Chapter 48

Spencer and Laura spent the week-end at Dave's house, resting and quietly visiting with friends. At one point Diana called and she and Laura talked for a while, a talk that left Laura in tears again but in the end Mother- and Daughter-in-law forged a bond that would last. At one point Spencer and Morgan went out for a suit, which he was going to have to wear pinned to his sling, and Tonya went out for a dress and boots for Laura while Garcia brought home more yarn. She was making hats at a prodigious rate, which was helping her manage the overwhelming emotions while making a number of homeless vets just a little warmer.

Now it was Monday and snow had covered the world with a blanket of pure white. Spencer stood quietly while Laura pinned his coat. "Is that the blanket Martha made?"

"Yes. JJ said that Maggie has the blanket I made her with her, so I'm keeping this one to remember them both." She picked up the soft, ivory cloth. "Martha and I dreamed so many dreams of her back then. Is it horribly selfish to be glad she's there for her now?"

"I don't think so." He gently caressed her cheek. I miss you, he thought. "Are you okay? You haven't been talking much lately."

"I just…I need to get through this. Say good bye. Maybe tomorrow we can … go somewhere and … talk…or something."

"Okay."

Downstairs then, and to the car and some vague thought of how all this was put together. Dave and Garcia had done it all for them, all they had to do now was go along for the ride. Dave was there, making everything go smoothly and Laura sat next to him while she hugged that blanket close.

Thankfully it was not too quiet.

First stop was the funeral home. It was quiet, he noticed, and dignified, as it had been for Haley, and then for Emily. "We decided not to do an open viewing." Dave said. "It didn't seem appropriate. I'll wait here."

Then the funeral director ushered them into a small room, and there she was.

"Oh, hi!" Laura said softly, the tears back in her voice.

Maggie looked so perfect, just like she had when he'd left her in Laura's arms to face the Unsub. She had her mother's nose and his chin and fine, red curls. But those little fingers weren't moving; they had never stopped in life, now they were still. And he couldn't hear her breathing. And she was too pale. But none of that mattered because she was there. He had to repress the desire to cuddle her back into his arms. "Hi Maggie," he said, settling in close. She looked just like they had put her down for a nap, right down to the little teddy bear.

"Hello sweetheart." Laura said in that same quiet voice full of love that she had used in life. "There you are. Oh we've missed you so." She reached out and gently caressed that tiny hand. "You're really not in there anymore, are you?"

"No, she's not." He said just as quietly. "You can tell. But she's here." He couldn't explain it, he could just feel it. Like she'd been around them this entire time, but now it was strongest.

"Yeah, she is. Oh we had such plans for you." Laura said. "We were going to take you up to see the sun, and the sky and the stars. Take you home, introduce you to all your family, I don't think they would have ever put you down."

"Maybe a nice house," Spencer said, "With a back yard and maybe a kitten if you wanted. And your Mom would have cooked for you and made you dresses and knit you socks."

"And your Dad and I would have shown you the world, the sea and the mountains and the desert. Taught you to ride horses and drive a car, maybe a motorcycle. And you would have gone to Cornell or Caltech or…well, Georgetown if you were extra smart like your dad and went to college young. And when the time came he would have walked you down the aisle." By now she was openly crying. "Oh, you would have had a wonderful life, sweetheart."

It was all right, he thought, he was crying too. "I know it's probably scary, sweetheart, but I remember when I was where you are right now. I remember there was a warm light nearby that felt like it was really safe. That's where you need to go love, your Grandma Julia and your…your Grandma Carolyn are there waiting for you, and her son James and Uncle Daniel…"

"…And Aunt Haley and Grandma Martha and….and Aunt Maeve. They're all there for you sweetheart." Laura smiled. "You won't be alone. They'll look after you until we get there, I promise. But we have to stay here for now, so we can look after your brother and sister when they come." She smiled. "We'll never forget you, we promise that too. Your Dad never forgets anything, he certainly won't forget you. Oh, we love you so much."

"We love you." He echoed. "You need to go sweetheart, it's time. We'll be all right, it's time to go. Love you." At that moment Spencer swore he felt a draft, or the pressure in the room change, or something. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye." Laura said. Then with a deep breath she turned to look at him. "Did you just feel…?"

"Yeah." That was one thing he'd learned in his job, for every cannibal who worshiped Satan there was a mom who died to protect her son and for every priest who killed and hid behind diplomatic privilege there was a priest who tried to save a community and for every gunshot that hurt a friend there was one that should have been deflected by a glass door and wasn't. There were things his science could not explain and if it meant believing that his daughter's spirit was safe in that warm light then he was willing to believe that he felt her slip away.

"Now what?" Laura asked.

"Now we honor her memory and put what's left safely to rest."

After a few moments they went back to the other room to find Dave waiting. "You two all right?" He asked.

"Yeah," Spencer replied. He felt lighter, somehow, now that he'd had a chance to say good-bye. He looked down at Laura, who looked up and smiled. "I think we will be."

"All right. Let's go on to the next part."

The next part was the part they had been dreading. Dahlgren Chapel was a palace out of a fairy tale under its blanket of newly fallen snow. They walked quietly, sensing the students around them giving them a respectful space, feeling others falling in behind them. But they didn't see the rest of their family until they got to the chapel, the chapel they expected to see filled with the flowers Maggie had never seen in life.

It wasn't.

There wasn't a flower to be seen.

Instead the room was draped with blankets.

Blankets had been draped over chairs, over clothing racks, over perhaps every easel in the school. There had to be dozens of them. They looked around in wonder as everyone walked up to them, Garcia in the lead. "Garcia…?" Spencer asked. "What was all this?"

"I overheard." She said. "She'd never seen a flower; she wouldn't know that they meant hope for a new life or anything. So when people asked about flowers I told them to bring a blanket instead, because she knew that a warm blanket meant love."

As Laura broke down crying again Spencer started at the variety around them. There was one in the Georgetown colors, and one from Cornell and one from Caltech. There was a blanket from a bed at the FBI academy, and one from the NSA and one from the CIA. There was a quilt made by the Sterling House Quilters Guild, and one sent from the staff, and one sent from Bennington staff as well. There was one from the place where Laura taught and one sent from the staff of a project she'd worked on and one from her old department and a bright pink one from her housemates. There was a fancy one from the University club and a simple, surplus army blanket with a note from Eric saying that he passed the hat. There was one with Winnie the Pooh from the IIU team and one with Paddington from Emily and her Interpol team. There was one from each member of the BAU team, and one, surprisingly, from both his parents. And there was one little one just marked From JG which stunned him.

Spencer just gaped at them all.

He never realized so many people cared.

"I figured the ones you didn't want to keep we could give to Project Linus." Garcia said. "Spread the love around to other babies who needed it."

"Garcia, I…" Oh Christ, now he was going to cry too.

But then he and Laura were being hugged, and somehow the chapel was getting very nearly full and somehow he realized that they would never be, had never been, alone.

She brought me her mother, he thought, and she brought me back to my family. Thank you Maggie, you're an amazing little girl. I will always be proud of you.

.

Note: End of Part 2