping and praying that they would find happiness. But no woman wants to come in third in her husband's life particularly when one is seemingly the ghost of the child of the love of his life and the other is this job. I believe at another time and place, they would have worked as there was no doubt that they loved each other. Not the same as he had with Emma but something they could have built on."

Cooper paused before continuing, "I don't know much about his second or third wives other than their marriages could be measured in days and hours respectively. After his last one broke up, it seemed as if something broke in him. Something different than what was broken because of Emma and Sophia."

"So he just gave up?" Derek asked curiously having never heard these details about his colleague. But in context what Cooper said would explain the reactions of the agents that had worked with Dave years earlier as well as the protectiveness he had observed from Katie Cole, Strauss and now Cooper of Dave and this aspect of his life.

Cooper sighed and nodded as he remembered Dave when he told all of them about the end of his third marriage to someone none of them had met before saying sadly, "he didn't say specifically but yeah. It was only after that that he started dating his way through the Bureau, never staying with anyone very long. He did have specific rules which is why I immediately discounted the recent rumors started about him and Emily having an affair even before I learned the truth.

He was meeting his needs without allowing himself to get too close to anyone again. But after a while it did get him a reputation. One he still can't shake even though it is not really accurate even aside from Emma and Sophia."

"I misinterpreted what he had done." Derek said absentmindedly.

Cooper nodded as he answered, "sounds like it. But the important question is what are you going to do about it now?"

####

Emily was reorganizing her kitchen as she thought about the latest delay on her court date. Her lawyers had called the previous Friday to let her know that the court needed more time to process her case.

According to Neil, given the unique circumstances, the FBI director and judge decided to consult the DOJ to make sure however the courts resolved Emily's case that it was done in a way that would assure the integrity of her work within the FBI and well as assure that no inmates were able to be released on a technicality. A complication that had come up when a convicted serial killer that Emily's testimony had helped put in prison petitioned the court to have his conviction overturned because the issues with her identity.

The FBI was investigating how the inmate was able to find out in a maximum security prison as they worked on a plan on what had been their worst fear when they were alerted to the issues with her adoption in December. The FBI director had petitioned the court to maintain a record of her Prentiss identity citing this new request.

Unfortunately all of this took time and no changes to her status could happen at this point until the higher ups decided how to do it.

Today she had to the kids back with the nannies who this week were at Will and JJ's. They were at an age were she was concerned with changing their routine for too long as they had already been home for three weeks over the holidays. It would just make the situation harder for them when she did go back to work whenever that ended up happening.

As she was reorganizing the cabinet with pots and pans, Emily groaned when she heard the doorbell ring. It was the middle of the day and in her experience, the only people that rang the doorbell were people soliciting. Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she banged her fists on the floor when the doorbell rang again as she realized they weren't going to leave on their own.

Standing up she wiped her hands on the towel sitting on the counter before walking towards the front door noticing the shadow of someone standing still standing there.

As she opened the door and saw who was standing there, she narrowed her eyes and hissed, "what do you want?" as she blocked the entrance. Over the weeks, Emily disappointment and sadness had turned to anger as more time when on without hearing from Derek.

Derek had been expecting her to be upset after mentioning to Hotch that he wanted to go talk to her but was not prepared for this level of anger. He put his hands out as said, "Emily I want to talk."

Emily didn't move but gave a humorless chuckle before she said, "oh now you want to talk."

Derek dropped his head before shaking it. He then looked back up at her and said sadly, "Emily, I'm sorry. "

Emily huffed and walked away from the door without closing it completely. Derek looked in and saw her walking back towards the kitchen. He took it as a passive invitation and stepped into the house closing the door behind him. When the door clicked, Emily turned and looked at him standing in the entryway and said, "don't let the door hit you on the way out." before turning and walking to the kitchen.

It was at that point that it finally hit him how much he had screwed up. He friend and former partner didn't even want to be in his presence. When he hesitantly stepped into the kitchen, he saw Emily rapidly typing on her phone.

When she stopped, she placed the phone on the counter before looking over at him in the doorway. She rolled her eyes before saying, "well if you are going to stay, you need to make yourself useful. Hand me the pots and pans off that counter so I can put them back into the cabinet." After sitting down on the floor, Emily instructed him on what items to hand her in what order so she could put all of them away.

Once she had finished and stood up, Emily looked over at Derek and then turned and refilled her water glass. As she stood at the fridge, she looked at him and gestured to the cabinet with the glasses. He nodded and she reached to take one out before also filling it with water. As she handed it to him, she said tiredly, "what do you want Derek?"

Derek sat on one of the stools at the counter before saying, "I want to talk and I need to apologize to you."

Emily nodded and then softly said, "why Derek?"

Derek sighed and said, "I kept coming back to stories you have told about growing up . Dave has a reputation in the Bureau. I wasn't sure if he was going to be up to the role that you were expecting."

Emily bristled at the explanation before Derek heard her mumbling about pots and kettles and stones and glass houses.

Derek had also gained a reputation within the Bureau. Before Derek could respond she continued angrily, "would you have been happier if I found out my birth parents had been drug addicts and prostitutes? Then you could have said 'I told you so'. Is that it?" As she finished, Emily turned away from him and wiped the side of her eyes.

"No" Derek said quietly.

Turning back to face him, Emily said, "the news came as a shock to both of us but not an unwelcome one. Dave has been a positive influence in my life for a few years now. And when he told me three years ago he was all in, he actually followed through." She looked at him pointedly until he looked away, embarrassed.

Derek shook his head wondering if this was something they were going to be able to get past before he said, "Emily, you're right and I'm sorry."

Emily nodded before she responded morosely, "I believed you Derek. I believed you when you said you'd be there when we talked on the roof. And when push came to shove, you weren't. And as if that wasn't hurtful enough, you didn't call or send a message or visit."

"I didn't know what to say."

Emily continued, "I saw you in the office last week Derek and you didn't say anything. Not even hello. Do you have any idea how that made me feel that you couldn't even say hi? I had just gotten more crappy news and that is what I remember."

Derek shook his head before answering, "I knew I needed to apologize to you. I was planning to come by your office to talk but you were already gone when I get there."

Emily shook her head before she said, "That was over a week ago and this is the first I've heard from you so you must not have wanted to talk to me that urgently." She paused before continuing, "there wasn't any point on being there considering I'm not allowed to do anything."

Derek cocked his head and asked her confused, "what do you mean? Is that why you are home?"

Emily sighed and nodded as she answered, "I'm on paid leave until the issues with my identity are settled. They have rescheduled the court hearing to do that twice now. Legally Emily Prentiss never existed but I have been living as her for 31 years. All of my FBI paperwork has been done under that name. Now that we all know that isn't who I am, I can't work under what we now know isn't my real name. Until I go to court, I'm in No Man's Land for my identity.

And with the uncertainty, one of the UNSUBs we have put away have somehow found out and now one is petitioning for full release. Everyone is worried if they don't settled it looking at the big picture, his release could happen on a technicality. And if one is successful, then how many more will try? That can't happen."

Derek said not sure to say after the hearing what she had been dealing with over the last few weeks, "wow. So what have you been doing?"

Emily walked over to a stool on the other end of the counter before saying, "well in December it was easier. I had a week before Aaron was off. Everything was so new at that point. I spent time with the kids. Dave and I talked a lot. I had time to do more Christmas planning that I did most years.

But we thought I would be able to do some work when I went back in January but when I went into work last week, I found out from Strauss that legal recommended paid leave until everything to cleared by the courts and now I don't know when that is going to be. None of us do."

"Have you been seeing a lot of Dave?" Derek asked.

Emily smiled and nodded before saying, "yeah, up until he went to Vegas with Spencer. We, uh, went up to New York to see Boyd Keeler."

Derek's head shot up and he said forcefully, "why would you want to talk to him?"

Emily could feel her anger rising again at his response. She didn't owe him an explanation. But she sighed remembering that they were trying to work things out. Tamping down her anger she answered, "because he was the only one left who I could possibly get answers from who was around back then."

Derek shook his head before asking, "and did you? Get answers? What could he have possibly told you that would make what they did OK?"

Emily said annoyed, "I wasn't expecting him to make it OK. I just needed to know what happened. Good news is he was agreeable to making an official statement."

Derek stopped and looked at her confused before saying, "official statement. For what reason?"

Emily sighed before she said, "for one thing, to use against the lawyers that represented the Prentiss family when the are found. Apparently they along with my 'father' threatened them after they contacted the adoption lawyer after Dave got out of the Marines and went to them looking for me."

"What?" Derek shouted. He hadn't heard anything about the Prentiss' being involved with keeping Emily away from Dave once he returned from the Marines.

Emily nodded before continuing, "yeah. Told them I was his and they would never get me back because they couldn't prove anything. Threatened to ruin them if they tried."

"Damn. Did he try to justify why they sold you?" Derek asked as this was a part that had really bothered him since the details of her adoption had started to come out.

Emily sighed again before saying, "yeah and after hearing that part, I can't be angry."

"Why not, they sold you Emily!" Derek shouted not believing that she was going to let them off the hook.

Emily know once she explained he would understand better so not responding to his anger, she stated, "because Mildred Taylor was a 37 year old single mom who had raised her 2 kids alone after she was widowed at 22.

When Dave was deployed Mildred was worried that history was going to repeat itself and she didn't want that for her daughter. She was also manipulated by a doctor she trusted about who to go to for the adoption while mourning the loss of her child."

Derek sat back stunned at what Emily just said. Having been raised by a single mom after his father died, he recognized how hard it was for her even with the help of his aunt.

He then said, "I can't imagine. Can you imagine being a parent at 19 or a grandparent at 37?"

Emily sighed because she had thought about this, especially in all of her free time since her and Dave got back from New York. About what her life would have been like if she hadn't had that abortion when she was 15. With everything she learned over the last few months, she was even less sure than she had been at the time that the Ambassador would have helped her at all.

But as she sat there she nervously considered that she never shared that part of her life with Derek. Early in her time with her team she pick up that most of the time Derek looked at the world in black and white, right or wrong terms. She feared that no matter how she explained not just this but a lot of what she did in her teens he would judge her and it would adversely affect their partnership.

But right now things between them were strained because of him avoiding her for the last few weeks had deeply affected her. But then she shrugged. If he was going to have an issue, then it was better to know now as she has an organic opportunity to open up to him about her experience. If she found that he was going to judge her then maybe their friendship wasn't worth saving.

She sighed and looked at him as she said, "yeah I have been thinking about it since we got back. A lot actually. Not many people know and I really don't want to talk about it but I was pregnant when I was 15 so it has come even closer to home."

Derek looked over at her not sure what to say. This was something he hadn't known at all about her until today. And there were multiple questions that he wanted to ask her. But he stopped himself before one could slip out.

Emily had just clearly said she didn't want to talk about it. And as well as he knew her, he knew she wasn't going to say anymore on the subject regardless of what questions were asked. She had opened up to him which happened slowly for his private colleague. He also realized that it was a test of sorts on whether he would accept the information and respect her request. And given that he wanted to put their friendship back on a positive path, he decided to do just that.

Emily quietly observe as she could see the gears turning as Derek processed what she just said. She could see him looking like to was going to say something a few times before stopping himself. After they sat in silence for several minutes, Derek cleared his throat and asked, "have you and Dave gotten the chance to talk since you got back from New York?"

Emily, thankful that Derek respected her request not to talk about what said, let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding in relief at the change in subject. Looking over at him, she responded, "not really. We were both taken aback by what we learned. Aaron and Spencer met us at the airport and Dave flew out to Vegas with him that night. We have talked since then but what we learned in New York isn't really something either of us wants to talk about on the phone."

"Do you know when they are coming back? How is Spencer's mom doing?" Derek asked having not heard any details since Spencer received that phone call.

Emily shuddered as she remembered the call from Dave that had filled her and Aaron in on what had happened before answering, "Diana is stable. The medication they injected her with was to raise her blood pressure. The mindset is that they were trying to raise her blood pressure to a dangerous level and that would cause her to have a heart attack or stroke. Thankfully she is on blood pressure medication so while it did raise it and she did have a mild stroke, it could have been much worse."

"What is the plan? Is Spencer staying out there indefinitely?" Derek asked worriedly knowing how close Spencer was to his mom.

Emily gave a small smile before adding, "now that she is stable her doctor there has approved her to be flown here to continue her recovery. As long as there aren't any setbacks, that will happen tomorrow. Dave and Spencer will be on the same flight."

Derek nodded as he said, "that is good news. I'm glad she is going to be OK. Did they catch the person who did it?"

Emily nodded before saying, "yeah. Well one of the two was caught before they could escape. The other was caught yesterday and after being offered a deal has been cooperative. He gave them the location of William Reid and others from the firm. Last I heard they were going in to arrest them tonight." It was a relief to get that piece of information that at least that part of the case was going forward.

Derek nodded before saying, "that's good." He paused and looked around the kitchen before continuing, "so what have you been doing with your time off, other than organizing your kitchen."

Emily laughed before saying, "Well, in December I only thought I was going to have that time since the plan was to go back in January with everyone else. I spent time with the kids, did Christmas stuff, decorated along with other stuff I generally don't have time for.

Over the last week or so, I haven't wanted to upset the kids schedules too much since they are so young and I will hopefully be going back to work at some point soon. That said, I have had them home a couple of days and reduce the time they are away from home. I've slowly been reorganizing since I don't know when I will ever have the time again. Oh and I've been binge watching TV other than kid channels."

They sat quietly for a few minutes before an idea came into Derek's head. He looked over at her grinning as he asked, "do you have any interest in going to the gym?"

Emily smiled as her head popped up and she answered surprised "yeah that would be great." She paused and bit her lip before continuing, "you know that it still won't solve everything right."

Derek sighed and nodded before he said, "I know. What do I need to do Emily?"

Emily nodded before saying, "you need to apologize to Dave. You made some significant assumptions about him. Wrong and hurtful assumptions at that. As for me, you just need to give me time. I trusted you. You promised that you would support me and when I needed that support, you weren't there."

Derek nodded then said, "I'll do my best to earn your trust back. I'll talk to Dave when he gets back."