Disclaimer: see my porfiles

Warning: see my profile and the first chapter

A/n thank you all for your support of this story... I appreciate all the feedback. This might be the last chapter for awhile. I managed to sprain my right wrist today and have a brace on it which makes for akward typing. Also I have tennis elbow from too much use of the mouse so I have to rearrange it here at home and at work. Anyway... the good news is that I didn't sprain the hand I write with so I'll attempt to keep up in long hand and then transfer it to the computer. Thanks in advance for your understanding. I'll try to update as soon as I can.

"Pay attention you two. Here comes the baby." Dr. Kelly said.

He sat up and adjusted the screen and the computer that was recording the readings from the ultrasound.

"Now… It's still a bit too early to determine the sex of the baby."

Reid looked down at Emily, but she was engrossed in the images that were appearing on the screen. They hadn't talked about whether they wanted to know the sex of the baby.

Do I want to know?

His heart was beating strangely as he looked back up at the screen. Emily had been through this before, but he'd never seen a fetal ultrasound except on television.

This is so much better than television.

"We haven't talked about finding out the sex of the baby." Emily was saying.

She looked away from the screen up to Reid and he could see the answer in her eyes.

"Everything looks good. The baby is developing normally and I can confirm the due date of October 15th..

Normally, when the pregnancy isn't high risk, we wait to do an ultrasound at twenty weeks when you can see the sex of the baby. So, in four weeks, we'll do another ultrasound and you can tell me then if you'd like to know."

He tapped some keys on the computer and began pointing out the most prominent feature of the tiny baby that grew in a warm safe place.

"I don't see any problems with the uterus or the ovaries. The baby is implanted as is should be and if you look here you can see that string of pearls which is the spinal column of the baby."

Reid felt a burning at the back of his throat and tasted the salt of suppressed tears. Why hadn't anyone told him that this was the way he would feel seeing his baby for the first time. The doctor was pointing out the tiny feet and hands that were developing, and the sight made him hitch in his breath. Tears wouldn't be held back as it felt like his heart was going to burst from happiness.

The drive over here had been the scariest of his life as he'd thought he'd be terrified, but he wasn't scared at all. His hands were sweating and his heart was racing, but all he could think about was doing everything he could do to protect this tiny little person and its mother.

He looked at Emily again and saw that tears were running down her face too, his heart burst again from happiness. She was happy! She looked absolutely joyful. He'd done a very good thing in agreeing to do this for her. Her happiness made a thrill go down his spine and he smiled through his tears at her.

What about you? Aren't you important too?

"… Here we go." The doctor said.

Reid looked up at the doctor, wondering what the doctor was going to do now. He'd explained everything about how great the baby was doing. It all matched what Reid had read off the internet and in medical books. He wracked his brains till the steady beat of a small heart pushed through his contemplation.

Emily began to cry again.

"That heartbeat is strong and regular, just as it should be."

His heart began to feel like it wanted to beat in time with the baby's heartbeat. If your heart beat that fast, you'd faint. Do you want to faint in front of Emily?

No, he didn't want to faint in front of her. She had to know that she could count on him and fainting would put to bed any thoughts she might have of being able to count on him.

All too soon, the ultrasound was over and the doctor had switched off the computer. The sense of loss was nearly overwhelming. He looked back down at Emily and saw that she was looking up at him with the same expression of disappointment that he felt on his face.

"Why don't you get dressed and make another appointment for a month from now." Dr. Kelly was saying and it broke the spell around them. "Again, congratulations," He said and he left the room.

Emily sat up on the table, clutching at the sheet that had been used as a drape. "Thanks for coming. I can't believe you dropped everything for me after I treated you so badly the other day. You must hate me."

"I don't hate you Emily." I love you.

"You should… I didn't take your feelings into consideration at all. I don't know what's wrong with me."

She was looking at her bare feet instead of him. He watched her legs swing as they hung over the edge of the examination table. She had really nice legs; at least they were nice below the edge of the sheet. He wondered what they looked like under the sheet. After all, she usually wore slacks at work and he'd always admired her legs, but what did they look like bare.

God, what is wrong with you. Stop it!

"Are you sure you're not mad at me." She asked.

He looked up at her and his face felt like it was burning. She didn't seem to have noticed that he was checking out her legs.

Yeah, if she had, she'd kick your ass. You deserve it! She's pregnant you pervert.

"Um… yeah," He squeaked and then cleared his throat. "I'm fine… I'm not mad at you. I don't hate you. I love you." He squeaked out.

"Reid I don't think that -

"I mean I love you like a best friend. Don't friends do things for each other? I wanted to do this for you because I knew it would make you happy." He added hastily, seeing the panic crawl over her face.

"My happiness isn't the only important thing Reid. You're important too. You don't ever think about yourself and while I admire that, I worry about you."

He was blushing like crazy at her words. "I'm okay. Um, I'm going to go now. I'll see you later."

"Reid!"

But he was gone through the door like mist disappearing over the horizon ahead of the rising sun on an early autumn morning.

---

She knocked on his apartment door, but he didn't answer. She waited for a couple of minutes and then knocked again. There was nothing but silence to greet her. "Reid… It's Emily! Please open the door. I need to talk to you."

A door opened, but it wasn't his door. She looked around and saw a small woman with grey streaked brown hair peeking out of the door across the hall.

"Dr. Reid isn't here." She said.

"My name is Emily Prentiss." Emily pulled her badge out of her purse and showed it to the woman.

"Oh yes… Dr. Reid talks about his work all the time. Won't you come in?

"No ma'am, I don't want to bother you. I'm looking for Dr. Reid. I wanted to talk to him."

"I saw him leave this morning, but he hasn't been back. It's not unusual. You agents have such odd working hours."

The woman had dark eyes that said busybody, but there was also something in them that made Emily think that this woman cared for Spencer like a mother.

"Yes we do. But I really need to speak with him. Do you know where he might have gone?"

"No. He keeps to himself. In fact, the only things he talks about are you and his mother."

This knowledge was like a knife to her heart. She should have thought more about all of this and the effect it would have on him.

"Well thank you Mrs…"

"I'm Mrs. Turner. Dr. Reid has been very kind and helpful to me and my husband. He lost his job and it's been hard for us.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Turner."

"Don't worry your pretty head. David got a job last week, so we're going to be back on track in no time. I'll never be able to thank him for talking to David when he was so depressed. He's so kind and understanding."

"He's very easy to talk to Mrs. Turner."

Except when you are an insensitive bitch!

"Yes he is… Now I'm making cookies and have to get back to them."

"Oh, of course you do. I'll just go now."

"You might look for him at the bookstore down the street. He's brings back a stack of books from there every day it seem. The owner lets him borrow them. I think he thinks of Dr. Reid like a son. And Dr. Reid reads more in one day than I've ever seen."

"He does like to read. Thank you Mrs. Turner."

Emily left the apartment building. She left her car in the parking lot and began the walk down the street to the bookstore on the corner. She'd noticed it when she'd driven here and wondered if Reid lived here because of the store.

It was a small establishment that had a sign over the door that proclaimed it "The Last Word." Under the name of the shop were the words: "Rare and out of print books are our specialty."

She opened the door and a bell tinkled over her head. To her left was a wooden counter with an old fashioned cash register at one end. The man behind the counter was very tall, with a full head of pure white hair. His eyes were the bluest she'd every seen and he had a smile that lit up the room.

"Welcome… Please feel free to look and stay for as long as you like." He said.

The room was very large and filled with stacks of books. There were a couple of round tables with matching chairs around them. There was one person sitting at the table reading. It wasn't Reid.

She went to the man behind the counter and showed him her badge. "I'm a friend of Dr. Reid."

"Oh, you must be Emily Prentiss."

"What?"

Did he talk to everyone about her?

"He asked me to send you downstairs when you came in."

He came around the counter and said, "Follow me."

She followed him through the room and past many books with leather covers and gold leaf to a door at the back of the building. He guided her down the steps that were immaculate under the yellow light of the bulbs that were spaced in the ceiling overhead.

"He's down at the end of the hallway looking at our special collection."

He gestured to her. She looked down the hall and saw a tall figure with his back to her. She recognized the bend of his back when he was involved in something that was taking all of his attention. But, there was something else in the way he was just standing there that made her feel worse about the last few days.

The man that had brought her down the stairs had disappeared. He'd gone back upstairs while she'd been staring at Reid's back.

She took a deep breath and mumbled to herself. "Here goes nothing."