Disclaimer; I do not own Criminal Minds and no profit is made in any way from this story. It is written for fun and to practice the craft of writing only.

Coffeebeads: Ok, ok I surrender. Here you are...

Noskilz: That line of dialogue, from Merry, that sparked this whole thing off, well, here it is again, after 25 chapters and all this time (so long you probably can't even remember it)!

Oh lord will I ever finish this fic? The answer is yes. I have too much respect for every one of my readers, alerters, favouriters and reviewers to abandon it even if it is proving hard going at the moment. Thank you for bearing with me.

Chapter Twenty Five

The Consultant

Emily felt the air stick in her throat as the nurse pushed past her toward Spencer's bed. Morgan's hand was still against his forehead and he looked more scared than Emily had ever seen him.

'He's burning up.' He said helplessly.

The nurse gently tilted Spencer's head to one side and fitted the thermometer into his ear. After a moment the device beeped and she lifted it and studied the readout.

'What is it?' Morgan asked.

'His temperature is elevated, I'll page his doctor. Get her to take a look at him. Try not to worry.' She said as she turned to leave.

'Worry?' Emily said. 'He's just out of surgery and he has a fever!'

'Like I said, I'll page his doctor.' The nurse repeated.

Emily jumped as a loud scraping noise hit her ears. Morgan had dragged a chair next to the bed and was pressing a hand to Spencer's shoulder. 'Kid, are you with us? Reid.'

Spencer moaned quietly and struggled to open his eyes.

'Morgan?' Spencer said quietly. 'Did I fall again?'

'You're in the hospital, do you remember?' Morgan asked.

Reid's eyes cleared a little and recognition flickered across his face. He shoved a hand through his sweaty hair and swallowed, his mind moving sluggishly to catch up to where it should be. 'Oh, yeah, Hardwick...was it Hardwick? Hotch! He knocked Hotch out, we need to help...'

'Spencer, Hotch was in here a while ago. He's fine apart from a bang to the head. You saw him.' Emily soothed as she stroked the side of his face. 'He feels really warm.' She said as she looked across at Morgan.

Reid relaxed into the pillows and recognition finally lit in his eyes. 'Emily?' He breathed.

'I'm right here.' She replied.

'It's...hot...can I...is there some water?' He mumbled, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth.

Emily moved to the pitcher next to the bed and filled the small glass as Morgan moved forward to support Reid's shoulders as he drank.

'You had us scared man!' Morgan said. 'You weren't making sense there for a minute, and coming from you that really didn't sit right with me.' Morgan tried to joke.

'What? I...what was I saying?' Reid mumbled as he sipped the water.

'You gave me a snapshot of the LVPD staffing levels and then you started talking about your mom.' He said.

Reid shifted in the bed and winced. 'My mom?' He repeated as he twisted the sheets in his fingers.

'Hey, Spencer, look at me. Look at me.' Emily ordered until Spencer finally looked at her, his eyes swimming sleepily. 'Don't worry about it. You only just woke up and your temperature is a little elevated. It's making you confused that's all. The nurse has gone to get your doctor.' Emily said.

'But... my mom...I don't know why...' Spencer's eyes fluttered closed and he was asleep before he finished the sentence.

'Where the hell is that doctor?' Morgan said, glaring as he shoved himself out of his chair and began to pace the small room.

'Right here.' Reid's surgeon said as she pushed through the door and into the room just in time to hear Morgan's frustration. She plucked the chart from the end of the bed and frowned. 'How long has he been sleeping?' She asked Emily.

'Only a few moments. He woke before and he was confused, he said he was hot, he felt hot to the touch. He had a little water and then fell back to sleep.' She said.

'Could you undress his incision site?' The doctor asked the nurse who had returned with her.

The nurse pushed the sheet down a little and pulled Reid's gown up to bare his stomach and the white gauze taped over the wound. She peeled it back delicately to reveal the row of staples lining the damaged area. The skin was deep red and angry looking and the site oozed slightly. Despite all she had seen in their line of work Emily had to look away and only let out a breath when she felt Morgan's steadying hand at the small of her back.

The nurse re-taped the gauze and pulled Reid's gown back in to place as Dr Stanley rattled of a set of instructions.

'Let's talk outside.' The doctor said to Emily and Morgan as she gestured toward the door.

'Spencer's fever is just on the border of what we would class as high grade and this is most likely an indication of an infection.' The doctor said once they were in the waiting area.

'You said that might happen.' Emily said.

The doctor nodded. 'I'd hoped that it wouldn't but it was always a significant risk. I've ordered blood cultures and started him on a strong antibiotic as a precaution. The nursing team will be placing ice packs around his body to get his temperature down so, fingers crossed, we should see a drop in the fever soon and him being more coherent when he wakes. We'll keep monitoring him over the next few hours so just sit tight, we've caught it quickly and the antibiotics and the rapid cooling should see his status improving quickly.'

Hotch hunched over the tablet and pressed play on the security footage for the third time.

'Does re-watching it make it any better?' Rossi muttered from his bed. 'I only ask because I cling to the notion that my nap is being interrupted for something worthwhile.'

'It's visual only Dave and my watching it doesn't make any noise so I find it hard to comprehend what exactly is disturbing you.' Hotch said as he turned the tablet off and swung his legs off his own bed.

'You're supposed to be resting.' Rossi said as he stood and worked the kinks from his back. 'Believe me, take all the rest you can now and you might, just might, look half as good as I do when you reach sixty.'

Hotch gave a small smile, grateful for his old friend's attempt to lighten his mood.

'To look at him you wouldn't think he could hit so hard would you?' Hotch said as he tossed the tablet onto the comforter and reached to rub the back of his head. 'Watching it back he looks like any trained agent in that room.'

Rossi nodded. 'Are you forgetting he that he hauls himself around on those damn sticks all day every day? The kid's build up some muscles in those shoulders. Besides, people can find great strength when they need to Aaron.'

Hotch stared at Rossi and sighed. 'Really? I've never felt weaker Dave. Everything is collapsing around me and when I try to grab a hold of those things I make everything worse.'

'Not true. Things are happening that are out of your control and that's not a feeling that you're at ease with, but you have to accept that this is life Aaron, craptastic life in all its glory.' Rossi sat down next to Hotch. 'So Haley had an affair and left. Find amicable ground with her to maintain access to Jack. So your son isn't living with you. He is living though Aaron, make the time whenever you can to take that relationship and cement it. It might not be as much or as often as you'd like, but Jack will grow up always knowing that you were there. And the job? Christ Aaron, no one is a better unit chief than you. Remember that would ya', just for once, and while you're at it cut yourself some slack and forgive yourself.' Rossi took Hotch's face in both hands and gave him a hard kiss on his forehead before moving across the room and grabbing Hotch's Go Bag. He rummaged around for a moment before straightening and flinging something at Hotch.

Hotch caught the flying tie in one hand.

'Enough self pity. You have precisely five minutes to put on your version of a cape and tights and get back to work Unit Chief Hotchner and then we'll have time for one scotch before we go back to the hospital. You can be enlisted into the exclusive David Rossi ex husbands club.'

'Drinking, with a concussion?' Hotch questioned as he decisively knotted the red silk and straightened his shoulders.

'Ah, screw the list. One damn drink won't kill you.' Rossi grumbled.

Emily watched Spencer's adams apple bob convulsively. He was probably thirsty she thought as she watched a stream of water snake along the ice pack laid on his neck.

Dr Stanley had ordered the ice packs to be placed strategically to try to bring his temperature down. He'd been stripped of his gown and had one pack placed on his neck, one on his groin and one under each of his arms. A single sheet covered him to just below his waist and the temperature in the room had been lowered slightly. Just looking at him made Emily shiver but Spencer's body glistened with a sheen of sweat and when she took his hand in hers his skin still felt dry and heated.

'Any change?' Morgan asked as he came in from taking a break and eating in the cafeteria.

Emily shook her head. 'The nurse was just in here. She took his temperature and checked underneath the packs.'

'Yeah, that'd be one hell of a case of freezer burn.' Morgan added wryly.

'Just what he needs right now.' Emily sighed.

'Couldn't think of anything worse.' Morgan smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

'Well, the nurses aren't using the ear thermometer anymore if you get my drift. Apparently down there's more accurate.' She said as she nodded briefly toward the lower half of Spencer's body. 'Do you think that's worse?' She tried to smile as Morgan winced but her face crumpled as she held back a sob.

'Hey, hey.' Morgan soothed as he knelt in front of Emily and took hold of her hands.

'I'm making jokes Morgan! He's like this and I'm making jokes.' She said as she blinked back the threat of tears. 'Do I really suck that much as a person?'

Morgan hooked his hand around the back of her head and kissed her forehead. 'No princess, you do not suck as a person. I think you're scared and not used to being out of control.' He pulled back and gave her a searching look. 'But hey, do you want me to go out on a limb and tell you what I think scares you even more?'

Emily wiped her eyes and shrugged.

'What scares you is that somehow, boy genius here made you fall in love with him and you don't have the first clue what to do about it.' He said gently as tears trickled down Emily's face as she nodded and Morgan pulled her into another firm hug. 'I'm happy for you Emily, for both of you. You're what each other have needed for a long time now and when he's all better we're gonna go celebrate.'

After a moments silence, only broken by Emily's quiet sniffles. 'What if he doesn't get better Derek?'

Morgan pulled back and swept a strand of hair from where it stuck to the tears streaking her face. 'His temps not dropped at all?' He asked as he stood up.

Emily scrubbed determinedly at the tears on her cheeks and blinked the fresh ones gathering in her eyes away. 'It dropped by just under one degree but at the last check it had come back up again. The nurse said she was going to speak to Dr Stanley. That was only ten minutes ago.' Emily sighed, her eyes moving to Spencer's face as he swallowed again. 'I think he's thirsty.' She half stood as Spencer's hand began to move sluggishly toward the ice pack resting beneath the sheet on his groin. 'Hey, you need to leave that where it is Spencer. It'll help you cool down.' She said as he tried to shove both the sheet and the pack from his body.

'Ngghh,' Spencer moaned and fought against her hand. 'Cold...' He muttered as his eyes flickered open.

Emily smiled widely with relief. 'I thought you were going to sleep forever.' She said as she stroked his head.

Spencer moved his head slightly on the pillow and groaned. His head throbbed, worse than he ever remembered it throbbing before, worse than when he and his best friend Jeff had decided to sample the contents of Jeff's dad's liquor cabinet one afternoon. The resulting headache the next day had made him vow never to drink again as he and Jeff spent the whole morning laid on their backs in the long grass just beyond the local park, staring at the perfect blue sky and bemoaning their sorry state.

Moving didn't help the throbbing but he needed to look at the person who was speaking. Sometimes he didn't like to, especially if they were a stranger but his mom told him that it was rude not to look at someone when they were speaking so, battling the lurching pain, he tried to focus.

He blinked and swallowed. It was too hot, his mouth was dry and his tongue was heavy. There was a repetitive beeping sound that was somehow familiar. Where was he? He blinked again and shifted his feet.

The blaze of white hot pain that contracted around his body made him gasp and open his eyes wide.

'Shh, it's okay Spencer, just try to stay still.' The voice said as a cool hand stroked his head.

'Mom?' He blinked again and the figure next to the bed came into view. He knew where he was now. He was in the hospital and his back was injured after that evening in the football field. His mom shouldn't be here, they'd find out about her if she was here! He should get her to leave, tell her he was alright and that she should go home and lower the blinds and lock the doors, but when he blinked again and saw her smiling at him he crumbled and told her everything.

'Mom?' Spencer said as he stared blearily at Emily.

Emily cast a worried look toward Morgan.

'Spencer it's me, Emily.' She said.

Spencer screwed his eyes shut and crinkled his brow. He tried to stretch his body to relieve the pervasive ache but all that happened was that he re-awakened twin roars of pain in his stomach and back.

'Mom!' He gasped as the sensations strangled the word in his throat. 'It hurts...my back hurts.' He moaned.

'Spencer, you were attacked, do you remember? It was your stomach that was injured.' Emily said.

Spencer nodded his head against the pillows, his eyes tightly closed around the heat and the pain that felt like they were consuming his body. 'The football field...my back.' He mumbled.

'No, you were doing the Hardwick custodial with Hotch. Do you remember?' Emily said firmly.

'My clothes...I need...Uncle Daniel's watch was in my pocket, mom...I need...to find my clothes.' Spencer rambled and he made a weak attempt to push himself upright and drag his feet from the sheet covering his lower half. 'Aagh...oh...' He gasped and stared wide eyed at Emily, tears trickling down his face. 'Did I break my back? It hurts when I move and my foot...mom...my foot feels wet, why does it feel wet?' He moaned and pressed his head hard into the pillows, twisting until his face was half buried and his tears were absorbed by the cloth. 'Make it stop hurting...please...' He begged.

Emily dropped the side of the bed rail and half sat on the mattress next to Spencer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and cradling his head on her chest. 'That's it Morgan. Find that doctor, now.' She demanded as she rocked her lover gently.

Morgan was on his fifth repetition of pacing the waiting area floor when the rest of the team arrived back at the hospital. Once look at his face was all they needed to update them.

'What?' Rossi demanded.

'You didn't call...' JJ said worriedly as she checked her cell phone.

'What happened?' Garcia asked, not waiting for Morgan to answer JJ as she stood on her tip toes and pulled Morgan into a hug.

'He's got an infection. His temperature spiked and they've been trying to get it down for the last couple of hours now but it's runnin' wild. The doctor's back and Emily's still in there but I have no idea what's happening.' Morgan sighed. 'He didn't even know who we were.' He said as he pulled Garcia tighter to him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 'He didn't even know who we were.' He repeated.

'So what do we do?' JJ demanded helplessly.

The room was silent for a moment and then Hotch spoke. 'Morgan, take Garcia and do a coffee run from the shop outside. Rossi will see if he can get an update from one of the staff and JJ and I will wait here in case Emily comes out. Then we re-group and we wait. For as long as it takes.' Hotch replied as he shrugged out of his suit jacket and smoothed his tie.

Emily pressed herself further back into the wall as the team of nurses hurried into the room. Dr Stanley had returned earlier, taken one look at Spencer and his temperature readout and promptly set the room into motion. She had sent the nurse to gather her colleagues and had then set about taking Spencer's vitals and scribbling notes onto his chart.

'What's happening?' Morgan had asked.

'Spencer's temperature is still rising and fast. It's moved from high grade to dangerous and we can't wait for the antibiotics to kick in for it to drop. We need to intervene and quickly.' Dr Stanley replied as a team of nurses came into the room. 'We'll do an RSI and gastric lavage.' She said to the nurses, one of whom nodded in response and left the room again. 'And you need to move. You're making him hotter.' She said to Emily where she perched on the bed holding Spencer.

Emily slid away from him, laying his hand gently onto the bed as she stood up. 'I didn't think...he seemed distressed and...'

'Emily it's ok. I'm going to perform something called a gastric lavage.' Dr Stanley said as she walked Emily over to Morgan and the door.

'What? What is that?' Emily asked as she shoved her hair out of her face.

'It's a procedure that will cool him down more quickly that the packs alone can do.' Dr Stanley said.

'Why didn't you do that in the first place?' Morgan said in frustration as he glanced back to look at Spencer.

'Because it's invasive and where possible we'll always try non invasive methods first, but in Spencer's case they're just not working quickly enough.' She moved away from the door as the nurse pushed back into the room with a trolley covered in equipment. 'Gastric lavage introduces iced water directly into the stomach via a nasogastric tube. It should drop his temperature by about point fifteen degrees per minute.'

'A nasogastric...you want to put a tube into his nose and ...wait...what?' Emily stumbled over the words.

'We'll rapidly instill the iced water over a period of sixty seconds and then suction it back out. We'll repeat the process until his core temperature is down to thirty nine degrees. The proximity of the liver, the inferior vena cava, makes it a very effective way of reducing the core temperature.' She talked as she pulled off her white coat and dropped it onto one of the chairs. Rolling her sleeves up she addressed the nurses. 'I want him supine and lose the sheet.' She said to the nursing team as she nodded toward Morgan and Emily.

'But...'Emily tried to speak but felt a wave of panic swell in her throat.

Dr Stanley paused in her preparations for a second. 'Emily, Spencer is unconscious. He won't be aware of what's happening to him and he won't be in any pain. He needs this procedure.' She said firmly. 'You both should wait outside.' She said as one of the nurses pulled the door open.

'We're ready doctor.' One of the other nurses called.

As Morgan left the room Emily started to follow. The weight of the door pressed into her shoulder as she paused and looked back. Dr Stanley and the nurse holding the door had turned back to Spencer who was now laying naked, apart from the catheter tubing crossing his thigh and the heart monitors dotting his chest, and vulnerable in the middle of the bed, surrounded by strangers. As Emily blinked back her tears she knew she couldn't leave him there. She let the door slip closed without her exiting and shrank back into the corner of the room.

The pillows beneath Spencer's head had been discarded along with the sheet and the bed had been pulled away from the wall. Once of the nurses stood with her hands on either side of Spencer's head and held him in position to take the laryngoscope and the ET tube that would secure his airway.

Under the bright glare of the hospital lights Emily could see every plane of her lover's body as it was manipulated by the nursing staff as they first opened his mouth and the doctor made quick work of inserting the tubing into his throat and then as they raised his head and shoulders from the bed in order to position him to feed in the nasogastric tubing.

When another nurse bent his left leg across his right in order to position the thermometer Emily pressed her hands to her face to silence an emerging sob. They shouldn't be touching him like that she wanted to yell. The only woman he should be naked and in bed with was her, the only touches he should feel should be private ones, warm and loving, not cold and clinical. His arms shouldn't be limp and falling from the sides of the bed but warm and circling her body, surprising her with their strength as he pulled her onto him.

She stayed pressed back into the corner of the wall until she saw his fingers twitch against the white mattress cover. The nurses had fixed a bag filled with saline and ice to the Y connector on the end of the gastric tubing and hung it above Spencer's bed. Emily watched as the liquid snaked down the tube as it disappeared into Spencer's nose. She felt her stomach contract as she imagined the bag of icy fluid filling her own belly. Dr Stanley was talking, taking note of Spencer's temperature read outs as the nurses suctioned the water out of his stomach when Emily noticed his fingers curl.

Stepping forward she moved toward the bed and took his hand gently in hers. 'I'm not in your way.' She said as she held Dr Stanley's gaze. 'I know I shouldn't be in here but I'm not in anyone's way.'

Dr Stanley nodded curtly. 'The minute you are you're out. Let's go again people. Another ten ml over sixty seconds please.

As the nurses hung a fresh bag of ice water above Spencer's head and let the flood of liquid fill his nose and stomach, Emily knelt by the bed, cradling his hand, rubbing her thumb down the back of it. 'It's alright. I'm here.' She whispered, her words lost under the steady beeping of the heart monitor and pulse ox. 'I know it's bad but all you have to do is hang on. Please hang on, so you can come back to me.' She begged.

When the medical team finally streamed out of Reid's room the BAU team were wired on coffee and speculation.

'Dr Stanley.' Hotch called. 'What's happening?'

'Agent Hotchner. You look a little more rested than the last time I saw you.' She said.

'Is Dr Reid alright?' Hotch asked ignoring her comment.

'He's battling an infection right now. His blood work confirmed it and the resulting temperature is giving us a run for our money however we've just managed to get it down to thirty nine degrees. All we need Spencer to do is keep it there.' She said.

'And if he doesn't?' Hotch asked.

'He's fighting Agent Hotchner and that's all we can ask of him. His temperature will start to rise again but we're hoping that our intervention has given his body enough respite for the antibiotics to kick in before it has chance to reach a critical point again. I won't lie, it's going to be a hard night. Hang in there.' She said as she squeezed his shoulder and followed the nursing staff down the hallway.

The room was eerily quiet once Dr Stanley and her nursing staff had left. The speed at which they had performed the procedure and the invasive nature of it had left Emily feeling shaken and powerless and as the shock of Spencer's situation sank in she found her whole body trembling as she dropped into one of the chairs that had been moved back to the side of his bed.

The nursing staff had given her a bowl of cool water and a cloth to bathe his face and arms with. She wasn't sure if it would actually help him or if it was a placebo for her, something to keep her occupied, but either way she was glad of the small task that she could perform. Wringing the cloth out she leaned forward and gently ran it across Spencer's collar bone and circled the smooth swell of his shoulder before running it down the length of his arm. When she reached his hand she took his elegant fingers and bathed each one lovingly. She repeated the process over and over until the water had warmed and her fingers were wrinkled. Dropping the cloth back in the bowl she leaned forward to untangle the hair that had fallen into his eyes when suddenly he groaned and his face wrinkled into a frown. Emily paused, waiting to see if would wake up but his eyes remained closed and a moment later he settled again. Leaning down she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

'It's ok, just rest. Just sleep now.' She whispered.

Straightening up Emily realised just how thirsty and hungry she felt and just how much she needed the bathroom. Giving Spencer one last look she headed for the door. Logically she knew that Morgan at least would be in the waiting area but was still startled by the presence of the whole team jumping to their feet as she emerged from the IC room.

'We thought we'd give you some time alone. How's he doing?' Morgan asked.

'Cooler...he's a lot cooler now...' Shaking her head she looked at the worried faces of her friends. 'I never want to see anyone I love go through that again.' She said.

'You look exhausted.' JJ said as she took Emily's hand.

'Can I persuade you to go back to the hotel and rest?' Rossi said.

'Not a chance' Emily smiled shakily. 'He has to get through tonight without his fever spiking again. I can't leave him alone for that.'

'You're right. We can leave him alone and we won't.' Hotch said. 'Garcia will take you down to the cafeteria for food and then you can get freshened up in the doctors' lounge.' He held his hand up when Emily was about to argue. 'I cleared it with Reid's doctor and JJ brought your bag. While you're doing that we'll take it in turns to sit with him until you get back.' He ordered.

Emily looked across at Hotch as JJ squeezed her hand. Suddenly she found herself stepping forward and giving him a brief hug. 'Welcome back.' She whispered in his ear.

Garcia pressed the cloth to Reid's forehead. 'Like this?' She asked.

'Yes, and then run it down his neck but careful of the ice pack.' Emily said wearily.

It was past two in the morning and all night the team had taken it in turns to sit with Spencer. Some like Hotch sat quietly, surprising her when he reached out and held Spencer's hand. Other's like Rossi and JJ had read to him, a difference in literature that had made Emily smile; Kerouac from Rossi and Twilight from JJ. Morgan settled for a one way conversation of gentle teasing declaring that after "watching him lay on his skinny ass for days" he was going to pass him all his consult and paperwork to do for the next month as payback.

Garcia talked. Talked and fussed and smoothed pillows and bathed his brow until Emily could stand it no longer and gently pushed her into one of the chairs and told her to just breathe.

'This is so hard Em, to just watch him struggle and not being able to help him fight.' Garcia said tearfully.

'I know Garcia, I know, but we are helping. Being here, not letting him face this alone, is helping.' Emily said.

Garcia nodded but Emily knew she wasn't convinced. She knew because she herself was far from convinced and it was getting harder to be optimistic.

For the last three hours the team had watched as the red LED display of the monitors attached to Reid's body showed his temperature climb. It wasn't fast but every so often the number would blink and change and with each degree Emily felt her faith crumbling. With each degree she would cling harder to his hand and stare at him more intently as if she could cool him down by sheer will alone.

He started to fuss in his sleep. Little movements accompanied by whimpers and half words that made no sense and Emily and the team had all grown quiet by that point, even Garcia who was now bathing him silently.

Spencer twisted his head into the pillow and cried out, his sweat matted hair sticking to his face and neck. 'Please...' He mumbled. 'Please.'

Emily pulled his hand to her lips and kissed the backs of his fingers. 'It's ok.' She said trying to calm him.

His eyes flickered open but didn't fix on her, instead swimming lazily. 'You shouldn't be here.' He said before closing his eyes again and growing quiet apart from his laboured breathing.

Emily lowered her head to the mattress and allowed herself to cry.

Hotch was with her when Dr Stanley came back into the room at 4am to take more vitals.

'It's still high?' Emily said, knowing the answer.

Dr Stanley nodded. 'I'll give him another hour, unless he really spikes, and then we'll run another gastric lavage.' She said.

'And if that doesn't work?' Hotch pushed.

'He has to fight this off himself. We can only cool him down so many times and after that it's up to him and the antibiotics. I'm sorry.' Dr Stanley said as she pressed her hand onto Emily's shoulder. 'Page the nursing staff if you need me before then.' She said.

Emily sat heavily back in her chair and took Spencer's hand. His fingers were hot and dry, making her own clammy hands even more uncomfortable. 'You know I really don't want to watch them do those things to you again baby, please, please...just fight.' She whispered as she felt her body sag into the chair and her head spin.

The next thing she knew Hotch was speaking but his voice was coming from far away and Morgan was leaning over her.

'When did she last sleep?' Hitch was saying.

'A little last night. But only a couple of hours in the waiting room chairs.' Morgan said as he pushed a cup of water toward her. She was still in Spencer's room but was laying on the couch under the window. Blinking she tried to sit up.

'Whoa. Hold on princess. You juts about passed out a moment ago.' Morgan said as he held the cup for her to drink.

'Spencer...' She started.

'Spencer is right where you left him and he will still be there when you have slept some.' Morgan said firmly.

'No I...'

'Prentiss you need sleep. You;re no use to Reid like this. Lay down and we will wake you if anything happens.

Emily was about to protest when a thick blanket was laid over her and Hotch's firm hand pressed her shoulders back into the couch. The last thing she saw was everyone gatherd around Spencer's bed.

The next thing Emily saw was strips of sunlight across the linoleum floor as they slipped in through the slatted blind. She blinked and sat up, her mouth dry and cottony. How long had she slept for she wondered and what was that? Was that Rossi? Rossi reading Twilight?

The whole team were still in the room, asleep, dotted around on chairs dragged in from the waiting area and in Morgan's case sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, fast asleep.

Tentatively she pushed the blanket from her legs and stood up almost afraid of what she might see when she approached the bed.

'It's gone down.' Rossi said as he snapped the book closed. 'Better than this trash has gone down with me I can promise you that.'

'It's...really?' Emily pushed past Rossi and took in the sight of Spencer sleeping peacefully and the monitor next to his bed reading a steady thirty eight degrees.

'It's gone down!' She exclaimed to Rossi, a huge smile breaking across her face for the first time in days.

'His fever broke at a little before 5am. Just as that doctor was about to perform another one of those Victorian looking procedures. Great sense of timing the kid has, huh.' He smiled as Emily brushed a couple from stray tears from her face. 'He's been sleeping since then. No dreaming, no talking just good old fashioned healing sleep.'

Emily nodded and grinned and cried as Rossi pulled her into a hug.

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