"Dad, you may want to hurry before Isa has a heart attack."
"Alright, Nico."
Rossi stood and followed his son out of the room that the groomsmen had been using, then went to stand in the small room that led into the venue. At seventy-eight, David Rossi never thought this day would come. Or hoped it would never get here, he wasn't quite sure.
Today was his daughter's wedding day.
Staring into the doorway from the side, he could just make out the alter where his daughter would become a wife. The archway was overrun with flowers, decorated by Isabella's Auntie Penelope, who at fifty-three was still the bubbly, slightly insane woman she was twenty-two years ago. She had to be to put up with Derek, Alexander, Donovan, and Kylee Morgan on a daily basis.
Rossi thought about the rest of the team. JJ and Will had decided on only having two kids. Morgan and Garcia had the three. And the baby of the team, Reid, and his wife surprisingly had the most kids, at four.
Three girls and a little boy. Regan, Kaelin, Amerie, and Sterling. It used to be an ongoing joke (started by Morgan) that at least one boy from every family in the BAU was to marry a Reid girl. This used to be funny, until Alexander began dating Regan and Henry started seeing Kaelin. Now it wasn't so funny anymore. Especially to Reid.
Aaron and Emily had finally realized that everyone knew what they were trying to keep secret and gotten married. Then, since Emily's doctors had told her that she was at "advanced maternal age" they had decided to adopt. So little Alyssa, now eighteen, joined the Hotchner family, followed by Allison, now sixteen, two years later. Jack was completely in love with his little sisters.
And speaking of Jack...
Rossi watched as Jack hurried forward to take his place at the alter, smoothing his tux nervously.
Yes, in a few all-too short minutes, David Rossi would be giving his daughter, his little Isabella Alessandra Rossi, to Jack Hotchner. Aaron Hotchner's son.
He had already had the heart-to-heart "just remember, I may be retired but I can still shoot a gun" talk with the boy, and Jack seemed sufficiently frightened, as the man about to marry his daughter should be. It wasn't that Dave didn't like Jack, he did like him, loved him, like a son-not that he had much choice at this point-but it was the fact that his little girl was getting married. To whom, it didn't matter, just that fact that she wouldn't be his little Rossi girl anymore felt like someone had stabbed him in the gut.
Most of the team were sitting in the pews, along with the children that weren't involved in the wedding. Aaron stepped out of the groomsmen's room, spotted Rossi, and came over to speak.
"So, what are we now, co-parents?" he asked with a nervous smile. As Isabella's godfather, Aaron could kind of understand what Dave was going through. He dreaded the days that Alyssa and Allison walked down the aisle.
Rossi simply smiled and replied, "Something like that."
Aaron was about to say something else, but then he caught sight of Emily emerging from the bridesmaid's room. She saw the two men and walked to them.
"I've been talking to Isabella," she said. "She's getting nervous. No, David Rossi," she said, catching the fleeting look on his face. "Nervous, not cold feet. Our son is a very good bo-man, he loves her very much." She was still trying to get used to calling Jack a man.
"I know, Emily," said Rossi. There was almost a whimper in his voice. "But she's my baby."
"I know, Dave," Emily said softly. "Believe me, I know. I grew her, and she's my goddaughter. But you have to let her go. She's still your little girl, but now she's going to be someone's wife. And she's so happy with him."
"I know," David sighed, knowing it was the truth. Again Aaron looked like he was going to say something, but then he looked inside and saw Jack. He offered a smile to David, and then hurried inside to sit. Emily also gave him a smile and a pat on the arm, and then went to follow her husband. It was then that Rossi realized that he wasn't the only one letting go of his child; Jack was the last vestige of Haley, the first woman that Aaron had ever loved, that he had left.
But still, thought Dave grumpily, it's not his daughter.
And then the music started; Dave hadn't noticed that the whole party had gathered around him. At the alter were Jack and the priest, waiting. In front of him the wedding party lined up. First went the flower girls, some of Jack's cousins that Rossi had never met, followed by the ring bearer, another of Jack's cousins. Then the groomsmen locked arms with the bridesmaids and made their way to the alter, first Alex and Alyssa, and then Nico and Kaelin. Next went Henry and Regan, the Best Man and Maid of Honor.
That was when David felt the tug on his sleeve, much like he used to feel twenty years ago. He looked down.
There was his little Isabella, one hand on the sleeve of his suit, grinning. He remembered that same grin from when she was five years old and had come running to him after her first day of school, telling him all about kindergarten. He felt like someone had punched him in the stomach.
But he was going to be happy for her, even if he had to force himself. So he looked down at her gown.
Emily had taken her to buy it, and it had gone much the way it had when they bought her communion dress; David wrote the blank check, gave it to Emily, and told her under no circumstance was she to tell him the price. He had avoided a heart attack so far, he didn't think he should chance it.
But now that he saw it, he didn't care how much it was. It was gorgeous. Pure white and beading everywhere he could see. And in true Isabella fashion, it was a ball gown, like her favorite princess Cinderella. Her veil was long and her train longer. She wore a diamond necklace that the women had all pitched in to buy her, and her black hair was cascading down her back in gentle curls. In her hands was her bouquet of red and yellow roses.
"You look beautiful, Princess," Dave said, trying not to choke up. Isabella smiled at him.
"Ready, Papa?" she asked, giving an excited little squeal. David nodded and offered her his arm, which she took with a shaking hand.
They set off down the aisle, walking the awkward wedding shuffle. The journey to the alter seemed to take an eternity and no time at all at the same time. The whole time all David could think was I'm giving up my baby. My daughter. She's not my little princess anymore. I'm handing my little girl over to some kid to do God knows what with-no, it's Jack, I know Jack. He's a good kid, he'll take care of her. But my baby! My little girl...
All too soon they were at the alter, and the priest was asking who was giving this woman away.
"Me," spoke up David. "Uh, I am. Her father."
And with that he led her right up the steps and in front of Jack. He took the boy's hand in his own and gave it a sharp squeeze, as if to say "hurt my daughter and you won't live to regret it", to which Jack gave him a meaningful look and nodded solemnly. Dave nodded back and then joined Jack's hand with his daughter's. He held them both for a few seconds, steeling himself to let his officially let his daughter go. He finally removed his hands and then went to sit next to Emily and Aaron.
As the ceremony progressed, David caught himself looking at his daughter, trying to turn his sadness into joy for his little girl. This is what she'd wanted ever since she had started dating Jack. But when he heard Jack's voice shake while he said his vows, it finally hit home to Dave how much he loved Isabella. And for some reason, it comforted him.
Soon he found himself feeling uplifted and actually happy for the new couple. Emily's hand on his arm to prevent him from crying out when the priest asked if someone had a reason the two should not be married was completely unnecessary...well, mostly.
And in the moments before the priest pronounced the man and wife, David looked, really looked, at Isabella. Her gown floated around her, her face was flushed from nerves and joy, her veil like a halo around her head...She looked absolutely angelic. His little gift from heaven.
And as Jack and Isabella kissed for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Hotchner, David Rossi was again amazed by the color white.
