Ch 9

Another hour had passed and there was still no word on Alice; Garcia was there now waiting with the rest of the team. "What did I miss…?" Rossi asked, just waking up from his nap. "Have we heard anything yet?"

"No," Hotch said, "She's still in surgery." He went over to sit next to David and pulled up the picture of him and Alice's mother. "David…do you remember this woman?" He showed him the picture. Rossi stared at the photo for a moment.

"Yes…," Rossi said, "I remember her…her name is Marie Tracy…I was with her for a…." suddenly he made the connection. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Alice's mother….that's Alice's mother…." Rossi couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized her that night…but then again…it had been almost 10 years since he had seen her.

"Did you ever…?" Hotch started to ask.

"Sleep with her? Yes…I did, that was…almost 17 years ago….." he said.

"Then there's a strong possibility…that you are Alice's biological father…." Garcia said. The rest of the team was in shock.

"I want to know for sure," Rossi said. Rossi got up shakily; he was still pretty weak from donating so much blood. He went up to a nurse, "excuse me miss," he said. "I think…I think that the young girl that's in surgery, Alice Payne, I think she may be my daughter…"

"What do you mean?" the nurse asked. Rossi explained the situation to the nurse and why he thought he might be Alice's father.

…

Rossi looked at his watch, it was 5 am. They had been there for 7 hours and still hadn't heard anything. Spencer and Garcia were asleep…they'd been taking turns resting so someone would be awake when Alice got out of surgery. A nurse came over to them and told them again that they could go home and that they would call one of them when she came out of surgery. "We're not leaving," Rossi said. The nurse smiled and nodded sympathetically.

"I hope your results come back positive," she said, "You don't even know if she is your daughter yet but you're already so devoted to her…you'll be a great father."

"How much longer do you think she'll be in surgery?" Rossi asked.

"It's hard to say…" the nurse said, "it could be another three hours….it could be more…."

"What's the timing for the worst case scenario?" Hotch asked.

"Worst case scenario…" the nurse said, "Something goes terribly wrong and she's on the table for another nine hours or more." The nurse saw the looks on their faces and quickly added "But because she got here quickly and she's young, healthy, and in excellent physical condition it's unlikely that that will happen. Most likely she'll be out of surgery in about 4 hours."

…

6 hours had passed and Garcia was completely freaking out on the nurse. "You said Alice would be out by now!" She yelled. The nurse looked absolutely terrified. She had absolutely no idea what this strangely dressed woman was talking about.

"Hold up baby girl," Morgan said putting his hand on her shoulder. "That's not even the same nurse that told Rossi that."

"What…?" she said.

"Garcia….that's not the same nurse. She went home." Morgan said again.

"But…" Garcia turned on the nurse again. "Why isn't she out of surgery yet?!"

"I don't know ma'am," the nurse said. "I'm sorry but I really don't." Just then a doctor came out looking exhausted but pleased.

"Miss Payne is out of surgery now," she said. "The operation was a complete success. The bullet that was lodged between her heart and left lung was removed and the damage was repaired. She should make a full recovery."

"Should?" Garcia asked. "Should is NOT good enough."

"I understand your concern ma'am," the doctor said, "but while she mostly likely WILL make a full recovery, there is always a possibility that a complication will present itself in the form of an infection."