Erin smoothed her skirt down her legs as they rode up to the sixth floor in silence. She knew that David wasn't angry with her, but she was still off kilter that morning, thoughts of what she'd say to Aaron running through her head. She was so preoccupied with her internal monologue that she stepped out of the elevator on auto-pilot and promptly bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry," she stammered out as she looked up to see Alex standing in front of her, a tense look on her face. "Lexie?"
"We need to talk."
"I'm already supposed to discuss something with Aaron before today's briefing," she started, only for Alex to close her hand firmly around her elbow, swinging her towards her office and away from David. She gave her husband an imploring glance, and he just shook his head, as if he had known that this confrontation was going to occur. Glaring at him, Erin hurriedly turned her head away from him, knowing that she would deal with that later. "We'll need to make this quick."
"Oh, we will take as much time as we need to go through this, Erin."
There was steel in her voice, and Erin shivered a little as they entered her office. Helen started to rise to her feet, and Erin shook her head a little before pulling out her keys and unlocking her inner door. Alex let her enter first, and then she was closing the door firmly behind them, the lock turning with an audible click as Erin stepped over to the coat tree, hanging her jacket there before going to her desk and taking a seat, turning her computer on before swiveling the chair around to look at Alex, feeling more in control now that she was in her place of power. "What did you wish to discuss, Alex?"
"Oh, so now you're prim and proper. When you ran into me this morning, it was Lexie."
"You startled me in your attempt to hijack me this morning, so I reacted accordingly. Now I'm in my office, and feeling a little more settled. So I ask again, what did you wish to discuss?"
Alex pulled out her phone and showed Erin the picture that David had sent yesterday of the girls and their dolls. Erin could see the tinge of fear on her face, and as she glanced up into Alex's face, she felt her heart fall into her stomach a little to see that she understood why Erin was so fearful. "Dave didn't have to say anything. When I saw those dolls, I knew that John had made contact with your family. But when there was no accompanying text telling me that Dave knew who was behind this, I realized that you haven't told him the truth about what's going on. What's it going to take? Him kidnapping one of your children before you tell everyone that we're being hunted by a former colleague?"
Erin tried not to shrink away from the anger in Alex's voice, knowing that it was thoroughly justified, but still hating that it was present in her, after they had worked so hard to get back to a place of normalcy. "I highly doubt that he would harm one of the children, Alex."
The woman shoved the phone into her pocket before slamming her hands down on the desk and leaning into her personal space. "He abhors us, Erin! He was close enough to your children to give them unwanted gifts, gifts that look like us, as a way to taunt us that he can get that close to our loved ones and we are still no closer to catching him! Wake up and realise that we are in danger!"
Erin was about to shake her head when Alex reached out and smacked her shoulder hard enough to cause her to grunt. "I could get you fired for that, legitimately."
"Don't give me that, Erin. I needed to do something to get your attention, since you seem hellbent on pushing all this away. How can you be so blasé about the fact that John has been casing your house and knows us well enough to get even the most minor details about our outfits and faces right? I noticed that your doll is wearing the new pendant that your husband bought you."
"I hate that you're so good with details," she hissed as she pushed away from the desk and got to her feet, stalking over to the minifridge in her office and pulling out a bottle of water, needing something to do with her hands in an effort to keep from truly lashing out at her friend. "What am I supposed to do? Say that this is all John's handiwork? I've told you before, there is no way to tie any of this to him, and until we have something concrete, there will be no way for us to legally go after him."
"That is a load of horseshit, and you know it, Erin Elizabeth!" Whirling around, she found Alex standing right next to her, face drained of all colour save for two spots of angry red on her cheeks. "You just want to shove this all under the rug and pray that it goes away."
"Do you truly think that? Do you think that I am not absolutely fucking terrified that John has access to my family? He was close enough to give them presents. He was familiar enough to them to the point where both Catherine and Elise called him the nice man in the blue car. And I am powerless."
"No."
"Yes. He knows our movements, Lexie. He knows our routine. He can track our current cases enough to replicate them down to the finest detail. What does he know about us all that we don't know he knows? What if he comes after one of the team when our guards are down? Or if he goes into hiding because he thinks we're on to him? I couldn't bear it if someone was hurt because of my past sins."
All breath was pushed from her lungs when Alex pulled her into a fierce, tight, hug. "Your guilt is going to get you killed, Erin. I won't sit back and watch that happen just because you think that you need to have all your ducks in a row before we call the team in on this."
"Lexie, stop. Just, stop. I can't hear your voice tremble like that, else I break down. I told David last night that I need to stay strong until we see the end of this Replicator nonsense, otherwise I'll never stop crying, from fear and worry and stress. I need you to understand where I'm coming from. Even if you don't like it. We can work together, yes?"
"We need someone else to help us. We can't do it alone."
"We have to."
Alex pulled away from Erin, shaking her head a little as she reached up and tugged on a piece of Erin's hair, the familiar gesture stirring up memories of their time together in the Academy. "You know that I won't agree with that, and I know that you won't be moved just yet. But if you are truly going to talk with Hotch about this, tell him that you think you know who it is, that we're working together, and will read him into the situation as soon as we know more. Don't let him feel like he's being kept out of the loop. And for God's sake, Erin…"
"Yes?"
"Be careful. I don't want to say goodbye so soon after we've reconciled." Before Erin could say another word, Alex leaned in close to her once more, pressing her lips to Erin's ear. "You have so much to live for. Don't throw it away with some deluded belief that you need to atone for your sins," she hissed, and Erin shivered as she nodded, knowing that Alex was right, even if she didn't want to acknowledge the truth of her words in that moment.
