Chapter 16

They walked into the restaurant five minutes later. Prentiss, Reid and Hotch were already seated at their table. When they saw Rossi following behind Morgan, all three of them were surprised.

Hotch mostly because it was Morgan, of all people, who brought Dave with him. He would have guessed that Reid would make the first attempts in letting Rossi back in again. Catching the slight smile on Spencer's face, Hotch realized that he and Rossi had indeed made their peace already.

Prentiss, however, couldn't believe her eyes. Her surprise turned into anger fairly quickly, when she, too, noticed Reid's smile. With Hotch being Rossi's closest friend, she knew that he was the only one in the past weeks to stand by Rossi's side, but she was quite pissed off that Morgan and Reid would stab her in the back like that.

"What's he doing here?" she hissed angrily.

"He's having dinner with us," Morgan answered dryly.

Rossi felt pretty uncomfortable. He understood their angry and negative behavior towards him, but the way Prentiss treated him had nothing to do with anger anymore. This was hostility. For some reason, the past events had hit her the hardest of all of them, besides JJ of course. Looking into her eyes, he saw the same pain, he had seen in JJ's eyes. It confused him quite a bit, because he knew she was not in love with him, unlike JJ. There had never been more than friendship between them, and while he could understand her anger over him having hurt one of her other best friends so deeply, it didn't make sense to him that she would react that way.

The look in her eyes told him that she was more than just a bit uncomfortable herself, having him around.

"You know, maybe I shouldn't have come," he muttered to Morgan, who was about to get a seat. "It's probably better if I go back to the hotel." He turned to leave again, but Morgan held him back.

"Wait. Sit down. We're all civilized enough to have dinner together, aren't we?" He shot Emily a warning look.

"Well, if the four of you are best friends again, then maybe I am no longer needed here," Prentiss said, getting up from her chair.

"Emily, wait!" Rossi stopped her.

"Don't you dare 'Emily' me, Rossi," she spat in his direction, glaring at him furiously.

"Maybe you two should clear the air as well," Hotch interfered. "I suggest you have a cup of coffee over at the bar and have a talk," he added, shooting them both a look that made it clear he would make this suggestion an order if necessary.

Rossi and Prentiss went through the restaurant and sat down at the bar. They ordered some Irish Coffee each and sat silently for quite a while, stirring their spoons in their cups. Rossi was the first to speak.

"Listen, Emily." He cleared his throat. "Prentiss, I'm really sorry about everything."

"Cut it off, Rossi. We'll just be sitting here until I'm sure I've calmed down enough to have dinner. You might as well save your breath for someone who's stupid enough to forgive you after all that you've done."

"Emily-"

"Don't say my name like that again!" She warned him.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand what's wrong with you. Why are you so extremely hostile?" Rossi tried to keep his voice as quiet as possible.

"Making my best friend suffer gives me a pretty good reason to be hostile, Rossi!"

"No, it doesn't. It's a reason to be angry, to be mad at me. I get that. But I can see it in your eyes. There's more to it. Your behavior gives you away, Emily."

"God, I hate profilers!" Emily muttered under her breath. A little bit louder, she said: "It's none of your business!"

"Yes, it is, when it's about me. Please tell me what it is, so that I can try to make it right!"

Prentiss fell silent and simply stared at him.

"You actually suggested to her that she should get an abortion?" She finally whispered, and Rossi immediately froze on his bar stool. This was a highly sensitive topic for Emily, and he knew instantly that something he had said must have touched that nerve, even though he didn't know what it was.

"I really thought better of you. You let me believe that you were a decent guy, but you're just another scumbag. I never thought you'd take this topic so lightly. Do you know how that makes me feel? It feels like I have been slapped in the face. I confided in you, you made me believe that you were my friend, but now I don't know anymore if you were serious then, or if you just made me tell you about my abortion, because you were looking for a crack in the case," she ranted out, tears glistering in her eyes.

"Prentiss. Emily," Rossi whispered, his voice cracking. "I am your friend. I was then and I am now. That is if you still let me." He took her hand and squeezed it tightly when he felt her pull away.

"But why would you say something like that to JJ? How could you demand from her to get rid of the baby?" Emily asked, realizing that she couldn't escape him.

"I never said anything like that to her. I swear!" Rossi pleaded.

"Yeah? That means one of you is lying then, because JJ told me differently. And I can say that I know JJ would never lie to me, but with you I'm not so sure anymore." She became more agitated, pulling her hand forcefully away from him.

"Look, I don't even remember what I said to her exactly, but I'm pretty sure that I never suggested anything like that!" Rossi raised his voice as well.

"Let me refresh your memory then. According to JJ, your exact words were ' What are you going to do about it?' How would you think that sounds in our ears? To me that's pretty obvious!"

Rossi ran a trembling hand over his face and through his hair. Looking away, he muttered quietly: "I didn't mean it. I swear. I never meant to even imply it. I was just so shocked about her confession, I didn't know what to say."

Prentiss stared at him coldly. "Well, you should learn to think before you speak!"

There were a few moments of silence between them again, before Rossi turned his head towards Prentiss, and whispered: "I'm sorry, Emily. I don't know what to say except for I'm sorry. I didn't even realize what I said to JJ, and I didn't know she had told you."

Emily's expression softened a bit at his gentle voice. "You know, it's just that I'm still not over it, and when I heard that you said these things to JJ, I guess I snapped. I told you about Rome because I thought I could trust you, because I knew you would never judge me for it, despite your catholic views. I just never thought that these views could appear to be fake."

"They aren't, Emily. You know that I've not always been a good Catholic. I've never followed all of the church's rules and I've bent quite a few of them to fit with my lifestyle, but there are still a few moral standards that I value very highly, and that I try to live by. And they include that I would never let anyone kill my unborn child. Don't get me wrong, I don't judge you, or anyone else, for having an abortion. I never have and I never will. I know that every woman who goes through that has a reason, and I would never allow myself to question that. You were young and confused, no one can blame you for what happened, and you should stop blaming yourself as well." Rossi explained quietly.

Emily sighed. "It's not that easy. Every time I see those college kids, I wonder how my child would be like today. When JJ says she wants to keep the baby's sex a surprise, I ask myself what I would have wanted. It tears me apart that I never even knew what I was having." She felt the tears running down her cheeks, and Rossi reached out to touch her hand again.

"I'm deeply sorry, Emily. Please believe me when I say that I never meant to hurt you or anyone."

"You have a really strange way of showing it."

"I know, but I'll make it up to all of you, I promise." He gave her a gentle smile.

"I'm still mad at you about JJ. Don't even think I'll let you off the hook so easily after everything you'd said and done to her."

"I'll make it up to her, too. I'll do anything to make her happy."

After a few seconds he added: "And I'll do anything to convince you of our friendship. I know it's hard for you at the moment, but if you ever need a friend, or need to talk, you can call me and I'll be there."

"We'll see about that."

They looked at each other, and for the first time in weeks, Prentiss smiled lightly at him.

"I don't know about you, but I could use some dinner now."

"Yeah, me too," Rossi smirked as they both got up from the bar. Pointing at her tear-stained face, he said: "Maybe you should go to the bathroom and refresh your makeup. I'd hate for Morgan to hit me again, because I made another woman he cares about cry."

Prentiss grinned.

"You should never make Garcia cry then. He wouldn't even bother to use his fists, but shoot you right away."

Rossi waited for her until she came back from the restrooms, and they both made their way back to the others.

"What took you so long?" Morgan asked when they appeared at the table. "We were almost starving here." Rossi and Prentiss both smiled, but didn't say anything.

"So, you're good now? We all good now?" Morgan continued.

"Not completely, but we're getting there." Prentiss answered, and they sat down to have a quiet, but nevertheless comfortable dinner.