Disclaimer: see my profile
Warning: see my profile and the first chapter
A/n hey all... Thanks again for all your good wishes. Only two more weeks with the brace. Also, thanks to my wonderful beta for all her support and hard work in keeping my stories well edited.
Garcia was standing there with one hand on her hip. Her hair, which she had streaked with pink and pulled up onto a clip, seemed to bristle with disapproval at her friend.
She tapped one foot that was clad in low heeled red shoes. Her red framed glasses winked in the light and her loose red blouse crackled impatiently as she moved.
"I can't believe that you've been doing the nasty with our hot young genius and you didn't tell me!"
"I haven't been 'doing the nasty,' she made quotation marks with her fingers, "with Reid. Even if I was, it's none of your business! I can't believe you were eavesdropping on me!"
"I wasn't eavesdropping… I heard you yelling. I came to see what was wrong and heard you. It's your fault for not keeping it down."
"He wanted to keep it a secret for awhile." Emily said in defeat.
"So you are sleeping with him." Garcia's hot pink skirt swirled around her legs as she turned to follow Emily back to the living room.
"I just said no… Can't you understand the words coming out of my mouth?"
Garcia settled back into the couch as though it were molded to fit around her body. She put her arm up over the back of the furniture and turned to face her friend, stood looking out the window.
"I understand that something is going on. If you talk about it you'll feel better."
"Oh don't hand me that," Emily whirled around. "Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut."
"Fine, then I'll help you clean up. Then I'll leave you to your thoughts."
The flamboyant technical analyst headed to the kitchen with Emily in tow. They cleaned up the kitchen in a silence that was so thick; it was like moving through pudding for Emily. She'd never been around Penelope and experienced an extended period of silence like this. It was very unnerving.
"Alright… You can stop with the silent treatment. It's not going to work.
"I'm not giving you the silent treatment. You said you didn't want to talk and I'm respecting that."
Emily heaved out a very loud sigh. "I'm going to talk to Hotch when we get to work tomorrow and convince him to give you the test for profiling."
"Why would I want to become a profiler? I like my bat cave."
"Cute!"
Emily began to load the dishwasher, only to be pushed aside by her friend. "I'll do that. You go sit down."
"I'm not fragile. I can load the dishwasher."
"Not on my watch you can't," Penelope ordered.
"Then I'll clean the griddle." Emily said.
They worked in more stuffy silence till Garcia finished with the dishwasher. "I'll see you on Monday."
"No! I don't want you to leave."
"Tell me what has been bothering you for months."
Emily put the griddle to one side of the sink where it would dry and faced her friend. "You have to promise that you won't tell anyone. This means Morgan or Kevin. No matter how much you want to tell them."
Garcia nodded and hung the dish rag over the faucet. "Tell me!"
"I can't believe I'm doing this. I made a promise to Reid."
"So he's the father," Garcia said, her eyes lighting up behind her glasses. Emily burst into another round of tears. "Hey, It's okay my beauty."
"No it's not… I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone."
"You didn't tell me. I deduced from your behavior. It's your fault for teaching me your profiler magic. I actually pay attention despite what you all think."
Emily laughed through her tears. "I never said that you don't pay attention. Obviously you do, that's why I'm in this situation."
"Did he break up with you? If he did, I can have Morgan kick his butt."
"No, it wasn't like that at all. We're not sleeping together and we never have."
"I don't know why not. He loves you and you love him. Wait…" Garcia held up a hand to stop Emily from denying it. "How did you get pregnant if you two haven't had sex?"
"There are other ways Garcia."
Garcia's eyes went round. "Oh, you had artificial insemination or something."
"Yeah… I did. Reid was my donor."
"Oh, so that whole thing a few months ago when we thought Reid was really sick and he said he was donating sperm. That was the truth!"
"Yeah… No one ever believes you when you tell the truth."
Garcia deflated on the couch in disbelief. "I guess he really does love you."
"Reid doesn't love me. He did this for me because we're very good friends. He cares about me like a friend and that's all."
"Me thinks thou doth protest too much."
The tears wanted to flow again so she bit the inside of her mouth to keep them back. "I'm not protesting. He doesn't love me like that."
Garcia threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Honey…" She managed when Emily glared at her. "You're supposed to be this great profiler and you can't see what is right in front of you. I know Reid and he's been pining for you every since Colorado."
"No he hasn't," Emily insisted and a part of her died at the thought. "Yes he has! He's probably one of the best actors I've ever met, not that I've met a lot, but you know what I mean. If he were on the big screen he'd win an Oscar by now. You can't tell me that you haven't been noticing him. I know you have. What happened in Colorado was very intense for all of us, but especially for you two."
"I know that but-"
Garcia held up a hand to Emily, who was at the window looking out over DC, again. "Reid did this for you because he loves you. Not because you're such good friends. You need to deal with that."
Emily lost the battle with her tears. Her shoulders hunched and her head dropped forward into Garcia when her friend came to her and put her arms around her. "Why don't you just tell him you love him and put both of you out of your misery?"
"I can't…"
"Why…"
"Because I don't want to hurt him."
"Why would you hurt him?"
"He's had so much disappointment in his life. I don't want to mess things up."
"You're not going to mess it up unless you don't tell him."
"I can't!"
"Emily…"
"No I can't say it right now. Please just go."
Emily faced the window till she heard the door shut behind her friend. It seemed like ever since she'd decided to go through with this crazy plan, her whole life had turned upside down.
Sophia, who'd been hiding for the last few hours, rubbed at Emily's ankle. She knelt down and picked up the cat in her arms. "Why did I listen to you? I shouldn't have let you and my mom gang up on me."
The cat stared at her with her large yellow eyes. She began to knead her claws into Emily's the shoulder strap of Emily's tank. "Ouch… What's the matter with you?"
She pulled the claws out of her tank and put the cat back on the floor. Sophia meowed and batted her front foot at Emily's leg.
"Alright, I guess it's time for your morning treat."
Sophia ran ahead of Emily into the kitchen, meowing loudly. "Oh stop being such a drama queen. I told you I'd get a treat for you."
She gave the cat two treats, which violated her pledge never to give into Sophia's pouting. "Don't expect this every morning." She warned the cat as she got water for her.
She went back to the living room and sat down at the couch again. The album was still there mocking her with its simplicity.
"I'm sorry I said I wished I'd never done this." She said, cupping her belly with her right hand. "I love you so much. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you.
I wish you could have met your brother. I'll bet you would've loved each other and become best friends."
Tears overwhelmed her and she sagged to the floor sobbing for the tiny little baby that hadn't been meant to be.
---
Reid was lying on his couch with a book in his hands. He looked at his phone. Emily had sounded so angry with him when he'd called. He was really trying to not be so annoying, but it wasn't working. He just wanted to make sure that Emily and the baby were okay.
He put the book on the table and looked at his phone. If he called her again, she might come after him with her gun. He should listen to what Morgan always says and not mess with her.
She won't come after you with a gun. You're the father of her baby. She's not going to shoot the father of her baby.
He wasn't so sure about that… What if he pissed her off so badly that she didn't care?
Okay, no more meddling in the pregnancy. Emily knows what she has to do to be healthy. She wants this baby as badly as you do.
Satisfied that he'd be able to resist the urge to lecture her, or interfere with the pregnancy, he went back to his book. That lasted for ten minutes, and then he put it down again, his concentration shot.
At least she'd let him come to another ultrasound. He picked up the picture that the doctor had printed out for him and he studied the image. He'd seen a lot of fetuses in photos on the internet. They had all looked like little aliens to him. This little baby with the memory of the strong and steady heartbeat was different. There weren't any distinct facial features, but he could imagine that the baby would look like Emily.
The doctor had asked them if they wanted to find out the sex of the baby. They had agreed before the appointment that they would wait to find out till the baby was born.
Now as he looked at the picture, he wondered if they had made the right decision. He wanted to know if he were going to have a girl or a boy.
He picked up the book he'd been reading and laid the picture of the baby over his heart. He began to read aloud the familiar fairy tales his mother had read to him when he was two years old. If he put down the book and closed his eyes he could recite them and pretend that the baby was right there with him.
Soon… He'd be holding his child in his arms and then maybe he could convince Emily how much he loved her.
----
An impatient knock at his door jerked Reid out of the light sleep he'd fallen into. He looked around in confusion then jumped in surprise when another knock came at the door.
"Who is it?" Reid called stumbling to the door.
"It's Garcia… I need to talk to!"
The angry tone in her voice had his head buzzing… Why was she angry at him?
He pushed back his hair back from his eyes and blinked at the door. She knocked again just as he was putting his hand of the door knob.
"Open up Reid!"
Reid!?
"Alright, I'm here." He opened the door to a furious Penelope Garcia.
She brushed past him and pushed his favorite book to the floor to sit on the threadbare couch.
"Hey!"
"Why didn't you tell me what you did with Emily?"
He swallowed hard and felt his face burning.
Just keep a neutral face and think up a good lie!
He put a big smile on his face and dared to look at her in the eye. "The last thing I did with Emily was beat her at a game of chess."
"Why are you lying to me sweet boy?"
Her hurt tone and disappointed eyes made him blurt out. "How did you know?"
"I visited Emily today. She told me. I don't understand why you didn't tell me. I thought I was your best friend."
He stepped over three other books on the brown carpet to sit down next to Garcia. "You are my best friend."
She reached over and took his hand. "Then why didn't you tell me. This is huge baby cakes."
"Um… I didn't want…" Oh God this was going to be so hard.
A look of understanding came into her eyes. "You didn't want Morgan to find out just yet."
"Yeah. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. My chocolate Adonis doesn't know when to stop sometimes. But, sweetheart, he's going to find out sooner or later…"
"I know… Can you just keep it a secret for a while longer?"
Yeah! And by the way, Emily didn't rat you out. I over heard her on the phone to you."
"Oh," he went red in the face again.
"Honey, I know you care about her and the baby. I can see it. But, you're driving her crazy."
"I just want them to be okay."
"Sure you do, just back off a bit." She patted his leg. "Now, let's go get something to eat. I'm sure you don't have anything here thats edible."
He opened his mouth to protest, and then shrugged. "No, there's nothing to eat here. I was going to call for pizza."
"No way… You're a father now. You have to stop eating like a kid."
She hauled him up off the couch. "We're going to a sit down restaurant. I'll forgive you for leaving me out of this, if you buy me Greek food."
"Okay!"