Author's note: This story takes place directly following the season 3 finale. However, we'll just have to pretend that the case was solved and the mysterious SUV explosion never happened!
Dedication: For Frog-I hope you like.
Reid slowly flipped through the pages he was reading, not wanting to miss a single word. Despite his eidetic memory he found himself reading certain sections repeatedly. What he found out was truly unbelievable-and frightening. It seemed the more he learned, the more afraid he became of the impending situation.
He was staring at the page in horrified fascination when Emily peeked over her seat on the Bureau jet to see what had kept his attention for the entire two-hour flight. He didn't even see her shocked look as she saw the title of the thick book in his hand.
"Reid!" His head jerked up at the sharp tone in her voice. His confused, worried eyes met her surprised, amused ones as he wondered how many times she'd called him. "I called you three times," she said in response to his unanswered question.
"Oh, sorry. I was reading." His eyes indicated the book in his hand as he spoke.
"I noticed. Why are you reading that though?"
"I just wanted some information."
"Ok," she said slowly, "but..."
"I've never been in this situation before, so I wanted to be as prepared as possible." Her expression grew even more stunned at his words.
"I didn't realize you were in that situation," she nodded toward the book.
"Well, we all are to some extent."
"We?" The confusion and disbelief was apparent in her voice.
"Yeah, we, us, the team; we're all in this together so I figured we better know what's coming."
"I don't follow."
"Well, Hotch said JJ isn't going on maternity leave for six months or so. We'll have to deal with her while she's still here. I haven't spent a great deal of time around pregnant women, so I wanted to get an idea of what to expect. I don't want to make things worse than they already will be."
"Ah." That rather convoluted explanation actually made a bit of sense to her. Scary-I'm learning to understand Reid-speak! She bit back a smile as the words she'd been anticipating came.
"Did you know…?" She listened attentively to a description of various pregnancy symptoms including violent mood swings, random crying spurts, emotional instability, clinginess, antisocial behavior, and extreme irritability among them. Emily's eyes widened as Reid's lecture continued, some of the details surprising her as well. She suddenly felt a twinge of the apprehension that covered Reid's features. At some point during the discussion Morgan wandered over, and he stared in amazement as he realized the topic at hand. "Where on earth did all of this come from?" he interjected in astonishment.
Emily pointed to the book on Reid's lap. "Reid was looking up some info." Morgan lifted the book enough to see the front, then released it in horror when he saw the title. "What to Expect When You're Expecting? Why on earth are you reading that?"
"As I was telling Emily, I wanted us to be prepared to deal with JJ for the next several months. It's going to be pretty tough and I wanted to make things as easy as possible."
"Aw come on, Reid. Pregnant women are beautiful. It won't be that bad."
"Oh no?" Reid replied sarcastically. "Wait until you hear this…" Reid proceeded to read excerpts from the book for Morgan's benefit. Emily noticed with a smug smile that Morgan looked more and more disconcerted as Reid spoke. She laughed out loud when she realized that Reid wore an identical expression.
"Oh you guys, it will be ok," she said soothingly, in a tone that suggested anything but.
"Are you kidding? Did you hear what he just said?" Morgan cried sadly. "How on earth are we going to survive this?"
Suddenly Reid's face brightened, and he stood hastily, gripping the book as he moved. "I've got an idea. I'll be right back."
"What are you going to do?" Emily asked curiously.
"I'm taking this to Hotch." He paused at their dumbfounded looks and explained. "He knows what it's like. With a few friendly reminders, we might be able to get him to convince JJ to take her leave early." With that he hurried down the aisle toward the back of the jet. Morgan and Emily watched him walk away, and then looked at each other in awe. Moran shrugged as Emily spoke.
"I guess that's why he's our resident genius."
A/N #2: Even though I'm adamantly opposed to JJ's pregnancy, it is nonetheless canon. This is my attempt to cope with that sad fact.