Jacey tries to get through labor and birth, but comes to realize that her unborn child is as stubborn as she is. Spencer avoids going home, he's still dealing with the death of a friend, Gideon. The team deals with a bomber.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
HERO WORSHIP (SEASON 10, EPISODE 14).
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Spencer sat at his desk, contemplating his next move in a chess match against himself. He's been going back and forth with the chess match for hours now. It's a wonder why he was not on his way home by now.
Rossi left his office, getting ready to head to the hospital to visit his daughter, Jacey, to make sure if she pass 5 centimeters of dilation yet. It was then when he noticed Spencer.
"Reid." Rossi said, it was his way of a greeting. "What, are you working late?"
Spencer looked from Rossi to his chessboard. "Just, uh, waiting for rush hour to subside. A lot of close personal contact on the subway right now."
Rossi looked at his wrist watch, to check the time. Rossi had experience with subways, he knew the rush hours to a T. "It's 10:00. The trains have been empty for a while." Spencer looked at his watch as well, apparently, he wasn't keeping up with the time. "Go home. The chess will keep till tomorrow."
"Yeah. Probably just gonna pack it up right now." Spencer told Rossi before he started packing up his things.
Rossi nodded. "Goodnight, Spencer."
"Goodnight."
Rossi turned to Spencer on his way out, "I'll tell Jacey you said hi."
Spencer gave him a half smile at the mention of Jacey's name. "Thanks, Rossi. Tell her I'll see her tomorrow." Rossi nodded before leaving, once again.
Spencer heard the elevator ding, telling him that David was gone. He glanced down at his chessboard, then at the elevator. Making his decision, Spencer grabbed a cup of coffee from the office kitchen and continued his game of chess.
~•~
"Why am I still here?" Jacey whined to her sister. Joy was flipping through magazines, sighing at Jacey's behavior.
"You're still here because you still have a baby to birth into this world."
"Joy, can't you have this baby for me? I mean we're twins, right?"
Joy shook her head with an amused expression. "And mom always said I was the dramatic one."
"I'm in pain. And this kid won't get out of me."
"Jacey, the doctor said that the longest labor was like 80 hours. You're only 48 hours in."
Jacey sighed. "Yeah, and I don't want it to be 48 more hours. I'm just ready to hold my baby."
Joy gave her sister a soft smile. "I felt the same way when I was having Kai. Your baby will be here soon. Okay?"
"I brought food and drinks." David said as he entered the room. The girls gave their dad a smile.
"My hero." Joy said as she grabbed the food. David gave each girl a kiss on the forehead.
"How's it going, Jacey?" David asked as he took a seat beside her.
Jacey gave her dad a pained look before giving him a tight smile. "I'll survive."
"I know you will. You're strong."
"Thanks, dad."
David took a swig of his drink before speaking again. "Spencer wanted me to tell you that he'll be visiting you tomorrow."
"I'll be looking forward to it. He's going to bring me some new books to read." Jacey stated with a blush. "Hey, don't you have work in the morning?"
David nodded. "I do."
Joy and Jacey looked at each other. "Dad, what are you doing here? Go home. Rest. If Jacey becomes fully dilated, I'll call you." Joy said to her father.
"Fine. Just don't start nagging me." David said jokingly before grabbing his things. "You girls have enough food for the night?"
They both gave an assured look. "We should be good for the night."
"Okay. I'll come by tomorrow. Call if anything changes."
"Will do."
David placed a kiss on their cheeks before leaving.
~•~
Spencer made his way on the jet, getting ready to head to Indianapolis for his next case. Unfortunately, they were dealing with a bomber which were their least favorite unsub.
Spencer was reading his book when his phone started vibrating.
FROM JACEY:
HEY SPENCER! I JUST WANTED TO CHECK ON YOU. DAD TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING TO VISIT ME TODAY. CAN'T WAIT.
Spencer's mouth curled up into a smile, seeing that it was a message from Jacey. The smile was gone when he realized that she thought he was going by the hospital soon when he wasn't.
TO JACEY:
WE GOT A CASE. SORRY, JACEY. I'LL BE SURE TO COME BY WHEN WE GET BACK.
FROM JACEY:
OH! THAT'S OKAY. I HOPE EVERYTHING GOES WELL. SEE YOU SOON. :)
Spencer admired the way Jacey never questioned him or felt annoyed about him getting called away. She was understanding and patient, which is something an FBI agent needs in a person.
~•~
"Doctor, get this child out of me! I can't take it anymore!" Jacey yelled at Dr. Walsh. He didn't pay Jacey too much attention, he thought she was loud and amusing.
"You can't rush a birth, Jacey."
"You can't? Are you sure?" Jacey groaned once again, feeling the pain of her contractions.
"How about I check your dilation?"
Jacey nodded. "Please."
Dr. Walsh prepped Jacey's legs up to do his examination. Jacey waited until he was done to breathe again. She was hoping and praying for good news.
"Well," Dr. Walsh said with a relived sigh. "Your dilation is catching up. You're at 7.5 centimeters. We should be expecting a baby tomorrow night."
Jacey's eyes widen with excitement. "Really? My baby should be here by tomorrow night?"
"Yes ma'am. Now, I have a few other ladies to check on. I'll send nurses in to check on you every hour."
Just as Dr. Walsh left, Joy came in with drinks and snacks. As soon as Jacey glanced at her sister, she squealed with rejoice.
"Are you okay? What's going on?" Joy said, confused by her sister's behavior. Jacey took a deep breath before telling her sister the big news.
"Okay, well, your niece or nephew should be here within 36 hours."
Joy's eyes widen. "Tomorrow night?! Are you serious?"
"Yes! Dr. Walsh said that my dilation is catching up with me."
"Well, if it keeps up this pace, maybe you'll have the baby in the early morning."
Jacey frowned for a moment. "I hope not."
"Why?" Joy asked as she placed her purse on the hospital night stand.
"Well, I want dad and Spencer to be here. They're on a case at the moment."
Joy grabbed Jacey's hand, brushing her thumb over Jacey's knuckles. "Sweetie, I know you want them here but if they don't make it...at least they'll have a beautiful baby waiting on them to visit him or her."
"You're right. But, I don't want dad to miss out on this birth. His grandchild, you know? He already missed out on Kai."
Joy gave her sister a smile before placing her forehead against Jacey's. "You still got me, old mum."
The sisters laughed together. Joy picked up the remote control so she could turn on the Tv.
"Wait, don't." Jacey said with urgency.
"Why?"
"Have you watched daytime Tv? It's terrible. This hospital only provide 20 channels, so I've been stuck on soap opera."
"Yeah? Well, how bad can it be?"
Jacey shook her head. "That fabric softener bear. Ohh, I'm gonna hunt that little bitch down."
Joy raised an eyebrow. "That commercial haven't been on Tv in, like, five years."
"The soap opera channel never really update too much." Jacey said before getting out of her bed to head the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Joy asked, her voice laced with fear because her sister was on her feet.
"I'm going to go pee. You can watch tv."
~•~
It was night out, and the police department just received a call about a man, known as Allen, the man who saved loads of people from a burning building, having a bomb attached to his truck.
Spencer and Morgan pulled up the house, urgently. Spencer noticed a woman with a child in her arms. He quickly walked over to them.
"Ma'am, you need to get your daughter out of here."
"No, I'm not leaving Allen." She told Spencer, as she held on to her daughter tight.
"I'm sorry, but you have to." Spencer said trying to convince the lady to leave, for her safety. "This is for you and your daughter's safety. Please trust us."
She turned to look at her husband once more. "Get away from here, okay? Get out of here. Please." Her husband told her from his position in the truck.
Tears started to form in her eyes, she turned to Spencer. "Please help him."
"We will." Spencer reassured her before leading her away with a few policemen. Morgan was looking around, something was off. He looked at Reid.
"How the hell did we beat the bomb squad here?" Morgan asked Reid.
"I could give you statistics, but I don't think this is the time." Spencer said to Morgan while his gaze was still fixed on the truck.
Morgan looked around himself once more. He gave the bomb squad a second to arrive.
"Are we really gonna do this?" Spencer asked.
Morgan looked at Spencer. "Turn your cell phone off." After turning off their cellphones, Morgan and Reid proceeded towards the car.
Morgan bent down and flashed his light under the truck, Reid followed in suit. They both notice the bomb.
"Nitroglycerin." Spencer commented, taking note of what they're dealing with.
'It's been triggered.' Morgan thought. Morgan stood up, looking at the man in the truck.
"No. No. No. Stay back. Stay back!" Allen yelled at Morgan and Reid. Morgan opened the driver's truck door. "Stay back. I don't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Sir, stop talking. Just listen. Just listen to me. We're with the FBI and we're here to help." Derek told the man. "When you out your door down, you triggered the arming mechanism. Now, if you move, you could set it off."
"Where are Brenda and Hannah? Are they okay? I don't want them to die, too."
"Nobody's gonna die."
"They're safe, don't worry. Bomb squad's gonna be here soon." Spencer reassured Allen.
"I need you to keep exact pressure that you have on that brake as you have right now. If you don't, all 3 of us are gonna die." Derek instructed.
"Well, can you do something?" Allen asked Derek, only because he seemed to know a lot about how to handle the situation.
Spencer looked at Morgan. "Can you?"
Morgan looked from Spencer to Allen, then he proceeded to bend down to look at the bomb again with caution.
"This thing is homemade but the framework is familiar." Derek started to seem a tab bit confident. "Yeah. Yeah. I can disarm this. I just need something sharp."
"There's a knife in the glove department. There." Allen told Derek and Spencer. Spencer carefully but hurriedly walked over to the passengers side to grab the knife. Quickly giving it to Morgan.
"Sir, just sit still, you're doing fine. I'm gonna get you out of here." Derek paused for a moment, glancing up at Spencer. "Hey, kid. I think you should back up."
Spencer shook his head. "Not happening. What's the next step?" Spencer pulled out his flashlight to shine more light on the bomb for Derek.
"The trick is rendering the pressure sensor inactive without letting the detonator think it's time to go. The only problem is, this son of a bitch built this thing by himself and he used all the same colored wires."
"Seven wires and you don't know which one to cut?" Spencer asked. Spencer shook his at the irony. "I'm not too crazy about these odds."
"It's gotta be one of these two right here." Morgan said unsurely.
"Guys, you got to do something quick here, man. My foot is starting to cramp. I cannot keep my foot on this petal." Allen complained at the agents.
"Sir, please. Please. If you want to stay alive, I need you to keep that foot down and try to stay still, please." Morgan looked at the familiar wiring again. "Reid, it's got to be this wire right here, if he stayed true to the original design."
Reid looked at the bomb then at Morgan. "Go with your gut."
Morgan went with his gut and cut the wire. They shared a relived sigh when the bomb didn't go off.
"What? Well?" Allen asked them.
"Sir, you're fine. You can get out of the car." Derek told Allen.
"Are you serious? You did it? You did it? I'm gonna live?"
"Let's get you to your family." Reid said, helping Allen out of his truck.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much." Allen said gratefully, pulling Reid into an awkward hug.
Reid watched as the bomb squad arrived, heading to fully disarm the bomb.
"Rossi was right, the unsub doesn't like sharing attention." Spencer told Derek as the walked towards their car.
"So he's decided to eliminate Allen Archer and now he's graduated to Nitroglycerin."
"Page 113. We should get the Archer family into protective custody until further notice."
Derek agreed. "Once the bomb squad's done clearing that house, I want to take another look at that device and see if there's anything else we can learn."
~•~
It was all over. Allen was the bomber at the coffee shop, but didn't realized he entered himself into competition when he planted the bomb. Two unsubs, one case. It almost never happens like that.
Spencer was sitting his seat on the jet, occupying himself with a game of chess. Rossi noticed how isolated Spencer looked, so he decided to keep him company.
"You ever gonna finish this game?" Rossi asked.
Spencer sat there, contemplating his next move. "It's a tough one. Playing yourself can be difficult."
"Playing a ghost even more so." Rossi commented. "He's gone, Spencer. Keeping the game going, won't change that."
"I know. I just thought that maybe I could keep part of him alive if his last game never ended."
"Neither side will ever win playing like this."
Spencer paused for a moment, attempting to hold back his emotions. "He hated good-byes."
"Gideon also hated unfinished business. So..." Rossi started to say before taking a seat in front of Spencer. "Let's finish it." Rossi then moved a chess piece.
"What are you doing?" Spencer asked.
"Moving my rook."
"Do you know how to play chess?" Spencer asked.
"Who do you think Gideon played before he met you?" was Rossi's reply. Spencer tried to hide his grin.
"I'm probably gonna finish you in five moves."
Rossi nodded before Spencer really focused on the game.
"Check." Spencer said.
"Don't hold you breath, Sonny boy." Rossi said, unimpressed as the continued to play.
After ten minutes, Rossi's phone started to ring. Seeing that it was Joy, he answered quickly. "Joy? What?! When? How long do I have? You're kidding?"
Everyone on the plane shifted their eyes to Rossi.
"Hotch, when do we land?" David asked while putting Joy on hold.
"Ten minutes. Why? What's going on?"
"I'll be there soon, Joy. Tell her to hold on." David hung up with a proud smile on his face.
"Is everything okay?" Kate asked what everyone was thinking.
"Jacey is about to give me my second grandchild. Doctor told her he'll be ready for her in thirty minutes." Everyone started congratulating Rossi, their own excitement building up.
"Looks like we're all heading to the hospital when we land." Derek said with a grin.
~•~
"Where's dad?! No, we can't start without my father!" Jacey yelled at the staff. Joy was holding her sister's hand. Rossi then ran into the room.
"I'm here. I'm here." Rossi said hurriedly behind a few nurses. "Jacey, don't worry. I'm here."
Jacey gave her dad a satisfied smile. "I'm so glad you made it. I was about to start without you."
"Okay, Jacey. When I tell you to push, you push. Okay? I'm going to count to ten. Ready?" Jacey nodded. "Okay, push! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Stop!"
"You're doing great." Joy said, wiping the sweat off of Jacey's forehead.
"I see a head full of golden brown hair." Dr. Walsh cheered.
"You do?" Jacey asked with a smile.
"Were you expecting a baby with red hair?" Rossi joked, holding on to Jacey's hand.
"Okay, Jacey. Push!" Dr. Walsh was guided the baby out, making sure everything was okay. "I see a shoulder. I see another shoulder."
"The baby is almost here." Joy squealed, pressing her head against her sister. Rossi was brushing the loose hair out of Jacey's sweaty face.
"One more push, Jacey. One more big one!"
"I can't." Jacey cried. Rossi whispered in Jacey's ear.
"You can do this. I believe in you. Bring this baby into the world. Come on, Jacey."
Jacey pushed as hard as her body would allow. Moments later, a scream filled the room. Dr. Walsh placed the baby over Jacey so they could have instant contact.
Jacey's brown eyes connected with big blue one's. The sight of her baby took her breath away.
"You did it, old mum." Joy said placing a hand over the baby's head. "Beautiful."
"We're going to get the baby cleaned. The baby will see you all in five minutes. I need Jacey to birth the placenta." Dr. Walsh told the small family.
Jacey looked at her sister then her dad. "Go. I'll handle this. You guys chill out in the lobby. Dad, I know you have your team waiting out there."
David kissed Jacey's forehead, tears falling from his face. He was a proud grandfather.
~•~
The team sat in the lobby. Spencer was the most anxious out of the all, the team had to talk him down.
They all noticed David walk out into the lobby with Joy following behind him.
"So?" Derek asked, Penelope hugged to his side.
David gave his team a proud smile before saying, "It's a girl."
Everyone cheered congratulations, giving Joy and David hugs. Spencer smiled widely, he was relieved that everything went smoothly and there were no complications.
Moments has passed, everyone was waiting to see Jacey and the baby. Seconds later, Dr. Walsh comes out with a grin.
"Jacey and the baby are waiting for you all. Go on inside, I have a few other babies to deliver."
Everyone moved quickly to go into the room to see Jacey smiling down proudly at a baby in a pink blanket. She looked up to see some of her favorite people smiling at her.
"Ohhh, she's so beautiful." Garcia said happily, staring at the small bundle of joy in Jacey's arms.
"Like her mother." Rossi said brushing Jacey's loose strands of hair behind her ear.
"How much does she weigh?" Kate asked.
"Five pounds, fourteen ounces." Jacey said with a huge smile. Spencer couldn't keep his eyes off of the baby or Jacey. The way Jacey smiled was a sight to see.
"Oh wow. Jack was never that small." Aaron joked, glancing at the curly-haired baby.
"Henry was close but still weighed more," JJ said. "She's so precious, Jacey."
"I want to thank you all for coming. It really means a lot."
"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Derek told her.
"Excuse me, ma'am." A nurse said, coming in with a birth certificate. "What will your baby's name be?"
Jacey paused for a moment, and then looked at her baby again. "Mia. Mia Stephanie Rossi."
"Stephanie?" Rossi asked, the tears coming back.
"Well, I can't give her the middle name Stephen so I thought of something close." Jacey told her dad. "Would you like to hold her dad?"
"Of course." Rossi reached out for the baby. Jacey gently placed the baby in her dad's arms. "She's so small. Hi, Mia, I'm your grandfather."
Mia moved slightly, just barely opening her eyes, giving her grandfather a small toothless smile.
Everyone was in awe of Mia, she was the cutest baby on the planet.
~•~
It's been a couple of hours since the birth of Mia, the room was clear and almost everyone went home. David ran to the store to get food for him and his daughters. Joy was out printing out baby arrival cards to send to friends and family.
So, it was just Jacey and Mia, in the hospital room alone. Jacey just finished breast feeding and burping her baby. She couldn't believe that Mia made her entrance into the world.
"She's the prettiest lady in the whole world." Spencer said in the doorway with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"What are you doing here? I thought you went home." Jacey said, blushing at the sight of the flowers in Spencer's hand.
"I started to but I wanted to see you two again. So, I bought these for you both." Spencer placed the flowers on the nightstand, taking his seat beside Jacey and Mia.
"Can you believe it? She's here." Jacey said, looking from Spencer to the baby.
"She's adorable."
"You know, it's weird...finally seeing the person behind the kicks. I realize that this pregnancy was worth it." Jacey said, her heart filling up with love and happiness. "Do you want to hold her?"
"May I?" Spencer froze when he realized just how small Mia is compared to his big hands and long arms. Mia was cuddled in her blanket, her eyes barely opened. "Hi, Mia. I'm Spencer."
Mia licked her small lips with her tiny tongue, giving Spencer a small smile. Spencer laughed, he was in awe of the infant he held close to him.
"She does that a lot. She likes to smile. I don't want that to ever change." Jacey stated, watching the scene between Spencer and Mia. Spencer took his eyes away from the baby to look at Jacey.
"I'll make sure that never happens. She'll always be happy." Spencer told her.
Jacey laid her head against Spencer's shoulder. The pair both staring down at baby Mia as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
_ [Author's Note]
Hello lovely people! I just wanted to say that I'm so appreciative of all the love and support! It makes my heart warm.
Please tell me what you think of the story so far! It would be great to read what you all have to say. It's very encouraging when I read reviews!
Also, as you know that Jacey is a therapist for traumatized agents and cops. So, if you want to feature in a chapter when Jacey goes back to work just drop some ideas. I'll make sure to make the scene likable.
Once again, thank you.
P.S. I'll be making an Author's Note every fifth chapter unless it's urgent. Ciao!