Author's Note: Hello, everyone.

Anyway, thank you very much and a shout-out to ahowell1993, Hippiechic81, Beachgirl25, TVHollywoodDiva, tlcroft, Cherubim (Guest), and brendafay for your reviews.

Thank you and shout-out to everyone else, including Beachgirl25, tex08craze, brendafay, and everyone who read, followed, favorite story/author alert and visited my story. I really do appreciate it.

Please, do enjoy my story and please review; ideas and constructive criticism are always appreciated. AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Also got the info on RSV from KidsHealth, WebMD, Mayoclinic, and other medical sources.

Chapter 7:

"Aww, Anastasia. You did it! Yay!" Reid chuckled as he just witnessed another historic milestone in her development: her first crawl. In no time soon, she'll be taking her first steps, use the toilet on her own, sleep in her own bed. Not understanding before, he now knew how JJ, Simmons, and Morgan felt. He began to have all these thoughts and feelings he either never knew or felt in a long time; giving him a headrush.

They were soon put on hold when his cell phone began to ring. Looking at the caller ID—Garcia—which probably meant he had a case. "Reid here."

"Hey….aw. Don't tell me I'm interrupting your time with your precious baby girl." She depressingly said, judging by the tone of his voice,

"Not really. She just took her first crawl and I got it all on video."

"OMG! OMG-OMG-OMG!" She took the minute to calm herself. "Wait till I tell the others! Oh! Okay. Under control, I'm better now. Now, we got a case in East Tennessee."

"Okay. After I call Élise, I'll be right there."

"Already took care of that, she's on her way."

Knock-knock-knock

"Never mind, she's already here." He said, "I'll be right there. Tell Emily that."

"You know it. Late."

Opening the front door,

"Dr. Reid."

"Élise." Not really questioning how she got here so fast, inviting Élise inside, "Did Garcia tell you about a case…?"

Walking into Reid's place, "In East Tennessee? Yes, she did. I was already in the neighborhood."

After giving Anastasia to Élise, Reid rushes into his bedroom and grabs his to-go bag, along with his regular satchel bag. Walking back into the living room,

"Okay. Depending on the case, I should be home in two-to-three days, max. Call if anything and I mean, anything."

"Of course."

Before leaving, "Okay, Anastasia," Reid faced her, cupping her baby face with his hands as she was squirming around in Élise's arms, "I hope I won't be gone too long, but I'll come back as soon as I can, okay?" He had left on cases before, but this one was and felt different for him. Smiling sadly, he plants a couple of kisses on her forehead, cheeks, and head before wiping the tears from her eyes and knew she was about to say cry again. "Don't cry. Don't worry, now. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. Okay? Bye. Be a good girl, alright?"

He started to develop a lump in his throat. Instead, he swallowed the lump and said, "You two have a good day."

"You too, Doctor. And be careful." She said while smiling before taking Anastasia's tiny hands and waves them for her. "Say 'bye-bye to Daddy.' 'Bye-bye, Daddy.'"

Reid turned around for a quick second when he heard Anastasia starting to cry again. "Oh, Anastasia. It'll be okay. He'll be back." Reid waves at them both one last time before he headed off to work.


In the middle of the case, while the team was working, Reid decided to give Élise a call to see how she and Anastasia were doing.

"Hello?" Élise answered her cell phone.

"Élise?"

"Dr. Reid."

"Hi. I…uh…just calling to check on you and Anastasia."

"We're okay, thank you." She said, stroking her fingers through her hair as she was sitting up on the couch.

"Uh, let me ask you a couple of questions?"

"Of course, Doctor."

"How is Anastasia's temperature?" He asked as he rubbed his neck.

"I just checked it and it was 97.6."

"How does she look physically?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is, does she have colored lips, does she look paler?"

Élise put her hand on Anastasia's forehead, "Feels normal."

"Is she coughing, wheezing, her nose running, anything?"

"Nothing, doctor."

"Oh. Well, okay."

Élise nervously said, "Why? What happened?" she knew something was wrong, just from the way Reid sound, but shook it off and took it as Reid being a father and worrying about her.

"Nothing, Élise. Just…nothing."

"Okay. Hey, do you want to talk to little Anastasia?"

"Please. I need to so badly." Reid exclaimed happily as he was excited to hear Anastasia's voice. He needed to and very badly, based on the case he was currently working on with the team. "Anastasia. Hi. It's me talking. It's…"

He almost felt like crying as he heard Anastasia cry on the other line. "Aw, Anastasia. Don't cry. D-don't cry. I'll be home as soon as I can. Okay? Now, I gotta go. Bye. Love you."

He started to develop another lump in his throat as well as a single tear. Instead, he forced himself to swallow the lump, wipe away his tear and quickly hung up. The last time someone said those words to him…best not to go there; at least not for now and headed back to the team to deliver the profile and catch the Unsub.


Finally, the case ended, even though it took him and the team an extra day. Walking into his place and set up in the home security code. Straightway, he dropped his bags, keys, and coat on the floor—something he would never really do but did and needed it, he made a run towards Anastasia's room and finds her peacefully sleeping in her crib. He watched her for a few more seconds before planting a kiss on her forehead and moves a piece of her hair away from her face.

"I'm home, Anastasia," He whispered. "I told you I would be home. And I meant what I said before. I love you."

He quietly leaves her room, not wanting her to disturb her from her sleeping any further. Walking back, he sniffed a familiar smell. He noticed Élise walking out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with a paper napkin.

"Dr. Reid. I didn't know you…"

"I know." Still sniffing the smell that came from the kitchen. "Is that…chicken?"

"Chicken tikka masala, yes."

"Oh. Uh…thank you."

Élise noticed Reid was a bit distracted. "Are you okay, Doctor?"

"Uh….well….I…not really."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Turning to face Élise, "Maybe it's none of my business? Or perhaps, I should…"

"Wait." Reid stopped Élise. "I could talk about it."


Reid tells up talking to Élise about the case as they were eating, and it was a bittersweet one. Turns out that the Unsub was not a man as they profiled, but a middle-aged "wound-collecting" female serial killer who used the loss of her children from gunfire as a justification for her actions: which was deliberately attacking and shooting other people's children, so they would experience her loss. When they finally found her, she held a little girl and a group of children hostage at gunpoint while they were on a field trip to a museum. When talking her down didn't work and was about to kill the little girl, Reid shot her in the forehead, instantly killing her. After that, the little girl—Hannah was her name—and the children immediately ran up to Reid and hugged him and witnessed—along with the team—the reunion between the children and their parents.

"Oh," Élise took a minute to digest everything Reid told her. "I have to admit, I feel a bit sorry for her. But hurting those children was definitely not the answer."

"You'd be surprised with the Unsubs I've dealt with and the motives behind their actions."

"Let me ask you: why do you feel guilty about shooting her?"

Shaking his head, "To be honest, she was a mother who lost her children and…she basically had nothing else to live for. But when she had that little girl…"

"You did what you had to do; to save that little girl and the other children."

"You want to know why I think I shot her? It's because of the little girl…she reminded me of Anastasia. Those eyes, her hair…" He knew there was another reason, but kept it to himself.

"You not only saved her but those other children. If you hadn't, they would have died. Don't blame yourself. To those children, you were and are their hero. Your team are their heroes. They're alive because of you and your team. They'll never forget that, and their parents will also always be grateful for that."

Smiled at the comfort of her words, "Yeah. They are."

Élise took a quick look at her cell phone for the time; the sun was setting down, "I better get going before it gets totally dark."

"Don't let me stop you and don't worry about the dishes, I'll clean them. Good chicken by the way." Reid said as he got up, but not before rushing into the living room, grabbed his checkbook and scribbled Élise a check, along with a little something extra.

"Thank you, Dr. Reid."

"You're welcome. But before you go…do you…want to come to a Thanksgiving dinner at one of my team member's house with me and Anastasia? Unless you have another Thanksgiving dinner to…"

"No! No. I…I would love to come."

"I'll have Garcia text you the address."

"Thank you." Before she could leave, Reid extended his hand and Élise took the offer, giving it a small shake. "Good night."

"Good night."


Knock-knock-knock.

"Hold on, I'm coming," Rossi said as he opened the door and it was Élise. She was dressed in a white cashmere sweater, black coat with beret hat, scarf and gloves set, dark jeans and comfortable one-to-two-inch-booties, carrying a large tote. "Élise! What a surprise. Come on in."

"Thank you, Mr. Rossi, sir," Élise said as she walked in and took off her coat and hung it up. She waved at everyone else, who was in the living room, "Dr. Reid told me so much about you."

"He has?"

"Yeah. Like how you're written several books, how you created the BAU, your own shoemaker, but I don't see you as someone who could be a grump."

Rossi raised his eyebrow at that last comment, "Really?"

"Yeah, he told me how much of a grump you were when you first joined the team."

"Oh, really?"

"Mmm-hmm." She shook her head.

"Is that right?"

Rossi turned around and saw Reid walking down the stairs, "Anastasia's still feeling under the weather and a bit cranky, but I…" Reid noticed the look on Rossi's face. He knew it wasn't good. "Is everything okay?"

"Did you tell Élise that when I joined the team, I was a grump?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me that Mr. Rossi had the grumpiness of a grizzly bear."

Reid narrowed his eyes at his team members and their families. They were amused.

"Well, it was no open secret, but I didn't like a grizzly bear."

"Oh! So he was like a grouchy gorilla?" Élise smiled as she wanted to be assured.

Reid's face turned red from the embarrassment. "Yeah, Spencer? Was I a grouchy gorilla? Or a grizzly bear?"

"People! Food's ready!" JJ said from the kitchen, helping Rossi out.

"Come on, people! Let's eat!" Garcia said, "And Élise? I hope you like Carbonara; Rossi makes the best."

"Yay! I love Italian food! But first, I'm better go wash my hands." Élise walks past the two and went upstairs, leaving Rossi and Reid to face each other. Reid laughed and smiled nervously.

"Three things: one, I'm starting to like her, two, you're lucky there are witnesses around and three, you're lucky I think of you as kind of like a son now."

"It wasn't like that. I didn't…"

"Dr. Reid! Dr. Reid!" Élise shouted from upstairs. "It's Anastasia!"

Reid—followed by Rossi and the rest of the team, rushes up the stairs and into one of the bedroom. "I noticed she was having trouble breathing; she started to wheeze and now she's turning blue!"

"Rossi! Call 911!" Reid panicked.

"It's better if we drive!" Prentiss suggested as she pulled out her cell phone.


"How old is she?" An average-height doctor asked as everyone rushed into the hospital with Reid holding a bawling and wheezing Anastasia in his arms.

"She just turned nine months old." He tries to calm her down as one of the doctors take her from him. "It's okay, my lady. It's okay, lovey. I'm here. I'm right here."

He tries to go into the room with the rest of the doctors, "Dr. Reid, you need to wait here."

"No, I need to be with her. I need…"

"Dr. Reid, please. We'll let you know the second we get her stabilized."

Being forcibly held back by his team and Élise, all Reid could do now is run his fingers through his hair as he could hear Anastasia's wheezing crying from the other room. This was not the Thanksgiving he had in mind.


It's already been a few months and Reid was getting more and more antsy by the second; like Prentiss when she bites her fingernails; Élise was picking her nails right now or Garcia whenever she feared something has happened. He was touched that the team and Élise haven't left his side at this time of need, wanting to know Anastasia's state of health. He just wanted to blame himself. He knew Anastasia wasn't feeling well: she wasn't eating, she was fussy, she was tired and, yet he still went to Rossi's place. If he hadn't gone over to Rossi's place…

Thoughts again were put on hold when one of the doctors went in,

"Dr. Reid?"

"Dr. Rivers. Well?"

"Based on the symptoms and the diagnostics and chest X-ray we ran, Anastasia has RSV."

"Respiratory syncytial virus?" The doctor nods his head. The team had shocking looks on their faces; Garcia looked like she was about to cry, JJ had her hands over her mouth and the rest looked worried. "Had she developed bronchiolitis? Pneumonia?" He had read about RSV.

"We believe it's best to keep her here for a day or two for further observations and we've also giving her treatments, including antibiotics to treat any compilations at development." Dr. Rivers walks back into the room. Reid continues to see Anastasia in the hands of the doctor. Reid was so focused, he didn't even notice Prentiss putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Reid…"

"Oh, god…" Reid runs his fingers through his hair. "Oh, god. I…some Thanksgiving. Her first Thanksgiving…I'm just thankful she's going to be okay. Em, I…think I need some time off."

"Of course."

"I just…I'm sorry, I just…She needs me more than ever."

"Not judging. I'm thankful that you're part of the family."

"And us." JJ joined in, as well as Simmons, Rossi, Tara, Alvez and of course Garcia. "Don't forget about us. We're thankful to have you, too. No matter what, we got your back."


It's been almost a week and Anastasia was released right back into Reid's custody and back home with him. Reid had to extra cautious, even more so than the usual, for her. He had even told the team, including Élise, it is best to stay away for now, especially for the sake of Anastasia's health. He was making sure she was hydrated, used saline drops and bulb syringes, kept a cool-mist vaporizer to keep the air moist and make her breathing easier, and keeping her comfortable. Sure, there would be moments where she can be fussy and fidgety, but he knew just the thing to calm her down. He started humming to her,

If you smile

Through your fears and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile…