Reid had to be forced to leave the BAU room. He wanted to stay long after everyone else had burned out. He looked at the list of names, the brief bits of information Garcia had compiled for each one. He was hoping to find something, anything. He felt it was his duty as a father and he owed it to Ava as well.

"Reid, take a break," Morgan said. "Come back in the morning with fresh eyes."

Reid put down the papers in his hand with a frustrated sigh. He shook his head. "They're all horrible people, but none of them seem like they would have been capable of the shooting."

"I know," Morgan agreed. "But you need to go home and make sure you're there when that baby has nightmares."

Reid nodded. "You're right. He's prone to nightmares as it is and he really likes Dr. Adele."

"And what about you?"

Reid gave Morgan a clueless look. "I'm fine. I've seen people get shot before, I know how to cope."

Morgan chuckled. "I know, Reid. I was asking how you feel about Dr. Adele."

Reid blushed. "I don't know. She's attractive of course, and very likable."

"Alright, Reid," Morgan said with a grin, patting Reid on the shoulder. "When are you going to ask her out?"

"That would be highly inappropriate. Right now, she's involved in a case and beyond that she's my son's doctor. A professional relationship is all that's apropos in this situation."

Morgan shook his head in shame. "Reid, sometimes you just have to go for what you want."

"I don't even know how to ask a woman out," Reid mumbled. "I'm not good with women."

"Yeah, and you're not good with kids and animals either," Morgan said sarcastically.

Reid sighed and rinsed his coffee cup. "I wouldn't ask her on a date any time soon, but maybe in the future."

::::::::::::::

Reid arrived home and thanked Starks for all that she'd done. She smiled and told him not to worry and then she asked, "How's that girl that got shot doing?"

"She's recovering well."

"Your son has been going on and on about her. He seems absolutely charmed."

Reid smiled. "Well, she's good with him."

Starks gave Spencer a knowing look and then she gathered her things and left for the night.

Spencer found Mutt and Harvey the dog in Mutt's room. The child was laying on his bed, fighting sleep, and his dog was on the bed next to him. Spencer knelt by the bed and smoothed Mutt's blond hair back, revealing sparkling green eyes. "Hey, Daddy," Mutt said softly.

"How do you feel?" Spencer asked.

"Can we go see Ava again? I miss her, Daddy."

"We need to let her rest so she can get better."

"I want her to come here and play with me and Harvey."

Spencer sighed. "Mutt, you have to understand that Ava is a doctor and she's very important and might not have time to come play with you."

"She's my friend," Mutt said. The boy looked like he might cry if Spencer disagreed or tried to correct him again.

Spencer kissed Mutt on the forehead. "Good night, son."

"Good night, Daddy."

Spencer stood and started to leave.

"Daddy!"

"What is it?'

"Tell Harvey good night too."

Spencer smiled and patted the dog on the head. "Good night, Harvey."

::::::::::::::::::

The team settled down for a second long session of going through file after file, searching for a potential shooter. No evidence had been recovered that gave them any sort of lead and they all knew that the longer it was, the less likely it would be for them to find the UnSub.

Garcia rushed into the room with a printed page in her hand. Her curled hair had gone flat and she looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. "I've seen things in the past few hours that I can never unsee, but I found something." She dropped the page on the middle of the table.

The image had been enhanced as much as possible, and though it was slightly grainy, it was still a face they all recognized.

"Isn't he running for governor?" Prentiss said, squinting closer at the picture.

"Yes, and don't ask to see the image I got that from. Just know that he's not the wholesome family man he wants us all to think he is," Penelope replied, her face lacking all traces of a smile.

"That could be his motivation," Rossi said. "He knows that the children he's hurt can discredit him."

Reid felt sick to his stomach as he looked at the face of the man. His only thoughts were of justice for his son's pain.

Morgan shuffled through the files. "Here he is. Cedric Dawson viewed child pornography from the Internet three hundred times in the last year."

"One of his biggest campaign points is his career in the military," J.J. said.

"We need to take a closer look at this man," Hotch said.

::::::::::::::::

Reid excused himself from the rest of the investigation. He knew the team understood and it was actually the right thing to do. He was too emotionally invested and could be a liability.

Mutt was ecstatic to see his dad come home early. He and his dog came rushing out the front door. Mutt wrapped his arms around Spencer's waist and Mutt was so joyful that even the normally unflappable Harvey gave a little jump of excitement.

Spencer laughed, his sour mood instantly lightened. "Why so happy to see me?"

"Because I love you," Mutt said, grabbing Spencer by the hand. "I'm glad you're my dad."

Spencer let himself be led into the house, expecting to see some sort of mess, but Mutt was just genuinely in a good mood. The boy's affectionate mood was doing wonders for Spencer and he was amazed at the child's capacity to heal.

:::::::::::::::::::

Morgan took great pleasure in kicking down the door of the would-be governor's condo. While they had no evidence yet that he had been the shooter, they had strong reason to believe that it was indeed him. They were going to bring him in on child pornography charges until they could find some evidence to pin the attempted murder on him as well.

Men like Dawson made Morgan sick. He hated how they could live with themselves like they weren't destroying lives, all the while out in the public eye basking in the adoration of the people they were fooling.

:::::::::::::::::::

Ava was thankful her parents had bought her a pair of pajamas to wear instead of the flimsy hospital gown. She was recovering well and had been cleared to get rid of the oxygen tubes.

She'd been up walking around earlier that day, taking an elevator to the third floor to look at the newborns in the nursery windows. All of them were adorable and perfectly healthy babies. She wanted one of her own so badly and she lingered there for a long time.

Ava was perfectly fine with adoption and in fact thought it was a great thing to do. She'd even been considering adopting on her own. Who said she needed a man anyway? And even though she would love an adopted child with her entire heart and soul, she still longed for the experience of creating a life. She wanted to know what it was like to carry a child, to see him or her for the first time, to realize that her baby had her eyes or her nose. It didn't seem fair that she would never have that, but she was sure the joy of adoption would make all of that seem silly.

::::::::::::::::::

Morgan had made sure that Reid was given the task of informing Ava that a suspect had been brought into custody and Reid knew exactly way. Mutt would not take no for an answer and he was quite hyper with excitement about getting to see Ava again.

Spencer knocked on the door and found the room overwhelmed with the scent of flowers. It appeared that she had received at least eight floral arrangements and a dozen mylar balloons since he had last been in the room. There were stacks of candies on the table and Mutt's bundle of weeds was still there as well.

Ava blushed when she noticed Spencer looking at all the gifts. "Apparently, word got out that I'd been shot. A lot of these are from my patients."

"That's very nice of them. You seem to be quite popular with your patients."

Ava nodded. "I get along well with small children and animals because they know I'm at their level," she joked.

Spencer smiled slightly and watched as Mutt climbed up into the bed beside Ava, being as careful as possible. He sat there, remaining perfectly still and serious aside from his large grin. "Ava is the best," he declared.

"That's right," Ava said. "You know, my friend called and we were talking about the flowers you gave me. His name is Matt. That's almost like your name. He's a doctor too."

"I'm going to be a doctor and a FBI," Mutt said seriously. "And then he cannot have that name anymore because it is like my name and I will take it."

"Really? You're going to take his name."

Mutt nodded. "Matt is a good name."

Ava glanced at Spencer. "You know, I bet he would let you have it if I ask him for you. Are you sure that's what you want?"

Mutt looked at his feet. "Would I still be the same person if I got a new name?"

"Of course," Ava said. "Just like some people call me Ava and some people call me Dr. Adele, but I'm still the same person no matter what I'm called."

Mutt nodded. "You can ask for that name for me. My daddy can make it so it's mine. He's a FBI."

Spencer smiled and shook his head. "We came here to let you know that my team has a suspect in custody and we're working to find out if he's the man who shot you."

"Thanks for coming to tell me. That's great news."

Spencer cleared his throat a few times, working up his courage. "I feel like I owe you for protecting my son the way you did."

"No thanks necessary," Ava said.

"I was wondering if you would allow me to…to buy you dinner?"

Ava smiled and put her hand to her cheek as she blushed a bit. "I could accept that."