Chapter 18

"Mama, what are you doing here?" Rossi asked surprised.

"Don't change the subject, son! Tell me right now what you've done to make that poor woman cry!" Mrs. Rossi's voice began to sound impatiently, as the whole bullpen had fallen silent and interrupted their work to curiously watch the exchange between mother and son.

JJ, too, had now recognized Rossi's mother. "Oh God!" she groaned softly, realizing at once that the moment of truth had finally come for Mrs. Rossi. She had tossed the thought of telling her about the baby in her head more than once in the past weeks, but she'd still wanted to be better with Dave, before doing so, and her ideas for letting the bomb explode did definitely not include doing it in the middle of the bullpen with all of their coworkers as an audience. In fact, she'd already briefly talked with Rossi about it on the phone, but they'd both agreed on discussing this in person at a later point.

Seeing the determined expression on the elderly lady's face, she knew there was no way they could avoid this topic today. Nevertheless, she chose to stay right where she was, wanting to watch how things were going to proceed first, and ignoring Rossi's pleading looks for help. He had put himself into this trouble, so he should see how to get out of it by himself.

"I'm waiting, David! What's going on?"

Rossi looked around uneasily, seeing Hotch cringe, and Prentiss exchange questioning glances with Morgan. Reid wore his usual puzzled expression that he always had when he couldn't make sense of a situation.

In that moment, Garcia came out of her office and entered the stage.

"Hello my loves, what's that gathering supposed to mean?" she wanted to know, raising her eyebrows in confusion at the scene in front of her. When she saw the tears in JJ's face, she was immediately alarmed. "What's wrong with you, Jayje? Did this poor excuse of a baby's father upset you again?"

JJ looked away, wishing for a quick escape to appear in front of her, and hoping that Mrs. Rossi hadn't heard what Garcia just said. Unfortunately, however, the small woman's hearing was still perfectly fine, despite her advanced age. Rossi, too, stood there, helpless, watching everything tumbling down right before his eyes, without being able to interfere, as his mother asked: "Father? What father?"

As if things couldn't get any worse, Reid, being his usual self, blurted out: "Your mother doesn't know you're the father of JJ's baby?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone stood shocked waiting for what was going to happen, and for Mrs. Rossi to take in the big news.

Rossi wished for the earth to open up and swallow him, or better, for a sudden lightning to strike him dead, because, whatever would come now, it was surely worse than any kind of death. The next thing he knew was that his mother handed the cake over to Hotch, closed the last few steps between them, and gave him a ringing slap in the face, right in front of everyone. Judging from the look in her eyes, she had fully understood the situation, remembering her meeting and talk with JJ from a few weeks back.

Rossi didn't even dare to meet her eyes, as he heard her speak, quietly, but with more disgust he'd thought possible to hear out of her mouth. "I'd never have thought that the day would come that I am truly ashamed of my own son!"

He hung his head in defeat, never even bothering to try to defend himself while he felt more ashamed than he ever had in his entire time on this earth. It tore his heart into pieces to see the one woman he loved more than anything in the world – besides Jennifer – so disappointed. Not for the first time he regretted his poor behavior in the last months. Oh, how much he wished he'd handled things differently from the begin on! He had absolutely no idea what to say or to do now. A simple apology would never be enough at the moment, and trying to explain himself would only extend her wrath, though he was not sure, if that was even possible.

Lucky for him, his mother gave him a way out for the time being. "Get out of my sight immediately!" Obeying without even looking at her, he slowly trudged away, making his way up the few stairs to his office, followed by the glances of his team and all of their other coworkers. They had all finally gotten the proof, witnessed with their own eyes, that he was not only the world's most legendary profiler, but also the biggest bastard on the face of the earth.

As soon as he had closed the office door behind him, everyone else seemed to awake out of their paralysis. Hotch, within seconds back in full unit-chief mode, sent them all back to their desks. "All right, people, show's over, go back to work!" Turning to Mrs. Rossi, he said: "I am really sorry about all this."

"Don't worry, young man. You don't have to take responsibility for my son's poor behavior," she dismissed him.

"Maybe we should have a seat, Mrs. Rossi," Hotch continued. He gestured over to the little kitchen corner, adding: "Let me introduce you to our team while you're here. I don't know if you remember me, it's been quite a while since we've met."

"Of course I remember you, Mr. Hotchner!" Gracia Rossi replied, smiling at him. "It was really nice to have had you over for dinner all those years ago." Yes, Hotch recalled, it had been wonderful meeting her and the entire Rossi family back in the days before Rossi's early retirement. Rossi's mother was the most warmhearted woman he'd ever met, and he mentally berated his friend once again for his actions, causing his mother such a grief. Hotch knew that Rossi hadn't done it on purpose, he knew how much his mother meant to him, but he couldn't help but wonder again about his serious lack of ability for handling things better.

Once they had all gathered around the kitchen table, Hotch made the introductions. "Guys, you've already realized, this is Dave's mother, Gracia Rossi. Mrs. Rossi, these are Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia, and Jennifer Jareau." They all shook her hand and welcomed her.

"Mrs. Rossi, it's wonderful to meet you again!" JJ greeted her.

"The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Jareau," Mrs. Rossi replied warmly, giving JJ a bright smile.

"Please, call me JJ."

Hotch was a bit surprised. "You two have already met?"

"Yes, briefly, a few weeks ago when I was at the mall with David," Gracia Rossi answered. Turning back to JJ, she said: "If I may ask, do you mind if we talked in private?"

"Not at all," JJ nodded. "We can go into my office. May I offer you a cup of coffee, or something else?"

She filled two mugs for them, and then guided Rossi's mother over to her office.