After Garcia had left, a nurse came in with some forms, including the birth certificate.
Spencer looked through the pile. "What are these?"
"The stack below the birth certificate is for him," she said, motioning toward Morgan, "for acknowledgement of paternity, then the two of you can fill out the certificate itself."
Spencer held out the stack to him. "Knock yourself out."
"Do I really need to do this? I know she's mine, I acknowledge she's mine, does it have to be in writing?"
The nurse shrugged. "Hospital rules."
He sat down in the chair, thumbing through the forms. Afterward, he filled them out and signed them, handing them to the nurse. She looked at Spencer. "I just need you to fill out the certificate, with her first, middle, and last name, your signature, and then his. We'll fill in everything else, including time and date."
Spencer bit his lip, looking over at him. "Derek, you're not going to be upset that she has my last name, are you? I mean, we're not exactly together at this point and if something goes wrong, I don't want her growing up and asking me why she and her father have two different last names."
Morgan shook his head. "It's all up to you, Pretty Boy. I'm not going to be insulted, no matter what you choose."
He sighed. "If, some point down the road, I wanted to change her last name at all… that's possible, right?"
The nurse nodded. "A bit of a pain, but yes."
Spencer chewed on his lip, holding the pen above the paper. Morgan could see that he was panicking.
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."
He handed the paper to Morgan. "Can you sign first while I think?"
He took the pen, signing his name and handing it back to Spencer. "Something wrong?"
"I-I just need a minute." He stared at the paper, going through several options. Finally, he filled it out, handing it to the nurse.
"Can you have someone bring her down to the room once those are filed?"
The nurse nodded, looking at the certificate and smiling. "Little Miss Parker Diana Morgan-Reid will be down here before you know it."
Morgan audibly gasped. "Reid, you didn't have to-"
"She's your daughter too, Derek. I couldn't take all the credit and just give her my last name. It wouldn't have been right. If you have a problem with it, I can probably catch up with the nurse in the hallway and change it."
He shook his head. "No it's fine. It's just not what I was expecting."
"I think this whole situation is something you weren't expecting."
"True," he reached in his pocket looking at his phone, groaning. "I'll be back in a few."
"Is it your mother?"
"Yeah, I promised I'd call her today and haven't yet."
"…Can I talk to her?"
"You want to talk to my mom?"
"If you'll let me?"
He handed the phone to Spencer. "Be my guest."
Spencer pressed the button to put it on speaker. "Hi, Mrs. Morgan."
"Sorry, I was expecting Derek. How are you doing, Spencer?"
"I'm feeling pretty good, actually. Went for a walk earlier today, filled out the birth certificate, and they're bringing her down in a few minutes so Derek and I can try our hand at co-parenting."
"He told me her first name, what's the rest?"
Spencer smiled. "We uh, we actually just finished the certificate. She's Parker Diana Morgan-Reid."
"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. How is she?"
"Mrs. Morgan… she's perfect. I can't even begin to put it all into words. She has my hair and my eyes and Derek's mouth and she's got tiny little fingers and toes. She yawns when she's tired and it scrunches her face up and she's great. Thank you for having your son all those years ago so he could father her because she's an amazing combination of the two of us and I can't imagine not having her."
"Enough with the 'Mrs. Morgan', Spencer. You're family. It's Fran."
Morgan bit his lip to hold back a laugh.
"Derek Morgan, what's so funny?"
"Nothing, momma."
Spencer smiled. "Sorry, Fran. I'll do my best to remember that. I'm sorry to cut this short, but they're bringing Parker back soon. I'll have Derek call you later, and let you know how tonight went."
"Be sure he takes plenty of pictures."
"I will."
"And if he does anything wrong, let me know."
Spencer smiled. "I definitely will. Goodbye."
He handed the phone to Derek. "She's taking it well."
"Don't you go turning my mom against me."
Spencer shrugged. "I didn't say anything. She's choosing my side all on her own."
Later on, they had Parker in the room, ready to see how they'd do working together.
"Do you even know how to change a diaper, Morgan?"
"I guess I could give it a try."
Spencer smiled. "Come over here," he said, laying Parker on the bed in front of him.
Morgan sat beside him. "Teach me your ways."
"Well, the last time I did it was when JJ was in the room with me, but I'd like to think I can handle it solo too, and teach you in the process. Now, pass me one of the newborn diapers and some wipes."
Morgan reached over, grabbing the diaper and wipes off the nightstand, handing them to him.
"Okay, so first, you have to lay her down on a soft surface. The last thing you want is her to hit her head and start screaming or hurt herself. Then, you have to get the old diaper off," Spencer said, unfastening it and slipping it off of her. "If it's not an easy off, try holding her feet and lifting her, but obviously don't grip too hard."
"Noted…"
He took one of the wipes, wiping her clean. "Be very careful, especially if she develops a diaper rash. Last thing you're going to want is an agitated baby during a diaper change."
"Uh huh."
He then laid the clean diaper under her, putting it on. "And just watch out for her umbilical cord stump," he instructed, folding the top of the diaper over.
"I thought the umbilical cord got cut when she was born."
"Cut, yes. But the remaining stump doesn't fall off for a few weeks."
"It just falls off of her?"
Spencer nodded, snapping her onesie, wrapping her in the blanket, and picking her up. "All I have to do is keep it clean and dry, and give her sponge baths until it does fall off."
"I?"
"Sorry, we," he corrected. "It's going to take some getting used to."
"No problem."
Spencer smiled. "Since we're apparently going to be a team now? Next diaper change is all yours."
"Can't wait."
Later on, while they were testing their parenting skills, Parker was being fussy.
"Morgan, what'd I do? She's fed, she's burped, she's got a clean diaper, I didn't do anything wrong by the books. I don't know what to do."
"Calm down, Pretty Boy," Morgan said, holding her against his chest. "You panicking isn't going to help the situation."
"I've only been a parent for a day and a half and I've obviously already done something terribly wrong."
"Call JJ," he said, humming softly, rubbing her back.
"But it's late. She might be sleeping."
"You need someone to calm you down, and I can't do both of you at the same time. Call her."
He wiped his eyes, reaching over, grabbing his phone, and calling JJ.
JJ reached over on her nightstand, sighing. Seeing Spencer on the caller ID, she answered immediately.
"Hey, Spence."
"Were you sleeping? I'm so sorry to wake you up. Parker won't stop crying no matter what I do and I'm already feeling like I've failed her as a parent. I don't know what I did wrong and I'm scared they're going to take her from me because I can't calm her down."
"Breathe. The very first thing you need to do right now is calm down and breathe."
He sniffed, wiping his eyes and taking a deep breath. "It's really hard, JJ. She won't stop crying. I even tried the skin-to-skin contact and she just screamed louder. I thought that was supposed to be the one thing that always worked."
"Take another breath."
"But Jayje."
"Do it."
He sighed, taking another deep breath.
"There you go."
"What do I do now?"
She sat up in bed, walking out to the hall. "When I had Henry, I had the same breakdown, trust me. It happens."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. You're doing the right thing calling and asking for advice instead of just sitting in your room, crying yourself sick. Is Morgan there with you?"
"Yeah, he has her. But JJ, the nurse said if she doesn't calm down soon they'll have to take her to the nursery and I don't want that. We need to test this out and we can't if they take her."
"Calm down. Have Morgan turn the lights off."
He put his hand over the phone, pointing to the light switch. He walked over, hitting the switch with his elbow and walking back, sitting in the rocking chair.
"Now what?"
While Spencer was frantic on the phone with JJ, Morgan reached in his pocket, taking out his mp3 player. He went through his playlists, putting on the softest music he could find, and put it on the lowest volume setting. He cradled her against his chest, slowly rocking back and forth. He reached over, grabbing a pacifier and putting it in her mouth, humming softly.
"Spence, I don't hear her crying anymore. Is she okay?"
He panicked, setting down the phone and looking over. He smiled, seeing her fast asleep against Derek's chest, him humming a lullaby to her.
"She's fine, Morgan got her down."
"How'd that happen?"
"I have no idea. It was all his work and he definitely needs to teach me his ways."
"Looks like you chose a good one, Spence."
"I-I guess so. I'll talk to you later, Jayje. Thank you for your help."
"No problem. How did signing the birth certificate go?"
He bit his lip. "He's her father. He's on the birth certificate and I hyphenated her last name."
"Parker Diana Morgan-Reid? Quite the little mouthful."
He smiled. "A little bit, huh?"
"Get some sleep."
He hung up the phone, and quickly snapped a picture of the two of them.
"How'd you do it?"
"Hm?" Morgan asked, looking up.
"How'd you calm her down? It was a hopeless case."
He smiled. "Rocking on the chair, humming, and soft music. Add in sucking on her pacifier, she went right down for me."
"Derek Morgan, you're a genius. Thank you."
"For what? Taking care of my daughter?"
"For calming her down when I couldn't. I wouldn't have been able to do it."
"You'd have figured it out eventually… after JJ calmed you down."
"I wasn't that bad."
He gave him a look. "Oh?"
"I might've been that bad."
"That's what I thought."
"Should we move her? Put her in the bassinet or have them take her to the nursery?"
"She's fine here. I don't mind it."
"You might want to move eventually."
"I'll worry about that when the time comes."
"Thanks again, Derek."
He looked up at him. "It was no problem."
"No, I mean, for everything. For being so good about me keeping her a secret from you, and being so willing to jump into parenting. I honestly didn't expect this reaction."
"What'd you think I was going to do?"
He shrugged. "I thought maybe you'd be upset or go off on me or show a bit of anger or something."
"Why would I do that? The last thing you need is added stress at this point."
He bit his lip. "Maybe this can work."
"What's that?"
"Us, you know. Raising her together. Both being there. Not having to split her between two homes."
"You really mean that?"
"After I get home, we can try it at my apartment. See if this night isn't just a fluke. And if it all works out, we can go from there."
Morgan smiled. "Thanks, Pretty Boy." He bent down and kissed Parker's forehead. "She really is perfect."
Spencer smiled, nodding. "I guess we make adorable children."
"Children? You got something on your mind? Barely have her out and you're already making plans for a second? That's pretty bold."
"Oh god, no. I love her dearly, but I can say there are absolutely no plans in the near future for her to be an older sibling. Unless, of course, you'd like to test to see if you'd be able to carry a sibling. Then, by all means, let the discussions begin."
"I think I'm more than okay with just having her for now. Something tells me she's going to be a bit of a handful."
"If what just happened is an indicator of what's to come, then we're definitely going to be busy and on our toes."
Morgan looked at him. "But I think we'll be able to handle it. We'll have each other to work off of, you'll have JJ, I can call my mom anytime we have a question. No matter what the time of day, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to give her expert advice. Then there's Hotch – I'm sure we can't just call him whenever we need something, but I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to help too."
"So we're not totally alone in this?"
"Not by a long shot. We've got plenty of people who have been there who are on our side and going to help us out with raising her. She's also got her aunts, who are going to spoil her rotten."
"It's probably going to be a contest. They're going to compete against each other to see who can be the absolute best at spoiling her."
"…I'm going to need to buy a second apartment just to store everything, aren't I?"
"It's highly likely."
"So, who's replacing me at work until I come off leave?"
"Nuh uh."
"What? It's just a question."
"Strict orders from Hotch. None of us are going to talk about anything work-related around you to keep your mind off of the BAU."
"But come on, it's just one question."
"Agent Seaver. That's all I'm going to say."
"What about-"
"Nope."
"How are they-"
"Nice try."
"Fine," he said, setting a pillow behind his back. "I'll find out eventually."
"Oh, I'm sure you will."
After Spencer fell asleep, Morgan reached for his phone, calling JJ.
JJ answered the phone, groaning. "What is he breaking down over now?"
"Nothing, he's asleep. I need a favor in the morning."
"What is it?"
"I need you to bring the carseat with you tomorrow so I can stick it in my car for when I get him home in a couple days."
"Is it really going that well?"
"We talked it over and we're going to see how staying at his apartment works. We're not going to rush it or anything, but we'll see how it goes."
She smiled. "I'll bring it with me tomorrow. Promise me you'll take good care of them?"
"I promise," he looked down to see Parker looking up at him, "your goddaughter's looking up at me right now with those baby blues."
"It's because she misses me. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Get some sleep."
He smiled, hanging up the phone and kissing Parker's forehead. "You're okay, Pretty Girl. Papa's got you."
She yawned, curling up against his chest. "Papa's always got you. No matter what."
Author's Note: Coming up - going home!
