All good stories must come to an end, and this one is no exception. It's funny how when I started "A Baby Changes Everything" I never realized how close to home it was going to hit. Like the characters in the story, I thought I had it all, but one little angel decided to change things up. I hope you enjoyed this series as much as I enjoyed writing it.

This story will forever be dedicated to my angels: Alii, Becky, Michaela, Tracia, and the littlest angel of all-Addyson Leia. Blood makes not a family, love does.

Song prompt: "My Girl" by The Temptations.

My Girl

A tiny cry came from the pink blanket. Pen smiled and shifted the baby in her arms. Alone in one of the antechambers, she quietly nursed her daughter.

Lifting the infant to her shoulder, Pen patted Amanda's back. A loud resounding burp filled the air.

"There you go, Precious," she greeted. "Feel better? I bet you do!" She traced a finger along the soft rosy cheek and breathed in the unique scent of new baby. "Today is your big day. We are going to baptize you along with your cousins. I hope you don't mind sharing your day, but we wanted to make it a special one."

Amanda gurgled in reply.

"Your Grandma Fran is here - along with your daddy's sisters," Pen continued. "They are coming home with us when this is over. And that means that I won't have a chance to hold you."

Amanda gurgled again.

A light knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Pen?" Reid's voice called out. Pen looked up to see the young agent standing in the doorway holding a present.

"Hi! Come on in!" she invited.

"Derek said you wanted to talk to me?" he confessed.

"I hope you don't mind. Come in and close the door."

Reid stepped in the room and closed the door. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore isn't exactly the word I want to use, but they haven't invented one to describe having your insides pulled inside out and feeling like they were dragged behind a jet plane," she chuckled.

Reid tried to think of a reply but came up short. "Oh."

"It was a joke. Have a seat." Pen gestured to the chair beside her.

Reid sat down. He placed the present on the table. "How is Amanda?" His eyes rested on the baby.

"She's fine. No permanent damage."

"Are you sure?"

"I promise. Do you want to hold her?"

Reid swallowed nervously. "Penelope…"

Pen extended the bundle toward the young agent. "Go ahead. She won't break. I promise."

Taking the baby in his arms, Reid looked down at the face of the little girl he had helped deliver. "Hi, Amanda," he spoke softly. "How are you?" Amanda grunted a response. "I'm the guy who helped your daddy bring you into the world."

"Yes, you did." Pen wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "I don't know how to pay you back."

"I did what anyone would have if they had been in my place."

"You saved her life."

Reid shook his head. "I just unwrapped the cord. Derek…"

"You coached me and helped push her out. She was stuck and the doctor said that with the cord around her neck, she could have suffocated. Derek couldn't do everything." Pen reached out and touched his hand. "You are our life saver."

"Thank you," he whispered. "I guess now I can cross 'simulated delivery' off my resume."

"I think I will leave out that part when I have to explain to Amanda how she came into the world."

Reid shifted the baby and brought her close to his face. Eye to eye, the both sized the other up as if determining their place in the scheme of things. As if she had her answer, Amanda smiled.

"She smiled at me," Reid said in awe.

"Because she knows you're good people. And she knows that you are her uncle."

Reid looked up sharply. "Pen…"

"Derek and I agreed about it and we want you to be Amanda's uncle. Not her godfather. We're like a family already and you are like a brother to me…albeit a brother who saw just a bit more of me than I would have liked." Pen blushed fiercely.

"You have brothers…" Reid contradicted.

"I had brothers," Pen corrected sadly, a note of wistfulness in her voice. "I haven't talked to them since my parents died."

"I'm sorry," Reid replied. "I didn't know."

"It was…it was shortly after my parents died. We had a falling out over something so silly - looking back it is crazy how…" Pen blinked back sudden tears and continued, "…how one little thing can change your life for the worst."

"Or the better," Reid added quietly.

Pen nodded. "Or the better. I had been on my own for years…until I came to the BAU. I found the family I should have been born into. I found the reason to stop running. And when I married Derek, I knew that everything - bad and good - had happened for a reason. Through fate or luck, I have brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews - and now I have a husband and a daughter. The only thing I don't have is a little brother."

The silence filled the room.

"I know you feel left out and with all the babies being born, godparent seems to be thrown around. JJ made you Henry's godfather and I know that you hesitated in accepting that honour. I don't know if it's because you had to share it with me, or you just weren't sure what a 'godparent' does," Pen's voice quavered.

"Are you really sure about this?" Reid asked.

"Derek and I want to pay you back, and this is the best way we know how. If - God forbid - anything were to happen to either one of us, we know that our daughter's life will be safe in your hands. And that there is nothing you wouldn't do for her."

"I've never had a real family," Reid choked out on a whisper. "I used to dream about what it would mean to have a family who cared for me and loved me and didn't judge me."

"I know."

"Who would have thought I would find that with people who didn't share my blood?"

"Blood doesn't make a family," Pen said. "Love does. And we love you. That is why if I had it in my power, I would adopt you in a New York minute."

Reid gave her a tight, amused smile. "You do have the power."

Pen's eyes snapped with mischief. "I do, don't I?"

Reid looked at the little girl he had helped bring into the world. It had been nothing he had planned. It was fate or luck that he was on the elevator that day. And now he was being given a rare gift of the one thing he had always craved: a family. A real family.

"Derek has even agreed that if you need an incentive to accept, you can teach Amanda 'Klingon' when she gets old enough," Pen added softly.

"Klingon?" Reid smiled. "How could I turn down an offer like that?" he cooed to Amanda. "I'll be happy to be your uncle."

Pen blinked back tears. "Thank you, Spencer."

Reid handed the baby back. "I think we need to go before they start without us." Leaning over, he kissed Pen's cheek. "Thank you."

A light knock on the door interrupted them. Derek stepped inside. "They are about ready to start. Are you ready?"

Pen smiled softly. "Yes we are."

Derek took the baby. "I see you told him."

"I did."

"And…?" Derek prompted.

"Amanda will be fluent in Klingon."

Derek nodded at his daughter. "Well, Amanda, you couldn't learn from a better person." Lifting his head, he looked at Reid and extended his hand. "Welcome to the family, Spencer. I'm putting my girls in your hands. Don't let me down."

Slowly the word dawned on Reid. A smile broke out across his face. He took Derek's hand and shook it.

"Thanks for having me. I won't let you down."

Standing in the silence Reid, Pen, and Derek basked in the moment of when words weren't necessary.

Not one to be left out, Amanda cooed her approval.