DISCLAIMER - I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS OR THE CHARACTERS.

AN - All non Criminal Minds characters are my own.

I still can't beleive the lack of Strauss/Rossi stories especially after the first 4 minutes of the season finale. I had to keep replaying it as i couldn't beleive my eyes. Can't wait for season 8 to start. :)

Hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews are always welcome.

CHAPTER 5 - The team

"Hey boss man. I didn't realise we had a case." said Penelope Garcia as she entered the conference room. Everyone except Rossi was there. Hotch had asked everyone to be here for 9, so she just assumed they had a new case.

"We don't. David asked me to call this meeting but he has been held up in a meeting with Strauss and the Director." replied Hotch from his usual spot beside Prentiss.

"I wonder what he's done now to piss off Strauss. I think she has it in for him the amount of times she's pulled him into her office." remarked JJ.

"You have no idea how close you are." muttered Morgan.

"What did you say hot stuff?" asked Garcia. She had heard what he said but couldn't make any sense of it.

"Nothing. Just mumbling about how boring my weekend was." came the quick reply from Morgan whilst receiving a warning glare from Hotch to be quiet as he had heard his comment as well.

"I thought you might have some good gossip Morgan as you bailed on our night out on Friday." commented Prentiss.

"I know. Even Reid showed up which was weird but brilliant. I mean don't get me wrong Spence, I love you like a brother, but some of those dance moves should be illegal." said JJ trying to bring some light to their conversation.

"How can you say that. The running man and the robot are classics." replied Reid.

"I agree that they are but not when you are dancing to Flo Rida in a club." said JJ which caused the rest of the team to laugh at the mental picture that created.

As the laughter died down a cough was heard from the doorway. When the team looked round their laughter died instantly as Strauss stood in the doorway beside Rossi.

A round of "Good morning Ma'am" and "Morning Rossi" greeted the couple as they made their way to the head of the conference table. Once at the head of the table Erin whispered into David's ear that he should take the lead as they were his family.

"Morning everyone. First of all I would like you all to know that I didn't keep what I am about to tell a secret because I didn't trust you. I did it because we thought it best." started David.

"What do you mean Rossi. You're not leaving us are you?" asked Prentiss. She had thought of Rossi like a father as he was always there to turn to when she needed to talk something out especially after Mathew had died.

"No. I'm not leaving again." began Rossi. As he thought about where to begin he took the seat next to Erin and gave a comforting squeeze to her shoulder which did not go unmissed by the team.

"As you all know I have been divorced three times..."

"And are never going to marry again. We know." cut in JJ wishing he would get to the point. The less time she had to be in the same room as Erin Strauss the better.

"Wrong actually." replied David while glaring in JJ's direction for butting in.

"What do you mean wrong? You never told us you were going to marry again?" asked Reid. Ever since Emily had come back he had found it hard to trust Hotch, JJ and Rossi since they had kept Emily's fake death a secret.

"I never told you because I am already married." replied David.

"Since when?" "Who are you married to?" "Why didnt you tell us?" and many more questions were fired at David by the rest of the team.

"Enough!" came the booming voice of Erin Strauss as she stood from her seat. She couldn't handle all their questions being fired at David when they were in this together.

"Me." was all Erin said before sitting back down.

"I really don't understand now. Me what ma'am?" asked Reid.

"He's married to me." said Erin as she watched the team try and digest the bomb they had just dropped on them.

"Seriously? You have got to be kidding me on Rossi? You can't be married to her. She's... She's a complete back stabbing bitch." said Emily as she was the first to come round from the shock.

Erin visible recoiled from the comment which had David springing to her defence.

"No she is not." shouted Dave as he stood toe to toe with Emily. "She may have her faults but she is my wife who I have loved and been married to for 7 years now. Do not forget she is also your boss, so show some respect for her."

"Respect has to be earned Rossi. Not forced upon or black mailed into." snapped Emily. She still had issues with Erin since she had tried to blackmail her into spying on her team.

"There are circumstances behind Erin's actions that if you knew you would understand why she did what she did." replied Rossi. Erin had told him why she had tried to convince Emily to spy for her and just because he understood why she had to do it didn't mean he liked playing political games. That, was Erin's job.

"Oh really. Like what? She must have a really good excuse as to why she tried to blackmail me into spying on the team and why she tried to have Hotch transferred at the same time." snapped Emily. She couldn't believe that he was taking her side and not the teams.

As Dave was about to reply Erin put her hand on his arm to pull him back into his seat. "I'll explain this David. They might not believe me but I have to try and make them understand why."

"You are right Agent Prentiss. I did try to do those things but I did it to try and save your team." began Erin.

"Yeh right. Why on earth would you care about our team?" replied Emily. She was watching her every move trying to figure out if this was going to be the truth or some version that would make her seem like their saviour.

"I care because your team is the best." replied Erin. She knew that she had to be completely honest about everything now, as a room full of profilers could tell if she was lying.

"If we are to really believe that, then why do you pick at everything we do?" asked Reid. He had always thought that there was more going on that the team didn't know about.

"I have to show my bosses that your team is the best at what you do and worth keeping. Just because I believe in your team doesn't mean that others do. The present Asistant Director for one has always thought profiling was a waste of time and can't understand why your team needs so many people on it. Luckily the Director has always been supportive of you but he can't be shown to have favourites so I have to try and fight for you." replied Erin.

Most of the team had never known how much of a political game it was to keep the BAU alive. Only herself, David and Hotch knew how difficult it was to make people understand how important the team was. Their funding depending upon support from high offices.

"That may be the case but it still doesnt explain the blackmail and trying to get rid of Hotch." questioned JJ. She had been relatively quiet up until then as she was trying to decide how best to approach the situation. There was still some underlying problems within the team since her and Emily had returned and she didn't want to be shunned for wanting to believe that there was another side to the Chief that their friend loved.

"At that time there was a strong chance that your team was going to be split up completely. I needed to find a way to prove that your team worked best because of everybody who was in it. I thought that if I tried to get rid of Agents Hotchner and Prentiss it would show that your team could only get the best results if you were all together. I was correct." replied Erin. She didn't like having to explain herself to the team but would do anything to ensure that David's unorthodox family would understand their relationship.

"Still. There must have been a better way than to try and break us apart?" asked JJ.

"There might have been if I had had more time but there wasn't. There was already plans to transfer yourself and Agent Reid to another team in New York." replied Erin. "I didn't like what I chose to do and neither did David but he did convince me that you would all pull together no matter what I did. He was right, thank god."

"You said to me Agent Prentiss that I chose you to try and blackmail because of your family. You would be correct but, for the record, I was never influenced to transfer you to this team. I knew you had the skills to be on the team without your mothers influence. You might not believe me but David had to convince me not to shout at Aaron for not accepting you." said Erin directly to Emily. She knew that Emily was going to be the most difficult to believe her as she had done a lot of things for the young woman to distrust her.

Silence descended on the conference room everyone was trying to comprehend what they had been told. Did they believe that Strauss really was behind them and that she did what she did to help them or was this just another game to her. Everyone still had their doubts but they all decided that they should give her a chance, even if it was just for Dave. He had always managed to seem happy even with everything that they saw. They all realised, but would never admit, that it might be the love of his wife that kept him going.

As the team thought about what they had been told. Erin leaned over to David and whispered "I don't think we should tell them about the baby just yet. It might cause more trouble just now."

Hearing the word baby peaked Garcia's interested and couldn't help herself from asking "Baby. What baby?"

"Erm... Our grandson. Philip Ryan Mathews was born whilst we were away on our the last case. We are having a wee gathering at the house this weekend and were wondering if you all wanted to join us?" replied Erin. Thanking god for her quick thinking.

"Oh. I love babies and I think it would be a great way for us all to start afresh." suggested Garcia whilst using her adorable pout to convince the rest of the team to go as well.

Once everyone had agreed to go, Hotch reminded everyone there was still lots of work to do.

David managed to grab Hotch and Morgan before they left and pulled them to one side. "Listen guys. We know it's a lot to ask but could you keep the baby news quiet a bit longer as we both feel the team needs time to adjust to our relationship before they find out. Plus, seeing Erin around her family could help their opinions of her before we drop another bomb on them." Both men agreed as they had already agreed to help anyway they could. They knew they would tell the team when the time was right.

As Erin tried to leave by the opposite exit she felt someone follow her out. Turning too quickly had her reaching out for a hand to steady herself.

"Are you alright ma'am? Do you want me to get Rossi?" asked Garcia with concern evident in her voice. She couldn't say she loved the woman but if Rossi loved her, there must be something special about her, so she was willing to give her a chance.

"No, no. I'm alright. I just turned around too quickly." replied Erin as she held on to Penelope to regain her balance.

"Are you sure ma'am. You seem to have lost all your colour as well." asked Garcia. Guiding her to her office, she just about ordered her boss to sit while she went and got Erin some water. "Here you go ma'am. Drink this."

Whilst taking a drink of the water, Erin couldn't help but laugh. Seeing the confused analysis she said "I'm not laughing at you Miss Garcia. I'm laughing at how much you remind me of my daughter Lizzy. She is always looking after everyone and bossing them about. I never really noticed before but she has the same bubbly personality as you as well. You remind me so much of her."

Garcia stood in shock . Not only had Erin given her a compliment she had learned more about her family in 1 minute then she had since she had joined the FBI. She had never seen the Section Chief so unguarded before.

"Thank you ma'am. I think."

"Your welcome and please call me Erin when we are not talking shop. I have always hated being called ma'am. It makes me feel older than I actually am." laughed Erin.

Still believing she was in the twilight zone. Garcia just decided to roll with it.

"Only if you call Penelope."

"Wow my day is getting weirder and weirder. Next thing I know Kevin will ask me to marry him. Ha, aye right." thought Garcia as she watched Erin leave her office with a bounce in her step.

Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Please review. Your views are welcome.