Chapter Three- Reid

Spencer Reid had always wanted children. This was a fact that he had confided in JJ alone. Of all the members of his team, he trusted her the most. He had even once had a crush on her, but he soon realised that they were more suited to being friends than lovers.

And then he met Maeve.

And he knew Maeve would be the one.

They had a rocky start, Maeve was kidnapped and then Reid ended up in prison, wrongly accused of murder but framed by Cat Adams and Lindsey Vaughan. He would be lying if he said that he knew that they were going to make it. He had doubts that they would last, but, to his surprise, Maeve stuck by his side and continued to love and support him. A few months after Reid had left prison, he found out that Maeve was pregnant. He was going to be a father. Initially, he thought of running. He wasn't the same person that he was when he met Maeve, he wasn't the same man who had said that he wanted children. But after speaking with Morgan, he stayed and supported Maeve through her pregnancy. Nine months later, Maeve gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. They named her Emily, after Emily Bronte, and gave her the middle name Diana, for Reid's mother.

Reid loved his daughter with every fibre of his being. He finally got what Rossi, Hotch and Morgan meant by not believing that you are capable of having that much love for someone. When he wasn't working, he was spending all of his time with his daughter. They would go for walks, he would read to her, play with her. Love her. With Maeve by his side, he felt that nothing was impossible.

Reid woke early one morning. He had been given the day off, having fallen asleep at his desk the day before. Emily Prentiss knew that Reid was working on little to no sleep and had been sympathetic. He looked to the space next to him and found that Maeve wasn't there. Panicking slightly, he got out of bed and padded over to the door and into the living room. Reid's living room was dimly lit and every inch of it was covered in books. The only spaces that you could find on the walls were covered in photo's of Emily and Maeve. Reid scanned the room, looking for Maeve and Emily. He looked at the sofa and saw a pair of feet hanging over the end. Quietly, he moved round to view the front of the sofa. There he found Maeve, sleeping peacefully with their daughter in her arms. Em must have woken and instead of waking Reid, she must have brought her into the living room and fallen asleep again. Reid smiled. He decided to return the favour. Carefully, he lifted his sleeping baby out of Maeve's arms and carried her into the bedroom. He picked up a volume of poetry on his way through to the bedroom. Emily stirred in his arms as he sat down on the bed and she opened her eyes. They were brilliantly brown like her mothers and were full of warmth and life and magic.

"Well, hey there, little one," Reid said softly, laying her down on the bed in front of him, "Did you have a nice sleep?"

Emily just looked up at him and smiled slightly.

"I'll tell you what, we'll let mommy sleep for a bit and you and I, we can sit in here and read some poetry."

Emily made a happy little noise as her father open the book. He was using one hand as he had the other gently placed on Emily's stomach to stop her from rolling off the bed.

"My mom used to read me poetry when I was younger. She was a professor of fifteenth century literature and its how my interest into the classics began. She would want me to read them to you too, I'm sure of it." He looked sad for a moment, remembering fondly, all the memories he had with his mother when he was growing up.

Emily cooed again and waved her legs, as if encouraging her father to read to her.

Reid smiled softly at her, "Ok, I think I've found one." He looked at her, and those beautiful brown eyes stared back at him, "Like leaves, blooming in the flowering spring, once they begin to grow under the sunlight, we humans like the enjoy the bloom of youth only for a while, without knowing, as a gift of the Gods, neither good nor evil…" Reid looked at her as he read. He knew she was only little and that she was probably paying more attention to the sound of his voice more than what he was saying, but in that moment, he truly believed that she was listening to what he was saying and that she was enjoying it.

He found a different passage, "At last love has come, a passion that rumour would make more shameful for me to have hidden than to have uncovered to anyone. Cytherean Venus, won over by my Muses, had brought him and placed him in my embrace. Venus has answered my prayer; let anyone supposed not to have a love of her own trumpet my joys instead. I would not want to entrust anything to sealed letters, so that nobody can read it before my man; no, I rejoice in my boldness, as I am tired of keeping a downcast stare…"

"Let people say that I'm worthy of being seen with a worthy man."

Spencer looked up to see Maeve standing in the doorway to the bedroom. Her eyes were bright and awake, despite not having much sleep. She was wearing his robe over the top of her plaid pajamas. She smiled as she surveyed the scene before her.

"That's one of my favourites." She said, coming into the bedroom and joining Spence on the bed. "I remember you reading it down the phone to me when we corresponded by phone."

"And then you wrote it to me while I was in prison." He replied, kissing her cheek.

"I thought it might cheer you up and remind you that you were my worthy man."

Reid smiled, "I'm still trying to be that man for you," he looked at Maeve and then down at Emily, "And for her too."

"Spencer, you are that man. You don't have to keep trying. I love you and I promise, we are not going anywhere."

Spence looked down at his hands tears prickling in his eyes. "What if I get it wrong? What if I fail you and her?"

Maeve sighed and looked at Reid, "We're bound to get things wrong, Spencer. We're new parents with no idea what we are doing. But do you know what we are? The one thing that we cannot get wrong?"

Spencer shook his head, looking at her curiously.

"We are a family. That means that we are always there for each other, we will always support each other, always love each other. Do you hear me? No matter what happens in our lives, we always have each other. You, me and Emily, and no doubt the other children that we will have."

Spencer looked at Maeve. He couldn't believe how lucky he had been in finding Maeve, she really was one in a million. "I love you, Maeve Donovan."

She smiled, "I love you too, Spencer Reid."

They kissed softly and Emily cooed happily, waving her arms around and smiling at her parents.