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Rossi had taken the week off for no other reason than the fact that he missed Krystall. The team’s last case had been on the other side of the country and, for the first time in a very long time, he was homesick. The feeling had confused the agent at first because he’d never really been homesick, he was used to the traveling and leaving the house behind for weeks.
There had been this gnawing loneliness and longing in the pit of his stomach that made him feel sad. The team would sit around a table at the station and talk avidly about the case while he quietly observed the scene. He himself never contributed much because he was having trouble focusing on anything but his wife and how much he wanted to go home. Eventually though, Emily took notice of his change in behavior and approached him with caution as J.J. provided back up. When Dave was in a mood there was no telling how the conversation would go…
“Dave?”
“What’s up?” he asked as he looked up at Emily and J.J. from where he had been staring at his hands.
“What’s going on?” Emily asked concerned by his almost depressed demeanor.
“Nothing,” he replied, not wanting them to patronize him about his homesickness. He was 62 for God’s sake. He shouldn’t feel homesick.
“Dave you know for a fact that neither I, nor J.J., believe that for a second,” Emily replied unfazed by his walls.
“Come on Dave, you know we just want to help,” J.J. pleaded quietly with him.
“I’m fine,” he told them both as he tried to convince himself of the statement. He failed almost immediately and sighed dejectedly instead.
“Rossi when you say I’m fine , it means you’re not fine and we both know it. Hell, I even have the team watch specifically for that answer from you because it’s your biggest tell. That and staring at your hands when you’re upset,” Emily told him as she continued to try and get him to open up to them. When Rossi’s walls were up it was always almost impossible to get him to talk. The man had a stubborn streak a mile long and would sometimes flat out refuse to speak at all.
“We could call Krystall if you want to talk to her instead?” J.J. suggested trying to be helpful. The woman, everyone had happily discovered, had become the person Dave talked to anytime he was upset about something. Their relationship had made the team so happy because for a change someone was there for Rossi.
Dave just slouched more in his chair as his expression got sadder, if that was even possible. He didn’t think calling his wife would help matters at all, in fact he felt hearing her voice would just make him miss her more.
“No,” he whispered sadly as tears collected and he quickly blinked them away.
“Are you two fighting?” Emily asked suddenly worried that was the problem.
“No.”
“What’s going on Dave. Please,” J.J. pleaded with him.
David took a shuddered breath before he spoke, “I-I’m just feeling a bit...homesick. Hearing her voice would just make me miss her more,” Dave confessed to them both, more upset now than when the conversation started.
“Come here,” J.J. told Rossi as she pulled the older man to his feet and into a hug. Dave being homesick was thankfully something they could fix.
Rossi returned the hug gratefully and held on for a while needing some affection, it made him feel just a little less upset.
Emily joined the hug wanting him to know it was okay to miss home sometimes. She knew he was used to being a sort of lone wolf with no one to really go home to at night. Now that he had someone to love him as much as he loved them it was different and leaving his home was harder.
“Call Krystall Dave.”
“It won’t make it worse,” J.J. assured him. “It’s how I get through long cases without Will and the boys. The phone calls and FaceTimes and texts help more than I can say.”
Rossi nodded slightly as he pulled out his phone right when it began to ring, he answered it.
“Krystall?”
“Hi David,” Krystall replied as she detected something off in his voice.
“Everything okay?” He asked now worried about her on top of his homesickness.
“Yes...are you okay? I was just calling to check in on you,” she said hoping he would tell her what was wrong.
Dave looked up from the spot he’d been staring at on the floor to see Emily and J.J. nod their heads in encouragement. He turned around before speaking wanting it to be a bit more private of a conversation.
“I miss you so much honey,” Rossi told her feeling overwhelmingly sad again.
“I miss you too David more than words can express but it will only be a few more days darling. I know it’s hard being apart but I also know how much this job means to you,” Krystall said trying to console him. It broke her heart to hear how miserable he sounded over the phone and knowing she couldn’t just pull him into a hug and hold him.
“I know but I just I miss you so much it physically hurts me,” Dave told her as the pain in his heart only intensified.
“David, darling you just have to hold out a few more days and then we can lounge in bed for a week and hold each other. It’ll be okay David. I promise,” she told him trying to make him feel a little better.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. So, so much.”
“This case can’t go by fast enough,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
“It’ll be over before you know it David and then you can come home.”
“I know. It’s just hard to see that right now. I don’t get homesick. It just doesn’t happen and I’m not sure what to do now,” he confessed to her.
“Here’s what’ll happen. You will call me every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed. That way it’s almost like I’m there with you, okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed meekly.
“I have to go David but I love you and I miss you so much. Please be safe,” she told him as Portia motioned they would miss their appointment.
“I will and I love and miss you too honey,” He told her feeling a bit better.
“I’ll talk to you tonight darling.”
“Tonight,” he agreed.
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
With that the line went dead and he smiled at his phone feeling better than he had the entire case. He was still homesick and a little sad but not as morose as he had been before he heard her voice. Krystall was his whole world now, the love of his life and his best friend and he knew he’d miss her every case but the phone calls he felt might actually help.
“Better,” J.J. now asked as he turned around to face them both.
“Much. Thank you,” Rossi replied with a small smile.
“Anytime,” she said with a smile of her own. “And if you ever need another hug all you have to do is ask.”
“I will,” he told her suddenly shy.
This past hour had been something else, Emily thought. David Rossi shy, homesick and submissive in tone is something she never thought she’d see and she hoped she would never have to see again. She hated when he was hurting and it broke her heart as much as she was sure it broke everyone’s heart. The man acted tough but he was such a teddy bear and to see him hurting was a hard pill to swallow. It was like watching your dad cry, something so hard to imagine that it takes you by surprise when it happens. Rossi always seems so invincible especially when he first rejoined so to see him vulnerable was a hard reminder that he was just as human as the rest of them.