Chapter Text
"You never know the love of a grandparent until you become one." — Unknown
Dave knew why he felt a tremor of trepidation as he entered the elevator and pressed the button for the maternity ward. Of course Aaron and Emily didn’t know that today was the anniversary of his son’s birth and death and he wasn’t going to let that overshadow their day. April 26th 1979. Those precious few hours that he and Carolyn had been able to hold their son, their hopes and joys replaced with the knowledge that he wasn't going to make it. He had been born far too soon, his little body just strong enough for the hospital chaplain to do an emergency baptism. Dave wiped his eyes as the elevator doors pinged and slid open.
Today wasn’t just about the loss of his son but also a celebration for the arrival of this new little one.
Isabella Marie Hotchner had made quite the arrival. Not only had she been eight days late but she had been breech, necessitating Emily to have an emergency C-Section. Therefore the team had had to wait until Emily had recovered from surgery before they could visit, Jack and Jessica, of course getting to meet Isabella first. Dave had taken his time coming to the hospital. He had spent time with James and he wanted to be absolutely certain that both Emily and Isabella were OK before he arrived, terrified that the past would somehow repeat itself.
Dave got the hint that he needed to be at the hospital after his phone was bombarded with calls, texts and photos from the rest of the team. He hadn’t looked at any of the pictures. He wanted to see Isabella with his own eyes first.
“There you are,” Emily commented as Dave entered the room. She had been surprised that he hadn’t been the first to arrive, eager to stake a claim on being godfather but she was nonetheless pleased he was here. Especially as the curt voicemail she had received from Elizabeth had only strengthened her resolve in the decision she had made.
“Here I am,” Dave retorted as he gently hugged Emily. “Now where is she?”
“She’s here,” Aaron commented from the chair in the corner of the room where he had been carefully holding Isabella in his arms while Jack balanced on his knee, unwilling to be parted from his new sister for a moment. “Want to hold her?”
“Of course,” Dave said as he took the bundle of blankets from Aaron’s arms. Once he had a secure hold on her, Dave sat on the edge of Emily’s hospital bed and looked at Isabella for the first time.
Truly she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
She was fast asleep with slightly pink smooth cheeks, undeniably Emily’s nose and little lips pursed in sleep. There were dark strands of hair on her head and her tiny hands poked out of the blanket. Although he could feel the warm weight of her in his hands, she felt as fragile and as delicate as a piece of glass and although she was only seven pounds ten ounces, she was large enough to make him breathless.
To think, his best friends had made such a perfect little angel.
Hell, Dave still remembered the times when he wondered if they would ever pull their heads out of their asses long enough to realise they were in love with each other.
Dave was so entranced by Isabella that he missed the silent conversation that Emily and Aaron had, as well as the several photos Aaron had taken of him holding Isabella. However when she gave the tiniest squeak, Dave knew he ought to hand her back to her mother. He smiled softly as Emily held Isabella close to her; he knew what this meant to Emily to become a mother and that there would be no better mother anywhere. Dave looked around and was surprised to see that Aaron and Jack had slipped out of the room at some point; most likely to get Emily something from the gift shop or Jack a snack from a vending machine. Either way, he knew it was not a coincidence.
“Listen Dave, there’s something I wanted to ask you,” Emily began, a small smile on her face as she watched the momentary flicker of confusion on his face at her choice of pronoun. I, not we, whatever this was; it was a request of Emily’s. Not Emily and Aaron’s.
“Of course,” Dave replied. There was already nothing he wouldn’t do for Emily. After today, he would pull the moon from the sky if she wanted him to.
“Well, Aaron and I talked about it and we decided that we weren’t going to have godparents for Isabella. However, the others can be her aunts and uncles but well, I don’t want you to be her Uncle Dave.” Emily explained as she watched Dave process her words.
“I see,” Dave said, trying not to let the hurt into his voice. Clearly by the worried look on Emily’s face, he had failed.
“Let me finish,” Emily said quickly as she kissed Isabella’s forehead. “I don’t want you to be her Uncle Dave. I want you to be her Grandpa Dave. Or Nonno Dave, whichever you want.”
“You-” For once, David Rossi found himself lost for words. Grandpa. Granddad. Papa. Nonno. A grandfather. Him, a grandfather. After losing James, Dave never considered, never imagined that he would ever be a dad, never mind a granddad. And not only that, a granddad to the most beautiful, perfect, wonderful baby girl ever to grace this Earth.
“You don’t have to. It‘s just that you’ve always been a father figure to me and well, you know what my family is like.” Emily explained. “I want her to have at least one grandparent who can actually be a grandparent for her.”
“I-I would be honoured.” Dave said sincerely as he got up and carefully hugged Emily and kissed her forehead before he whispered to her in Italian. “Anche tu sei mia figlia,”
Emily wiped her own eyes as Dave took Isabella into his arms again and carefully walked around the room with her. This time, as he spoke to her, her eyes opened and although he knew she wouldn’t recognise him, there was something in her eyes which told him that Isabella knew who he was.
“Bella, my Bella. Un tale angelo, my precious girl. Tuo nonno ti ama.”
As he whispered to her in a mixture of English and Italian, Emily looked over at Aaron who smiled at his wife from the doorway. He and Emily had discussed it throughout her pregnancy and every argument with Elizabeth only reinforced his support of Emily’s decision to make Dave the honorary grandparent to their daughter. He knew Emily wanted this ever since Dave had walked her down the aisle at their wedding and as they watched Dave with his new granddaughter, they both knew that whatever happened, Isabella would always have her Nonno Dave.