A/N: Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I'm glad you all enjoy reading. Once the Holidays are over I'll try to respond back personally.

Feels Like A Change Is Gonna Come

Chapter 4

Dinner was overall lighthearted and pleasant. Dave purposely kept to small-talk, and to make JJ as comfortable as possible, which seemed to work really well, because JJ settled into calling him by his first name instead of "Rossi". He figured there was still time to question her later and get to the bottom of her current situation.

As predicted, the spaghetti were a huge success with Henry, who had a blast trying to get the long noodles into is mouth in all kinds of different ways. And especially for the boy, Dave made a few pancakes with maple syrup for dessert.

He only furrowed his brows in confusion once, when JJ steadfastly refused to have a glass from the wine, and he made a mental note to find out the reason for that later.

After they were done eating, they settled on the couch in front of Dave's fireplace, enjoying the pleasant warmth the fire spread in the room and the relaxing sounds of the burning wood. It wasn't before long that Henry could barely keep his eyes open, and he fell asleep in the middle of a story from his favorite story-book that JJ had brought and that he had insisted Dave read to him after dinner. They brought him back into Dave's guestroom, and Dave extended his invitation by asking JJ to stay the night.

She hesitated at first, but secretly she was glad that she didn't have to drive home through the snow in the middle of the night. She wouldn't have had a chance arguing with Dave about it anyway, not after he had been so worried when she and Henry had arrived late.

"Do you mind if I turn on some music?" Dave asked when they'd sat back down on the couch.

"Not at all."

Dave grabbed the remote and the first sounds of the "Carol of the Bells" in the version sung by Celtic Woman, filled the air. JJ looked at him, astounded.

"You like Celtic Woman?"

"Is that so surprising?" Dave grinned.

"A little. I'd have bet anything to hear Christmas songs by Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin coming out of your player."

"Oh, I've got them, too. But this one's my mother's favorite. A friend of hers recommended it and she'd brought a copy of their CD for my house, too, because she loves to listen to it wherever she is," he explained. "And to be honest, I've grown to like it a lot."

After refilling his glass with more wine, and bringing her more water, he leaned back in the couch and smiled contentedly.

"You and your mother are close, huh?" JJ wanted to know.

He nodded.

"We are. I'm close to both my parents. Comes from being an only child, I guess. They're pretty much the only family I have."

"So there's no big, widespread Rossi clan?"

"No. There are some distant relatives somewhere, but no one we're really close to. My father was the only son, too, and my mother's siblings are long dead. She lost her brother in World War II and her sister died from cancer when I was still a baby. I guess I'll have to disappoint you if you're expecting a bunch of loudmouthed, noisy Italians."

JJ gave him a cheeky grin.

"Really? If I remember correctly, with you there's no need for a whole bunch of Italians to fall under that description," JJ said dryly.

"Very funny, Jareau."

Taking a sip from his wine, Dave winked at her and relished how easy they were getting along. He could get used to this, spending his evenings with her in front of the fireplace. No one made him relax as fast as she did.

"What about your family?" He asked after a short moment of silence, knowing and expecting from the few things Henry had told him this morning that it would probably not be such a pleasant topic for her to talk about. But he had to know, he had to get behind the reason for her stressed out behavior today, fully intend on being there for her and doing everything in his power to make her feel better.

Her eyes darkened immediately and she slightly turned away from him.

"There's not much to tell," she answered shortly.

Keeping his gaze on her, he waited for her to go on. When nothing came, he said gently:

"You know, I'm all in if you want to talk."

Another moment of silence filled the room, and it was clear that JJ was debating with herself if she should open up to him or not.

"What did Henry tell you this morning?" JJ asked, breaking the silence.

"He said that Will told him he didn't want to be his father anymore, and that his Grandma was now in heaven." Dave purposely left out the fact that this was why the boy wanted to see Santa Claus so badly. He wasn't sure if JJ knew about Henry's Christmas wished, and he didn't want to make her feel even worse by telling her about them.

Flinching visibly, she muttered under her breath: "Damn you, LaMontagne."

"What happened between you and Will?" Dave questioned further.

"He met someone else," JJ replied, shrugging. "He's not a bad man, Dave. His timing just sucks," she added when Dave clenched his fists as if he was about to hit something very hard.

"Right. That's why he would tell his own son he doesn't want to have him anymore," Dave snorted sarcastically.

"I didn't know about that until now. He must have told him the day before he moved back to New Orleans. He'd asked if he could take Henry for a walk to say goodbye to him. I honestly didn't think he'd be that insensitive with a three-year-old."

"Is he at least paying child support for his son?"

"Yes," JJ nodded. "Now it makes sense for me that he didn't want me to fly down with Henry so that he could see him."

Dave anger grew with every word JJ was saying, but he knew freaking out about the little maggot right now wouldn't help JJ in the slightest, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

"It was never sunshine and roses between me and him, but during my last months at the BAU we kept growing more and more apart. Even my new job and the new work hours didn't help make it better. Looking back, I'd say we were never really close together. At least I was never in it with my full heart," JJ began to talk, her wistful stare into the fire made Dave wonder why.

"And I guess a bit part of him had never left New Orleans. It was probably just a matter of time before we would have separated anyway." She turned back to Dave and tried to smile lightly.

"Two days before Thanksgiving he told me that there was someone else. A woman he'd met in New Orleans when he'd been there back in October to visit some friends. He said that he wanted to end things before he cheated. He packed all of his things and got ready to leave when a call from my aunt came that my mother had been in a car accident and that it didn't look good. Will stayed and went to Pennsylvania with me. Mom died two days later. He was a great help with the funeral and all, but when all of it was over and we were back in DC, I knew he was just staying out of guilty conscience. It wasn't right. His heart was in New Orleans."

Dave sat quietly and listened, never once interrupting her.

"I'm so sorry, Jen," he whispered when she was finished, torn between the urge of pulling her tinto his arms and keeping the physical distance she seemed to need for now.

When the first tears escaped her eyes, he took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"I'm sorry," JJ started to apologize, wiping her cheeks and visibly tried to keep what was left of her composure. "It's just that, I miss my Mom so much and Henry misses his grandmother and his father and then there's-" She stopped in the middle of the sentence, as if she had just barely kept herself from spilling a secret. Never letting go of her hand, Dave rubbed it gently between his palms.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Jennifer," he soothed her softly. "Don't be afraid of losing it for a while. I'm right here with you. I'll be there to help you through."

His soft words were her undoing and Dave didn't hold back anymore and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight while she sobbed against his chest. His heart ached for her and all the pain she was currently going through and he wished he could do something to ease it, if only for a while.

When she'd finally calmed down again, he kept her close, not willing to let go of her, of how perfect it felt having her in his arms.

"Thank you, Dave. For letting me be here tonight. It means a lot to me, more than you can imagine," she whispered after a while.

"Anytime, sweetheart. I'll be there whenever you need me, you hear me? Whatever it is, I want to know that you can call me, day and night."

Nodding slowly, JJ leaned her head back against his chest and stared into space.

"Is there something else?" Dave wanted to know. He felt another nod against him and almost missed her barely audible confession.

"I'm pregnant."