A/N: Well, this is like my favorite show ever now, so I just had this idea for a story. So tell me, like it, hate it. There will be NO Hotch/Reid or Morgan/Reid, just friendships all around for the team. Sorry I'm so bad about staying in character for the characters. Please Reid and Review!
A/N 2: This is supposed to be a one-shot but can be more. Also, because I was just so excited to get this done, I didn't have anyone beta this. ((sorry i'm so impatient lately!)). I apologize for any and all spelling and grammar mistakes. Hope you enjoy!
Reid stood before the huge window that seemed to yawn before him. He couldn't believe this was real. He realized he needed some reinforcement. He pulled out his phone and pushed the speed dial button.
"Hotchner." The voice sounded sleepy. Reid winced as in the background he heard a child whimper as though disturbed. He hadn't meant to wake Jack up. He couldn't find his voice for a minute. "Reid?" Hotch must have looked at the caller ID on his cell phone. He felt bad for waking up his boss, but it was the first person that he knew would be able to help him.
"Um Hotch?" Reid couldn't believe how childish his voice sounded. It was like he had turned back into a five year old. "I, uh, I need your help." He wished that he could get rid of that stupid nervous stutter.
"Where are you?" Hotch's voice had the ring of calmness and authority to it, but Reid could hear the panic undertones. Reid heard the rustle of clothes and the whine of a child as Hotch got out of bed.
"I'm uh, I'm at St. Mary's Memorial. I'm at the, uh, the nursery."
- - -
Hotch has a sleeping Jack slung over his shoulder as he strode quickly to the window where Reid still stood. He hadn't moved since he had slipped his phone back into his pocket and fixed his gaze on the window. He couldn't make himself go back in; he just stood there.
"Reid, what's wrong?" Hotch shifted Jack to his other shoulder and got a good look at Reid. His hair was messed up like he had been running his fingers through it and he had well, an overall crazed look to him, but he didn't look physically harmed.
"Why don't you just see for yourself?" Reid wasn't sure quite how to explain this situation. It just didn't seem real. He dug into his pocket and handed the note that he had been given earlier. It was a good-bye letter from her.
Spencer
Sorry to have to leave like this, this is your daughter. I wish I would be there to help you take care of her.
Lacey
Hotch looked shocked when he had finished reading the letter. "Are you um sure she's yours?'
"Yea, I mean, why, why would she lie?" Reid ran his fingers through his hair again. He really wasn't sure what to think right now. He had cared for Lacey, but they just hadn't worked out, but he had had no idea she was pregnant. He would have helped her, been there for her, but she never knew.
"What are you going to do?" Hotch didn't even know what to think. Reid wasn't the first person he thought about when he thought father. Reid was still like a kid to him.
"I just, her mom is gone and without me, she'll go into foster care I guess. I don't want to leave her alone. I mean, I don't have anything ready for her, but I'll find a way to make it work." Reid started to sound more confident as he made up his mind.
"I'll help you with whatever you need." Hotch immediately offered. He knew the entire team would be there for Reid. They were his family. "I'm sure the whole team will help you out." Reid gave him a tentative smile. He had been scared that Hotch might laugh at him. "Why don't you think about it tonight? Come spend the night at my apartment, I'm only five minutes away."
"You sure?" Reid was surprised. Hotch nodded and motioned Reid to follow him. Reid realized that he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. They headed for the exit together.
"Wow kid, your own baby girl?" Morgan just couldn't believe that the kid of the team was now a daddy. "What's her name?" He was leaning against the wall, his hands shoved in his jean pockets. He was proud though underneath that tough guy exterior. Having a kid might do the kid some good.
"I uh, I haven't decided." The entire team was scattered throughout Hotch's living room. Will had tagged along with JJ and had brought the bubbly Henry. Jessica had offered to watch Jack so Hotch could help Reid get situated. Everyone was stunned, trying to wrap their head around the fact that the baby of their team had a baby.
Reid jumped when his phone rang. He recognized the number of the hospital where his daughter was and felt his heart drop to the floor. The hospital wouldn't be calling unless something was wrong.
"He-Hello?" His voice quavered in an undisguised fear he had never felt before. He didn't want anything to be wrong with his little girl but deep down in his heart, he knew something was wrong.
"Is this Dr. Spencer Reid?" A short, loud voice rang through the phon. Even through the phone Spencer knew this woman got down to business and fast. She was used to delivering bad news.
"Yes ma'am." He wished she would just tell him why she was calling and end the suspense already. It felt like it was killing him slowly from the inside out. Something was definitely wrong and this lady was taking too much time to respond.
"We have had a situation and would like you to come here immediately." She still hadn't told him what was wrong. He wanted to just shake her and get her to tell him what the situation was. He just needed to know, hear, that his baby girl was okay.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Reid couldn't stop his voice from shaking. He didn't think he had ever been this scared before. "Please just tell me."
"Your daughter is having trouble breathing." Reid felt his blood run cold. "We can explain better here." Reid sat down on the ground, almost falling, sitting with his legs sprawled out in front of him. This wasn't supposed to happen. The phone clattered loudly onto the floor. A miniscule voice could be heard emulating funny sounding noises, but no one paid any attention to it.
"Reid?" Morgan was instantly squatting beside him, worried by how white his best friend's face had gone in an instant. "Talk to me." He shook his shoulder, but Reid couldn't seem to hear him. The rest of the team quickly assembled around him, letting him have air, but lingering close enough to help him if he needed help.
Reid grabbed the phone from where it had fallen on the floor. "I'll be right there." He snapped his phone shut and stood up. He hadn't told the rest of the room what was going on. "Hotch I need to go back to the hospital right now."
"What's wrong?" The dad in Hotch picked up that something was wrong instantly. "Tell me on the way." He grabbed his keys from where they were sprawled on his coffee table and headed for the door, stopping to see Jessica nod him old as she continued to play with Jack. Reid nodded and followed behind him.
"Text me." Morgan yelled after the two that had disappeared like smooke. The remaining occupants of the room all looked at each other nervously. Whatever was going on, it didn't look good. With their jobs they were used to things changing in an instant, but this wasn't apart of their job.
"What do we do now?" Garcia unconsciously had moved closer to Morgan who slung an arm around her shoulder. JJ grabbed Henry off the couch.
"We wait baby girl."
- - - -
Reid sprinted for the stairs as soon as Hotch had managed to find a parking space. Hotch took off after him surprised. He didn't think he had ever seen the kid run so fast.
"Are you Dr. Reid?" The nurse looked up casually from her clipboard as the cardboard thin man skidded to a halt before her. He looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep and was quite disheveled.
"Yes ma'am." Reid bit his lip. He just wanted to know what was going on and if this lady didn't tell him in the next ten seconds, he was going to climb over the desk and grab those sheets right from her hands.
"The doctor is in with your daughter right now. Your daughter has been moved. She's in the NICU. You will need to put on a gown, mask, and gloves." She handed him a pass with the name label with the name Reid written on the front. Hotch caught up with Reid then. "Are you his partner?" She asked, slightly confused.
"No, I'm his boss, SSA Aaron Hotchner." He flashed his FBI badge before her and her eyes grew huge. It was obvious she didn't have much experience with law enforcement and her cheeks flushed and she became very flustered.
"Uh, um, oh, uh ok. I'll give you a pass with his name on it too, so you can um have access too. Uh, here you go." She got more flustered as she wrote the wrong letter and had to start over. With a shaking hand she handed the badge over and Hotch took it from her. He put a hand on Reid's shoulder to guide him down the hallway.
"What do you think happened?" Reid's voice was just a whisper. He seemed to be frozen without Hotch's help. Suddenly Hotch became his lifeline.
"We're going to find out, but I'm sure you'll know more than the doctor will." Hotch looked for the right place to turn. This was actually the hospital that Jack had been born in, but he had never had to come to the NICU.
"But what if she's not?" Reid's voice had gotten so quiet that Hotch almost didn't hear him. He was shaking, scared. Hotch knew what that felt like, but it wasn't something he wished on anyone.
"She will." Hotch didn't know how to say that something might not just be okay. It just had to be okay.
- - -
Reid had worn hundreds of pairs of gloves in his career as an FBI agent, but he had never expected to be wearing a pair standing in the dressing room of the NICU to see his baby daughter. He looked over at Hotch to see if he was ready before he stepped up to the next set of automatic doors and they were in the room.
Twenty or so tiny warmers and incubators were scattered over the airy and spacious room. The babies in this room were tiny and had lots of tubes running all through their bodies. He scanned the room before spotting his own baby girl three from the left. He made a beeline for her.
"Dr. Reid?" A woman wearing the stereotypical white coat was standing next to the incubator writing notes on a medical chart. I'm Dr. Janis."
"It's umm ni-nice to um meet you." Reid wasn't really sure to say. He wasn't really that pleased to have met him. He didn't want to have to meet another doctor, he just wanted to be able to hold his little girl again and start learning to live again. His mouth dropped as he took in the changes to her. Tubes were attached under her nose, to her chest, an IV was threaded up her arm, and pulse ox attached to her foot. She looked so innocent, so tiny under the warming light.
"I'm his boss, what can you tell us about her?" Hotch got right to the point as he always did. This was his team he was talking about, granted the littlest member, but still a part of his team already.
"Well, sir, she's suffering from something known as Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn. It's when the newborn's lung doesn't clear the fluid inside fast enough and it results in something we know as grunting, rapid breathing, and cyanosis of the fingernails and toenails. We have already preformed an X-ray of her chest and moved her here to the NICU to provide extra care."
"Why does she need the CPAP?" Reid had read enough of medical books to know exactly what was attached to his daughter. It was the scariest thing to see them attached to her though.
"Sometimes infants who suffer from TTN generally have problems keeping their lungs inflated. This is just helping her." The doctor had a soothing voice and it was really helping Reid's panic level. "You should know that this generally goes away over 48 to 72 hours and has no residual problems."
"Ok, thank you." Reid took a deep breath in, held it for a few seconds then let it out. He carefully caressed her cheek. She was going to be okay. It was plump but it worried Reid that it was pale. The doctor watched the dad for a few minutes before she walked to check on her other infants.
"She's so beautiful." Hotch smiled. He didn't mind having a little boy, but she was beautiful. A pang of pain ripped through his chest as he remembered the discussion he and Haley had had talking about having more children.
"Thanks." Reid couldn't tear his eyes away. Suddenly he knew exactly what her name was going to be. "I know her name."
"What?" Hotch wondered what amazing name the genius would come up with. He knew that it would be wonderful. He remembered Reid reading a few baby books when JJ was pregnant.
"Haley Jennifer." Hotch's heart ripped when he heard the name of the love of his life, then he did a double take. Reid grinned at Hotch's face. Confusion was a foreign expression for Hotch. It was an array of emotions that Reid had never seen before.
"Are- are you sure?" Hotch was touched more than he had ever been in his entire life. He couldn't believe that his co-worker would do something so sentimental.
"I'm positive." Reid smiled at Hotch. He awkwardly wrapped one arm around Hotch. The team wasn't big on affection, but this was one of those special moments. Hotch patted him on the back.
"Thank you. That's, beautiful, gorgeous. I know JJ will be happy too." Hotch couldn't stop the huge smile that spread over his face. "It's, just, thank you." He wasn't normally one for being flustered, but this was just wow, amazing.
"I hope so. I'm going to call them and give them an update." Reid started to walk towards the door, but stopped and walked back. He leaned over and kissed his girl, Haley, and walked to the front of the NICU to update his team with Hotch trailing behind him, still stunned.
Over the past two days, Haley had gotten exponentially better. Reid could see the color returning to her cheeks and she was moving around a little more. The CPAP was gone from her nose and she seemed to be sleeping better now. Reid hadn't left the hospital. He only left the NICU when Hotch forced him to get some food.
"Sir?" The nurse, Rachel, startled Reid. He hadn't heard her come in. He flinched before turning around. "We're discharging her today." A grin spread through Reid's face. Relief poured through his body like ice cold water dumped on him. "We told you this morning we weren't sure if we were going to hold her an extra 12 hours, but she's doing great! We feel like she will have no residual effects from this."
"Thank you!" Reid almost hugged her. This was probably the most amazing news he had ever seen. "That's just, great!" Rachel walked away to let the father bond with his daughter. She had seen a lot of dads, but this guy went above and beyond in devotion. "I'll be right back."
"Guys, guys!" Reid walked quickly towards the nursery waiting room where the team was huddled uncomfortably in chairs. They had taken up their vigil there. Strauss had given them a week off to help the young genius make the shift.
"What Spence?" JJ stood up and walked towards him to give him a hug.
"Haley gets to go home today!" The whole team breathed sighs of relief and smiles emerged on everyone's faces. Then Reid's face turned to horror. "But I don't have anything for her!"
"Don't worry about it pretty boy, we gotcha covered!" Morgan grinned, his pearly white teeth gleaming against his skin. "We got you a present, well we got you a lot of presents." From behind a few of the chairs came a baby car seat and a overstuffed bag.
"Garcia, Emily, and I went shopping." JJ said, smiling. "There are some diapers, pacifiers, blankets, and clothes in there." Reid was so relieved.
"I don't know how to thank you." Reid was so glad that his family was there for him. "I'll have to go for her crib and stuff too!"
"Don't worry about that either." Rossi spoke up. "I didn't know cribs were so hard to put up!" The team all experienced a laugh remembering the experienced agent not able to figure out a simple crib. "It's not that funny." He faked being hurt.
"I don't know what to say." He was just amazed. "Thank you."
"Technically we didn't break in your apartment since I have a key." Morgan added. "But I think you're going to love it."
"Wow." Reid just stuttered. His team, his family had rallied together. He pulled out his phone as he remembered the pictures he had taken a little earlier of Haley for the first time without the CPAP. The team gathered around to see the pictures and Reid looked up as they looked at the pictures. All of their faces were eagerly looking at the phone and it was just so amazing to see that everyone really cared about him, about Haley that much. He just couldn't believe how lucky he was to be blessed with a family like this. He had never called himself lucky before, but now, he realized, he was the luckiest man on the planet and he couldn't wait to start living his new life with his family.