It was early in the morning on the particular fall day that he finally worked up the nerve to ask her again.

They were in his cabin, by far the smallest of the many homes he owned that were scattered around the country, the world. The cabin was only two stories, for one thing. There were only a handful of rooms.

They were upstairs in the cabin's only bedroom, lying together on the huge king-sized bed that was probably the most expensive thing in the entire household. Sunlight streamed through the thin curtain covering the window, illuminating the room just enough so that he could barely make out its contents.

There was a wooden chair in one corner, a painting of a creek on the wall, a chest at the foot of the bed, a dresser against one wall, and a cracked mirror. There was one window, and two doors; one for a closet and one that led out to the loft.

Because of the sunlight streaming into the room, David Rossi was able to see the gorgeous blonde that he shared the bed with.

Jennifer Jareau was definitely different than the other women he'd married. Hell, she was different than any woman he'd ever even met. Much different. And much better.

He was completely, totally in love with her. And she loved him back. And this love was not like the love he had had for his other, gold-digging ex-wives. That hadn't really even been love.

He hadn't know what love was until JJ. What he thought was love before? Hell, that couldn't even hold a candle to this. He had finally found someone that he would do absolutely anything for. Anything. If she told him to do something, he did it. If she had told him she wanted to move to Tahiti, he would pack his things and they'd be gone. If she told him that she wanted him to go to Brazil to get some sugar for the cake she was baking, he'd be gone in an instant. Quit his job? Sure. Jump of a bridge? He probably would, if that's what she really wanted.

And so it was in that moment that he knew that he was going to ask her to marry him again when she woke up.

He'd asked her before. Four times, actually. Last week, a month and a half ago, three months ago, and three and a half months ago.

Her answer had always been no.

Why?

The first time it was simple. They weren't even dating then. Of course, he'd been in love with her from the moment he set eyes on her, but she obviously hadn't felt the same way back then.

The first time he asked her to marry him, he thought she was going to take his head off.

David Rossi smiled at the memory.

He had been sitting at his desk when she had knocked.

"Come in," he had called, assuming by the hesitant knock that it was their new agent, Ashley Seaver.

To his surprise, a different blonde walked into his office.

"JJ, darling," he had said, surprised, standing up to greet her. "What can I do for you?"

"Sit down, Rossi," she had hissed, shutting the door behind her.

"Why?" he had asked, still standing.

"Because," she said through clenched teeth, glancing over her shoulder towards the closed door, "You're going to want to be sitting."

"Why's that?" he asked, still standing.

"Sit the fuck down before I make you, Rossi," she had snarled, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she wiped an escaped tear from her cheek, hoping that he hadn't seen it.

"What's wrong, babe?" he asked, sitting down in the hopes that it would make her happier. It didn't.

"Do you remember that night, three and a half weeks ago, when –"

"Hmm, what night?" he asked, pretending to try to recall. "Oh, you mean the night that you told me to forget about, because it was a mistake and it never happened?" he teased, raising his eyebrows. "Cuz darling, that night isn't something that's exactly easy to forget –"

"This isn't the time to be a sarcastic asshole," JJ snapped impatiently.

Rossi's face became serious. "What's wrong, JJ? Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course. I'm fi– okay, no, I'm not. I'm a mess," she said, wiping another tear away, smudging her already-messy mascara. She sat down in the chair opposite of Rossi, put her elbows on his desk, and buried her face in her hands.

"Jen, bambola, tell me what's wrong," he said gently, just wanting her to be okay. It killed him to see her so upset, even if his feelings of love weren't exactly mutual.

"I'm going to kill you, is what's wrong," said JJ quietly but forcefully.

"Tell me what's wrong," he repeated, "And I can fix it."

"Oh, you can't fix this," said JJ, laughing dryly and sniffling.

"Try me."

"I'm pregnant."

Rossi had smiled.

That was what really set her off.

"You're happy about this?" she had demanded incredulously.

"Yes!" Rossi had exclaimed, practically beaming at her. "JJ, I've always wanted to have kids, and now –"

"This is not good, Rossi!" she had exclaimed, standing up. "How many rules do you think this breaks? Probably all of them! Hotch is going to murder us –"

"I'll be damned if Hotch so much as raises his voice against you, JJ," he had said gently, walking around his desk to take her into his arms. She had shoved him away.

"They won't let us work on the same team anymore, Rossi, I'm going to be fired –" she said frantically, her hands flying everywhere as they tried to keep up with her angry rant.

"I'll transfer before that happens," he promised, catching her wrists. "Jayje, please calm down. I don't know much about pregnancy, but I know all of this can't be good for the baby."

She jerked her arms out of his grasp and took a deep breath. "Okay, okay. You're probably right. I'll… I'll try to calm down."

"I'm not probably right, I am right. Please calm down. I don't want our baby to –"

"Our baby?" she asked, throwing him a dirty look.

"It is my baby, isn't it?" he asked, suddenly aware how embarrassing the whole thing would be if it wasn't.

"No!" she said angrily. "Okay, no, it is. It is yours. I just didn't expect for you to want to have anything to do with it! Most men would just ask to sign the papers, and –"

"Jen, I'm obviously not most men. And I'm not Will. I'm going to be a part of my baby's life, Jayje, I've wanted a baby forever and none of my exes were able to give me—"

"You want kids?" JJ had asked disbelievingly.

"Yes!" Rossi had said. "I've always wanted kids, I have two that are dead thanks to my lovely ex wives, and now –"

"Can we stop talking about your goddamn ex wives? They are not the problem right now!" JJ snapped angrily.

That had given him the idea.

"Will you marry me?"

"WHAT?!"

The look on her face would've probably been the funniest thing Rossi had ever seen, if he wasn't concerned that he would have a bullet through his chest within the next ten seconds.

Now, lying in bed with the gorgeous pregnant blonde curled up against his side, he couldn't help but smile at the memory.

The next time he asked her to marry him was at the first doctor's appointment, during the first sonogram, when the doctor had confirmed that there was not one, but two little lives growing inside of JJ. Fraternal twins.

Both of them felt as though they were going to pass out. JJ, from shock. Rossi, from the amounts of pure joy and extreme love that he had never felt before in his life. Those two little peanut-looking blobs of cells were his babies. Inside of the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen in his life.

And she turned him down again.

That was when he decided to start easing his way into her life. JJ was not trusting towards men who wanted to be in a relationship with her. And for good reason. She had voiced her concerns about Rossi's many failed marriages, her own failure with Will that led her to be so distrusting, and the fact that she was no longer just thinking about herself, but that she had to think of three children and the affect on their lives as well. She had all good points, Rossi had to admit. But there were the facts.

JJ was not his ex-wives. Gold-digging, lying-and-cheating, not understanding the stress and commitment that comes with their job. None of those things were her. She didn't give a fuck if he had money or not. Was she worried about finances now that she was a single mother with a less-than-stellar salary and a toddler and two more babies on the way? Of course. But she'd struggle through it before accepting anyone else's help. She wasn't going to abort her children, she had made that perfectly clear to the doctor who suggested it as an option. The string of swears that had come out of her mouth insulting the man were enough to make a sailor blush. And as far as lying and cheating, Rossi was sure that she wouldn't do something like that. After all, he was a profiler. He would know if she lied to him. And she wouldn't, he was sure about that. And as far as understanding his job, how could she not, when she did the same thing? They spent the same hours away from home, saw the same horrors every day.

Secondly, he was not Will. The disgusting abusive bastard that abandoned JJ and their little son, leaving her alone with a rough job and a sick baby? How could any man do that? Rossi could never even imagine abandoning his family. JJ was absolutely perfect, and although their job was rough and it certainly created its fair share of mental scars, that was something that they could understand about one another. Henry was the sweetest thing that Rossi had ever seen, and helping JJ nurse him back to health after a kidney infection that nearly took his life was one of Rossi's proudest moments. Henry was now a picture of health.

And as far as the concern about her children? Rossi was ready to completely devote his life to them. He was in love with JJ, and in love with Henry, and in love with the twins, whom he referred to as 'the little peanuts'.

After Henry's bout with the sickness and some complications during JJ's early pregnancy, Rossi was just as committed to the little family as he had been the day JJ told him she was pregnant.

They had come a long, long way since that day. She no longer wanted to rip his head off. She no longer protested when he tried to help her with Henry, or when he brought her some crackers for her morning sickness. She was no longer opposed to Henry's new habit of calling Rossi 'Daddy'. She was no longer opposed to the idea of moving in with Rossi, which she had done exactly one month ago. She had even said "I love you."

That was the big one. And she had said it first.

That was probably the happiest day of Rossi's life.

And now, she laid in bed beside him, wearing her newest favorite pajamas (consisting of one of Rossi's old Quantico t-shirts and a pair of his boxers). One of her legs was thrown over his, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, one of her arms draped over his bare chest, and his hand resting on her ever-expanding belly as their peanuts moved around and kicked, trying to wake their mother up.

These were the moments he lived for, he realized, as he gently stroked JJ's soft blonde hair.

"Daddy?" a little voice called from the doorframe to the bedroom. Henry was four years old, blonde, and just about perfect according to his mother and his surrogate-father.

"Yeah, Henry?" Rossi whispered softly.

"I had a bad dream," he confessed quietly as a tear fell from his eyes. He clutched his teddy bear to his chest as he walked over to the bed, his footsteps muffled by his footy-pajamas. "Can I sweep with you and mommy?"

"Sure, buddy," he said gently, and Henry climbed into the bed beside him, then onto his chest, snuggling against him. Dave shifted so that the arm that had been stroking JJ's hair was now resting on her stomach, and the arm that had been resting on her stomach was now wrapped firmly around the little boy.

Within minutes, Henry was fast asleep on Dave's chest, leaving Dave to refocus on the little bumps and nudges coming from his babies.

"Ooh," said JJ suddenly, waking up, her hand automatically flying to her stomach. "Did you feel that one, Dave?" she whispered softly, smiling at him when she found his hand on her stomach.

"That was a hard one," Dave commented, smiling at her sleepy-happiness. She looked so peaceful and trusting when she was like this, and it made him smile every time. "They've been kicking for an hour."

"Not a lot of room in there," she commented, brushing Henry's bangs out of his face. "He needs a haircut."

"Will you marry me, Jennifer?" Rossi asked again.

JJ looked into his face, slightly surprised again, even though she really shouldn't have been. He had asked her five times, now.

Was the fifth time the charm?

A small smile crept onto her face as she considered it, while he watched her huge, gorgeous blue eyes smile along with her lips. That was usually a good sign.

"I think… I think yes," she said quietly.

"Come on, Jayje, why – wait, did you say yes?" he asked, a huge smile growing on his face.

"Yes," said JJ, beaming back at him. "I think it's about time."

"It is about damn time, you're right!" he exclaimed happily, kissing her.

"But I have conditions," she said, growing serious again, but he could tell that she was still teasing slightly from the look in her eyes.

"You name it and it's done," said Rossi.

"I want to meet your family first."

"Okay," he said. "You'll meet them by the end of the week."

"I want to buy a small, modest house to live in, primarily."

"We can look tomorrow," Dave offered.

"I want a small wedding. Me, you, Henry, the twins. Your family, and the team."

"That's fine with me, I've had three big weddings already," said Dave.

"I don't want to be compared to your ex-wives ever again," said JJ, smiling slightly.

"I can do that," he said, sounding slightly unsure.

"I want you to adopt Henry," she said quietly.

"Really?" he said, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face that had fallen out of her ponytail.

"Will you? I don't want him to be treated any differently than the twins, and if he had your last name it'll be easier –"

"I already feel like he's my own," said Dave. "I'll have someone draw up the papers."

"And I want to get married after the twins are born. In the summer."

Dave grimaced. "The summer, bella, that's ages away…"

"I know, Dave. I've always wanted to get married in the summer, anyway. I want our babies to be there for it. And I want a long engagement, anyways, but a year seems way too long, and then it'd be almost two years by the time summer comes around again, and –"

"The first day of summer," Dave declared.

JJ smiled. "That sounds perfect."

"Good," said Dave. "I love you, bella."

"Love you, too," she said, kissing his jaw. He kissed her forehead.

"I won't disappoint you," said Dave reassuringly.

"You'd better not," JJ threatened sleepily, "I'm an FBI agent, you know."

"I had no idea," said Dave, chuckling. "I'd better watch myself, then."

"Damn straight," mumbled JJ, falling back asleep. "I love you."

"I love you, too."