Hotch looked back at the girls and just shook his head at all of the things they were carrying. "What all did you bring?"

"Just the essentials, Sir." Garcia replied.

"Yeah, just essentially everything." He turned and unlocked the door. "Come on and let's get started. The delivery time is scheduled for nine."

Hotch stuck to cleaning out the fridge and actually cleaning it while the girls worked together on the rest of the apartment. Fifteen minutes later, he walked out and let the deliver man in. He took notes on how the machine worked and then helped the man find a central location that would allow Reid full range of the apartment.

"I've set the titration and it shouldn't need adjusting but here is how you do it." He showed Hotch how the controls worked. "If his doctor changes it, we'll come back out and make adjustments. Since this is his first machine and he'll be on it 24/7, I'll come by weekly for the first two weeks to check things. Then it will probably go to once a month for two or three months and then it will be every three months." He started pulling out packages of hose and laid them beside the machine. "He can use tap water but I actually recommend using distilled. It keeps the machine clean longer. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, what does he do for oxygen when he has to leave the house?"

"He'll need to order some portable tanks to have on hand."

"Isn't that included today? He has a doctor's appointment in two days." Hotch queried.

The deliver man searched through his papers. "I don't have any orders here. Will the hospital be sending him home with a canister?"

"I don't know let me call and check before you leave."

"Morgan. It's Hotch. Yeah, he's here now. Can you find out if they are sending him home with portable oxygen? He doesn't have any orders for any and we need to figure this out for his doctor's appointment."

Hotch held up a finger to the deliver man, "He's checking with the nurse now."

"Okay, thanks. Any requests? Hi, Reid. Sure, no problem. Do you need shoes, too? Okay, see you soon."

"Yes, they are sending him some home and the nurse said that it should be enough for his appointment." Hotch shook the man's hand, signed the forms, and led him to the door.

"Wow, you all have really cleaned up in here." Hotch said when he looked around the bedroom. "You do know he'll let it die right?" The older agent gestured to the plant sitting by the window.

"It'll last as long as the rest of us take care of it." JJ said.

Hotch laughed, "Well, I'm going to put together some clothes for him and then head out to get groceries. Do you think everything will be done by the time I get back?"

"Sure, we just have to decorate." Emily said.

"Good, because I hate to say it, but we do have to get back to work. Morgan's on a week of vacation but Strauss is really turning her nose up at us."

"We can't abandon him, Hotch." Garcia protested.

He held up his hand, "We aren't abandoning him and Rossi is placating her today. We'll just have to make sure that in the future there are more of us working than there are with Reid. I promised Morgan we would all do this and I am not letting Reid go through this alone." Guilt laced the older man's words when he thought of his own ex-wife and son.

"We know, Hotch." JJ softly replied.

"Okay, get to it." He turned back to the closet to retrieve the bag that Spencer had requested and started going through the chest of drawers for clothes he would need to come home in. When he was finished, he went back to the closet and took out a cardigan. Even though it was warm out he knew that Reid would be cold and the sweat pants would definitely not be enough. He chuckled when he folded it and placed the sweater on top of the specifically requested mismatched socks. Though it wasn't really a joke, he just knew that the socks were influenced by his mother. You just had to be a little crazy to pick these and then to match them together.

***

Forty-five minutes later, Hotch walked back into the apartment to find it filled with festive colors. The girls had managed to decorate almost every surface in the living room and hall. There brightly colored streamers attached to everything and about twelve balloons scattered around the room in various corners so that no matter where Reid stood or set he would be reminded that they were thinking of him. He let everyone help put the groceries away and then walked into the bedroom to retrieve the bag he had prepared earlier. The older agent smiled when he turned around to leave and saw the four foot card attached to the wall where it could be seen from the bed.

"Come on everyone, I have to go now." He followed the girls out and they said good-bye at their cars. Hotch headed to the hospital to help Morgan bring Reid home.

***

"Knock, knock." Hotch called from the doorway.

"Great, my clothes are here."

"Well hello to you too." Hotch said.

"Sorry, thanks for coming. Are you here to spring me?" Reid asked excitedly.

"I take it someone is eager to leave."

"Yes, I am." Morgan interjected.

"I'll leave you two to get dressed and go find a wheel chair." Hotch handed Morgan the bag and headed back out the door.

***

"Give me that," Spencer said grabbing for the bag.

"Okay, okay." Morgan handed over the bag. "Just let me know when you need help."

Reid tossed the covers back and swung his legs to the side. Then he unpacked the bag before sliding the sweat pants on. He slid off the bed and tied the draw string. Spencer then untied the strings of the gown and slipped it off. He started to put his arms into the t-shirt before Morgan came over and said, "You might want to take this off first." The dark skinned man then slipped the oxygen tubing off and let his friend continue to put the shirt on.

Spencer then padded over to the recliner and sat down to put on his socks and shoes. Mid-way through the second sock, he almost fell out of the chair.

"Whoa, easy there," Morgan pushed him back into the chair and quickly put the oxygen back on. Then he raised Reid's feet and started putting on the second sock and shoe. "You have to take it easy, Reid. You can't do everything so soon. If you pass out, they might not let you go home."

"Sorry," Spencer whispered breathily.

"I know it's hard but I want you to get better as soon as possible, too."

"Hey, what's going on?" Hotch asked wheeling the chair in.

"Just a little too much of a hurry. He'll be fine in a minute. I'm going to let the nurse know that we're ready."

Before Morgan could make it out the door, the flirty nurse Linda walked in pulling an oxygen tank on wheels. "I see that you're chariot has arrived. Let me switch you over and then you can be on your way."

"Can you show me what to do? He has a doctor's appointment in two days and we'll need it again."

"Sure, handsome."

After everything was changed, Spencer got up and sat in the wheel chair. "Here, make yourself useful." Morgan teased while placing the empty clothes bag and the bag of everything else that had been brought to the hospital in Spencer's lap.

"Have wheels, will travel." Reid joked back and then coughed several times.

"If you have any problems before your appointment, be sure to go to your local emergency room." Linda told them as they began walking down the hall.

***

The drive was quiet except for the hiss of Reid's oxygen. Morgan had chosen to sit in the back with him and when Hotch looked back he saw Reid's head was resting on Morgan's shoulder.

It was a short ride and Hotch got out and grabbed the bags from the back of the SUV while Morgan woke Reid and got him and the oxygen out.

They started up the stairs to the building and by the fifth step Spencer was wheezing and having trouble catching his breath.

"Hotch can you get the oxygen for me?"

"Sure." After he took the handle, Morgan stepped up beside Reid.

"Come on, Pretty Boy; put your arms around my neck."

"What . . . are . . . you . . . doing?" Reid wheezed.

"I'm going to carry you the rest of the way."

"No . . . you're—"

"Sure, you can continue to walk in by yourself and it will take until next year."

Spencer hung his head while still clinging to the railing.

"Look at me, please." Morgan tilted the younger man's chin up. "You're going to get better and you're going to walk these steps by yourself." He sighed. "Just not today. Okay?"

Morgan watched his friend nod his head and then turned and wrapped his arms around his neck. Morgan leaned down and scooped his legs up. "Don't worry about it." He whispered and they continued on into the building up to Reid's floor.

Once Hotch had the door open, he let Morgan walk in ahead of him and the older man watched him sit Spencer down on the couch.

"How do we do this?" Morgan asked Hotch when the older man walked over and turned on the oxygen machine. Spencer just about jumped out of his skin at the loud beep it made when it came on. Hotch showed Morgan the controls and then began unwrapping the long tubing. He walked over and switched it out for Reid.

"Do you want to take off your sweater?" Hotch asked after helping Reid connect the new tube to the nasal cannula.

"No, I'm still cold."

"This tubing is long enough for you to go any where in the apartment that you want. And this machine extracts the oxygen from the air so you don't have to worry about changing it. Oh, and the girls decided you needed some plants to increase the oxygen level in your apartment. There are two in here and one in the bedroom."

"But I'll kill them." Reid protested.

"I told them. But they said as long we are coming over to help you we have to make sure they stay alive. Do you hear that, Morgan?"

"Yeah, yeah. That was JJ wasn't it?"

"Got it in one." Hotch moved over to the coffee table and turned the laptop around. "There's also a surprise on here."

Reid leaned over and hit the power button.

"Surprise!" The smiling faces of the three girls shouted at him. "We hope you get to feeling better. There are a couple of casseroles in the freezer and one in the fridge that just needs to be heated up for tonight's dinner." JJ said from her side of the screen. "I bought you some of the expensive coffee you love but hate to spend the money for. Now don't drink it unless you are allowed but eventually you will be so it's there waiting." Garcia said. "And don't worry, I didn't let them rearrange anything though it was pretty hard to control at times." Emily chimed in from the other side of the screen. "I've setup the web cam and you are all hooked into the BAU so any time you want to chat just click the little red bird in the lower right hand corner." Garcia instructed. "We miss you." They all chimed in and then the screen went to a scrolling banner that said welcome home.

"I need to get back to the office. You should have everything you need but feel free to call or like Garcia said use the web cam any time." Hotch turned back to the door.

"Hotch, tell them thanks for everything and I love the decorations." Reid called out.

"Will do. See you soon." He walked out the door and left the two men to settle in.