A/N: Hi! Yes, I am updating early, and not because I'm caving! I'm updating because I'll be at camp this Saturday and will be too preoccupied by loud 6-year-olds to update. Also, no WiFi... That said, I figured you'd rather I updated a little early instead of a little late. Next update will be as planned, on Saturday 26 July.

As I've decided to re-start dedicating every chapter to a person who's important to me, I'll dedicate this one to Hanne, my Belgian best friend (because there really has to be made a distinction). We're going to have so much fun this week, and you're just plain awesome!

Anyway, enjoy!

A/N 2: EDIT 11 May 2020: Oh God, I didn't realize that it's been 6 years since I wrote this... I was still a student back then! Anyway, slightly bigger changes, mostly when dealing with the team. And I fixed the Prentiss/Blake thing.

Chapter 4:

He would've liked to say that he didn't panic, and, he supposed, outwardly, he didn't. "Where are you?" he asked immediately, hurrying along to the Bureau.

"I don't know, somewhere on Russel Road. Oh, God, Spencer, I can't do this by myself, I can't, I can't…"

"Stay calm, and stay there," he ordered, the FBI agent in him taking over. "I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone and ran up the stairs to the main hall. He spotted JJ and Blake as they were walking back from the cafeteria. "JJ!" he shouted, running up to her.

"Spence? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"I need a favour, right now."

She glanced at Blake, and Reid grew impatient. It was below freezing outside, and Annabelle was going into labour by herself. "Okay, sure, what do you need?" she asked.

Reid just grabbed her wrist, and started dragging her to the parking garage. "Spence, where are we going?"

"You need to drive me to Russel Road, right now, it's urgent."

JJ pulled her hand back and stopped. "No, not before you tell me what's going on."

Reid growled in frustration, he didn't have time for this! "I'll tell you in the car, now move!" he shouted, ignoring the looks of passers-by. JJ hesitated for a second, before jogging ahead of him to the garage. She, like the rest of their team, knew how to prioritize.

Reid wasn't looking forward to having to explain all of this to the rest of the team, let alone to JJ. He knew he could trust her, though. She pulled out of the garage and sped towards Russel. "Now what the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"Remember that girl, Annabelle?" he asked. JJ nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. And then Reid told her everything, from the beginning. The kidnapping, what he had to do, and then how she showed up at his apartment.

"It's freezing outside, and she's all by herself, we need to hurry," he said, but she was already at Dunlap Circle.

"Where exactly is she?" It was the first time she'd spoken since Reid had explained, and it was to her credit that she didn't ask any more questions.

"I don't know, somewhere along this road," he replied, pulling out his phone and calling her again. "Annabelle? Where are you? We just pulled onto Russel Road."

Annabelle was breathing harshly. "I think I'm about a mile out. Who's we?"

"JJ's driving me, she knows."

"Everything?" she asked incredulously, but before he could answer, she groaned in pain. Loudly. "Spence, please hurry," she whimpered softly. "I'm scared."

"I will," he replied, just as JJ said: "There!" She pointed to a car by the side of the road, the lights on, and a single woman in the front seat. Reid snapped his phone shut and unbuckled his seatbelt.

JJ had barely come to a stop when Reid jumped out of the car and ran to the other car. As he opened the door, another contraction hit, and she managed to grab his hand and nearly squeeze it to death. "You're here," she whispered as the pain subsided.

"Of course I'm here," he said. He leaned over and supported her back. "Let's get you over to the passenger side." He was about to call for JJ, but she was already at the other side of the car, moving to help Annabelle slide over.

"I'll drive her, you go back to the Bureau. Tell Hotch I'm taking a sick day," he said once Annabelle was in place. He slid into the driver's side, and had to adjust the seat. Annabelle was shorter than he'd realized.

JJ didn't get a chance to reply, as Reid drove away. "Hang on, it's only a 12 minute drive, and I can make it 10," he assured her.

"I'm scared , Spence," she whispered, breathing hard and gripping the armrests in a death grip. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can," Reid assured her, pushing the gas pedal down a little further. He could afford a fine if they got one, but she couldn't afford having her first child outside a hospital.

Annabelle screamed as another, stronger contraction hit. Reid winced at the volume. For a woman of her size, she certainly had quite a strong diaphragm. Reid worried, her contractions were far closer together than he would think. The average pregnancy ended in a 10 hour labor, but Annabelle seemed about ready to give birth in maybe an hour. "How long have you been having contractions?" he asked.

"A while, I don't know, I wasn't paying attention."

Reid frowned. "How did you not notice?" She was screaming in pain now, she must've felt it earlier.

"I thought they were Braxton-Hicks contractions, okay? It's three weeks early! It's not supposed to come out yet!" she screamed.

Again, Reid winced at the volume of her voice. "We're almost there," he said, hoping to comfort her with the information.

"Distract me," Annabelle pleaded after a few minutes of silence, her eyes screwed shut. Reid was fairly sure she wasn't having another contraction yet, but it still couldn't be comfortable.

"Uhm… did you know that the temperature at the core of the Sun is approximately 15 million degrees Celsius? That is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. The coolest part of the Sun is nearly 6,000 degrees Celsius, which is almost 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. And the highest temperature recorded on Earth is 56.7 degrees Celsius. That's 134 degrees Fahrenheit."

Annabelle looked at him incredulously. "That's how you distract me?! Why would I care about the temperature of the sun?! I'm about to push out a little person, and that's how you distract me?"

"I'm sorry!" Reid apologised, hoping they'd get to the hospital soon. A glance at the clock told him it'd be another 3 minutes. He pushed the pedal down some more.

Annabelle groaned as another contraction hit. "Oh God, it hurts."

"I'm sorry, just hold on, we're almost there," Reid said, the hospital only a few blocks away now.

"Just tell me something about yourself, okay?" she asked, completely out of breath.

"What do you want to know?"

"Just talk, for God's sakes!"

"Uhm… My father's name is William, my mother is Diana. My dad left when I was ten. Uhm… I have three Phds in mathematics, chemistry and engineering, and I have two BA's in psychology and sociology. I have an eidetic memory. What else?" he asked, slightly panicked.

"Pets?" she asked, a little desperately.

"Never had any, my mother's allergic and I don't think they're sanitary," he replied, finally pulling into the hospital's parking lot. NextCare was a small facility, but they had been known to do deliveries, so they had the equipment necessary in their ER.

"I need some help!" he shouted to some nurses who were standing outside taking a smoke break. He then ran to the passenger door, not waiting to see what they'd do, to help Annabelle out of the car.

Apparently, when a woman was this close to giving birth, she didn't need to sign in, she was just rushed off to the nearest room that had the equipment to take care of newborn babies. Reid had planned on staying in a waiting room until the baby was born, but when he slowed down, Annabelle grabbed his wrist. "Please don't let me do this alone. I need you," she pleaded.

He hesitated, while the doctor and nurses glared at him. "Okay," he said eventually, and followed them into the delivery room.

/*/

JJ didn't know what to think. She'd heard Spence's entire story, and it was still a lot to wrap her head around. She had no idea he'd had to do that, never mind that poor woman. And she was pregnant… For the life of her, she couldn't imagine Spence as a father, he was still so much of a kid himself.

When she'd come back into the BAU, Hotch had been annoyed that she was late, but switched right to concerned when she said she had to take Reid home because he was sick. She told him he wouldn't be coming in for the next few days. Alex, on the other hand, hadn't been so easily fooled.

"I saw him, he didn't look sick, he looked worried and in a hurry. What aren't you telling me, JJ?" Alex had asked after she'd cornered JJ.

JJ bit her lip. "You'll have to ask Spence, I don't know the whole story either, and even if I did, it's not mine to tell." She hated lying to her team, but in this case, she understood the necessity. She hardly knew how to deal with this, the others would take it much harder. She wondered briefly how Spence had managed to wrap his head around it, given his personality.

She was sitting at her desk, working on some paperwork and reading over some files sent to her when she got a text.

Healthy baby boy. Come visit? NextCare Urgent Care

She smiled. He was still Spencer Reid, after all.

Of course, tonight?

/*/

"Just one more, ma'am," the doctor told Annabelle. Reid could tell she was almost at the end of her rope; her brow beaded with sweat, and her muscles shaking in exhaustion.

"I can't," she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't, I can't."

Reid squeezed her hand. "You can do this, just one more push," he said, leaning in close. He knew it was a feeble assurance, but it was all he had to offer.

"I want my mom," she whispered, before screaming in pain as the contraction hit, and she pushed past her limits. He faithfully held her hand, though he felt completely uncomfortable being in this room, let alone witness a birth.

That all changed when he heard a baby cry. The sound was rated as the most annoying sound worldwide, but in that instant, Reid didn't agree. The pain in his hand faded to the background, as did everything else, as he glimpsed the bloody, slimy baby. He had a son!

The nurses went to clean the baby, and Reid tried to crane his neck to watch him, if for no other reason than to distract him from the afterbirth he knew was coming.

He still held Annabelle's hand, so when she squeezed it lightly after that was done, he turned to look at her. She was still breathing heavily, she was sweaty, and had bruises under her eyes, but she still smiled. "We did it," she whispered.

He couldn't help but return the smile. "We did."

The nurses came back into the room, holding a little bundle. Reid quickly stepped back and let Annabelle's hand go, so that she could hold her newborn son. "Hi," she whispered to the whimpering baby. She cooed at it for a few more minutes, while the nurses cleaned up the room. Finally, she looked up at Reid. "Spencer, meet your son: Matthew Christopher Reid," she said, and gestured for him to hold the baby.

Reid remembered holding Henry when he was a baby, but this was different, as soon as he got a good look at his child's face, he was lost. This was his child, his son. A voice in the back of his mind told him that the only reason he was feeling this way was because evolution had programmed him this way, but, for once, he shoved it further back and ignored it.

This was his son.