Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.

Hello for the second night in a row! I have a burning desire to finish this so I just keep writing way past my bedtime. Thank you, as always, for your support and encouragement. It's so good to see old "faces" (usernames) as well as new ones. I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

When Rossi woke up, the grandfather clock in the hall was chiming for the third time. He stretched, the paper he was holding fluttered to the ground, and his fingers curled around the pen.

The room was dark – Emily and Morgan must have gone to bed, Dave realized – and the final resounding gong from the clock told him it was four o'clock in the morning.

Once Rossi realized where he was, what had happened, and what time it was, a much more serious revelation occurred. He had a fever.

As soon as he'd realized that, he realized there were a million other health discomforts which were begging for his attention. His throat was dry, his head was aching, his stomach was rolling around uncomfortably, and his skin felt like it had a thousand pins stuck into it.

Knowing there was nothing to do but face it, Rossi eased himself into a standing position – vertigo, another symptom – and hobbled towards the stairs feeling like an old(er) man.

Dr. Reynolds was on the night shift and glanced toward the stairs when Rossi appeared. He must've thought Dave was here to visit one of the other agents or Jack or Henry because he simply nodded to acknowledge his presence and then returned to the book he was reading.

"Doctor?" Rossi asked and Dr. Reynolds looked up again. "I'm sick."

Dr. Reynolds frowned.

"Come lie down," he said, standing and ushering Rossi to the bed next to Reid. There were only three empty ones left now. Dave kicked off his shoes and gratefully fell onto the mattress and Dr. Reynolds laid the back of his hand on Rossi's forehead.

"You've got a fever."

He retrieved the thermometer which proudly displayed the numbers 100.6.

"What else are you feeling?"

Rossi walked through his symptoms and Dr. Reynolds conducted a few more tests but they both knew the diagnosis.

"We'll have to wait for the blood tests to confirm it," said Dr. Reynolds. "But we'll start you on the same course of treatment as your co-workers."

Thirty minutes later, Rossi was wearing the same patterned hospital gowns as Hotch, J.J., Garcia, and Reid, had been tucked into bed properly, and had an IV taped to his forearm.

"I can give you a sedative if you'd like," Dr. Reynolds offered. "Though it will mess up your natural sleep cycle given the hour."

"I'll take it."

Dave wanted to sleep – he didn't care about sleep cycles – mostly because he didn't want to face a day of boredom stuck in bed. At least this way he'd pass a minimum of eight hours.

"What time did you go to bed?" Morgan asked Will a few hours later as they sat at the island in the kitchen sipping cups of coffee and eating breakfast.

"I think it was around two o'clock," Will answered. "I'm not sure exactly. Dr. Keyes woke me up and sent me upstairs."

"How's Henry doing?" Emily asked sympathetically.

"Alright," sighed Will. "At least the doctors think he'll be okay. He's responded a little bit to one of the antiviral medications – not as much as they were hoping but it's better than not at all. I think he's more scared than anything else, sleeping in a strange place and surrounded by medical equipment."

"Does it help having J.J. down there all the time with him?"

"I'd say it makes it worse," replied Will. "J.J. is coping with this in her own way but she can't actively be taking care of Henry. The doctors won't let her."

"But try explaining that to Henry," Morgan continued, stirring a pot of yogurt with a spoon.

"Exactly," Will agreed. "He just doesn't understand. He knows mommy is sick but he doesn't like seeing her but not being able to be with her."

"I don't blame him," Emily said. "Is it alright if one of us tries to ask him about what happened in the days before he got sick? It's a long shot but we're trying to narrow down the list of possible unsubs."

"Of course," Will said. "I'll do what I can as well."

"Great," said Derek. "We'd better get a move on."

"Should we wake Rossi?" asked Emily. "He's not in the study so I'm assuming he went up to his room at some point during the night."

"Let him sleep for a few more hours," Derek answered. "He was exhausted yesterday."

Morgan led the way down to the great room and everyone was surprised – at least at first – to see Rossi in the bed next to Reid's.

"How long has he been here?" Morgan asked Dr. Keyes.

"Dr. Reynolds said he came down around four o'clock saying he wasn't feeling well. He took a sedative and will likely sleep for most of the morning."

"Is it serious?"

"Not yet," the doctor replied. "He had a low grade fever and very basic flu-like symptoms when he came down. Don't worry, Agent Morgan, we'll watch him closely."

"And how are the others?"

"They've stabilized, more or less. Today will be important in seeing if the antiviral medications are effective on this altered strain."

Morgan nodded as he glanced down the ward. It was harder than he thought it'd be seeing his team members like this. All of them had been in hospital at one point or another so the idea of vulnerability wasn't the problem. It was difficult seeing them all laid low at once, though. They'd always gotten through bad things – accidents, deaths, attacks, sickness – by supporting each other but how were they supposed to get through this when they all needed support from each other but were unable to give it?

"Agent Morgan?" Dr. Keyes asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Morgan broke away from his thoughts. "Do you mind if we visit for a few minutes?"

Dr. Keyes smiled.

"Of course not."

Will had already gone to Henry and Emily and Derek walked the length of the room together.

"Everything okay?" Prentiss asked again and Derek nodded.

"Just thinking."

They stopped at the end of the room. Will was already talking with Henry and Emily and Derek glanced at each other.

"You talk to Henry, I'll talk to Jack." Derek said.

They split ways and Emily knelt next to Henry's bed.

"Hi Henry," she said quietly.

"Hi."

"Is it okay if I ask you a couple of questions?"

Henry nodded.

"Do you remember the day before you got sick?"

Nod.

"Did you go to school?" Emily knew it was more of a nursery school than proper preschool but she kept her questions basic.

Nod.

"Can you tell me what you did at school?"

Shrug.

"Let's see," Will spoke up. "It was Tuesday, that's show and tell day. Do you remember whose turn it was?"

The little boy thought – he had the same little worry line between his eyes that J.J. also had when she was thinking hard – and then nodded.

"Becca," he said. "She brought her kazoo."

"Did she play it for you?" Emily asked.

Nod.

"Did you get to play outside?"

Nod.

"Do you remember what you had for lunch?"

A shake of the head.

"He didn't eat much," Will informed her. "Most of it came home with him."

Emily looked back at Henry.

"Do you remember why you didn't want to eat lunch? Was your tummy sore?"

"I ate a cupcake instead of my sandwich. I got in trouble."

"Cupcake?" Emily repeated, glancing at Will. He shrugged. "Was it someone's birthday?"

"No. It was in my lunchbox."

"What does your lunchbox look like?" Emily asked.

"It has Spiderman on it."

"That sounds pretty cool," continued Emily. "Does anyone else have a lunchbox with Spiderman on it?"

"Nuh-uh. James has one with Batman."

"I see. Henry, you've done really well. Thank you for letting me ask a few questions."

Henry nodded and Emily stood up.

"I'll be right back, Henry," Will said, following her until there was a little bit of space between his bed and where they were standing.

"Did you pack a cupcake in his lunchbox?"

"No."

"Do you always make his lunch?"

"Every day. J.J. and I don't let him have that kind of stuff for lunch – only as special treats."

"And do know if what he said is true – are there other Spiderman lunchboxes?"

"Not that I've seen."

"Daddy?" Henry called and Emily smiled sympathetically.

"It's alright," she said. "I'll talk to Morgan but I think we may have just made the first step in figuring out who this is."

Will nodded and returned to Henry's bed while Emily joined Derek.

"Hi Jack," she said and Jack smiled at her shyly. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay."

"Good."

"We were just talking about school," Derek filled her in. "He's telling me about the kids in his class."

Emily smiled.

"Jack, can I ask you something? It might seem like an odd question but it's really important you try to remember, okay?"

Jack nodded.

"Can you tell me what you had for lunch at school the day before you got sick? Think back to the Friday before your tummy started hurting."

Derek raised a discreet eyebrow at Emily while Jack thought and Emily held up a finger to indicate she'd tell him why she'd asked in a minute.

"A peanut-butter and jelly sandwich, some apple slices, and some chocolate pudding."

"Did you have anything to drink?"

"Chocolate milk."

Emily smiled.

"Was your pudding dessert or do you get a different treat for a snack?"

"Just pudding," Jack replied and Emily felt her excitement die slightly.

"You didn't have anything else to eat at school? Did someone have a birthday?"

"No birthday cake," Jack told her. "But I did have a cupcake for snack time."

Emily's eyes came to life and Derek knew just by looking at her that something had struck.

"Was the cupcake from your lunchbox or did someone give it to you?"

"It was in my lunchbox."

Emily repeated her questions about the lunchboxes – Jack had Captain America (what was it with little boys and superhero lunchboxes? she wondered) – and then told Jack he'd done a good job at remembering.

"Does that help?" Jack asked. "Daddy says you guys ask silly questions because the answers sometimes help you find who you're looking for."

Emily nodded.

"It does help. A lot," she added and Jack beamed.

"You should get some sleep, little man," Derek said. "And I'll come visit you later to keep reading, how's that?"

Jack nodded his approval and laid down, Morgan tucking the blankets around him.

"What's up?" he asked Emily as soon as they were out of Jack's earshot.

"Henry had a cupcake in his lunchbox the day before he got sick, too. Will said he didn't put it there."

"We need to talk to Hotch."

"He's sleeping."

"I don't care," Morgan said. "He won't care."

Emily couldn't argue against that because she knew it was true.

"I'm going to call Kevin," said Morgan. "And get his help in finding the security footage from Jack and Henry's schools. You talk to Hotch."

Morgan hurried away and Emily approached their sleeping boss. She looked over her shoulder; Dr. Keyes wasn't paying attention to them.

"Hotch," she said quietly, gently shaking his shoulder. "Hotch, wake up."

Aaron's eyes opened and he saw Emily standing over him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Is Jack okay?"

"Shh," Emily put a finger to her lips. "Jack is fine. Morgan and I have a lead but I need to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Do you normally send a cupcake in Jack's school lunch?"

"What?"

Emily couldn't blame him for being confused – it was an odd question and he'd just been woken up.

"A cupcake," she repeated patiently. "Did you pack a cupcake in his lunch the Friday before he got sick?"

"No." Hotch said. "No, never."

Emily smiled.

"That's what I needed to hear. Go back to sleep, Hotch."

Aaron's eyes slid closed even though he wanted to ask more questions – the sedative was still working a little bit – and Emily covered his shoulders with the blanket before quickly leaving the great room.

In the study, Morgan was on the phone.

"Just find out what there is and get it," he said impatiently. "And if there's nothing inside the school, get me any CCTV for the surrounding area."

Kevin must've asked what he was looking for because Morgan replied with, "Someone going into the school before lunchtime. For the nursery school, it would have been last Tuesday and the elementary school it would have been the Friday before that."

Morgan listened for a moment, thanked Kevin, and hung up.

"Hotch didn't send Jack with a cupcake," Emily told him immediately.

"Kevin said he'd do what he can to get any sort of visitor footage," Derek shared. "But it'll likely take a while given it's a Saturday."

"How is it Saturday already?" Emily asked.

"Beats me. But let's work this angle."

Emily went to the door and closed it before turning back to Morgan.

"Okay, Jack eats a cupcake for snack on Friday and gets sick on Sunday evening but Henry doesn't eat a cupcake until Tuesday at lunch and gets sick on Wednesday morning."

"That's a shorter period of time between eating a cupcake and getting sick."

"Maybe Jack was the test," Emily suggested. "And once the unsub saw how long it would take to get sick from eating a cupcake, he put more of the virus into Henry's cupcake."

Morgan nodded.

"That makes sense," he said. "Alright, Jack gets sick Sunday and Henry on Wednesday. From there, Hotch got sick Thursday afternoon, J.J. Thursday night, Garcia on Friday morning, Reid Friday afternoon, and Rossi Friday night. That's one hell of an escalation."

"But apart from Jack and Henry, no one else has eaten cupcakes. How did they get sick?"

"We know that the manipulated strain requires direct and purposeful contact which means that Hotch and everyone else were deliberately chosen to get sick."

"And if the unsub had been using Jack as a test to see how long the incubation period is, he could also have planned the order of who got sick first," Emily speculated.

"How, though? The only people that we've had contact with since Thursday have been each other and the doctors."

"We ran background checks on the doctors, everything came back clear."

"Alright," Morgan was pacing. "Let's assume the unsub, after Jack's test, wanted to make sure the incubation period was less than 24 hours. He'd know how much of the virus to use to ensure someone got sick on schedule, right?"

"Right," Emily said. "They'd probably even have the math skills to be able to account for body weight and size when administering a dose."

"None of these victims,"

"Can we not call them that, please?" Emily interrupted. "They're our friends."

"None of these attacks were random," Derek corrected. "They were perfectly timed out."

"So what does the …" Emily searched for a different word but couldn't find one. "Fine, what does the victimology pattern tell us?"

"He started with children and then targeted their parents."

"That's not true. Hotch and J.J. got sick but if the unsub is targeting parents, why didn't Will get sick as well?"

"And instead Garcia got sick."

"She took care of Henry," Emily recalled. "Will had to go to work and Garcia went to stay with him. And," she added. "She's his godmother."

"Garcia's also a member of the BAU," pointed out Morgan. "If the unsub is targeting BAU members, he wouldn't care about poisoning Will."

"That would make sense with Reid, too. He's Henry's godfather."

"Another surrogate parent who is part of the BAU," Derek mused. "But what about Rossi? He doesn't fit the pattern."

Emily frowned.

"And he got sick last …"

Emily glanced around.

"Do we have copies of the test results from Thursday and Friday?"

"We have Thursday's for sure. Those were the ones that came in during the middle of the night. I don't think Friday's blood tests are here yet – the messenger won't come until this afternoon."

"We need to see those results."

"Why? What are you thinking?"

"If we're right about the incubation period, then Thursday's test results would show that Hotch and J.J. were infected – which, of course, we already knew because they were feeling sick. But even though Garcia, Reid, and Rossi weren't showing symptoms yet, their blood would still test positive for the strain."

"If Rossi's blood test from Thursday was negative," Derek immediately saw where Emily was heading with this train of thought and continued it. "Then we know he wasn't poisoned until after the first blood sample was taken when we were placed in quarantine. I'll call Kevin and see if he can get the results of Friday's blood tests."

Morgan unclipped his phone from his belt.

"I'm going to find the ones from Thursday," Emily said, walking swiftly towards the door. She hurried downstairs.

"Excuse me," she said to Dr. Keyes. "But can I please see the lab results from Thursday's blood work?"

Dr. Keyes looked surprised but pulled the files from a drawer in the desk.

"Are you looking for something in particular?" she asked and Emily suspected the doctor had deduced they were investigating their own case.

"Can you tell me who tested positive on Thursday?"

Dr. Keyes flipped through the papers.

"Jack and Henry, of course, as well as Agents Hotchner and Jareau."

"What about Agents Reid and Garcia?"

The doctor shuffled more papers.

"Positive," she confirmed.

"And what about Agent Rossi?"

Another pause.

"Negative."

"Thank you," Emily said, turning abruptly to go back upstairs. Morgan was still on the phone when Emily returned and she waited impatiently until he hung up.

"Rossi's blood results from last night test positive," he said.

"And they were negative on Thursday." Emily told him. "Which means Rossi wasn't poisoned until after we were placed in quarantine."

"It has to be one of the doctors, Emily. There's no other way."

"But we checked them."

"We'll check them again."

They were both leaning over the computer when there was a knock on the door. Emily and Derek exchanged glances before Derek opened the door a few inches to see who it was.

Dr. Keyes was standing there.

"I have to speak with you," she said, glancing over her shoulder nervously. "Quickly."

Derek let her in and closed the door behind her. Dr. Keyes was pale and looked at Emily.

"What you were asking me downstairs, it doesn't make sense. Agent Rossi's blood results from Thursday are negative and yet he is sick now. If the strain can only be communicated through direct contact that means someone infected him in the last 24 hours."

Emily nodded.

"We know."

At that moment, Morgan's phone rang. He answered it and went to the far corner of the room while Emily continued talking with Dr. Keyes.

"I know how investigations like this work," Dr. Keyes continued fearfully. "And I promise you that I have nothing to do with it. I don't want to point fingers but you should know that I found it very strange that Pax was sent here with me. He has some medical training but he mostly works in the lab. I don't know how he convinced the CDC to assign him to this case but like I said, I found it odd."

Emily had begun writing notes on a legal pad.

"Do you know him well?"

"Not really," Dr. Keyes answered. "He's socially awkward; he doesn't come to the department parties or anything like that. We hardly ever see him … I guess now we know what he's been doing."

While Emily was writing frantically, Morgan was speaking with Kevin.

"What do you have?" Morgan asked.

"I found the footage you wanted," Kevin told him over the phone. "Both schools have a security camera in the main office and all visitors have to sign in there. The same man appears at both and the visitor logs say he's there with a birthday surprise for his nephew."

"What's the name on the log?"

"Joshua Antonov."

"And you have a visual?"

"I'm running facial recognition now to see if the name is legit but I've sent the information to your tablets."

"One second," Morgan hurried to the desk and picked up a tablet. He scrolled through the images, found the one Kevin had sent him, and found himself looking at Dr. Reynolds.

"Find everything you can on him," Morgan told the lab tech before hanging up. He held the tablet up for Emily and Dr. Keyes to see.

"Dr. Reynolds," he said. "Signing a visitor log at Jack's school last Friday. He did the same thing at Henry's school on Tuesday."

Dr. Keyes was visibly shaken.

"He did it, didn't he? He's the one who has been making all of you sick."

Morgan nodded but it was Emily who spoke.

"We need to proceed carefully," she said. "We need to collect a little bit more evidence before we can do anything about him."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Act naturally," Morgan instructed. "And I know this isn't fair to you, but we can't leave Dr. Reynolds alone with anyone."

"I won't leave the ward," promised Dr. Keyes. "I'll go back right now."

She quickly left the study and Morgan closed the door behind her again, locking it this time.

"We need to find out everything we can about him," Emily said after sharing what Dr. Keyes had told her about Dr. Reynolds.

"Kevin is already on it," Morgan said as his phone rang a second time.

"You're on speaker," he said to Kevin.

"Alright," Kevin began. "This guy has a complicated past. His full name is Joshua Paxton Antonov, born 1979. His father, Jared Antonov, was a member of the BAU but died in 1998. His mother, Claire Reynolds, died of cancer when he was three and his father remarried the following year."

"Dr. Keyes calls him Paxton," Emily interrupted. "And he must go by his mother's maiden name. That's why our initial check didn't turn up anything."

"His new step-mother," Kevin continued. "Named Sophie, had a daughter Joshua's age called Sara and Sophie and Jared had two more children, Lucy and Connor."

"What about education?"

"Up until university, his school records show a troubled but smart boy. His teachers wrote he was moody and lacked discipline. A school counsellor's report says he was bullied by Sara – Sophie's daughter – and there was suspected child abuse from his parents but never enough to warrant further investigation. Academically, though, he was brilliant. We're talking straight A's."

"What about after high school?"

"He moved away," Kevin answered. "After he graduated – he was valedictorian – he left Virginia and completed a Bachelor's of Science at Berkley on scholarship, followed by a Master's and PhD in microbiology from Stanford."

"What about a job?"

"He's worked for a handful of pharmaceutical companies, all reputable names, and two years ago started at the CDC in Atlanta."

"What does he do there?"

"He works in the lab … influenza."

Emily and Morgan exchange a glance.

"Thanks, Kevin," Morgan said. "I need one more thing."

"Anything."

"I need you to contact Erin Strauss and explain what's going on. Mobilize back-up to surround Rossi's house. I don't know how this guy plans on going out but he sure as hell isn't going to get away on my watch."

Kevin promised to take care of it and once the call was ended, Emily and Derek began piecing it all together.

"His father was a member of the BAU," Emily said. "That means he was likely gone a lot. If Sophie didn't do anything about Sara bullying Joshua, she was likely the source of the suspected child abuse."

"His dad died when he was," Morgan consulted the notes Kevin had forwarded on the tablet. "Nineteen, just before he left for university."

"That's the perfect age to get out of dodge and make a new start," Emily said. "And he flourished in his new environment. Got the degrees and had a high profile career."

"But he never let go of the resentment towards his father," Morgan concluded. "He blames the BAU for ensuring his father was never home long enough to address the bullying or the abuse."

"But why Jack and Henry?" Emily asked. "Why not just us?"

"Because he wants to make a point," answered Derek. "He wants us to see how detrimental it can be to have a parent who is away so often. He's making the parents suffer."

"But Garcia, Reid, and Rossi aren't parents."

"No, but Garcia and Reid are godparents."

"What about Rossi?"

Morgan thought and all of a sudden, like a beacon of light on a dark day, he heard Jack's voice calling out "Uncle Dave!"

"Jack calls him 'Uncle'," Morgan announced. "When Reynolds heard this, he probably assumed Rossi must be close and decided he wanted to make him share in the suffering."

"How did he poison them?"

"It had to be the needles. The vaccine we got when we arrived."

"And when he took Rossi's blood last night," Emily realized. "He likely used the opportunity to infect his last-minute victim."

Morgan nodded and glanced at his phone. There was a text from Kevin.

"Back-up is all in place," Morgan announced. "But we still need to find Reynolds's cure."

"We'll have to negotiate with him." Emily sighed. She didn't like the idea of bartering with someone who poisoned children to make a point and she especially didn't like it when her teammates and friends were relying on information only this guy knew.

"What was his trigger?" asked Morgan. "We know his motives and how he did it but why? What happened for him to decide now was the time to take action and teach the BAU a lesson?"

Emily scanned the dates.

"No significant anniversaries or anything," she commented. "But does it matter why? We know it was him."

"True," Morgan sighed. He didn't like not knowing why. "We should go check on everyone, make sure everything is alright."

Emily nodded agreement and they had just reached the door when they heard a terrified scream from the basement.

… what do you think? A lot of reviewers have started guessing correctly about Dr. Reynolds so well done! I have plans for one more chapter and maybe an epilogue to conclude this story so please review – it's highly appreciated!