Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.

―Lemony Snicket-

Caught between letting him deal with the nurse alone, and relief that even straight from a medicinal coma he could still rattle her, Erin said, "Could we talk about this later?"

"I can't make you love me, can I?" he rasped.

"David…."

"You can't even say it back."

Erin tried to think of something to say - any little response to placate him - but she couldn't think of any. But his eyelids were beginning to droop, and with any luck he would be asleep in the next minute.

"It has to be the drugs talking," she comforted herself.

"Just take my credit card and get out of here," he ordered. "There's no reason for you to be here."

Blinking quickly, Erin stood up. It would serve no purpose - good or bad - to get into an argument with him, she reasoned. In fact, it might get her banned from the hospital altogether. "Just get some rest. I need to get off my feet and go feed the dog. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Go on, get out of here and don't come back." He waved dismissively., "Go feed the dog, go feed yourself. I don't care what you do," he said, in a tone cold as ice. His eyes roved over her in a look that said he despised her.

Swallowing the lump that gathered in her throat, Erin nodded she closed her eyes and willed her emotions under control. Please let it be the drugs talking, she prayed, please don't let him mean it.

"Okay," she conceded, "I'll go."

"Do whatever you fucking want," Dave replied despondently. The lack of care and emotion in his tone cut more deeply across Erin's heart than if he had he yelled at her.

"Don't ask me to come back."

"Don't worry, I won't," he fired back.

The door closed behind her with an echo, Erin leaned against the wall suddenly robbed of breath. She wanted to leave, to run away - far away from David Rossi and the pain he kept inflicting.

"Is everything ok?"

The hallway wasn't as deserted as she thought. "He's awake," she said tightly. "And bitchy." She straightened and looked at J.J. "I don't like this," she admitted softly. "He's not himself."

"Come on," J.J. offered, giving a smile. "Let's take a walk, somewhere far, far away from the cardiac unit. You look like you could use a break and I'm starving."

"Agreed." Erin said, offering a slight grin. It felt good to not be alone, unfortunately, she would never admit that out loud. "Dammit!" She swore, looking down. "I left my purse and I am not going back in there."

J.J. smiled mysteriously. "Watch this."

"Hey, Hotch," she said in total seriousness, " Dave's awake, but he's in an awful mood."

"That's to be expected," Hotch said while relief flooded his veins. "Do you mind if I see him?"

"Please do," Erin said with veiled sarcasm. Deep down inside she envied the bond the two men shared. It was almost perversely erotic how close two men could be without being intimate. And Erin was jealous of them. She wanted what they had. Maybe if she did, she wouldn't be standing in the hallway of a CCU with the BAU liaison.

"And um.."

Flicking a hand in Erin's direction, J.J. said, "Just grab her purse on the way out."

"Sure." Hotch knocked twice on the door and let himself in. "How's it going, Dave?" he greeted.

Spying Erin's purse in the chair, on top of the bag Penelope brought he grabbed it and stuck his hand out the door.

"Like hell," Erin heard Dave retort. A minute later, Hotch arrived with the prized purse in his hands.

"Here you go, Chief."

"Should I be worried?" she asked, mildly impressed. With more force than necessary, she snatched the paper bag from Hotch's outstretched hand. She gave J.J. a pointed look. "You have him wrapped around your little finger," she accused with a thinly veiled sneer.

The cool blonde profiler shook her head and took it in stride. "I don't know what you're talking about, Chief Strauss. I'm happily married, and in the interest of full disclosure, you're Dave's boss, and from my estimate, you're at least three months pregnant," she replied with a smile that dared Erin to deny it.

Oh crap! Recovering quickly, Erin replied, "I'd rather not talk about this here."

"Come get a cup of coffee with me,"J.J. offered the olive branch.

Erin gave JJ a wary look. "What's the catch?" she returned, as the moved down the hallway.

"Just a little honesty." J.J. said slowly. "It's only fair. You were at my wedding for Christ sake, and we're practically strangers."

Erin nodded as they paused in front of a bank of elevators. "That is true," she agreed, and pressed the button.

"What do you want to know?"

They boarded the elevator, and J.J. waited for the doors to slide closed. "What's going on between you and Rossi? You don't have to be here as his boss. Obviously, something happened between you two, and Penelope has her suspicions, but I'm curious."

"You have to understand something," Erin said slowly, "I put the fraternization protocols in place years ago. I fought like hell for those rules. I was trying to protect young, stupid recruits who would surely get wrapped up in the lure of seasoned F.B.I agents." She didn't owe J.J. anymore than that as an explanation, she thought bitterly.

"So you broke your own rules." J.J. said with a neutral tone that didn't condemn the chief, but it didn't condone her, either. The silence stretched painfully as the steel box they stood in began to drift upward.

Erin shook her head at the judgement. Gripping the steel bar that wrapped along the wall. "Dave loves his job and I don't think he could function without the thrill of the hunt. I'll be filing for a transfer So he can keep it."

"Do you love him?"

Four words,that's all it took and Erin felt like an unsub in an interrogation room. She gripped the steel bar tightly and said, "He said it, but I couldn't say it back."

"I see." And JJ did. Everything was perfectly clear.

Turning sharply towards the other woman. "You all think I don't know that I'm Public Enemy Number One, but I know and understand; because I put my job, my status before everything. The F.B.I politics dictated my decisions and I don't regret it because it made me good at my job. Those decisions supported my family - admittedly at the expense of my social calendar."

"I've been there" J.J. said, and added quickly before Erin could continue, "sometimes, we have to make that unpopular choice. It's not always right, and it doesn't always win us any favors."

A heavy silence settled between the women. Just as the elevator began to slow, J.J. was the first to speak. "Will didn't want me to come back to The BAU, but after the last mission, I couldn't make myself do anything else."

Erin nodded in understanding. "You didn't need the job; after everything we went through. You needed the people in the unit."

The elevator doors slid open. J.J. stepped out and led them towards the cafeteria. "We don't have it out for you. And although people will have questions that's to be expected. But rest assured that as a group, I'd say you're safe."