A/N: Right, so we are now back with Teresa and Dave, and time is running normally within this universe once again. Time to introduce you to baby Rossi!

So I was going back through my work to figure out when I started mentioning the reviews that were left for me for every piece and it seems like that didn't start happening until the last alphabet. It also appears to be around that same time that my authors notes got to be huge. I have given it some thought and from the next chapter onwards, I will be attempting to shorten things up without skimping on this incredibly important section.

I appreciate every single one of you. Those who leave me with reviews and those who just read. I also appreciate those of you who have marked my work for your favourites list or have simply indicated that you want to follow me as an author. Or any combination of the above. Thank you doesn't begin to cover it...that I am still writing is a testament to all of you for your encouragement and support.

Many thanks for wonderful reviews to Hazmatt, HGRHfan35 and Wtiger5.

Wtiger5 – Sister, what can I say that I haven't already? I love you and I am so thankful for your input that makes my work so much better than it is to start with.

WARNING: This chapter is rated M.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds at all, although they do own me and I do own Carrie, Mirkal and Toby, Chloe and India, Ben, Kelly, Brad, Josiah, Nicola and Danielle.

Unreasoned Emotion

Teresa stared blankly up at the ceiling, passively watching the shifting shadows cast by the people walking past the door. She had told Dave she was tired, didn't want to talk anymore and that he should go home to get some rest because he looked terrible. When he insisted that he'd stay to watch over her, she'd grown so distressed at the thought of him staying that her doctor had arrived to gently but resolutely kick him out.

Yet now that she was alone she found she couldn't sleep, and all she really wanted was for Dave to return and hold her. The nurse who had come in to check on her an hour ago had assured her this kind of reaction was normal for a woman in her position, but whether she'd meant it to be comforting didn't really matter anymore.

I'm not sure I'll ever feel comforted again. My whole life has been ripped apart, one of the most important pieces has been removed, and the whole thing put back together the wrong way. Why did this have to happen how, when Dave and I were just getting started? And how is it possible that he'd ever be able to forgive me for this?

Emotion spilled over into heavy, wracking sobs that set fire to her abdomen, which only caused her crying to increase as the pain became unbearable. A nurse finally noticed the change in the monitors surrounding her and arrived to ask if she'd like something for the pain that would also help her sleep and she nodded eagerly, wanting nothing more than to be left utterly numb to the day she wished she hadn't lived through.

The nurse disappeared after patting her shoulder sympathetically, and her doctor returned to check on her sutures before the nurse administered the shot.

"Try to get some rest if you can," he advised gently as the world around her faded to gray and then went black.

New Section

"Dave, hi."

"Hey Em, Aaron. I was hoping you would both be awake so I could see how you were doing. I can come back later though if this is a bad time?"

Aaron shook his head and gestured him in. "You're always welcome, and news has been vague at best to how you and yours are doing."

He nodded tiredly and took the second chair beside his friend. "Are these your sons?"

Emily nodded, returning her focus to the baby she was attempting to feed. "This is James. He's the younger of the two and except for some jaundice and a weak sucking action in his mouth, he is so far doing alright. Aaron has Micah and the associated equipment."

"Is he alright?"

"He will be," Emily assured softly. "He's just needing a little help with his breathing and has yet to be fed the normal way. They've got a tube down to his little tummy delivering the necessary nutrients so that his breathing isn't compromised in any way. If you want to hold him, he's not breakable."

Dave shook his head tiredly. "Not right now. I really just came to assure myself that everything was alright despite my selfishness in keeping Brad close when you guys needed him."

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Keep talking like that and I'll slap you one. Emily and I didn't understand at first, especially since Brad knew our circumstances and was fairly intimate with our fears for this delivery, but once we found out what had happened with Teresa, we completely understood and we coped with it. And though each of the boys has a few minor problems, their doctors predict that they will each make a full and speedy recovery. And on top of that, Emily is fine and will be coming home in a couple of days."

"I'm really glad to hear that. I was afraid..."

"Tell us what happened," Emily prompted gently. "All I know is what the girls passed on and what they know is spotty."

Dave smiled sadly. "I think I'm losing my wife."

"Tell us, please."

New Section

She clawed her way out of her drug-induced sleep and woke with a soft cry of anguish. Her dreams had been filled with children she could never reach, some she couldn't even see, but only hear. They had all been crying, pleading with her to love them and all she could do was cry helplessly as she slowly sunk in an ocean of tears.

"Shh cara mia, shh. It's alright."

"Dave..."

"Just breathe Teresa, that's the best thing you can do for yourself at the moment."

She took in several gasping breaths as her tears eased, comforted by Dave's rhythmic stroking of her hair and face.

"I'm sorry I kicked you out last night; I shouldn't have. I needed you so badly but you left because I told you to and then I wondered why I told you to because all I wanted was for you to come back and..."

"Teresa! Baby, stop. It doesn't matter because I'm here now. And if you need me to go later so you can catch your breath, I can do that too."

"That's just it Dave, I couldn't breathe properly with you here and I couldn't breathe properly after you left either. I know that sounds so unreasonable, but it just was...please don't leave me Dave. I'm sorry I kicked you out last night and I'm sorry I didn't want to know about the baby. It makes no sense, I know, just please don't leave me."

She was sobbing all over again, unable to articulate exactly what was going on in her head and in her heart. But Dave was Dave as he had always been and all he did was shift closer so he could better comfort and soothe her fears. She clung to that realisation as the panic eased.

"Dave. I want to...no, I need to know about the baby, please." He hesitated long enough that the panic returned to grip her hard and squeeze tight enough she thought she might burst. "Dave, please..."

"Are you sure you're ready to know the truth?"

She swallowed hard and nodded as she whispered brokenly, "Did the baby die? Did I kill my baby?"

Leaning forward to place a tender kiss on her forehead, he set her back against the pillows and stood. "I'll be back in a minute love."

"Dave!"

The panic in her voice brought him straight back to her side, and she grabbed his wrist hard as he asked what was wrong.

"Tell me about the baby, please," she begged. "Did I kill it?"

"No, sweetheart." He gently detached her hand from his wrist and tenderly kissed the back of it. "I was going to show you instead of just telling you. I know the doctor warned me that it might be too soon to meet our child after hearing about what you'd lost, but that you asked is a positive sign. May I go? I'll be back in just a few minutes and you can see the truth for yourself."

She relaxed slightly and nodded, though her tension was clear to him as she withdrew her hand. He gave her an encouraging smile and slipped from the room, leaving her with the darkness of her thoughts.

She shifted her hand down to her abdomen as her eyes slipped closed in an attempt to keep fresh tears at bay. But she found it was no use stopping them from falling, so she let them fall.

Dave knew, when he apologised yesterday and asked for a second chance with me, that this one child we had would be all we'd have. He knew that I could now be considered barren but he still asked anyway. Surely he wouldn't have done that if this was a problem for him? Maybe he got his son after all...

But even as she thought that, she dismissed it as foolish. She somehow doubted that it mattered to her husband anymore whether he had a son or a daughter, as long as everyone was healthy. She'd seen the pain on his face when he apologised, heard it deep under his words as he voiced his regret over his actions and she'd first heard his grief as he imparted the news of her surgery and then felt it in him as he cried with her. His sorrow had been just as drowning as her own. Even then, the depth of his need to comfort her had been huge.

Don't kid yourself Reese; it's going to be the greatest battle of your life to let go of your dream of a large family. But at least you can console yourself with the fact that you won't be going through it alone. Because if he really didn't care, he had the entire time you were unconscious to run far away in the other direction and leave you to deal with this on your own.

And don't forget your friends. No doubt they know this now and are already planning how they can best support and love you through this tunnel to the light on the other side.

But you know the best part? At least there is a precious baby who will be all the better for your presence in their life. At least the dream wasn't entirely ripped away from you.

The use of her beloved grandmother's special nickname for her, combined with the realisation that the internal voice in her head sounded so much like her grandmother almost made her cry harder, but the peace that washed over her coupled with the determination to be grateful for the gift of the one child she'd been blessed with eased the near-crippling pressure she'd felt in her heart from the moment she realised where Dave was leading in his explanation of her surgery.

That's my girl Reese.

A noise at the door brought her eyes open to see Dave walk into the room empty-handed.

"Where...?"

"The nurse is right behind me. Are you alright?" He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Stupid question Dave."

"Actually..." she held out her hand to him and waited until he sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand in both of his before continuing, "I don't like having to let go of my dream for a big family, but I've decided to hold on to the blessings I've been given. I'll treasure our one son or our one daughter and I'll somehow allow that to be enough."

"Actually..." he drawled slowly in a mirror of the start of her speech, "How would you feel about treasuring our one son and our one daughter?"

She stared at him in utter shock for a moment before whispering, "What?"

He chuckled softly and eased off the side of the bed as the nurse came in at what had clearly been a pre-arranged signal. She moved closer with a small wheeled bed, until Teresa could clearly see the two babies cuddled up close to each other. Her eyes shot up to collide with Dave's in a clear demand for an answer.

"The surgeon found them in there together and pulled them out. Somehow it was completely missed on the scans, probably because the one always had its back to us; it was also a huge contributor to why the doctor could never give us a clear answer when we asked about the sex of our child."

"Are they alright?" she whispered, utterly entranced at the thought of seeing both their dreams come true at the same time.

"Our daughter is the smaller of the two, but is just as healthy as her brother. They had some breathing problems at the start due to all the blood in your womb, but their doctor is very pleased with them and believes we should be able to take them home in the next few days as long as nothing crops up from their premature birth."

"Okay," she whispered as the nurse cleared her throat and smiling at them stepped forward.

"Hi Teresa, I'm Suzie and I'm the nurse primarily looking after your children during the day. Because of this, I am also on hand in case you have any questions regarding their care both here in the hospital and for when you take them home. I have three children of my own also, so feel free to lob any questions regarding motherhood you like my way. Now, do you have ideas about names for your son and daughter?"

She looked at Dave and he gazed back steadily. "Teresa would be the best person to speak to about girl's names, because over the last few months she's been the wiser of the two of us and seriously entertained the idea of us having a girl when I got fixated on having the son."

Suzie looked at her intently and Teresa looked hopefully at the babies. "Could I hold my daughter?"

Suzie beamed a smile at her. "Absolutely." Moments later Teresa felt some of the pain of what she'd been through fade away in the wash of love she felt for the tiny baby filling her arms.

"Why is she so small?"

"Sometimes where twins are sharing a womb, the one is able to take in a greater supply of the nutrients available from the placenta and they just naturally grow to be stronger. Your daughter is the weaker of the two of them, but she is far from helpless. And the way her brother keeps trying to cuddle up to her tells us that he intends to do what he can is his own subconscious way to help her to not only survive, but to thrive as well. Her body temp is lower than we'd like, but his cuddling her provides her with a heat source our artificial devices can only replicate. Otherwise she is remarkably healthy for all her smaller size."

Teresa slowly nodded her head and gently stroked the soft skin of her child's cheek. "I've always wanted to call my first daughter Isabella, the second LeighAnn. But since I only get one shot at this, I'm going to name her Isabella LeighAnn; that is if Dave likes that name?"

She shot Dave a nervous look as she watched him think on the name, clearly rolling it around his tongue like he would a fine wine, before he murmured it softly, then again with more volume. Then he nodded decisively. "I love that name. Isabella LeighAnn it is."

Teresa felt like laughing and crying all at once, but forced herself back from that edge as she gazed at her son. "Dave? Do you have a name for him?"

Dave gazed down at his son with an adoring smile. "I do. There's a tradition in the family going way back that the first son and the first daughter have a middle name of the parent. I'm completely content with naming our daughter Isabella LeighAnn, but I'd like to continue that tradition with my son and name him Nathaniel David Rossi."

The tight feeling in her chest eased another fraction as she smiled. "I love that name. Could I hold him now instead?"

Dave eagerly reached for his daughter, and Teresa paused a moment to watch the utterly goofy expression that suddenly overcame Dave's face. He knew he was holding a girl, yet it was clear to her that Isabella had already well and truly wrapped her father around her little finger; David Rossi was in love with a pint-sized princess.

Feeling a smile blossom for the first time since she'd been told the devastating news of her hysterectomy, she turned to find Suzie patiently waiting for her to hold Nathaniel. She took her son and found that same connection with him that she'd already experienced with Isabella.

"I'm not sure what I feel is as strong as the emotions some of my friends have described when they first held their babies. Is that wrong?"

"Not at all Teresa. Some mothers just can't connect with their children at first, mostly due to trauma; such as what you've been through. So you should count yourself blessed to feel a connection at all, because it is not uncommon for a woman who has been through a hysterectomy while delivering a child to not want to have anything to do with the baby for days afterwards."

She swallowed and nodded jerkily. "So I shouldn't take it for granted that this moment will make everything okay," she stated softly.

"No you shouldn't, but you definitely aren't on your own either. I saw the size of the group of your friends in the waiting room yesterday. I've heard who will be counselling you while you're here in the hospital and even after you leave. And I've spoken with Dave, who clearly loves you so much. I won't lie and say it'll be easy; I've not been through this so I can't do more than sympathise and offer a shoulder to cry on if you need it, but I can assure you that you will be alright. My best advice to you is to remember to cut yourself some slack, always look forward, never back and talk to each other about both the big things and the little things.

"Now, I'm going to go and grab a coffee and put my feet up for about fifteen minutes. Take this time to do what you can to bond as a family. If you need me, I'm left out the door and the third room down on the right. If you get stuck, just ask one of the staff."

They stayed silent, neither needing to speak in this moment as they studied their children. Long minutes passed before Teresa finally asked the one question that was prevalent in her thoughts.

"Did you hold them before?"

"Briefly. I didn't want to be away from you for too long, but I felt I needed to meet my son and apologise to my daughter for being so opposed to her existence in my life. Only then I held her and I found I was lost as I realised she already looks just like you. And I started asking myself why it had seemed like such a bad idea for so long to break tradition. Then I just stopped thinking as she opened her eyes and looked up at me."

"I want that," she whispered.

He lifted his head and smiled gently at her. Then his hand came up and tenderly cupped her cheek. "Remember what Suzie said and cut yourself some slack. I have no doubt that one day soon you'll be holding one or the other and it will just suddenly hit you like a ton of bricks, your heart will be fully engaged, and you'll realise that there is never going to be a turning back point. The adventure of a lifetime is on Reese...are you with me in this?"

She tipped her head slightly to the side as her mind echoed with her grandmother's voice. "Why did you call me Reese just now? You never call me that."

Dave looked slightly embarrassed as he dropped his gaze. "I don't know why it was, but just now I was remembering how Marlene was always calling you that when she came for our wedding. I liked it back then, but it seemed like a personal thing; and yet so appropriate in this moment considering what we are discussing. I'm sorry if I stepped in something by using it."

She shook her head slightly. "Only two people in my life have ever called me that; my grandmother and Marlene. Grandma had been calling me that since before I can remember, as it was her special name for me. She had a special name for all her grandchildren. But because Marlene and I grew up together, she was always there when I was visiting and she just started calling me that too. Then Marlene gained a special name from Grandma, the only non-grandchild to ever gain one from her, and I started using it too. It just suddenly became like this super-secret clique thing just for the three of us."

"So I probably shouldn't use it?"

"I didn't say that. When you were off getting the children, I could hear Grandma talking to me in my head, telling me that things would eventually come right if I just kept pushing forward. She called me Reese then and I guess it was just so fresh that I called you on it. But I do like the name, and you are as special to me as Grandma still is, even in death, that if you want to start calling me Reese, you can. Just don't encourage anyone else to do so; I don't want to cheapen the memories I have, and gosh does that sound silly or what?"

"Not at all; you and your grandmother were incredibly close from what your family and friends were saying at the wedding. And I do remember the one time I got to meet her back when I first helped you turn your life around. She adored you and you clearly adored her. So I can understand keeping that name close like a keepsake. Are you sure it wouldn't bother you to hear me call you Reese? I wouldn't do it all the time, but when the situation calls for it..."

"I'd like that very much Dave." She looked back down at their son to find him looking up at her with such trust. Then he yawned hugely and snuggled in closer and she just suddenly understood.

"And to answer the question that set this conversation off, yes Dave, I'm in this adventure with you all the way."

He grinned at her as Suzie returned and they reluctantly handed their children to the nurse, who quietly promised to return with them for a visit later in the day before leaving the room. Dave waited until they were alone before shedding his shoes and jacket and climbing onto the bed with her.

"How're you feeling about all of this now? I mean, you've had two such huge shocks..."

She felt her smile fade as the happiness receded like a wave at the beach. "I still feel empty inside, but Nathaniel and Isabella make it worth the fight I've got ahead of me to claw my way back to a stable emotional state so that I can be the best mother I can be to them."

"Can you deal with the sorrow of knowing they are all you will ever carry within you?"

"Do you know, I wasn't completely convinced until I held them, but I think now that maybe I can. I'm not promising not to have dark moments where I absolutely loathe the situation, but I now believe that those moments will always be overshadowed by the joy and blessings of what I didn't miss out on."

"I'm glad," he stated softly as he gently eased her closer in to his warmth. "I know it may not be worth much, because I haven't modelled it very well lately, but I promise you that I will do my best to never be an ass ever again."

She snorted and slurred sleepily, "Don't make promises you can't keep Dave. You're Italian, meaning you'll always need training. But that's what I'm here for. Somehow, we'll figure it out together."

"Good," he whispered as she drifted off to sleep. Cause I'd hate to have to figure that one out on my own.

End

A/N: Okay I promise that things are going to settle down from here on out to the end of the alphabet. Everything after that is forfeit and I have plans that I had back in the beginning that won't be denied.

Stay tuned; V is for...

Please review with the conveniently placed link right under these words. I love to know what you think and it makes me type faster and update quicker.