A/N: I'm sorry for the slow updates, I hope everyone still enjoys reading. Please drop a line and let me know what you think!

Chapter 25

"So, what do you want to do first, munchkin?" Dave asked Henry once he'd closed the office door behind them. Henry let out a few happy squeals for an answer and reached out his little arms to throw them around Dave's neck as best as he could in his thick winter clothes.

"What do you say, we're gonna get you out of a couple of your clothes first, and then we'll take a look at the things your Mama packed into this bag for you."

He put the bag down on the floor and laid Henry carefully onto his couch. Easing him out of his jacket, he noticed – not for the first time – how much the boy actually resembled Jennifer.

"Good for him," Dave murmured with a disdainful thought of LaMontagne.

Taking Henry onto his lap, he smiled widely as the boy latched onto him. Henry was highly fascinated by Dave's beard, squeaking enthusiastically as he grabbed it with both hands, and making even louder and more joyful noises when Dave playfully nibbled on his little fingers. There was no doubt that Henry enjoyed being with him, and the same could be said for Dave.

Looking into Henry's baby blue eyes, which were probably the most prominent feature he had in common with his mother, Dave's thoughts wandered to their unborn child. What would he or she look like? Who would it resemble more, him or Jennifer?

He couldn't wait to meet his child. His child. The thought of him becoming a father, of him being responsible for an innocent human being, still scared him more than he wanted to admit. It also felt strangely unreal to him that he and Jennifer had created one little person together. But he also knew that he had to swallow his fear. It might have taken him a while to realize it, but now that he had, nobody and nothing was going to stop him from being the best father he possibly could.

When he had felt his baby's movements for the first time a few weeks back, he hadn't been able to sleep all night. He couldn't believe how his life had been turned upside down, couldn't imagine how much it was going to change even more when the baby would finally be here, and he'd seriously wondered if he was dreaming all of this, as if the events of the past months hadn't been proof enough for him.

Getting more and more comfortable with Jennifer again had eased his fears and concerns a bit. Between the two of them, they should be able to take good care of their child and Henry.

Dave had every intention of including the boy in his life, of being the same caring father for him that he would be for his own child. Now all he had to do was to convince Jennifer of that, to convince her of his sincerity, and not to let himself be overpowered by his fears again.

Henry's hands finding his nose and pinching it curiously brought him back into reality.

"You obviously believe in me, don't you, munchkin?" he said softly as Henry squealed: "Da-da!" again. "That's right, Henry! That's Dada's nose! Can you say 'nose', Henry?"

Standing up from the couch with Henry securely pressed to his chest, Dave began to dig into JJ's bag to retrieve a teddy bear, a storybook, and a toy car. He sat Henry down on the floor, and watched him as he immediately crawled to the bag to pull out all the contents. Within minutes, Dave's office was a total mess, but much to his own surprise, it didn't bother him at all. Henry squealed with glee every time he found a new item in this miraculous bag, handed them all over to Dave, who patiently explained what they all were – a diaper, a blanket, a spoon, cookies, and many things more.

They became so engrossed in examining all the contents that Dave almost didn't hear the knock on the door.

Hotch came in and nearly fell back out again as he saw Dave and Henry sitting on the floor in the middle of the biggest disarray he'd ever seen in his friend's office.

"What's going on here?" he asked with obvious surprise in his voice.

"What does it look like, Aaron?" Dave gave back without taking his eyes off of Henry. "Henry and I are having some fun. Isn't that right, munchkin?"

"Da-da!" was all Henry let out as an answer, nodding eagerly in agreement, as he threw a diaper at Dave.

Hotch was floored. Seeing David Rossi surrounded by chaos, playing with a little child, and apparently enjoying himself in doing so, wasn't anything he'd expected to witness. It made him feel relieved and also a bit happy, though, knowing that his old friend was finally accepting and growing into his new role.

"Did you want something, Aaron?" Dave asked when Hotch didn't say anything else.

"Yeah, I was looking for the Gillman file. Morgan said you have it."

"It's on my desk somewhere between the other files," Dave said, motioning with his head into the direction without bothering to get up himself to give Hotch the file.

Carefully, as to not stepping on anything, Hotch took the few steps to Dave's desk and retrieved the file from underneath the pile.

"Why's Henry here, by the way?" he wanted to know.

"JJ's got a doctor's appointment with him this morning and already brought him with her. I'm watching him until her meeting is over." Dave explained, stopping Henry from taking a pencil into his mouth.

"Well, I'll leave you two at... whatever you're doing," Hotch concluded, walking out again. Before he closed the the door, he turned around and said: "It suits you, Dave. The father role, I mean. Don't screw it up again."

After Hotch was gone again, Dave noticed that Henry was getting sleepy. The infection from a few days ago was evidently still taking its toll on him.

"Come, Henry. What do you say, we're gonna get comfortable on that couch again, and take a look at your book?" Pulling Henry and the book up, he sat down on the sofa with him, holding him in his lap, and began to turn page after page, telling Henry little stories to every picture in there. It didn't take long, and the boy was getting more and more quiet, until he finally slumbered peacefully in Dave's arms. Dave put the book away and laid down on his back, bringing Henry to his chest, and closing his eyes himself.

That was how JJ found them eventually after her meeting.

It had gone fairly well, with two candidates for her temporary replacement having turned out, whom she promised to contact with a decision within the next few days.

As soon as they had been done, JJ walked over to David's office. She was not sure what she'd expected to find when she got there, but it was definitely not what her eyes were greeted with when she opened the door.

Gasping, she stared at the mess on the floor, seeing each and every single content of her bag spread there. Before she could say anything about it, however, her eyes fell onto the couch, where Dave was laying, his arms securely wrapped around her son, who was sleeping soundly on top of him. She took a few moments to take in the sight as her heart jumped with joy at what she was witnessing.

Admittedly, she'd had a few doubts as to whether Dave was the right person to watch Henry, of if he was really willing to walk the talk, and she was still hesitant about how to proceed with him. But seeing him and Henry in front of her like this put her mind at rest for now. Maybe there was a future for them after all.

Dave had sensed her come in at once, her scent flooding the office as soon as she'd opened the door. Not wanting to wake Henry, he held still, keeping his eyes closed and waiting for her to say something.

After a couple of moments, he heard her come over, kneeling down next to him and Henry.

At her softly whispered "Hey" he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Hey," he whispered back, not knowing what else to say, her face only a few inches away from his own.

"I take it you to had quite some fun, huh?" she observed, smiling widely at him and pointing at the chaos on his floor.

"Yeah, well," Dave grinned sheepishly. "He liked your bag." He smiled back at her, causing her heartbeat to speed up.

"Damn, this man is confusing," she thought to herself. Standing up before she did something she might regret later, she said: "I hate to disturb this little party here, but we gotta go to the doctor's now." She gently took her son into her arms, who woke up immediately when he felt losing contact with Dave's warm chest. Letting out a few displeased whimpers, he was held closely by his mother rubbing his back soothingly.

"I'll clean up the mess," Dave said, getting up from the couch, collecting the various items spread around his office and putting them back into the bag, while JJ got Henry ready.

"Thanks, Dave. For everything."

"No need to thank me, Jennifer. It was my pleasure." He was debating with himself if he should say more, if he should ask her to let him spend more time with Henry, but he left it alone for the moment, as he didn't want to discuss this with her in a hurry. While he finished up with her bag, disappointment that he was going to have to spend the rest of the day alone again was building up in him.

"Let me walk you down to your car, okay?" he offered softly, shouldering her bag, when he saw her nod.

Down in the parking garage, he helped her strap Henry into his car seat. Pressing a gentle kiss onto his forehead, he whispered: "Bye, munchkin, be good for your Mama."

He sighed deeply before turning around to JJ. He just hoped he was going to see the boy more often in the near future.

"Thank you for letting me watch him." He smiled gently at Jennifer.

"You don't have to thank me, David. I'm glad you were there."

"Well, see you later then. Are you going to bring him back in again after the doctor's?"

JJ shook her head: "No, I'll leave him with the nanny. And tomorrow he should be fine to stay at the daycare again. See you after lunch, Dave. And thanks again, I really appreciate it." She turned to get into her car, when she suddenly felt herself being pulled into his arms.

Taken by surprise, she tensed up for a second, but the warm feeling of his strong arms made her relax instantly, and she hugged him back. It lasted only a few moments until he pulled back, and JJ felt almost disappointed at the loss of contact. The memories of how good it had felt to lay in his arms filled her mind and made her want to scream for more.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer, I shouldn't have done that," Dave apologized, dispersing the good feeling again, She knew he was only following her requests to keep his distance, but it left her confused, and also a bit angry with herself. She wanted to throw herself back into his arms, let herself be held by him, but at the same time, her mind told her to be careful, to take things slowly.

Seeing his uncertain look, she realized that he was just as confused as she was. He had made it clear what he wanted, but trusting him was still incredibly hard for her. But she also realized that it wouldn't get any easier, if she kept pushing him away.

"It's okay, Dave," she said finally, smiling warmly at him, and made a mental note to spend as much time with him as she could in the next few weeks before their baby arrived, knowing that it would be the only way to learn to trust him again.

The baby, however, had other plans with them.