Disclaimer: see my profile
Warnings: see my profile and the first chapter
"Where are we going?" Emily asked Garcia for the tenth time since the computer tech had 'kidnapped' her from her brownstone.
"Repetition will get you nowhere." Her blond friend informed her.
"You practically force me to come with you and you won't tell me where we're going!"
"Don't freak out… It's not good for the baby, sunshine."
"I wish everyone would stop treating me like glass."
"No need to pout." Garcia made a left hand turn at the light.
Garcia wore a pink scarf over her hair as they had the top down on Esther. She wore a pair of purple slacks with a white peasant blouse. The top had purple, pink and yellow flowers embroidered on the front where the collar might go on a shirt. She wore pink sneakers and had purple and pink streaks in her hair, which she had pulled back in a ponytail. She carried a huge purple tote bag and wore pink framed glasses and her usual scarlet lipstick.
"I'm not pouting. Where are we going?"
"We're almost there."
"Now you're patronizing me."
"Making me mad won't get you what you want."
Emily sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. Garcia had made her put on casual clothes and come out on a Sunday morning when she'd just wanted to sleep. Even Reid had been forbidden to bother her that morning.
"I should've ignored the door."
"Like that would work," Penelope turned right toward Arlington.
Emily laughed. "No… I guess it wouldn't have worked.
"We're nearly there." "Thank God for small favors. It's a bit chilly." "It's fine. The fresh air is good for you and the baby."
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up at a large home built from grey and black stone with a black slate roof. The porch ran the entire length of the home. There was a swing at one end of the porch and several chairs around a white painted wrought iron table.
A small child played on the grass that was rapidly disappearing under the falling leaves. An equally small dog followed the blond child as he tried to crawl away from the man that played on the lawn with him.
Garcia parked the car in the driveway behind another convertible. The second car was a Mustang and it looked vintage to Emily.
"Hey…" The man greeted them as he scooped up the boy.
"Hi Will… Is JJ here?"
"Yeah, they're inside."
"Hello Henry," Emily began cooing at the boy who was bouncing up and down in his father's arms. His cheeks were pink with exertion and he wore a dark blue jacket with a hood that hung down his back. His jeans looked new and his shoes were tiny little running shoes.
Henry looked at her for a minute, then he smiled and held out a toy truck to her. "Thank you Henry…. I'll bet you really like playing with your dad."
Will grinned. "He's the best. He's been trying to walk and driving JJ crazy as she wants to capture the moment on film." He drawled.
"How are you Will?"
They all went into the house, which was filled with the scent of vanilla, cinnamon and chocolate. "I'm fine. I love being a stay at home dad."
"He's the greatest," JJ breezed into the room. She kissed Will and took Henry from him. "Isn't Daddy the best?" She unzipped Henry's coat and took it off to reveal a red and white stripped shirt. She pulled it out of the jeans and lifted it up to give him a raspberry on his little stomach. The boy screamed with laughter.
"You're so good with him." Emily smiled at the laughing boy.
"You're going to be great with your baby. Don't worry." JJ ordered.
"I don't know. I'm really scared.""You shouldn't be." A voice said from behind her.
"Mai!"
Her nurse stood there wearing actual clothes instead of the blue scrubs and white sweater Emily was used to seeing. She wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a light pink sweater and a gold chain around her neck. Her dark hair was down instead of pulled up in a clip like usual.
"What are you doing here?"
"JJ decided to give you a surprise baby shower."
"Surprise!" Garcia yelled with the rest of the group. Will covered his ears and Henry giggled at all of them.
"What about me." Another voice had Emily's head turning toward the living room.
Jordan Todd stepped around JJ and hugged Emily. "You look great!" She said looking over Emily's yellow maternity tee that had one sleeping bunny rabbit on the front. Emily also wore white stretch pants and white sneakers.
"Jordan! How are things in anti-terrorism?"
"Great… Not as exciting as the BAU, but at least I'm not looking at dead bodies all day long. I don't know how you guys do it."
"On that note, I'm going to take Henry to the park while you ladies have your lunch." Will said, putting Henry in his stroller.
"Coward…" JJ said good-naturedly."
"You bet," He agreed.
She kissed him goodbye. He left pushing Henry with the little dog following on a leash.
"Come on," JJ gestured to the women. "Lets go dig into the food."
----
"You didn't have to go to all this trouble." Emily said from her chair where JJ had put her threatening to call Spencer if she didn't sit still.
"Yes we did… Garcia told us that you had a party with your mother and all her stuffy friends last week. We thought you'd like a party with your best friends."
Emily laughed. "The party was pretty stuffy, but mom meant well. I got lots of great presents." She added slyly.
"I'll bet you did."
JJ and Mai came into the living room with a cake and a stack of gifts. They arranged the gifts on the table in front of Emily.
"You didn't have to do all this guys. Lunch would've been enough.""You always get gifts at a baby shower. Open mine first."
"You're so impatient Garcia."
"Mine's the best." The others laughed.
"I think the homemade croissants went to your head." JJ teased her friend.
"Who knew you could cook."
"I have many hidden talents."
"I made the cake." Mai piped up and they laughed.
"So, you're the one that helped our shy couple have a baby." Garcia turned to interrogate Mai who was sitting placidly in the chair next to Emily. "Yep… I told them to stop messing around and get busy but -"
Emily smacked Mai's arm. "Shut up!"
Mai smiled and it reminded Emily of Sophie for some reason.
"Well… You two were pretty pathetic."
"Mai!"
"It's true!" Garcia piped up. "You guys mooned around each other for years."
"They've been acting this way for years." Mai said in disbelief.
"NO!"
"Yes you have… Ever since Reid got kidnapped and tortured by this maniac." Garcia went on ignoring Emily's murderous look.
"That's not true. I was new on the team. I didn't even know him." Emily tried to shout them down.
"Whatever, don't listen to her. They're both in major denial."
"Garcia, I want presents." Emily reached out and plucked the first one from the pile.
"Don't try to distract us honey."
"Yeah, I want to hear all about this saga from someone that isn't you."
"There's nothing to tell Mai. These two are delusional."
"I might believe that if I hadn't seen it for myself."
The three women stared to her down till her cheeks got hot. "Okay, So I might have noticed him a while ago, but it wasn't when these two idiots said it was." "So when was it."
"We had this case in Colorado where a religious fanatic was living on a commune and he was marrying these underage girls. He was a real wacko. Emily and Reid went in undercover and there was a raid by the state police. Then some jackass reporter told everyone that there was an FBI agent in there. So Emily here steps up and tells this wacko religious leader that she's the FBI agent and took a real beating from the guy." Garcia said, before Emily could speak."It looked a lot worse than it was." Emily protested as Mai eyed her with a new respect. "It was nothing."
"Don't listen to her. She had a couple cracked ribs, and her face looked like she got run over by a car."
"It wasn't that bad!"
"I know my sweet boy and he was completely freaked for a long time." Garcia went on relentlessly.
"That explains a lot," Mai interjected.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You took a beating for him."
"So?"
"Why did you do it? You could have let him say he was the agent." JJ said.
"I didn't want him to get hurt again okay."
"We're not trying to hurt your feelings honey." Garcia said.
"Yeah, we just want you to be happy." JJ agreed
"I want her to get busy with the smoking hot doctor." Mai interrupted, sending them all into gales of laughter.
"That's it… I'm going to call a cab." Emily struggled to get out of the chair.
Garcia had no trouble pushing her back into her chair. "You have presents to open."
"We're sorry," JJ said.
"Dr. Reid makes you happy. I see it in your face every time you come in for an appointment."
"Mai!" Her face was burning again.
"Open your presents and stop pouting."
"Yes ma'am…" Emily threw a salute to Garcia.
The first gift was a square box about the size of a clothing gift box. It was wrapped in bright yellow paper with red, purple, blue and green balloons all over it. It had been in the back seat of Esther the last time she'd seen it.
She ripped the paper off with an enthusiasm that had all the girls laughing. "Garcia… What did you do?"
She pulled a small lap top computer out of the box. She opened it and saw a note taped to the screen. "Turn me on," It said and she laughed.
Music began to play, and a voice said. "Welcome to the world baby Reid." as little bunnies and puppies crossed the screen and began playing with kittens that were in the middle of a green field with a blue sky.
"Thank you Penelope… How did you- never mind, I should now better than to ask how you do anything."
"I know it's a little old for the baby, but I figure if the little bambino or bambina is as smart as daddy…"
"Don't let Spencer hear you say that. It's his biggest fear in the world."
"Why?" Mai asked curiously.
"His father left when he was a little boy. His mother was ill while he was growing up. He went to school, but they fast tracked his education so he was in high school with teenagers when he was nine. He took a lot of bulling and beatings. There was an incident when he was in high school that left major scars. He's terrified of his child going through the same thing."
"That's not going to happen to my little baby sweet pea." Garcia declared and the others grinned at her.
"No, it's not going to happen." Emily agreed. "I won't allow it. Besides, Spencer already looked into schools around here for gifted kids."
"I'm not surprised." JJ said as she passed another gift to Emily.
"That's so sweet. I wish I had a guy like him." Mai groaned. "Are you sure he doesn't have a brother or a cousin?"
"Nope… There's only one Spencer Reid and he's all mine." Emily missed the smirks on the girls' faces as she ripped into another gift.
It was a hand knitted blanket made from yellow and white yarn that was worked into an elaborate starburst pattern. It was soft enough to lull the most stubborn baby into dreamland. Under the blanket were a few onesies with little black and white puppies all over them. There were tiny little white socks and a sleeper that was white with little kittens sleeping on the front.
"They're so cute!" Emily exclaimed, laying the blanket against her cheek.
"I made the blanket." Mai said.
"It's beautiful. Thank you so much."
"Now mine," JJ passed a gift bag to her friend with a very excited expression on her face.
The bag was rose colored with little cherub angels all over it and a pink lace handle. Emily pulled out the white tissue paper and lifted out a box that contained a mobile inside when she opened it. The mobile was a miniature model of the solar system with stars, all eight planets and even brave little Pluto who'd been downgraded to a dwarf planet. On the top of the mobile was a beautiful angel with dark brown hair and dark eyes. She seemed to be looking down over the planets and the stars as though watching out for them and the baby that would sleep under it."
"JJ… I don't know what to say."
"You can plug it in and it will move and light up with tiny little lights in the stars."
"Spencer is going to love this. I can just picture him standing over the cradle, lecturing the baby on the solar system." They all laughed while Jordan went to get her gift.
"What did you do?" Emily asked suspiciously as her friend pushed a large box over to her.
"I never get to spoil any kids. I was an only child, so I don't have any nieces or nephews. I haven't found the right guy so I don't have any kids. In fact, I have a bone to pick with you Emily."
"What!" Emily asked cautiously as she pulled the pink wrapping paper off the box.
"You said that JJ had snagged the last viable donor. You remember that?"
"Yeah…" She used the box cutter JJ passed her to open the large cardboard box.
"You lied… You're the one that got the last viable donor."
There was a silence for a moment, then they all burst into laughter as Emily looked down at the car seat in the box.
"You shouldn't have," Emily said sounding a bit choked up.
There were bottles, a rattle, some little bibs and more onesies that were white and yellow with ducks all over them. A gift card to Babies Inc. and a gift card for Bed, Bath and Beyond were in an envelope inside a congratulatory card.
"I thought you could use some pampering too. After the baby gets here, we're going to leave him or her with daddy and have a day of shopping and pampering for you."
"Yay shopping?" Garcia said pushing her fist into the air.
"What's wrong Emily you look pensive."
"I'm trying to imagine Spencer alone with the baby."
They all laughed so hard that JJ almost fell off the sofa.
"Yeah, I want to see that too." JJ agreed through the tears that had followed the laughter.
"Me too," Garcia agreed.
"We shouldn't tease him when he's not here to defend himself." Emily decided.
They all looked at each other. "Nah…" Garcia said. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him.
Amid the laughter that followed Garcia began to cut the cake and distribute it around to the others.
"This is the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted." Emily sighed after devouring two big pieces.
"Yeah… What's your secret?" JJ asked.
"Sour cream in the mix. It makes it light and fluffy."
"Wow… I wouldn't have thought of that."
They talked and laughed for another hour. When Emily began to yawn, Garcia insisted on taking her home and carrying up her gifts to the brownstone.
"Thanks Garcia… I can't believe you did all that for me." Tears that she'd been holding back all day came in a flood.
"Hey… What's with the water works my beauty?"
"Damn hormones," Emily said with a sigh.
"Go lay down… I'm going to see what Helga left for dinner."
"Okay," She was too tired to argue.
Garcia put a blanket over her after she sacked out on the couch. The kitchen smelled of onions, and sizzling meat. The oven was on warm with some kind of casserole. She took it out and prepared a plate that Emily could heat in the microwave. She put the rest away in the fridge and took a walk through the rest of the apartment checking the windows and locking the balcony door.
She left the brownstone, locking the door after her. Her phone rang just as she got to Esther.
"Hey baby girl!"
"Did you do it gorgeous?"
"Yep… Everything's ready to go. Two weeks is cutting it close, but everyone's on board. "
"I knew you could pull it off, stud."
"You better believe it!"
"Does Reid know?"
"No, Hotch is taking care of that part."
"Good… I can't wait to see the looks on their faces. You did good handsome."
"Why do you say that like it's such a big surprise?"
"Stop pouting G-Man."
He laughed. "Take care mama."
She hung up on him and got into Esther. She could hardly wait till her friends saw what they had planned for them.