Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

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"My father," Allie heard Spencer say as he sat bolt upright. "Has something happened?" He listened for a few moments. "He's where? What hospital?" Allie jumped up and grabbed a pad and pen for him. Spencer wrote as the warden spoke. "Yes I will, thank you warden," Spencer said as he ended the call.

"What?" Allie said. "Did something happen to your Dad? Did somebody…"

"He had a heart attack," Spencer told her. "He's in a hospital in Kansas City. His doctor's a guy named Noah Hood. I should phone him and find out what's going on," he said as he started to put on his clothes.

Allie redressed as well and listened as Spencer dialed the number the warden had given him. She heard him ask for Dr. Noah Hood. When the man came on the line Spencer said, "This is Spencer Reid calling from McLean, Virginia, you're looking after my father, William Reid. Can you update me on his condition?"

Spencer listened as the doctor outlined William's condition. "What were his cardiac enzymes?" he asked, listening intently to the doctor's response. "What did the EKG show?" He listened some more. "I see, so when will you be doing surgery?" The doctor spoke again. "Okay, thank you Dr. Hood. Please call if there's any change." He gave the doctor his number, ended the call and turned to Allie.

"He had a moderate to severe myocardial infarction. Dr. Hood did an angiogram and said two of the arteries that supply the heart are seventy-five percent blocked. He's got to have cardiac bypass surgery, probably tomorrow or the next day, depending on his condition and their ability to fit him in." He finished dressing and grabbed his keys to the SUV. "I have to go tell Evan. He's going to want to go to Kansas City. I'll have to go with him." He reached the top of the stairs, "I'm sorry about this," he said as he kissed her. "I'll call you after I talk to Evan."

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Evan answered the door shortly after Reid rang the bell. "What are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you big brother, but shouldn't you be home with Allie on her birthday."

He wouldn't be big brother for much longer, Reid thought, as Evan was now just a few inches shorter than he was. "I have to talk to you," he said. "It's about Dad."

The smile on Evan's face vanished instantly. "What, what about Dad? Did something happen to him?"

"Let's sit down," Reid said as he came into the house.

Evan followed Reid until he sat down on the couch. "What happened to Dad," he asked again. "Did somebody hurt him? Was there an accident? Is he alright?"

"Evan, if you would hold on and let me tell you," Reid paused for a moment. "Dad had a heart attack. He's in a hospital in Kansas City. He has to have coronary bypass surgery."

"We have to go see him Spencer and make sure he's okay,"

Reid nodded, "Yeah, I figured you'd want to go. Okay, I'll try to get a flight for tomorrow morning."

"He's going to be okay, isn't he? He's not going to die, is he?"

Reid relayed his talk with the warden who'd informed him that William had collapsed at the textile factory. The guards had quickly performed CPR and got his heart pumping again. "The doctor in Kansas City is keeping a close watch on his cardiac markers. An EKG revealed a heart attack and an angiogram revealed the blockage in the arteries, hence the need for the bypass surgery."

"Is it dangerous?" Evan's voice caught, "Could Dad die?"

"All surgery is risky Evan but it's more risky not to do it. If they don't there's a strong possibility he'll have another heart attack and might not be so lucky the next time." Evan nodded his understanding. "Where's Janice?" Reid asked.

"She had a date." Evan hung his head slightly.

"What," Reid asked, "you don't like this guy?"

"Yeah," Evan said tentatively, "I like him okay."

"Then why do you sound like that?" he asked his brother.

"Because she's dating Principal Senoff. Do you know what it's like with the other kids when your Mom's dating the principal?"

Reid had to admit to himself that he didn't know what it was like but he felt he had a pretty good idea. Evan would be on the receiving end of a lot of teasing, some of it probably not in good fun and he definitely knew what that was like. "The kids giving you a hard time?"

"Some of them," Evan admitted, "and we're not even in school now. Wait until we go back in the fall. I'm sure it will be ten times worse."

"So, how did your Mom hook up with the principal?" Reid was curious.

"Mom went to parent/teacher interviews at my school," Evan began, "and my history teacher, Mrs. Nevin, was sick that day so Jake sat in for her." Reid raised his eyebrows at Evan's use of the principal's Christian name. "Oh yeah, when he comes to pick her up one night, I called him Principal Senoff and he says when we're out of school I should call him Jake. How weird is that? Anyway Mom's at the parent/teacher thing and she mentions she works at the Library of Congress and they get into this huge discussion for about an hour about books. Then one night he calls her and the rest is history, and not the kind Mrs. Nevin teaches," he added.

Reid had to smirk at his brother's predicament. He wouldn't want to be in his shoes. At least it had cut the tension in the room a little. "You should call your Mom and let her know what's going on. Then I think you should pack and come and stay at our place. It'll save time in the morning."

Evan picked up the cordless phone and explained the situation to his mother who insisted on talking to Spencer. He assured Janice there was no need for her to come home. Evan was just going to pack a bag and come to McLean with him. He promised to keep Janice up to date on his father's condition. Reid hung up and Evan went to pack his bag.

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Reid and Evan arrived at the house to find Allie putting Joanna down for the night. Reid looked confused. "I thought Joanna was staying at Emily's"

"That was the plan but then with what happened to your dad, we want to be ready to go early in the morning. The flight's at 8:15am," she told him.

"Hang on a minute, what do you mean, we?"

"Joanna and I are going with you," she informed him.

"Oh no, no you're not. The hospital is not the place for Joanna," Spencer protested.

"Look honey, your dad just had a heart attack. That's a serious thing. He's never seen Joanna or me for that matter. I know you don't want her to visit him in prison so this is a much better option." Spencer opened his mouth to reply but Allie raised her hand to stop him. "And, seeing Joanna might lift his spirits. He was already down because Chico was released; now with the heart attack, it must be even worse. You know as well as I do, probably better, that an optimistic outlook can work as well as medication for a patient's recovery."

"Are you done?" Spencer asked when his wife had finally quit speaking.

"Yeah, are you?" Her look challenged him to disagree with her.

"Yeah," he conceded. "Okay we've got to get to work, booking flights and hotel rooms."

"Done," Allie replied.

"What do you mean, done?"

"When I went to pick up Joanna I told the girls what had happened and they went to work. Garcia went on line and booked flights for the four of us and a rental car when we get to Kansas City. JJ got us adjoining rooms in a hotel only a half mile from Midwest Medical Centre and Emily called Hotch and apprised him of the situation and you're now on family leave." Reid opened his mouth to speak but Allie carried on. "I pulled out your ready bag and topped it up and now I'm just getting things ready for Joanna and me and we're good to go."

Reid's mouth gaped open and Evan snickered, "Face it big brother, you have totally lost control of this whole situation." He winked at his sister-in -law, "If you ever had it in the first place."