Chapter 9:
AN: I'm so sorry that I have taken so long with this story, I know that I've done that a lot and I really appreciate all of your patience with this.
2 years later:
JJ sat waiting in the hospital waiting room for news on Spencer, Blake was next to her and the others were with Morgan. Spencer had been shot in the neck and it was taking everything in JJ not to have a mental breakdown right now. She wondered if this is how Reid had felt earlier this year when she had gotten kidnapped, not knowing whether the person they loved was going to be okay or not.
JJ turned when she heard the door open. As she hoped, the doctor was standing there yelling out Reid's name. JJ and Blake stood immediately and walked to him, "Are you family?" he asked as he looked at the girls.
Blake was the first to answer, "Were his coworkers, FBI." She told him getting a small nod from the man as he led them to a separate room.
"Agent Reid lost a lot of blood with the shot he took, luckily, it missed the part of his neck and throat that helps him to speak and any of the bone there. He will most likely recover completely within the next few weeks." The doctor told them.
"Can we see him?" JJ asked with a sense of relief filling every part of her as she heard the last sentence.
"They are getting him situated now so you can probably go in in a few minutes." He explained, "The nurse will let you both know when you can go in and where he is."
The girls went back to the waiting room feeling much better than they had before, for JJ the relief only lasted a few minutes as she noticed Garcia enter the room with both of her sons. JJ's eyes widened and she stood up, she hugged her boys before asking Garcia out of the room.
AJ and Henry walked over to the chairs and sat down quietly, Henry was still a little unsure of everything that was going on, but AJ was mentally freaking out as he went through statistics about what could happen to someone shot in the neck.
"AJ, are you okay?" Alex asked quietly as she moved to the seat next to him.
AJ nodded his head, "Yeah, I just… I… thoughts keep coming up of what could happen, and Spencer and I have been fighting for the last month and a half, the last thing I told him was that he wasn't my father and I hated him, those can't be the last words I say to him."
Blake looked at the boy sympathetically, she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close, "They won't be buddy, the doctors said he is going to be okay, when he wakes up you can go in there and tell him you love him."
Outside JJ was yelling, "Why did you bring them here Garcia?"
Garcia was slightly surprised by the harsh tone to JJ's voice, "I'm sorry Jayje, when the boys found out I was coming, they asked to come and I didn't have the heart to say no. Reid is basically their father, Henry calls him dad. AJ needed the reassurance that he wasn't going to lose another father."
"I understand that but it could still be dangerous, the bullet in Morgan's vest didn't come from the same gun as the one in his arm. There is another shooter out there that we still need to find and it isn't safe just yet." JJ said in a softer tone.
"I didn't know; I never would have brought them if I knew that was the case. I'm so sorry Jayje." Garcia said with regret in her voice, knowing she may have potentially put the boys in danger.
JJ sighed, regretting yelling at Garcia in the first place. She knew she had good intentions, "It's okay Pen, I know you were trying to do the best thing for the boys. Sorry I yelled." Garcia just smiled and hugged her. When the girls went back inside, the nurse was just leaving and Blake and the boys were getting up.
"He's in room 203." Alex told them, the group walked over to the room and saw Reid sleeping with a patch on his neck.
Henry looked at him with wide eyes before turning to his mother, "He's going to be okay, right?" He asked innocently.
"The doctor said he should recover fully in a few weeks, don't worry baby, daddy will be fine." JJ told her youngest pulling him into a partial hug. She turned to her oldest who was staring at Reid with glossy eyes, "Baby, he'll be okay." She told him wrapping her arm around his shoulder. AJ just nodded and continued looking at the man with regret in his eyes.
The group waited for Reid to wake up, and when he finally did he was greeted with jello and Dr. Who. Almost as soon as he was awake Hotch called and said that he needed JJ and Blake there quickly. Garcia, Henry and Reid talked for a while, while AJ remained almost silent. "I'm going to go get the boys dinner from the cafeteria, Henry do you want to come with me?" Garcia asked getting an enthusiastic nod from the five-year-old. Once the pair had left there was a few moments of awkward silence between the geniuses, Spencer didn't want to force the boy to talk.
Finally, AJ looked up from the floor, "I'm sorry Spence. I've been a jerk to you for the past two months and I shouldn't have said those things before you and mom left. I don't hate you, and you're the closest thing I've had to a dad since Will died, you're my family, I love you."
Spencer smiled and softly answered, "I love you too bud, I think of you and Henry as my sons, but it's okay if you aren't ready or okay with thinking of me as a father."
"Spence, you've been my dad for the past two years, I'm sorry I ever said you weren't, I might not be ready to call you that just yet, but I do think of you that way." AJ got up from his chair and reached over to softly hug Spencer, who embraced him easily.
As they let go, they heard the door open loudly behind them, and saw Garcia running in with her phone in one hand and Henry in the other. "Morgan, you know I don't like using guns." The boys knew it was serious because of the context and lack of nickname, she paused as Morgan responded she looked uncertain and responded with a wary, "Okay."
Once she was off the phone she started pulling the wheelchair in the corner of the room towards the bed, "The police force is corrupt, the officer who shot you is here. We need to get out of here now." Reid's eyes widened as he hurried to get into the wheelchair. Garcia started pushing him with AJ, who was carrying Henry right behind them, once they were out of the room, Garcia pulled the nearest fire alarm lever and continued pushing Reid.
After everything was settled, it seemed the police officer had disappeared. They went back to how they were, besides being more alert and aware of who was there this time. Garcia was on the phone with Morgan, who was coming to the hospital, and AJ was sitting next to her looking in Reid's bag of possessions for Spencer's phone so Spencer could call JJ. Henry was sitting on the left side of Reid telling him about his day and how fun it was to ride on the plane.
The door opened and a nurse walked in and went to put something into Reid's iv. "He had his meds an hour ago." Garcia told the nurse after hanging up with Morgan.
The nurse nodded and looked at his clip-board, "Yeah, post-op antibiotics."
"Yeah, he had those too." Garcia told him.
Reid sat up slightly and reached for the clip-board, "Which ones?" he became more confused when he read it, "Carbenicillan? No that's not right. I have a severe reaction to beta lac tams." Reid told him as he struggled to sit up farther.
The nurse shook his head, "That's not on your chart." He reached over to finish what he was doing.
Reid started to panic, "What are you doing? Garcia, he has a gun!" Reid yelled, everything happened quickly, the nurse moved to pull his gun out, and AJ, who already had his hand in the bag, pulled Reid's gun out. AJ aimed and pulled the trigger. The gun fired loudly and the nurse fell to the floor holding his hands to his stomach.
AJ's eyes widened and he dropped the gun back into the bag, "I… Is he alive" he stuttered out, the realization that he may have killed a man entering his mind. His hands were shaking and he was having trouble inhaling.
"He's alive." Reid told him while nodding his head. Morgan came running into the room with his gun raised, having heard the gunshot while he was exiting the elevator. He called in some of the nurses and doctors, while putting a cuff on one of his hands and attaching it to the gurney the nurses put him on.
"What happened?" Morgan asked.
"He tried to put meds I'm allergic to in my iv, after we gave him trouble he reached for his gun and AJ grabbed mine and shot him." Reid told him while holding the shaking boy close to him. Morgan's eyes widened when he heard that the boy had had to do that. He turned to Garcia, who was holding Henry, before he could speak his phone rang, he answered and was told he needed to meet Hotch and JJ to catch McGregor.
"I have to go, hopefully this will be the last thing we need to do and we can finally go home." Morgan told them, "Call me or Hotch if there's any more problems here." When the others agreed to do so he quickly left, knowing he had a short window of time to get this guy.
Two hours later, JJ finally made it to the hotel. She had a bruise on her face from the door and another on her arm from the officer's firm grip. When she entered the room her family didn't look much better, AJ was asleep with his arms firmly around Spencer, leaving her injured boyfriend in an awkward angle. Henry was also asleep, curled into Garcia's lap. Both Garcia and Reid were awake and talking quietly.
"Hi buttercup." Garcia greeted, causing Reid to turn his head around slightly which caused him pain and almost woke up AJ.
"Hey Honey, what happened?" Reid asked concerned and ignoring his own pain.
"I'm fine, Derek told me what happened here, are you guys okay?" JJ asked looking between Spencer and AJ.
"I'm okay, AJ was really shaken up about it though, he's been like this since it happened." Reid told her pointing to the position AJ was in.
Garcia slowly got up, holding the sleeping boy and moving him into the spot she was in. "I'm going to go to the cafeteria and get some tea, do you want anything?" she asked getting a no from both of them. The shuffling and sound in the room woke AJ up and he moved himself out of his previous position and went to sit next to his sleeping brother, he offered his mom a nod and a tight smile when she asked if he was alright.
Spencer thought about his next move for a moment, "AJ can you hand me my bag please?" he asked getting a small nod as the boy passed over the bag. "Jen, can you take a seat honey?" he asked getting a curious look from the members of the room who were awake.
After he got something from the bag that JJ couldn't see, he turned to JJ, "JJ, I have been in love with you since I took you to that Redskins game, through everything that has happened, my love has only grown. There is no other place I'd rather be than with you and your, our, family. We've been through a lot this year, and going through this so soon after your kidnapping, it's made me realize, life is something that can be taken very easily, I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side as my wife. Jennifer Jareau, will you marry me?" Spencer asked finally opening his hand to show the ring he had been carrying with him for the past month, he had been trying to find the perfect moment to ask.
"Yes." JJ rushed out with tears in her eyes, Spencer pulled her into a kiss and relished in the moment. Behind them, AJ smiled at the sight, after all the struggles and test the family had been put through, they were still there. After the recent events, they were all bent, but as long as they stuck together, they would never break.
The End
AN: Well, I guess it's over, thank you all so much for reading and commenting on this story, it means so much to me.