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"Daddy!"

The piercing scream of his godson and the crack of more ice absolutely paralyzed Reid. His breath stopped in his chest and his heart refused to beat. For a second, he thought someone was playing a joke on him.

"Henry!" Garcia screamed as she skated forward on the ice.

Her voice broke his paralysis and he knew it wasn't a joke "Stop." He hollered at Garcia.

She slid to a stop and spun around to face him, her eyes huge and terrified. "Reid we have -"

"Henry," JJ screamed.

Reid's head whipped around to see JJ frantically trying to throw off Will who was holding her back.

"Someone call 911." Reid shouted, making a decision in half a second.

He was the closest to Henry who was splashing and writhing in the ice cold water. Reid could see his head still covered in the red knitted cap JJ had put on him before they'd left that morning. It stood out like a splotch of blood in the grey, white and black of the winter day.

He threw himself onto his stomach and began crab crawling like a soldier in battle toward the boy. The smell of the ice reminded him of musty wet earth in the woods. He nearly gagged, but then Henry screamed again. He pushed on, using the slick surface of the ice to slide forward.

"Reid," he heard Morgan shout, closer than he should be.

"Stay back. The ice can't take all this weight."

"But -"

"Stay put Morgan," Hotch commanded.

Reid slowed his pace even though he couldn't see Henry anymore. Oh God, where was he? His mind began running statistics on drowning in freezing water, frostbite and hypothermia. "Stop it." He commanded his brain as he hugged the slick, hard surface of the pond. It cracked again as he made it to the edge after what seemed like years, but was only two minutes.

"Reid," Garcia shouted.

He ignored her and felt his heart jolt when Henry's face reappeared over the edge of the water.

"Help me Uncle Spence." The boy screamed.

He flailed his arms around as Reid reached out for him, trying not to move and break more of the ice. If they both went in...

"Henry… Grab my hand."

The little boy slid under the water. "Henry!"

Water gurgled, bubbled and rose to the surface that was horrible pewter grey against the white of the ice. He plunged a gloved hand into the freezing water, not feeling it soak through to his skin. If he could just snag…

He felt something shift in his fingers. He tried to close his hand around it, but his hand was already going numb. His breath plumed out around his mouth. "No… I won't let you -"

His hand caught again and he saw Henry's face, his eyes closed, his face white as the snow, rise to the surface. The ice cracked long and loud as he tried to pull the boy toward him. He stopped, plunged in his other hand, and tried to change his grip, but the water was so cold. He shook and his teeth chattered as if someone had wound up his jaw like toy chattering teeth.

He yanked on the boy, cursing his waterlogged clothes. "Someone help me." He said through his teeth. He shouldn't have tried this alone.

The ice cracked again. "Reid."

Morgan was there again, much too close. "Have you got Henry?" He demanded.

"He's slipping I can't pull him out of the water." He gasped out.

"Just hold on as tight as you can."

Hold on… He'd never let go of Henry even if it meant being dragged down into the depths of the pond with plants that thrived on water and any little creatures that lived there. He squinted his eyes against a wind that had begun to blow across the ice.

Someone grabbed his legs and suddenly he was yanked backward, sliding over the surface of the ice so fast it blurred. The ice beneath him cracked and shattered as Henry came out of the water. The dragging sensation didn't stop until he was in the middle of the pond.

He rolled over and rose to his knees as JJ threw herself down next to Henry and tried to gather him up in her arms. "No," Morgan commanded as Will grabbed JJ.

"He's not breathing." Reid said, crawling over to him.

He took Henry from JJ and laid him out on the ice. He yanked off his gloves and pulled Henry's head back. Morgan dropped next to him as he checked Henry's airway. He began artificial respiration giving the boy two quick breaths as Morgan checked his pulse. "I can't get a heartbeat.

"No!" JJ shouted. "Henry! Oh my God."

Will dragged her away as Garcia hugged Emily and burst into wild sobs. Emily stood there, her face red from the wind and her eyes on Reid. He and Morgan ignored all of them as they started CPR, working as a fluid team.

Reid breathed for the boy as Morgan did chest compressions. Everything seemed to pull in and soften. He didn't hear JJ sobbing, or the wind as it cut around them like the wake of ship on the high seas. He didn't see anything but the face of his godson and his motionless little body.

CPR is only seventeen per effective outside a hospital, his brain told him and he wished he'd never read those statistics. They had to get Henry's heart started and breathing before four minutes elapsed. How long had it been? Had someone called 911? He couldn't stop to ask.

It felt like he lived through two eternities before someone pushed him away. He looked up to see two EMTs there with their equipment and their calm voices. He and Morgan could only stand there and watch them try and bring Henry back.

He knew what all the medical jargon meant as the tech worked over his little godson, but he knew it wasn't helping Henry. They didn't give up, and finally the boy began to cough up water and breathe. They loaded him onto a stretcher and then onto the ambulance. Reid wanted to go with him, but JJ climbed into the back with the EMTs.

"Let her go." Morgan said.

The ambulance took off in a flurry of speed and lights pulsing over the snow covered ground. He started to rise, and nearly screamed at the pain in his bad knee. Morgan lifted him up as if he were a child.

"You okay." Morgan asked.

"I'm fine…"

He tried to take a step, forgetting his skates and nearly fell again. Morgan pulled him upright. "Come on kid, I'll help you."

Everyone just stood there in shock including Will who looked like his world had come to a complete stop. Hotch had Jack in his arms and the boy was big eyed and silent. Emily had taken Garcia to the edge of the pond and Rossi was near Will. He'd put an arm around him and was talking quietly as they all began to hurry to their vehicles.

They found JJ in a waiting room decorated with salmon colored walls and light blue chairs. She sat staring into space, not moving as Will hurried into her and pulled her into his arms. He stroked her hair and murmured into her ear.

"Jayje," Garcia began sitting next to her.

"Did the doctor say anything?" Emily said.

JJ wiped her hand across her eyes. She pulled the other hand through her long blond hair and found Reid's eyes. "He said that Henry's in a coma. They don't know if he'll come out of it and if he does if he'll be okay.

"Sure he's going to be okay." Emily said, but her eyes weren't so sure.

"You don't know that," JJ snapped. "You're not a doctor."

"Hey baby…" Will clasped her close, skimming his hands up and down her back. "He's alive. I have to believe that he's going to be okay."

"Temperature of the water in the pond would have induced hypothermia, which slows down metabolism, heartbeat, brain function and hypoxia." Reid began. "Even though Henry was medically dead for nearly ten minutes, the hypothermia should have prevented any severe brain injury."

JJ yanked out of Will's arms and stormed over to him. "This is your fault. I asked you to watch out for him and you let him -"

"JJ I didn't - I'm sorry I tried…"

"Shut up and get out of here. I never want to see you again."

"Jennifer," Will grabbed her before she could follow through with pushing Reid toward the door of the little waiting area.

"You leave me alone. You said it was safe for us to skate on that pond." She turned her wrath on Will. "It was supposed to be safe." Tears ran down her blotchy red face.

"JJ, I'm so sorry," Reid began.

"You hate me," she raged back at him as Will held onto her with all his strength. "You did it on purpose to punish me." She shouted.

A nurse entered the room, a frown creasing her forehead. "You'll all have to stop this or I'll have security throw you out." She hissed.

"I'll just go." Reid said.

"Wait!" Garcia pulled on his arm, but he yanked it away and hurried out of the room, his heart in his throat and tears burning his eyes.

"Reid!"

He stopped at the command in Emily's voice, but he didn't turn around to look at her. "Maybe she's right." He whispered.

"That's not true and you know it."

"Isn't it?"

"I saw you fall." She insisted. "None of us were really paying attention to the kids. We're all to blame."

"She doesn't want me here." He insisted.

"You saved Henry's life. She'll come around."

He went to the elevator and pushed the call button. "I should go." He said again.

"What if Henry wakes up. He's going to want to see you."

"He's three; he'll just want to see his mom."

The elevator doors opened. He got on turned and waved Emily away. "It's better if I go." He assured her as the doors closed.

"He'll come back." Morgan said from behind her.

"I wouldn't blame him if he didn't."

"Come on back. If he doesn't return I'll go talk to him."

She turned around and gave him a weak smile. "I thought this was going to be a carefree day. God I hate ice skating!"