Chapter fifty-one
Georgetown Medical Center
Washington DC

Spencer

Waiting was the hardest part.

Hotch had not arranged for an ambulance to meet them at the airport. At the doctor's advice he had arranged for a LifeFlight helo to meet them there and take Spencer and Susanna straight to the hospital, avoiding traffic. Once at the hospital she had been taken straight back to surgery, and he was left waiting along with Nina, her social worker, and eventually Garcia, Morgan and Rossi. And they were waiting. Surely it only seemed like forever.

But it wasn't. Almost before they expected the doctor came out. "Susanna Holman?" They all gathered up and introduced themselves. "Well, the good news is that we were able to save her retinas." The doctor told them. "And while we were in there we removed the cataracts as well. The bad news is that we did observe some nerve damage in there. It's too soon to tell how much of the problem is actually caused by that damage and how the damage to her retinas will affect what vision she still has. There is nearly always some impact from this kind of injury."

"When will we know?" Nina asked.

"It's usually six months before the eyes heal enough for a final determination. We had to inject her eyes with C3F8 gas to provide enough pressure on the tears to keep them in place until enough scarring forms to seal the holes, which takes two months to be fully replaced by the natural vitreous fluid, at that time we'll be able to make an initial determination. Now because we removed the cataracts and she has no natural protection from solar radiation she needs to keep her eyes shielded for at least two weeks. She really ought to stay home and rest, no lifting, no bending past the waist. Oh and um…" He smiled a little at her fiancée. "No sex for two weeks."

Spencer felt his ears light on fire even as Morgan and Garcia managed to successfully fight off their laughter. "Yes, sir."

"To keep the pressure of the bubble on the worst of the tear she needs to stay upright for those two weeks as well, including when she sleeps. I suggest a recliner. I'll have the nurse go over everything with you; she's in for tonight, barring any complications she can go home after I check it over tomorrow."

They thanked him and went about what came next. It wasn't that he wanted to run off and have sex as soon as they landed, Spencer thought, but he had hoped to take her home with him. He'd truly longed to just have her there for one night, to know she was safe and watch her sleep and wake up to her in the sun on his pillow. Morgan must have seen his face. "You made it this long." He said. "Another two weeks won't kill you."

"Shut up." He just wanted to wake up to her was all. Maybe they would let him stay on a cot in her hospital room.

They did.

Susanna took the two weeks in stride. She already had all the skills she needed to navigate the world in complete darkness. And Mrs. Knox was thrilled to be able to put her nursing skills to good use again. They kept a security detail on her just in case, one vetted for church background this time, and because they had yet to round up all the Black Knights, but after the first two days Spencer felt comfortable enough to go back to work. Or he did after her urging. "Really, I'm fine." She told him.

"You're sure?"

"Penelope set me up with iTunes. All my favorite radio shows come in podcasts. And Mrs. Knox is teaching me how to knit. I'm quite content."

"But you're not out seeing the world." That seemed so unfair somehow.

"True, but I will again. You'll show me, I have faith in that."

Two weeks later the patches came off. "Oh, that is so weird." Susanna said.

"What is?" Spencer asked.

"You can see the line of the gas bubble." She drew a line in the air about where the edge was in her vision. "Everything's bright above it and grey and murky below."

"Hopefully bright is a good thing."

"Hopefully. Can I talk about the case publically now?"

"Yea, why?"

"There are a few people I want to thank."

The first was easy, because he'd been involved from the beginning. It was also harder, because they would be thanking Henry for the rest of their lives. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" He screamed, jumping around the living room. "I told you to get married!"

"I'm just very glad you hid under my bed that night." Susanna told him.

"Me too!" He said, giving her an immense hug.

They took Henry along to say the second thank you. That was a little harder, but with Jay's help the right thank you gift was chosen. "He's going after it!" Henry screamed.

In his enclosure Kavi sniffed at the large, wrapped box. He stalked around it and sniffed a few more times. Then with a growl he reared up and pounced, shredding the box to get to the ox bones inside.

"I'm guessing he likes it." Susanna said.

Spencer nodded, "Oh yeah."

"And we're back on Coast to Coast. This is your host Art Bell coming to you from the high desert. Our guest for the first two hours tonight is FBI agent and noted author Dave Rossi, here to talk about serial killers, who they are and why they do what they do, but before we get to that we wanted to discuss a case we were able to help the FBI with a few months back, the case of several missing boys. That turned out well, didn't it Dave?"

"Yes it did." Rossi replied. "Not only did we recover all of the boys safely but we were able to crack a major domestic terror group as well. And we did it with your help and the help of your listeners. We owe you a great deal."

"I know I speak for all of us when I say anything we can do to hell in that regard. I'm assuming that's why you haven't been back with us before now, you wanted to get that safely wrapped up first."

"That's right."

"Now folks I have Dave here on a video line from Quantico and I can see that he's been joined by one of the other agents on the case, Dr. Spencer Reid, and a very attractive young woman. I'm told your name is Susanna and you were the woman we were corresponding with back there, right?"

"Yes, that's me." Susanna replied, a little nervously.

"Before we came online Dave here was telling me how it all turned out, he said you're starting college in the fall, you've had surgery to repair your vision but you're still not sure how that's turned out, aaaand he tells me that you and Doctor Reid here are going to be tying the knot next year. Is all that true?"

Spencer grinned as Susanna turned bright rose and took his hand. "It is. And I have to thank you and your listeners for playing such a big part in that. Thank you all for everything."