Disclaimer: see my profile
Warnings: see my profile and the first chapter.
Emily climbed to her feet from her position in front of the toilet. She flushed it and went to the sink. She looked at her face while washing her hands. The eyes in the mirror were bright and over-excited. It was really happening, she was sure of it, and now everything was going to change.
The nausea that had got her out of bed instead of the alarm confirmed it. Or at least it confirmed it in her mind. The thought of it being the flu, or even bad food from the night before, never crossed her mind. The procedure had worked, she was sure of it.
She went back to her bedroom and picked up her robe from the king-sized sleigh bed. She was going to go downstairs and have some coffee… No, you're going to have a glass of orange juice instead! Caffeine was not good for the tiny person that was beginning to grow inside her.
You don't know if you're pregnant, so don't get too excited.
She couldn't help it… This was her one big dream. It just had to work out. She pulled on the robe as she was going down the stairs to her kitchen. Her hands were shaking again. It was going to be hell waiting for the appointment at nine.
The next three hours were going to be very long and so would the wait for the results after the test was over. She didn't even think about what excuse she was going to give for being late this time. Hopefully Hotch would help out again. She was going to owe him big time when this was all over.
Sophie entered the kitchen and meowed loudly. "Okay… but only one treat for you. Don't beg for more because you won't be getting it."
Sophie wound around her feet and rubbed her head over Emily's calves. "Don't try to kiss up to me… It won't work."
She got the cat a treat and then put out some food for her which the cat attacked as though she hadn't been fed in weeks.
Emily had orange juice despite her eyes lingering on the coffee pot. It would smell delightful and… Don't think about it!
What am I going to do when Reid is sitting there at his desk, or at the round table in the conference room, with a cup of his usual heavily sugared coffee?
You'll take it without complaint because you want to have a healthy baby.
Still it wasn't fair that Reid's part in all of this was over and he could go on drinking his coffee and eating whatever he wanted.
She put a hand on her flat stomach. "I promise to take good care of you. I'll try not to complain about the lack of coffee again."
Sophie meowed and Emily grinned at the cat. "You're going to have to share me from now on."
The cat just looked at her. "It's your fault you know. You're the one that talked me into this."
The cat swished her tail and left the kitchen. "You'll be back!" Emily yelled after the cat. "Remember who feeds you!"
She had fresh fruit and a hard boiled egg with a piece of toast she spread with strawberry jam. It wasn't as good as some scrambled eggs and sausage would have been, but at least it was healthier. The time passed quickly and soon all her chores were done. She dressed in a dark blue pants suit with a light blue, long sleeved blouse, under the jacket. She was putting on her shoes when she noticed she had less than thirty minutes to get to the clinic.
The sun was up, but it was cold. It had snowed the night before, covering the ground like a dusting of powdered sugar. It had thawed the week before, and she could see the brown and gold grass under the snow when she pulled out of the parking lot.
The traffic was cooperating for a change and she got to the clinic with ten minutes to spare. There was a different girl on the front desk and Emily wondered what had happened to Stacey. Reid had told her about how the girl had talked his ear off every time he'd gone in for testing. Emily was surprised to realize that she was happy the girl wasn't there. The thought of her flirting with Reid made Emily's hands clench a little tight around the strap of her purse, which was weird!
She didn't have too much time to think about though, as Mai came out two minutes later and took her back to a room.
"How are you?" She asked in her soothing voice. She had on dark blue scrubs and a white lab coat that day. Her black hair was pinned up on her head and she wore white tennis shoes on her tiny feet.
"I'm fine."
"Sure you are!"
"I'm pretty nervous."
"Of course you are." She got Emily seated in a chair and put a blood pressure cuff around her arm. Emily tried to think about anything but the reason she was there while Mai took her vitals. "Your blood pressure is a little elevated."
"I'm not surprised!"
"Still, I need you to calm down." She took Emily's hand and Emily surprised herself by beginning to cry. "You know that if the test comes back negative, you can try again. This isn't the end of the line."
"I know… I guess it finally hit me that this could be real and I'm a little freaked out."
"It's okay to be freaked out. I would be concerned if you weren't a little freaked out."
"Really," Emily sniffed while the nurse stuck the thermometer in her ear.
"I've worked here for years and I've seen every reaction you can imagine."
"Okay…" Emily took a deep breath and Mai smiled.
"Now, let's get you to the lab. They'll draw your blood and you'll have the results later today. Dr. Kelly wants to talk to you too. Before we go to the lab, I have a couple of questions for you. How have you been feeling?"
"Really good… Um, I had some spotting when I woke up this morning and the doctor said that was normal."
"It could be a sign of implantation. We'll see when we get the test results back."
"Okay…"
---
Emily was opening the door to her car when her cell phone rang. She got in the car and shut the door on the cold morning before answering the line.
"Prentiss," She said.
"Emily… We've got a new case in Illinois. We're leaving in half an hour."
"I'll meet you at the plane Hotch."
"Good. How was your appointment?"
"I just finished. I had a pregnancy test and we'll know by tomorrow."
"Are you feeling up to being in the field?"
"Yes… I have to get my mind off the test Hotch. I need to work."
"I'm glad to hear it. You're a valued member of this team."
"Thanks Hotch. I'll see you at the airstrip."
---
The plane lifted off the ground and it pulled Emily's stomach into her back like always, but it was different this time. This might be her baby's first plane ride and the thought made her smile.
"Why are you so happy?" Morgan asked.
"Because the holidays are over and that means we're that much closer to spring."
Six pairs of eyes looked at her. "What? I'm serious!"
"The holidays have been over for two weeks. Why is that such a good thing?" Morgan asked.
"Can we get back to the case?" Hotch cut off his agent before Emily could think up a good excuse.
When the plane landed in Springfield, they were met by Detective Allen. Jordan introduced the profilers and they separated to drive to the police barracks in borrowed SUVs. It was lunch time when they arrived so they decided to call out for food. Hotch herded them all into the large room that had been set aside for them to work.
The food arrived after they'd gone over the details of the case. The man they were chasing this time had been kidnapping, raping and killing little girls. The average age of the children was five years old. They were dumped in vacant lots all over the city and left to rot with the overgrown weeds and trash.
"So the first victim was found downtown on the south side of the city." Reid was at the map, marking locations of the dump sites and trying to come up with a geographical profile.
"Yeah… There was a substance under the first victim's fingernails that the lab hasn't been able to identify yet. It looks like some kind of drug, but not one they've seen before," Rossi said.
"But, this is a sexually motivated crime." Emily said. "Most serial killers stay away from hard drugs. He's a meticulous planner and not impulsive. I don't see addictive behavior in the profile unless it's for the thrill of the kill."
"I agree, so let's talk about some place the un-sub and the victim has been that might lead us to him."
They went through it again while Reid stood staring at the board and ignoring them. Emily kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye even though she knew that someone might wonder why she was paying such close attention to the young genius.
It was four hours later when her phone buzzed. She took it out and looked at the caller id. It was Dr. Kelly's office. She looked at Hotch and he gave her a tiny nod. She left the conference room and went to an empty interrogation room.
Several minutes passed after she had closed her phone. Someone knocked on the door, but she didn't hear it. Her mind was spinning around so fast from the news that she almost didn't hear when someone opened the door, entered the room and closed the door behind him.
"Emily… Is everything okay?" He said.
She looked up and saw him standing there with a look of such hope in his eyes that she almost cried. "That was Dr. Kelly's office."
"Oh!"
"Yeah," She felt a bit dizzy and had to stay in her chair.
"So… um, what did he say?"
"Actually, that was Mai and she had some news for us…"