Rossi and Hotchner wheeled through the late morning traffic on their way to the hospital. It had been a long night, but a successful one, and both were in good spirits.
"One of the best days of our career. Also one of the worst," Rossi opined.
"He's gonna be okay, so I'd call it a good day all around, Dave. Two heartless criminals are locked up and at least three families have been successfully reunited."
"Mrs. Miller's smile was just about the best thing I've ever seen in my life, Aaron. To see that baby and her parents back together," he trailed off, smiling at the memory.
Hotchner stopped at a light. He glanced over at Rossi and spoke; "I hope there's a smile back on Dorian Loker's face soon too."
Rossi nodded and the light changed, Hotchner let off the brake and drove on. They arrived at the hospital shortly; Rossi insisted they stop in at the coffee shop across the street first. He bought about a dozen coffees and emerged from the shop with a mountain of cream and sugar containers alongside the carry tray with the coffees. Hotchner laughed as he opened the hospital entrance and the two men disappeared through it.
A few minutes later, the door to Reid's hospital room opened and Rossi and Hotchner entered. Rossi put the coffees down on the tray table beside Reid's untouched breakfast, adding to the previous mountain of cream and sugar containers. He gave the assembly a Rossi stare and quipped,
"Guess we all had the same idea."
Rossi told Morgan, Garcia and Loker about the previous night's success and the happy family reunion. Hotch was careful to include everyone's contribution, including Loker's instinct to memorise the unsub license plate. The group toasted Reid with their coffees, and the commotion woke the young man up.
Wincing and in a fair amount of pain, Reid waved off suggestions the nurse be called and pain medication be administered. He was still adamant about refusing narcotics, all those years later. He struggled to sit up and Morgan stepped forward to help accomplish that. Reid got a whiff of his breakfast tray and made a face, pushing it aside. They all laughed when he discovered the coffee on the tray table and laid claim to at least two of them.
"Are you sure you're allowed to have coffee, Spencer?" she asked in a concerned tone. He made a face and sighed. Checking the items on the breakfast tray, he was disappointed with the contents and pushed the tray table away.
Dorian arranged pillows behind him to facilitate sitting up more comfortably and listened to the easy banter between the team members. Reid leaned back against them, listening to Morgan and Garcia praise him for rescuing little Michael. He interrupted, shaking his head,
"I just wanted the baby to be back with his mother. It must have been killing her, worrying about him," he said, his voice full of empathy and pain. "It's bad enough her husband's away in Iraq. I promised Carolyn we'd get Michael back."
"Reid, you okay?" Morgan was really concerned now. He eyed the younger man carefully, "You just came through a couple hours of doctors dancing through your guts. Take it easy, man."