"Quantico Fire and Rescue!" Reid had never been more thankful for those four words.
"He's back here." Now, JJ was losing at holding back her tears. "His name is Henry."
Henry started to get visibly afraid, and the paramedics took note of that.
"Hey Henry! We're here to help you get to feeling better. Have you seen the inside of an ambulance?" Henry shook his head as the two men started to get him hooked up to a monitor and prepare to start an IV. "Well you're special enough to ride super fast in one! How does that sound?" Henry gave his first smile of the day, and although weak, it allowed JJ to take a much needed breath.
"This is just some air that will make it easier to breathe, it might tickle your nose a little." The taller paramedic smiled, looping a nasal cannula behind his ears. "Okay Henry you look pretty brave and strong to me, am I right?" Henry nodded. "Well I'm going to put a super tiny tube in your arm that will give you medicine to make you feel a little better, but it's going to give you a little pinch at first. Do you want to squeeze your daddy's hand real tight?"
Spencer's heart soared when the paramedic referred to him as Henry's dad and couldn't help but smile when Henry's little hand reached for his.
"1, 2, 3 poke." Henry barely flinched as the needle pierced his skin, the IV poke was nothing compared to the overall pain he was in. "Perfect buddy. I'll give you some medicine that will make the hurt go away. Just keep breathing nice and deep."
JJ and Reid had everything they needed ready. It felt like hours since the paramedics came but in reality it was less than 5 minutes. They loaded him onto the stretcher and covered his tiny body with a thin white blanket. Laying on Henry's bed, Reid saw the plush stegosaurus he had got him while on a case. The toy had quickly become one of Henry's favorites, so Spencer slipped it to the boy's hands.
"BP is down to 87/45. Pulse 133. Do you want to call a helo to national?" The taller man nearly whispered as they loaded the stretcher into the ambulance sitting in the driveway.
"Well get him to MWC first, have a helo ready. He's going to continue to desaturate."
"What, what does that mean. What's happening?" JJ was becoming panicked. She didn't understand what the EMT's were whispering, and she had no clue what was wrong with her son. She felt like she was handcuffed, having to watch her son approach death's door. She felt useless.
"His vitals are dropping so once we get to the local hospital he might need to be LifeFlighted to Children's National Hospital in D.C. But I promise you, we are going to take the best care of your son." The paramedic reached for her hand and gave a comforting squeeze.
After they loaded him up, and JJ and Reid were no longer within earshot, the two paramedics were able to relay just how serious this was to the local hospital's dispatch.
"Dispatch this is Medic Unit 28, we have a 4 year old male vomiting blood, difficulty breathing, low oxygen and BP sat, circular eye bruising, distended abdomen with a possible lump. He fits with sepsis criteria, so we are following prehospital protocol. We have an ETA of 5 minutes, patient is continuing to desat, we are requesting helo transport to children's national."
"Medic Unit 28, helicopter will be ready in 30 minutes, we will stabilize him in trauma bay 2 and get him prepped for transport."
"Medic 28 copy, dispatch show us en route."
••••••••••••••
Once the car was parked, the two came inside looking for Henry Jareau. They found him in a trauma room, covered in heart monitors, two IVs, and oxygen support; already being prepared to ride a helicopter to D.C.
"Mommy!" Henry cried. JJ looked to the nurse at the room's door, not sure if she could even hug her baby boy. The nurse kindly nodded, so she held him carefully, letting him know just how much she loved him.
Reid let her have that moment alone and went to locate the doctor in charge to find out something, anything.
"He's very sick. Without any tests or scans at this moment, we can't definitively conclude what is going on. He's going to be up in the air in maybe 20 minutes. Only Henry can go in the helicopter, but I promise, the flight medics are great at what they do and are going to take the best care of him."
Spencer felt slightly reassured with this, but was still concerned about how they would get to the hospital fast enough so Henry wouldn't be alone. Streets were backed up because of weather and resulting traffic, so it would take a couple of hours to get there by car. However, it didn't take a genius to think about getting a police escort.
"This is Agent Hotchner." Aaron's stoic voice rang out through the phone.
"Hotch it's Reid. I need a big favor. JJ and I need an escort to D.C."
"Wha-" Reid cut him off; they needed to be fast.
"It's Henry. He's being flown to a children's hospital there. Hotch. Please."
"Vehicles will be ready to go when you get here." The team technically did have some work to do in D.C. and weren't busy with a case at the moment so they had a work-related excuse. Hotch knew Reid and JJ were best friends. Right now, it didn't matter if they were more than that, Henry needed all the help he could get. He didn't care what Strauss would think about them using FBI vehicles for non-case related matters, and thinking about it she did owe him a favor. He needed to help however he could. If this was Jack, he would throw all BAU rules out the window to be with him.
"Henry, these are pilots that are going to help you get to Washington D.C. Mommy and Spence are going to be there with you real soon. But we need you to be super brave and we'll see you in a little bit!" JJ nearly choked on the lump building in her throat. "Mommy loves you so, so much."
••••••••••••••
The whole team was in the bullpen, being that it was a work day. They were all full of questions as to why JJ and Reid were both late. Especially Reid, he's barely had a sick day to his name.
JJ decided she wanted her team with her. She needed the help, so she gave Hotch the go ahead to tell them to come. She didn't have a ton of family, let only many that lived near. Her mom was on vacation in the Bahamas, Will moved back to Louisiana after their split, and her dad was dead. Her family was the BAU. When Will began to abuse alcohol and was subsequently fired, they were there for her. When her and Will finally split, the team was there for her. And year after year on the anniversary of Roslyn's suicide, they are there for her.
Garcia was sitting at Morgan's desk poking fun at something, most likely about her suspicions of Reid and JJ. Rossi was struggling to solve a crossword created by Reid the day before, and the others were all going on their third coffee of the day.
"I need your attention." Hotch spoke from the door to his office.
"Do we have a case sir? I didn't have one prepared." Garcia was confused, she should have known before Hotch if they did.
"No, worse. Henry is sick, he's being flown to D.C. Reid and JJ are on their way here right now and SUV's are lining up. She wants you there if you can. We leave in 15."
No one had time to process what was happening. What did "sick" mean. Like a bad flu? No, he wouldn't need to be flown for that. Maybe an allergic reaction? Or maybe another febrile seizure. Whatever it was, they didn't like where any of this was going.
Go bags were ready and they were all preparing to head out to the garage. Minutes after Hotch's announcement, both JJ and Reid came into the bullpen.
"JJ- Hi are you-" Garcia cut herself off from asking if she was okay, she knew there was no way she was okay.
"Thank you guys." JJ's eyes started to well up. "I want to fill you in with what is happening, but I barely know myself. The paramedics said he was vomiting blood, um his oxygen is low, and his stomach is very bloated. His eyes are swollen and bruised looking. His blood pressure started falling as he got into the ambulance and that's most of what I know. But they don't know what is making him so sick yet." She wiped her face with her hands. Retelling it made her see just how bad this was, but she didn't know what to do. And Reid wasn't spouting off statistics, so that either meant he didn't know anything, which was rare, or he had an idea of what it was, but was hiding it from her.
"Jayje, I'm- I'm so sorry. Is there anything we can do, anything you need?" Henry was like a son to Emily and the team. He's a kind, sweet, loving kid.
"You guys already are. I mean, you're getting me to my boy."
Reid walked to the kitchen to make JJ a cup of coffee the way he knew she liked it. He needed to keep himself busy in an attempt to keep his mind from wandering. He didn't know what to do to help, but he was trying. He tried to keep his mind from focusing on Henry's symptoms. He was almost sure he knew what this was, but he couldn't even say it to himself. He had loved that boy from the moment he first held him, he couldn't lose him, he needed him. Even the thought of possibly losing Henry made him feel like throwing up.
He handed her the cup and quickly slipped to the bathroom. He sat on the closed toilet lid, covering his face with his hands. Now he could cry. He couldn't in front of JJ, and not in front of Henry or the team. He needed everyone to think all was okay, he didn't know why. Everyone knew this was bad, but he felt the need to be strong for that 4 year old on his way to a hospital far from home, scared and sick. The others needed hope and he needed to give it to them.
He splashed water on his face, forced a smile in the mirror, and made it look like all was good. It was time to go.
••••••••••••••
Hey, so I'm sorry this chapter wasn't that good, but I will be uploading again soon. In the next chapter it will finally be revealed what's going on with Henry. I know Will is sort of a grey area right now, but I will go more in depth about that soon. I know a lot of people love him with JJ and he might be a bit OOC in this, but this is more of a Jeid fic, so I'm hoping people will be okay with it. Please review, I'd love to know what you think! Comments, suggestions, chapter ideas, and things you would like to see included in the fic are greatly appreciated! This is just the beginning so it will get better and more detailed as I go. Thank you for reading :)