Alex knew that she wasn't being particularly secretive as the team headed back to the Southwest. Since three other members knew about her midnight caller, there wasn't truly the need to make certain that she was careful with her anticipation. Still, she had felt Dave and Hotch watching her closely as they started to work on this current case. And she could tell from the looks that Dave had on his face every time that she caught him staring at her that Erin had told him a tiny bit of what was happening between them. The hangdog look, the sadness in his eyes that his smile never quite reached, all of it added up to someone who was fast coming to the realization that he perhaps cared a little more than he initially thought.

Those looks helped Alex to understand the concerned looks that Hotch kept throwing her way, and so she was not in the least bit surprised when their fearless leader stopped next to her as they were about to break for lunch. "I need to talk with you, Alex."

She nodded, pushing away from the table to pick up her phone and follow after him. JJ gave her a concerned look, and Alex shook her head, giving her a smile that she hoped conveyed the fact that she was all right with this little conference with Hotch. JJ nodded before touching her wrist, and the smile that spread across Alex's face was genuine as she nodded in return. "Are we going to talk over lunch?" she asked as they stepped outside the precinct, watching him closely for his reaction.

"I think that would be for the best, yes. Somehow, I don't think that this is going to be a quick chat."

Alex let out a long breath as she climbed into the passenger side of one of the vehicles, watching Hotch get behind the wheel and pull out into traffic a few moments later. "I know that you're going to ask me about Erin, about our midnight calls, and about how Dave is starting to wake up to the fact that there might be a little bit of trouble in his paradise."

"I am, yes. But if you know all about this discussion, why don't you tell me why you think I want to talk about it more in depth with just you."

She took a deep breath as she shrugged. "Because you know that I am the only one who can tell Erin that there's nothing more than friendship between us and that I can also push her back into Dave's arms, where she'll be safe and taken care of. Because you don't want there to be any discord between us, as it has the potential to become very messy, very quickly. You want to keep things smooth, for a reason that I don't quite understand yet."

"And that just proves how good a profiler you are, Alex. And you're right, I do have a reason for wanting there to be tranquility between us all, though I'm waiting for a few more pieces to fall into place and prove me right or wrong."

Alex nodded as he pulled into the parking lot of a local restaurant, and which told her that he wanted a small bit of privacy for the rest of their discussion. Upon entering the building, they were quickly shown to a table, and as she perused the menu, she thought about what she was going to say in response to any further questions that Hotch might have. "All right, what do you want me to do about the situation?"

"I want you to use your best judgement and figure out how to walk that very fine line between your wants and needs, and what will make Dave happy. I know that's not fair to you, or Erin, and I know that I'm asking a lot of you both, but he's my best friend."

She nodded and set the menu aside as they waited for the waitress to appear. Though she didn't want to, Alex kept finding her gaze drawn back to Aaron's face, seeing that beneath the stoic look he was wearing there was a pain that told her that things were bothering Dave more than she had imagined, and she tried not to dwell on that fact as they ate and Aaron tried to keep up a running commentary on the case. It was kind of him to try and keep her thoughts away from his query, now that it was out in the open, but she still found herself thinking back to Erin, and how they would deal with this turn of events.

By the time that the team returned to the hotel that evening, Alex found herself exhausted and looking forward to a call from Erin, if only to have her soothe her nerves in regards to everything that was going on. A small part of her worried that Dave would tell Erin not to call her, that she didn't want to hear from her, which Alex knew was an absurd, paranoid, thought. Still, she couldn't ger it out of her mind, and even JJ noticed her distress as they fell onto their beds.

"So, you had a come to Jesus meeting with Hotch today."

"Is that what that was?" she asked as she plugged her phone in, wanting to have a full charge if Erin did reach out to her that evening. "I know that he's basically in the middle of this weird square, trying to mediate everything and everyone, bit I'm old enough to be an adult about things, and how not to get into a fight at work. Not that I want to fight with Dave, but I also feel like digging my heels in and keeping my friendship with Erin."

A wry smile spread across JJ's face as she brought her knees up to her chest and shook her head. "I love how you think it's just a friendship, Alex. I've overheard bits and pieces of this conversations that you've had over the weeks, and even I can tell that your feelings have changed for Strauss. I'm assuming that the same is true for her. Just, tread carefully. I managed to develop feelings for a team member, and it almost did hurt my relationship with Will. I know that things are different for you guys, but I don't want to see any of you being hurt."

"I'll try to keep that in mind, thank you," she whispered as she felt the first tears start to sting at her eyes. Not wanting to cry in front of JJ, she stretched out on the bed and pulled a book out of her attaché case, settling in to read and escape from her troubles, hoping that JJ would understand why she was closing herself off.

To her shock, the younger woman reached out and patted her shoulder before heading into the bathroom, and Alex sighed a little as she continued to try and lose herself in the written word. It was difficult to concentrate, and she found herself reading the same paragraph over and over until she eventually gave up, closing the book with a dull thud before turning onto her side, curing around one of her pillows and drifting off to sleep. A few hours later, she came to wakefulness as her phone rang on the nightstand, and Alex quickly snaked her hand out and turned the ringer off before taking the call outside and sinking down into one of the chairs there.

"Hello?"

"Alex, that does not sound like a very happy hello."

She sniffled a little as she nodded, even though she knew that Erin couldn't see the gesture. "I had another talk with Aaron today, and it did not go well. I mean, I tried to put on a brave face and give him the answers that he wanted, but I know that he's trying to keep the peace between us all. And he wants to see you end up with Dave, because that makes his life easier."

"And what do you want?"

She let out a watery laugh. "I don't know any more. I want you, I want James, and want all of us to end up happy. But two of us are going to end up devastated. I didn't want these feelings to come up between us, when I found out that you were the person I was talking to, I just wanted to keep up our friendship."

"And then, things got too comfortable."

"Yes."

"So, what do you want to do now? Are, are you going to ask me to stop calling you, to stop texting you? I don't know if I can do that, Lexie. I love our talks, I finally feel like I have a girlfriend to destress with once more, and you've helped keep the cravings at bay. I've come to rely on the support you give me. But I also enjoy David's company when he's home. The sex is so good, Lexie."

"You do remember that I have to work closely with him? I don't want to picture the two of you together, intimately. I, I remember all too well what your body looks like, and how you sound, and that is not a good thing in this case."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I just want to keep my thoughts chaste with regards to him." Erin giggled, which was a welcome sound to Alex's ears, and she sighed a little. "Though I don't mind other thoughts?"

"Have you had other thoughts?" There was a slight purr to Erin's tone, and Alex shivered a little, wishing she had brought out a blanket with her. "Lexie?"

"Once. I woke up in the middle of an orgasm, and had to hope that JJ hadn't woken up to hear me moaning your name. Though in my dream, we were still young, still fresh. If I was completely honest with you, I would love to map out how your body has changed over the years that separated us. You're more lush than you were at the Academy."

"Look who's talking, Lexie. It's like you've bloomed into a ripe peony over the years, and all I want to do is bury my nose in you and breathe in deeply."

"Fuck," she lowly muttered, shifting in her seat as a shot of pure desire thrummed through her body. "You can't do things like that to me. I want, and I desire, and that is not healthy for either of us. If you were here right now, you'd be able to see my body's reaction."

"I can only imagine," Erin answered breathlessly, and Alex let out a quiet whimper as she shifted her body once more, trying desperately not to picture Erin's flushed skin, or imagining that she was biting her lip invitingly. "I'm sorry, I've turned our chat away from something sad to something lurid."

"No, not lurid, never lurid. There's nothing wrong with desiring another person, Erin, and to use that word to describe what's happening here is so small. Since my return back to the BAU, and to you, my life has grown again, and I don't want to go back to that person I was just prior to this time. I love this bad we share, and if we were to give it a negative label, we'd soon come to resent this. I don't want that."

"Neither do I, Lexie. I, I should probably go, but not because of you. I've worked myself up and need to take care of things before I get a few more hours sleep. I love you."

Before Alex could respond to those words, Erin had ended the call, and she sighed deeply as she hugged the phone tightly to her chest. The woman had said the words that were fluttering against her own lips, and she didn't know how she felt about the fact that they were dancing around such deep feelings, because there would be such messy fallout from when things eventually came to a head and they had to make their final choices. Until then, she'd have to make due with their midnight calls and worry about that future when it came.