"Derek?"

He woke up to the sound of his wife's voice, instantly turning on his side so that he could see her face. She looked exhausted and pale, and his first thought was to reach out nad press the back of his hand against her forehead to see if she had a fever. "You're not feeling well."

"No, and I want to make a good impression on your family this evening. I've already asked Helen to bring my the files that I can work on here at home, and I'm going to sleep until she arrives. You need to get going, though, if you want to get to work on time. I might have accidentally turned off the alarm when I called Helen. I'm sorry."

Derek looked over at the clock on his nightstand and widened his eyes a little. "Yeah, that will be cutting it a little fine. Good thing I showered yesterday. Are you going to be okay taking Clooney out?"

"Already done, and he's had breakfast, too. Now kiss me before I fall back asleep and you get ready for the day."

He grinned and leaned in for a gentle kiss, caressing her stomach as he did so. She sighed before snuggling back into the covers, and he watched her eyes flutter closed as he slipped out of bed. Derek made certain to pull the blanket up around her shoulders before pressing another kiss against her forehead, seeing her smirk, though her eyes never reopened. After picking out fresh clothes for the day, he went into the bathroom and hurriedly got ready before making his way to the kitchen. What he saw there caused his heart to lurch a little. Even though Erin was clearly not feeling well, she had taken the time to brew a pot of coffee for him, and he filled his travel mug up, taking a sip as he grabbed his keys and headed down to his truck.

The drive in didn't take too long, and soon he was parking in his usual spot. Instead of heading right up to his office, Derek went to see Helen. "Good morning, Helen!"

"Agent Morgan! To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked as she looked up from her computer screen to give him a short smile.

"My wife told me that you were going to run files to her today?" Helen nodded. "Would you please not take her too much? She's really exhausted, and I don't want her to overwork herself, especially as my family should be rolling into town at some point this evening."

"I can do that, yes. I'll only take over the most urgent of things that need to be worked on. What time should I head over?"

He thought about how easily Erin went back to sleep before he left the bedroom, and took a deep breath. "Around ten or eleven, most likely."

"That works perfect, I can head out for lunch afterwards, and then work out the rest of my day. I'll see you later, Agent Morgan?"

"More than likely!" He gave her a broad wink, making her giggle before she shooed him away. With a jaunty step, he headed into the bullpen, finding his way to the break room in order to refill his coffee mug. Dave and Blake were in there already, and he couldn't help but feel a little unsettled at the way Dave narrowed his eyes at him. "Morning," he said as he stepped past them to grab the carafe of coffee, pouring it into his mug as he waited for either to answer.

"Morning, Derek. Erin isn't here today?"
The question was far more neutral than he expected to hear from Blake, and he nodded. "Yesterday was a bit much for us. Marlene truly reminds me of Penelope."

"Oh, I didn't know her parents were in town!"

The fact that Blake knew Erin's parents took him aback a little, and he absently nodded as he thought of how to reply. "Yeah, they flew in from Switzerland yesterday, and my family arrives by train today. It's a lot of extra stress on top of her pregnancy, and we both felt it prudent that she stay home and rest, just in case."

Dave let out a little snort of derision, and Derek turned his head to stare down the older man. "Do you find something funny about that, Rossi?"

Blake raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of coffee, and Derek watched her from the corner of his eye, taking in the way that she relaxed against the counter as she watched them. Nodding slightly, he refocused on Dave, his gaze narrowing even more as the man took longer and longer to answer his question. "Well, it would be in her best interest if she lost the pregnancy."

Those words were all it took for Derek to see red, and he slammed his coffee cup down on the table in the room before taking a step closer to the man. "Would you care to run that by me again?" he bit out, trying to keep his voice low and calm. This wasn't the time to get truly heated, because he wanted to make certain that he was well and truly provoked into anger at the man.

"You're too young for hearing aids, kid. You heard what I said. I even told her that she had time to take care of things. Her first pregnancy was a doozy, even Blake can attest to that, since that was when they were in the Academy together. If she loses it now, you won't have to worry about treating her like glass in a few months, and you can annul the sham of a marriage that you've found yourself in."

Derek's nostrils flared as he took a step forward, his hands balling into fists. Faster than he thought possible, Alex had pushed herself away from the counter and placed herself between him and Dave. Shooting him a look, she then turned to Dave and pressed her pointer finger into his chest, pushing his backwards with barely any force until he was flush against the wall. "Look, I don't like Erin right now, you know that full well, after what she did to me during the Amerithrax case. But that is downright cruel, Rossi. You wouldn't wish a loss like that on anyone else, would you?"

He shook his head, still looking startled at the way Blake was glaring at him. "No."

"Then why would you wish it on a woman you were intimate with up until very recently? Is it because she dared to defy you? To have her own mind and desires? Do you like the idea of breaking a strong willed woman and molding her into your image of the perfectly biddable partner? Because if you think that you could have done that to Erin, well, you obviously knew nothing about her. Fuck you for even hinting that you thought she should get an abortion, and for taunting Morgan when he's obviously concerned about his wife's health. You should be just as concerned about her! Now get out of here, and think about what you said to him."

Though her voice never rose above a conversational tone, there was such controlled fury and outrage there that Derek felt a tiny frisson of fear run down his spine as he picked up his coffee cup and took a long swig, needing something to do with his nervous energy. He watched Dave nod hastily before he slipped away from Blake and then fled the room, leaving behind his coffee mug. Once he was gone, Derek relaxed a smidgen before pulling out a chair at the table and taking a seat. "Remind me to never piss you off," he said as he slumped back in the chair, staring up at her.

She let out a light chuckle before fluffing out her hair nervously and taking a seat across from him. "Rossi hit a few buttons with his crass comments to you. No woman deserves to experience the agony of losing a pregnancy or a child. Not even Erin. But if you even think of telling her that I told you that, I will make certain that your work life is miserable from the moment I find out until the day you quit."

He knew that that wasn't an idle threat, as he had seen how she dealt with Erin thus far. "I can keep things close to the vest, you won't need to worry about that. But would you mind if I picked your brain a little before we settle down to work? Rossi mentioned that you were around for Tabitha's pregnancy?"

Alex pursed her lips as she nodded. "She was pregnant with Karen when we were in the Academy, yes. And it was a delicate situation, though she acted twice as fierce as any man so as not to appear weak in a boy's club. Her pregnancy with Bruce was a little easier, but Tabitha was also delicate. She hated anyone hovering over her, though she didn't mind when I touched her baby bump."

"She likes when I do that to her, too. How close were you two?"

A bright flush stained her cheeks as she looked away from him and drank some of her coffee. "Close enough to trace the tracks of her stretch marks with my fingernails. And before you ask the next question on your lips, yes. We were both married for that. Why do you think that they betrayal cut so deep?"

Tears glistened in her eyes, and Derek swallowed thickly, suddenly recognizing Alex's anger for what it truly was, a mask to keep the pain at bay from his wife. "She misses you, too, but if you tell her I said that, well, I'll deny everything. She'll believe me, since I am married to her."

Alex let out a watery chuckle as she shook her head. "You play dirty pool, too." He nodded. "Fine. Maybe I can start to work on this enmity between us, if only to make the pregnancy easier on her. This should be number seven." Derek felt his eyes widen. "And if you tell her I told you that, she'll know that I've betrayed her, and things will be back to square one between us. But if you can, in a round about way, ask her about the losses, I would. I highly doubt she's told anyone about that. Which is probably what led to her alcohol problem."

"How do you know about that?"

Alex shrugged as she sipped from her mug once more. "She wrote me quite a few letters from the time she entered rehab until I rejoined the BAU. The parable of the sower has much more truth to it than most people think."

Those enigmatic words seemed to be the last that she would say that morning, as when he went to probe for more answers, Penelope bustled into the break room, a pensive look on her face. "Hey, is Rossi okay? I came out of my office to grab some coffee, and he nearly plowed me down."

Alex took that as her cue to leave, and he watched her rise to her feet and brush past Penelope into the bullpen at large. "We just had a rather tense discussion with him about Erin and her pregnancy."

"Is he being a dick again?"

Derek sighed as he nodded. "Yeah, but I think that Blake managed to get through to him, a little." She opened her mouth to speak, and he shook his head. "No, you can't say a word about that to anyone, Penelope. But I think, if we work together, we might be able to start bringing them closer together once more. We just need to be a little creative about things, so that neither woman catches on to what we're doing. Okay?"

"Okay. You know I'm good at gentle nudges."

He nodded before draining his coffee cup and then refilling it once more. "So you'll work on Blake, and I'll prepare Erin, and somehow, we'll get them back on the road to friendship."

"Yes! Speaking of your lovely wife, where is she this morning?"

"Home in bed, until Helen runs by the paperwork she needs to finish before we pick up my mom and sisters this evening. She wasn't feeling the best this morning, and actually suggested to me that she stay home."

"I'll see if I can hitch a ride with Helen and bring food over to her, too. You can't beg off work, since the holiday break is just around the corner for our team, but since I agreed to help the other teams this year, I can take a longer break." She grinned at him, and he smiled back as he got to his feet and followed her out into the bullpen, slightly more ready to face the day than he had been earlier.