A/N: I am deeply sorry for not updating earlier, but I was sick all week and wasn't really up for anything. Thank you so much everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I couldn't get back to you personally, but you really made me happy with your feedback!

This is the last chapter! Hope you all enjoy this as well as you have enjoyed the whole story!

Dates And Other Difficulties

"How long do you plan on sitting outside my office, Rossi?" JJ asked, trying her best to keep a neutral expression and to bite back the laughter she had the urge to burst into at the sight of the legendary David Rossi lying beneath her feet.

Struggling to his feet, Dave let out a small moan, noting that sitting on a hard, concrete floor for hours wasn't something his body could put away as easily as twenty years ago.

"As long as it takes for you to accept my apology," he answered truthfully. He gave her a gentle smile, and JJ felt her heart melt inside her.

Mentally shaking herself, she told herself again that she would not give in so easily. She had planned on keeping him in suspense just because he deserved it, if only for another few minutes until she got a proper explanation from him. Her anger had melted away over the past two hours he had been in front of her door, telling her in numerous ways how sorry he was for his behavior.

While she had listened to his heartfelt apologies, she had done a lot of thinking. Sure, his joke had been stupid and silly, and she had never appreciated it when someone was having a laugh at her expense, but her heart began to beat faster at the notion that it had just been that – a joke. Her heart grew even fonder for Dave when she thought about the fact that he had remained the perfect gentleman that night, when she realized that he would never do anything to deliberately hurt her. And she had begun to ask herself again what his motives were with her. Because judging from the past two hours, it felt as if he was far more interested in her than she had always thought. Him having feelings for her was something she had always chalked up to wishful thinking, but now it felt real and within reach.

Stepping aside to let him I, she said: "Start talking Rossi. And for your sake I hope you have a proper explanation for your behavior."

Grinning at her widely, he walked past her, bending down to whisper seductively into her hear, his warm breath at her neck sending a shiver down her spine: "Oh, I bet you will like my answer."

JJ could only gasp in surprise as she struggled to keep her composure, something that didn't escape Dave's notice. So he hadn't lost her yet, he thought to himself, quite the opposite in fact, he could feel how much she wanted him, just as much as he wanted her. Smiling satisfied to himself, he didn't wait for an invitation but went straight over to her couch to sit down.

Waiting for her to take a seat as well, he fought the urge to just pull her to him and kiss her senseless. No, she deserved to know the whole truth first.

"I am truly sorry, Jennifer. It was a stupid prank, I know that, but I never meant to hurt you with it. The opportunity was just too good to let it pass. I thought it was funny and that we could both laugh about it, and quite honestly, I was a bit surprised that you actually believed me without questioning. I was going to tell you during breakfast, but then you wanted to leave so quickly and I didn't find the right moment, or probably missed it, I don't know." He took her hand and looked deeply into her eyes, his demeanor changing and becoming even more serious than before.

"You know that I would never deliberately hurt you, don't you?" He asked softly, gently playing with her fingers in his hand. Seeing her nod, he continued: "I would never take advantage of a drunken woman. Especially not you, Jennifer. Although you weren't really drunk, not after barely a glass of wine. You were just exhausted." He paused to see her agree again, and then went on: "I want you to know that I would do everything in my power to protect you, you hear me? I'm so sorry that I made you worry so much. Why didn't you just call me?"

"I did. Twice. But your phone went straight to voicemail, and when I tried to call you at home on Sunday, you weren't there," JJ answered.

"Ah, damn. I'm sorry. After I'd dropped you off, I decided to visit my parents, as I didn't have anything else to do on the weekend. And I usually turn off my phone, when I'm there. Hotch would have known where to find me if a case had come up." He had totally forgotten to turn the phone back on when he came back home Sunday night.

"Can you forgive me for everything, Jennifer?"

"Promise me you'll never do it again?"

"I promise."

JJ knew they had reached a point where it didn't make any more sense to keep him begging.

"I forgive you," she told him quietly, smiling gently at his breath of relief.

"Thank you, Jennifer."

There was a short silence, before Dave asked: "May I take you out for dinner tonight?"

"As in, a date?" JJ asked a bit surprised.

Not wanting to let another chance to win her for himself slip through his fingers, he opted for total honesty from now on, and that began with letting her know loud and clear what his intentions were.

"Yes, a date. That is, if you still want to go out after your experience on Friday."

JJ nodded.

"I don't think it can get any worse than that," she replied.

"You'll be in good hands with me, I promise. You're in for a real treat."

JJ knew he could believe his words, but when he picked her up from home that night, she was still nervous. She was going on a date with David Rossi! A real date with the man she had secretly longed for in a longer time that she would admit. This would be nothing like the disaster from Friday night, of that she was sure, but it didn't stop her from imagining all kinds of scenarios that could go wrong, primarily with her screwing things up.

Of course, none of her fears were confirmed. She had the perfect evening with Dave.

He had treated her like a queen the minute she had opened the door, bringing her flowers – the same as in the afternoon, and this time JJ not only acknowledged his choice but also felt her heart almost burst with joy at the fact that he knew what here favorite flowers were. His then following compliment that he'd never seen a more beautiful woman before had only melted her even more, and JJ began to ask herself why she had ever questioned his motives with her.

Their dinner conversation was light, but also giving both the chance to get to know each other even better. Dave never failed to make JJ smile, and realized that he himself hadn't smiled so much in a long time. They simply had a good time with each other, and unlike her previous date, this time JJ knew the moment they'd entered the restaurant that there would definitely be a second date. And a third, and fourth, and God only knew how many more.

After they had both finished their dessert and had talked and listened to each other for another few moments, Dave asked JJ if she wanted to take a late walk with him before he brought her home.

She agreed readily, not wanting the evening to end anytime soon.

They walked quietly to the nearby park which was now dark and deserted, lying silently and peacefully in the moonlight. Once they had entered the park, Dave took JJ's hand and linked his fingers with hers. They walked hand in hand until they came to a small bench and sat down, never letting go of each others' hands, both enjoying the comfortable silence and the closeness until Dave began to speak again.

His voice huskily, he hoped that he wouldn't send her running with what he was about to tell her now.

"I have another confession to make, Jennifer."

Surprised, JJ turned her head to look at him, the moon bathing his face in a pale, silver light.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Your date with Henderson... I... staged it," he said softly.

"I'm sorry?" JJ didn't really understand what he was talking about, and she suddenly wasn't so sure anymore if she would like what she was about to hear.

"Well, I set you up," Dave answered, pausing for a second to gauge her reaction.

Deciding to let him explain first before she'd give her comments, she gestured him to go on.

"I saw Henderson asking you out, and all of a sudden I saw all my chances with you slip away. I just had to do something. So I cornered him on his way back to his office and asked him for a favor." He hesitated for a moment as he saw JJ raising her eyebrow, and then admitted: "Well, actually I threatened him a bit with a sudden transfer to Alaska if he didn't oblige my request."

JJ shook her head and couldn't suppress a smile. That was so typically Rossi!

"I told him to pull off the worst behavior he could imagine so that you would have no other choice but to leave the date early," Dave continued.

JJ took a moment to absorb the news when it dawned her.

"Then meeting you outside that restaurant was not a coincidence?" She asked.

Dave shook his head.

"No, it wasn't. I followed you and waited until you came out."

"But why?"

"I finally wanted to tell you how I felt. You never gave me a chance before, and I figured you'd be willing to come home with me when I offered you to talk about what made you so upset. I thought I could get you to spend some time alone with me without worrying about what my intentions were. I hoped we would have a comfortable evening together and I would get the chance to talk to you. But then you passed out on me just when I had worked up the courage to tell you."

"Tell me what?" JJ prompted, hoping to hear what she had wanted all along.

"That I have been in love with you ever since we've been working together," Dave confessed softly, glad that the moment of truth had finally come.

JJ gasped as if she couldn't believe that he had actually said what she'd been secretly dreaming of for so long.

"I just hope that I haven't read your signs wrong," Dave added in a whisper when she didn't say anything at first.

"No, you haven't," JJ whispered back, tears filling her eyes as she felt happier than ever before, leaning over to get as close to him as possible. She couldn't believe that he would go to such lengths to get her, but also knew that now that she had him, there was no way she'd ever let him go again.

"Thank God," Dave smiled relieved, gently brushing a strand of her hair out of her face before cupping her cheek.

When their lips met for the first time, they both felt as if a rain of shooting stars was falling down on them, both knowing that their biggest wish had just come true. Dave pulled JJ into his lap and held her close while they shared long and intense kisses under the moonlight.

They didn't know how much time had passed until JJ whispered again: "I'm in love with you, too."

Dave tightened his embrace around her and she felt just like she had that morning in his bed. Loved, safe and protected. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she heard him ask: "Wanna watch the rest of that movie?"

She nodded against him and they both knew that they most likely wouldn't be seeing much of the film again, but neither of them cared. There would be plenty of time in their new life together to catch up on that.