Chapter 21

Gracia Rossi entered her son's office without even bothering to knock first. Inside, she found David still sitting on his couch, the bottle of Scotch still in his hands. He hadn't moved since Hotch had left the room, and was only pulled out of his deep thoughts, when he heard his mother yelling: "Are you actually drinking in your office, David Rossi? In broad daylight? Are you completely out of your mind?" His head jerked up and he saw her standing in the door, her hands on her hips and a deathly glare in her eyes. Usually, he never cared about what his mother thought of his drinking habits; she had expressed her displeasure with his liking of some good old Scotch every on more than one occasion, and it was one of the few things he normally chose to ignore. This time, however, it only added to his guilty conscience, and he already began to think of an excuse, when he heard her continue: "But what am I expecting? You're not quite known for making wise decisions at the moment." She stomped over to him and yanked the bottle out of his hand, slamming it violently onto his desk.

Closing the door, she went back to sit down next to him. "Answer me! What's going on in that stupid mind of yours?" She demanded roughly, smacking him on the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, Mama." Rossi muttered remorsefully, lowering his head again to avoid looking into her eyes. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment again, and and he wished once again that he had handled things differently from the beginning.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Jennifer! From what she just told me, you will have to get on your knees and beg for forgiveness more than once."

"I will, Mama," he whispered.

There was a long silence, and Mrs. Rossi eyed her son closely from the side. Clearly, the consequences of his actions had taken their toll on on him, she noticed. His hair was grayer, his eyes more tired, and there were more wrinkles on his face than before.

After a few minutes, she began to speak again. "So, I'm finally becoming a grandmother." Her voice had softened, and the contentment at this prospect could not be missed. Surprised at her sudden change of demeanor, Dave raised his head.

"I'm sorry you had to learn about it this way. We never intended to keep this from you, Mama," he said softly.

"I know, son. Jennifer told me everything. What I want to know is, are you going to be the father this child needs you to be?" Mrs. Rossi questioned.

"If JJ told you everything, then she probably also let you know that we've already worked this out." Rossi replied quietly.

"She did, but I want to hear it from you. Are you going to be the father this child needs and deserves?" Her voice began to sound a bit impatient.

"Of course, Mama!" Dave stated firmly, his tone leaving no doubt about his sincerity on that subject.

"Good. Now, should I ever hear or see the slightest indication that could prove otherwise, I will make you personally dig your grave before I kill you and throw you into it, you hear me?"

"Yes, Mama," he murmured.

After another few silent moments, Dave reached out to take his mother's hand. He tugged it gently between his palms and whispered, still avoiding her gaze: "I'm so sorry, Mama. I never meant to hurt or to disappoint you."

"David, I already told you. It's not me you have to apologize to," Mrs. Rossi said.

Looking straight into her eyes for the first time since she'd entered his office, he went on: "I heard you, and I will go see JJ as soon as our talk is over, but I also have to say this to you. I am really sorry for what I've done and for how badly I've failed you. I hope you can forgive me."

Smiling gently, she cupped his cheek with a warm hand, and told him: "It's in a mother's nature to forgive their children almost anything, son. I appreciate your words, Davey." Stroking his cheek, she went on: "I love you, and I'm very proud of you, despite your recent behavior. But be assured that I will not tolerate such a behavior again!"

Dave smiled back weakly and bent over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Mama. I don't deserve this."

"Don't thank me. You're lucky that the prospect of finally having a grandchild in a few weeks outweighs your sins for the moment."

"I swear, I will never act like that again," Dave assured her.

They both stood up and walked towards the door. With a look on the bottle of Scotch on David's desk, his mother demanded: "And you will stop with the drinking as well! Especially on the job!"

Exiting his office, he asked: "Is there anything I can do for you right now, Mama?"

"You can walk me to the elevators," she answered dryly.

They passed the bullpen, and Mrs. Rossi said goodbye to everyone, and with a concerned glance at Reid, she added: "And you can make sure that this boy eats a good share of the cake I left in your breakroom. He's too skinny." Dave chuckled at that, and wondered at that thought why his mother was actually here at the BAU.

"By the way, Mama. Why did you come here today in the first place?"

"Well, I thought you could use a nice piece of apple pie after a bad case," she answered, looking away, which made him furrow his brows in suspicion.

"Mama, you've never done that before, so what gives?"

Sighing deeply, she admitted: "Fine, I wanted to see if I could invite Jennifer over for brunch on Sunday, as you were ignoring my requests for doing so for weeks. At least now I know why."

"Mama, I have already told you numerous times that I don't want you to interfere with my love life!" Dave burst out.

"Davey, as it turned out today, you are going to need all the help you can get in that area, although I highly doubt at the moment that Jennifer will ever be stupid enough to take you. No need to get worked up about it. Right now, all you should worry about is being a father to my grandchild. God help you if you screw this up for me! Now go and see Jennifer. I expect you to call me with an update as soon as you arrive home tonight. And I strongly suggest you keep me informed about everything that's going on from now on!" The tone in her voice left no room for debate, so Dave simply bent to kiss her cheek again, as the elevator arrived on their floor.

"I promise, Mama."

*********

As soon as his mother had disappeared, he made his way to Jennifer's office. Knocking lightly on her door, he entered when he heard her call him in. Looking up from the file she was working on, she saw that it was exactly the person she'd expected it to be.

"So, I see you survived your mother's wrath?" JJ decided to clear the tense air with a small joke right away. She knew there was no point in yelling at each other, not after her talk with Rossi's mother.

"Just barely," he said, relieved that she obviously decided not to give him a hard time. "Listen, Jennifer, I want to apologize for earlier. I was an ass again, and I'm really sorry about that."

JJ got up from behind her desk and gestured him towards the two chairs she and his mother had been sitting in before. "Close the door and sit down, Dave."

When they were both seated, he began again. "Jennifer, I am truly sorry for my behavior today. I had no right to yell at you like that."

"You're right, you didn't," JJ stated matter-of-factly. "I told you to give me time to think, that we need to take things slowly, and shouting at me doesn't really help your case."

"I know, JJ. And I can promise you that it won't happen again. It's just... it's hard for me to see you with another man, to see him touch our baby while I don't get the chance to do it," he tried to explain.

"Dave, everyone on the team has touched my belly before, there's no need to freak out about it. And you have to admit that after all that you've done, it's a bit difficult for me to trust you again." JJ reasoned.

"Yeah, but Anderson is not the team!" Dave sighed deeply and added: "I guess I just got jealous."

"That you did," JJ snorted. There was a small pause before she continued.

"David, I need you to realize one thing. You and I, we are not an 'us', and to be honest, I don't know if we ever will be." Seeing the disappointed look on his face as he avoided her gaze, she added: "Dave, look at me!" She waited until he did and then said softly: "We have both created this child and we will both forever be connected through our baby. You and I will both be responsible for raising him or her, and I can assure you that I will never exclude you from anything in our baby's life."

A small sign of hope appeared in his eyes, and he said: "Jennifer, I want us to be friends again."

Breathing in slowly, she replied: "I want that, too, Dave, but I need you to give me the time to learn to trust you again, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded. He would agree to anything to get her back into his life permanently. "But I can only show you that I am indeed trustworthy when I get to spend more time with you again. I miss you, Jennifer," he insisted.

Knowing that he was right, she answered: "Fine, why don't we start with spending our lunch breaks together again? And then we'll see, okay?"

"So, I take it, inviting you over to my mother's for brunch next Sunday would be a bit too pushing?"

"I'll think about it." She smiled at him and they were both relieved and happy that they were looking at a brighter future together.

"Ehm, I guess you still have a lot of work to do, so I'll just leave you to it again. Call me if you need anything." David concluded then, stood up and walked over to the door.

Getting up from her chair as well, JJ felt the baby kick.

"David!" She called him back, closing the few steps between them.

"What is it?"

She took his hand and laid it onto her belly. "Can you feel it?"

Dave stared in awe at his hand on her eight-month pregnant bump. "Wow... that's … our baby!" He whispered barely audible. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and relished the feel of his son's or daughter's kicks against his hand, realizing that he'd never felt something so wonderful before. "You really don't know what it's going to be?" He asked softly.

JJ shook her head. "No, I want it to be a surprise this time. Also, my doctor said that the baby has been doing a pretty good job with hiding his identity so far. Even he is not a hundred percent sure what it's going to be."

"I'd be happy with either a boy or a girl." Dave said.

"But?"

"No but, as long as the baby's healthy I'll take what we get." Seeing the wide and happy smile on JJ's face, he added: "Though I have to admit that I'd love to have a little girl who looks just like her mother." He rubbed her belly gently, and pressed a small kiss onto it.

"Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing this with me." He wanted to pull her into a tight hug, but he knew that he'd overstep a line she wasn't ready to cross yet.

"I'm glad you're finally coming to your senses, Dave."

There was an awkward moment of silence, when neither of them knew what to say.

"Well, I'll get back to my files then." JJ said quickly.

"Sure. I need to get some work done myself. Well, bye then."

"Bye."

"Would you mind if I walked you to your car later?" Dave asked before he stepped out finally.

JJ smiled, and shook her head. "Not at all."