Serre-Moi Fort; Hold Me Tight

The Duncans

"The best things in life happen unexpectedly. The best adventures were never planned as they turned out to be"

Rossi POV

"Ok, so you guys are now the Duncans. You've been married for the last twenty five years, with no kids," Garcia said excitedly over the phone, "Are you guys ok with your cover?"

"Ya, I'm Matt Duncan, a math professor at Drexel University. I'm about a week away from retirement."

"I'm Katherine Duncan, I was an English professor at Drexel. I retired three years ago."

"All right, by tomorrow afternoon the house should be ready for you guys. You promise you will be safe?"

"I promise," I say giving her and Alex a smile

I still can't believe that Hotch did that. I get she's the closest one to my age, but still. He could have had someone from the precinct go with me, but he knew what he was doing.

"Ok, Rossi, I love you, but it's time for some girl talk."

"Well alright," I laughed pretending to be insulted, "Don't talk too much about me."

Alex rolled her eyes and jokingly hit my arm. There was something in the air, it was like we knew what the other was thinking and feeling, we just didn't dare say anything.

Alex POV

"Sooo, I was talking with JJ last night and she told me something interesting."

"Oh ya, and what might that be?"

"Oh you know, only that Dave spent the night over in your room when you were in Texas. She said that when Hotch called him, you were right there so he'd pass the message along to you."

"Nothing really happened. It was a hard case for all of us. He just came by to make sure that I was doing ok. We just happened to fall asleep. That's it. "

"Well I think it's cute, you and him. How are you feeling for tomorrow? This is gonna way different than that one night. Do you think you'll be able to handle being around him like that?"

I paused for a moment to get my thoughts together. Sleeping together once by accident and sleeping together for who knows how long on purpose is way different. "I didn't even really think of any of that. Maybe this isn't the best idea, what am I suppose to do about James?"

"Hey, there's nothing to be worried about. This is for work right? So just think of it as that. And this is Rossi we're talking about. He would never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable."

"I guess. I just wish I thought of all this when Hotch first said something. I bet he did it on purpose."

"Boss man, the matchmaker. Who knew?"

~

Rossi POV

"Are you ready Mrs. Duncan?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

I opened the door for me and Alex, well I guess now it's Katherine.  We walked in through the foyer that lead into the rest of the house. It opened up to this amazing living room that was connected to the kitchen. The two of us just kind of stood there not really knowing what to do.  It didn't hit me until now, but this is real. I don't think we could have prepared for this even if we had tried. We were standing so close that our hands were almost touching. It all felt like a dream.

"I think I'm gonna go start dinner, is there anything in particular that you want?"

"I'm good with anything that you make," she said smiling, "Im gonna go upstairs and start unpacking. I'll bring your stuff up too."

Watching her walk up the stairs with her things, I couldn't help but think of if it was my house that she was moving into. I know it's a little weird, but everything is changing, and I'm not really sure how the next few days are gonna go.

~

"It smells amazing down here. What are you making? She said walking towards the island.

"Chicken tetrazzini, and it always smells good when I cook. So I was thinking that tomorrow we should try to meet some of the neighbors, that way actually have people to invite to the retirement party," I chuckled.

"Maybe if you cooked for me before I would have known just how good of a cook you really are. And I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we could bake a pie or something and invite them over."

"I hate to admit it, but as good as I am in the kitchen, I'm not too good of a baker. You'll have to take the lead on that."

The whole time we ate dinner, we just talked about anything and everything. Our favorite kind of ice cream, favorite childhood memories, everything. I've been waiting to be able to talk to her like this, not about work, for what seems like forever. No part of this conversation is about cases or unsubs or anything like that, "I like us being ourselves like this, it's nice. This might not be so bad after all."

"I always wished that we were able to do something like this outside of work. I like spending time with you," that little smirk that she gave me immediately made my heart race. In that moment, I think we both knew that we had feelings for each other. I think it was just a matter of whether we were gonna tell each other or not.

"Don't let the fear of what could happen make nothing happen"