An in depth conversation between Dave and Ambassador Prentiss. I don't know if it works, but it wouldn't let me sleep until I typed it out.

All I Have

The morning dawned beautiful and sunny. It was either a great day for a wedding…or a funeral. But either way, Dave Rossi was going to be a satisfied man. At least, that is what he kept telling himself as he showered, then grabbed a cup of coffee.

At precisely eight a.m., the doorbell rang to let him know that the caterers and wedding coordinator had arrived. He faintly heard the sound of hammers setting up the rose covered archway and the chairs and tables being off loaded, and couldn't help but wonder if maybe he had jumped the gun.

"Second thoughts?" Elizabeth Prentiss asked, cutting thru his thoughts.

"Not really. No. Just thinking. Coffee?" he offered.

"Thank you." Elizabeth entered the spacious kitchen and took a seat at the island. She watched intently as Dave took down a mug from the cupboard, filled it with java, then carefully added the sugar and creamer before handing it over. She tested with a sip. "Perfect. Emily is going to be a lucky woman."

"I suppose she will," he agreed simply.

She studied his face. Though she wasn't a seasoned profiler, she had been around enough people and could read their minds. "I thought you weren't having second thoughts."

"There is that little bit of a doubt nagging in the back of my mind," he confessed. "But I wouldn't call it a second thought."

Elizabeth nodded and sipped carefully. "Are you sure you shouldn't have asked her first? I know my daughter, and surprises are not exactly something that…well, to put it lightly, she tends not to be thrilled by them."

Dave took his time pouring a cup of coffee. Slowly he stirred in the sugar and cream as he bided his answer.

"I disagree. I've worked beside her for five years, and I've seen her at her best and worst. I think I know her better than she knows herself." He paused to sip. "If I had dropped to one knee and proposed, she would have been insulted. You should know, I asked her that night when she said she was leaving the BAU. She didn't believe that I was serious."

"But, Dave," Elizabeth protested with the wave of her hand, "all of this? I mean to stage a wedding for someone else in the hope that in the end, Emily will realize that she loves you…" She shook her head in disbelief. "What if it doesn't work out? What if she rejects you?"

"Then she rejects me," he acknowledged. "At least I can't say that I didn't give it my best shot."

Elizabeth set down her mug. She gave him the same serious look that she had used with dictators and politicians who had thought they had gotten the best of her. Even the best of the best could not hold out against the infamous Prentiss glare.

"I'm going to ask an honest question," she began evenly, "and I'm going to want an honest answer."

Dave nodded appreciatively. "I respect that. Go ahead. Ask."

"Why my daughter?"

"Excuse me?"

"Let me rephrase that. Of all the women you have known - and I am very well aware of your legendary reputation - and counting in the three you married and divorced, I'm trying to figure out what my daughter has that has attracted you to risk it for the fourth - and presumably - last time."

"Would you believe that I love her?" he asked.

She nodded. "I would. If I wasn't able to see through that pathetic, run of the mill, generic bullshit of an answer you just gave me. If you want her to believe, you have to make me believe."

Dave brought the mug to his lips and considered her statement. He had to appreciate the Ambassador's passion and protective nature when it came to her only daughter. It was no wonder that Emily was an expert profiler. It was definitely a trait she had inherited.

He set his coffee on the marble counter. "Point made and taken. In a nutshell, I don't want to lose her again. That's the short answer. The more complicated one would be, that of all the women I've known, Em is the one I would stand beside and behind. She's had my back, and I've had hers. She's also my partner and there is nothing that I wouldn't trust her with - my survival, my life."

Elizabeth sniffed and wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek.

"I never realized how much she meant to me until that night she risked it all with Doyle." Dave tried not to remember that horrible night when everything about the BAU had changed. He tried not to remember the pain that had filled his heart when JJ had announced that Emily had never made it off the table.

"Everything I had believed in was tested that night," he continued. "I definitely became good friends with a bottle of scotch." His look was dark as he recalled those long, lonely, desperate nights. Then he brightened. "But then she came back. And I knew that I had my second chance to make it right."

"When did you know?" Elizabeth wondered. She was intrigued by the confession of a man she had judge with a jaundiced eye after reading the dossier that she had requested when there was even a hint that her only daughter was seeing the infamous FBI Lothario.

"The moment I touched her hand in the bull-pen that first morning after coming back from retirement," he said. "And it grew from there." Dave turned the mug around in his hands thoughtfully. "But if I'm going to be honest, then I have to say that the moment I completely lost my heart and knew that she was the one, was when she counseled me about getting back with my first ex-wife."

Elizabeth blinked, shocked by Dave's confession. "Excuse me?!"

"My first ex-wife, Caroline, came back and…" Dave took a moment to form his thoughts so he could be kind to her memory. He didn't hate her - at least not in the normal sense of the word - but there was still a part of him that felt betrayed by her deception.

"…she led me to believe that there might be a…second chance between us. I was confused because there was a part of me that had hated that we had divorced. I…I think that the younger, idealistic part of me wanted to grasp and reclaim what we had had."

"What happened? Why did you divorce?" Elizabeth inquired. Then she held up her hands. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry into your personal life…"

"I understand. And I know how you feel. If my daughter was marrying a man like me, I would be delving deep into his past and asking every question." Dave smiled, sighed. "We were young…maybe too young to deal with everything life throws at married couples. We desperately wanted a child, but when that moment came…" His lips twitched with emotion. He took a moment to compose himself.

"Our son died at birth," his voice was tight.

Elizabeth covered his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry, Dave."

"Me, too. I tried to accept it as God's will, but Caroline couldn't. Or maybe she wouldn't. Either way, we tried to make things work, but in the end, she filed for divorce on the grounds of abandonment. We went our separate ways. I think I tried to find what we had with the two other marriages. But I guess Caroline couldn't let it go. And she punished me in the only way she could."

"I'm so sorry," Elizabeth sympathized as she recalled the night Emily had phoned to tell her what had happened to her friend. She had heard the heartbreak over the telephone line, and it hurt that she couldn't hold her daughter and make the sadness go away.

"Emily was there for me. She listened and never judged. That's when I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her." Dave finished off his coffee. "Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, and maybe it's not going to end well," he admitted. "But I have faith. I have love. Everything else…well, I take it…no matter how it ends."

Elizabeth nodded. "You took me in. You're giving me a place to stay. That tells me all I need to know about how much you love my daughter." The doorbell rang, breaking the moment. "You should get that," she pointed out.

"Do you want more coffee?"

"I can get it." Elizabeth moved off the stool toward the counter. "Emily is lucky to have you."

"Thank you." Dave placed his mug in the sink.

"Would it be rude to hold on giving my blessing until we know for sure how this is going to end?"

"Not at all." The doorbell rang again. Before Dave could leave, Elizabeth touched his arm. "I like you, Dave. And I want you to know that my daughter would be a fool to turn you down," she stated evenly. Dave nodded stiffly. She smiled. "Fortunately for you, my daughter is anything but a fool."

The doorbell rang repeatedly.

"Go get the door. Let's get this wedding started."

Dave leaned down and pressed a kiss to Elizabeth's forehead. Elizabeth watched him leave the kitchen.

"Emily doesn't stand a chance," she whispered thru a teary smile.