A/N: This is my first English fanfic (and only the second ever), so I kind of feel the need for some preliminary comments. First (and most important) of all, English is not my native language, so please take that into consideration when you read and review (which I hope you will do ;-)). I'd appreciate, however, if you pointed out any mistakes (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.). Second, this story is, of course, AU, but I think you'll get that after the first few lines. Third, I know the idea to the story is neither new nor very original (not sure if that's the correct word), but I kind of had fun writing it. That being said, I hope you'll have at least a bit of fun reading it, too.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, I'm only in for the fun of it.
My Little Girl
It was a Friday evening, just before seven. David Rossi was currently siting in his black leather recliner in the living room, staring at a scared seventeen-year-old boy named Charlie Shepherd, who was sitting opposite to him. He could see the boy sweating and shaking, which made him grin evilly inwards.
"What a coward!" he thought to himself as the boy was mostly staring at the floor, only occasionally looking up to him.
After a while Dave began to speak.
"So, where do you plan on taking my daughter?"
"I, ehm, we, we'll go out for, ehm, for a pizza and then maybe, ehm, a movie, afterwards." Charlie stammered with a thin voice, still barely making eye contact.
"Is that so? What movie?"
"Well, I, we, ehm, we haven't decided yet, sir."
"What else have you planned to do to my little girl?" Dave asked roughly.
"Sir?" Charlie's voice almost squealed.
Dave leaned forward, invading the boy's personal space.
"I'm warning you now, boy. You hurt my little girl and I know where to bury your body so that no one will ever find it, you hear me?"
Charlie nodded anxiously. Before David could continue his interrogation, JJ entered the room.
"Hey, are you guys ok?"
Dave leaned back into the recliner, a smug smile on his face.
"We're fine. Aren't we, Charlie?"
"I guess so, sir."
JJ looked from Charlie to her husband and knew instantly what was going an. She threw him a warning look, and then said to the teenager:
"Do you want something to drink?"
"No, thanks, ma'am."
Seeing the boy nervously kneading his fingers, she continued:
"Mattie will be ready any moment. And whatever my husband said to you, don't believe him, he didn't mean it. He sometimes forgets his manners, you know."
"I was dead serious." Dave threw in.
Charlie visibly breathed a sigh of relief when Mathilda Rossi, JJ's and David's sixteen-year-old daughter came in.
"Ok, I'm ready to go." She went over to Charlie, took his hand and pulled him up from the couch.
"Have fun, sweetheart." JJ hugged her daughter.
"Yeah, and remember, you'll be back at 11 o'clock. At the very latest!" Dave added.
"I will, Dad." Mattie couldn't help but rolling her eyes.
"I mean it, Mattie. Or this was your very last date!"
"Dad!" She exclaimed.
"Really, Dave, let them go now." JJ laid a soothing hand on her husbands arm.
"Ma'am, sir, it was a pleasure meeting you." Charlie said with a shaking voice, holding his hand out to Dave first. He grabbed it and squeezed it hard while saying: "You bring her back in one piece."
"I will, sir." After he shook JJ's hand, too, he put his arm around Mattie's waist and they went for the door.
"Remember what I told you, boy!" Dave called after them.
"That's enough now, Dave!" JJ hissed towards her husband, while Mattie simply dragged her boyfriend out of the house.
As soon as they were out of his sight, Dave was by the window next to the door and pulled the curtains aside to look out.
"Dave..." JJ called him with a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. "Come on, let's sit down. We haven't had dinner yet."
"I'm not hungry."
She went over to him and wrapped her arms around his chest and whispered suggestively in his ear: "How 'bout we take our dinner upstairs? You could feed me, and I know a lot of other things we could do after that. We have four hours until Mattie comes be back."
"I'm not in the mood" Dave said grumpily, continuing to stare out of the window, where Charlie's car had left a while ago.
JJ took one step back: "David Rossi! You will not stand near this window for the next four hours!"
He turned around to look at his wife, who was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips and a look on her face that she always had, when he pushed things too far.
"Fine, I'm coming."
Watching him walk past her, she muttered: "Good choice."
Dinner went by almost silently. JJ watched Dave closely as he practically shoveled the food into his mouth without really tasting it. She knew it was hard for him to see his little girl growing up, she felt the same way, but she also knew that they couldn't stop time, and she truly trusted that they raised their daughter right, that she wouldn't do anything stupid she might regret later. And as much as it hurt that they would have to let her go sometime soon, JJ was happy to see her daughter this happy. Dave and her had this discussion over and over again in the past week, when Mathilda asked if she could go out with this boy from her school, but somehow, it seemed, Dave couldn't just be happy for her. And JJ had thought her own father was bad, when she was that age...
After dinner they cleaned up, when Dave let one of the dishes slip out of his hands.
"Relax, Dave. It's not gonna help if you break all of our dishes."
"I'm just wondering when she'll be back. It's almost eight!"
JJ couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's not funny!" Dave exclaimed.
"Yes, it is. You're overreacting, and you know it. Come on, let's sit down and watch a movie." She pulled him towards the living room, and pushed him down on the sofa. "Sit. How about "Meet the Parents?"
"Jennifer, I swear..."
"Just kidding. Ok, I'll let you decide for once."
"I don't care, I can't concentrate on a movie anyway. Can't you make the time go by faster?"
"Well, I can try..." She walked towards him, smiling seductively, before kneeling in front of him.
"That's not what I meant, honey." Dave stood up and began pacing around the living room.
Realizing that there was nothing that could distract him right now, she simply grabbed a book and curled up on the couch, trying her best to ignore him. Her patience lasted about twenty minutes.
"Dave, sit down! I can't concentrate on my book!"
"How can you be so calm?" he yelled.
"Because this is our daughter! I trust that she won't pull any stupid stunts or anything like that. And you should do that, too!"
"I really can't believe we allowed her to go out on a date with that boy."
"There's nothing wrong with him, Dave. He's a nice, well-mannered boy."
"He's older than her!"
"Only ten months! That's nothing compared to the twenty three years that you have on me. Will you please cut the crap now and stop pacing. Your shoes will be worn out by the time she comes back. Not to mention the rug."
"I don't like him!"
All JJ could do was shake her head.
"Fine, if you want to behave ridiculously for the next two and a half hours, go ahead. I'll go to bed now, my book is definitely more interesting than watching you behave like an idiot. Seriously, you're worse than my father ever was." She was almost by the stairs when she heard him say: "I'm gonna call her."
Spinning around, she stormed towards him. He was already reaching out for the telephone.
"You will not do such a thing, David Rossi!" she yelled at him, snapping the phone away from him.
"Fine, I'll take my cell phone!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" JJ all but screamed."One more word and I cannot guarantee for anything!"
They stared at each other for a while, until Dave finally seemed to come to his senses. He fell back into the sofa and dropped his head into his hands.
"I'm sorry." he muttered weakly.
JJ sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Dave, I was really looking forward to spending some quality time together with you this evening, while we're alone."
He turned his head to look into her eyes.
"You're mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you. I can understand what you're going through, and I totally remember my dad being just like you when I was Mattie's age. It's actually kind of amusing, up to a certain degree. But I really think that it's enough now. You made your point, but now you have to face the truth: She won't come home for another two hours, and, as much as it may hurt, she's not a little girl anymore."
"She'll always be my little girl."
"I know that, Dave. And believe me, she knows it, too. But now she's old enough to make her own decisions, if we like that or not. And as I said before, I trust in her and I trust that we raised her right, and you should do that, too."
Dave took JJ's hand.
"I do, but I don't trust him."
"Not again" was all JJ could think, rolling her eyes.
"Come upstairs, babe, you owe me for putting up with your crap all evening." She stood up and tried to pull him with her. "Come on, Dave, I promise you, time's running faster when you're not counting the seconds."
Not wanting to start a real fight with her now, Dave got up and followed her up to their bedroom. Once they were inside, JJ wrapped her arms around his neck and started to kiss him passionately. For a while they got lost in their kiss, moving over to the bed and laying down. It was only when Dave let his hand slide under JJ's shirt, causing her to let out a small moan, that he found himself back in reality.
Pulling back sharply he sat up.
"I'm sorry, baby, I can't."
"What's wrong now?" JJ sounded a bit annoyed. She wasn't used to her husband turning down any opportunity to have sex.
"It's just, it makes me think about how this boy could be doing all those things with our daughter."
JJ fell back into the bed. She really didn't know what to say or to do anymore.
"Dave, I always knew you would be a challenge once Mattie started dating, but I really, really don't want to hear anything anymore at the moment. Just accept the fact that your little girl isn't so little anymore and get over it."
"I'm sorry, honey, I really don't want to fight with you. Can you just hold my hand right now?"
She smiled and ran her hand over his cheek. They both settled back against the headboard and sat still for a while, holding hands.
"What did your father do about your dates?" David asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.
"Oh no, Dave, I'm so not gonna tell you that. I don't want to give you any more stupid ideas."
She smiled at him gently.
"He was as jealous as you are, of any boy that so much as blinked into my direction. But he came around eventually, and so will you."
"Promise?"
"Yes, Dave, I promise."
They started talking about anything and everything, and JJ slowly shifted into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder while he held her close.
"You know, next time she goes out on a date, promise me that we'll make use – one way or another – of the entire time that she's out, ok?" JJ said in the end.
Dave's look fell onto the alarm clock on his nightstand. He practically jumped out of the bed when he realized that it was already ten minutes past eleven.
"She's late, I can't believe it. She's actually late!" he ranted, stepping over to the window and pulling back the curtains.
"Dave, you're doing it again!"
"I don't care. What's taking them so long, what are they doing?"
"Dave, please, it doesn't help when you freak out now. It's only ten minutes. They'll surely gonna be here any minute."
At the same moment a car pulled up in front of their house, and Mathilda and Charlie got out, not knowing that they were closely watched by her parents.
"See? Everything's fine." JJ turned away from the window again. "Give them a few more minutes, Dave."
"What's he doing now? Oh my God, he's kissing her, Jen!" David burst out.
"Dave, give them some privacy, please!"
"Oh no, that's enough!" And before JJ could say another word, he stormed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. JJ could only run after him, hoping that she'll get to him in time, but before she reached him, he had already opened the door with a jerk. Mathilda and Charlie jerked apart.
"Say goodnight, Mathilda!" Dave ordered, ignoring JJ's attempts to pull him back.
"Dad!" Mattie yelled. "What are you doing?" Dave pulled his daughter inside.
"Into the living room, now!"
"Bye, Charlie. See you Monday at school." was all she managed to say before her father almost slammed the door into Charlie's face.
"Dave! Calm down!" JJ all but pleaded as she followed them into the living room, where Dave pushed Mattie to sit down on the couch.
"You're almost thirty minutes late, where were you? What were you doing?"
"Dad, we weren't doing anything, we just walked around and talked, and we forgot the time."
"And we're supposed to believe this?"
"David, it's enough now! Get upstairs, I'll talk to her." Dave made no attempt to move, instead he opened his mouth again to let out another rant, which was stopped by his wife before he could say anything.
"Dave!" she glared at him angrily. "Remember what I said earlier?"
He held her gaze for a moment, then folded.
"Fine, I'll go. But we're not finished."
"You are!"
He walked out of the room, but not without leaning down on his daughter and saying:
"Remember when I took you on that pony ride?"**
"Dave!" JJ exclaimed again, making him hold up his hands in defeat.
Once he was out of the room, JJ turned to her daughter, seeing tears forming in her eyes.
"Hey, sweetheart, don't cry." She took Mattie into her arms and held her close for a while.
"I really like him, Mom." Mattie cried.
"So, I take it, you had a great evening?"
A radiant smile appeared on Mattie's face and she nodded.
"Yeah, I did."
"I'm really happy for you, sweetheart."
"But Dad..."
"He'll get used to it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Now come on, let's go to bed, shall we? Tomorrow you can tell me all about your night, but right now, I'll have to deal with your dad."
They both went upstairs. At Mattie's door JJ hugged her again.
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, Mom."
JJ went into the bedroom, where David was pacing again.
"What was that?" she asked him angrily. "I thought we had talked about this."
"Our talk did not include us being okay with that boy kissing her."
"All right Dave, once and for all: I will not tolerate such a behavior again, you hear me?"
"But, Jen ..."
"No, but! You were out of line and you know it. You'll either behave, or you'll stay at Hotch's the next time she's on a date."
"JJ..."
"That's not up for debate!"
Realizing and accepting his defeat, Dave drooped his head and walked over to the chest of drawers to get dressed for the night. JJ eyed him suspiciously, as he got into his pajamas without saying a word or looking at her, and then went over to the bathroom. She put on her nightgown herself and followed him into the bathroom. Once they were finished, she soothingly rubbed over his back and guided him to the bed.
"Let's get some sleep. We both need it to calm down again, don't you think?" she said.
Dave only nodded.
"Promise me to apologize to Mattie tomorrow, will you?"
"I promise."
"Good. And don't ever behave like that again."
** A/N²: I borrowed this line from a "Joan of Arcadia" episode, it kinda inspired me to write this, credits go to the writer/creator of the show.