A/N: This story is written for the Chit Chat on Author's Corner Fanfic Challenge 2010 – Round 2.

Pairing: Rossi/Prentiss

Prompt: 28 Days Later (Movie Title)

The story is set shortly after the events in Demonology.

Well, here we have it - the end of my little challenge fic. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews. I get the feeling I'll be working with this pairing again. I truly enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Criminal Minds. I'm just playing a little :)


Chapter 4 - 28 Days Later

Emily was thinking … again. Not a new thing lately, really. The surprise was the person who was the subject of her thoughts. In the two weeks since she had spent the night with him, she had not been able to get David Rossi out of her thoughts – or out of her fantasies.

She had gone to him looking for comfort sex, because she had needed someone, and there was no one she trusted more than him. He had put himself on the line for her, to help her find out the truth about Matthew.

At the time it hadn't surprised her that he would be willing to help. If anyone knew about deaths which haunted a person, it was David. He had known his own firsthand torments. What had surprised her was how much he had let himself become involved in her feelings and in being there for her.

When he had offered to drop her where she wanted to go that night and she had opted instead to walk for a while, she had seen an unreadable emotion flit across his face. She'd trusted him to understand though that she needed time to process all the things that had happened that night. And she did do that on her walk.

She'd also found herself thinking about how well David had seemed to know what she was trying to say before she even spoke. Twenty-eight days later, she was still amazed by his ability to know what she needed. No one had ever been able to do that before – not friend or lover.

Emily was examining the changes in herself as well. Since the night they had spent together, he was no longer 'Rossi' to her, but always, always 'David'. Never 'Dave' though; that was just too ordinary for him. She'd found herself slipping and calling him David at work, though she didn't think anyone, least of all him, had noticed.

JJ and Garcia had almost given up on getting her to go out with them anymore. She could safely account for her last two Fridays with good excuses (without the detail of sleeping with David, of course), but she had had a difficult time begging off tonight again. She really wasn't in the mood to hang out in some bar, even if it was with her girls.

There was no way around it. She wanted to be with him. Emily had no idea if he felt the same way. Maybe that night was just because she'd been there, and offering herself. No, that thought didn't feel right. David had been wonderful with her, tender and giving, even the first time when the urgency was paramount. Each time they made love that night, she had felt treasured and special. She'd never had a lover put her needs so absolutely first. Even more than that, Emily realized that she trusted David in a way she had been unable to trust someone for a very long time.

That decided it for her. Even if he wanted nothing more than what they had that one night, he at least needed to know how she felt. Even if he didn't feel the same way, they would still be friends; she'd make sure he understood that.

She hoped though. She hoped he felt the same way. Hope was in the care she took with her appearance. Hope was in the tingling in her hands as she walked up to his door. Hope was in the frantic racing of her heart as she knocked on his door once again.


David sat in the comfortable chair by the fireplace, absentmindedly petting his dog lying next to him, while he pretended to read. The research material for his next book was fascinating stuff, but for some reason, totally incapable of keeping his attention tonight.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that on two out of the last three Friday nights, a knock on his door had changed his world. He found himself thinking instead of Emily as he had seen her last Friday, in that beautiful red dress. Inevitably it led to a fantasy of her in that same dress spread out on his bed.

When the knock did come, he ignored it, shrugging it off as wishful thinking. It was only when it came again, louder than the first time that he looked up in shock. The expression on his face was almost comical. As he rose to go to the door, the knocking came again and it seemed this time his heart was beating in time with the knocks.

Rossi opened his door and drank in the sight of the woman standing before him.

"Emily." Her name on his lips was a sigh.

"Hey David." She tried for casual, but knew he could see right through her.

In what seemed now to be routine, he stepped aside to let her into his home. Tonight she was wearing a knee length coat, belted at the waist, and her legs beneath it were bare. At least she had driven this time; she wouldn't have gotten too cold. When Emily removed the coat, her back still turned to him, David felt a shiver go all the way through him and his throat went dry, the words he was about to speak dying on his lips.

Emily wore a white dress. White, color of innocence. However, there was nothing remotely innocent about that dress. It stopped mid-thigh, and was almost completely backless. There was a ribbon that tied about her neck, but then there was nothing until just above the sweet curve of her backside.

David swallowed hard as Emily turned around to face him. It was a good thing he caught the look on her face, before his lust turned into anger. He should have known that Emily wouldn't tempt him with something he couldn't have. He reached out to take her into his arms, and she went willingly, quickly.

As his arms closed around her, David felt Emily tremble. He was unsurprised because it totally matched the vulnerable look he had seen on her face.

"Talk to me, Cara. Why did you come here tonight?"

"JJ and Garcia wanted to go out to a bar tonight. I didn't want to go." She spoke the words softly against his shoulder.

This was a different Emily from the take-charge agent. This was the woman he had had in his bed two weeks ago. The woman who could make him lose all control when she called his name. He led her gently to the sofa and sat down with her.

Cupping her face tenderly, David looked into her eyes. "What did you want to do, sweetheart?"

"I wanted this … us … I mean …" Emily trailed off, then took a deep breath, then tried again.

"I want there to be an 'us' David. I think I'm falling in love with you."

Emily watched the man she had once thought of as nearly emotionless close his eyes and inhale deeply. When he looked at her again, the adoration in his gaze almost took her own breath away.

"Emily, Tesoro, I have been falling in love with you for a very long time now."

As David drew her close to him, kissing her cheeks, her eyes, and finally her lips, he could not help but think back to the day she had walked away from him into the snow.

Twenty-eight days later, she was in his arms, where she belonged.

FIN


A/N: Hope you all enjoyed!