Chapter two part twelve

Living involves tearing up one rough draft after another. Author Unknown

Spencer sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands, it had been four of the longest days of his life. They had just finished their case in Canada and it ended with them finding eighty nine bodies, if you added the death of the two Un-subs the final body count was ninety one. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically. It just seemed unbelievable that over eighty people had been killed over several years and had it not been for the actions of William Hightower looking for his missing sister they never would have found out what was happening on that pig farm in Canada. William's final act in his sister's name had been to kill Mason Turner. A man so sick and twisted that he had convinced his mentally handicapped brother to abduct and kill for him.

Spencer heard her footsteps coming down the hall and wiped his eyes quickly. He stood up and looked at her. He must have woken her up and not realized it.

"Hey, you're home," she signed. Catherine looked at him and was worried, it looked like he had aged twenty years in four days. She had a feeling that this is one that he wouldn't talk about, but it might get press considering how long he was gone and how out of touch he had been. He wouldn't look her in the eyes and she knew that it must be pretty bad. Catherine walked up to him and touched his arm.

"Spencer, come on. Let's just go to bed." Spencer knew he wouldn't be able to sleep. That if he closed his eyes all he would see would be pigs, the piles of shoes, the sound of Morgan screaming at them to stop shooting Lucas Turner.

"I can't," signed Spencer. Catherine reached out and hugged him. Spencer stood there for several moments unable to response and when he finally did he just broke down sobbing. She couldn't make out anything he was saying. She hated feeling so powerless to do anything for him.

"It's so stupid...it's all so stupid," was all he could get out. Spencer let Catherine lead him to bed and he fell in fully dressed. Catherine pulled him close and he was so tired he passed out. It felt like it had only been seconds since he had fallen into bed when he heard his phone ringing. Spencer shifted in the bed and started reaching for the phone.

"Reid," he answered.

"Spence it's me," said JJ. How the hell could she so sound so awake. He looked at the clock and realized that he had only been home four hours.

"I'll be quick," she said and she relayed the bullet points for him. Two men had been murdered with the initials LC near their bodies and that a local ER doctor had received a note also signed LC. The writer was threatening to kill the doctor's son and should the doctor keep the son in hiding, one person would die each day.

"I know we're all tired but," Spencer cut her off.

"I know. Do I have time for a shower first?"

"Sure." She gave him the address and he asked for thirty minutes. Ten for the shower, twenty to get over to the scene via taxi. Spencer crawled out of bed and realized that Catherine wasn't in bed, but he could hear her in the kitchen and he could smell coffee. He heard her coming back down the hall and she looked surprised to see him awake.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you up." He remembered that it was Friday so she had to go work.

"No...we're being asked to help on a case." she frowned.

"You just got home."

"It's local so I should be home by tonight or in the morning."

"Do you need a ride? I can drop you off."

"You'll be late."

"It will be the first time I'm late in almost a year. Go take your shower, I'll make you some breakfast." The thought of eating really wasn't that appealing, but he couldn't remember the last meal he had.

"Thank you." He went into the bathroom and took the hottest shower he could stand. He dressed quickly and went into the kitchen and found that Catherine had made him an omelet with toast. She was pouring him a travel cup of coffee and was dumping sugar into by the tablespoon.

"Eat," she told him. Spencer had learned fighting with her when it came to meals was a lost cause. He used to forget to eat when he lived alone, it wasn't until he was nearly starving did he remember to eat. It was the first decent and hot meal he could remember having since leaving for Canada. She handed him his coffee which was still hot and sweetened accordingly.
"Thank you," he signed.

"See sometimes I know better than you." They left the apartment and collected Catherine's car from the garage across the street. The cost of keeping both cars was sometimes a pain in the ass, but it came in handy sometimes. Spencer gave her the address and he was right on time.

"I'll see you later," she signed. Spencer leaned across the seat and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car. He watched her drive away and with a supreme effort of will turned towards the crime scene. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.

…...

Even though he could could read 20,000 words a minute the files were overwhelming in volume. Garcia had been able to fax them all the files they asked for and he, Emily and Dr. Barton were sorting through them. Barton was very distracted, his son had managed to climb out of his bedroom and went to school. Morgan, Rossi and JJ were at the school helping with the lock down. Emily kept trying to reach Hotch and was unsuccessful.

"We need Hotch," said Emily.

"Who?" asked Barton.

"Our Unit Chief, we weren't supposed to work today and we've been having trouble reaching him," said Spencer sitting another file aside and moved on the next.

"You know he's only twenty minutes from here. I could go and get him," said Emily standing up. Spencer agreed and she left quickly. They only five hours until school ended and they still had at least a hundred files to go through.

"The note doesn't say that he'll kill Jeffery today...what if we don't find this person today? How long do you all plan on being here?" asked Barton.

"Let's just get through today," said Spencer and he sorted through another stack. He was making some headway in the files when his phone rang and it was Emily.

"Hotch is missing."

"What?" asked Spencer confused.

"I got here and there are clear signs of a struggle, a bullet hole in the wall and a dried pool of blood." Spencer felt every hair on his neck stand up and a wave of panic take over.

"What's going on?" asked Barton. Damn it, thought Spencer and he motioned to the doctor to please give him a minute.

"Is this about Jeffery?" he asked panic stricken.

"No this is an unrelated matter," said Spencer trying to catch what Emily was telling him.

"I'm waiting for CSU and Metro...I have Garcia looking for him at local hospitals..."

"Damn it tell me what is going on!" ordered Baron.

"Sir I promise this is not about your son, but it's very important that I take this call," said Spencer as calmly as he could. Barton gave him a look and sat back down.

"There is a huge hole in the wall, maybe a .44 but no blood," Thank god for small favors.

"Any idea how he got out?" asked Spencer since Hotch's car was still there from what Emily had told him.

"If he was shot there are no drag marks, unless he was wrapped in something."

"CSU is on the way," confirmed Spencer.

"They should be here any second."

"Ok...write down everything you see and we'll start a profile from there," said Spencer trying to stay calm. God what happened to Hotch...

"How's Dr. Barton?" asked Emily. Spencer looked at the doctor pacing in the next room. Time was running out and now he was going to have to try to piece this together solo.

"There is a huge list of cases, but I think I can handle it."

"Ok...you stay focused on that and I'll handle this end," said Emily. They hung up and Dr. Barton came back in the room. Focus on this...focus on this...

"I'm really sorry about that Dr. Barton, but Agent Prentiss has been called away on an emergency." Barton looked pissed and Spencer really couldn't blame him.

"I'm confident that the two of us can do this together if we just focus. He's been kill Hispanic males as surrogates. We have those separated?"

"Yes," said Barton taking a seat.

"How many?"

"Eighty two." Ok that's a smaller than a hundred.

"Alright and on how many of those dates did you operate on someone else as well?"

"Seventy five."

"And how many died on the table?"

"Eleven." Bingo.

"Ok this is where we start."

…...

"He's going to ask you to marry him," signed Laura over lunch.

"No he's not," signed Catherine.

"He wants to go away with you to New York for a weekend. Has he ever wanted to do that?" asked Molly, one of the history teachers.

"Well no..."admitted Catherine.

"And you didn't prompt him or nudge him for this weekend get away?" asked Laura.

"Well no," signed Catherine. It's just a nice thing to do and we've never gone away so it's just something to shake things up.

"You've been together for about four years, you've never gone on a real vacation together and than just out of the blue he wants to go to New York. I smell a question being popped," signed Laura.

"Maybe he's just trying something new for a change," signed Catherine.

"You come back from summer break without a ring on you. I will chaperone any field trip or school function you need," said Molly. Catherine was regretting telling them about the New York trip.

"Look Spencer is very sweet, but trust me if he was going to ask me it's going to be a very quiet and private thing. He's not going to drag me out of town to do it, but I will take you up on the chaperone bet," signed Catherine. Lunch wrapped up and Catherine headed to her office to finish some lesson prep before next period. He's not going to propose...no...no...I mean what if he did...I would totally say yes...but oh my god. He's going to ask me...oh my god. Now that it was staring her in the face, he was trying to make the grand sweeping gesture...It's going to be awesome. Catherine knew that when Spencer put his mind to do something he did it right. She picked up her lesson books and went into her Japanese class. All the kids noticed that Ms. D had the biggest smile on her face and didn't give them any homework.

"Whatever got her in a good mood, let's hope to stays till finals," signed one girl to her friend after leaving class.

…...

"It's because I didn't operate on him," said Dr. Barton. He explained to Spencer what had happened, there had been a head on car crash on the man he had operated on had survived. The other boy in the crash had been pronounced brain dead and had been put on life support the second they brought him in to the ER. The father had spoken to him after he talked to the family of the survivor and wanted to know why Barton wasn't going to help his son even though nothing could be done for him.

Spencer called Garcia and asked her to pull the boy's medical records, it turned out that the boy had just been taken off life support and died three days ago. His father was Patrick Myers and Spencer had her send his photo to JJ and the others at the school.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," said Barton.

"I tend to do my best work under pressure," admitted Spencer. Barton gave him a tired smile and went to get his coat. "Where are you going?"

"The note did tell me not break from my normal routine and I always picked Jeffery up on my off days."

"I'll come with you," said Spencer standing up. He went to grab his own coat when his cell phone went off and it was Emily. Does she had news about Hotch?

"LC...it's an administrative note on a patient's chart that means Living Children. They put it on charts for patients without a living will or a DNR," said Emily. Living children...his own child isn't, but what if...

"Emily what if this was the Un-sub's way of telling Barton that he's the target," said Spencer out loud. "Dr. Barton." He must have gone outside.

"Barton!" called Spencer and he ran outside.

"Doctor!" called a man. From across the lawn, Spencer saw Patrick Myers holding a gun. Spencer ran towards Barton without thinking twice and knocked him to the ground. Spencer felt a stinging in his knee and than something warm and wet running down his leg. He dropped his cell and gun. He could half hear Emily yelling for him. Spencer looked down and saw that blood was soaking his pant leg.

"Are you hit?" asked Spencer.

"No," said Barton. Spencer saw that Patrick was still there with his gun and Spencer was without his.

"My gun, give me my gun," ordered Spencer. The few inches it was away seemed like miles. Barton handed him his weapon. Holding his weapon in one hand and his other hand holding his bleeding knee he looked up at Patrick.

"Get away from him!" cried Patrick crossing the yard.

"Whatever you do stay down," ordered Spencer.

"Don't protect him." Patrick was closing the distance between them.

"Drop your gun!" I don't want to shoot you.

"He killed my son."

"He did not kill your son. Your son was killed in car accident," said Spencer trying to calm the grieving man.

"Stand up," yelled Patrick. He's going to try to force you to kill him...he wants to die.

"I'm going to ask you again to put the gun down. I do not want to shoot you. Please put down the gun."

"Just stand up you coward," sobbed Patrick.

"Mr. Myers, listen to me it's over. Dr. Barton did not kill your son, your son died in a terrible accident and this not what he would want. Please just drop the gun," said Spencer. Patrick started to lower his weapon and than he heard the sirens.

"Don't do it."

"I'm sorry," he said softly and he raised the gun again. Before he could pull the trigger Spencer took his shot. He aimed for the man's side, enough to slow him down but not enough to kill him. He fell to the ground and Dr. Barton got up and went to exam his leg.

"I'm fine. Go to him and take his gun away." The adrenaline was starting to wear off and he could feel even more blood just running down his leg.

"Just let me die," pleaded Patrick. The medics and the police were getting close. Spencer dropped his gun and tried applying pressure to his own wound. Dr. Barton stripped off his jacket and applied pressure to the wound. When the medics arrived they went to Patrick and Dr. Barton assisted them. God this hurts...Jesus Christ...The medics took Patrick and Dr. Barton wiped his hands on his shirt trying to get the blood off before coming back to him.

"Let me look," he made Spencer move his hand and he examined the wound. "It looks like it went clean through."

"You saved his life," said Spencer watching the first ambulance leave. Three SUV pulled up and other climbed JJ, Rossi, Morgan and Dr. Barton's young son Jeffery.

"I'm fine," lied Spencer. "Go to your son." He needs you more than I do, thought Spencer. Barton went to his son and JJ, Rossi and Morgan made their way to him. Shit Emily...Hotch.

"We're going with you to the hospital," said JJ kneeling down next to him.

"No...someone needs to call Emily...something happened to Hotch," said Spencer trying to fight the pain.

"What?" asked Morgan.

"I don't know all the details, just call Emily." Rossi got on his phone and called Emily.

"Can you have someone get Catherine for me?" asked Spencer. A team of medics came over and not so gently moved JJ and Morgan out of the way.

"I'll have an agent get her from the school," said JJ getting on her phone.

"Emily says Hotch is at St. Sebastian's. That's forty minutes from here," said Rossi.

"Where are you taking him?" asked JJ.

"George Washington is the closest," said one of the medics.

"Go to Hotch. I'll be fine," hissed Spencer.

"Reid," said Morgan.

"We don't how bad Hotch is, I'll be fine just go," hissed Spencer has the medic pushed down hard on his leg.

"We'll call you when we know something," said Rossi and he herded JJ and Morgan to the car. Thanks Rossi. Spencer watched them drive away and the medics moved him onto a gurney.

"Male, twenty eight years old, single GSW to the knee. Appears to be a thru and thru," said a male medic with red hair when they got him into the ambulance. Now that all the adrenaline had run it's course Spencer was really starting to feel how much a gunshot wound to the knee really hurt. Spencer forced himself to take several long, deep breaths. Don't think about it...to go on is to be great, to be great is to go far, to go far is to return...damn this hurts.

"Do you want something for the pain?" asked a female medic.

"No," said Spencer a little too fast judging by the looks on their faces.

"They might have to do surgery on this knee. If you have any issues with medication we need to know," said a male medic.

"If I need to go under for surgery than that's ok, but I don't want anything after," said Spencer trying to stay awake. He had been clean going on three years and had no desire to risk losing that.

"Ok," said the female medic. The male medic has cutting through Spencer's pants to get a better look at the wound and to apply more pressure. Everything was starting to blur. JJ said someone would get Catherine...we were supposed to do something this weekend...what was it. Spencer felt the ambulance come to a halt and he was barely aware of being wheeled out. If not for the burning pain in his leg he would swear this was a dream.

"Agent Reid...can you hear me?" asked a doctor and Spencer sort of nodded. "I'm Dr. McClain and we're going to take you to the OR to see how bad your knee is."

"Kay," the blurring was getting worse and when he felt a needle slide into his arm he didn't fight it.

…...

"He never went to Prom!" said Cassie confused. Catherine smiled and helped Cassie move another table so the dance floor could be set up. Junior Prom was tomorrow night and the gym was being transformed to hold the dance. Cassie the Junior class President and nominee for Prom Queen wasn't above manual labor to make sure her night was perfect. Catherine was duty bound to help set up as their class sponsor. She was also duty bound to come here tomorrow night and watch them dance, flirt and try to act like adults while fighting over who stole so and so's date. Cassie had asked her about when she and Spencer had gone to Prom. When Catherine had admitted Spencer had never gone to Prom the young girl looked shocked.

"No Cassie, Dr. Reid has never been to Prom and he's supposed to be with me tomorrow night chaperoning. So this will be his first Prom." Spencer had agreed in years past to help her chaperone, but they're always seemed to be a last minute serial killer that needed to be caught. Oh he's not getting out of it this year.

"But...it's Prom! He should gone with you at least once," countered Cassie.

"He was in college when I got to go to Prom so he missed out on all Prom activities. Don't worry I'm sure that in his eyes this will be just like going." Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Guys just don't get it," signed Cassie. "This is like a wedding, but you don't have to plan it and you still get to dance and wear the awesome dress." Catherine smiled and the moved another table.

"So who did you go to Prom with?" asked Cassie.

"My first Prom I went with a friend's brother and than my senior year I went with a group of people. All my friends dates were my dates," teased Catherine. They finished moving the tables and started setting them up with the tablecloths and centerpieces.

"So why didn't you go with anyone special?"

"Didn't really have anyone special at the time so I just went with who I wanted to hang out with." Cassie smoothed out a cloth and looked at Catherine.

"Can I ask you something as a person and not a teacher?" asked Cassie. Catherine valued herself as being someone the students could confide in. Catherine nodded.

"Well this is supposed to be special and I wanna make it special for me and Cooper...and well..." The girl turned red and it wasn't that hard to figure out. "How did you know when it was special?" Catherine motioned for the girl to sit down.

"You'll just know. But can I give you one piece of advice?" Cassie nodded. "Really think it through before you do this. I know this is going to sound like a teacher from a TV show, but you really only get this once and if you have any doubts at all than don't." Cassie nodded and than she looked over Catherine's shoulder.

"Principal Scott is heading this way with a couple of suits," signed Cassie. Catherine looked behind her and there was Leo Scott and with were two agents that Catherine had a vague memory of meeting at a Christmas party. All three looked very grim and Catherine felt frozen in place.

"Catherine, we need to talk in private," signed Leo. She stood up and followed the three a good distance away. The teens in the gym saw the group ask Ms. D to leave with them and a few of the bolder ones, including Cassie went over to the doors to peak through the window to see what was going on. They missed what was signed to her, but it wasn't good considering how pale she was and the fact that she was crying.

…...

It felt like pins and needles were in his leg both figuratively and literally. Spencer had no idea how long the surgery took and no one had come into speak with him yet, but he saw that his leg was out from under the blanket and was up in a sling and they had him in an upright position in the bed. He saw that his knee was heavily wrapped and he was pretty sure that he had pins and needles holding his knee together, he was also in a brace that went to almost his ankle. He looked and saw that he didn't have an IV for painkillers in his arm. The medics most have told the doctors and nurses about his request to stay off the medication. He laid against the pillow and closed his eyes when he heard someone at the door. Spencer opened his eyes and there stood a short, heavy weight doctor.

"Dr. Reid, I'm Dr. McClain. We had brief meeting before we took you into the OR." McClain pulled up a chair and looked over his chart.

"Well the surgery took a bit longer than I thought it would take, but you were in a bad way sir."

"How long?" asked Spencer.

"Close to four hours." Spencer's jaw dropped. "The good news you will walk again in time." That's the good news...

"Your knee cap was almost dismantled, I've only seen it a handful of times. Right now we're holding your knee in place with three sugar screws and two 2 inch long titanium screws. I want you off that leg for the next month. You're going to need to come back in two months for another operation to make sure everything is healing properly."

"And if it hasn't heal properly?" asked Spencer fearful of the answer. McClain sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"A couple decades ago we wouldn't have been to treat you at all. We have a few other orthopedic surgeons in the States that might be able to help you, but going overseas might work better since they have procedures we're still testing." Spencer felt like his blood had been replaced with ice water.

"That is the worst case scenario. I'm confident that your knee is going to be just fine. Like I said, I want you off that knee for a month. After a month, you'll come in and we'll see about getting you some crutches. After that we'll do the follow up surgery and than we'll move on to physical therapy. You might need one more surgery just to do a little tidying up, but it's going to be ok. I know it seems very overwhelming right now, but it could have been much worse." Spencer sighed, right now this all seemed very overwhelming however considering what the alternative could have been he should be thanking whatever higher power had taken an interest him at that moment.

"I'm told your refusing pain medication," said McClain.

"I don't like narcotics," Spencer said plainly hoping the doctor would get the unspoken message, he did judging by the look on his face

"Alright than. There is a young lady in the hall who has most worn a hole in the floor with her pacing. Do you want to see her now?"

"I need to make a phone call first," said Spencer wondering what had happened to Hotch in the four hours that he had been out. "Can I have my cell please?" The doctor reached into a bin on a shelf and handed him his phone.

"I'll give you ten minutes before I get her." McClain left the room and Spencer called JJ.

"Hey how are you?" asked JJ sounding very stressed out.

"It's going to be ok." Spencer had no desire to go into the details right now. "What happened with Hotch?"

"The Reaper," said JJ and that horrible feeling Spencer had about today just got worse. JJ filled him in on what happened. How Foyet using Morgan's credentials had dropped off Hotch after attacking him in his home and stabbing him multiple times. He had threatened Haley and Jack, they were safe and were going into Witness Protection for the time being.

"So how are you holding up?" she asked.

"Let's just say that it's a good thing that Morgan is in charge of kicking all the doors down, it's also good that I have really good insurance and a lot of time off saved up."

"I promise we'll come see you as soon as we all the stuff with Hotch settled," said JJ.

"No, it's ok. Catherine is here, Hotch needs you guys more," said Spencer.

"Ok, we'll see you soon." He hung up with JJ and he heard a knock on his door. He looked over and saw Catherine standing in the doorway. She had been crying and was very pale in the face. He wondered if McClain had filled her on his condition, he listed her in all his medical information as his contact, that she was allowed access to his records and to speak on his behalf for medical decisions.

"You know if you didn't want to chaperone Prom with me you could have just said no. This whole getting shot in the knee is serious overkill," signed Catherine trying to joke. That's what I was supposed to do this weekend. Catherine came into the room and took the chair left by McClain.

"You really know how to get a girl going," signed Catherine. Spencer leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"I figured that getting shot would help me avoid all arguments about me not wanting to go to Prom," he tried joking back.

"Rather passive aggressive don't you think. I would have opted for a car crash as an out. You have the joy of not only injuring yourself, but maybe some property damage."

"Did the doctor tell you everything?" Catherine nodded, he had told her everything and than some. They were lucky considering how much blood he needed on top of the surgery and that had this happened thirty years ago he might have lost his leg below the knee. That if everything failed here in the States that Norway had some very good experimental surgeries they could look into. That the bullet could have hit elsewhere and they could have been looking at a much worse case scenario.

"I guess this changes all summer plans. I can see about only teaching two days a week instead of four. My classes weren't that full anyway...I'll have to look into getting the handicap tags for our cars. They said you're going to need a wheelchair for a few weeks," Spencer cut her off, she was near tears again.

"I'm fine ok...it's going to be ok." She leaned over and kissed him hard on the mouth. If it wasn't for his leg being in the shape it was in he would have been very much into where this could have gone.

"I love you," he signed once she was done kissing him. She put her head on his shoulder.

"So other than getting shot in the knee, how was your day?"

…...

"Ha Gin," laughed Catherine laying her cards down. Spencer just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his water. It was Saturday night and he was hoping to be released by Monday morning. Hotch was nowhere close to being released according to the call he got from Emily. They were still staying with Hotch and Spencer knew it was for the best. Hotch had to send his son and ex-wife away for their safety and he had no one. At least he had one person here with him.

"I think you're cheating," signed Spencer.

"Why is it when you lose the other person is cheating?"

"Because it's a fact."

"Wow you are full of it. Remind me to tell Vicky to wait at least ten minutes before answering any of your call lights." Spencer took the cards back and started to shuffle. Catherine felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she pulled it and read the text.

"Are you up for some visitors?" asked Catherine.

"Who?"

"A couple of the kids from school either saw me freak out or you made the papers because they're asking to come see us." Spencer's eyebrows went up a bit, he had spent some time in passing with a few of Catherine's students. He knew that Catherine was one of the more popular teachers at school so it so sort of natural that they would be worried about her and about him by proxy.

"If they want to bore themselves with us they are more than welcome to come by," signed Spencer. He figured they would just stop by, drop off any gifts and than he was going to ask Catherine to get them some dinner and than he wanted to sleep. The pain in his leg was simply a dull ache now. Catherine returned the text and Spencer dealt another hand which Catherine lost.

"I think you cheat," she signed. Spencer looked up and saw several students in their formal wear at his door.

"We have company," he signed and Catherine turned around and motioned for the kids to come in. Spencer recognized Cassie and her boyfriend Cooper. Another student he recognized was Sam, the Vice President of the class and his date along with two other couples.

"Spencer that is Kelly. This is Jackson and Madison. And Megan and Troy." The kids waved and he gave them a wave. Cassie was holding a large gift basket and grinning.

"We figured that you guys weren't going to make it tonight and has a future Prom queen I can't let you guys not have Prom, especially you." She pointed at Spencer and looked shocked. "I don't care that you were twelve in high school you should have gone to Prom...you could have gone with Ms. D when she was in high school." Spencer looked at Catherine and she shrugged. Behind Cassie, Cooper made the sign for crazy and pointed at Cassie. Spencer gave him a small smile.

Cassie handed them the gift basket. They found several DVD's to watch, all with a Prom theme, some gift cards to some restaurants and a corsage and boutonniere. Catherine just shook her head.

"Oh Carrie," signed Catherine and Kelly rolled her eyes.

"The guys picked that out and Prom Night."

"He got shot by like the Mob or something isn't that punishment enough?" asked Sam.

"The Mob?" asked Spencer.

"Just go with it," signed Catherine. "This is all very thoughtful. Thank you."

"No...put your flowers on and let us take your picture," signed Cassie. Cooper was still behind Cassie and was signing his apology.

"She's really into to this so just do what she wants and we'll go away." Cassie turned around and Cooper just grinned. Spencer took the corsage and placed it on Catherine's wrist.

"I don't think it's going to work on the gown," signed Catherine. She put it behind his ear. "Yeah it works."

"You're lucky I love you." Cassie took their picture and she promised to e-mail it to them later on.

"I'll be back on Tuesday. Behave yourselves...call me if you need a ride home," she told them. The group left and Spencer fished the flower out of his hair.

"Kids. That was really nice of them. I think this room has a DVD player," signed Spencer. "Dinner and movie."

"Sure." She left to get them dinner and Spencer tried to get comfortable in the bed. This is what I get for making plans. He wasn't going to be in any shape to leave town now, a good chunk of his time off was going to be spent recovering from this. Plus considering what was going with Hotch and the return of the Reaper he really didn't think this was the right time to be asking her to marry him. It's only a small delay...I wanna make sure that I'm going to get better and that everything is ok with everyone before I go through with this. Catherine came back with some sandwiches from the deli and a bag of popcorn and with some maneuverings she was able to lay next to him in the bed.

Catherine put her head on his chest and Spencer felt her drift off to sleep ten minutes into the movie, he dozed off a few minutes after her. The nurses covered them both up and finished watching Carrie.

When Spencer came back to work a month later a new picture was carefully placed in a drawer so when he opened it he could see it. It was Catherine wearing her corsage and him with a flower in his hair in a hospital bed. He also placed the engagement ring in that drawer. He was going to ask her...just when things settled down.

Life is just a series of trying to make up your mind. Timothy Fuller

Ep's used-To Hell and Back-part two and Nameless, Faceless

I can see Spencer never going to Prom since he was 12 at the time.

I based the knee injury stuff on what happened in real life to our poor MGG. You can read his funny little story here.

facebook .com/pages/Matthew-Gray-Gublers-letter-about-his-knee-LOL/343773330812