(Hey everyone. This is the last chapter, and I really want to thank you for being patient waiting for updates, and also for reading it and for the kind reviews I've gotten. I've been putting this last update off. I'm kinda sad to finish this story, since I've had such a good time trying to get inside their heads. Anyway, here it is, the last installment.)

(And of course, as always, I don't own the show or the characters, I'm just wishing I knew what they were going to do next. )

And Still We Smile

Chapter 11 (epilogue)

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast,

Man never is, but always to be blest."

-Alexander Pope, "Essay on Man"

Two months later

The FBI headquarters at Quantico were buzzing that morning. As always, phones were ringing, people were darting here and there on business, life-saving work was going on. But in the bullpen of the BAU several people stood gathered around a desk covered in flowers, balloons, and several heavy, square, brightly gift-wrapped packages that all looked suspiciously like books. They were whispering amongst themselves, and kept glancing anxiously back at the elevator letting people onto their floor, waiting impatiently for someone to arrive.

"What time did he tell you he'd be here?" Morgan asked, turning to look at JJ as he did.

"At nine, as always," JJ responded, grinning in good-natured jest at Morgan's agitation. "Take it easy. He didn't know we'd all be waiting for him like this. If he's running a minute late, he probably won't think much of it."

Morgan nodded, but a look of concern crossed Emily Prentiss' features nervously. "Will this upset him?" she asked, highly aware that she still didn't really know the true Reid all that well. "We don't want to make him uncomfortable, do we?"

But Gideon shook his head slightly, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder for a second. "It will be fine," he assured her. "He'll be embarrassed to be the center of attention. But underneath that, he'll be pleased to know how glad we are to have him back. Spencer has a hard time expressing it, but he sees us as his family and I think he needs this. It means more than he'd let on to us out loud."

Prentiss took this explanation with a grateful smile at Gideon for his assurance, and they returned to waiting for their youngest team member in silence.

Finally, with a ding that alerted them all of its arrival, the elevator reached the BAU's floor once again, and opened to reveal Spencer Reid standing inside. He looked just as much the gawky resident genius as he always had. His horn-rimmed glasses rested comfortably on the bridge of his nose, his ever-present knapsack was slung over one shoulder, and he carried a thermos of coffee in one hand and several file folders in his arms.

He looked up and saw the whole team gathered waiting on him, just as they all began to call out, "Surprise!" and "Welcome back!"

JJ and Garcia came forward to pull him in toward the rest of the group when he paused, looking flabbergasted at the noisy welcome. Garcia planted a kiss on his cheek and wrapped him up in a tight, enthusiastic hug, saying, "We missed you around here, Sweetie. It's good to have you back."

Reid smiled then, genuinely, if a bit awkward. "Thanks," he replied, speaking to her and the rest of the group as well. "I missed you guys too."

JJ's face bore a look of deep satisfaction and pride as she stood next to him, just looking up at his face. He'd been through a lot, but he'd also come out on the other side, with himself still intact, ready to resume his life and face some more. Their job would never be easy or pleasant, but it did a lot for her peace of mind to see him truly happy to be back. It told her he was no longer so afraid.

Reid glanced down at her just then, seeing the expression on her face, and got a knowing look in his deep brown eyes. She had been there from the beginning, more than anyone else. She'd been the one to finally wrangle the admission of what was wrong from him, she'd visited him in the rehab facility he had chosen every day that the team wasn't gone somewhere on a case, and she was here beside him now, knowing him better, he realized, than anyone ever had. Uncharacteristically, before he could lose his nerve, he bent slightly, and placed a kiss, quick and light, on her forehead, surprising her, and himself.

JJ didn't say anything, but flushed prettily and slipped an arm around his waist as they stepped forward into the circle of their team.

"You've got presents, man," Morgan said, stepping up and shaking Reid's hand, only to then pull him in closer for a one-armed hug.

"Cool," Reid replied, brushing a lock of his forever escaping hair back behind his ear again and studying the array of brightly colored boxes before him. "Are any of them books?"

Morgan couldn't help laughing out loud heartily at Reid's eager expression, and the laughter of the rest of the group soon followed.

"They might be," Prentiss answered teasingly, holding up on of the packages and offering it to him tentatively, with a hopeful smile, as her eyes met his. "Here, start with mine and find out."

Reid took the proffered gift and gave her a warm look of thanks in return. Mentally, he reminded himself that he needed to talk to Emily later – apologize for the way he had treated her in Texas, and in New Orleans. Maybe he could finally get to know her.

Gleefully, Reid tried for the moment to stop worrying and tossed concern aside to rip into her gift. As he tossed the paper away, he let out a breath of surprise and picked up the book he'd unwrapped, as if to examine it more closely and be sure he was really seeing what he thought he was.

Bemused by Reid's engrossed reaction, happy to see him surprised and pleased, Gideon quietly prompted, "What is it?"

Reid held the thick tome out then, so that the rest could see its cover. "Proust," he whispered, his voice quiet, stunned.

"Do you like it?" Emily asked hopefully, having guessed at an author based on a hunch and something she'd seen several months before.

"He actually one of my favorite authors, but I don't have this collection of his work," Reid replied. "How did you know?" He swallowed, and ran his fingers caressingly over the gold lettering of the title. "My…my mom read Proust to me when I was younger." He paused almost as though weighing whether he'd really wanted to give out that personal detail or not, then looked back up at her curiously.

Emily's mouth quirked up on one side as she answered. "Well, for one thing, what I've read of Proust seemed like stuff you would like. But I also heard you mumbling to yourself once in the break room while you were making yourself some coffee, and it sounded like you were quoting a Proust passage to yourself."

Reid flushed slightly, embarrassed that someone had seen that, but then shrugged and admitted, "I was. I didn't have the book with me, but I was trying to remember this particular line, and so I was running through the page in my head until I came up with it.

Emily nodded, "Well, I think you, and your mother too, have good taste. I've always been a Proust fan myself." She smiled again, simply, and just like that, as he smiled back, Reid could see that she understood why he'd acted the way he had to her before, and though he still wanted to apologize, he thought that it was probably already forgiven.

"Okay, break up the egghead convention," Morgan broke in, grinning to show he was only kidding them both. And then he was pushing his gift into Reid's hands as well.

Garcia swatted him on the arm playfully for his comment, to which his only response was to wink at her over his shoulder. Reid continued to happily open gifts and talk with his long-missed teammates. They all seemed to be vying to talk to him at once, except for JJ, who said nothing at all, only linked her arm through his, leaned her head on his shoulder and watched the celebrating go on around her.

Gideon and Hotch stepped back just a bit, quietly watching their team whole and healed again at last, and Hotch finally allowed himself a breath of relief. He glanced over to Gideon, studying the older profiler's face, waiting to hear if Jason's assessment would match his own.

With a small smile that was both wise and beautiful in how comforting Hotch found it just then, Gideon glanced back at him and murmured, "I think we may finally have him back."

Hotch's only response was a small nod of his head, but inside he could feel a sense of peace that he'd wondered if he would feel again. As the team's leader, he felt he had somehow failed to keep them all safe in Georgia, and then been woefully incapable of putting things back together again afterwards. But now, now it finally seemed as though everyone might be alright. The team would fight on for another day, with all of them there swinging.

He and Gideon rejoined the group without another word, and the seven of them continued to laugh and joke until Reid had opened all his presents and everyone had sampled some of the cake that Garcia had brought in for the occasion. Everyone had just slowly began to meander back to their own desks or offices when JJ's phone rang, startling them into attention.

They listened to her side of the conversation for a few minutes until she ended the call to turn and face them. "New case," she informed them. "I'll go get the presentation and files ready for you."

Hotch nodded in approval, then watched as she turned to walk off only to be stopped by Reid's hand grasping hers. "I'll help you put it together if you'd like," he said softly enough that only she could hear it. She nodded, and they continued on their way, now discreetly holding hands. Hotch couldn't help the very tiny smile that touched his mouth for a moment as he watched them go. Then he turned to the others, announced the briefing in the conference room in 30 minutes, and headed for his own office to make a couple calls before they went out in the field again.

Morgan swiveled around in his chair, gave Prentiss and Garcia a wide, irresistible grin and said, "Here we go again."

As they reconvened for the briefing, everyone felt the rightness of them all being around the table again, starting off all together on a new case. And it was Gideon who glanced over a Reid quickly, just to make sure he was okay, and saw the look spreading across his face. It was joy, small at first but growing with each second…joy to be alive, to be back where he belonged, and doing what he was meant to do. The smile that broke across his face, even as he listened to Hotch and JJ and began thinking through the new case, was genuine. And despite all it had taken to get here, he was finally home.