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Warning: See my profile and the first chapter.
Emily poured her first cup of hot coffee from the freshly brewed pot in the break room. The taste of the sweetened concoction wouldn't do much for the weariness that felt as though it had settled into her very bones. Instead, it would remind her of the one person she wanted to see more than anything.
The weekend had passed so slowly, that by the time she'd dropped into her bed the night before, she was about crazy with boredom and worry. The only thing she'd been able to think about was the choices she'd made and the possibility that she'd alienated a friend. The stress of all of it had been exhausting.
Two questions kept trading places in her mind over the last day and a half. What if he said no or what if he said yes? The answer to either question would change her life.
She took a sip of her coffee and burnt her tongue. "Damn it!"
"Hey Prentiss!" Morgan had come up behind her and she jumped, almost spilling the hot beverage all over her blouse.
"Why are you sneaking up on me?"
His easy grin and twinkling eyes irritated her. He had no right to be this cheerful on a Monday morning when it was lightly raining outside.
"I'm not sneaking up on you. I called out to you three times. It's not my fault that you were a million miles away. What's got you thinking so hard?"
He'd taken what she liked to call his 'you can confide in me,' stance. He leaned back against the edge of the countertop and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were serious and his tone changed to 'you can trust me,' mode.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Are you sure?" Your eyes have darker circles under them, than Reid."
Her hand tightened around the handle of her cup, but she kept her eyes on Morgan.
Can't let him see, or he'll pester you till you give in.
"No one has darker circles under their eyes than Reid." She joked.
Morgan narrowed his eyes at her. "You wouldn't be -"
He was interrupted by JJ, Garcia, and Reid entering the bullpen at the same time. Garcia was holding baby Henry in her arms. JJ pushed the baby carriage and carried on an animated conversation with her friends. Reid looked like he wanted to run away far and fast.
"Come on Morgan, JJ's here for a visit," She informed him unnecessarily.
She left the break room and the eyes of another man that saw way too much. Garcia was cuddling Henry who was dead to the world.
"He's so cute…" She was saying in a voice three octaves higher than her normal tone.
"He's cute now, but wait till he wakes up! He's not a happy boy after naps." JJ informed them.
Morgan had come up behind Garcia and was looking at little Henry with the twinkle back in his eyes. The little boy could always make him smile, which made Emily want to tease him on a normal day. Today she was happy for the distraction from her.
"I've got to go up to HR for a few minutes. Can you guys watch Henry for me?"
"Of course, his god parents will take good care of him. Won't we Reid?" Garcia said, handing the sleeping baby to Reid, who tried to protest, but it fell on deaf ears.
"There's a bottle in the bag if he gets cranky." JJ said and left Reid with the two month old baby.
"So Reid, when are you going to have one of those?" Morgan said and laughed as Reid went white as a sheet.
Emily longed to go over and pour Morgan's cup of coffee over his head, or better yet, pull her gun out and…
"Garcia, you should take him." Reid said, interrupting her attractive train of thought.
"No, he needs quality time with his godfather and I need to get to work on that case you put on my desk."
"But -"
"No way Dr. Reid. You're the one that said you absolutely needed a background on this guy."
"But -"
Garcia left them all standing there. Emily saw Reid's eye's dart to her and she shook her head. She couldn't help but grin. He looked good holding the baby. Maybe everything would be okay.
Of course, when you think everything will be alright, it has a way of going right down into the toilet. Henry abruptly woke up and began to scream.
"Jesus…" Morgan said
"Morgan!"
"Sorry, but the kid's got a pair of lungs. What are you doing to him?"
"I'm not doing anything to him." Reid said frantically.
He tried rocking the baby, but Henry was pissed. His face was screwed up and going so red that Emily was getting a little concerned that he might burst something important.
"Help me…" He hissed at Emily who shook her head.
Yeah, you two are ready to be parents.
She told the voice of reasonto go to hell as Reid tried everything to get the baby to stop crying. Several agents that had come in were beginning to glare at them.
"What the hell is going on?" Rossi had come out of his office.
"I didn't do anything." The squeak in Reid's voice matched Henry's squeals.
Emily was about to take Henry from Reid when JJ came back into the bullpen. She smirked at Reid and seemed completely at ease with the screaming baby. She took the boy from Reid and Henry quit crying so abruptly that the resulting silence made Emily's ears ring. It was like a plug has been pulled on the baby.
"How did you do that?" Reid asked and he was not happy.
"He recognized my scent." JJ said as she pulled a bottle out of the diaper bag. "He's just a little hungry. Aren't you little man?"
Reid was still glaring at JJ who looked very serene. Morgan was laughing and Emily was sitting at her desk watching Reid like a hawk. He didn't look like he was going to say yes to her question now that Henry had scared the hell out of him.
Damn JJ for coming in here in the first place.
Then she kicked herself for thinking that. JJ was a good friend and Emily loved little Henry. Babies got cranky sometimes. If she was going to be a mother, she'd better realize it and learn to live with it. She was going to tell Reid the same thing if he tried to use this experience as an excuse to say no.
JJ and Henry finally left and then it was time for their briefing with Hotch and Jordan, who'd been barricaded in JJ's office talking to Detective Barry in North Carolina.
It looked like they had another serial killer to hunt down. It was going to be a long day with no time to talk to Reid.
---
Emily put her ready bag down on the bed in the motel room she'd been assigned by Jordan. The bedspread was white with huge purple and gold flowers on it. It was ugly and clashed with the orange shag carpet. The headboard was scratched up and the lamp beside the bed had a pink shade shaped like a ladies hat from the last century.
The television on the other hand was brand new and a flat screen. The priorities of motels always baffled her. There was a listing for the television and at the top of the list was all the available porn. She couldn't believe they were stuck there for the night. At least the heat worked and it was comfortably warm.
The dresser that stood to the left of the television had a bunch of tired looking flowers in a vase on top of it. There was a painting of an ocean scape on the wall that was very well done. It was a night scene and the water seemed to glisten in the moonlight that was a shadow over the cresting waves.
She turned to hang up her black jacket and jumped when someone knocked hard on the door. Please don't let it be Hotch telling us we have to go out.
They needed to catch the man killing women in Raleigh. There had already been five women slaughtered. She shouldn't resent her job, but right now she hated that it kept her from talking to Reid.
She opened the door, ready to growl at the boss, or Jordan, and was surprised to see Reid standing there. He looked like she felt. His tie had been discarded and his brown corduroy jacket was gone. His white shirt made him look even more pale than normal.
"Hi Reid…"
"Hi Emily. Can I come in for a minute?"
"Sure…"
He ducked past her into the room and took one of the chairs that sat around the table in one corner of the room. He looked at the wall instead of in her eyes and her heart sank. He was going to say no. She could feel it in her heart, and it hurt. Her hands began to tremble and her legs started to shake so that she had to sit down on the edge of the bed.
"Emily?"
"What?"
"Yes!"
Tears had been collecting in her eyes. Her heart was pounding so hard that it hurt her chest and made her lightheaded. In fact, what he'd just said was drowned out by the sound of rushing blood in her ears.
"Did you hear what I said?"
He didn't raise his voice. Still, something in the tone got through the surety in her head and heart that he was going to say no.
"W-what?"
"I said yes Emily."
"R-really," Relief was such a huge thing that it threatened to drag her under it's spell and drown her in its expectations.
"Yes…"
Then she was out of her chair and hugging him so hard that he had to push her away. "Geez Emily, you almost broke my ribs."
"Sorry," but nothing could ruin the moment.
Tears had started again, but they were the happiest tears she'd ever cried. She could see through the shimmer of them how Reid was looking at her. It was like he expected a bomb to go off at any minute.
"Thank you Reid. I know this wasn't an easy decision for you."
"I have a condition." He said and her heart sank.
"Okay." Her voice began to tremble.
"I know that this is going to sound crazy coming from me." He got up to pace the small space between the bed and the dresser. "I always said that if I ever had a child, I would devote my life to him or her. I wanted to be a part of their lives always. But I realized today that I can't take care of a child. I'll be a donor for you, but that's where it ends. I'll help out financially of course, but this doesn't mean that I want to get married or play dad."
He looked at her like he expected her to be angry. All she could feel was a sense of huge relief. "I was going to make that my only condition." She said.
"Really!"
"Yeah… It's not that I don't think you could be a good father. It's that I don't want to completely change your life. Besides, I think it would be confusing for him or her to have a dad that doesn't live with mommy. I don't want him or her to think that their parents might get married one day. I don't want to put that burden on a child."
"I hope I can play 'uncle' and see him and her on a regular basis. I can't stay completely out of their life. I don't want to be like my dad." He repeated.
"You're not going to be like your dad. You'll always be there for this child even if it's not in the traditional way."
"Then we're agreed. We'll be good friends and be the best parents a child can have."
She stuck out her hand and he took it. "Yeah, good friends and good parents."