Hey! So this is the final chapter of this story. Hope you all enjoy! Thanks for reading!
"What's going on?" asked Reid in a tense and nervous tone. "Well, you have a healthy baby boy growing in there." the doctor said with a smile."
Max grinned widely. "We're having a boy, Spencer!"
"Little Ronald Jason." Reid added, but the doctor wasn't finished yet.
He continued, "And two healthy baby girls."
Both Reids' eyes widened as they stared at each other and then the doctor in shock.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Max inquired breathlessly, at the same time Reid realized, "You're telling us we're having triplets!"
Dr. Stuart smiled and replied, "That's right. Congratulations."
The couple took a few moments to recover from the shock. Reid recovered first and replied, "Thank you." They finished the visit and then scheduled the next one before leaving the building.
Out in the parking lot, Reid turned to his wife. "How are we going to handle three babies at once? And we both work! How can we expect anyone to watch three babies? We can't afford for either of us to quit our jobs. What about the Reid effect?"
Max chuckled. "Babe, first of all, I've seen you with Sammy, Hank, Jack, and the Lamontangue boys. The Reid effect obviously doesn't apply anymore if it ever did. Second, this is new to both of us. We'll work it out together. Plus there are nannies out there who are trained for multiple babies. And we don't even have to think about that for several weeks after they're born. We can do this. You are going to be a wonderful father."
"But I'm not athletic. I can't play baseball or soccer or anything with my son that most dads do." Reid protested.
"You do know how to play baseball well enough to play with our son and our daughters if they want to. Morgan said he taught you. Besides we agreed on Morgan and JJ as godparents for good reason. They can teach a lot of things to our kids. I know how to play soccer and softball as well. Come on babe. Let's just enjoy this process." Max pleaded.
"Ok. But I'm going to get those books out again." was the adamant reply.
Then she added. "Let's go tell your mom now. Then we can meet my family somewhere and tell them."
"Sounds good. We can get the team together tomorrow and I can get Morgan on Skype as well as Hotch, Kate, and Blake at the same time. Garcia can set it up." Reid agreed.
The two headed to the home to tell Diana she was getting not only one but three grandchildren. The woman was thrilled. Later, Max's family also had a positive reaction to the news.
"Yaaay! I'm getting a boy cousin and two girl cousins! I can teach them all to play chess! And Uncle Spencer can do magic for them all the time! And we can go to the park together!" Sammy rambled on excitedly.
"It's going to be a while before they'll be able to do any of that, buddy." Reid gently explained.
"Awwww." groaned Sammy.
Max ruffled her nephew's hair and assured him, "It's ok, kiddo. They'll grow a little each day. And until then, there are other ways you can play with them."
"Like what?" asked Sammy.
"Well, you can help feed them and sing to them and after a few weeks you could play peek-a-boo with them." Reid suggested
"But when can I really play with them?" Sammy pressed.
"Unfortunately that won't be for a year or two. But it'll happen." Max told the boy. Sammy just sighed.
Then he brightened and stated, "Well, it will still be fun to have three cousins!"
"Well I bet you'll be the best older cousin ever." Max replied, making the little boy grin even more widely.
"I'll never let anything happen to them. I'll look out for them." he vowed.
"We know, Sammy." Reid responded as he and Max hugged their nephew. After the family finished eating, Max and Reid headed home where Reid made some calls.
"You are all invited to our condo for dinner tomorrow night." was what was said to everyone on the team. Garcia was saved for last and Reid asked her if she could set up the Skype conference.
Garcia answered without hesitation "Absolutely, boy genius! So what is this big get-together about?"
"Nice try, Penelope, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow just like everyone else."
"Aw! You're being mean, sugar." Garcia complained teasingly.
"Sorry. But it wouldn't be fair to the others and you know it." was the firm reply.
"I know." the colorful woman admitted. Reid hung up not long after that.
The next evening, everyone that could make it met at the Reid townhouse. Hotch and Jack were there and so were Kate and her family. Rossi had even insisted on ordering barbeque for everyone so Max wouldn't have to cook. The food was ordered after arriving at the condo. While they were waiting on the delivery, Garcia set up the conference call with Blake and her husband and the Morgans.
Once everyone was present in one way or another, Reid began, "Ok, so we have really big news to share and we wanted to tell everyone together."
"We didn't want to wait till after dinner so we asked Rossi to wait to order." Max explained
"So what's going on?" Blake asked from the screen.
"Well, yesterday we went to our appointment expecting to find out the gender of our baby. Which we did." Max informed the group.
"Well, tell us! What is it?" Tara spoke for the entire group.
Reid was the one to respond this time. "Well, we're having a boy."
"I knew it!" Simmons, the most experienced father in the group cheered.
"And two girls." Max continued with a happy smirk.
She was met with dead silence for a few moments, then everyone started talking at once. "Are you kidding me?! ...Triplets?! ...Way to go, Pretty Boy!... Spence, I'm so happy for you!...This is so cool! Mikey and me get to be godbrothers!... And me too!" The last comment came from little Hank on the screen.
After hugs were exchanged and the chatter settled down, Garcia blurted out, "OMG! We are so having a baby shower! There are three now. They are going to need a lot more."
"That sounds great Penelope, but please try not to go overboard. Our house is only so big." Reid warned.
"No promises." Garcia shot back with a smirk. Everyone laughed. At that moment, the doorbell rang, so Morgan and Blake signed off and the rest of the group headed towards the food.
Later that evening, JJ was asked to stay for a few extra minutes after the others had left. Reid called Morgan and put him on speaker. "Morgan, JJ, I know you probably already figured this out, but now it's time to make it official. Max and I want you two to be the godparents."
"Spence, Max, I'm honored. And I accept, of course!" JJ exclaimed.
"Same here, Kid. And Max. This means a lot to me." Morgan added.
"So it's up to you guys to teach our kids the things we can't, like baseball and if anything happens to us, to help make sure they grow up right." Max put in.
"You got it." Morgan agreed. JJ nodded.
"You know we'll always be there for you both and these kids." she confirmed.
"That's what we count on." Reid replied.
"Thank you guys." Max added.
"We love you guys. We're family. It's what family does." JJ reminded her friends.
Derek jumped in saying, "Exactly." They said goodbye not long after that. JJ and Will had to get the boys home and to bed. Reid and Max went to bed thinking about the amazing family and friends they had.
A few weeks later, the baby shower was thrown at JJ's house. Besides Garcia and JJ, Kristy Simmons, Emily, Krystal Rossi, Tara, Kate, as well as Max's sisters were in attendance.
The babies were completely set for the first several months of their life after the shower. Max's sisters, her dad, and Rossi and Krystal went together and supplied three cribs. Garcia and Emily, went in together on a triple stroller. JJ and her family supplied a triple baby swing. Tara provided the most practical gift; A diaper pail and a lot of diapers. Diana couldn't handle being at the shower but her gift was a set of poetry books and a promise of three knitted blankets once the babies were born. Blake sent a set of Sandra Boynton books and some sleepers from Boston. Luke and the Simmons family had gone together to buy a changing table with drawers. Morgan and Savannah picked out a rocking chair online and had delivered to the Reid home and they had also sent some of Hank's hand-me-downs. Garcia, always the one to spoil the children in her life had gotten them one more gift. She had customized three onesies that said Baby Genius 1, Baby Genius 2, and Baby Genius 3. Hotch and Jack sent bibs. One said My Dad's Smarter Than Your Dad. Another one said, Mommy's Little Princess and the third one said Little Boss Lady. Kate and her family gave them several outfits and booties.
"You guys are the best!" Max said a little tearfully after opening the presents.
"Well I remember years ago we talked about our boy genius having little baby geniuses so I could not resist getting those onesies made." Garcia told her.
"Those are pretty cute but I love that first one that Hotch and Jack sent. The one for the boy." Emily stated.
"Oh yeah! That one is hysterical and so perfect for Reid's kid." Tara agreed.
"But we love all the stuff you guys have given us."
"We have some hand-me-downs from our kids if you'd like to have them, too." Kristy offered
"Yeah. I have several outfits I saved from Henry and Michael." JJ added on.
"Of course. We'd really appreciate that. We've hardly gotten any clothes yet. I've bought a few outfits but not nearly enough." Max accepted both offers. The shower wound down after a few hours and soon only Max and her sisters were left. They helped her put everything in the two guest rooms before heading back home themselves.
About a month later, Reid and Max started the process of turning the two guest rooms into baby rooms. The girls would share one and Ronny would have the other one to himself. They had picked literary themes for both rooms. The girls' room would be a fairytale kingdom and their son's room would be made to look like Sherwood Forest from Robin Hood. Garcia and Tara were both artistic and they helped stencil the pictures on the walls. The entire team came over to help paint and decorate. JJ and Will donated their old changing table completely sanitized. One would not be enough. Rossi provided a rocking chair that he no longer used so the babies could all be rocked at the same time. One rocking chair and one changing table went in each room. It took a couple of days to get both rooms completely ready, but eventually it happened. Everyone agreed that they looked perfect.
A couple of days later, Max was about to head out the door to work when she felt a sharp pain. She breathed through it and continued getting ready. It wasn't too long before she felt another one. Reid was in class and Max couldn't get hold of him. She immediately called her dad and sisters but couldn't reach them either.
Finally she called Garcia. "Penelope! It's Max. I'm having contractions. They may just be Braxton-Hix, but I'm not sure. I can't get a hold of Spencer or my family and I need to get to the hospital!" Max
"Sit tight, I'm on my way!" ordered the TA.
"Hurry! They're coming faster!" demanded Max, feeling more panicky by the moment.
Garcia rushed out the door and drove as fast as she dared to the Reid home. When she got there, Max was in tears.
"My water broke! Spencer's not here. I'm scared! I want my husband!" she sobbed.
"Ok, Sweetie. Just relax. I'll get you to the hospital. You'll be fine. Babies are born every day." Garcia said, grabbing Max's go bag and calmly leading the other woman to her car. Max put a towel down on the passenger seat and got in. Garcia drove with as much speed as she could safely travel at and they made it to the hospital.
After making sure her friend was settled into a delivery room, Garcia called Reid. He still didn't answer.
"I want Spencer! Where's Spencer!?" Max cried out.
"I'm working on getting him here, sweetie. I just tracked his phone and it's on campus. He's probably just somewhere that there's no service. I left a message. I'm sure he'll be here soon." Garcia tried to reassure her friend. For the next half hour, she helped Max breath through the contractions. About fifteen minutes later, Max's sisters arrived along with Sammy and their dad. Michelle asked Garcia to look after Sammy for a while so Garcia left the three grownups with Max and took the little boy out to the waiting room and set him up with games on her laptop and called the team and Morgan to update them. She'd just hung up with Morgan when Reid came bursting through the doors. Garcia rushed to hug him.
"Where is she?! Where's my wife!?" Reid demanded, ignoring the hug.
"She's in the delivery room. Her dad and sisters are with her. I'm watching Sammy until further notice. The others are on their way." Garcia informed the expectant dad.
"Where is she? I need to be with her!" Reid repeated.
"I'll get the nurse to take you in there." Garcia promised. The nurse was quickly notified of the situation and came to lead Reid to his wife.
The others arrived shortly after that and Max's family returned to the waiting room.
They sat waiting for updates after about five hours, they received the first text which went to JJ's phone.
"Baby girl one has just arrived. Max is resting for a few minutes before she has to push again." She alerted the group.
Baby boy Reid arrived about half an hour later followed by baby girl two shortly after that.
"They can receive visitors in about an hour." JJ informed them.
Just then, Garcia's phone pinged. "He asked if I could pick up his mother and bring her here to meet her grandkids. I told him I'd be glad to. I'll be back in a flash."
"Grandpa? Can I go pick out a present in the gift shop for gifts for the babies? Please?" begged Sammy.
"Yeah, Mom! can we go too?" Michael pleaded to JJ.
The Simmons kids begged for that privilege as well, so JJ , Kristy Simmons and Max's dad took all the kids down there. By the time they were finished making their selections, they were carrying out two bags full of rattles and stuffed animals.
When they returned to the waiting room, they saw that Garcia and Diana were back. After several more minutes, they were told they could go back in small groups. Max's family, Diana, Rossi and Krystal, and JJ's family were the first to go in.
"Hi, guys." Reid said softly.
"Come meet our three little angels." Max requested. She handed one baby to her dad and then Reid handed one baby girl to his mom and one to Rossi.
"They're so small." Sammy uttered in awe.
"And cute!" added Henry.
"What are their names, Uncle Spence?" inquired Michael.
"Well, my mom is holding Jennifer Diana Reid, Rossi is holding Stephanie Morgan Reid. And Ron, you are holding Ronald Jason Reid." Reid stated proudly.
"You named your daughter after me and your mom?" JJ checked with happy tears in her eyes.
"That's a wonderful name, Spencer." Diana softly added with a smile that revealed her pride.
Reid nodded, not taking his eyes of his babies. "Yes. And Ronny's name is after Max's parents and Gideon. Max's mom's name was Rhonda. And Stephie is named for Rossi's middle name and obviously Morgan." Rossi's appreciation radiated in the beaming smile that lit up his face.
"Those are great names." Sammy approved.
"Thank you, kiddo. We're glad you approve." Max quipped.
JJ hugged them both and said, "Thank you. This means so much to me."
The babies were then switched around so Michelle was holding Ronny, Eloise was holding Stephie, and JJ was holding Jenny. The rounds were made so everyone got to hold the babies including the boys. Then the group left so the next group could come in. Diana sat in a chair and waited until Garcia was ready to take her back to the nursing home. The visits were kept as short as possible and after about forty-five minutes, Max and Reid were finally alone with their children. As soon as the others had left, Reid sent a video and pictures to those who had not come.
He received several immediate congratulatory replies including one from Morgan that read, You two make beautiful babies, kid. Love the name choices. I'm proud to be their godfather and to have such a sweet little lady as my namesake. The Morgan family can't wait to meet your little trio.
Reid smiled at that response before looking up to see Max fighting to stay awake to keep looking at her precious babies.
He kissed her cheek and insisted, "You need rest, sweetie. I'll be here when you wake up. So will the babies. They're sleeping. You can sleep now, too."
"But I just can't stop watching them." the new mother protested.
"You just went through several hours of labor. You're exhausted. Let me put the babies back in their little beds and I'll get in the bed with you. It's almost time for them to go back to the nursery."
"We can get them back in here as soon as I wake up?" Max pleaded.
"Of course." she was assured. Max pushed the call button and asked the nurse to come get the babies. After they had been wheeled out, Reid climbed in the bed next to his wife and cuddled her close. As he drifted off beside her, he thought about how blessed he was to have such an amazing family both biological and chosen. Life, he decided, was pretty good.
Well, that's all folks. I loved writing this story. Especially the kids. Thanks to all who have stuck with this story and made it a success. A special thank you to Yami Naty, Alwaysgurl and DS2010, for reviewing every chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers, including guests who have helped me by pointing out things that I might have missed or didn't think of. I appreciate all of the reviews. And a BIG thanks to my editor who has supported me in all my writing. Thanks so much. Happy Earth Day! Catch y'all in the next story whenever I get it posted. Bye!