Aaron was just finishing up another file from Erin's pile of work when he felt a familiar presence enter his office. Allowing a small smirk to spread across his lips, he picked up the next file as his best friend let out an impatient breath before stalking over to his desk and plopping down into one of the chairs there. He knew that Dave would eventually interrupt what he was doing, and he wondered how long his best friend could hold out before that happened. Ten minutes later, Dave was clearing his throat, and Aaron glanced up from the file he was working on before nodding and then going back to what he was doing.

"I know when you're avoiding me, Hotch. What's claimed all your attention today?"

"Just finishing up a few files for the Director. He needs them done by the end of the day."

Dave frowned a little as he processed that information, and he sat back in the chair as he continued to stare at Aaron. "That would normally be Strauss's job. Is she still out of the office, then?"

He knew in that moment that he had perhaps given Dave more information than he had intended, and he shrugged a little as he closed the file folder and looked up at his friend. "I'm still doing her work, so I would assume that she's still out of the office, yes."

"And do you know when she'll be back?"

He paused a moment before answering his best friend. "Erin will be out of the office for another two months, give or take a week or two. It all depends on how she feels and when she's ready to jump back into things."

A rich laugh began to spill from Dave's lips, and that was when Aaron knew he had made his second misstep that morning, and he shook his head a little as he tried to start thinking of ways to do damage control. "Oh, so she's Erin now, is she?" he teased, and Aaron rolled his eyes a little as he scratched absently at his chin. "You're not very good at deflection, Aaron. When did you break up with Beth?"

Somehow, he knew that Dave wouldn't leave it alone until he had spilled all the details that he would give his best friend, and Aaron took a deep breath as he considered how to answer him. "Beth and I decided to end things shortly after Christmas."

"Christmas! But I made certain to get you home so you could go out on a date with her on Valentine's!" Aaron watched as the wheels began to turn in Dave's mind, knowing that he was putting things together quite quickly. "How long have you been seeing Strauss?"

"Since we all came back from that case in Florida. Except, we're not a couple, or at least, I don't think that we are. We haven't really talked about that yet."

Dave cocked his head to one side as he continued to stare at him, trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on. "You deliberately go out to visit her, wherever she is, you keep the fact that you're even seeing her under wraps, and you still don't know if you're dating or not?"

He let out a long sigh as he shrugged once more. "I haven't wanted to put labels on what we have right now, since Erin should be the one who does that. I'm just following her lead."

Dave leaned forward as he smirked. "Oh, you have no idea what you're doing if you're letting Erin take the lead in things. She will never give that power back up, once she has it in her grasp." Aaron shook his head at that, thinking about how they had interacted so far, knowing that wasn't true. "I don't think she's changed that much since she started with the BAU. I mean, look at how she acted during your inquest!"

"She had to make certain that everything went to plan, that every possible door was closed in order to protect our team. I realized that when she came to the apartment offering me quite the generous retirement package. There was no way that she could have arranged that deal if there had been any hint of coverup or scandal about how I took care of the Foyet situation. I can look back and understand that now, when at the time I just assumed she was being her usual bitch self."

"And that's changed in the last few months?"

Aaron glared at him a little, knowing that it was a lot to wrap his mind around, but still feeling like Dave should be a little more understanding. "Yes, it has. I know that it doesn't appear that way, but there are changes to her, and I find myself increasingly intrigued by the person that she's becoming now. And you have no idea how good it is to finally have my best friend know about this relationship, because I was hoping that he could understand what's happening between the two of us. Because if I don't have your support in this, I know that the team will be even worse. And she can't have that sort of stress when she returns to the office."

He nodded a little as he leaned forward in his chair. "Is she doing well?"

"As well as can be expected. Did Morgan tell you what happened?" Dave nodded. "I wish that he hadn't, she shouldn't have her personal business known throughout the bullpen."

"I think that I was the only one he told, since no one else has asked where she is. But he probably needed someone to decompress with, since it was hard for him to see her crying like that as he took her to the facility. Guilt is a heavy thing to carry, Hotch, you know that full well."

Aaron frowned before nodding a little. "We both carry too much of that around already," he murmured as he glanced at the picture of Haley and Jack on his desk. "Do you think that I'm making a mistake here? Because I'm falling fast, and I don't want to this to blow up in my face."

"I think that you're happy with her, I can see that on your face. And if you're this happy, she has to be happy as well, and I wouldn't begrudge her that. So if you're looking for my blessing, I suppose that this is it." Aaron gave him a small smile, seeing that Dave was smiling back at him. "Have you kissed her yet?"

"Yes."

"She's a good kisser. And before you ask, the office parties before you came here were epic, and drunken kisses under the mistletoe were a thing, and she always made certain to find me for that time."

"Now why does that not surprise me at all?" he asked drolly, listening to Dave laugh. "There are stories that I am going to have to pull out of her, aren't there?"

"Maybe," he replied with a broad wink as he got to his feet. "Now, I should leave you to your work, so that you can hopefully get to see her sooner. And tell her I said hi when you see her next. I'm certain that she's missing me!"

"In your dreams, maybe," he teased, watching Dave wink at him before he left his office, closing his door behind him. Aaron slumped in his chair a little as he considered the fact that his best friend knew about this relationship, wondering how quickly everyone in the bullpen would know about it now.