She dropped Henry off at home and then drove to the hospital. Anna sat in her booster seat in the back and sang along to the sound of Adele on the car radio. In no time at all, they'd arrived at their destination. MaryBeth helped Anna out of her seat then locked the car, opening the truck to retrieve a cake box and a bag of supplies. Anna offered to carry the bag, an offer MaryBeth gratefully accepted as she carried the cake box in both hands and asked Anna to be mindful to stay right by her side. MaryBeth hated that she couldn't hold the child's hand as they crossed the parking lot into the hospital, but the journey was made without incident.
They made their way to Melissa's room and found Spencer and Melissa quietly talking as the twins slept in their isolette. Melissa looked up and her face lite up in a smile when she realised Anna had arrived, and MaryBeth had brought the requested cake.
"Mommy!" Anna said in an excited loud whisper, tossing the bag on the bed and hugging her mother.
MaryBeth set the box down on the tray table and waited her turn. After Anna released Melissa, she hugged Spencer and MaryBeth moved in for her own embrace with her sister.
"What's this?" Spencer asked, indicating the box.
"M-B?" Melissa invited.
MaryBeth took the bag from the bed and pulled out paper plates and spoons, and a knife. She opened the box and pulled the cake out and set it back on the table, and then turned to Spencer,
"No candles allowed in here because of fire regulations, but," she trailed off, indicating with a swoop of her hand that he should have a look at the cake.
As he moved around the bed to get close enough to see it, Anna sang out,
"Happy birthday Daddy!"
"Aw, this is really wonderful," he inspected the cake, approved of the purple icing and trim and accepted a birthday kiss from Melissa. They crowded around and sang a hushed version of the happy birthday song then Spencer cut and served cake to them all.
"I made you a card," Anna told him, and handed him a folded piece of purple construction paper.
He opened it and read it and tears sprang to his eyes. She'd outdone herself, drawing a lovely picture of their new family and Muttli wasn't forgotten either amidst the crayon and glitter, and 'Happy Birthday Daddy! Love, Mommy, Anna, Erin, Spencer and Muttli'.
"It truly is, Anna. The best birthday of my life," he kissed her, kissed Melissa, and upon making eye contact with MaryBeth, sought her permission to kiss her as well which she happily gave.
As everyone was eating cake, the door to Melissa's room opened and her doctor arrived. Quickly, Melissa served him a piece of cake as well and he accepted with a laugh.
After they had all eaten their cake, the doctor indicated he was actually there to examine his patient so Spencer, Anna and MaryBeth said their goodbyes and left.
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He lay in their bed alone that night, finding it difficult to fall asleep. Knowing that going downstairs would disturb Muttli he decided to stay in bed, which frustrated him further. He rolled over and sighed. Five minutes later, he rolled over and sighed again. He almost jumped when his iPhone chimed.
He reached out onto the nightstand and fumbled around until he found his glasses, put those on and then fumbled around again for his phone.
The clock radio read 10 15 pm which wasn't really all that late though Reid was especially tired since the last two days had been so full. He clicked the phone on and surprised to see he had several text messages. Both JJ and Alvez had texted him to thank him for his help with their case. He smiled at Alvez' text: Thanks bro, that really helped! JJ's was How did you know that! Thanks! Followed by Happy Birthday Spence!
and the last text meant the most to him. It was from Melissa and said 'Doctor says we can go home tomorrow' followed by an uncharacteristic number of smiley faces and exclamation points. As excited as that made him, it also served to soothe him and he lay back down in the bed, happy to know his family would soon all be home with him. He was asleep in less than five minutes.
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They raced around the kitchen busily in the morning. MaryBeth made a lunch for Anna for school and Maya and Maddie helped get Anna up and ready for school.
After Will stopped by to pick Anna up, MaryBeth's girls begged to be allowed to take Muttli for his walk and she consented, telling them not to let him off the leash under any circumstances.
They left with the dog and MaryBeth finished tidying up the kitchen. She served herself a cup of coffee from the pot she'd brewed earlier and sat down in the living room with it and the phone. After a few sips of coffee, she decided it was after eight am and should be okay to call Melissa now so she dialed the speed dial number for Melissa's cell and waited.
It went to voicemail and MaryBeth figured Melissa was probably busy with one of the babies so she left a message, set the phone back in its cradle and after finishing her coffee, went back into the kitchen.
She heard a door slam upstairs and wondered about that and was surprised when Spencer rushed into the kitchen and skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Oh, I thought you were up and out already," she told him.
"I overslept!" he complained, "Has Anna already gone to school?"
MaryBeth nodded and Spencer swore, "Dammit, I had something to tell her." He sighed and spied the coffee pot and asked, "May I?"
She sputtered and said, "You're kidding? This is your house, Spencer. Have at it!" she invited.
He pulled a mug from the cupboard and filled it, then moved a few feet down the counter to the sugar bowl. MaryBeth's eyes widened as she watched him put spoonful after spoonful of sugar into the coffee and she tried to stifle a laugh.
He heard it and smiled mischievously. "Well, I have some news."
He also had her undivided attention at those words. He stirred the sugar, opened the fridge and got out the milk. After adding some to his coffee mug, he returned the jug to the fridge and deliberately hid his face from her as he took his time with this action. He sipped the coffee, made a face and moved back down the countertop to the sugar bowl where he slowly added another spoonful of sugar. MaryBeth came to the end of her patience and barked,
"Spill it! For heaven's sakes!"
He laughed and took another sip of his coffee.
"Spencer Reid! I swear I'm gonna—" she stepped around the island and waved a finger at him.
He was shaking with laughter now and managed to say, "You sounded just like Melissa right there." Taking a breath, he continued, "Okay, okay!" He held out his hand in a gesture of peace and happily announced "Melissa and the babies are coming home today."
MaryBeth simultaneously squealed in delight and lamented 'oh no!' The contradictory reaction confused Spencer. MaryBeth saw the puzzled look on his face and laughed.
"That's great, really. I just wanna make sure everything perfect for their homecoming," she told him.
"Well if you need to go out, you can have the car 'til about eleven thirty. Melissa's doctor is just gonna see her again, and the pediatrician is gonna check out the babies and then we can bring them home."
MaryBeth thanked him and hurried around the house making sure everything was clean and in place and seeing if anything was needed.
The girls returned with Muttli who greeted Spencer excitedly and happily set about eating the breakfast Maya put out for him.
"Maddie, Maya, is your surprise ready for the babies?" MaryBeth called from the living room.
"Yes. We finished it last night mom!" Maya yelled back. MaryBeth came back into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry. Shouldn't be yelling like that. There will be two new babies in the house later today and we need to be more considerate."
"They're coming home today?!" Maya was ecstatic. Can we do anything Mom?"
"Oh, dear, really? Thank you! I need to finish my gift, so I could really use undisturbed time with the sewing machine. Would you two mind making sure the house is vacuumed and dusted? Make sure everything's neat in your room and in the babies' room. And Maya, I thought we'd do salad and spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight. Do you think you could manage that? The meatballs are actually already made."
"Absolutely mom!" The girls set about those chores immediately.
MaryBeth caught Maya's arm as they headed towards the stairs.
"And let me know right away if you find we need something."
Maya nodded, MaryBeth patted her arm and thanked her and then headed to the dining room where her craft materials and the sewing machine were set up.
Spencer sat at the kitchen table with his coffee and breakfast and read the fourteen morning papers to which he was subscribed. The girls got all the cleaning done and asked if they could take Muttli out into the yard to play, which Spencer permitted immediately.
Finally, around half past eleven in the morning, he told MaryBeth he was going to go to the hospital and she saw him off, telling him everything would be set by the time they got home.
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"It's amazing what delivering a baby or two will accomplish, Melissa," her doctor smiled as he indicated she could get dressed. He pulled the curtain around to give her some privacy to do that, but continued to talk to her.
"The swelling in your ankles and legs is almost gone, that's excellent. And your blood pressure is remarkably lower than it was last time I saw you in the office."
He scribbled a few notes in her chart and asked her, "How's your eating? Digestion? Bowels?" ticking off 'good' as she replied to each. "I understand you had a blue day yesterday."
"I'm okay, doctor. I think it was mostly because baby Spencer had that procedure."
"Ah. Mother's guilt. Yes. But as the pediatrician said, Spencer is doing just fine. So is Erin. Remarkably well, considering they're a little premature. Their lungs and internal organs are all in good shape, according to the pediatrician. Are you having any issues with nursing?"
"Nope."
"Stitches?"
"Starting to itch."
He acknowledged this, wrote it in her chart and Melissa stepped out from behind the curtain fully dressed in street clothes.
"That's a good sign, it means they're healing. But you already know all this of course, this isn't your first C-section."
Melissa nodded.
"So, in conclusion," he began, "Everything is going well, everybody is doing well. Why are you still here?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
She had to restrain herself from hugging him and instead said, "So, it's official? We can go home?"
"Absolutely, I'll just sign some paperwork and go down to the nurses station. The pediatrician's nurse has some paperwork for you and will want to work out a visit schedule for the twins. Best wishes, Melissa, and congratulations," he extended his hand, which she took and then pulled him into a hug and whispered,
"Thank you."
Minutes after the doctor left, Spencer arrived. He was surprised but pleased to find Melissa dressed in dark pants and a sweater.
Indicating her clothing, he asked, "Does this mean we can go home?"
She threw her arms around him in a hug and answered, "Yes!"
"Well, then let's do this." He turned as the nurse came into the room with a wheelchair. His brow furrowed in an unspoken question and Leeta explained,
"Hospital policy. Mother goes in a wheelchair with baby in her arms. Hmm. Two babies. I'll need another nurse, I'll be right back."
Melissa gathered her things together and tossed them into the bag Spencer had brought. Erin was awake and Spencer lifted her out of the isolette and changed her diaper and dressed her in the outfit Melissa had set out.
"Gonna feed them before we go?" he asked.
She shook her head. "They just ate an hour ago. If we leave in the next little while, we should be home in time for their next feedings."
"All right then, you'll let me know whatever I can do to help, right, Mel?"
She nodded, touched her head against his shoulder and told him, "Just being with us, being there when I need you, when they need you. That's all I need to know."
He kissed her temple and promised he'd always be there when he was needed.
Leeta returned with Pat and asked, "How do you want to do this?"
Melissa pointed at the wheelchair, "Guess that's for me," she said, sitting in it when Leeta nodded.
Spencer waited until she was comfortably seated, then he lifted his sleeping son out of the isolette and placed him in his mother's arms.
"If he wakes up, Mel's his favourite person, I figure this is most comfortable for him," Spencer told the nurses.
Leeta indicated she would push the wheelchair, Spencer handed Erin over to Pat and then picked up Melissa's bag and the floral arrangement he'd brought her two days ago and followed the nurses out the door.
At the hospital's front entrance, Reid told the nurses he would go get the car and moments later; he pulled up in front of where they were waiting.
Pat secured Erin in one of the car seats Spencer had installed earlier in the day, checking to make sure everything was properly set up. She took Spencer from Melissa and repeated the process, putting the youngest Reid into his car seat. Spencer sat the floral arrangement in Anna's booster seat and secured it in place with the belt and then stowed her bag in the vehicle's hatch. Finally, he gave Melissa his arm and helped her into the passenger seat and they thanked the nurses and waved goodbye as Spencer took the driver's seat and wheeled the car away.