Chapter 49

Just as JJ and Dave had expected, Hotch, Garcia, Prentiss, Reid, and Morgan were not only happy and even relieved about their decision, but also immediately ready to help them.

They scheduled the move for the weekend after the next, as this would be the end of the team's two-week standdown, and JJ and Dave wanted to take the upcoming weekend to visit JJ's parents on her mother's birthday and inform them as well.

Quickly checking and confirming with Jimmy and Dave's mother, they were glad that everything seemed to work out without a problem.

Now all that was left to do was to convince JJ's parents that moving in together was exactly what they wanted and that they were doing the absolute right thing.

While Robert and Mary-Ann had made their peace with David and had slowly warmed up to him, both JJ and Dave felt that there was still a bit of reservation against Dave left over, even though the Jareaus did their best not to let it be too obvious when they talked to them on the phone.

JJ knew that especially Dave's age was still an issue mostly for her father. A man almost the same age as himself was not what he had previously considered appropriate for his little girl. Especially not when said man had been married three times and with the failure of each marriage in his eyes proofed to be incapable of making a lifelong commitment.

JJ's eyes had almost popped out when her father had informed her during their last conversation on the phone, during which she'd told him and her mother she and Dave were finally back together, that he had actually had Dave's background investigated, and that he couldn't believe they had kept Dave's previous failed marriages from him and his wife. What seemed to mystify Robert Jareau even more was the fact that his daughter still wanted to be with that scoundrel, and was willing to overlook his past.

JJ had almost been ready to throw the phone against the nearest wall, but let herself be calmed down by Dave's soothing and reassuring hand on her forearm. Dave had then explained his sort-of father-in-law as calmly as he could that he had no intentions of adding another failed relationship to his track record and that he was going to do everything within his power to make Jennifer happy on every day for the rest of their lives.

For these words, JJ had rewarded him with a long and very satisfying love-making session after they'd gone to bed that night.

Her father had eventually backed down, but they both knew that it would still take a while for him to fully accept Dave as part of the family.

xxx

Dave, JJ and the kids took an early flight to Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, and arrived at Jennifer's childhood home shortly after nine a.m.

Knowing her mother was already up, bustling in the house to prepare everything for her birthday dinner, JJ wanted to come as early as possible to help her.

"Relax, Dave. They won't kill you. I'm sure Mom will be way too preoccupied with the preparations for tonight to even think about harming you in any way," JJ told Dave, not able to hide an amused grin, as they walked towards the house.

"Your mother probably not, but I'm not so sure about your Dad," Dave muttered nervously. He hadn't felt anything like that in a very long time, probably since he'd been a teenager meeting his first girlfriend's parents for the first time, and today wasn't even his first meeting with JJ's parents. He was more than just a bit annoyed with himself for not being able to keep his cool. Obviously standing up against the love of his life's father was a lot easier over the phone than in person. But making a mistake was not an option, and he knew it.

"Dave, you can handle the most horrible and brutal serial killers, but you're afraid of my father? Are you serious?" JJ asked, chuckling.

"I can't believe you're making fun of me," Dave hissed as they entered the house.

JJ only gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder and then called for her parents.

"Mom, Dad? We're here!"

Mary-Ann Jareau came running out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and stirring what looked like cake mixture in a large bowl.

"Jennifer!" She exclaimed happily. "You're already here! Oh, wait a second." She hustled back into the kitchen and reappeared moments later, this time without the bowl.

"Now I have my hands free to greet you," she said, drawing her daughter into a tight hug.

"Happy Birthday, Mommy," JJ said softly, pressing a kiss onto her cheek.

And then, much to Dave's surprise, Mary-Ann turned and embraced him as well.

"David! I'm so happy you could come too!"

She sounded genuinely delighted, and Dave felt himself relax quite a bit.

"Happy Birthday, Mrs. Jareau."

"Mary-Ann, please," JJ's mother replied promptly. "Oh, I'm so happy you're all here today!"

She then focused on her grandchildren, immediately taking Hannah out of her daughter's arm, and leading Henry into the kitchen.

"Why don't you go take your things up into the guest room?" she called back to JJ and Dave before she disappeared through the door with the children.

"See, it wasn't that bad," JJ teased Dave gently, as she shoved him up to their room for the night.

"Not yet. But your mother is only half of the equation," Dave replied, putting their bags down on the bed.

"I have your back, I promise," she told him, giving him an reassuring kiss. "Come on, let's go back down. The sooner you get your meeting with my father over with, the sooner you can relax and enjoy the weekend."

"I'm not sure if there will be a lot to relax this weekend," Dave murmured to himself as he followed her out of the room and back down again.

"Mom, where's Daddy?" JJ asked as they entered the kitchen.

"He's outside behind the house and hopefully repairing those garden chairs I told him to fix."

"Are you okay with Hannah and Henry for a while?"

"Of course, sweetheart! We'll be fine. Henry's going to help me with my cake, aren't you, Henry?" The boy bounced up and down with excitement.

"Okay, but don't forget to keep your doors closed, or he'll be gone faster than you can say his name," JJ reminded her mother, before she dragged Dave out behind her.

Making their way through the house and out the patio door, JJ and Dave found her father behind the garage, chopping wood.

"Hi Daddy, we're here!" JJ greeted him and immediately furrowed her brows. "What are you doing, Dad?"

"What does it look like, Jenny? I'm chopping wood for our fire place," he answered grumpily, demonstratively applying the ax to split another piece of wood.

"Daddy, it's spring! I don't think you're going to need that much wood anytime soon," JJ tried to reason with him, all the while knowing exactly why he was doing this. Glancing around carefully, she was relieved that his shotgun was nowhere to be seen – yet.

"You never know, Jenny. What if the temperatures fall suddenly?"

JJ could only shake her head and tried to change the subject.

"Didn't Mom tell you to repair the chairs?"

"Don't worry, I'll get to that later."

Dave watched the exchange between father and daughter with growing nervousness, being aware of what Robert Jareau was trying to tell him with his behavior. Hurt my girl and you'll make contact with my ax.

And he still couldn't believe why he allowed himself to be distracted by JJ's father so much. Get it together, Rossi, he mentally scolded himself.

"Daddy, will you please stop that for a moment and come over so that we can say hello properly?"

JJ's voice pulled Dave out of his thoughts again.

Reluctantly, Robert Jareau walked over to them, keeping the ax in his hand, and gave his daughter a small hug with his free arm.

"It's good to see you, darling," he whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair, before turning to Dave.

Raising the ax dangerously to switch if from his right hand into the left to be able to offer Dave a proper handshake, he didn't bother to hide a smirk when he saw Dave draw back instinctively.

"Daddy!" JJ exclaimed appalled. "It's enough now!" She should have known that her father was trying one of his many and very creative methods of scaring away her boyfriends again, although this time she was sure he wouldn't be successful with it.

Seeing him wink at her, she breathed out a relieved sigh. He wasn't being serious, merely testing Dave's reaction, and the situation actually began to amuse her very much.

Robert stretched out his hand in Dave's direction, who did his best to pull himself together and grip the offered hand firmly.

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr. Jareau," Dave said politely.

"Likewise," came the short answer from JJ's father.

The two men eyed each other for a few moments, until Robert Jareau broke the silence.

"It's good that you're here so early. You can help me with fixing the chairs." His determined tone left no room for debate, and he broke into a huge grin when he saw Dave gulp uncomfortably.

Snorting in amusement, JJ realized what her father was trying to do, and patted her lover's shoulder sympathetically.

"That's a good idea, Dad. Just promise me you'll put that ax away."

Dave shot her a dark look, not happy with the fact that she was willing to leave him unarmed with a man who had the instrument and the opportunity to slaughter him.

Knowing that some time alone would help them work out their issues, JJ simply shrugged and went back inside to help her mother in the kitchen.

xxx

Overall, the day went by without any major incidents, apart from the fact that Henry left big hand-prints in his grandmother's cream cake.

Dave and Robert worked in silence for quite some time until Dave pinched his finger in one of the chairs and let out a loud curse.

Robert couldn't help it and broke into laughter as Dave began to suck on his injured finger to relieve the pain.

"Very funny," Dave snorted sarcastically, glancing furiously at him.

Another moment later, he joined in the laughter and the spell was broken.

"You were quite impressed with my little show from earlier. Never expected this. What does that tell me about you?" Robert remarked.

"Only that you have my fullest respect, sir," Dave replied.

"You know, normally I would now ask you something along the lines of 'What are your intentions with my daughter', but if I remember correctly, we already had that talk a few months ago."

"Yes, sir. But I will gladly assure you again that I only have Jennifer's best interests in mind. I love your daughter and our children more than I have loved anyone ever before. They are my whole life, and I will fight like hell if anyone tries to tear us apart," Dave vowed, holding Robert's intense glare as the last bit of his nervousness vanished and he found back to his normal self-confident self again.

"I would have expected nothing less," Robert answered truthfully. The rather large gap between this man's and his daughter's age, plus the fact that Rossi had been married three times before he even met his girl, was hard to ignore, but he could see that Rossi was honest. The last months had proven that. Above all, it was most important for him that his daughter was happy. And there was no doubt that she was happy with him, and hell would freeze over first before he did anything to destroy his daughter's happiness.

Robert was originally going to express one last warning, but then stopped himself as he realized that it wasn't necessary anymore. He had already made his intentions of what he'd do with Rossi should he hurt his Jenny, crystal clear during their first meeting after Hannah's birth, and another pep talk would have been over the top. He'd had his fun, and now they were able to move on.

"I really have to remember that stunt for Hannah's future boyfriends," Dave acknowledged grinning. "Not that she will actually be going on a date before her thirtieth birthday, or rather her fortieth."

"I can tell you another few tricks if you're interested. They all worked with Jenny's dates."

And then they indulged in various of Roberts stories of how he scared away all of JJ's boyfriends or potential suitors, while they continued to get the chairs ready for the big party in the evening.

When JJ found them in perfect harmony a few hours later, laughing about how her highschool prom date had involuntarily landed in the Jareau's trash can while trying to escape from her father, it was her turn to get nervous at the scene unfolding in front of her. She suddenly wasn't so sure anymore if it had been a good idea to leave Dave and her daddy alone for so long.

xxx

At dinner, Dave met another few members of Jennifer's extended family. Some of them were just as skeptical of Dave as her parents had been, but it didn't take too long for Dave to win them over. A few well-placed stories of the early days of the BAU, plus especially Hannah helped a lot with that, and seeing how gentle and loving Dave was with JJ and the children, they threw off their reservations over the course of the evening.

All in all, Mary-Ann's birthday dinner was quite a pleasurable experience for everyone, and JJ was extremely happy that he parents had come to fully accept Dave.

It would make their announcement of moving in together after only such a short time of officially being a couple a lot easier.

She and David had decided to break the news on Sunday, as Saturday was too busy with the preparations, and the birthday dinner.

When JJ told them their plans over breakfast, her parents looked at each other for a moment, but overall didn't seem to be too surprised.

Seeing Dave's confusedly raised eyebrows, Mary-Ann explained: "As you have already noticed, it usually takes our Jennifer a while to come to a decision, in your case with wanting to be with you, but after she's done that, as soon as she's decided for something, things can't go fast enough for her. It was the same with her decision for what she wanted to do with her life after college. It took her quite some time to figure that out, nothing seemed to be fitting for her, but then, out of the blue, she decided to apply for the FBI, and before we even had a chance to think about, let alone approve her decision, she had already been gone and at the FBI academy."

Both JJ and Dave couldn't hide a smile and exchanged a knowing look which didn't go unnoticed by Robert and Mary-Ann.

Hearing that it was actually David who had played a vital part in JJ's reasoning for joining the Bureau, they took him into their hearts even more. Sure, their daughter's job was dangerous at times, but they had always been very proud of her and the of the career she'd made so far, and it obviously hadn't hurt to have David Rossi as a role model.

By the end of the day, JJ's mother was seriously wondering how any of Dave's ex-wives could even have thought of letting a man like him go. Well, their loss was good for her daughter.

Just as willingly as Jimmy, Dave's mother, and the team, Robert and Mary-Ann offered their help with moving on the next weekend. JJ protested a bit at first, saying it wasn't necessary that they come all the way to D.C., but they wouldn't hear of it.

That meant that every possible resource of support seemed to be available, and both JJ and Dave were actually looking forward to the upcoming weekend.