Disclamier: see my profile
Warning: see the first chapter.
A/n once again I have to thank REIDFANATIC for helping me with the medical details. Also I actually did some research on the internet for a change.
The six weeks since Reid's last appointment with the clinic had passed very quickly and very slowly at the same time. Despite Reid's explanation to Emily - that if you tell the truth to someone that thinks you're hiding something, they never believe you - she was sure that Morgan was suspicious of Reid's apparent sudden return to health.
Still, she couldn't kill him. She had over reacted to his blurting out that he was donating sperm. He hadn't said that he was donating for her. So, he got to live for now.
Now, she was at the clinic getting ready for her first try at artificial insemination courtesy of one of her best friends. If this backfired, he'd be the one that would take the brunt of Morgan's teasing. She should have thought about that little fact. She bet Reid had and it didn't seem to matter to him.
Dr. Kelly came into the room and gave her a reassuring smile. "We're going to do this the easiest way, which is intracervical insemination. I'll use a needless syringe to place the semen directly into the cervix. This most closely imitates the way semen is deposited during intercourse. You'll have to lie still for about an hour after the procedure is finished."
"Okay…"
Her heart had begun to pound the minute the doctor walked into the room and she could feel sweat collecting on her forehead. She shouldn't be so nervous. Doctors did this kind of procedures all the time. It was no big deal. Hopefully, the mild sedative the doctor gave her would kick in pretty soon, so she could believe her own bull.
Everything was in place, she was ovulating and Reid's sperm sample has been unfrozen and washed to prevent cramping. The doctor had told her of certain chemicals that had been added to the sample to ensure the highest concentration.
"Just relax… It'll be over soon." Mai had come into the room and was holding her hand.
The serene face of the nurse and the smile of the doctor calmed her nerves so that when it was all over, she was a bit surprised. The pain had been minimal and she didn't feel any different after Dr. Kelly was finished.
"Alright, now just lie still till Mai comes back in." He patted her hand. "I think we have a great chance with you. You and your designated donor are in great physical shape and there are no diseases in the sample to be worried about. I'm going to monitor you very closely and barring a multiple birth which would have a greater chance of complications, I'd say you could be a mother by next October."
"Thank you Dr. Kelly."
He left the room and Emily began to cry the tears that had been threatening since that morning. Her long held, and most cherished dream, might be coming true after years of waiting and wondering if it would ever happen.
---
"Hey Reid… Where's Emily?" Morgan had come back from Garcia's office where he'd been pestering her for some results on a search she was running for him.
"I don't know Morgan. I'm not her keeper." He kept his eyes on his file and his head down.
"I didn't say you were. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your mysterious disease skipped over to her."
Reid choked on his coffee just as Jordan entered the bullpen with a stack of files in her hands. "You okay Reid?"
"Yeah… I swallowed wrong. The coffee's still a little too hot."
"I asked him where Emily is." Morgan went on relentlessly.
"Why would Reid know where Emily is?" Jordan asked genuinely perplexed.
Reid wanted to jump up and hug her, but that would really make Morgan suspicious, so he went back to his case file and hoped his face wasn't red.
"Because first he's sick and then she goes to the doctor. They sit next to each other so I wondered if wonder boy here has something contagious."
Reid dropped his pen on the floor where it clattered noisily on the hard plastic under his chair. He ducked under to grab it and tried not to feel the heat that was collecting in his face.
"I don't have anything contagious Morgan." He said, popping back up from under his desk. "The FBI would hardly let me back into work if I were carrying an infectious disease. It's winter time and flu season. I'll bet Emily didn't get her flu shot. Did you know that if you don't get a flu shot in the fall, you're seven times more likely to get the flu? Also, I read this article last week, that some researchers have cured the flu forever in mice. I don't know when they'll do human trials but -"
"Alright Reid, enough about mice and the flu," Jordan said, trying not to smirk at how he could ramble on and on about the strangest things. "This is for you and it's urgent."
She dropped another file on his desk. "Detective Montoya in St. George Utah has a very active fire bug on his hands. Three homes and a couple of businesses have been destroyed. No one has been killed, but he's begging for help to catch the guy before he hurts someone."
"Okay… I'll move it to the top of my stack."
He took the file and buried his head in it. Emily wasn't coming back after her appointment as the doctor ordered her to take a couple of days off. So he needed something to take his mind off the fact that at this moment, gamete could be meeting zygote to form a little person with her eyes and hair. Hopefully the baby looked like her with her classic beauty. He'd be happy if the child were a carbon copy of her.
His hands had started shaking, but at least Morgan had backed off now that Jordan was telling him about the rapist in Miami that he needed to help the police with before there was another victim. He'd try to remember to thank her somehow for distracting his friend.
He kept his fingers crossed that Emily would get pregnant the first time around so that he didn't have to go through this with Morgan again in a couple of months.
Wait! Did you just admit that you hope a woman you know gets pregnant? Did you forget the mood swings, cravings, morning sickness and every other pregnancy side effect that drove you all nuts with JJ?
This was different though.
Really! How is it different?
He told that voice to shut up and went back to work. If he completely concentrated on his work, the time would pass faster. It was Thursday and Hotch had promised him that they would be off the on call list until Monday.
When he finally finished his stack at six pm he was alone in the bullpen. Everyone else had left and they all had dates or something else important to do. He got to go home and wait for Emily to call him and tell him everything was okay.
---
Emily unlocked the door to her brownstone and dropped her bag on the entry table. The mild sedative Dr. Kelly had given her to relax her for the procedure had necessitated that she take a cab to and from the doctor. She dropped down on the couch and sat there staring out at the view of the Jefferson Memorial outside her window.
Sophie jumped up on the couch next to her and sniffed her over thoroughly before climbing into her lap. She swished her tail and meowed.
"I'm too tired to move Sophie."
The cat meowed, sounding a bit put out that her treats weren't forthcoming any time soon. Emily petted her along the base of her tail and the cat began to purr.
"Sorry, I just need to sit here for a minute. Then I'll have to get up and make something to eat for both of us."
Sophie purred and swished her tail.
Emily's eyes were closing when someone knocked at the door. It was a tentative knock that she recognized. She'd heard it many times on hotel doors when they were out in the field and Hotch sent him to pick her up in the mornings.
She lifted Sophie off her lap and the cat hissed up at her. "Sorry Sophie… I gotta answer the door."
The cat followed her to the door and meowed loudly at Reid when Emily opened it. "What's wrong Reid? Do we have a case?"
"No… Um, I wanted to see h-how you are." His voice squeaked and Sophie eyed him with deep mistrust.
"I'm fine, just a little tired."
"Is it… um is it okay if I come in?"
"Oh yeah… I'm sorry Reid. I'm just really tired," but she stepped back to let him in.
She went back to the couch, dragging with every step, and sat back down on the big sectional couch that was covered in dark blue fabric. She stretched out and he sat down a little way from where her head rested on the cushions.
He jumped in surprise when Sophie jumped up on the couch next to him and began to sniff him. She put a paw on his knee and meowed loudly.
"She wants a treat. I usually give her one when I come home, but I'm too tired today."
"Where're the treats?"
"You don't have to do that."
"Where're the treats?" He repeated more firmly.
"In the pantry in the kitchen," She gave in and told him.
He went around to the kitchen. Her eyes began to close, and she was drifting down, and around, as though she'd sunk down into a warm pool of water.
It seemed like an hour had gone by when she opened her eyes to more energy. Reid was sitting at the other end of the couch with one of her books in his hands. Her traitorous cat was sitting in his lap, purring so loudly it was as though a tiny lawn mower had taken up residence in the room.
She sat up and he looked over at her. "She only loves you for the treats you gave her." She informed him.
"Really," He squeaked
"Yeah, she's kind of fickle, but I love her."
The cat eyed her owner and meowed loudly.
"See… She's a smart aleck."
Reid put down the book and began to pet the cat. "I guess this is the end of the Reid effect," He said hopefully.
"Could be…" She captured his eyes and he went pink in the cheeks. "So why are you here Reid?"
"I just wanted to see how you're doing!" Sophie jumped off his lap and padded over to Emily.
"I'm fine… just a little tired and hungry. The doctor said that everything went like clock work. He said that it was very likely we'd have a baby by next October."
The wide smile that crossed his face was all the reward she wanted. He was willing to go through everything for him including suffering all kinds of humiliation and teasing.
"Thank you Reid… You don't know how much this means to me."
"You don't have to thank me. I'm happy if you're happy."
Her heart gave a little leap at the way he was looking at her. She forced it down and asked him about the book he was reading. They talked for a minute about "Taming of the Shrew," which was her favorite Shakespearean play.
"I never thought you'd go for that play," Reid observed.
"Why," She asked, feeling sort of fuzzy and happy just to have Reid there.
"Well, the play is full of misogynistic characters. Look at how Katherine's father and Petruchio treat her. She's a prize to be won and tamed. You're a modern woman of the world, that carries a gun. You just had artificial insemination. What would the Bard say about that?"
Emily thought for a minute. "I think he wouldn't believe it. Still, the story is a bit misogynistic, but I like the fight Kate puts up through that whole story. And, you get left with the feeling at the end that she really didn't give in and become the put upon female. I think she just made them all think she was. I think her husband went along with that deception because he loved her. "
"I don't know about that," Reid said. "You could be right."
"So why are you still here Reid?"
"I ordered some Greek food for us. It should be here in a few minutes."
Emily's stomach rumbled at the thought of roasted lamb from "The Starving Greek," down the street from her place.
"Thanks, but you didn't have to do that."
"Sure I did!"
"Reid!"
"I know I promised to stay away, but I just needed to be here and make sure you're okay. You've always watched out for me and I wanted to do the same for you."
"Thanks, I'm kind of glad you're here. I'm too tired to cook."
"I thought you would be."
He looked very proud of himself and she didn't have the heart to tell him to leave. It might be fun to have someone to eat with for a change. It got old coming home to this empty place day after day.
"Did anything interesting happen at work?" She asked him.
"Morgan thinks you caught a disease from me."
"I trust you set him straight."
"Yeah, if it wasn't for Jordan coming in with a couple of really interesting cases…"
"He's going to be a problem."
"I know… What are we going to do?"
"I'm not going to think about it till Monday." Emily said.
"But -"
"There are more important things to worry about than Morgan."
"Like what?"
"Like what I'm going to tell my mother," Emily said.