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A/n hey guys... Here's the chapter you've all been waiting for. There's a short epilogue after this chapter as well. Thank you all for your support with this story. Please enjoy!

Rossi's Ultimatum

Five minutes after Agent Seaver left the room, Strauss walked into Hotch's office without knocking. "Agent Hotchner." She began.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" Rossi said.

"I'm not here to talk to you David."

"That doesn't mean I'm leaving." Rossi shot back.

"It's okay David." Hotch said. "Please leave us alone for a few minutes."

Rossi made a show of getting up slowly and leaving the room only after winking at Strauss. "I'm on pins and needles to talk to you Erin."

He left, shutting the door very hard.

"I've spoken to Agents Morgan, Reid and TA Garcia."

Hotch simply stared at her.

"I've decided that this team is too fractured to function. You've lost two team members to circumstances beyond your control. You've had a very rough year. It's enough to tear any group of people apart. I need a cohesive team that can work together."

"With all due respect… I believe we still function as a highly effective team. Do you have any complaints about our work since the death of Agent Prentiss or the departure of Agent Jareau?"

She met his eyes directly. "I have some concerns. I'd like to know why you didn't include in the case report after Miami that Dr. Reid took off his vest and went into a home with an armed un-sub."

"Dr. Reid disarmed the suspect and saved two lives that night."

"I realize that." Irritation dripped from her tone. "I expect that my unit chiefs submit complete and accurate reports to me on every case. Perhaps I should have IAB go over your cases with a fine tooth comb."

"If you chose." Hotch said.

His tone of dismissal and utter unconcern set her heart racing in her chest. Her face went red and her mouth pursed together so hard her lips went white.

"I'm going to recommend to ADA Rawlins that your team be separated and transferred effectively immediately."

Hotch regarded her with cold eyes. "You're going to break up this team because an agent fresh out of the academy accused my agents of inappropriate behavior."

She clenched her hands together. How did he know who'd been the source of the gossip? He couldn't know. He was bluffing. She smiled. "I didn't say it was another agent."

"I know you trust Agent Seaver. I know you want her to fit in because it looks good for the BAU. She's young. She's attractive, like JJ, and she'd be a good face for the BAU. I understand." He said. "You're under pressure from the director to put a good face on the BAU. We've had more than our share of pain and blood. It doesn't present good PR when a team has lost as much as we have. I believe all we've suffered has made us stronger, not fractured us."

"Your opinion is noted." Strauss said as she turned from the door. "The transfer orders will be cut by next week."

He watched her leave without comment. Then he picked up his phone and dialed Rossi's number.

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Rossi entered Strauss's office through the open door. "I don't have time for this David." She said without looking up at him.

He shut the door. Only the golden glow from her lamp illuminated the room as he took the chair Garcia had sat in hours ago. "I don't know what you think you're trying to do Erin, but it's going to stop now."

She looked up at him with one cocked eyebrow. "Agent Rossi…" Her voice crackled with artic ice. "I'll think you to remember that you're here because I signed off on your request to return to the Bureau."

"Cut the crap…"

"Watch your tone!"

They faced off across her desk and Rossi suddenly felt like he stood on some dusty street in a small mining town in the old west.

"We both know, that I know, where some of your skeletons are buried. If I have to, I will make a couple of calls."

She laughed. "You're threats don't scare me."

He shifted and crossed one leg over the other. "Do you remember that case in Baltimore back in '84? We were junior agents then. It was two years before the bureau formed the BAU. You and I were working a kidnapping out of Orlando."

Her eyes narrowed at him, but he saw something else in the grey depths. Something like suppressed fear. He smiled at her.

"Now's not the time for nostalgia." She tried to say in her Section Chief Tone. It was a tone she'd perfected over the last eight years that served her well.

"I think it is."

He relaxed back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other even as she sat up straighter and her mouth tightened.

"That case is nearly thirty years old." She began.

He waved a hand at her. "Just because the Director and much of the upper levels of bureau management have changed, there are those that remember what happened."

"Your threats don't interest me."

He watched her eyes carefully as they stared at him from over the tops of her glasses. They flickered just the tiniest bit.

"I still have friends." He shifted again in his chair, a little show of impatience and boredom. "I'm sure I could make a few calls and straighten this out in no time."

"David…" Her tone suddenly softened. "I think there's a better way for us to settle our differences. I remember a time when you didn't hate me and when I was foolish enough to think you the most attractive man in the FBI."

He laughed. "Are you seriously trying to flirt with me Erin?"

Her face went the color of ripe strawberries. "I'm merely suggesting that -'

"I know what you're suggesting. I've changed Chief Strauss," He put just enough insult in his tone to make her stiffen even more. "I don't bang married women anymore. I certainly don't bang superior agents. If I did, I'd be sure to pick someone less bitchy."

"Agent Rossi, I am warning you…"

"No!"

He rose and stood in front of her. "I'm warning you. I have certain records I've kept for the last twenty-seven years that could make you look very bad. If you don't want me to use them, I suggest you leave my team alone. They've had enough for one year."

A lesser man would've quailed before the ragged hate in Chief Strauss's eyes. David Rossi wasn't a lesser man and she knew it.

"Alright… I'll leave your team intact for now." She hissed. "Just keep in mind that one day you won't be here to protect them."

He smiled again. "Is that a threat Erin?"

She managed to look offended, but he knew better. "Of course not David."

"I'm glad to hear that because my lawyers have been instructed to make certain calls or provide certain documents to the right people upon my death. You better hope I live to be ninety."

With that, he swaggered out of the room. He stopped just outside the doorway and faced her again. "The next time you try to use me to get to the team by way of someone like Ashley Seaver, I'll instruct my lawyers to pretend I'm dead."

He left her staring at him in stunned silence.

CMCMCM

Hotch entered the conference room with Rossi in tow. He shut the door and took his usual chair across from the flat panel screen on the far wall. "Agent Seaver."

"Sir." She sat up straight in her chair and wiped anxiously at the last of her tears.

"Effective immediately you're no longer a member of this team. You will be reassigned to a field office outside the DC area. I don't know the location of your next assignment. I'm leaving that up to Agent Rossi."

"Ashley," Rossi took his seat next to her. "I trusted you to come into this team and do a very tough job. Now I realize that was a mistake. There's a reason why agents of the Bureau must serve at least seven years before joining this bureau. This job isn't meant to be taken lightly. There are people's lives at stake every day. We have to be able to trust each other and right now, neither Hotch nor I trust you."

She reached out a hand to touch his arm, and then snatched it back as though burned. "I'm sorry." She said in a small voice. "I wasn't thinking."

"The only reason you haven't been fired is because of Rossi." Hotch went on. "He believes in you. Perhaps he's right. In seven years you might be ready to come back here."

Fresh tears because running down her cheeks. "I don't understand why you're being so hard on me." She lashed out.

"It's not just your lack of judgment." Hotch said. "Your work is sub standard. I know you're new to profiling, but I would expect you not to ask so many questions on subjects you should know. The fact that you accused an autistic boy of shooting and kidnapping his own parents was so far out of line as to be laughable. Your first case out, you allowed yourself to be taken hostage by a un-sub. I kept you on because Strauss likes you. I thought you could learn. I know now, you don't have the maturity for this job."

She wiped more tears off her face. "Will you tell the others what I said?"

"Yes… They have a right to know. You'll have to earn back their trust." Hotch said.

"Am I excused?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the table.

"Yes… Pack up your stuff. You're suspended with pay until you're new assignment comes through."

Seaver stood up and made her way to the door as slowly as an arthritic old woman. "Seaver?"

She turned back to face Hotch. "Yes sir."

"I hope you take this as an opportunity for learning. Trust is earned, not given."

"Yes sir."

Rossi stood up after Seaver left the room. "I'm sorry Aaron. I really did think she'd be an asset to the team."

Hotch gave him a small tired smile. "So did I, David."