CHAPTER 6
November 2010
Monday 22nd November… a day Emily had been both looking forward to and dreading. As always Caleigh woke her up just after 5am and the day began peacefully sitting in the rocking chair.
She was surprised by how smoothly the morning went. Caleigh dropped back off to sleep after being fed, laying her back in the crib Emily had moved her into when she started rocking and moving more she showered, got herself breakfast before changing the baby's diaper and dressing her for the day in a comfortable onesie.
Going back through the bag she'd packed and re-packed several times already. Diapers, several changes of clothes, two baby blankets and the stuffed cat her mother had brought back from Spain all packed ready to go.
All she had to do was pack the bottles…
She was due in Quantico for her PFT at 8:30, wanting to give herself time to center herself after leaving Caleigh in the daycare Emily ended up pulling into the Academy at 7:30.
A bitterly cold wind was blowing on the late November morning and it was just starting to rain, so she quickly slung the baby bag, her laptop bag and purse over her shoulder, wrapped Caleigh up tight and held her close as she made for the front entry.
Of all people arriving at the same time it had to be Erin Strauss. The two women would never be friends but there had been a silent ceasefire of hostilities since Emily called her out during the investigation after George Foyet and Haley Brook's deaths. Unhappy with the cold and jolting run across the carpark Caleigh curled herself into Emily's chest and started to whimper.
"Agent Prentiss!" Strauss' voice was surprisingly soft "Welcome back"
"Thank you ma'am" she felt a little uncomfortable as the section chief peered through the gap in the blanket at the grumpy baby. A grumpy baby who in Emily's biased opinion looked unspeakably cute in the purple onesie and matching beanie and cape Garcia had knitted her. Emily had already commissioned more capes from Garcia, they were soft and comfortable and kept the baby warm without impacting the safety of the car seat. Add in the snaps Garcia had put in the bottom they doubled perfectly as sleep sacks when they were out and about.
"A word of warning…" Emily steeled herself for some kind of lecture on not allowing her change in personal circumstances to impact her commitment to the Bureau or the BAU "the first day is never the hardest. The second is, because you both know what you're in for. Prepare yourself for an unhappy clingy baby for the next few nights."
Emily blinked at the words, she couldn't quite believe who they'd come from. Nodding her acceptance "And an unhappy clingy Mom?"
"That as well, it's never easy to leave them but when they're this young…" for the first time ever Emily saw the human side of Erin Strauss.
"I'm not looking forward to our first out of state case…" Emily uncharacteristically admitted.
"I'd imagine not." Strauss agreed "Good luck today." the older woman nodded before disappearing.
Shaking her head in astonishment Emily made her way to the BAU to drop off her bags and jacket before heading down to the daycare.
"Hey Agent Prentiss…" Emily had come in the week before to introduce Caleigh to the staff and take care of all the paperwork including the list of who could remove Caleigh on her behalf.
She'd ummed and ahhed for a while before listing Joy, her Mother and the team as authorised to pick up and drop off Caleigh. She'd prefer to have too many people listed than not enough.
"Hey" Emily smiled "She's a little grumpy, didn't like the cold and the run through the rain. I'll settle her for you and then you might need security to remove me." she tried to joke while handing over the baby bag.
Laying Caleigh on one of the changing tables she quickly checked her diaper and then lifted her to her shoulder. It only took a few minutes for the baby to drop off to sleep. With a heavy sigh Emily handed her over.
"I'll drop by at lunch time to check on her… and I may or may not try and take her upstairs with me."
Before she could think too much about it Emily stalked out of the doors.
Despairingly the team wasn't even there, they'd been called to Indiana on Friday and the message she'd received from Hotch said they'd solved the case and would be back that afternoon.
Back at the doors to the BAU Emily stands there for a moment to put on her Agent Prentiss armour before heading inside booting up her computer and getting to work.
Getting through three months worth of email was not going to be fun. Eventually she sorted by sender and hit delete on anything that wasn't from the team or Strauss and up. Most of it Hotch had caught her up on the week before.
By the time 8:15 rolled around Emily felt mentally ready to face her PFT and was just about to head down to the field when a message popped up.
"Due in inclement weather PFT's delayed. Will reschedule and notify all participants when their new time is."
She turned to head back to her desk just in time for Garcia's voice to echo through.
"My Em! You're back with us…"
Emily didn't even get a chance to move before Garcia was wrapped around her from behind.
"You're beautiful and fair and smart and not a boy! Don't get me wrong, I love Kevin and our boys are great boys but..."
Reaching up Emily grabbed Garcia's arms and held her close "I missed you too Pen…"
When lunch time rolled around Emily was up and out of the BAU like a shot, nearly knocking poor Anderson over in her rush to get down to daycare and check on Caleigh.
Who was sound asleep.
"How's she been?"
"A little grumpy, but that's normal" the young woman smiled "They all are for the first few days. Once she gets to know us and used to the routine she'll be fine."
Not caring if she accidentally woke Caleigh or not Emily scooped the baby up from the crib and cuddled her close. Caleigh didn't wake up but curled in close with a content sigh.
Signing Caleigh out, Emily and Garcia had what would be the first of many relaxed lunches.
The team lands not long after 3 and the 4 of them trickle back into the BAU greeting her with hugs.
They're just starting to settle when Emily gets the notification that her PFT is back on.
As expected she passes with flying colours, Hotch takes one look at her when she gets back up stairs and sends her home.
As predicted she has a very unhappy clingy baby. Every time Emily tries to put Caleigh down that night the baby starts to cry, stopping as soon as she's picked back up.
Dropping Caleigh off on the Tuesday morning is harder and Emily is a mess by the time she gets up to her desk. As soon as she'd handed her off to the day care the baby had started crying.
No major cases were on the horizon, so it was a day of research and consults.
In fact is was a week of research, classes and consults.
Every day it got easier, Emily started to get used to leaving her daughter and Caleigh sort of got used to being in daycare.
Before she can blink the weekend has passed and she's pulling back into Quantico for her second week back at work.
Statistically this is as long as they get to go between big cases and Emily is well aware that the likelihood of them getting called out in the next 48 hours is incredibly high.
When it does come Emily couldn't be more grateful that it was DC based.
She and Morgan we're talking to various homeless men near where Kelly Landis' body had been dumped when her phone started to go off. Pulling it out of her pocket she frowned as the number for the daycare in Quantico showed.
"Prentiss… WHAT?" Morgan turned sharply at her exclamation and watched as she started to jog to their SUV.
"Which hospital? I'm on my way…"
He caught up to her and plucked the keys out of her hand "Which hospital are we going to?" he asked knowing she wouldn't just walk away from a case.
"That was the daycare… Caleigh's been taken to Potomac Hospital."
He reached out and hit the lights and sirens before peeling off and heading south out of the city.
It was a tense 20 minutes that was taken in silence. Morgan didn't bother parking, just drove her straight up through to the ambulance bay and she was out of the car and running through the doors before it came to a full stop.
Pulling out he stopped briefly trying to decide if he was of more use here at the hospital with Emily or back on the case. He didn't want her to be alone yet at the same time he needed to catch a killer.
Quickly dialing Hotch he filled him in on what little he knew. With Hotch's assurance that he would call the Ambassador and let her know what had happened Morgan reluctantly headed back north into the city.
Meanwhile Emily had bolted through the doors and hadn't hesitated to flash her badge at the person manning admit.
"My daughter was brought in by ambulance… Caleigh Prentiss"
"Can you spell that for me please?"
Emily did as asked and tapped an impatient beat on the desk with the tips of her fingers.
"Come on in... I'll get one of the nurses to take you through."
Making her way through the security doors she was met by a nurse about her age with a kind smile who quickly guided her through the maze of beds and rooms in the ER to one of the trauma rooms. Emily swallowed deeply as she pushed through the doors to find her daughter in a bassinet, the only movement and sound coming from the ventilator that was forcing air in and out of her lungs through the tube they'd put in her throat.
"Oh God… you trached her..." she glared at the director who was sitting there in tears "What the hell happened? I left a healthy baby with you this morning…"
"I'm so sorry Agent Prentiss, I don't know what happened. She was fine, her content little self. She took her morning and lunch bottle's fine but was fussy during her afternoon one, didn't want to drink it and Maddie said she'd take a mouthful then pull away, after four or five she started to swell and wheeze…"
Behind them the nurse started at the additional information "Agent Prentiss, did you move Caleigh over to formula when you went back to work?"
"No" Emily frowned "I pump and store, I left 5 bottles with the daycare for her."
Catching on to the nurses thinking the director pulled out her cell phone and made a call.
"Anna, how many provided bottles for Caleigh Prentiss are left in the fridge? 3? Check with Maddie please… she did. I'll let the doctor know."
"Maddie gave her formula from our stores…"
"It's a start." the nurse sighed "The doctor will come in and speak with you soon. She's doing as well as we could hope."
"Can I touch her?"
"Of course" the nurse pulled up a stool for Emily to sit on "try not to jostle any of the equipment. The wheezing was caused by swelling in her tongue and throat, the tracheostomy bypasses that allowing her to breathe freely. Caleigh is doing all the work here… the ventilator is maintaining her airway and making sure her lungs inflate completely not breathing for her."
She nodded and ran a light hand over the downy hair, over Caleigh's cheek to rest on the rising and falling chest..
"She's cold…" Emily noted and was grateful when a blanket was brought over and tucked around her.
Emily's not sure how long she sits there watching Caleigh's chest rise and fall before a doctor finally comes in.
"Mrs Prentiss?" he nods at her as he checks the readouts and then gives Caleigh a once over.
"Agent…" Emily corrects distractedly.
"At this point it looks like Caleigh has had an allergic reaction to something. We're currently waiting on an Allergist consult and then a decision will be made on whether to keep her here or transfer her to CNMC in the district." He turns to face Emily head on. "We've got her sedated lightly enough to not fight the vent, I'm sure the nurse explained Caleigh is doing all the work and the machine is currently supplemental. For example her little body is going to get tired fast, the vent will pick up on changes to the effort she's putting in and give her a boost if needed."
They were interrupted as two doctors pushed their way through the doors and quickly introduced themselves as the pediatrician and allergist. Emily was forced to stand back and watch as they examined Caleigh and discussed the case between themselves for several minutes. After that the allergist left and the pediatrician turned to speak directly to her for the first time.
"Based on the blood tests and reaction it's definitely a severe allergy resulting in anaphylactic shock" She told Emily "While our pediatric unit is top notch it's not a PICU. We'll be organising a transfer to CNMC, I understand you're already familiar with their audiology unit?"
"Yeah… she has bilateral deafness from nerve aplasia. Official diagnosis came through 8 weeks ago." Emily confirmed "I feel like we've been bouncing around Doctors and Specialists forever."
"Get ready for some more. I'll go make the call for the transfer and we'll get back to you with an ETA."
An hour passed in relative silence, only the sound of the ventilator penetrating the fog Emily was stuck in.
Only when one of the nurses gently placed a hand on Emily's arm did she come out of it.
"The patient transport will be here in 15 minutes, I need to get her ready. You can ride with her… is there anyone we can call for you?"
Emily blinked and nodded pulling out her phone to find 20 missed calls from her mother, and more text messages from the team than she could count.
"Uhh… no… I'll call my mother and fill her in…" Emily stepped back and dialled her mother while the nurse started to make changes to the machinery.
"Mom… yeah… don't come here they're transferring her to CNMC. They said it's an allergic reaction… anaphylaxis... No idea yet… I'll call Hotch… can you swing past Quantico and get my go bag? Thanks, I'll call you when we're settled."
She hung up and hit Hotch's speed dial and had a very similar conversation with him. By the time she was done the nurse had finished moving all the equipment Caleigh was attached to over to transportable equipment.
Emily followed as closely as she could as they wheeled the bassinet down the corridor and out to the waiting ambulance.
What should have been close to a 40 minute drive in reality the ambulance ride only took 20 minutes with lights and sirens going.
At the other end Caleigh was whisked out of the ambulance and into the critical care ward where a swarm of doctors and nurses got her set up in her own bassinet and reconnected to their own equipment.
Glancing around Emily absently noted the filled beds, cribs and bassinets throughout the ward. Doctors and Nurses constantly monitoring their young patients and exhausted parents seated in comfortable chairs by the beds.
Eventually the crowd around Caleigh diminished and only a Nurse was left who gently led Emily over to the chair next to Caleigh.
"I'm Parul, I'll be Caleigh's primary care nurse until 10 tonight. You can stay with Caleigh as much as you want except during shift change over which is for 30 minutes at 6am, 2pm and 10pm. Visitors are restricted to immediate family only. We've taken some more bloods and once we get the results the doctor will be down to talk to you. Do you have any questions?"
"Umm… can I use my phone in here? I need to let my mother know where to go…"
"Text messaging only and your phone must be on silent while you're on the ward."
She quickly sent Elizabeth a message with ward and bed number and then slid down into the chair next to the bassinet.
"Last thing… despite being sedated babies are very sensitive to their surroundings, they crave human contact. Do you want to hold her?"
Not trusting her voice Emily nodded vigorously.
"Once we get her situated try not to move too much or jostle the equipment."
Emily quickly got herself situated and waited impatiently for the nurse to lay Caleigh in her arms.
Feeling the tiny warm body back in her arms Emily let out a small sob of relief.
Parul fiddled for a few minutes making sure everything was ok and none of the lines had become tangled or kinked before patting Emily's arm. "I'll be back to check on her soon."
Leaning back into the comfortable chair Emily closed her eyes and tried to relax her body. Tried to block out the hiss of the ventilator and beep of the heart monitor, pretend they were at home on the couch relaxing.
40 minutes later that's how the Doctor found them.
Emily's eyes popped open immediately at the presence of someone that close to them.
"Sometimes a cuddle with mom or dad is the best thing to calm sick babies. See this…" he pointed at some of the numbers "her respiration rate has stabilized, her pulse and blood pressure are both back in normal resting range as well…" She pulled up a stool and sat down next to them. "I'm just going to give her a once over. Despite the light sedation she was pretty agitated when she arrived, now she's safe with mom she's relaxed and I can can get a better idea of where she's at."
Emily sat as still as possible as the doctor did her examination only wincing when Caleigh started to shiver as the blanket was pulled away.
Then she saw the hives that had broken out all across her back and chest.
"Oh God…"
"Yeah… she is definitely allergic to something she came into contact with." the doctor commented "Just to prepare you the allergist is going to want to know as much detail as possible about Caleigh, general health, reactions, the worst diapers, what's changed recently etc."
"They gave her formula for the first time… every study I read said the longer I breast feed the better it is for her so I told them not to give it to her unless it's an emergency so I don't know why they… the centre director said she was unhappily drinking it when she started to wheeze and swell." Emily passed on what she had learned in the ER.
"The Doctor over at Potomac noted that for us" the doctor confirmed "It will be the first thing they look at. Now, the ER started her on epinephrine which halted the anaphylaxis and we've since moved Caleigh over to IV antihistamines and corticosteroids to reduce the inflammation. Hopefully overnight everything will start to calm down. It looks like we're in protracted anaphylaxis which means it could take a couple of days for all the symptoms to resolve" She tucked the blanket back around Caleigh.
"You're going to want to sit here and hold her every second you can…" the Doctor stares hard at Emily "And that is completely understandable, but if you exhaust yourself you will do her absolutely no good. Is there someone who can come and sit with her while you do things like shower and nap in a real bed?"
"My Mom is on her way over now… she's the only family we've got." Emily admitted "How strict is the immediate family only rule?"
"It's pretty strict but we make exceptions in some cases where the parents support system is non traditional."
"Umm, can you add Elizabeth Prentiss and Joy Mathers to my family list?" Emily bit her lip lightly "That's my mom and part time Nanny. Caleigh knows both of them and is comfortable with them."
"And they're the most likely you'd be willing leave here with Caleigh."
"Yeah…"
The Doctor's attention shifted to something over Emily's shoulder.
"I think that's Grandma here now. I'll move Caleigh back to bed for a while so you can catch her up."
Emily nearly refused to let the doctor take Caleigh but knew she needed to stand, stretch, fill in her mother, go to the bathroom and take care of a few other urgent matters.
When Caleigh was back in the bassinet she stood and stared at her for a long moment before blowing out a breath and turning to face her mother.
Elizabeth didn't bother asking any questions or if they were ok, simply wrapped her arms around Emily who slumped bonelessly and let Elizabeth hold her up.
"They had to cut her open mom… she couldn't breathe so they cut her open…" she whispered.
"I know…" Elizabeth breathed running a hand lightly through Emily's hair.
After several long moments Emily pulled away and wiped her eyes before leading Elizabeth over to Caleigh's bed.
"Can you sit with her while I get changed?" Emily really didn't want to leave but sitting here in the suit she'd been wearing since 5 o'clock that morning wasn't the best idea.
In the hospital change rooms she was dismayed to discover she'd leaked through the nursing pad, bra and her shirt and took the time to express. Slipping the full bags into the mini cooler she'd added to her go bag she headed back into the PICU only to be distracted by the news conference. The last person Emily expected to see at the podium was Penelope Garcia.
She only pauses long enough to get an idea of what the team is doing before continuing.
Nothing had changed in the 45 minutes she'd been gone… Elizabeth immediately got up from the chair and let Emily sit back down. They didn't offer to let her hold Caleigh again until after shift change late that evening. Emily realised immediately that it had more to do with Caleigh's stats than anything else so she spent the night watching the monitors. When the babies heart and respiration rate started to go up again just after 5 am she called a nurse over pointed at the monitors and asked if they wanted her to calm the baby again.
While she waited for the nurse to make a decision she studied her daughters face, Emily noticed it didn't seem as swollen as the night before, or maybe that was just wishful thinking.
Reaching a hand into the bassinet Emily gently stroked Caleigh's swollen cheek.
END CHAPTER 6