"I shouldn't be on a couch like this," Piper sighed, looking to Hotch.
"It's protocol. We have to all do assessments of ourselves and the others after something like this," he explained. "I'd rather do it than make you all talk to someone from the outside."
"I'm a psychologist," she countered, taking a sip of her tea. "I could have done this."
"I know, but Strauss asked me if I want to talk to you all or if I wanted someone from the outside. You weren't really brought up as an option. Now I know you and Prentiss weren't terribly close, but how are you doing?"
"I'm… I'm doing better than a lot of people," she admitted, looking over to him. "Hotch, you're right, we weren't close, but I miss her. I miss her, and I'm worried about all of this adoption stuff going though, and Spence…" She sighed, Hotchner taking the opportunity to talk.
"The adoption paperwork will all work out. It's actually going to work much quicker. I passed along my letter of support this morning," he told her. "The agency knows you're good people, and I'm hoping my letter will add to that. If you two need some time off when it all happens, you're more than welcome to take it."
"Thank you," she smiled a bit, thinking that she would have to tell Reid.
"Now what about Spencer?"
"He… he asked me not to say anything to you, but he's been getting these terrible migraine headaches. He can't sleep a lot, and they hurt him so much. There's nothing wrong with his brain, and I know he's afraid that it's the onset of schizophrenia like his mother has," she admitted, Hotch taking her hand as the words began spilling out of her mouth. "He's been ging to different doctors and driving hours out of the city to find someone, but they're all saying the same thing. It's nothing structural. As a psychologist, I'm pretty certain it's not schizophrenia, but I know he's afraid that's what it is. He still refuses to see a psychologist about them, though. He's doing everything he can, but I know they're killing him, and this is only going to make things worse. He tries his best to keep up appearances here. He'll let me in on a bit more when we're at home, but he's hiding it. He's hiding the pain and everything, and there's nothing I can really do to help."
Hotch nodded, waiting until she was done to say, "It's just important that you listen. Don't push him, but make sure he's not worrying himself sick or anything. He'll find someone who will know what's going on. Just make sure you stick with him while he does. I'm sure he's going to be frustrated, and he'll want to rant to you about it, Keep me updated, though. I need to know what's going on with my agents."
Piper agreed, promising that, "I'll let you know. I think he'll cheer up through the adoption process, though."
"Speaking of the adoption," Hotch brought up, "have you two decided what you're going to be doing in regards to the BAU?"
"We're going to switch off on cases while we all - the team included - transition, but after that, I'm going to be moving to the Academy so I can be here for Nate. Spencer's still going to be flying out places, but it'll give him some sort of stability. Nate, I mean."
She and Reid took the next few days off, cleaning out the spare room in their apartment and repainting it, buying all sorts of things they thought they would need. They stayed up late Friday night, conferencing with the rest of the team, who had flown out to Iowa on a case. Piper had set up her laptop as she folded clothes and put them in drawers in what would be Nate's room, hopefully starting in the morning. Reid sat cross-legged on the floor, indexing books on the shelves next to the bed. They would listen in, talking when they had something to contribute while the team sat at a conference table in the police station. Finally, Hotch told the team that it was time to sign off, saying, "Get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow. Good luck with everything… hopefully the next time we all talk, you'll be the Reids plus one."
"Thanks," Piper smiled, Reid calling his thanks from the floor. "We'll talk to you tomorrow. Good luck finding the unsub. Like I said, you'll want to look into the river district. Oh, and pull JJ back into the loop - she's taking over my job for me, remember?"
"Will do," Morgan assured her. "We'll keep you updated, but we're all expecting pictures of you and the kid tomorrow."
"Will do," Reid mocked, turning to Piper. "Do we have any more books boxed up anywhere?"
"We have some of your old ones, but they're all on a shelf in the study. Goodnight, everybody." There was a chorus of "goodnight" and "good luck" before the team signed off. Piper shutting her laptop. She sat down on the bed, looking over at her husband, who was shelving the last few books. "I can't believe this is actually happening."
"Me either." He got up and sat next to her, adding, "You can't let him get at all of your crime books. The psych ones, maybe, but the graphic stuff you've got on Gacy and Ramirez and all of them-"
"Don't worry, I already put them up on the higher shelves. God, Spence, we're about to be parents. It doesn't freak you out a bit?"
"I'm terrified," he admitted, leaning his head on her shoulder. "What if we screw up? What if we inflict permanent psychological damage on this kid?"
"We won't," she promised, taking his hand. "Sure, we might screw up a little bit, but everyone does. No one has perfect parents. We've just got to be better than our own parents were."
"Yeah, you're right. We should try to get some sleep. They want us there early tomorrow morning. It's the courthouse, then the agency for the final paperwork, and then lunch, right?"
"Yeah. C'mon."
The next morning went by quickly, at least until they had to wait to get into court. And to get to the adoption agency. And to sign paperwork. Reid and Piper held hands throughout everything, whispering to each other excitedly as they moved through their day. They hardly ate breakfast, and were starving by the time they got to the adoption agency's office. "Laura, hi," piper smiled, shaking the woman's hand. "It's nice to see you again."
Laura was a kindly older woman who had worked adoptions for decades. She sat down at her desk and Piper and Reid took a seat across from her. "Well, everything looks like it's in order. We've got the legal stuff out of the way, we've got him officially labeled a Reid - we'll have a certificate for you in a few weeks, once it gets through records and Social Security - and I have a file full of recommendations and people vouching for you. Congratulations, Dr. Reids, you're officially parents."
"How soon is he going to fly out?"
The older woman took a breath, standing and heading over to another door, which lead into a different office. She knocked twice, turning back to Piper and Reid. "Actually, I thought it would be nice for you to get to tell him he's yours in person." She opened the door, Nathan running out to hug them.
Reid scooped him up in his arms, smiling more than Piper had seen him smile in weeks. "How are you, buddy? Was the plane ride cool? Do you want some lunch?"
As he and Nathan were talking, Piper hugged Laura, thanking her. "You're a miracle worker, I swear. Thank you so much."
"You three are good to go," Laura told her. "Congratulations."
Reid sat in the back of the car with Nathan as Piper drove to the restaurant, a little local burger place that she had fallen in love with when she first moved to DC. She'd dragged Reid there every chance she got, and they'd spent hours talking over plates of the best fries in the city. The boys were chattering away about space camp and soccer teams and what Nathan's room was going to look like. As she parked, she paused to take a picture of the two of them engrossed in their conversation. She sent it to the team, dropping the pictures in their group chat (which Reid had only recently joined, finding the jokes about him to be excessive and muting it immediately). Almost immediately, people were answering her, saying how cute they looked. She shot back an "Aren't you on a case?" before getting out of the car and heading into the restaurant with her family.
They spent the day shopping for more things for Nathan, since he would be starting school in the fall, and running around DC. By the time they got home, they were all tired, but Nathan was excited to see his room. Chester bounded up to the boy, barking and licking him as he laughed, dropping to his knees to hug the dog. Together, they ran into Nathan's new room, Reid following as the boy jumped onto his bed. Piper joined them as soon as she set her purse down and locked the front door behind them. "You like it?"
"It's great!" Nathan had dropped his backpack on the floor next to the bed, turning over to look at the stars that Piper had painstakingly painted on the ceiling and coated in glow-in-the-dark paint.
"Good. We can get to work on unpacking your things and everything we bought today in the morning, but right now, I think it's time for a bath and then bed," Piper proposed. "We've all had a long day."
Piper made herself a cup of tea, going to check on Reid, who was reading Nathan a story. Nathan had fallen asleep, Reid setting the book aside and sitting there with him for a moment. He smiled at Piper, who took a picture of the two of them, again sending it to the team. "You two are adorable," she whispered as Reid slowly got up, trying not to wake Nathan.
"Goodnight, buddy," he whispered, tucking him in.
"'Night Dad," the boy mumbled, curling up under the covers.
Reid gave Piper a hug as soon as he got to the doorway. "It's weird hearing him call me that. Piper, we're parents."
"Yeah. He called me Mom in the car and I almost cried. I tell you, it's going to be a lot of getting used to." She followed him into their bedroom, Reid changing into pajamas and brushing his teeth as she talked. "We made it through the day. I'd say we're pretty decent parents."
"Well, it wasn't what I would call a normal day, but we're doing pretty well," Reid concluded, putting his glasses on.
"You should wear those more often. You look cute in them."
"You say I look cute in everything," he frowned. "Do we have any more toothpaste?"
"Under the sink. And I say it 'cuz it's true," she laughed, setting her mug on the sink. She wrapped her arms around his waist, setting her chin on his shoulder. "You are cute in everything. I love you, Spence."
"I love you too." He gave her a toothpaste-y kiss, Piper laughing. "You're going to be a great mom."
"You'll be an even better dad. I can tell you're his favorite parent already."
"You're the prettier one," he answered as they got into bed. "And you're the one that's going to make him a good person." Piper made sure to plug in their strand of Christmas lights before turning the regular lights off. "I'm the one who remembers all sorts of random facts, but you're the one who always remembers things like that - the one who remembers to plug in the lights before you hit the other ones, the one who remembers to buy aluminum foil, the one who remembers to cut sandwiches into heart shapes because it makes me smile in the middle of the day. You're already a great mom, because you've been taking care of me all this time."
"I'm nothing special, believe me," she laughed, taking her glasses off.
"No, no, you're everything special. You're my darling, my life, and my bride," he assured her as Piper curled up next to him.
"That would be nice, if it weren't from a poem about a dead girl. You know, you quote Poe at me, you almost wrote Ted Bundy into your vows… you're definitely the right one for me, Spence."
"You put up with me, with all of the times I think I'm going crazy and all of the times I drive you crazy, you're definitely the right one for me," he smiled, giving her a kiss.
"Mm," she nodded sleepily. "Here's to being parents. And to the start of the rest of our lives. Shit." Her phone had started ringing, Piper reaching out for it on the nightstand. "Morgan, we're off - oh. Okay. I see. Yeah, I'll tell Reid. You'll need me on this too. No, I can stay here and work it from here until the morning, then I'll get him over to Jessica and Jack. they were always friendly when he came to visit us. Don't worry. Shit… Okay. Goodnight, sir."
"What's going on?" Reid had put his glasses back on, sitting up in bed.
"There's a lot going on in the department, as you know. Seaver's officially out to Counterterrorism, JJ's stepping in for me, we've got internal things going on, now isn't the time to dredge up old problems, right? Well apparently Morgan's been working on the Doyle case. You know how he just seemed to vanish? Morgan's tracked down his son, and he thinks he's seen him around the place. They need you in the office, they need me video calling in, and Morgan tells me that Hotch is saying he has news for us, big news."
"I guess I'll see you later then, huh?" He stood, changing back into normal clothes as Piper went to make him coffee. A few minutes later, Reid crept into Nathan's room, kissing the boy's forehead. He grabbed a travel mug full of coffee, hugging Piper goodbye. "I'll call in the morning and tell Nathan hi, and I'll keep you updated. I love you."
"I love you too. Be careful, babe."
"I will," he promised. "Like always."
"Okay. Good luck. I'll hold down the fort here." Reid was just about to leave when he stopped at the door, Piper looking back at him. "What's up?"
"It's probably nothing, but make sure you lock the doors and the windows. And keep your gun next to you. Leave the lights on. I just have a weird feeling."
"That's you already adapting to having a family and worrying about them." She crossed the room in a few steps, giving him another tight hug. "We'll be okay. Now go take care of Doyle. Make sure he pays for what he did to Prentiss."