A/n thank you all for your wonderful reviews. And thanks to my wonderful Beta REIDFANATIC for giving me this idea in the first place. Please see the first chapter for warnings and disclaimers
Emily looked up at the television that hung over the bullpen. The clock in one corner of the screen read two thirty-seven pm. Time seemed to have slowed to a glacier crawl since she had gotten to work at nine am that morning.
She looked back down at the file Jordan had given her. A Detective Olson in New Jersey was looking for a serial arsonist that had been starting fires with propane as an accelerant. The fires were spread out all over the docks. The un-sub was leaving notes that seemed to indicate that he was part of a group like Earth Rescue that burned SUV dealerships and the like.
So far, the fires hadn't killed anyone, but they had destroyed valuable merchandise. All of the fires had been set within warehouses the un-sub had indicated in his notes to be destroying the planet.
"Emily…"
Her head whipped up at the sound of Reid's voice. He was looking at her with a clear question in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Is everything okay?" He inquired softly.
"Yes!" She replied very testily.
He didn't look insulted by the tone in her voice. Instead, he looked nonplussed and very patient with her anger. His eyebrows went up but his eyes just remained curious.
"You were tapping your fingers on the desk. Rather loudly," he added. "It was distracting."
"Really! I didn't think anything could distract you." She said sarcastically, unable to stop the words or the tone in which they left her mouth.
Reid rubbed his jaw with one hand, the way he often did when confronted with a very perplexing problem. He still looked confused and it fired the blood in her veins.
"I'm sorry if I distracted you, but I have another ten cases sitting here on my desk that I need to get through. I have a doctor's appointment at four and I'm not going to finish these files before I have to go. Excuse me if I'm a little stressed!"
"Okay…" He bent his head back over his work.
"Oh no Dr Reid. You don't get to say that and then just go back to work."
He looked up at her again, and the confusion was still in his eyes. "I'm sorry if I overstepped."
His chocolate eyes and his frown were making him look about seven years old and it made her stomach churn with guilt.
"It's not your fault. I guess I'm the one that's been thinking too hard this time."
"Can I help," He asked again, more gently than he should have.
Why didn't he get mad and tell her off for treating him like that?
"Yeah, I'd like that." She passed over the file.
He read the details in seconds and then handed it back to her. "Detective Olson needs to look at the mob."
"What?! How did you…" She shut up because it was useless to ask how he made the logical leaps he made everyday on cases.
"The pattern of the fires is very telling. The first fire was started on October 7th…"
She listened to him recite the case and pull it apart in a way that she hadn't thought about. It was like watching a magician pulling off a difficult trick, or a talented surgeon ply his scalpel with the ease of a concert pianist.
"Wow, I wouldn't have thought about it like that?"
"The fires are being set to throw off suspicion from the organized crime working in the docks. If they make it look like environmentalists are behind it, they don't have to worry about the police."
"Thanks, I guess I really am tired."
"No problem." He went back to his file while she called the Detective and gave him her recommendations to find the perpetrators.
She hung up the phone and looked over at Reid, who was back to work as though she hadn't interrupted him with her impatience. His forgiving attitude made the guilt she'd been feeling increase tenfold.
When he didn't look up at her stare, she went back to work. The pile on her desk didn't diminish with the passage of time. Soon it was three-thirty and time to leave for her appointment.
She put the files away in her desk and locked it. She was out of her chair and had taken three steps from her desk when Reid said behind her.
"I hope you feel better."
She turned back to see him looking at her and his cheeks were a bit pink.
"I'm fine, just my yearly physical."
"Oh… well, I'll see you on Monday then."
"Sure Reid, have a good weekend."
"You too Emily…" He watched her walk away and before he could stop the words he said. "Are you sure nothing's bothering you.?"
She turned back and her first impulse to tell him to mind his own business was quashed under the weight of the concern in his face.
"I really am just tired. I'm going to get this chore over with and then go home and crash."
"Okay… See you later."
She almost laughed at the little wave he gave her. Then the feeling that she'd better be careful not to just blurt out the truth before she was ready crept back into her head. He had a way of making people confide in him without thinking about it. It must have something to do with his eyes… Whatever it was, it was powerful. It was a good thing it was the weekend. Hopefully he'd forget about her and on Monday everything would be back to normal.
---
"Emily Prentiss?"
The voice of the nurse penetrated through the fog in her thoughts. She'd been staring at the same page in the same magazine she'd picked up fifteen minutes ago.
"Yeah…"
She dropped the magazine onto the coffee table in front of her. The nurse was smiling at her from the doorway that led back to her doctor's examination rooms.
"Hi Emily, How are you?"
"I'm fine Rocky… How are the kids?"
"Steve is fifteen now, and Ann is twelve."
"I can't believe it. I remember when Ann was five!"
Rocky took her into the first examination room. "I know, it doesn't seem possible."
She sat down on a small stool in front of the table that held a computer. She brought up Emily's file and began to enter in the reason for the visit while Emily sat down on the bench at one side of the room.
"I have new pictures to show you when you're done here."
"I'll come find you when I'm done." Emily promised.
"Okay, let's get your blood pressure and your temperature."
Emily submitted to having the blood pressure cuff placed around her arm and the thermometer stuck in her ear.
Rocky added 98.3 and 118 over 78 with a pulse of 68 to Emily's computer file with a nod and a smile as if Emily had performed a good trick.
"Come on; let's go get you weighed and the rest of your lab work done."
Emily let herself be led away, weighed, poked for blood, and she peed in a cup. Rocky was in the room when she came back. "Strip down and put on the gown. She'll be in with you in a minute."
She put on the gown and climbed up on the examination table. Too late she realized that the magazines were across the room. So she sat there with her legs hanging over the edge, trying to keep her mind blank of all the sudden doubts she was having.
A knock sounded on the door and a tall woman with light brown hair and ice blue eyes entered the room.
"Hey Emily… How are you?"
"I'm fine."
"You know, I only see you once a year for your physical, but I can see that something is bothering you."
"I really am fine. You know how much I hate physicals."
Dr. St. John laughed and the laughter brought warmth to the icy blue of her eyes. "If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that from a patient."
Emily laughed, "I don't suppose there are many people out there that actually like to be poked and prodded."
"No, but I'll try to make this as painless as possible."
---
Emily had finished dressing when Dr. St. John came back into the room. "Okay, I've done all the fun doctor stuff. Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"
"Why do you think something is bothering me?" Emily was looking down at her shoes instead of into her doctors eyes.
"Because you have a question in your eyes."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you'd make a great profiler?"
"No, and stop changing the subject."
"Okay, but you're going to think I'm crazy."
"Tell me !"
"I want to have a baby."
Dr. St. John raised both of her eyebrows. She sat down slowly on the stool next to the computer. "I have to admit that I wasn't expecting that."
"So you think I wouldn't be a good mother."
"No! Don't put words in my mouth Emily. I think you'd make a great mother. I'm just concerned because of your age and -"
"I know! I'm not a spring chicken anymore. But, I'm also not an old woman."
Dr. St. John put down the clipboard she'd been holding. "I don't have all your test results yet, but from what I can see you're in great health. You're strong and you have a good paying job. But, you are near forty, which means your eggs are near forty."
"Judy…"
"I'm not trying to insult you. I'm just reminding you that your eggs have a shelf life that's getting older by the minute.
"I've thought of that… It's the only thing I can think of lately. I wanted to ask you for a referral to a fertility specialist."
"Whoa, wait just a minute… I thought you'd finally found the right guy."
"I did Judy, but it's not what you think."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Can you trust me?
"I don't know if I should."
"I promise I know what I'm doing."
"Okay, I'll give you a referral to a friend of mine that's also a very good fertility specialist. If he thinks you can safely conceive, then I say congratulations."
Emily felt a certain amount of relief course through her veins. "So you're saying that artificial insemination might work for me?"
"Well I'm not an expert, but I think it will. You're in great health."
"Thanks Judy, I really appreciate it."
"Don't thank me. You might regret this."
"No I won't, I really want to have a baby Judy. I can be a great mom."
"Children need fathers too."
"I have that covered. There's a really great guy at work that I want to ask to be my designated donor. "
Dr. St John narrowed her eyes at Emily. "If he's so great, why don't you just do this the old fashioned way? There's more to being a father then providing DNA."
"I don't care for him that way Judy. He's a really good friend."
The doctor appraised her friend and decided that it wasn't a good idea to voice her opinion that Emily was already in love with this mystery man.
I hope whoever he is - he'll do this for her.
Dr. St John wrote a name and number on a pad of paper and gave it to Emily. "I hope for your sake you're right."