Alex was unsurprised to be paired up with Rossi again the next day. They had worked well together on previous cases, and yesterday had been a good day for them together. Still, she found herself a bit short tempered, since her sleep had been restless, even after easily falling asleep following her talk with Louise. It was as if, even in her exhaustion, she couldn't get comfortable, and so sleepiness nipped at her heels from the moment she awoke. And so, as she curled up in the passenger seat of their SUV, Alex studied Rossi's profile, finding that she wanted to ask him more about his relationship with Erin, but not knowing where to start.

"If you look at me any longer, I'm going to be burned on your retinas for all eternity, and what would James have to say about that?"

She chuckled a little as she turned her head to look out ahead of them. "He would say that I've chosen to allow my head to be turned by someone famous."

"Oh, so scandalous, Doctor Blake! What are we, stuck in some Regency bodice ripper?" he teased, and she knew that he was trying to make her feel better, as if he could tell that she was still feeling a little off balance.

"Very funny. I know that my word choice can be a bit odd, but that is part of my character."

Rossi nodded a little before reaching over and patting her arm affectionately. "I do remember that from your first time with the BAU. Speaking of your return, have you talked to Erin at all since you came back?

Alex took a long breath as she rolled her eyes a little bit. "Is she pressuring you to talk to me in order to soften me up?" she asked sharply, giving him a deep frown as she turned her focus back to him, waiting to hear what his answer would be.

"Why would you think that she has any influence with me?" he shot back, a little too quickly, which was very telling, and she chuckled as she rolled her eyes once more. "What?"

"Well, the first telling thing is that you call her by her first name all the time. With the others, it's either her last name or her title and last name. Secondly, your relationship with her is probably the worst kept secret in the entire department. I'm surprised that you would take the risk of having a relationship with her, since she is technically our superior. Or have the fraternization rules changed that much while I was gone?"

There was a brief pause before he answered her, and Alex tried not to hum in annoyance as she waited. "The rules have not changed, but we're not in a serious relationship. She doesn't want to jump into something so quickly, after the way that Alan treated her in the months leading up to their divorce."

Alex shook her head a little as she tried to formulate her next question. "That is not the truth, or the Erin that I know. She would never enter into something casual with anyone."

"And how would you know that, Alex?"

She was surprised to hear the sharpness in his tone, and she took a few deep breaths before she looked at him once more, her eyes narrowing so as not to offer him a way to read her, if he happened to glance in her direction. "That is none of your business."

"Well, Erin seems to think that it is my business, as she's talked about the fact that you were a pair while in the Academy. There are things that she regrets…"

"That need to be kept between the two of us. Am I clear? Dammit, Dave, we've worked together so well since I've gotten back with the team, and I don't want to lose this dynamic. Please, drop this."

He sighed heavily, which told Alex that perhaps Erin hadn't been the one to put him up to getting them to reconcile, that he was taking matters into his own hands based out of some loyalty that he felt towards Erin. "Just like we work well together, I want you and Erin to work well together. After all these years as having her as an adversary, we have grown accustomed to having her on our side."

"I understand that, Rossi, but don't you think that you're doing her great harm by getting into a relationship with her so soon out of rehab? Especially since this was her second stint?"

If she thought that he had been upset earlier, she was not prepared for what happened next. "That is a low blow, Alex. I wouldn't do anything that would cause her to slip in her progress, and I am so very proud that she's made it nearly a year sober. Just because we're casually sleeping together, finding solace from this godawful job we do, where we see the dregs of society and what they can do to vulnerable people, does not mean that she's just going to chase her feelings down the neck of a bottle if I decide to end this little fling that we're having. I won't have you slandering her name, though. Are we clear?"

"As crystal, David," she bit out before turning to look out the window at the scenery passing by. Alex didn't want him to see that she was close to tears from the way that he had torn into her, and she knew that she would not be discussing anything that even remotely intimated being about Erin with him in the future. As she watched the scenery once more, Alex blinked back her frustrated tears, and tried to find a way to calm her roiling emotions. Especially because she knew that she was right about Erin. Those things didn't change in a person when they got older, not without serious trauma or health issues. Erin had always been loyal and committed to whatever person she found herself in a physical relationship with.

Unbidden, her thoughts flew back nearly forty years, to when she and Erin had both been in the Academy together. They hadn't started out with the intent of being a couple, in fact, the sparks that had flown off of them had been more anger than passion, but as they spent more and more time together, that had shifted to something a little more dangerous. "Where's your head, Alex?"

"In the past. I should never have brought this up while we're on a case. There are too many memories associated with our time at the Academy. But I have to tell you one thing before we close this book and focus on the case entirely. You are wrong about Erin, she doesn't do things casually or by halves, and even though I do not want to reconcile with her, I do not want to accept her amends, but I also don't want to see her hurt or thinking that she might have to rely on something that stole everything from her. All right?"

He nodded, a strange expression on his face that she didn't know how to read. She wanted to tell him that he didn't need to be concerned with her wellbeing, but knew that it wasn't appropriate for this current moment. This entire conversation had gone off the rails, and the sooner it was over, the better for her. Finally, they arrived at their destination, and Alex was able to push aside her personal issues as she turned her focus onto the case at hand.

The rest of the day progressed as well as could be for the case they were working on, though she was grateful when after lunch, she and JJ were able to head out together in search of more information. That relief must have shown on her face, because as soon as they younger woman was under way, JJ glanced at her with a pensive set to her face. "Did something happen between you and Rossi this morning?"

"We had a bit of a disagreement, but I think that we managed to come to an understanding. I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Well, you were on the phone for nearly an hour, that would make me cranky, too."

"Did I wake you up? I thought that I had my phone on silent."

JJ let out a soft chuckle as she nodded. "You did, but your whisper is not quite as quiet as you might think that it is, and the balcony door squeaks. At least there won't be any more midnight calls this case, since your husband seems to only call once while we're out."

"That is true, I do only get one call per case, usually. And I'm sorry for waking you. I thought that I was being careful."

"We all have our quirks, Alex, and I just want you to know that it's okay to talk with your support system. That's what I find in Will, after all. Though I do wish that you could convince your husband to call at Quantico midnight, rather than local midnight, since we both need our sleep when we're out in the field."

"I keep trying to press that issue, but it is a sticking point with Louise."

"Louise?"

Alex felt her eyes widen as she realized what she had let slip. "Yes, well, James hasn't been able to call, since he's busy with his job, so he enlisted one of his friends to call and check in with me as I start this new job. And it is easy to talk to her, since I don't really know her."

"So, she's like a late night therapist. I can see the appeal, since we tend towards honesty the longer a person is awake. I tend to use PG as my sounding board when I feel the need to talk to someone late at night. She knows me, and knows how to talk me down from any ledges I get myself stuck on. Have you been able to meet this Louise?"

She knew that this would open a can of worms, and she didn't want to reveal too much to JJ, even though they were fast becoming friendly. "No, I haven't, and I don't think that I want to? I am content to just have her voice in my ear, and I feel if I meet Louise, the phone calls will lose that mystique that they have currently, and I won't be able to find that same meeting of the minds if I know who she is, outside these phone calls." Clearing her throat, she turned to look at JJ a little as she threw caution to the wind and decided to trust her a little more. "Though now that we're talking about this, I must confess that there is something vaguely familiar about her voice and speech patterns, and I find myself wondering if I do know her. But there's no one named Louise in our social circles."

"Maybe you do know her, and she wants to give you that feeling of anonymity and is thus using a middle name, or something?"

"Maybe," she replied, giving JJ a small smile as she took a deep breath. "Or maybe I'm just reading more into the situation than I should. Is it ridiculous that I look forward to these talks we have?"

"No, because I look forward to my talks with Penelope and Will. From the sound of things, you don't get close to a lot of people, and I think that I'm probably closer to you than anyone else on the team at the moment, so I hope that you hear what I'm saying? It is okay to have someone special in our lives that we can bare our souls to, and if it is this anonymous voice on the other end of the phone? Well, I'm glad that you have that outlet. You deserve it. Now, much as I hate to bring this little talk to an end, we have arrived, and need to be in business mode. Ready?"

"Ready," she replied, nodding a little as she straightened her shoulders and prepared for the afternoon ahead.