Disclaimers: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters. I do own all characters not associated with the show.
Spoilers: None
Rating: T to be safe
Trigger Warning: Premature births, infant loss, NICU stay.
Notes: Here is the next chapter! A little more upsetting as Emily receives some bad news about her baby brother.
Kids in this chapter:
Benson: 17 years old
Emily: 13 years old
Jenny: 4 ½ years old
Friday, June 3rd, 1983
Philadelphia Children's Hospital
It has been about 4 days since Elizabeth went into labor. The doctors, unfortunately, were not able to stop her contractions.
At 9:03 p.m., weighing in at 1.2 lbs. and 13 inches long, Tobias Henry Prentiss was born. Two minutes later, his Quadruplet sister, Leah Brooke, was born. She weighed, thank goodness, just under 2 pounds at 1 pound, 9 ounces. She was also two inches longer, at 15 inches exactly.
And to make matters worse, Elizabeth is stuck in Pittsburgh, while Toby and Leah were flown to Philadelphia's Children Hospital because the one in Pittsburgh is not equipped to handle babies born any earlier than 6 weeks.
Toby and Leah were born 9 weeks early. Many things happened right after their birth. Toby needed oxygen and a warming incubator immediately. Leah was breathing on her own but could not keep her blood pressure in the right area.
Both babies needed a feeding tube, a breathing tube, and an inordinate amount of other types of monitors – blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, oxygen monitor, and many other things done to them, including CTs, MRIs, and Ultrasounds to look for brain bleeds or other complications from being born as a 9-week preemie.
For whatever reason, after Leah and Toby were born, Elizabeth's contractions stopped. She went from "give a push on the next contraction" to "what's wrong? Why can't I feel them anymore?"
She is still in the hospital, on bed rest and 24-hour watch, pregnant with her other daughter and son.
It took only two days before Elizabeth and James, – or rather James, and Elizabeth finding out later, – to realize the worst.
Their little boy, 2-day-old Tobias Henry, was not going to make it. His little body, all 13 inches and 1.2 lbs. of him, was just not able to handle being outside of the womb. No matter how much oxygen they pumped into his body, or how gentle the doctors were when doing surgery for his brain bleed, or how warm the special incubator he was in was.
None of that mattered. He just could not survive.
Elizabeth wanted to hold off. She begged her husband and Toby and Leah's doctors to just wait. To hold on for a little bit longer.
So they did. The doctors waited. Emily and her parents waited. Rosalyn and Elijah waited.
They waited and waited and waited, and still, right now, are hoping for a miracle.
June 4th, 1983
*Philadelphia Children's Hospital*
"Dad?"
James looks over at his little girl. This beautiful, kind young lady she is growing up to be.
He sometimes forgets she is only 13 years old.
"Yes, Honey?"
"Do you–… Do you think Toby is going to be ok? Or will… Or is he going to… to die?"
Yes, sometimes, in moments like these, he forgets she is only thirteen, and still needs reassurance from her mom and dad that everything is going to be all right.
Or, also in times like these, she needs to not be treated like a child, and be told the truth.
Looking into the incubators, one holding his daughter Leah, and the other with his son Toby, James sighs.
As much as he would love to put on a (fake) smile, and give empty guarantees that everything is going to be fine with her brother and that he is will live an entire life's worth of years, graduating high, getting married and having children, dying in a nursing home at 80 years old…
As much as he would love to promise all of that, Emily is old enough to not be lied to. She is old enough, and he respects her enough, to tell her the truth.
So, he takes her by the hand, and he leads her to the bench outside the NICU, and he sits her down.
"Honey, I am going to tell you the truth about what is going on, alright? You are old enough to know, even if it is not what we all want to hear. Okay?"
And his daughter, his sweet, sweet, innocent little girl nods because she knows. She wants to wish she'll get to watch her baby brother grow up, but she knows that won't happen.
"The doctors, they are doing all they can to keep Toby alive. They are giving him oxygen and medicine, and they are trying their very best, but… I am so sorry, Emmy. No, I do not think Toby is going to get better. I think he was just born too early. And some babies, like Leah, can still survive and grow, and be able to make it through their prematurity."
He sighs deeply.
"Other babies, like Toby, are just unable to do that. He really did need some extra time in Mama's belly, and that extra time, possibly even a couple of weeks would maybe have been enough. Unfortunately, he did not get those extra two weeks."
"I'm very sorry, baby. I am going to talk to Mama, and I think… I think we are going to choose to let him go."
She tries to be tough.
Oh, how she tries.
But God, she was so excited. How did things get so messed up from only two months ago?
She and Jenny, in the last two months, have helped James and Liz with the nurseries. They painted browns and greens for Toby and his brother and did pinks and purples for Leah and her sister.
Emily has been so excited. She has been counting down the days until their due date in August.
She has a list of things she is going to specifically teach Leah and the other Quad girl. And she is going to teach Toby and the Quad boy how to throw a baseball, how to be kind to others, how a boy should treat girls.
She will teach Leah and Baby Girl Prentiss #2 how to be gentle with their baby dolls and how to play tea party.
She was going to have so much fun. She would help with the feedings and diaper changes and bath time and she would play with the babies so her mom and dad could get some extra sleep.
And she would do so much to help out because going from having one child, to four babies would have been a lot.
But now…
Now, unfortunately, that will never happen.
Because Toby is going to die.
And they are unsure if the other Quad girl and boy are going to be born alive, or if they will be born too early also.
And God how she hates it.
How did it get so messed up?
How did she go from being ecstatic? From helping to pick out names, to helping with the nurseries, to picking outfits and baby bottles and toys that could play with in the future and making plans for the next 5 years, until she went to college, on all she could teach them?
How did she go from planning to teach them all, and more, they could know before kindergarten, to… to this?
To crying in her father's arms, to praying that her brother would survive. To hoping that the other Quad girl and boy would stay in the womb long enough to be healthy?
How did things get so messed up?
And there we are. Two of the Quadruplets, Leah Brooke and Tobias Henry, have been born. They were 9 weeks early, which is bad now, but it was even worse 40 years ago in the 80s. I know that they could have survived, as I am sure there are records of multiples being born this early and surviving even back in the 80s, but I decided to go a different route here.
Also, one more reminder that we will be ending the story soon! Only 4 more chapters to go! Next up is another short chapter. It will be in June also but with the Jareaus instead of Emily and her family.