It's an odd feeling, realizing you've been lied to. First, there's the hunch. That feeling that something doesn't quite add up, but that can fade away over time. Maybe you're being too paranoid, you reason. Not everything needs an explanation.

Then, there's the hint. Sometimes there this small bit of proof that you were right all along. It validates you.

Next, there's the rush. The rush you get when investigating something, trying to add little pieces of information all together to get a clearer picture. The rush is why Will wanted to become a detective, and he would wager it was why most police officers did as well. The exhilaration of the investigation, finding out what you're not supposed to. But there's another phase- one that he hadn't really experienced before, not to that extent anyway. Because, finally, after you've had a hunch, and found some proof, and pieced everything together- you have the truth, and now you have to decide what to do with that piece of information. Will was normally done by that point. Someone else would have to sort out the fallout. But the minute that he opened the carved, dark wooden jewelry box and scooped out a single ruby stud earring, comparing it to the identical piece of jewelry he had found by Emily's bed, he knew. This time the fallout was his to deal with.

JJ had come home the day before, but Will was "working." He wasn't really, but he didn't want to go home either, choosing instead to leave Henry with a babysitter until the blonde profiler returned home from Oklahoma. He had stayed the night at his precinct, running the past four years over in his head.

He had met JJ, and she had wanted it to be casual.

She had visited him every other weekend, but besides that they would hardly communicate. She would never initiate.

She had gone back to New Orleans to work on a case, and was seemingly embarrassed of him. She said it was just because of work, but it didn't make sense to him at the time. He liked her so he didn't push it- this was an overall them. And then she had kissed him so any hunches or feelings that it wasn't right were let go.

She had gotten pregnant, but she wasn't excited. It didn't seem like it, anyway. He thought she was just nervous at the time.

She was appreciative, but not enthused by him moving up to D.C. to be with her, but he overlooked it because he loved her and she was pregnant and why should he have been skeptical?

She hadn't told anyone about her pregnancy. She was irritated by him visiting her on the case in New York. It confused him at the time because it seemed like a romantic gesture that any woman would appreciate.

She would go through constant periods of shortness and then be overly kind and loving. It was the same cycle over and over again. Anger-case-overcompensation? First he had just assumed it was the hormones. Then he thought that was just the way she dealt with the things she saw on the job. Perhaps there was a sense of dread before cases and then wanting to make it up to him and make sure he knew how much she loved him after getting back from those horrors? That's what he had always assumed anyway, and he had lived in New Orleans. They hadn't spent more than three days at a time together before she got pregnant, so he assumed it was just a piece of her he didn't know. But once again, the good outweighed the bad so he always ignored it.

Then there was Emily. There was always Emily. Will didn't think anything of it because they were friends. He hadn't really had a long-term relationship before JJ. He didn't have any sisters and he lived with his father after his parents split. For all purposes, Will didn't know much about women. So he just assumed that's how women were with their friends. They were very close. JJ had lost her sister at a young age and maybe Emily was Rosaline's surrogate.

But as he spent the night running through, checking and re-checking every piece of information, every little thing that didn't add up over the past four years- the way she resisted him, her moods, the way she would disappear after cases or be completely unreachable, the way she was always with Emily- he could only come to one conclusion.

The mother of his child was having an affair with Emily Prentiss.

She's running barefoot to the door. Her feet already feel like ice on the cold wood floors, but the knocking was so loud, so obnoxious that she didn't even have time to slip into a pair of socks or slippers. She's completely annoyed when she roughly swings open her front door, pulling the sweater she had grabbed off a nearby chair closer together to better cover the plain white t-shirt she had been wearing to bed. "Will?" She's completely thrown off guard when he pushes his way through the front door. He was sweaty and out of breathe, and Emily had never seen the man like that before.

"I've been driving around all mornin'," He says as he furrows his brow and shakes his head.

"Okay."

"I need to talk to you."

Emily tilts her head in confusion. What would Will need to talk to Emily about- her heart drops, "Is JJ okay?"

"I don't know," He grumbles as he refuses to make eye contact.

"Will, is something wrong with JJ?" She's starting to panic now, quickly moving back to the hallway towards the bedroom to grab her phone. The hardened tone of his voice causes her to turn around and look at him once again.

"I don't know what JJ is. That's the problem." His face is red. His breathing is labored. And yet he's strangely calm. All the signs that Emily thought meant JJ is in trouble reshuffle in her head and she's able to deduce that he's not panicked or scared. He's angry. "I'm a good husband."

"I agree," Emily diplomatically says as she crosses her arms across her chest. He knows.

"I don't over drink. I don't smoke. I have a god job. I take care of Henry. I'll admit that I get…I'm not always the best about the traveling, but I support 'er," He chuckles as he scratches at his two-day scruff, "JJ knows that. She's always known that. You know, a year and a half ago she said she left her job for me, and I never understood why. I didn't understand why because I got irritated and frustrated sometimes, but I never asked it of 'er."

"Will-"

"- And I'm faithful," He spits out as he mirrors Emily's body language, crossing his own arms across his chest, "I'm a good husband. So I never thought I'd be confronting the man my wife was having an affair with, and I never thought that man would be you."

Emily merely clenches her jaw at the accusation. Silence fills the room for a few seconds and Will takes it as a sign that he should go on, "I don't know how to deal with this. I admit it. I've been driving all mornin' trying to figure out how to deal with this, because if you were a man I'd kick your ass," He lets out a small chuckle, and Emily's not sure if he's laughing at his own joke or the absurdity of the situation, "but you're a lady and you could probably kick mine."

"Will-"

"I'm tired of the bullshit, Emily!" He yells as he he points to her, "I'm tired of the fucking lies and I want the truth and it's the least you owe me. You owe me this at least because I thought we were friends and you're fucking my girlfriend."

"Will, I promise nothing is going on-"

"Bullshit," He interrupts as he runs his hands through his short hair, locking his fingers above his head and pacing around in a small circle, "The least! The fucking least you owe me is the fucking truth! Now I may not be a profiler or gone to Yale, but I'm not stupid. I know there's something here and it's been there for a long goddamn time."

Emily runs her hands over his face, rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes. She's frustrated too. She's foggy and over exhausted and she doesn't know how to deal with the situation at hand because she's telling the truth- currently there is nothing going on between her and JJ. "You're right," She offers, quick to continue on after hearing him groan, "There was something there a long time ago. It was there before you, but…" She watches his dead eyes dart around the room, "I almost died and it made JJ need me to be okay. Don't you get that? Haven't you had someone you have history with and when they're in trouble you need them to be okay for your own sake? Taking sex and love and all those things out of it, you just need them to be okay."

"I only have that with JJ," He replies in a quiet, even tone.

"Well a lot of people don't just have it with one person. JJ and I have been friends for a long time, and for a time there was something there. You're right. But she met you and she chose you. She would never give me anything close-"

"She won't marry me," He interrupts in a sad tone, and Emily is unsure if they're talking about the affair or whether or not JJ will ever marry him.

And that is when Emily decides that truth is too hard. Deception is much more natural for her, "She wouldn't even date me." She waits for him to make eye contact before she continues, "I was her stress relief, her experimentation, something fun to play. I don't know what it was, but she didn't give me anything close to what you have. She never went on real dates with me. She never moved in with me. Fuck, she would never have a child with me. She needed someone and I was there. I was just present. And from that we became friends, and she needed me to be okay because of that friendship, but there's nothing else there.

"I wanted there to be. I didn't want to pressure her because the world was different. Even just a few years ago, it was different. And the complications with the agency- it would've changed the course of her career and she would've resented me. She wouldn't have gotten over it," Emily takes a deep breath as the truths and lies all mixed together, even confusing her. She steps close to the man who is busily studying her floors, "I need you to know that she's been here a lot lately, but I promise you nothing happened. It never will again. It's in the past. You said it yourself- you're not a profiler, but you're a cop. You know when someone is lying to you. So tell me I'm lying to you."

He shifts his weight from his left to right foot before looking at her straight on, his trademark dull eyes making her feel uneasy, "Answer this me this." Emily nods in reply, "How can you stand her? If all of this is true, how are you okay with her?"

It was a fair question. She had asked it of herself many times. So, for some reason, Emily decides to tell the truth, "People look at the world today and they forget how different things were 12 months ago, let alone decades. JJ grew up in a small town with a family that went to church every week. She's very close- her mother is everything to her. And Will, you don't know what it's like to live in a world when you're not straight, but I do and it's not easy. Everyone sees the 'fun' side where there are the gay bars and partying and style, and it's just not like that. So no, I could never be mad at JJ for being scared of that. I could never blame her for that when she would have so much to lose. And you'll never get that, and it's not because you're stupid or I'm lying. It's just because you will never get that."

And as suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared, wordlessly leaving the apartment. And it was in that moment when Will figured that regardless of what had happened before he came into the picture, JJ choosing him and their life would have to be enough for him. But what Will didn't know- or want to accept- was that JJ didn't really choose him, life chose for her.

She was shocked to see Rossi standing casually on her porch, his hands further burrowing into the pockets of his jeans. "Are you going to invite me in or what?" He asked with a small smile before JJ immediately moves aside to allow him in before closing the door. It was completely silent in the house. JJ had only heard the quiet knock because she couldn't sleep, picking at her fingers as she sat in silence and thought about the day that had just passed. At first all she had wanted was to cuddle Henry and make sure Will was all right. But after that she needed to be alone, leaving Will alone in bed in favor of sitting alone on the couch thinking about seeing Hotch's broken face after finding Haley.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

"Um, yeah, actually" JJ responds as she gingerly sits back on the sofa before jumping up again, "I'm so rude. Can I get you anything? Water? Tea? Wine? I think Will has some beer?"

"No it's fine," Rossi softly responds as he sits on the blue paisley chair across from the oatmeal sofa. "Hotch is going to be going through a lot over the next few months- well years really, but from a work aspect it's going to be rough for a few months."

JJ furrows her brow and leans in closer, "Do you know something?"

"No, nothing like that" Rossi casually waves off, "I know Erin. I know the FBI. After something like this they're going to make sure everything is done perfectly to assess his mental state- as they should. JJ, I'm here because we both know Aaron needs this job. He might not think so now. Hell, he might hate it now, but he needs it. And we need to make sure we do everything we possibly can to support that and make sure our unit is perfectly in line with the BAU policies, at least for a while. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Rossi asks as he looks up the stairs towards the bedrooms.

JJ is completely lost in the conversation. She was just the media liaison. Shouldn't Rossi be having this conversation with Morgan and Emily? Was Rossi just going through the list of them and that's why he got to her so late? "Rossi…" She begins in a confused voice before Rossi stands up.

"Show me the backyard."

"Rossi?"

"Jennifer, I'd like to see your backyard."

JJ is completely lost about what Rossi wants from her. She's pretty sure the day before has made him completely lose it, but she does what he orders nonetheless and leads him back to the small yard behind her house, shutting the sliding glass door behind them after they step on to the concrete patio.

"My wives always had sonar hearing about these kinds of things," Rossi laughs before turning around to face a still confused JJ. "JJ, I've been a profile for a long time. I've seen a lot of different FBI units and know what it looks like when two agents are, involved let's say." JJ immediately bites her bottom lip and reddens at the remark. "I've done some fraternizing myself in my time. Don't worry. I'm not judging. I'm not here to judge or question or lecture, I'm just here to say that if this gets out it will break up the unit and may lead some to believe that in his current emotional state Aaron is not properly overseeing-"

"I would never do anything to hurt Hotch!" JJ says much too loud for two o'clock in the morning on a weekday.

"I know," Rossi soothes, "I know you wouldn't and I feel awful about wading into your personal life like this. It's not any of my business or my right, but I am asking you to put whatever it is on hold for a few weeks until we're out from under this dark shadow. Just a few weeks."

Rossi doesn't even notice she's crying until JJ attempts to quietly sniffle. "Jennifer…" He begins before JJ raises her hand to interrupt.

"It's not this. Don't worry. It's a million things, but I promise it's not you." JJ composes herself after Rossi nods for her to continue. "It's wrong what we're doing and I know it. I know we need to stop. It's harder than I thought it would be. It's harder than it should be."

"Oh I know," Rossi cuts in with a lighthearted voice, "Got the divorces to prove it, kid."

JJ starts laughing, unable to stop for a few moments, wiping the tears from sadness and laughter until she speaks again, "Well I don't want the divorces. Don't want the marriages either, but I can't have the breakup."

Rossi turns away from looking at JJ and instead focuses on the night sky, taking a deep breathe as he realized the extent of the situation he had just ventured into. He had known that Emily and JJ had been involved for a while; you would have to be blind not to know. Hotch had known, but he wasn't sure if the younger man had ever said anything. Rossi knew he should have, but also completely understood why he didn't. Then again, that's why he wasn't a unit chief. So this was a issue. The fact that JJ was having an affair was the least of the problems. Sure, to JJ, and maybe Emily, it was the most problematic aspect, but from Rossi's perspective it was the fraternization policy that jeopardized everything. As much as Rossi hated BAU protocol, he understood it. They couldn't have two field agents who loved each other more than the team.

It wasn't intentional, he knew that, but Rossi also knew that if there was a situation that called for it Emily would sacrifice herself and him too for JJ's life. So yes, two field agents together was a problem. Had JJ taken herself out of the field the unit would need another field agent, budgetary concerns would come into play and she would likely be given a job with another unit, which no one wanted. However, if it got out that Emily and JJ were seeing each other, Hotch would have to either pretend he had no idea- which given the current state of affairs would not be a good move, or admit that he ignored protocol for favoritism reasons- also not a good move. So that's why David Rossi found himself in JJ's Virginia backyard at 2am.

"Don't feel," JJ begins before digging her palms into her eyes hard enough that she can see a static-y flashing, "Don't feel bad or that you overstepped here. I've known for a while that this was a talk that needed to be had. And you know if I knew, Emily knew months ago…" She drifts off. "I do have a question for you though."

"Okay."

"Why me?" She runs her clammy hands over her sweater before tucking them under her arms. "We both know you're closer to Em, so why ask me?"

"You know Emily" Rossi offers with a shrug before turning around and refocusing on JJ again, "She's so much like him, Aaron I mean. She's so overly responsible for everyone else, no need to reinforce it. They're both so guarded and yet the most fragile and sensitive out of all of us. Then again, you probably know that better than anyone."

"Yeah" JJ quietly responds as she wraps her arms around her body, "Yeah I do."

In the years to come if you were to ask JJ when her and Emily disintegrated she wouldn't say it was when Emily came back to find that JJ was still with Will and nowhere close to splitting up.

She wouldn't say it was when she found out Emily was quietly dating Ashley Seaver, which infuriated her so much that she deleted Emily's number from her phone, which was pointless because she had already memorized it by that point.

She wouldn't say it was when she Emily merely rolled her eyes upon finding out she was moving to the State Department, not even bothering to scream and yell at the blonde woman for making the decision without her.

She wouldn't say it was when she started to pull away before then, most notably after the case in New York where Emily had been in the car accident. The accident that terrified JJ and reminded her of all the times she felt like she was so close to losing the brunette, making bile rise in her throat but still telling Emily "I can't" when the brunette tries to soothingly kiss her temple on the dark plane back to D.C.

No, if you would've asked JJ when things really disintegrated she would say that it was after this conversation with David Rossi. It always felt like the world was pulling them apart.