Author's note:

I realize some of the facts about meningitis don't make sense but that's because I have never had any personal experience with it as such can only try to make it as accurate as possible. Oh and let's just say that someone in Aaron Hotchner's college dorm ever died of meningitis so he knows the symptoms.

I heard the door swing open and turned to see JJ and Morgan come in. JJ's eyes were glassed over with tears that she was so obviously trying to hold back.

"What did the doctor say?" I asked anxiously.

JJ opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a harsh sob as tears rolled down her cheeks. Morgan wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to cry on his shoulder. I felt the blood rush from my veins; the doctor must have had some really bad news.

Morgan sighed, "The doctor said that they were going to try a new drug on him. If it works, he'll heal, it'll take a while but he'll heal. If not, we may only have 24 hours left with him."

I clenched my fist, and pressed it against my mouth willing myself not to appear as broken on the outside as I felt on the inside in front of my team. Looking outside the ward, I saw Rossi with his arms wrapped around himself, a frown upon his face as two lone tears rolled down his face. Emily and Penelope were on the ground in a heap sobbing helplessly into each other's embrace. I stood up and walked out of the room, I had to get away from that place. I found my legs carrying me to somewhere I hadn't had the time to go to in a while. I walked to a church and straight up to the front of the sanctuary.

Collapsing onto my knees, I knelt and prayed, pleading that God would return Spencer to us, that he wouldn't die because I didn't take enough notice of his appearance. I wept and prayed not having the clarity of mind to do anything else. When my tears had finally run dry, I noticed Derek and JJ on the ground next to me in similar positions. As they looked up, I took their hands and we knelt in a circle as we prayed aloud the same prayer we all had in our hearts. That our little boy genius be all right. We must have prayed for at least an hour before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Excusing myself, I picked up Rossi's call.

"Spencer's waking up," he whispered excitedly over the phone.

Anxious to be the first people he saw when he woke up, we rushed back to the hospital. Seeing our team outside Reid's ward, we quickened our footsteps.

"What's going on with pretty boy?" Morgan questioned.

"The doctor's checking him up. Maybe the medicine is working," said a hopeful Garcia.

After an excruciating ten minutes, the doctor finally stepped out of Reid's ward with a smile stretched across his face. I heard my team breathe sighs of relief around me, but I still held my breath, not willing to give myself any false hope on what Reid's fate might be.

"Dr Spencer Reid has responded miraculously well to the medicine, barring any complications, he should make a few recovery in a month and can be discharged in a week. However, he will be very weak until he has made a full recovery, so it would be best if someone could look after him."

Hearing the doctor say those words, I nodded and finally expelled that breath I had been holding in. Eagerly, the team rushed into the ward where a pale faced Spencer Reid sat waving at us.

"I feel funny," he stated.

"You're gonna be ok Spence, just rest," JJ assured him.

We hung around for about 5 minutes till Reid began nodding off and I chased the rest of the team back to the station to wrap up the case. Sitting by his bedside, I slowly dozed off, dreaming of how Jake would take to a weary Spencer.

At around midnight, I heard a dry cough coming from Spencer. I immediately jolted myself awake and handed him a glass of water.

"Hotch?" he said, looking at me with puppy dog eyes. "I don't wanna stay here, it makes me think of how my mum has to stay somewhere like this everyday, but if I discharge myself I know there'll be no one to take care of me at home. I…I don't know what to do. I've never read a book on how to fix something like this before."

I leaned in closer to him, pulling him in for a big bear hug.

"Don't worry, Spence. We'll get you outta here as soon as we can and when you do get out you'll stay with me, I'll take care of you. You don't need a book to learn about these kinda things, the team and I will show you. Finally, we know something you don't and we'll teach you so you can learn from experience." I chuckled.

"Really? Hotch, you don't have to. I was just talking too much, I can take care of myself." Spencer tried to protest, though he sounded unsure of himself.

I smoothed down his hair. "I'm sure. Now don't worry about it and get some sleep, you can barely keep your eyes open as it is." I replied smiling wanly.