Alex shook her head a little as she watched Hotch and Rossi wrestle their unsub into the back of a waiting police car. Their much needed break had come late in the afternoon on Sunday, and she was hoping beyond hope that they would be spending one final night in Seattle, as she did not want to drive home in the middle of the night. From the look on his face, though, that seemed to be a pipe dream, and she followed Reid over to the waiting SUV, climbing into the back next to JJ as they waited for the others to get back to them.

Rossi easily got into the passenger seat of the SUV, turning slightly to give them all a defeated look. "I have good news and bad news."

"Start with the good, Rossi," Reid hurriedly said before anyone else could respond.

"We're spending the night here. The bad news is that we are going to be heading out to the airfield at four in the morning."

"What? Why?" JJ protested as Alex's shoulders slumped tiredly.

"Hotch is on the phone with Strauss right now, and apparently, there's a bad case in Texas that needs our immediate attention. He'll give us more details as soon as we're back at the hotel, but I would suggest that we all pack and go to sleep as soon as we've finished eating. And I am definitely going to be sleeping on the plane home, as well, because it is going to suck to be on back to back cases."

"And there won't even be time to get fresh clothes for this case. I wish that I had taken the time to use the laundry room," JJ groaned, and Alex gave her a look. "What?"

"We're not leaving until the morning. There's still time to do washing. We could probably share machines and split the cost?"

"This is why we added another doctor to the group," JJ said with a smile and a quick wink. "Someone has to have a brain that still functions at the end of a long case."

"That is why I am paid the big bucks," she teased back, and JJ chuckled as they settled into their seats, Hotch climbing behind the wheel and started the SUV, quickly pulling out into traffic and speeding back to their hotel.

"All right, I am placing our standard order for Chinese as soon as we reach the hotel. Blake, what's your preference?"

"Beef and broccoli, and egg rolls." He nodded as he gave her a small smile before refocusing on the road. Somehow, Alex knew that he would remember her order, since that was one of the things that she knew about him. The drive was quick, since it was apparent that Hotch wanted to get back and prepare to leave, and Alex found herself staring out the window as the scenery passed them by. Glancing ahead, she saw that Rossi was texting with someone, and if she had to hazard a guess, it was Erin, since she knew now that they were a couple. For some strange reason, Alex felt a stab of jealousy prod her heart, and she frowned as she pulled out her own phone and sent off a quick text to James, letting him know that they had closed this case, but would be headed right out on the next one once they landed in Quantico the next morning.

"Well, there's one good thing about this case ending when it did," Reid said suddenly, breaking the silence of the car, and she looked over at him expectantly. "We'll be back to a full team for this case in Texas. While it's been nice to have a small group, Morgan and Garcia will make things feel complete."

Alex gave him a small smile as she nodded before looking back out the window once more. A small knot was forming in the pit of her stomach over the idea of meeting these new people, since she found that she worked well with the group as it was, even if she hadn't had to interact with Kevin at all. Sighing deeply, she let her head thump against the glass as the drive concluded.

It didn't surprise her that she and JJ were the first out of the vehicle, and she gave the woman a small smile as they opted for the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. "Do you want me to bundle everything up and run it down to the laundry room?" Alex asked as JJ unlocked their door. "That way you can at least call Will and let him know about what's going on, and I can give you some privacy."

"That would be great, Alex, thank you!"

She shrugged as she went over to her side of the dresser and gathered up all the soiled clothes, knowing that almost everything other than underwear was clean. Still, she decided to launder her undershirts as well, since they sat so close to her skin. With everything gathered up in her arms, she turned to JJ, accepting the load from her arms before stuffing them into her bag. "I'll sit down there with them, since there's this article that I want to read in my current journal. You have my number to text if you have any questions or instructions, yes?"

JJ nodded as she plopped down onto her bed, curling her legs beneath her rump as she pulled out her phone. "Yeah. Thanks again."

Alex was going to say something, but thought better of it when JJ began to scroll through her phone. Instead, she grabbed the journal off the nightstand and made her way back down to the ground floor. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone else in the laundry room when she arrived, and Alex tossed everything into the first machine, adding detergent before starting it and taking a seat in the comfortable chair in the corner. It was easy to curl up in it, and she sighed a little as she opened the journal and began to read from where she had left off. As she read, Alex heard a bit of commotion and looked up to see Reid had actually listened to her and JJ's conversation, as he was stuffing a bunch of clothes into the second machine. "That seems like a lot of clothes for just you," she said offhandedly as she turned the page on her article.

"Yeah, well, Rossi is good at passing off things in such a way that you don't realise you've been maneuvered into a corner until you're trapped. I'm not going to bother to sort everything out, since it's not like we can access the dry cleaning services at this late time. If he wants his boxers ironed, starched, and creased, well, he should have done this himself."

She let out a loud laugh as she folded down the edge of her page and set the journal in her lap as she looked at him. "So, this Morgan guy. What's he like? JJ has told me a little about Garcia, but hasn't been very forthcoming on him."

Reid came over to her side and sank down into the open chair, somehow managing to cross his legs comfortably as he did so. "He tries to be a good guy, but he can come off as a real jackass at times. Garcia is half in love with him, which he knows, but he'll never see her as anything other than his God given solace. She's not his type."

"Oh?"

"Yes. And it's going to end up with her getting hurt, which she doesn't deserve, because she is a ray of pure sunshine in this awful job. But we're not talking about her, we're focusing on Morgan. He thinks he's always right, and he'll never apologise when he's wrong. There was an incident when Jen was away from the team, but before Emily supposedly died, where he went to conduct a parole interview with a man accused of murdering his wife and daughter. He had always proclaimed his innocence, but there was no evidence at the time to corroborate that. And Derek listened to his story, took in the fact that this man had turned his life around as best he could in prison, and was rehabilitated, as far as Derek could tell."

"I hear a rather large but coming."

Reid nodded. "Yes, but also no. The testimony that Derek gave the parole board was enough to grant the prisoner that, even though the murders were so brutal. And then, less than forty eight hours out of prison, it appeared that the man had killed someone else. And Strauss was pissed. I've never seen her that angry before in my life, and I never want to see that again. It's terrifying."

"Erin definitely has a scary streak when she's angry, yes. Let me guess, Morgan didn't grovel at her feet and beg for forgiveness?"

Reid chuckled as he shook his head. "Oh, Derek was pissed off that he had been duped, but he wasn't about to show that in front of Strauss, not after she had already sent Jen away to the State Department. There was the feeling that any one of us could be next, after all. So, he played it cool and swore that he would fix it. And he did, in the worst way possible. I know that the outcome ended up right, but the way that Morgan went about it nearly led to us being disbanded as a team."

"Oh?"

"Yes. See, the real unsub was an up and coming political player, and Strauss knew exactly how things might go down. In hindsight, I know that she was protecting us, but at the time it seemed like she was just being awful for no reason at all. Rossi said that she's good at playing the political game."

"She is. She always has been. My brain never worked that way."

"Mine doesn't, either, but I'm glad that hers does. She went to bat for us when Emily returned from the dead. I know that she tried to give all the credit to Emily's testimony when we were called before the Senate after the whole team was suspended, but I know that it was also her being able to wheel and deal with Senators and Ambassadors that helped to save us as well."

That was news to Alex, and she nodded a little as she let out a long sigh. "I suppose that she does have a good side," she begrudgingly said as Reid nodded, pulling out a book from the bag he'd brought down with him. "So, is Morgan a good guy?"

"I think that you'll get along with him well enough, as soon as you let him know that you won't accept any backchat from him. He'll try to charm you after that, but don't let that throw you. But given that you're closer to Rossi and Hotch in age, well, I doubt that he'll try to flirt with you too much, especially since you're married."

"That's good to know," she murmured as she picked up her journal and began to read the article that had piqued her interest in the first place. Soon, she was lost in the words of her colleague, and it took a few moments for her to recognize the sound of the washing machine ending its cycle. Setting the journal on her chair, Alex quickly went over to her washing machine and tossed the clothes into the dryer just as Hotch poked his head into the laundry room. "Hey."

"Hi. Just to let you two know, the food will be here in fifteen minutes. Dave and I have set up the tables in the breakfast room for us, and I'm going up to get JJ. See you soon."

Alex nodded as he disappeared, and then she was stuffing the journal in her bag as she looked at Reid. "I'm going to go sit with Rossi for a little while. You should be able to put those clothes into the dryer before the food arrives."

"Sounds like a plan, Alex." Reid gave her one of those smiles that hurt her heart to see, as it reminded her a little too much of how she imagined Ethan would smile at her, if he had been born normal, if he had survived to be Reid's age, and she nodded a little before turning on her heel and making her way out of the room. There would be time enough to think about why she felt the way she did when she was back home and able to have some truly alone time. Or when she received another midnight call from Louise, though she didn't know why she was the first person to come to mind, over James and she pushed that thought from her mind as she continued on to the breakfast room, suddenly wanting to be with someone other than her thoughts.