Part 3

"Welcome to the staff, Miss Blake, your references are excellent," The dean offered Alex his hand and it was shaken firmly.

"Thank you, Dean James," Alex said calmly. "I'm looking forward to teaching my first class, sir."

"Good, I like my teachers enthusiastic. Now, I'll have somebody show you around so that you know where everything is."

"That's okay sir," Alex said. "David Rossi and I met over the summer and started dating. He's offered to show me around."

"Well, this is the surprise," the dean said smiling. "Mr. Rossi is an excellent teacher. So how did you meet?"

"We just happened to run into each other when I came into town a few weeks early to look for an apartment. I like to run on the beach when I can to keep in shape and he and his friend Mr. Hotchner just happened to be out and walking along the sand. Let's just say that Dave and I hit it off and thought we'd give dating a try. It might not lead anywhere," Alex shrugged causally. "Mom would be happy if I finally settled down and also she'd quit pestering me about finding someone, so I'm actually hoping it does work out. She wants lot's and lots of grandchildren and is impatient to get some."

"I see," the dean said. He did indeed understand as parents could be a nuisance, about their child or children settling down. You might love your parents and they might love you, but that didn't mean you couldn't get annoyed by them or them by you.

"I wasn't really expecting to find myself in a relationship after just moving here," Alex said and the dean nodded in understanding. "Still, so far it's going well, so I have no complaints. David Rossi is a gentleman and isn't like a lot of men."

Alex was trying to keep as close to the truth as possible, as witches tried not to lie. The only lie she had told was the fact that she didn't know if the relationship was going to lead anywhere, because she and Dave were engaged after all, even if no one knew, except her parents and her siblings.

"I just want to warn you that you my face some bullying at least initially," the dean said. "You're the newcomer, and there have been several women that have tried to get him to date them for sometime. I could easily see there being accusations of you stealing him. It might not be true, but that won't stop them from playing in those accusations."

"I can handle it," Alex told the dean confidentially. "Dave was nice enough to warn me about those women. I'll just point out a few home truths to them, like the fact, they've had six years to get him and if he was interested he would've gone out with them. Part of their problem is, they're to persistent and a lot of men, don't like women like that. I never expected to meet someone so soon after moving here, it just happened and if those women don't like that too bad."

"Well, I see you have it well in hand," Dean nodded satisfied

"I've dealt with such situations a time or two," Alex assured the Dean. "Not for myself, but I have advised a couple of women on what to do when such a situation of occurs. They were all newcomers who just happened to meet a man on accident, that other women had been trying to date. I'll handle their jealousy the way it deserves to be handled, by basically ignoring it."

"Good," the dean said pleased. "I'll call Mr. Rossi, so he can come and show you where your classroom is. He shouldn't be teaching a class right this moment."

Alex nodded and let the dean call Dave over the intercom.

It wasn't long before Dave arrived.

"Would you please show Miss Blake the way to her classroom, the cafeteria and other important places. This is a big campus it's easy to get lost."

"Of course, sir," Dave agreed immediately. "It will be a pleasure."

"You are dismissed, Miss Blake," Dean James told Alex.

"Thank you, sir," Alex said before allowing Dave to escort her out of the dean's office.

Dean James watched them go and wondering if he'd be attending a wedding anytime in the near future as the two of them were awfully close for just a couple of months of dating. Still, it happened that way sometimes. He had a feeling those women that had been trying to get Rossi to date them were in for a major disappointment.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~

Several weeks later

Some of the women confronted Alex, as they had learned that she was dating David Rossi.

"Blake we need to talk to you," one of the women said.

Alex had been teaching for several weeks and was enjoying the lessons very much. The students were mostly very attentive, though there were a few that hardly paid attention at all, but it was not like that was unusual. She and Dave and sometimes Aaron and Penny talked about what was going on in their classes every evening over dinner. Each told amusing anecdotes about their students, as well as complained about the ones that didn't pay much attention in their classes.

"What about?" Alex asked, suspecting she already knew. She knew this had been brewing for several weeks practically, since the day after she arrived. It was bound to get out eventually that she and Dave were seeing each other. She had been expecting at least one of them to confront her, but had never imagined that three of them would band together.
"We want you to stop dating David Rossi," One woman demanded and Alex shook her head.

"I figured that's what you going to say any answer to that is no," Alex told them firmly. "It is not your business whether or not I'm dating him. Dave has told me all about your persistence. Did it ever occur to you that it was your persistence was driving him from ever dating any of you?"

The woman looked to each other as they figured they could intimidate this newcomer, but apparently she was made of stern stuff. They didn't really know her though, which should have occurred to them, as she had only been teaching for a few weeks.

"What Dave and I do is none of your concern. I could take your threats to the dean if I cared to or the head of my department. However I won't, so long as you let it go. Nothing might come of my reporting you, but it would put a black mark on your records if I was believed. What Dave and I do is none of your damn business. We just happened to meet on the beach right after I had moved here and got along from the first. If Dave had wanted to date or marry any of you, don't you think he would have asked you out? You don't share the same ethics and morals or at least not enough for him to consider you as girlfriend material. "You don't care about keeping the ocean clean of trash, toxic waste and other contaminants, something he cares very much about I promise you. I come from a seaside town, so I care very much about keeping my portion of ocean as clean as possible for the fish and the other things that live in the sea, the sharks, the coral, the dolphins and the whales among other sea life. Some of the people that live there fish for their dinner, so it becomes doubly important to keep the water clean, it's one of the reason that I became a marine biologist in the first place."

The three women looked at each other for they had not known this, but then they just considered David Rossi and his friend Aaron Hotchner as handsome men, but hadn't bothered to learn more than the bare minimum about them. They had been trying for years to get either man's attention, but Dave and Aaron had ignored all their obvious hints. They were both polite too them when passing them in the hall, but did not show any attraction to any of them, which had incensed them. They had figured that he was gay and his friend Aaron was also his sexual partner, but they also knew that couldn't be true, because both men had dated a little. The woman he had dated for awhile had been very enthusiastic. Said he was kind, tender and polite when he ended the relationship. He had also given them gifts, while they were seeing each other, several nice pieces of jewelry. The woman that confronted Alex wanted Dave and Aaron for themselves, at least to say they'd dated them and they knew that if they threatened the newcomer anymore she would report them to the dean. It probably wouldn't come to anything because there would be no witnesses, but one never knew. It never even occurred to them that they had no right to try to threaten Alex who had done them no harm and was always polite. While they were intelligent they were also shallow when it came to men as Dave had said awhile back.

"Even if I did break up with him like you want me to do you seriously think he would date any of you?" Alex said with a raised eyebrow not even raising her voice. "You've had six years to try to date him and haven't succeeded. Did it ever occur to you that threatening his girlfriend is very stupid?"

Alex just stopped herself from saying fiancée.

"If I chose to break off the relationship now do you think Dave would be stupid enough not to question, why I was? He knows who you are and he would soon figure one or all of you had threatened me. There's no reason to break off a relationship after all, as it's going well. We share a lot of the same ethics and morals, we're both intelligent and know a lot about many different subjects. We never run out of things to talk about and even my parents approve of him."

This was more serious than this group of three ladies believed. If Alex Blake was already introducing their target to her parents and it was very serious indeed. There was really nothing they could do though, except try to intimidate her, but they also knew that Blake was right, Dave wasn't stupid.

"I learned how to defend myself a long time ago ladies," Alex added pointedly. "If you try to jump me in a corridor or anywhere else I know how to defend myself. If you start to spread rumors about me, ones that are untrue, I'm sure it won't be to hard to trace where they came from. You'll drive not only me away, but Dave and his friend Aaron as well, because do you really think they'll put up with you bad mouthing me. We can always get other jobs you know, as this is not the only college near the sea."

"Why would you believe that you're only dating him after all. He'll drop you like a hot potato," One woman claimed.
Alex simply laughed and the woman wondered if she was insane.

"You really don't know Dave or Aaron at it all do you?" Alex explained why she was laughing. "They are too intelligent to believe the rumors when they already know me personally. I have shared breakfast with them at their home, a place they never invite strangers and especially people like you. Has it ever occurred to you that you don't even know where they live, as they kept that a secret on purpose, as they didn't want you showing up to annoy them, claiming you were in the neighborhood. Dave and Aaron know that I am nothing like the rumors, though I'm sure you could come up with a few if you thought about it. You will only be frying your own asses if you did such a thing, but go ahead and try," Alex encouraged, causing the ladies to stare at her at her challenge and confident tone. "I dare you to try."

The woman were shocked at that, because Alex was right they had no idea where Dave or Aaron lived. They had tried to get that information out of the two men who had avoided their question and refused to say. That the two men had allowed this stranger into their home incensed them, but what could they really do?

They also had tried to get the Hotchners and Rossi's addresses from the front office, from the secretary, but she guarded home addresses like a dragon did a horde of gold. She absolutely refused to accept bribes and only gave out addresses for valid reason, like if there was some kind of emergency and that person couldn't be reached by phone. After all, who knew what kind of intentions someone had, even if they worked in the same place? The secretary probably knew all the rumors of the three of them being persistent trying to get a date with Hotchner or Rossi. The secretary, Beth, didn't consider the three women wanting the addresses, just so they could go corner their targets as a valid reason to give it to them, not without the dean's say so anyway. Beth probably also figured that if they hadn't succeeded after six years that they must be getting rather desperate after so long of not luring either man into saying yes to a date, which would be another reason not to give out the two professors addresses in her mind. Beth would never do so for three professors she so disliked, as she considered their behavior unprofessional at the very least, even if it wasn't unethical and also against university policy.

The dean would never give permission to reveal private addresses, just so the three ladies could go and bother either man for a date, as both David Rossi and Aaron Hotchner could sue the college for giving out private information, that protected them from nutjobs. While the ladies weren't exactly nutjobs they could be annoying and they would have no problem entering into their targets private space.

They had done it before when they had gotten the addresses for other men they had chased, because those men did not have first hand knowledge of their targets, of how annoying they could be showing up practically everywhere they went, so had given them their phone number and addresses. They had come to regret their decisions and finally had threatened to take out a restraining order to get those woman to back off. To these three women and men were nothing more than playthings and they didn't particularly care how annoying they would be. If they didn't stop this unprofessional behavior the college was going to have no choice but to let them go. Luckily for them, they hadn't gone too far yet, but they would it if they kept it up.

"Why you though, your new here," one woman protested. "We've been trying for years to get both of them to get to go out was one of us."

"Why would either Dave or Aaron be interested in you when you believe threatening someone one of them is dating, when she has done nothing, is the thing to do?" Alex asked instead. "He is not yours ladies and neither is Aaron, no matter what you believe. He wasn't dating anyone when we started seeing each other and just because you want to date him doesn't mean a damn thing. If Dave had actually been seeing someone when we met I wouldn't have poached, but he wasn't. It's as simple as that, I'm afraid."

"But why would he be interested in you, you just moved in this town," another lady protested.

"I already explained that and I felt quite well, so I'm not going to repeat myself," Alex said, then added. "Do you really think that either Dave or Aaron will date anyone that has the gall to demand I stop dating someone they want. Threatening me, just because I'm the newcomer, which shouldn't matter, though I know it often does, is stupid. Since you obviously don't understand the rules let me point out, it is not your choice on who Dave or Aaron date. He has too much taste to date anyone as shallow as you and so does Aaron for that matter."

"We are not shallow," all three women protested the same time.

"You don't think so?" Alex asked with a raised eyebrow. "Alright, you got your teachers degrees and you obviously do a good job with your classes or you would be fired, but tell me, why don't you think you're not shallow when you've been chasing the same two men for half a dozen years. That they haven't given you the time of day would have told most women that they weren't interested and yet you persist. You have to know it's hopeless and yet you seem to believe that they are yours no matter whether they have ignored you or not. You go out of your way to threaten me, a relative newcomer, just because you don't want anybody else dating someone who you consider your men.

"He told me a few weeks back that shallow people like you would drive him insane in no time at all. While I know some men go for your type, Dave isn't one of them. That is one fish you aren't going to land or Aaron either.

"Now, I suggest, you take yourselves elsewhere. I'm going to tell Dave our entire conversation just so you can't start any rumors. I've dealt with your kind before and I'm sure I will again. How you ever became teachers is beyond me, if you act this stupid and shallow all the time or maybe you just do it when it comes to men," Alex added thoughtfully, seeming genuinely curious to figure out the answer to that particular question.

"There're plenty of fish in the sea as the saying goes, so why you're so obsessed with those two men in particular is beyond me. It would make more sense to go after men that are interested instead of ones that have ignored you for years now. I would think their ignoring you would tell you that they didn't want anything to do with you other than casually, but apparently you haven't taken the hint," Alex added.

The three ladies were stunned, but down deep in their conscious they knew they deserved it. They had banded together believing they could intimidate this newcomer into not dating David Rossi and she had stood up to them calmly not seeming at all afraid. When this Alex Blake had said she could defend herself they believed her, as there was something in her voice. A calm confidence. Apparently, Blake and Dave had been dating since the beginning of summer, because they had just happened to run into each other, so that meant the relationship had been going on for about three months now. To date so long must mean that they shared a lot of common interests, which Blake had already stated was so.

They would know better than to confront her directly from now on, as she had probably studied some form of martial arts, in order to protect herself. The chase wouldn't be over until both men married. The three would be very unhappy to discover that not only was Dave going to marry Alex, Aaron was dating her sister Penelope and would likely marry her as well.

The three knew better than to start any rumors, because it wouldn't be hard for Alex or Dave to trace those rumors back to them, especially since the two would be aware that there weren't many people that would bother to start nasty rumors about a newcomer who had always been polite to those around her. After all, Blake hadn't been here but a few weeks, she'd hardly had time to make any enemies or friends for that matter.

The ladies now knew they had been preemptive and should've waited awhile, as the relationship might've broken up naturally if only they had only been more patient. They knew that Blake would tell her boyfriend all about this confrontation and he wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole now, because they had jumped the gun. Likely not Aaron either, as Dave was bound to tell his friend what had happened.

The fact that he had never been interested in them didn't occur to them at all, even though Alex had mentioned it.

"Trying to intimidate me, just because I was a newcomer was stupid," Alex told the three ladies bluntly running out of patience with the three of them. "You know nothing about me, other than my name. You thought you could intimidate me, a stupid mistake that you will now regret. I knew you would hear about me dating Dave eventually, but I never imagined you would be such idiots and tell me to break up with Dave. Like you have a right to order me to do anything! I'm sure it never occurred, in your minuscule brains that Dave is free to date whoever the hell he likes, as this isn't a dictatorship and you aren't in charge, thank God. I'd move overseas or something, if idiots like you were in charge of anything and try to convince Dave and Aaron to join me. In other words, it's a free country, so long as you are breaking no laws and dating someone you want for yourself is not a law, thank god almighty."

This was said with deep feeling.

"I knew you wouldn't like it, considering you've been chasing him for years, but I never figured you would confront me, as I thought you were more intelligent then that. I am not some naïve young girl, on her first journey away from home, who would likely be intimidated by your tactics. I am over 30 ladies and I know how to handle myself.

"You will leave Dave, Aaron and I alone or you will face the consequences of your actions. I want no trouble, but I also am not afraid of defending myself if I have too. Cause trouble and Dave and likely Aaron will hate you for the rest of your natural lives.

"He barely speaks to you now as it is, as you have not impressed either of them with your intelligence or your common sense. I would give up on Dave and Aaron personally, but I know human nature very well and we can be a stubborn lot. I don't really care one way or the other, because if you haven't gotten them into your clutches by now after 6 years it isn't going to happen. Try anything, nasty pranks meant to hurt, rumors or whatever and see what happens. I have recorded this entire conversation ladies so try anything and you will seriously regret it, as I'll take my evidence to the dean. Dean James will have no choice but to put you on report then. The decision is yours."

The three ladies took Blake's words and threat seriously and knew they had lost. If Blake had truly recorded their entire conversation then that meant she had been prepared to be confronted over her relationship with David Rossi or perhaps, she just kept a recorder on hand to record her thoughts for later. The three women might be persistent but they weren't complete idiots. They would bide their time and see if Dave broke up with Blake in the next few weeks, but considering they had been dating for months that was unlikely, but they'd see. If they did then they would start to try to get his attention again.

~~~Criminal Minds~~~