Third follow up to "Daddy's Favourite Fool". This story follows "My Angel Baby" and "Answer". Dave's actions are resulting in a major reaction as it all comes to a head during confrontations with Emily and Hotch. Major secrets are revealed as Emily comes clean, and Garcia sets Dave up for his ultimate confrontation with the BAU chief.

Thanks to Tracia for her patience and insight into Garcia and Dave.

Song prompt: What Have We Become by Daughtry

I don't own Criminal Minds...because of some damn stupid misalignment of the stars!

What Have We Become

David Rossi had given up trying to make sense of anything in his life anymore. For so long he tried to figure out the warped minds of criminals while trying to keep his life in order. Now even that was in shambles. He should have known something was wrong when he let the last case slip through his fingers.

There was no excuse for dropping the ball and almost letting the UNSUB get away. It wasn't as though it was on purpose but when Hotch teamed him with Prentiss for the surveillance part of the stakeout, he thought he had come to grips with what had transpired between them.

Monotonous silence filled hours was enough to drive anyone crazy, so he figured he'd try to apologize for what transpired that night. Well…apologize the way only David Rossi could. Yet somehow, even that came out arrogant. When would he ever learn to keep his mouth shut?

Emily just looked at him. No words. Just a look and silence. Incredible, deafening, complete silence that made Dave wishing he had never opened his mouth.

"Why are you saying this?" she asked, her voice never betraying how she felt.

"I wanted to clear the air between us," Dave offered.

"I mean: why are you doing this here? Now?"

"I-" Dave tried to find the words he never had to use before.

"This has nothing to do with JJ coming back to town?"

Dave turned and faced the windshield. Oh God! Was it that obvious? "It was a surprise." And it had been. Just as he was starting to sort out everything that had transpired, JJ came back to throw his world off its axis. He had tried to remain cool as he and the former BAU communications liaison exchanged greetings. While he held his breath for the fall out that never came.

Once or twice, he thought about approaching JJ and apologizing for that night. However, the moment never arrived. From a distance, he watched her interact with the team and the new liaison officer while his thoughts drifted off to her lying underneath him calling his name. Every night for three months, he dreamt of her face, her touch, her smell…her taste. Now when he was just starting to learn to live without her, she was back to haunt his dreams again. Nothing was ever a coincidence; there had to be a reason.

Finally, when he thought he was going to go crazy, he made up his mind to ask her about that night. But he had waited too long; she was gone. This time for good. And so were the answers to the questions in his heart and head.

"You slept with her, didn't you?" Emily asked. Actually, it wasn't a question but more of a statement of fact.

For the first time in his life, Dave was at a loss for words. "Prentiss…Emily…I…" Oh, shit! "What makes you say that?"

"She told me." Just like that, she put it out there. She might as well have said 'the sun is shining' or 'stake-outs are boring' for all the emotion she put into her statement.

"She told you?" Dave asked weakly.

"Actually, I figured it out a while ago. Probably about a month after JJ left." She had watched his face for any trace of emotion, a hint that she had hit a homerun. Just when she was convinced that perhaps JJ was wrong, Dave's right eye twitched. Bingo!

"Your right eye twitches when you try to lie. I can't believe a profiler with your experience hasn't figured out your own weakness." She diverted her eyes and focused on her Styrofoam coffee cup. "We went out to dinner the night before she left and had a long talk…mostly about the BAU. And somehow, during our conversation your name came up. Did you know that JJ fiddles with her earlobe when she gets nervous?"

What could he say? 'Sure Em, I figured that out three days after I came back to the FBI. I also know when you're nervous- you bite your lower lip and look down to the right.' Of course that would probably go over as well as showing up at one his ex-wives' birthday party.

"She wanted me to tell you that there were no hard feelings on her behalf. And it wasn't all your fault," she continued as though she had no idea she had thrown him for more loops than a roller coaster.

"Uh…"

"What happened that night. Jen didn't mean to slip out in the middle of the night, but she figured it was hard enough trying to deal with everything without waking you up." Her nail flicked against the plastic lid as she debated going on further. "She knew what could possibly happen when she showed up to your place to confront you."

His mouth went dry. "Prentiss…"

"She's okay with it. It was…how did she describe it? Oh yeah, two depressed, desperate people giving into their primal urge to feel better. Yep. Oh, and shit happens."

Dave looked down at the car's vent and wondered if the dial had suddenly been cranked to the red. Shit happens? One of the best nights of his adult life was reduced to a trite bumper sticker quote?

"Jen also wanted me to thank you for opening her eyes to what was really important in her life. Of course sleeping with the renowned David Rossi didn't hurt. But once everything was said and done, and she settled into New Orleans, she realized that her life was Henry and Will."

Great! Now having sex with him reduced people to prioritizing their lives. What was going on? Was he in an alternate universe?

"That's good to hear that there are no hard feelings." Dave replied with relief.

A quick sip of her coffee before she placed it in the cup holder and reached for the elastic to pull her hair back. "Answer me a question: That night, at my house, why did you fuck me?" She didn't even wait for his response before adding, "I mean, I have nothing against a sympathy fuck between co-workers, but sloppy seconds after you slept with my best friend? Even Morgan has more couth than to rabbit hop from one junior agent's bed to another before washing away the residue."

"Five months. I waited five months. And if my accountant and Strauss hadn't screwed up or tried to undermine me, what happened that night would have never transpired."

"Hey, honestly, I have no problem with you sleeping with Jen. I mean, you're two consenting adults- both unmarried, good-looking…it's only natural. I'm surprised you two waited so long. But what I do have a problem with is you using me to purge her memory and ease your guilty conscience."

"It wasn't like that. If you'd let me explain."

"I get it; you are David Rossi, the legendary FBI lothario. It was just a matter of time before you managed to get into my pants…and Jen's too." Snapping the elastic tight, she threw him a look. "You made love to Jen, you fucked me…I fear to think what you have in mind for Garcia?"

"Well, sweetheart, they say the third time is the charm," he replied silkily, his voice like the aged scotch he preferred: smooth, steady and velvety…right before the sharp pain invaded his eye. Snapping his head back, his hand flew to his injury. "What the hell?" Blinking rapidly, he looked at Prentiss then down at his lap where lay a blue elastic, and then back at Prentiss.

Wiping away the tear, he started to bawl her out when Hotch's voice came thru their earpieces. "The UNSUB is on the move!"

And now here he sat, at St. Paddy's bar, trying to replace his red blood cells with ninety proof, barrel aged scotch. When had he lost control over his life? Motioning to the bartender, Dave ordered another round. That one was for Jen and Emily. This one was for him, he thought as he threw the amber liquid back.

"Oh my gosh Pen! Tell me that isn't the legendary FBI profiler and author David Rossi sitting at the bar!" One of Garcia's girlfriends gushed. Ever since JJ left and Emily went into an unexplainable funk, Garcia had been left to her own defenses try to make new friends for "Girls Night Out". Luckily the two women from the computer lab seemed normal enough and knowledgeable about the new Gate-keeper system to be deemed worthy enough to hang with the one and only Penelope Garcia. And she had to admit, that in all honesty, it wasn't so bad.

Hearing Dave Rossi's name made Garcia crane her neck around her two girlfriends to sneak a peek. Blinking twice, she realized that it was her boss sitting at the bar. She thought he was supposed to be out of town on vacation. What were the odds of him being at this same bar tonight of all nights?

"It sure is."

"Don't you work with him?"

"Yes."

"That is so cool. You think he'd come over here and sit with us?"

Garcia thought for a second. Rossi was pretty private in public and had been known more than once to get cold and brush people off who gushed over him. "I don't know ladies; he's pretty private."

"Oh Pen, you gotta go ask him! What can it hurt?"

"Yeah," replied the second friend. "Tell him we're buying."

Garcia grimaced. "He might not like me approaching him during off hours."

Her friends looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please? He looks so lonely. We can cheer him up."

Garcia knew what her head was saying, but at the same time her heart was crying to see Rossi sitting alone, at a bar, sipping his drink. Really, what could it hurt to ask him over? Standing up, she flipped her hair back and smiled at her friends.

"Okay, ladies…I'll do it." With more bravado than she actually felt, Garcia walked over to Rossi and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi Boss!" she greeted enthusiastically before her eyes fell on the counter and the shot glasses. Her mental calculation quickly added seven…plus the glass in his hand.

Rossi heard Garcia's voice and wondered if the hallucinations had kicked in. Turning around, he pulled back to find the voice in his head was the all too real physical being of the BAU tech analyst Penelope Garcia. "Garcia," he responded flatly and with disinterest.

The bravado quickly turned into nervousness. "It's funny running into you here…at the bar; I thought you were out of town. Wow, talk about a small world," she babbled. Rossi raised his eyebrow. "Any way, I'm here with my girlfriends…you know, girls night out, and they saw…we saw you sitting here. Alone." The eyebrow raised again. "To make a long story short: would you like to come over and sit with us?"

"No." Dave turned back around to face his empty glass pyramid. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, he chanted to himself.

Garcia bit her bottom lip. "Please?"

"No."

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"No."

"Are you okay?"

"I will be," he replied dryly.

"Are you driving home tonight?" Garcia was worried. The man looked like hell, and from what she could estimate, his blood type was slowly becoming Chivas Regal.

Dave sighed heavily and dropped his shoulders. Slowly he turned around to glare at her. "Garcia, what time is it?"

"What?"

"The time. What time is it?"

Garcia turned her wrist to glance at her classic Swatch watch. "Um, it's eight fifteen boss."

"Which means we're both off the clock, right?" It wasn't a question.

Speechless, Garcia stared at him. Blinking back sudden tears, she looked him up, then down. "I was only offering, Agent Almighty; no need to be a ass about it." Turning on her heel, she started to walk away.

Oh God! He made her cry! Shit! "Garcia! Penelope! Come back." Double shit! Garcia stood in front of him. "I'm sorry."

Garcia sniffed for effect. "Can I call someone for you?"

"No. I'm alright."

"Can I drive you home?"

"I'm fine Kitten."

"Let me call Hotch."

"Garcia…" Her eyes filled up with tears again. Where the hell was the bartender with the bottle? Dave looked around desperately for salvation. Anything.

"You are in no mood for company or driving home. So, as your co-worker I am offering you two options: I take you home so you arrive in one piece- which with the way your attitude is heading- the one piece might be stretching it. Big time."

She paused and continued. "On the other hand, to ensure your safe arrival home in one piece, I can call Hotch." A long moment of silence transpired. "I suggest you pick one before I do." Garcia leaned in and in a stage whisper said, "I'm leaning toward option one."

It only took Dave a second to let her words sink in. "Option two."

Garcia beamed a bright smile of pearly white teeth surrounded by scarlet red lipstick. "I knew you'd see reason. I'll call him now." She patted his shoulder and pulled out her cell phone.

Dave motioned for the bartender. "Make it a double." He felt he was going to need it. Fast.