On the drive home, Reid didn't say much, Piper held his hand all the way there, not pushing him to talk. He followed her into the house, sitting on the sofa as she went to put all of the doctor's appointment and surgery dates on the calendar, returning with a cup of coffee for him. She wrapped her arms around her husband in silence. "How do I tell the team? How do I tell Nate?"

She had been thinking of this in the car. "We should sit Nate down and tell him that Dad needs to go to the doctor, and that he shouldn't worry, because he's going to be okay. We can have the team over again if you want. That way they don't have to think about work afterwards."

"Can we just call them? I really don't feel like having them all hug us and… and fawn over us and…"

"Spence, they're going to do it anyway. Garcia would literally drive over here-"

"Then can we do it now?"

"If you want to." They'd dropped Nate off with Jessica, so Piper called her first, explaining what had happened and asking if she could just keep him for the night. Afterwards, she called each of the team members one-by-one, asking them to come over for coffee and dessert.

Soon after, the first knock came. Reid groaned, rolling over on the sofa. "I don't want to do this."

"I know," Piper nodded, stopping to kiss him before heading over to the door. "But they're going to need to know at some point, and it's better to get it out now. They'll be able to help process everything."

She let Morgan in, giving him a hug. "Hey, Pipes… Oh, it's not good news, is it?"

"You could tell? You're such a profiler," Piper smiled as she shut the door. "But yeah, we… it's not good. We're going to wait for the whole team before we say anything, though."

Morgan went to keep Reid company, frowning at Piper when he saw his friend laying on the couch again, like he had been for nearly two weeks. The rest of the team arrived within fifteen minutes, Piper sitting them all down and bringing out a pot of coffee and a plate of cookies. She sat down next to Reid, taking his hand. "You all know I've been having headaches for a while," he began, watching everyone pour their drinks and start eating. "Piper and I went to a doctor last week who did some more scans, and… and they found…"

"No," Garcia gulped, looking between them as she put things together. "No, my brilliant baby, no…"

"It's a glioblastoma," Reid said, his voice hollow. "They… they said it's operable, and it's small, so there's a chance they can get it all. I'm going to be out for a little while after the surgery."

"We'll take Nate any time you need," JJ offered, squeezing Piper's free hand.

Hotch agreed. "Jack will be glad to have his cousin over. And anything else you need, just ask. No matter what it is, just ask."

Piper looked to Reid, who she could tell had already zoned out, lost in his head. She thanked everyone else, keeping the conversation going as Reid interjected a sentence or two every so often. Everyone hugged them before filing out the door, repeating their offers to help in any way that they could. She assured them that they wouldn't hesitate for ask, but for now, they just needed their support. Hotch was the last one to leave, stopping Piper before she closed the door. "Listen, it's been a hard month for the two of you. Hell, a hard couple of weeks. Take all the time you need, but keep an eye on him."

"You don't have to warn me about that," Piper promised him. "I know about his history. If there's any sign of ideation…" She signed, looking past him for a second. "I won't ignore anything. He's already depressed because of Maeve, because he realized what terrible decisions he's made, and this isn't going to help anything. But if there's any sign…"

"I know," Hotch nodded. "You've been trained to see them. But if you need-"

"I know. Thanks, Hotch." She reached out and hugged her supervisory agent, Hotch hugging her back unquestioningly.

"And if you two need a night away from Nate, he's always welcome to stay with me."

"Thanks." She watched him go before heading back into the apartment, locking the door behind her. She gathered up the last few coffee cups, seeing that Reid had layed back down on the sofa. After putting everything in the dishwasher, Piper went back into the living room, throwing another log on the fire before sitting on the floor to be level with her husband.

"We have good friends," Reid said, speaking for the first time in a while. "I called my parents earlier."

"How'd it go?"

"Mom cried... she told me she would come and visit if I wanted. Dad... dad offered to help pay for things, but he wasn't as sympathetic."

"I'm sorry. He'll come around, though. He needs time." She ran her hand through his hair, laying her head beside his. He reached out for a kiss, making Piper smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I've got the beginning of a headache coming on." He sighed, closing his eyes for a second. "Every time I feel one of them coming on now, I'm going to think of this thing… this thing slowly growing in my brain… Piper, what if it-"

"No. Spencer Reid, I'm not going to let this thing kill you. There's no way in hell."

"What if it…" he took a deep breath. "What if it destroys everything… everything I've learned, everything I've worked for?"

"Spence, it won't." She put her arm over his shoulder, but Reid sat up quickly.

"You can't promise that. You don't know."

"Well I do know that we're working with some great doctors, and I swear, if I have to, I'll become an expert on this thing and cure it myself."

"I've got a frag grenade in my head, Piper. It's just waiting to rip everything apart." He stood up, heading up the stairs.

"You've been making Irish coffees, haven't you? I know we had a bottle of whiskey-"

"You know I need it right about now. And at the moment, I need to get some sleep," he told her. She nodded, watching him disappear upstairs.

Deciding to give him some time, Piper grabbed her laptop from the study, looking up information on brain surgery and every possible related thing she could think of. Muddling through papers dense with medical jargon, she sat up for a bit, processing as much as she could. The odds weren't great, from the looks of it, but they had found it early and they were doing all that they could. She closed her laptop, putting it back on its charger. It was awful to think about, but she knew that he was more scared than she was or ever could be. After all, it was his head that the tumor was growing in.

Heading upstairs, Piper switched the lights off and went into their room. Reid wasn't laying in bed. Odd. The bathroom light was on, so she changed into her pajamas and knocked, thinking that she would take her makeup off, brush her teeth, and go to bed. There was no answer except for an odd hiccuping noise. "Spence? Spencer, are you okay?" He didn't say anything, so she slowly opened the door.

Reid was standing in front of the mirror, his hands on the sides of the sink, supporting himself on the cold marble. He'd taken his glasses off, his head bent as he sobbed into the sink basin. Piper put her arms around him, Reid silently turning to face her as she embraced him. He could hardly get the words out, but kept her close as he managed to say, "I'm dying. I'm dying and this thing is destroying… destroying me. It's gonna… eat away at who I am… at everything I know… and you… you and Nate are going to… going to have to see that… and… I can't…"

"Babe, you're not dying. We're going to take care of it. We're -"

"That's the one thing... I can't know. When I was... I saw a light, Piper... and I know logically it's hard... hard to believe in anything, but there's got to be... this can't be it. But what if..."

"Spence, take a deep breath." She ran her hand through his hair steadily, moving the two of them over to sit in the bathtub. "Take a deep breath, and then another and then another. You can cry if you need to, it's fine. But try to keep breathing so you're at least not hiccuping. Come here. I love you."

"I love you too. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about being a horrible husband… and for putting you through that… and for… for making you marry a man who's going to die…"

"You didn't force anything," she whispered, holding his head to her chest. She kept running her hand through his hair, saying, "I'm going to tell you something, and I want you to listen very carefully. I got to work one day and had no idea where I was going, since I'd been assigned to a new unit. I finally found my way there, and I knew I was going to be late. I walked into this conference room and saw this man who… who looked up at me and smiled a bit, so I sat next to him. We started talking after the meeting, and I knew I wanted to get to know him. He had this amazing mind, and it was like I finally met someone who could make me think, really think. So I did start talking to him, and every day, I would notice something new. Like how he wears mismatched socks. Or how he always carries granola bars in his bag. And then I realized how much he made me smile, and I knew I was falling for him. Then one night on a case we were sitting there and drinking wine and I kissed him, and he turned pink, so pink I thought he'd stay that way. I didn't regret that night, and I haven't regretted one day since."

"You were wearing purple," he said, trying to slow his breath down as he clung to her. "We were sitting in front of the window, watching what was happening at the bank. You were wearing purple… you still have it… the shirt you wore last Tuesday. It was that one. I'd been trying to work up the nerve to talk to you - to tell you how I felt - for weeks. And then you kissed me and… and everything seemed right… I'm so sorry, Piper. How I felt that night… I'd been scared to tell you for weeks. Every time you'd sit down at that desk across from me, I wanted to look up at you, but you would have noticed and started talking and I would have had no idea what to say because you… I couldn't concentrate… there were so many times I almost told you. When we were sitting there, I wanted to tell you, I wanted to be close to you so badly… and then you leaned over and I knew… I knew it was going to happen and I had been thinking about that moment for ages… I'd had dreams about it… I'm sorry." He sniffled, Piper kissing the top of his head. "I'm sorry… it must hurt you so much, thinking about her and I. About everything, the calls, the letters… I burned them. But it still has to hurt… I'm sorry."

"Spence-"

"No, I have to say it. I'm sorry," he told her adamantly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do to make up for it, but… I should have just talked to you. But that same feeling… that same nervousness… something kept telling me you would leave… I'd always… I never thought you would like me… you're beautiful and smart and… too good for me. Something kept telling me you would leave, or you would be too busy to really listen, like you did in the hotels… and I know it was wrong, but it felt easy to just start telling Maeve things… and it felt so wrong, but I knew I was falling… falling for her and I couldn't tell you but… every time I came home, every time I went to work, every time I looked at my wedding ring… I felt so guilty and I'm sorry."

"Spence, I can't tell you that I'm not mad, that I'm not disappointed," she confided, keeping him close. "But I can tell you that I love you. I love you so much. I can't pretend to understand it, but I can start to accept it. I already have. It's going to take time, like every kind of healing does. And I can promise you that I'm going to be here for you, no matter what happens, even if things get bad. I promise I'm going to be here for you, and I promise I'll always love you, Spence. I know you'd do the same thing for me."

"I don't deserve you."

"It's okay, Spence. It's okay. We're going to get through this together. Don't focus on statistics, or facts or… Don't focus on thinking now," she instructed. "Focus on being right here, right now, where we are." She started rubbing his back, adding, "Just focus on being here. Focus on my voice."

"Please don't pull your psychologist thing."

"Ssh, like I said, just listen to my voice. Do you remember - well, of course you remember. But the first night I slept next to you. We were in Hawaii, and you came over to talk. You'd told me all sorts of things, all sorts of things that brought us closer. I asked if you wanted to stay, since it seemed like the right thing to do. I'd wanted to do that for so long, to lay next to you, to hold you next to me and… it's just a special kind of closeness, falling asleep next to someone. Maybe it stems from trusting that they won't kill you in your sleep, I don't know. But it was so sweet, and it made me feel so much better, having you there. I've loved it ever since."

"I'd never done that before," he admitted, finally starting to catch his breath and calm down. "I'd never… I was so worried I'd accidentally roll over on your arm in my sleep or something. But I wanted to hold you next to me and it made me so happy… I always love when we're both home and I can hold you in my sleep. It's so difficult falling asleep without you when I'm off on cases. I just… you make me feel better, even if it's just having you right there."

Piper kissed the top of his head again. "You're so sweet, Spence. Do you want to go lay in bed now?"

"I… I think I'm going to wash my face off first. I probably look like a red, swollen mess." He sat up slowly, Piper putting a hand to his face. He was pretty much right.

"Just a little bit. But you're still pretty cute."

A few minutes later, they were laying in bed together, Piper turning the lamp off and plugging in the strand of lights they had looped around the headboard. "I could barely bring myself to sleep in here… whenever the fire died, I… I didn't want to get up, but it scared the hell out of me and made everything worse," Reid admitted as she lay back down.

"Well I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere." She pulled him close to her, throwing a blanket over the both of them. "I love you, Spencer Reid."

"I love you too."

"And we're going to handle this together. But if you ever… if you ever want to sit in a bathtub crying your eyes out, just let me know. Sometimes you have to."

He laughed a bit, saying, "I'll keep that in mind. But for now, I think I'm good just having you here."