Chapter 17: The Aftermath
A few hours later Max arrived to the hospital. She walked to his room, and there were Diana and Penelope.
She stood there, leaning against the door frame as both women talk about him.
"Has he been here before?" Asked Diana "in the hospital, like this?" Max was wondering the same.
"Yes" her heart skip a beat, just imagined him like this.
"Were you here for him?"
Penelope nodded and smiled "yes"
"Aw, how awful"
"It was, actually" she looked down and then looked at the door, Penelope realized there was Max and continued "and then there was the time agent Hotchner was in the hospital. And Morgan's wife" Max did not know her but she met him and she just could imagined him been worry about her "and JJ earlier this year, and... me" she seemed like remember that day and the usually happy Penelope's face turned into a sober face "Yeah, I've... I've actually been in hospital more times than I am caring to admit. Sometimes I think there's got to be a better way, you know?" She looked sad and thoughtful "there's got to be a better place"
"There is. There is for all of us" Diana commented and then turned and saw Max "oh Max, come in"
She walked in and smiled "sorry but my dad asked me to take a nap before I returned here, I haven't sleep since yesterday" she looked at Spencer in his bed "how is he?"
"He is stable. He opened his eyes for a brief moment and the doctor said it was good" explained Penelope, then Max nodded and held his hand gently.
"Good, I'm happy he is getting better" Diana rubbed Max's back.
"I'm more happy you found him" she said looking at her son's girlfriend "it could have been worse if you didn't find him soon"
"Thanks JJ, she told me about his accident" she smiled with some tears "he's so stubborn that I bet he wouldn't let the paramedics check him"
"Yeah, you are right" then Diana told them some events in his life where he was stubborn and both, Max and Penelope, laughed softly. Then Diana looked at him and smiled "Spencer, I saw some cumuliform heaps today" then she looked at the two women "his favorite clouds. I plucked that for him. Everything is up there and we pluck what we want when we want and we let go what we don't"
"That sounds very good" Penelope said "ok, I'm plucking a memory about Spencer's eyes, and they are brown with gold on the outside" Max smiled at that.
"Oh yeah his eyes are beautiful, but I think they are gold on the inside" both looked at Max when she said so then she added "I'm plucking a memory about his smiles. That sweet smile he has when he throw facts about things or even his little smirk when he wins at poker or chess" Penelope and Diana nodded.
"Yeah he learned to play poker when he was little and before he moved to Virginia to do the profiling course at the FBI, he was banned to walk in the biggest casinos in the city"
"He told me and I tried to warm my sisters and dad but they didn't listen"
Then suddenly they saw Spencer opening his eyes and Diana said "gold on the inside"
"Hey, we were just plucking memories of you" said Penelope smiling
"I heard you" he said with a raspy voice "forgot how much I loved those clouds, mom. You helped me remember" he said looking at his mom then looked at Max "hey Max, I'm happy to see you" he smiles gently.
"I'm happy to see you too" she leaned in and kisses his forehead running her hand on his hair "I was so worry about you sweetheart"
Then Diana looked at the nurse from Brookfield and said her son "Spencer, maybe I can come back tomorrow and we can watch clouds together"
"Am I alive, or is this heaven?"
"Sweetie, you are very much alive" Penelope and Max signed as Diana rubbed his hair "I will see you tomorrow" then she turned to Max "take good care of him, ok?"
"Don't worry, I will" she smiled looking at him.
"I'm not worry. I know it" Diana Reid smiled and left the room with her nurse.
Both women turned to him "Can I have some water?" He asked still a little dizzy.
"Sure babe" she called the nurse and when she arrived Max asked if they can give him some water. She nodded and returned with some ice cubes.
"He can't drink from a glass yet so we have these cubes" she handed her some and Max gave him some and when he was satisfied she put them away.
"Now rest Spencer, you are still too weak" said Max softly running a hand on his hair. He did not need to hear it twice, he just closed his eyes again and fall asleep, Max kissed his head.
Meanwhile Penelope got a call from the team telling her Lynch was dead. She got excited, then they mentioned her that Rossi broke his leg so they were heading to the hospital.
JJ asked her about Spencer, she told her and the rest of the team the situation then hung up and walked inside.
"They catch Lynch. He's dead so I told Anderson and Fernandez to leave" she looked at Spencer.
"Good news, that Lynch was a really bad guy, huh?"
"Yes he was. He made the house exploded and that made boy wonder to have that concussion" Max looked at her then at him "but he talked and he knew who we were, and I'm sure his brain is ok" Max nodded.
"I think so too. Now that he woke up I'm less worry" she looked at him "when I found him, his breathing was slow and so was his pulse" Penelope held her hand "it was horrible"
"I'm sure it was. But thanks to you and your dad, he is alright"
"Yeah... you are right" she smiled "and... um... how did you end up in the hospital? I mean you're not a field agent like Spence"
"Oh... um... well that happened because I was trying to help the families of some unsolved cases. The guy thought I was investigating him so he fake to have a date with me and shoot me in front of my apartment building"
"Oh my..."
"Yeah and he ended up been a man with hero complex who shoot people to try to act like a hero. But then his victims died and he was the hero even though the people died" Max looked at her and nodded "thankfully JJ shoot and kill him"
"Oh that's great and I'm happy that man can't bother you anymore" Max said looking at her "and why were you so sad when you said that you wish there's got to be a better place?"
Penelope sighed "well, mostly because this job affected me emotionally, I have to watch dead people, I have to read terrible things that causes people to kill and I have to visit hospitals more often than the average people" she looked at Spencer in bed "so I'm thinking seriously about leaving the BAU, using my abilities to do something least dangerous and I will be helping too"
"I understand, I have been dating Spencer for a while, if we include dates without been a couple, and I'm nervous when he goes on a case. I love him and I want him to do what he loves but also to be safe"
"That's what I feel about my furry friends, they meant a lot to me and if I lose any of them, I would be devastated. That's why I think it's better to leave and don't see more gory thing" Max nodded.
"Did you tell them?"
"I mentioned an opportunity in the Silicon Valley but I'm thinking to see if I can find something like that here. This is my home with my friends and I don't want to move there"
"I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities here for you. Programming is a profession with lots of opportunities"
"Thank you for listening Max. I will add you to the BAU girls WhatsApp group to invite you to our wild parties on weekends" Max laughed softly.
"I would love to but only on weekends. I'm an art teacher and I need to be sober for my little angels" she smirked gently "and I'm thankful because you made me relax. I was tense with all this" the two women hugged each other.
Then Penelope's phone vibrated "hey JJ, what's up?"
"We are in the hospital. Where are you?"
"I'm at Spencer's room with Max"
"Ok which one?"
"Room 229" said the TA of the BAU.
"Ok see you" they hung up.
"It was JJ, she wants to see Spencer and talk to us for a while" Max nodded then they walked out the room and the blonde woman walked to them with Luke "hey blondie and newbie what are you doing here?"
"It's good to see you too Garcia" said the man rolling his eyes but with a little smile "hello Max, how's Reid?"
"He's stable, he woke up and talked to us and his mom. He wanted water but since he was weak they gave him some ice cube"
"What did the doctor say?" Asked JJ.
"She said it was a good sign but they have to wait. I guess tomorrow they will run some test to see his brain. But our baby genius is weak as Max said"
"Can we see him? Oh by the way Penelope, Dave broke his leg. You should go see him. He's in an ER room" said JJ.
"Sure, he's sleeping but you can go in, I will go get something to eat and we can go to see David" JJ nodded at Max and then both of them walked to find Rossi while JJ and Luke checked Spencer.
Luke talked to him wishing he got better soon so they can keep kicking bad guys butts and then decided to leave JJ alone with him.
There was a silence while Luke walked out the room then the blonde woman walked to him "Spence... I called you can hear me and... I... I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you from that explosion and that i wasn't more stubborn than you and forced you to check your head... maybe this would never happen and you would have been there when Everett Lynch died" she wiped the tears off her eyes "when you get better I will tell you everything and I hope it would be very soon" she leaned in and kissed his forehead "sleep well" then she left the room and walks back to the ER to check out Rossi who was getting a cast.
Then Max returned to Spencer's room alone. Penelope had to go home and JJ offered her the ride and the other members of the team needed to sleep.
Max laid on the couch with a pillow and a blanket the hospital gave her and falls asleep hugging an Spencer shirt that she took from his closet while he was taking a shower.
It was her teddy bear when he was not with her. She was happy he survived this and that he still will be with her.
OOooOOooOO
This chapter was more focus on showing what happened before and after he woke up in the hospital, with the addition of Max in it.
Hope you liked it. I'm sure where I should finish this story because I would like to show more of their relationship, his proposal, their marriage and when they have kids but I am not sure if I should let the time move slowly or do time jumps. What do you think?