A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to everyone who's been reading and reviewing my stories.
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds. No copyright infringement intended.
My apologies if I made any mistakes but enjoy the chapter!
Reid and Élise gathered the dirty dishes and utensils from the mini party they had with some of the team; JJ and Rossi couldn't make it and began washing them in the sink.
"Well, that was something," Élise applied soap to the dishes. "It's not every day we host a party while three girls are napping."
Reid agreed, vigorously scrubbing one plate. "Yup."
Élise chuckled, "Can you really believe Garcia, of all people, got a job opportunity. In the Silicon Valley?"
"Actually, did you know that Silicon Valley got its name after its association with silicon transistor, which is used in computer microprocessors?"
Élise tilted her head. "I think I did, yeah. It's every tech company's playground," a thought came to her head. "Would it be wrong for her not to accept it?"
"I can see why Garcia would be hesitant to take it, due to her reluctance to change and being away from the BAU," Reid shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds like an opportunity that can't be passed up."
"I read that Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley are there," said Élise, taking a dish and drying it. "If you got an opportunity to teach there, would you take it?"
Reid asked, "Would you support me?"
"Of course."
Reid smirked. "Then I take it. But then again, I wouldn't mind teaching or lecturing at Harvard, Princeton, Yale." He lifted his shoulders again. "Who knows, maybe I might end up as the next billionaire to end up on the cover of Forbes."
Élise giggled.
Élise hummed while cradling Angela and Athena in her arms when Reid entered the nursery. He was casually dressed in a short-sleeve button shirt, slacks, and Converses.
"Hey…" he tiptoed to Élise's side and gave her a cheek kiss. "How are these two little cuties?"
Élise had to take a seat on the rocking chair. "It's feeding time for them."
Reid snickered; he knew what that meant before he looked at the text message he got from Rossi.
WENT BACK TO AN OLD PLACE.
"Work?" Élise guessed, preparing to breastfeed the girls.
"Mmm…" Reid focused on the text just as Anastasia came into the nursery.
She waved to everyone. "Hi….!"
"Hey, you…" Reid scooped her up, kissed her head, and set her down. "Now, I have to work. Take care of mommy and help her out when she tells you to, okay?"
"KK."
He guided her out of the room to give Élise some privacy before grabbing his satchel and car keys.
Reid knew Rossi would still be working on the Chameleon case, so he went to the place he knew Rossi would go to.
And that place was the Bunker.
The place Rossi showed Reid where it all began after Jason Gideon's murder at the hands of Donnie Mallick, avenged by Rossi himself.
Based on the amount of evidence and photographs of Everett "The Chameleon" Lynch around the room and on the wall, Rossi has been working on this for a long time.
Now for him, all that was missing was Lynch's father and his mother's agenda for avenging Grace's death.
Reid knew what the best thing was to do to bring Lynch down once and for all:
Come together as a team.
"Now," Élise picked Anastasia up, sat her on the couch, and sat next to her. "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?"
Anastasia giggled. "Vanila!"
Élise chuckled. "I want vanilla, too." Soon her phone started vibrating. She looked at the caller ID and smiled when she put the phone on speaker.
"Hey, you."
"Hey, babe," Élise gave the phone to Anastasia. "Want to talk to daddy?"
Anastasia spoke up, "Hey, daddy."
Reid was glad to hear from Élise and Anastasia. After seeing Roberta in the interrogation room with Tara and JJ, he needed to. "Hey, angel. How are you?"
"Gah!" Élise took the phone off the speaker and placed it to her ear.
"Okay, that's good. I'm about to go to Reno; we have a new lead on Lynch. I'm sorry, but I can't bring you back some chicken fried lobster and perhaps something from Binion's."
"That's okay; there's always next time," Élise smiled. "Just be careful, okay?"
"I'll do my best. I love you all."
"Same here."
"Bye, daddy!" Anastasia cried.
"Bye."
After hopping on the next flight to Reno and having a sit-down with Orlando Gaines, Reid and Rossi got a call about a possible lead to Lynch's biological father.
Only they got a major surprise.
Delvin Weaver, Everett Lynch's biological father's corpus at the hands of Roberta.
And judging by the body, Roberta really went all the way. Since he took Grace from her, she grabbed his father from him.
Now Lynch wants to meet up with Rossi.
"Shhh…." Élise pulled the comforters over Anastasia's petite body and kissed her temples. "Close your eyes…sleep tight, sweetie."
Élise blew her a kiss when leaving her room and headed for the nursery. She took another quick head peak before blowing them another kiss.
She sighed, having her back against the door.
"Something is not right…" she sensed. "Oh, Lord. I sound like Miss. Clavel."
Reid and JJ met with FBI SWAT officers at the house where Roberta would spend his teenage years. Reid proposed to talk to Roberta, who insisted that she let Olivia—the daughter of the woman Lynch had killed—go and surrender.
Reid began approaching the house with some of the FBI SWAT officers…
BOOM!
Only for a massive explosion to happen.
Claiming at least six FBI SWAT officers caused Reid to hit his head against the stone concrete.
Élise took a few more sips of her orange Darjeeling tea; she wanted to stay up to see Reid. She detected something in her heart and stomach like something wasn't right. It was bad enough to hear he was in an explosion, but something still wasn't feeling right.
Reid walked in and closed the door.
"Hey, sweetie," she set her cup on the coffee table and gave him a hug. "Oooh…"
"It doesn't make sense to me," Reid unintendedly ignored Élise.
"Babe, are you sure you're okay after the bombing?" Élise sounded concerned when he pulled her away and took a few steps.
Reid mumbled to himself, "I don't understand how that kind of personality can choose to blow itself up."
Élise gulped when she saw blood coming from his nose. "Sweetheart, your nose…"
Reid staggered. "If Roberta gave in to him—and if he took the gun away…If he could get to a tunnel…Lynch." Reid's eyes widened in the realization. "He's still alive."
Élise dropped her teacup at the sight of Reid passing out.
"SPENCER!"
Reid walked into the bullpen after stepping off the elevator. "What the…?"
Morgan?
But he's retired…
Elle?
She left…
Hotch...
…Talking about his vacation time with Haley and Jack…
Haley's dead…
…Gideon…
He's dead, too…
He felt his head spinning and thought it would be best to head to Garcia's office.
But once he got there, instead of Garcia…
He saw Strauss strangely dressed like Garcia.
She soon told him that he had intracranial hemorrhaging; parts of his brain were shutting down, and he will be going on a journey.
Before Reid knew it, he was now standing in a corner where he soon encountered.
And saw George 'The Reaper' Foyet.
Mocking him about the hell and back, he's been through. His own addiction to Dilaudid and being a federal convict. Foyet asked him what was the difference between victims and causalities was, figuring it ends the same.
And laughed maniacally when he saw the photo of him on the wall of fallen agents.
Tightly hugging herself, Élise could barely keep it together. At least it was good Anastasia didn't see or hear anything, not even his seizure. She called 9-1-1 before calling Hotch, asking if he and Jack could babysit the girls while she waited for the diagnosis of Reid's condition.
Wringing her hands, she alerted when Dr. Kiyomura approached her.
"Dr. Bastien-Reid," Dr. Kiyomura approached her. "We got Dr. Reid stabilized in the CCU, and his heart is doing well."
Élise let out a sigh of relief, so relieved she could pass out safely in a fluffy cloud of plush softness. "Hallelujah."
Dr. Kiyomura replied, "You know, getting him here right away reduces his chance of needing surgery, but in due time we need to see him pull through first."
"Hmm-mm." Élise nodded her head
"He did have a seizure after his MRI, but we gave him anticonvulsants, and I'll be prescribing Spencer to take anticonvulsants for about a year while he sees a neurologist every few months for an MRI."
Élise was happy to hear primarily good news. "You keep on doing everything you can for him."
Dr. Kiyomura nodded just as she gestured for the team coming in.
"Dr. Kiyomura," JJ greeted her. "Pleasure to see you again under the circumstances."
"Hello again."
Prentiss asked, "What's the update on Dr. Reid?"
"As I explained to his wife, Dr. Reid is now stabilized in the CCU, and his heart is doing well. We gave him anticonvulsants when he had a seizure after his MRI. We will need to continue taking them and see a neurologist for an MRI."
The team sighed.
"Keep on doing whatever you can for him."
"As promised," Dr. Kiyomura swore before going the other way to tend to her other patients.
Élise started massaging her suddenly tensed neck. "Oh, God. You should have seen Spencer. His nose started bleeding and rambled about Lynch being alive before passing out."
Rossi's mouth dropped to the floor. "Lynch is alive?"
"Is that not what I just said?" Élise gritted her teeth and went back and forth. "I mean, what the hell happened back in Reno? I know there was an explosion, and the doctor said he had intracranial hemorrhage caused by the effects. He went to the hospital after it happened, right?" she repeated herself when the team was silent. "He went to the hospital immediately, right?"
Her eyes widened in the horrifying realization, "YOU DIDN'T TAKE HIM THE BLOODY HOSPITAL!?"
Had Garcia not stopped her from charging, and if there weren't this many doctors and nurses watching, she would have done some severe damage to them at the hospital.
Élise took a sharp inhale of breath. "Find the son of a bitch and bastard and ship him back to hell where he belongs. Because of your stupidity, none of youse are seeing Spencer right now. And y'all better pray he falls through, and if he doesn't…hell will be on fire."
Élise walked away from them.
Foyet was finished toying with Reid and snapped his fingers, bringing Reid to a different and familiar place.
His old apartment.
There, he saw someone sitting on his couch.
"Good to see you again, Doc."
And a very familiar voice called to him.
...Maeve...
…With blonde hair…
Reid immediately began to think about his last moments with Maeve when Diane Turner killed both of them and apologized for not saving her.
Maeve told him her deepest and darkest secret: her love for cheesy nineties rom-drams and rom-coms. Her favorite one was about this angel who gave up his immortality because he fell in love with a human. But they only had one day together before she was killed...
Before telling him...
"Let me tell you something since you're still holding onto so much trauma at crossroads right now. And you really need to hear it. The world is a good place. And it's even better with you in it..."
"Aaron, how are the girls?" Élise asked when she was in the hospital bathroom.
Hotch answered, "They're behaving themselves."
"At least they don't know anything," Élise scratched her hair. "I'll call back later when I can, okay?"
"Okay."
Élise had her hands on the sink and let out a small cry. She looked up to stare at her drained facial expression, wiped her tears away, splashed some water into her eyes, and blinked them before leaving.
"Élise!"
Élise turned her head and saw Diana with a nurse assistant.
"Mama Diana." Élise hugged her mother-in-law. "So glad you can make it."
"It's always great to see you too." Diana smiled and caressed her cheek. "How are my grandbabies doing?"
"Home with a friend of ours." Élise inhaled. "Diana. Spencer fell, and he hit his head really hard, and he's not conscious."
"Well, let's wake him up." Diana lightly suggested. "Let's see him."
"No, wait." Élise tried to grab ahold of her arm, but she walked past her.
Diana approached his bedside. "He'll listen to me. Spencer." Diana tried waking him up. "It's not him. Spencer. Spencer. Spencer?" She started crying. "Oh, my baby. Oh, my baby. Oh, please."
"He's going to wake up, Diana." Élise cuddled Diana; a tear came from her eye. "He's going to wake up. He has to."
"You seemed to have made peace," Maeve said as she and Reid wandered around a cemetery.
"Yeah. I've made peace with much that has happened in my life and to try and move to pass it," Reid agreed before thinking. "What if I don't wake up?"
Maeve asked back, "What do you mean?"
"If I don't wake up, I'll be letting my mother die. Élise, Anastasia, Angela, and Athena. Everyone." Reid confessed as he sat down at a nearby bench.
Maeve sat next to him. "So much has happened to you. Your father's physical absence, your mother's psychological one, me. It can get overwhelming where you need to stop seeking and gaining approval by everyone."
Reid nodded. "I know."
"Let's take your mind off that. Tell me what you love."
Reid started listing them. "I love magic and ghost stories."
"Fiddling with your pen like me." Maeve giggled, which made Reid giggle. "What else?"
Reid continued. "Jell-O. Kumquats. Uh...teaching, learning, books, hope. Making connections. M-m-making a difference. My mother. My daughters. You. I love you."
"See?" Maeve placed her hand on his cheek. "That's a lot of love."
Reid smiled a bit. "When Élise and I were reading Winnie the Pooh to the girls, we came across a quote, 'Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in your heart.'"
Maeve beamed. "Exactly. Remember when we argued about the world's greatest poet?"
"We argued for four hours," Reid remembered. "Your favorite, E.E. Cummings?"
Maeve recited one of his poems. "Because whenever you think, or you believe, or you know, you're a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself."
"To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting," Reid finished the poem for her.
"Exactly." Maeve hugged him. "Don't ever stop being you. Stand strong and be strong. I'll be watching you. And you better take good care of your girls."
"I remember this one time when he was little." Diana reminisced a memory to Élise. "We go to the park and just look at the clouds; cumuliform heaps are his favorite."
Élise suggested. "Perhaps we should do that."
"And Spencer's eyes. Brown and gold on the outside and the inside."
Reid cleared his throat and muttered, "I can hear you."
"Baby," Diana patted her son's head.
"Forgot how much I loved those clouds, Mom," Reid replied. "You helped me remember."
"Baby!" Élise gently hugged Reid. "You're awake. And if you want, we can watch clouds together."
Reid gulped. "Am I alive, or is this heaven?"
Diana's tears flew from her eye. "Sweetie, you are very much alive."
"Daddy!" Anastasia rushed into Reid's bedside with Jack and Hotch behind her, strolling Angela and Athena.
"Hi, baby!" He accepted her hug after Élise picked up Anastasia and lightly placed her on his lap.
"Are you okay?"
Reid had a tear fall from his eyes. "I am now."
A/N: Happy 4th of July!