Disclaimer: If anybody cares, see chapter 1

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The Reid household was rudely awakened when the monitor on the nightstand loudly proclaimed that little Joanna Reid was awake and demanding attention. "I'll get her," Spencer said as he jumped out of bed and headed for the nursery. He knew Allie thought that he would jump up because he was trying too hard to be a good father but in reality he loved to see her little face and hold her in his arms even if it was just to deliver her to the person she really wanted to see. He reached into the crib and lifted the screaming, squirming infant into his arms. "Oh goodness, you're a loud one tonight," he said softly to the baby as he carried her into the bedroom to her mother.

Allie took the crying baby in her arms. "Hi sweetie, are you a hungry girl, huh," she said as she brought Joanna up to her breast. She sucked a couple of times then turned her head away, crying with a high pitched squeal. She was like a red ball of anger. Allie looked at Spencer, bewildered. "Honey, do you think there's something wrong with her? She's never refused to nurse before."

Reid looked at his daughter who continued to scream. "Maybe she's wet. I'll go change her." He lifted the babe from Allie's arms and took her into the nursery, lying her on the change table and undoing her little yellow sleeper. "Daddy's going to get you all nice and dry and then Mommy's got something nice for you," he said as he lifted the tapes on the diaper. "Wo, my little angel!" he exclaimed when he'd opened the diaper. "Where did all that come from?" his nose crinkled, "and it smells worse than…oh never mind what it smells worse than." The child continued to squirm and scream as Reid removed the soiled diaper. "Joanna, Daddy would appreciate it if you would stay still until he has you cleaned," he said as he reached for the baby wipes. "We don't want to get it all over the pl…okay, let me rephrase that, I guess I didn't want to get it all over the place. You obviously have other ideas."

The baby continued her high pitched squealing. Allie entered the nursery, "What's wrong with her?" she asked her husband who finally had his daughter and the change table cleaned and a new diaper applied. "She doesn't usually cry like this."

"I don't know, she's unhappy about something," he said as Allie reached for her. She carried her to the rocking chair and sat, rocking the infant gently which did not seem to appease her in any way. The frustrated mother tried offering the newborn her breast again but Joanna wanted none of it.

"Do you think she's sick?" Allie asked her husband.

"I don't know. Remember Mom said sometimes babies cry," he reminded her. "Maybe if we walk her," he reached for the baby, turned the light switch and walked to the living room. He paced back and forth, jiggling the baby gently but Joanna would not stop crying. She did stop momentarily, just long enough to throw up on her father's chest. There was a time, not so long ago, Reid thought, when that would have disgusted him. "Well," he said, coming back into the nursery, "she just puked all over me. Something's bothering her stomach," he decided. "She had a poop the size of Texas and it smelled worse than some morgues I've been in."

Allie glared at him, her eyes saying he could keep his comments on his daughter's bowel movements to himself. "Maybe we should take her temperature," Allie suggested, getting out the thermometer. "Here," she handed it to Reid. He undid Joanna's sleeper and pressed the thermometer under her armpit and waited for the result.

"98.7," he said, "no fever."

Allie turned towards the kitchen. "I'm calling the hospital." She grabbed the telephone directory from the drawer and punched in the number. Spencer could hear her explaining Joanna's problem to the nurse. He heard her say, "Swiss steak," she listened then replied, "yes it had onions, garlic, tomatoes and a bunch of other spices, why?" Allie listened again. "Yes, I see, okay, I will, thank you."

"What did she say?" Reid asked.

"She said it was probably what I ate for dinner that upset Joanna's tummy, too spicy she said." Allie's bottom lip began to tremble. "My baby's sick because of me," she said as she promptly burst into tears.

Reid looked from his wife to his daughter. He attempted to hold Allie and comfort her while he tried to do the same with Joanna but it didn't appear to be working. "Did she say if there was anything we could do?" he asked.

"She said it would probably work itself out in a few hours." Reid thought of the diaper he had changed and thought it was definitely working itself out. "She said if it persisted, I should bring her in. I'm so sorry baby," she reached to touch her daughter's head.

"Okay then," Spencer said, "we'll just wait it out." He sat on the couch and patted the spot beside him. Allie sat beside him and put her head on his shoulder. "Don't worry," he said, "it'll be over soon."

Soon stretched into three hours, as Joanna's screaming gradually diminished to the odd whimper and then nothing as she finally fell asleep on Reid's shoulder. "I'm going to go put her in her crib," he whispered to Allie who nodded. As he laid her in her crib he was thankful to see her sleeping peacefully once again. He returned to the living room to find Allie asleep on the couch. He took the sunburst quilt from the back of the sofa, covered his wife, softly kissing her on the cheek. He looked at the clock on the wall, "Time to get ready for work."

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Reid stepped off the elevator on the sixth floor of the FBI building in Quantico. The grande sized coffee cup he carried did not appear to have succeeded in perking him up. Morgan noticed his sagging shoulders and the dark circles under his eyes, "Reid you look like hell man," his friend remarked as the younger man approached.

"Gee thanks Morgan and good morning to you too," Reid replied sarcastically as he set his coffee on his desk.

"Are you alright Reid?" Emily asked, the concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine, nothing that a few hours of sleep won't cure," Reid told them as he removed his brown cord jacket and placed it on the back of his chair.

"Two o'clock feedings getting to you?" JJ, who was leaning on Emily's desk, asked.

Reid launched into an explanation of how he'd spent his night with Joanna and Allie. "So," he concluded. "Allie gets off the phone and bursts into tears saying it's her fault and she'd done this to our daughter. So for a while there I had both of them wailing." He put his forehead down on his desk. "They were both sleeping when I left."

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The phone on Reid's desk rang. "Dr. Reid," he said into the receiver.

"Hi sweetcheeks," said the perky voice on the other end of the line. "Can you come to my office?"

"Sure Garcia, I'll be right there." He hung up and made his way to the computer tech's lair.

"Reid," she said when he'd knocked on the door and entered, "Emily and JJ told me about Joanna. How's my sweet girl?"

"I talked to Allie about an hour ago and she said Joanna nursed okay this morning but she was really sleepy. So everybody's okay."

"How are you, you look pretty tired?"

"I'm okay, yeah I'm tired, but otherwise I'm good," Reid found his shoes very interesting.

Garcia put her hand under his chin and raised his head. "Come on, out with it. You know you can't hide from me sweet boy."

Reid nodded. "Garcia," Reid paced the room, "my baby, my little girl was sick. I didn't know what to do for her. Nothing I did made it any better. But Allie was starting to panic and I wanted to appear so strong so I made some idiotic jokes that she glared at me over but if I didn't do that, I'd be a basket case like Allie and I had to be strong for her and Joanna. But it's so hard to watch your baby when you know she's sick."

"Reid, you are a good husband and a good father. Sometimes there's nothing you can do but what you did. You held your wife and your baby and you rode out the storm."

"Now," Garcia added, "I have something else to talk to you about especially after last night." Reid looked confused. "Mother's Day," Garcia said.

"Mother's Day," Reid repeated as if he'd never heard the words before.

"Yes, what have you planned?"

"Well, I send my mother a card and some flowers. Allie found a beautiful crystal vase for Joan and we're going to send it to Dad and he can have flowers put in it for Mom, why?"

"No silly, I don't mean that. What are you going to do for Allie? This is her first Mother's Day as a mother. You have to do something special for her from Joanna especially now that she's blaming herself for Joanna being sick."

Reid's eyes widened, "Thanks Garcia," he said as he quickly headed for the door, "you're a life saver."