A/N: Hello again, everyone!

A shout-out to AHowell1993 for either reviewing Chapter 59, favoring, and/or following the story. The occasional scenes from episodes of Criminal Minds in this story belong to CBS and Criminal Minds writers. No copyright infringement is intended.

My apologies if I had made any mistakes, but please do enjoy the chapter!

Also, I would like to credit AHowell1993 for helping me with this chapter.


"Hello again, you two," Dr. Patterson said with widening eyes as she enters her office with Élise and Reid waiting for her. "My-my-my, Élise, you are really growing!"

Élise blushed as she looked down at her belly. "Now I really do look like I'm ready to give birth."

"I know you are." Dr. Patterson replied. "Don't worry; the time's coming."

"Yeah. By the way, love the new haircut, doc." Élise complimented on Dr. Patterson's new asymmetrical blunt haircut.

Dr. Patterson flipped her hair back, "Thank you. I felt it was time for something fresh and new."

"Same here with my hair." Élise strokes her fingers through her hair. Asking Dr. Patterson, "So, anything new on the baby?"

"Baby's doing well." Dr. Patterson answered. "You two are officially nine months pregnant."

Élise corrected, "But we still have a few more weeks to go until her arrival."

"Yeah. Your girl's about six pounds now, and she's gathering all the fat she can to maintain her body temperature and energy."

"I worry about giving birth to her early," Élise admits. "I've been reading that babies born during this week are considered to be 'late preterm' or 'near term.'"

"They are," Dr. Patterson responded. "While they are close to birth, they're still maturing. In cases of conditions such as preeclampsia, early delivery is the safest option. But babies at this stage do quite well, and after their delivery, they may not need any help or require little assistance. And yes, there are still risks to consider for babies born before their full term."

"My godson Henry was born three weeks earlier, and he turned out fine."

Élise nods her head and shrugs her shoulders, "Oh, yeah. That's true."

"And the survival rate for babies born at this week is over 99%," Reid adds.

Élise sighed, "Well, that makes me feel a little better."

"No doubt your baby's going to inherit your intelligence, Dr. Reid." Dr. Patterson smiled.

Reid replied, "And this is no doubt she'll inherit Élise's beauty and mindset."

Élise looked flushed, "Oh."

"You two bought a copy of the birth plan?" Dr. Patterson asked.

"Uh, yeah, we did," Élise grabs her handbag and pulls out folded sheets of papers, and hands them over to Dr. Patterson. "Here you go."

Dr. Patterson observed the birth plan, "Mmm. Interesting. Now, about pain relief…"

"I am willing to suggest whatever is needed at the time, but I definitely want to do breathing techniques. Despite my reputation as a hardcode prosecutor, I can get very anxious; I cover it well, but I definitely want a massage."

"Indeed, you do." Dr. Patterson agreed.

"Okay, I respect that. Now, an epidural…"

Élise hissed, "I'm scared. I'm on-and-off about it."

"Okay." Dr. Patterson nods her head. "I understand. But if you do…"

"We'll keep that opinion open."

"Now, onto the non-stress test?"

"Mm-hmm."


"Are you still nervous?" Reid asked Élise as they entered the house and Reid escorted Élise to their bedroom.

"Of course, I am." Élise whispers. "Our girl's coming in a few more weeks, so I can't help but worry."

Reid pets Élise's cheeks, "Worrying's not good."

"Believe me, I know." Élise sighed.

"Plans for today?" Reid asked as he looked at his case with a text saying the team has a case.

"Nothing," Élise answers as they entered the bedroom, "Well, at best, I'm just going to sleep and nap as much as I possibly can. Tie up any loose ends with all of the insurances. Have Opal keep me company."

"Okay." Reid gives Élise a lip kiss. "I'll call and/or text you if anything. Call and/or text me about anything. And I mean anything."

"Okay."


Within thirty minutes, Reid was sitting with the rest of the team—Prentiss was the last to arrive—in the roundtable room to discuss the case.

Ten-year-old Sammy Sparks of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, showed up at his elementary school this morning covered in blood and his parents missing, one of which severely injured.


Just as Rossi and Reid were walking towards the room to interview Sammy, Reid gets a text from Élise.

GET ME SOME FOOD PLEASE!

Reid chuckled at the message, causing Rossi to notice.

"Ready for your little girl's arrival to this Earth?"

Reid replied, "Well, technically, she's already here since she's been in Élise's belly…"

Rossi rolls his eyes, "Oh, God."

Reid got right to his point, "But, yeah. I'm scared. Élise's scared."

"It's natural to be scared." Rossi comforted him. "Just know that your girl will be forever loved by you both."

Reid smiled a bit, "I know."

Soon, Reid slowly entered the room and introduced himself, "Hi, Sammy. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid." Noticing what Sammy was drawing on his sketchpad, "What are you drawing?"

Sheriff Oliver placed his hand on Sammy's shoulder, causing Sammy to scream and rock himself back and forth.

"Some autistic children don't handle touch well." Rossi gently warned Sheriff Oliver before he left the room, and Reid whispered to him,

"It's possible that witnessing his parents' abduction pushed him into emotional overload, and he shut down." Reid points to the sketchpad paper with the multiple 'L's.' "Look at that."

Rossi wonders, "Is he trying to tell us something?"

"Sammy." Reid sat on the coffee table in front of Sammy. "We're looking for your mom and your dad. Did "L" take them?"

Sammy held the crayon in his hand and drew an 'L' in the air before Rossi left the room to call Garcia.


"Thank you for coming down here," Reid said as he escorted Miss. Rogers to the small room where Rossi was watching Sammy.

Miss. Roger replied, "I just want to help in whatever way I can." Spotting Reid's wedding band on his left ring finger, "You're married, Dr. Spencer Reid?"

"Happily," Reid proudly shows her his band. "We're, uh…even expecting our first child soon. A little girl."

"Congratulations," Miss. Rogers gave him a small smile. "Even though I don't have children, I've always viewed the students as my own."

"Teachers tend to," Reid replied.

Miss. Rogers clutches to her black handbag, "But I do worry about Sammy. His mind is much more different than the rest of the students, but his mind…is quite an interesting mind."

"He's an interesting child."

"Indeed, he is."

Reid and Miss. Rogers walk into the small interview room and sees Sammy drawing away. Miss. Rogers points out Sammy's not much of a talker, so she pulls out picture cards and his drawings and shows them to help him.

Only for him to rock back and forth again.

As Miss Rogers tries to calm him and tell Sammy she's right here, Reid noticed his fingers. While Rossi guessed typing, Reid thinks Sammy is mimicking playing the piano.

And there's a piano at his house.

Just as Miss. Rogers lists the cons about the agents taking Sammy back to the crime scene where his father was shot, Prentiss walks in with a casually dressed woman with short dark blonde hair.

Elizabeth Sparks.

Sammy's paternal aunt.


"Hello, honey hubby." Élise sweetly greets Reid over the phone, "We miss you."

Reid smiles as he was getting ready to get back to work, "And I miss you all, too."

"We had a lonely night without you here. Are you still in Louisiana?" Élise figured with Reid simply answering,

"Yup. Rossi and I are heading to his house with his paternal aunt."

"Find the unsub and reunite that boy with his family."

"We're doing everything we can," Reid assured her. "And I'll still bring you some Louisiana food before we leave."

"You do that, okay? Huh…"

"Are you okay?"

"Mmm. Just thought I saw the same black car that's been parked in this neighborhood since you left."

"It's probably nothing." Reid guessed.

"Yeah. I love you."

"I love you, too."


Reid and Rossi entered the Sparks household with Elizabeth and Sammy, who was rubbing his wooden toy train against his hand's palm. Watching Sammy play with the toy train on the piano back and forth.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Rossi asked.

Elizabeth answered, "On his fifth birthday."

"Five years."

"Charlie and I had a fight," Elizabeth explained as Reid set his message bag aside. "It got ugly. I haven't seen either one of them since. Do you think Charlie's going to be ok?" Elizabeth worryingly asked.

"I'm hopeful."

Reid asked as he approached Sammy and sat next to him, "Sammy, would it be all right if I sat here?"

Reid began playing scales, causing Sammy to repeat him and play scales. "Whoa. You've been holding out on me, Sammy." He mildly exclaimed as he played another set of scales.

"I didn't know you could play, Reid." Rossi was surprised to see Reid play the piano.

"I can't." Reid assured Rossi, looking at the two just as Sammy began playing a scale set, "Well, I never have before, but it's essentially all math." Clearing his throat as Sammy's eyes continued to wander around the room, "Sammy, how about you play this note..." Reid pressed on a certain piano key. "For yes... And this note..." He pressed on another certain piano key, "For no. Does that sound like something you could do?"

Sammy responded by pressing on the yes key.

"Yeah, exactly." Reid smiled. "Just like that." Now answering Sammy, "Now, Sammy, do you remember when the man came and took your parents away?"

Sammy pressed on the yes key once before repeatedly pressing on it and began playing a classical piece.

Reid, as well as Elizabeth and Rossi, watched Sammy play in serious fascination.

"Sammy, I don't understand." Reid confusingly wondered. "Does this song mean something to you?" Sammy stopped and shockingly reached for Reid's right hand and placed them on the piano keys, and Sammy began playing again.

Reid began to play, and the two were in sync just as Rossi and Elizabeth walked out of the living room for a moment and headed to Sammy's room and let the two be for a while.

After the two had a talk, Rossi noticed he had picked up something that could be the key to solving this case.

Rossi rushed back into the living room, "Reid, take a look at this."

Reid rose from the bench and asked as he approached Rossi's side, "What, at Sammy's flipbook?"

"Not just a flipbook." Rossi said as he observed the pages, "His routine. Shower, brush teeth, dress. His entire life is planned in order."

Reid figures, "Maybe we can figure out where Sammy met the unsub."

"He already figured it out," Rossi said as he hands Reid the picture book.

"Sammy sees his life in pictures." Reid figured again before something lit in his brain, rushing into his message bag, "He's been trying to speak with us, but he only knows how to communicate through symbols. Look, it's his language." Reid pulls out Sammy's drawing pictures. "Anchors. Like my socks." Reid pulls up the leg of his dark pants, showing off his blue anchor socks. "And that's the tread on your shoes." Reid points to the bottom of Rossi's shoe.

"What does the "L" mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's not an "L."" Reid astonishingly said.

"It's a time." Rossi shows off the 3:00 clock from the flipbook.

"3:00." Reid points out. "The time Sammy wants us to know about, the time that he met the unsub."

Elizabeth asked again, "Where was he at 3:00?"

Rossi answered as Sammy began playing with his toy train, "2:30, music store. He goes there every day after school," Reid began changing the time on his silver watch, "and he doesn't leave until the store closes at 6:00."

"Hey, Sammy. Sammy," Catching Sammy's attention, Reid shows him the time of his watch, "it's almost 3:00. Is there someplace you should be?"

Tapping on the glass of the watch, "Should be store."

Sammy spoke up.

Reid got Sammy to speak.

Sammy grabs his toy train and heads out the door,

"No, no," Rossi said to Elizabeth. "Let him go." Getting Hotch on the phone, "Hotch, I think we've got something."


Heading to the music store, Reid wanted to look at the security cameras just as Sammy walked over to his piano station in the slight corner.

Just as Sammy began playing the same song from easier, Reid realized Sammy's been trying to tell us who took his parents all along. Since Sammy has a routine when he comes to the music store, someone else has a routine.

And that someone was the unsub.

Bill Thomas.

A fisherman turned part-time deliveryman affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, who has been in deep debt and struggling to make ends meet with his house in foreclosure, a defaulted boat loan, and his wife filing for divorce and sole custody of their sons.


In the aftermath of the Bill Thomas standoff at his defaulted boat, ending with Allison Sparks pulling the trigger and killing Bill Thomas, Reid almost had a tear in his eye when he watches the grieving mother being consoled by Sammy, who hugs her for the first time.

Suddenly Sammy pulls away from his mother, walks up to Reid, and asked him,

"May I…hug you…please?"

A bit taken back but still honored Reid replied, "Yes. Yes, you may."

Sammy pulls Reid into a hug. His still tearful mother stared in amazement, and before she could say anything,

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid. One of my colleagues, David Rossi, and I were watching your son. And I got him to talk."

"Uh…thank you very much." An almost speechless Mrs. Sparks said as Sammy pulls back and stands between her and Elizabeth, "I don't know how to thank you…"

"It's what we do, Mrs. Sparks."

Mrs. Sparks' mother kept opening and closing and noticed Reid's wedding band,

"Do you have children?"

Reid answers, "My wife and I are expecting our first child soon."

Mrs. Sparks shook her head, "Your child and if you and your wife plan on having more children, are going to be so lucky to have you as their father."

Reid smiled, "I've been told that thirty-eight times."

"Well, it's true." Mrs. Sparks bitterly smiles. Nodding her head again, "Thank you."

Sammy waves his hand, "Thank you…bye."

Sammy slightly smiles as he left with his mother and aunt. Rossi walks up from behind Reid and pats his hand on his shoulder, smirked,

"Great work, Agent Reid."


"Oh! What's this?" Élise intriguingly asked as she waddles into the living room and sees Reid set up a portable piano keyboard and bags on the coffee table. "What's happening here?"

"A surprise. And some health-conscious Louisiana food," Reid smiled. "After the case and on the way home, I was inspired to buy a piano or at least a portable one."

"Sammy must have really made an impact on you, huh?" Élise chuckled as she sat down.

"He did. I never have before, but it's essentially all math."

Élise rubs her hands together in eager excitement. "Oh! What are you going to play?"

"A piece I learned from Sammy."

"Yay." Élise cheered before letting out a grunt. "Oh."

Reid turned his head and rushed to Élise's side, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Élise assures him by kissing his fingers and soothes her belly.

Reid looked curiously at Élise, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Élise confesses. "I just have a bad feeling..."

Reid asked, "About what?"

"I don't even know." Élise shrugs her shoulders, "I can't put my finger on it." Élise steadily rose from the couch and waddles towards the window, gently moving the blind drapes. "Huh."

"What happened?"

Élise shrugs her shoulders again, "Don't you have this feeling you're being watched?"

"Always," Reid replied.

Moving the drapes back to where they were, "I could have sworn that I saw that black car or a couple of workmen focusing on our house all day."

"Are they gone?"

Élise peaks through the drapes again. "Yeah." Shaking her head, "I swear, I…"

"I'll talk to Hotch about it in the morning, sweet honey," Reid assures Élise as he pats her shoulders and kisses her cheek. "Let's focus on tonight and allow me to ease your tension with a piano piece and Louisiana cooking. Especially since tomorrow's your special day."

Élise squealed before passionately engaging in a kiss. "And it's an extra special day because of our little girl inside my belly."

"Exactly, yes."


"I knew you were watching me." Prentiss braced as she felt someone placing their cold hand on her shoulder.

"What's the expression?" The Irish-accented gentleman said before trailing his hand back her shoulder and moving it away. Staring Prentiss down. "Keeps your friends close, your enemies under surveillance?"

"I've been here for two hours. You should know better than to keep a lady waiting." Prentiss commented.

"It seems hypocritical," He remarked. "Seeing as I had to wait seven years."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two before he sat down across from Prentiss. Staring each other down before he finally took a seat to where Prentiss had placed the extra coffee-cup across from her.

Prentiss bitterly greeted, "Hello, Ian."

"Hello, Lauren." Ian addressed before ironically stating, "Oh, wait. Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident, didn't she?"

"What do you want?" Prentiss sourly asked.

"You," Ian answered before searingly correcting. "Oh, not today. Don't worry about that. But soon."

Prentiss twitched her right eye a bit before expressing to him that, "I've got a Glock leveled at your crotch. What's to stop me from taking you and the little ones out right now?"

"You'd never make it back to your car, and you know it." Ian dismissed her threat. Prentiss rolled her eyes as Ian began to speak again,

"Tell me, does the lovely Penelope know the truth about you? Or is she too busy watching movies with Derek to care?"

Prentiss jerked her head, and her eyes widen. But her mouth slowly dropped when Ian continued,

"Here you are, all alone, while Aaron sits at home with his son. And why didn't Dave and Ashley invite you to their game night? Maybe they thought you'd be watching Dr. Reid serenade to his heavily pregnant wife on the piano and eat Louisiana food."

Prentiss clotted in her seat when she realized Ian was having the entire team watched.

And their families.

Ian smiled as let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, that one does have some quirks. And to be fairly honest, it was quite surprising to find out he was married. And no less to a federal prosecutor. She has some qualities of my type of woman, and she's a bit of a hottie. But wouldn't you agree that she looks like she's ready to give birth?" Scoffing. "I wouldn't be surprised if their baby girl inherited his quirks and her qualities."

"Come near my team, and I will end you." Prentiss snarled.

"I don't have a quarrel with them." Ian confidently assured her. "How long that remains the case depends entirely on you. They're innocent. You are not."

"I was doing my job." Prentiss justifies the actions she wishes she could let go of but never could.

"I think you did a little more than that. You took the only thing that mattered to me. So, I'm going to take the only thing that matters to you. Your life." Ian leaned forward and placed a black four-leaf gold matchbook in front of Prentiss onto the table. He began to quote, "Honore de Balzac once said, "Most people of action are inclined to fatalism, and most of thought believe in Providence."" Rising from his seat, "Tell me, Emily Prentiss, which do you think you're going to be?" Ian asked before walking away, leaving Prentiss speechless.