Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds but reading a lot of these stories, I've come to know a few.
A/N: Thanks to all who continue to read and review.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reid stared down at his long fingers cradling the tiny, red, wiggling new life. Tears welled up in his eyes and he was amazed that he could be so overcome with emotion, watching this wee person take the very first breath of life. This suddenly seemed like the most important thing he'd ever done. For some reason, he found himself thinking of an old nightmare he used to have about a baby that needed his help. In the dream he was always unable to get to it before it was hurt. Was this that baby? Had he finally gotten to it!
He glanced at his watch to note the time of birth for the authorities when they asked. Time of birth. In his job, he was always concerned with the time and cause of death. Time of birth. He could think of nothing more awesome than that!
"Spencer!" Chantal was screaming. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, no, I'm sorry Chantal," he cleaned off the newborn as well as he could and wrapped a towel around the babe so that only its little head topped with a thin layer of light hair, was visible. The long cord still protruded as he reached up to the new mother. "Here you go, you have a baby boy. Congratulations Chantal!" He gently laid Chantal's tiny son on her chest.
"Oh my God," the tears flowed down her cheeks. "Look at him Allie, he's so beautiful."
"He is that," Allie softly caressed the baby's cheek. "Welcome to the world, little guy."
Reid looked at the two women who had begun the evening dressed to look their loveliest. Chantal's periwinkle dress was totally unsalvageable, he thought, her hair that had been falling from its stylish up do was now plastered to her head, soaked from the exertion of her labor. Splotches of black smeared her face as her running makeup had been only partially wiped away by Allie's ministrations. Allie's hair was now drooping and wisps stood out all over her head. Her makeup was also smeared on her face. The stunning red dress was hiked up to her hips to allow her to kneel beside her friend, her fashionable shoes long ago discarded. At the start of the evening, he would not have thought these two women could look more beautiful. He'd have been wrong.
Allie looked up to see Spencer watching them, his eyes glistening with tears. He turned away quickly and started cutting a piece off his shoelace with scissors from the first aid kit. "Spencer, what are you doing?"
"I have to tie off the cord. I don't have anything so I have to improvise." He took some antiseptic hand solution from the first aid kit, soaked the shoelace, then tied the cord about four inches from the baby. They suddenly heard the sweet sound of a siren and Reid left the room to meet the paramedics.
Allie was watching Chantal and the baby as they cuddled. Chantal said quietly, "That's quite the guy you got there my friend."
"Chantal, you don't know the half of it."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They arrived at Lancaster General on the heels of the ambulance carrying Chantal and her son. Allie had called Mark while Reid had called Hotch. Reid had also made sure Allie called her mother. The paramedics had completed the delivery and prepared Chantal for transfer, commending Reid on his handling of the delivery.
They were in the maternity waiting room when a rather harried Mark arrived with Karen and Craig. "Is she okay, is Chantal okay?"
"She's fine Mark," Allie assured him.
"What about the baby? Is the baby okay?"
"As far as we know, he's fine. He might be a little tiny but he didn't appear to be having any problems," Allie relayed.
"What's taking so long?" The new father paced the waiting room. "Why can't I see her?"
"Mark, settle down buddy. They'll let you see her as soon as it's safe for her." Craig tried to calm his friend.
"I'm sure the doctor will be out soon. They have to check Chantal over, you know, do vital signs and things and they have to weigh and measure your son and do apgar tests. It all takes time," Reid stated.
"Well thank you Mr. genius FBI man. Chantal wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for you so spare me the lesson." Mark looked at Reid with disdain.
Reid looked down at his shoes and sighed, "Allie, I think I'll go to the police station and see how they're doing with Daryl. You can probably get a ride back to the hotel with Craig and Karen and if not, call me and I'll pick you up. He kissed Allie, nodded at the others and left.
Allie turned to Mark. "Alright Mark," she said in a tone that would brook no argument. "Park your butt on that couch, now, and listen carefully, you and I are going to have a little talk."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The LPD was buzzing with activity. Never before had something this big hit the city. They had in their custody, a man responsible for seven murders, a local no less. The early CBS news van was now being eclipsed by CNN and other news networks especially when they found out the man at the center of the story was none other than Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, the man who had brought down the presidential hopeful in Washington a while back.
Reid drove up to the entrance, taking in the news vans, and heaved a heavy sigh. "Not again!" He'd had enough of that. He just wanted to do his job. He called to one of the uniformed officers at the entrance and identified himself.
"Oh sure," the officer said, "We all know who you are sir."
"I'm trying to avoid our friends from the fourth estate, so I'd like to dash into the building, if you would be so kind as to park my vehicle for me."
"Oh definitely, Dr. Reid, no problem sir." The young officer appeared awestruck to be in the presence of an FBI agent.
Reid exited the vehicle and ran into the police station before the hounds could catch him and allowed himself an ever so small grin of triumph. He headed for the interview room. He was sure that's where they'd have Daryl Kullman.
He found Hotch, Rossi, Morgan and Prentiss in the observation area watching Kullman who was alone in the interview room. No one mentioned anything about him delivering Chantal's baby so Reid assumed Hotch had kept that piece of information to himself. They asked after Allie and he told them she was okay. "Where's JJ, working on a press conference," he asked.
"Yeah," Emily replied, "There's a hoard of them out there."
"So I noticed," Reid turned to look at the man in the room. "He said anything?"
"No," Rossi informed him, "He's waiting on his attorney. His former lawyer withdrew due to the fact he thought he could no longer zealously represent his client."
Reid nodded sadly; this would be a nasty pill for Lloyd Graham to swallow. He hoped Allie's mother was not still blaming him. He respected Mr. Graham; he'd only been doing his job. He felt that respect was mutual. As the team watched, a man strode confidently into the interview room dressed in a black pinstripe Armani that fit his form to perfection. He had a head of wavy jet black hair, that Reid suspected came from a bottle, deep blue eyes and chiseled features. From under the cuff of his shirt, a very expensive timepiece could be seen, likely Swiss, Reid thought, and he carried a briefcase made from the finest in Italian leather. The look screamed money and power.
"The new lawyer," Rossi stated, "Not from around here, I'd bet.
"No," Hotch agreed, "Probably a hired gun who came for the high profile press coverage."
"I think this stinks," Morgan paced the room.
The man talked to Daryl Kullman for a while then came to the two way mirror and knocked. "I guess we're up," Hotch said, "Let's go Reid."
"You want me to do the interrogation with you, shouldn't you take David or Morgan, they've both got more experience than I have."
Hotch gave his usual stern look, "You seem to know how to get to this guy. Anyway, this has been your case from the very beginning.
Reid followed Hotch to the interview room whispering under his breath, "Here goes nothing."