In the time between when the team had landed in Quantico and when they took off again for their latest case, Alex had been quite conspicuous in avoiding Erin at all costs. That was made easier by the fact that they had only one day in the office, since they had returned from Texas on a Thursday. Still, she felt jumpy and uneasy, as if Erin would pop out of the woodwork at any moment in order to ambush her and suddenly feel like they had made up because Alex had been stupid enough to let Erin know that she had recognized her on that last call. Even Aaron seemed to know that something was off with her, as the moment that they had finished briefing the case, he pulled her aside and brought her into the galley for a little chat.

"Do you want any coffee?" he asked as he began to brew himself a cup, and she shook her head as she leaned against the other side of the cramped space. "So, I think you probably know why I've pulled you in here. I wanted to do it before we left on this case, but time got away from me. Are you having more issues with your midnight caller? Jen mentioned that you seemed a little stressed after your call while we were down in Texas."

She gave him a small shrug as she looked down at her shoes. "I want to say no, everything is fine, but you're good at calling us all out on our bullshit. I did find out something a bit distressing about my caller, but it's something that I would like to keep to myself until I can get a few more answers from her. I promise that it won't affect my job performance, but I know that you'll be able to keep me on my toes, if I should slip."

"That I will, Alex. And you are free to come talk to me at any time. That's what a good Unit Chief does, listen and lead."

Alex looked up at him and smiled as she nodded. "I may take you up on that offer, if I find that my predicament becomes a little more than I can bear. Though you might already know why I'm reticent to speak too much about this caller of mine."

"I think that I've been gaining an inkling, yes. And I will reiterate that the team will have your back no matter what the outcome of this all is. We've had to stick together, and we've become a family as a result. I know that you've had a bit of a hard time fitting in with us all, but you're still a part of that family." He reached out and gave her shoulder an affectionate pat before turning back to his coffee, which she assumed meant she was free to join the others once more. Heading back to the seat she'd left, Alex picked up the file of information and began to look through it once more.

"This is going to be a weird case," Reid said without looking up from his own file, and Alex raised her eyebrows for a moment as she set her folder down to look at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"The kid thinks that it will be another hippy dippy case, Blake."

She turned to look at Derek, seeing that he was giving her that slightly smarmy grin he always seemed to wear when he was about to say something that might be a little controversial. Still, Alex rose to the bait by taking a deep breath before asking, "And why would that be, Derek?"

"Because we're in the land of crunchy granola people, and we all know the freaky things those types can get up to."

Hotch cleared his throat as he walked past them to take a seat next to Dave, and Alex gave him a small nod before picking up the file and glancing it over once more. "You do realise that that says more about you than it does about the people that we're going to Oregon to find and protect. Are you certain that this is the time and place to air opinions like that?" she asked coolly, never lifting her eyes from the words on the page in an effort to let him know that she was not impressed with the casual bigotry he was putting on clear display.

There was a long silence before Derek finally responded. "No, I guess that you're right."

Though his tone was petulant, Alex knew that she would take the win for what it was worth. The rest of the flight was quiet as they studied the material on the case, and Alex was glad for that. She knew that Derek would be more standoffish towards her once more, but she found that she didn't really mind, though she hoped that Aaron wouldn't expect them to work together during the case. Though if what she remembered about Rossi was still true, he would probably put a bug in his ear to make certain that they did, since that would help promote harmony in the team.

They hit the ground running, and Alex found herself pouring everything into the case, not sparing a thought for her Erin dilemma until they were riding back to the hotel, not anywhere close to catching this unsub. JJ had joined her in the back of the SUV that Hotch was driving, leaving Reid and Morgan to drive the other one back to the hotel. "Hey, everything all right?" the woman asked, and Alex met Aaron's eye in the rearview mirror as she nodded.

"Yes, I'm just a little frustrated at the fact that we kept hitting dead ends today. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day." JJ nodded and gave her a little smile before looking out the window, which allowed Alex to shrink into herself once more. She wondered when Erin would call her on this case, since she knew that it would be inevitable that she called. Still, as she took stock of the last few months she had been with the team, she knew that those calls from 'Louise' had helped to settle her and work out her feelings about returning to the BAU after such a long absence. A part of her wanted to keep up that pretense, since that allowed her a buffer between the real world conflict she was having with Erin, and the imaginary world that she had created with her alter ego.

Trudging up to their hotel room, Alex felt like she wanted to hear from Erin sooner rather than later, but that was still hours away. Turning to JJ as soon as they were in the room, she gave her a tired smile as she sank down onto her bed. "You look exhausted."

"I feel that way. I'm going to just head to sleep now, and if my call comes, hopefully, I wake up in time to answer."

"Hold your phone in your hand beneath your pillow. The rumble of it in your hand combined with the vibrations that come up through the pillow will wake you quick enough. Believe me, it's a trick I used many a time when Henry was colicky."

Alex nodded as she took off her boots. "That is a good trick to try. Ugh, I don't even know if I have enough energy to change."

JJ nodded, a soft smile on her lips. "Well, nap now until your call comes through, and then change into pyjamas. Make certain you take your bra off, though, because those are a bitch to sleep in."

Alex chuckled a little as she nodded, contorting her body to slip out of her bra without undoing all of her clothing before she stretched out on top of the covers, her hand clutching her phone as she allowed herself to drift off to sleep, hoping that Erin would either call that evening, or not call at all. She didn't feel like she wanted to drag this on for very long, she just wanted to get that case's call over and done with. She was asleep in minutes, though it was a light sleep, and she felt like she could hear every noise in the room going on around her, until some time later her phone began to vibrate in her hand before the ringtone began to play. Hurriedly, she answered, mumbling tiredly, "Hang on, I'm just waking up. It was a long day."

Not listening for Erin's reply, she sat up and looked over at JJ, seeing that the woman was fast asleep, and decided to try and carry on their conversation indoors, as she really didn't feel like moving at the moment. Scooting backwards, she rested her back against the headboard and slipped her feet beneath the covers to keep them warm as she talked with the woman. "Are we good now?"

"It all depends on our definition of the word good, Louise."

There was a short pause before Erin began to speak once more, and Alex used the pause to grab the other pillow and hug it against her chest with her free hand. "Alex, I, I'm sorry. I should have ended this charade weeks ago, and let you know that I was the one calling you. I just, I didn't want to give up this friendly connection that we had made. I, I can just hang up and we can pretend this never…"

"No, Louise. Tell me about your day, tell me something you did that made you smile."

"Alex…"

"Yes, Louise. That is exactly what I want to hear." Alex hoped that her insistence on using the name Erin had chosen for this little ruse would tell her that it was a ruse they were going to continue with, if she wanted this fragile friendship to continue. And Alex found that she did want this relationship to go forward, since it had been so nice getting to talk to someone who was an open ear. "Louise?"

"So, we're going to play this ruse out to the end?"

"Yes. It's what I want, because I really like Louise, even if I'm still upset with Erin. It is a distinction that I have to keep for the time being."

"All right, I can live with that." Erin sniffed delicately, which told Alex that she had started to cry a little, and she let out a long, quiet, breath, trying not to wake JJ. "Something that made me smile today was I got to watch my middle child's indoor soccer game, which meant I was able to see him score two goals. After the game, he treated me to dinner, since my partner is currently away on business. I miss him, but I have the feeling that we might not be together much longer. But I don't want to have a depressing conversation tonight, since we've already been a little testy with each other, and I want to try and keep things light. Was there anything that made you smile today? Despite the horridness of the case?"

"You're going to think this extremely petty, but I managed to put a coworker in his place while on the plane ride here. He made a crass statement about the type of people that live here in Oregon and I replied and let him know that I didn't appreciate the stereotyping that he was doing."

"Agent Morgan can truly toe the line of good taste," Erin muttered, and Alex tried to choke back her giggle, knowing that she could potentially wake JJ, but failed. "I'm sorry, I don't know him, do I?"

"Louise is not supposed to know him, no. Since I haven't told James about him to this extent. But it feels good to know that I'm not alone in my frustration, even though we're still not to a real place of reconciliation yet."

Alex didn't know why she had added that modifier to that statement, but it felt right in that moment. "Well, Louise is hopeful that there can be a place of reconciliation that happens at some point, when we're both ready for that to occur. But if you're this tired, I should really let you get some sleep."

"It's three in the morning in Quantico. You have to be exhausted as well, Lou."

"I took a nap before I called you. And it will be easy enough to fall back asleep when we're done talking. But you need to be fresh for you case tomorrow, so I'm going to let you go. Sleep well, Lexie." There was a slight catch in Erin's breath, as if she wanted to say something else but thought better of it before she disconnected the call, leaving Alex to stare at her phone in slight annoyance.

"You, too, Erin," she muttered before plugging her phone into the charger and stretching out in the bed, still hugging the pillow close to her chest as she easily drifted off to sleep once more, still thinking about Erin and where they might go from here.