Chapter Eight
It was the last day before Spring Break. Keirsten could not believe how ready she was to go home and stay home on maternity leave. She was beyond miserable in the classroom by now. Little miss must be busy, was now wanting to just lay around in bed, or continue working on decorating the nursery.
Everything was going well through her pregnancy. Now however, she was just ready for it to be over, and to have the twins in her arms, instead of in her.
"Missus Reid, are you really not going to be back after next week?" Benny asked with a frown.
"No, I'll be staying home. But, I will make it up here for your last day of class to see you all graduate into first grade."
"Why do you have to leave us?"
"I need to stay home and get ready to take care of my babies."
"It's not fair," Darla said crossing her arms.
"Now, guys, I told you at the start of the year that I would not be finishing out the school year with you. It just would not be proba..." Keirsten became silent very fast when she heard a loud bang in the hallways. Grateful that her door was already closed, she quickly waddled over and locked. "Boys and girls, I want you all to get in the corner and sit down, stay quiet."
Confused as to what was going on, all the students did as they were told. They had heard the loud sound, but did not understand what it was.
Keirsten turned off the lights, and made her way to her desk as quick as she could. She grabbed out her cell phone and slid it in her pocket.
"Missus Reid... did you hear what I just did out in the halls?" the teacher in the next room asked, poking her head in through the little hall that connected the two rooms.
Keirsten nodded some. She walked over to the other woman. "I did, my door's locked, and my students are all in the corner silently. I'm about to push something against the door. Would you help me Kara?"
Kara nodded. "Sure, I'm bringing my kids over here as well, my door is also locked with the lights out."
Keirsten helped guide the other class full of kids into her own, making them gather in the corner with her own students. Once all where seated, she and Kara moved to push a few tables in front of the door.
"Do you have any idea what's going on Keirsten?" Kara asked in a hushed tone.
Keirsten shook her head. "No, all I know, is I heard a gun shot. I'm not taking any risks with the kids around."
The two teachers fell silent. They could hear loud screaming out in the halls, and more gun fire.
Keirsten thought a moment. She had to keep her class calm. She took a deep breath and looked at Kara. "We need to do something. Why don't we read them a few stories?"
"That could easily work," Kara claimed.
Keirsten pulled out a bunch of books, and two chairs. She had a feeling they would be there for a good bit of time.
Spencer was sitting on the couch with Adalynn laying right beside him with her head in his lap. Flipping through the television channels, he froze when he saw the school Keirsten worked at on the news.
"Hold up at local elementary school... what the hell? Adalynn, get down, I need to get going," he said as he stood up. He grabbed his phone and quickly called his team, letting them know what he had just seen. He was not going crazy, they had seen it all too.
He thought for a moment or two about calling Keirsten to see if she was all right, but he figured she was having to do her best to stay calm to keep a class of twenty kindergartners from getting scared.
He ran his fingers through his hair, and sprinted to the door, grabbing his car keys off the hook, and credentials off the table by the door. He was not going to just sit around doing nothing.
Spencer pulled into the parking lot and got out of his car quickly. To his pleasure, the entire BAU was there as well. "Guys, any idea what's going on in there?" he asked as he walked over to them.
"Some parent snapped is all we can understand. We're in contact with the assistant principal," David claimed.
Spencer looked at the east side of the school. "I might be able to get in there... I..." he paused and pulled out his phone as it started to go off in his pocket. "Uh-oh..."
"What's going on? There are no uh-ohs on the job Reid," Aaron stated.
Spencer bit his lip. "Kara Heart, the woman that teaches in the class next to Keirsten, just sent me a message from Keirsten's phone."
"Is she okay?" Emily asked.
Spencer shook his head. "No... she's had a bad panic attack, even if she tried to stay calm. I need to get in there. Her water broke..."
"How are you going to get in there? The school is fully locked down," Aaron claimed.
"There's a door in the kindergarten classrooms that leads to the play ground. All I need to do is get Kara to let me in."
Aaron blinked. "Wait, there are ways to still get in that building then?"
"Absolutely. I was trying to say that before I got this text."
"Okay, that will work in our favor. Morgan, Rossi, I want you two to go in with Reid, once inside, you two will go and try and get the shooter. Prentiss, J.J, you two stay with Reid, take care of Keirsten. We've got more than we've bargained for," Aaron ordered.
Spencer sighed lightly. He wondered if there was anyway to keep him from going into a panic attack. "It's too early..." he said shaking his head.
"Spencer, they are going to be okay. I'll get an ambulance out here for you guys. You won't do Keirsten any good if you don't stay calm yourself. Now go, we have a job to do," Aaron ordered.
Taking a deep breath, Spencer pocketed his phone and took off at a fast sprint towards the east end of the building. He could hear David, Derek, Emily, and J.J close behind him. He ran into the gate to the kindergarten play ground and over to the back door.
"Give her a call, don't just bang on the door or you could panic her even more," J.J ordered as she watched Spencer raise a fist to the door. She reached into Spencer's pocket when she saw him struggling to pull himself together and dialed Keirsten quickly. "Kara Heart, this is Jennifer Jareau of the FBI. Right now, I am standing at the back door with Keirsten's husband, and three more agents. We need you to let us in."
The four members stood silently at the door waiting patiently. After a moment, the door was opened by a woman slightly older than Keirsten.
"Come in, please. I don't know what to do to help her, without the children getting too scared," Kara stated.
"Ma'am, we need to let agents Morgan and Rossi get into the school halls to find the shooter. Once they go through the door of the empty class, it needs to be locked back up. Agent Prentiss and I are going to stay here with Reid to help with Keirsten," J.J explained.
Kara nodded lightly. "What do I do with the children?" she asked.
"Once that door is locked, get them to move into the empty class, Prentiss will stay with you to help them keep calm," David ordered.
David and Derek walked into the room and made their way out the door. Once it was locked, and all the children where moved into the empty room, Spencer dashed over to Keirsten's side.
"Keirst... are you okay?" Spencer asked as he knelt down beside Keirsten.
Keirsten had been propped against the wall. She looked up at Spencer with tears in her eyes. "Spencer I'm scared..."
"Calm down Keirsten, it's all going to be okay. Between me and Spencer, nothing bad is going to happen to you. Are there any blankets in here?" J.J asked.
Keirsten nodded. "There are, in the cupboard behind my desk."
J.J moved to the large cupboard and opened the doors. "I know this is going to seem weird, but you need to strip from the waist down. Once you do that, I'll get you covered with a blanket to keep warm."
Keirsten shook her head. "I can't get up well enough to even lift my hips up."
"Spencer, help her out there," J.J ordered. She was keeping calm, one of them in the room had to be, she knew it was not going to be Keirsten, and Spencer was so far out of it, he was not acting like himself.
Spencer looked into Keirsten's eyes, and used his thumb to gently brush a tear away. "Don't cry Keirst... it's going to be okay," he said with a slight shakiness to his voice. He tried to stay as calm as possible as he did as J.J had instructed him to do.
"Look, lots of babies are born early and do just fine, with twins, it's more common to be early because they are running out of room. Your panic attack might not even be what put you into labor," J.J informed.
Keirsten had never been so scared in her life. She leaned her head against the wall, and closed her eyes tightly. "I didn't even know I was going into a panic attack until Kara told me I needed to hold the book steady..."
Spencer took Keirsten's hand in his, and stroked it gently. "You are going to be okay. You need to calm down or else things could get more complicated than this. You put on an act of calm for your students and that's great, but your anxiety just could not stay down. Nobody can stay calm when there's a shooter in the building."
J.J watched for a moment as she covered Keirsten from the stomach down. "Keirsten, listen to me. You just went into labor within the hour. You are going to be just fine, I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you or the twins," she said looking Keirsten straight in the eyes. "Spencer, you need to get a hold of her doctor and let them know what's happened. Have them meet us at the hospital. Keirsten isn't going to be delivering for another few hours, hopefully by then we can get her out of here."
Spencer looked over for a moment before he realized J.J was talking to him. "R-right. Might be a smart idea," he replied. Things were getting a little to hectic for him for once in his life. He just hoped that everything would be all right like he was trying to convince Keirsten.
David Rossi and Derek Morgan were headed silently down the halls of the school, their weapons held down by their side. The two of them wanted to avoid shooting at any cost in the building.
"Rossi, what do you think the shooter wants with a bunch of teachers and elementary aged students?" Derek asked.
"Probably doesn't want all of them. But one teacher might have angered them some how. I bet it is a disgruntled parent who is mad about their child getting a failing grade, or even a detention," David replied.
"It's sad how now and days, the teacher is blamed for the child acting out at school, and not the parents fault."
"I remember if I just got one failing grade as a kid that I'd get a whooping, and I would not be aloud out of the house for anything but school, no television or anything," David stated.
"My mother would send me to my grandparent's for a week. They had no television, so I wasn't tempted to watch it. That, and I had to do a bunch of work around there while I was over."
"Kids just have it too easy now when it comes to punishments," David claimed as he and Derek stood at the end of a hall. Standing right in the middle, was a man with a gun held out at a teacher.
"Drop the weapon," David ordered.
The man turned his head slowly. "Who the hell are you?"
"David Rossi and Derek Morgan with the FBI, now drop the gun," David ordered once more.
The shooter turned around to face the two agents. "I thought this school was on lock down. How the hell did you get in here?"
"We have inside sources. One of our agents is married to a teacher here. Now then, what seems to be the problem?" Derek asked.
"Kid's being bullied, and the system is failing to help protect her it seems," the parent claimed.
"Listen, I'm sure that your child's teacher is doing everything in her power to keep her from being bullied. But the problem does not lie just here at the school. Now then, you need to put down the weapon, and come with us. You've put a young teacher in a panic attack, and she's gone into labor. We can not get her the help she needs with you still in here," David stated.
"Sure you can, you got in here didn't you?" the shooter claimed.
David shook his head. "With several kindergarteners in the room, we'd rather not have them see their teacher rolled away on a stretcher, she'd need to be brought out through the front of the building."
"You can't make me do anything you know."
"Sir, there are several kids in this school, we do not wish to shoot you. What would your child think if she saw her daddy about ready to shoot her teacher?" David asked.
The shooter had to think a moment. He lowered his weapon, and tossed it to the ground. "Fine. But this still isn't over."
Derek made his way over to the man and cuffed his arms behind his back. "You'll be thinking differently if that teacher loses her baby," he said in the shooter's ear.
Spencer was pacing out in the waiting room while Keirsten was being prepped for delivery. It was driving him crazy to not be in there for her.
"Reid, calm down. Once they have her changed and hooked up to the proper machines, they'll let you in," Emily stated.
"I'm sorry... but, I need to know if she's going to be okay. Her biggest fear right now is happening. Lorelei and Louis aren't supposed to be here for another month. She's be scared of them being early because of anxiety, and now it's happening."
"Spencer, the three of them will be just fine. Lorelei and Louis are going to be okay. Just think, in a few hours you'll be holding one of your children in your arms, and in a few days will be bringing them home," J.J stated.
Spencer sighed softly. "I would've loved to get a hold of the shooter at the school. This wouldn't be happening right now if it wasn't for him."
"Spencer, you wouldn't have done anything in the first place, your first instincts were to take care of Keirsten, and you did just that," Aaron claimed.
Spencer looked at the door. "Right now, I just need to be with her."
"Doctor Reid, you can head into the delivery room with your wife now," a nurse said as he stepped out of the hall.
"Good luck, let us know when we can see them," Penelope said.
Spencer nodded. He took a deep breath and quickly headed back to where Keirsten was. When he walked into the room, he rushed over to her side. "How are you feeling Keirst?" he asked running his hand through her hair.
Keirsten looked at Spencer from the bed. "Still pretty scared. They say with as close as the contractions are, Louis and Lorelei will probably be here in about two hours."
Spencer placed a kiss on top of Keirsten's head. "Louis and Lorelei are going to be okay so long as you stay calm."
Keirsten tilted her head back. "We haven't even fully finished the nursery. The cribs are put together, the walls are painted, but nothing else is ready for them. We were going to that when I left officially for maternity leave."
"Heh, once your asleep for the night I'll at least go and make sure that the sheets are ready in both cribs. Right now, how the nursery looks doesn't matter too much."
Keirsten glared up at her husband. "You will do no such thing. I refuse to be left in this hospital by myself."
Spencer sighed, and placed a hand on Keirsten's stomach, rubbing gently. "You won't be alone, I promise I won't let that happen. Besides, you have five other people waiting out in the waiting room wanting to know that you're doing okay."
"Really? The entire team is here?"
"Yup. I need to go let them know you're doing fine, I promise you, I will be right back."
Keirsten nodded lightly with a yawn. She was feeling very tired, and wanted to just close her eyes for a few moments anyways if it was possible.
Spencer placed a soft kiss on Keirsten's lips. "I love you so much. Get some rest."
"Hey... think one of the guys would mind running to the house and grabbing my mp3 player? Having some familiar music going in here would really help me to relax a little..."
Spencer smiled. "Sure, I'll ask one of them. Be back," he replied. He placed one kiss on Keirsten's stomach. "You two don't cause any trouble just yet."
Keirsten gave a week smile and made herself as comfortable as she could, closed her eyes, and tried to get a little nap before her next contraction came around. She had a feeling these next few hours would be very long.
