Chapter 22

Authors note: Hey Guys and Gals and all those somewhere in the middle! I am so, very sorry for my lack of speed in my update. I'm sure the excuses I could give would feel like, well, excuses- so I'll skip them! Here's a new chapter! Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Penelope's POV

I was racing around the halls of the hospital, mind moving a mile a minute. Poor Avery. Poor sweet, baby-faced doll of mine was lying in a bed somewhere, either unconscious or royally pissed off. As I plopped into the rough, stony bench outside the hospital's revolving door I let out a huge sigh and threw my head in my hands. Sometimes being in the BAU sucked. Like when you're forced to lie to your new best friend, and then try and comfort her when she figured out all her new friends are lying. And, dear GOD, try to explain to her (without telling her why he was being so distant) that Reid did EMPHATICALLY still care for her was heart wrenching. Poor Avery was so confused and hurt, by the team and by Reid, and all the while I had to pretend to be just as clueless as her.

The more I thought about her, the more the pit in my stomach twisted and turned. I suddenly had the urge to go see her once more, to check on her and stay with her. Groaning, I stood up and turned towards the main entrance. I hated hospitals. Ever since I'd lost my parents I've never felt comfortable inside their too white, bleach smelling, death filled halls. I strengthened my resolve, and headed through the doors.

As I sped walked through the corridors of the hospital, eyes strictly gazing frontwards, I began to worry about poor Avery again. She didn't deserve to have the truth kept from her, she deserved nothing but the best from everyone. I resolved to go and tell her everything that had happened for the last few weeks; about her case, the new leads we had on her stalker, all the cute things that Spencer had said about her. Emphasis on how totally in love with her he was, because I would be damned if she was going to think for even one more millisecond that Reid didn't care for her. That simply would not do.

I burst into Avery's room, pointer finger up, already talking, "Okay so first of all I want to say how extremely sorry I am that—"

My babbling was interrupted by the sight of Avery, looking more content than I'd seen her in days, being held and spooned by none other than Spencer Reid. I grinned widely, and shook my fists in silent, delicious glee for a few seconds. I guess Spence had beaten me to the punch, so to speak, and had told Avery how he felt himself. Or at least I hoped that is what had led up to this wonderfully adorable scene; if they both were still doubting how INSANELY the other was crushing on them I think it would be well within my rights to sit them down and have a serious, birds/ the bees /the profiling genius' like talk and straighten things out. It'd been a few months of ridiculous sexual tension between them, and I for one could not watch their adorkably awkward attempts at seeming like they were just friends any longer (though it was incredibly endearing and only made them seem all the more perfect for each other).

Smiling to myself, I whipped out my phone and quickly snapped a mired of pictures of the sweet, loveable dorks. Sighing to myself, I silently admired how wonderfully perfect Reid and Avery were for each other. Avery might be beautiful, but my goodness was she into some dorky stuff. Comic books, British TV, Disney movies; she was perfect in my opinion. I loved her nerdy interests, it's one of the reasons I was so taken with her. She was so authentically herself, and she never minded if it seemed dorky or lame. And given their current position, I'd say that Spencer thought so too.

I smiled once more as I watched Spencer start to stir. I tiptoed out of the room and shut the door quietly behind me, while Spence seemed to begin to wake up. I peeked through a small opening in the blinds of Avery's door, and saw him smile at her still sleeping form and place a tender kiss at her temple. I held my heart dramatically and slid down the door I was now leaning against; I think the sheer amount of sugary sweetness in that small gesture just sent me into cardiac arrest. I shook my fists excitedly again, before composing myself and opening the door.

Spencer straightened up a bit at my 'arrival' and I did my best to look surprised, but in all honestly I think just smiled widely and raised my eyebrows in fake shock. He looked slightly sheepish, but made no moves to detangle himself from Avery's grasp which made my clownish grin even wider.

"Garcia. She was having a nightmare, about the unsub, and she woke up panicked and I didn't know what to do and she asked me to stay up here with her and I haven't slept properly in weeks and I guess I just—"he spoke in a hushed frenzy of panicked explanation until I waved my hands in front of me in a 'time out' gesture.

"Spencer. Of all people do you really expect me to have a problem with this?" I questioned happily. He opened his mouth, wordless and shrugged. I rolled my eyes. "I think it's about time you two stopped dancing around your feelings for each other, honestly", I said as I sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs they always seemed to have in a hospital room. His faced flushed red, and he looked down at his waist where Avery's arm was slung against him, smiling.

"Thanks Penelope", he said quietly. I nodded in satisfaction, and turned as the door opened. Hotch, Morgan, and JJ walked in, each with a varying set of emotions on their faces. Hotch seemed questioning, but his face quickly turned into a calm mold of non-expression; typical profiler. Morgan, on the other hand, was in no way attempting to hide the look of humor and delight at the way Reid's face turned immediately red and then pale. JJ, like me, looked amused and expectant at the scene in front of her.

Morgan's POV:

The look on Reid's face when we walked in was priceless. He looked extremely embarrassed, and then completely terrified once he saw Hotch walk into his niece's room. Hotch, however, had been a profiler for too long to let his emotions betray what he was really thinking, so it was hard to say what he thought of the little lovebirds in front of us. He raised an eyebrow at Reid, as if to question what was going on, and Spence just kind of opened his mouth wordlessly and then shut it. Poor kid, being on the receiving end of the cold wrath of both your boss, and your girlfriend's father all at once could not have been easy. Reid had some serious balls to be able to stand up to Hotch, no matter how terrified he looked. The kid was growing up. As Reid open and shut his mouth looking for the right words to say, Hotch held up a hand as if to dismiss his excuses.

"I take it Avery is no longer livid with us", I said, trying to break up some of the awkward tension. Hotch nodded, and turned to me.

"She seems to be on her way to forgiving the team", he replied. Looking pointedly, anywhere else other than the bed. "She specifically mentioned that she was sorry for the things she apparently said to you earlier". I chuckled. Remembering how she'd been so feisty, so snappy even while heavily sedated I silently pitied the poor people who would ever feel the full extent of Avery's anger. I'd felt guilty after she'd yelled at me, but I had hoped she would find a way to understand the team's motives soon. Thank goodness she had.

"When she wakes I have no doubt that she will insist on knowing every detail of her case. She may be sedated, but we all know that she's a sharp girl, and she won't allow anymore distrust", Hotch said plainly, echoing my earlier sentiments. "I know we all had good reason to keep things from her, but given the events of the last two days, I think we can all agree that we can't continue to treat this as a normal case. Avery must be informed".

We all nodded in understanding, and Hotch finally cast his eyes over to the bed where Avery and Reid laid as she began to stir and twitch. Reid absentmindedly rubbed her knuckles, and she seemed to settle. Hotch nodded slightly, as if to say thank you, and Spence smiled slightly. I chuckled and looked at Penelope, who looked like she was watching some sort of Notebookesque movie, a thought suddenly coming to mind.

"Say, how many pictures of them up there did you take before we got in here?" I asked teasingly. She opened her mouth, and then quickly shut it as Reid blushed profusely and Hotch cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Avery's POV:

When I felt my body wake up, I heard voices all around me before I even opened my eyes. Some were faint, as if they were coming from somewhere outside the room, and some were hushed, but closer to me. Feeling the drowsiness that was still in my eyelids, I attempted to focus my ears on the words, and the voices. I picked out a few right away: Arrow's soft yet commanding voice, Morgan's deep chuckle, and JJ's quiet beautiful laugh were the first things that I heard. Soon after, I heard everything that I'd been hearing in my dreams all night; the sound of Spencer's low, baritone whispers in my ear. I presumed I was laying on his chest, as every word he said resonated in my head like a soothing drumbeat. I realized with a start that Arrow and the rest of the team presumably could see me all snuggled up with him, but quickly realized that I didn't give a rats ass. They lied, they could deal with how I comforted myself from the mistrust. Besides, they had to find out sooner or later, and I had a pretty good guilt trip. Hello, head trauma?

Eventually, the comforting blanket of medication waned, and I decided to open my eyes and get some much deserved answers from the team. As I blinked my heavy, sleep crusted eyelids open, my suspicions were confirmed. Around me was the majority of the team, either standing or sitting, in deep conversation. I noted with extreme satisfaction that my arms were wrapped around the midsection of one very pink, extremely adorable Dr. Spencer Reid. My heart lifted a little at the way he stayed by my side, even though he was exuding extreme unease. I frowned and tightened my grip on his lanky torso, as if to let him know that I was a part of this too, and that he wasn't alone against the scrutiny of the team. I'm not sure that the sentiment came through, but I did certainly alert both him and the team to my presence. They immediately all began asking how I was in hushed voices, all but Spencer who just smiled at me and helped me sit up. Grimacing at the slight movement, I responded.

"I'm fine. I think." I said carefully, taking measured breaths. Spencer moved further from my side, in an attempt to leave my ribs some room I guessed, so I grabbed his hand quickly to prevent him from getting up. I wasn't ready for him to leave yet. He stayed a distance away, but didn't detangle his hand. I took stock of the rest of the team for a moment. Penelope and JJ sat in the chairs near my bed, Penelope beaming and JJ smiling knowingly. Morgan and Arrow stood just at the end of the bed, Morgan with his ever present smirk on his face, and Arrow with that strange look that I'd dubbed his FBI intensity.

"I know I'm hurt, but can someone please explain what happened exactly? Where's Peyton, is she alright? Where are my kids? I need to see my kids" I said, becoming more frantic as I tried to take stock of my situation. How long had I been in this bed? Where were my kids? Practically everyone I knew was in this room, so who could they be with? Were they safe? I felt my breathing become shallower, and I fought to control it before I felt the repercussions of it in my side. Spencer began rubbing circles into my knuckles, and Morgan put his hands up.

"Slow down mama. I know this is a lot to take in, but you've got to calm down so you don't hurt yourself more", he soothed calmly.

"Your kids are fine" JJ interrupted. "Olivia brought them home from school and right now they're with her, safe and sound". My breathing slowed marginally and I looked at Arrow for more answers.

"Peyton is fine too. When you caught her fall, you managed to hit your head on a piece of the metal playground, but she did more damage to you than she got herself. Her knee hit your ribs, which explains why they're broken, but other than a few bruises Peyton is totally fine", Arrow relayed calmly. His demeanor and explanation was enough for me to slow my breathing back down to normal. I sighed, slowly exhaling through my mouth.

"Thanks guys" I said genuinely. They all nodded, and Spencer squeezed my hand reassuringly. I furrowed my brow, and they all looked quizzically at me.

"What now?" I said, and Arrow sat down near my side of the bed.

"Well, we figured we'd leave the timeline of what happens next up to you. You'll have to stay here for another night, but after that I'd like to take you back home for a few days' rest" I nodded, grabbing his hand with my free one. "And we also figured you'd have questions about your case; questions we are willingly to fully answer and discuss with you. No more secrets", he finished, squeezing my hand.

I steadied myself, and nodded slowly.

"I'm ready".

Author's Note:

Sorry to leave you kind of hanging there, but rest assured the team will come clean to Avery about all the details of her case in the next chapter. How did you like my first chapter in what feels like forever? Review and let me know!