All will soon be peaceful again...

NINE: Over the Place Where the Child Was

As soon as the SUV was in park, Hotch and the others were jumping out of it. They could see the shape of a man in the light of the trailer doorway. The man was holding Jack in his arms, his left arm going all the way around the boy to grip a wound on his right. Jenny was standing uncertainly near the back of the trailer, staring at her husband.

Hotch could hear Beth crying out in agony. At least he knew she was still alive. "Robert Herod," he said in a steely voice, "put my son down."

"Not a chance, Aaron. I know you won't risk hitting your boy." Herod was edging along the trailer, looking for an escape route.

"Bob, please," said Jenny, sounding distraught. "This isn't like you. Put Jack down. He's scared."

Hotch saw JJ moving in the opposite direction from Herod, trying to work her way around to the trailer door.

"We have every reason to take the shot," Reid said, managing to keep his voice calm. "You don't have any use for Jack once you're safely away. We can't trust you to let him go."

"I don't have any reason to kill him either, or I'd have done it by now," Herod countered.

"Jack," said Hotch, "is the baby born yet?"

Too frightened to speak, Jack shook his head.

We got here in time. "You've already lost," he told Herod. "I know you believe that baby is the one in the prophecies. If you leave here without him, you've failed."

"'He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day,'" Herod retorted. "Now, put your guns down or I'll bash your son's head into the pavement."

"Daddy," Jack whispered fearfully.

"It's going to be okay, Jack," Hotch told him. "Bob's just scared and his arm hurts a lot. He doesn't want anything else to happen to him."

"Bob, why are you doing this?" Jenny asked. "What are these prophecies...?"

"Missus Herod, please step back," Reid told her.

To Herod, Hotch said, "If you harm my son, you won't leave this lot alive."

"You're willing to gamble with your son's life?" Herod demanded, squeezing Jack tightly against himself.

"Ow!" Jack squealed.

JJ took the opportunity to slip into the trailer. As Herod glanced in her direction, Hotch's hands dropped and he fired his gun.

Herod roared in pain, shifting his weight to his right leg as blood spurted from his left.

Once Herod was somewhat steady again, Jack tore one arm free and pressed his hand against Herod's with all his might, putting pressure on the arm wound. This caused Herod to scream in agony and drop to his knees. Jack wriggled out of his weakened grasp and Reid hurried forward to restrain Herod. Jack ran to Hotch's outstretched arms.

Hotch felt like a vital organ was being returned to him when Jack finally came within reach. He held his son close to his heart and kissed his head. "Everything's okay now," he whispered. "You did everything right, buddy. Everything's fine."

Shaking, Jack squeezed Hotch in return. All he could find to say was "daddy" over and over.

"Hotch!"

He looked up to see JJ leaning out of the trailer door.

"This baby is coming now."

Hotch stood up, Jack still in his arms, and hurried to the trailer. He could hear sirens; the rest of the team was almost there. On his way past, he looked over at the grimacing Herod and remarked, "I told you he would exploit a weakness."

Herod glared back at him with hatred in his eyes, but then his attention was distracted by the voice of his wife.

"Bob! Oh my god, what's going on?" she knelt beside her husband.

As he moved on, Hotch could hear Reid telling Jenny that the bullets hadn't seemed to hit major arteries and that Bob would likely recover.

He left Reid to handle the situation as flashing lights engulfed the parking lot. Inside the trailer, he set Jack down and took Beth's hand. "I'm so sorry," he said. "Did he hurt you? Jack said—"

"I'm okay," Beth gasped. Then she moaned, caught in a strong contraction. She gripped Hotch's hand hard.

JJ had put on a pair of sterile gloves. "Jack, can you get out some towels for me?" she asked.

Jack hurried to do as she asked.

"Beth, the baby's crowning. You should push with the next contraction."

Beth turned a very strained smile on Hotch. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Me too," he answered, eyes clouding.

Reid knocked on the open trailer door. "Hey, can I help?"

"Please get in here," JJ replied. "Hotch have you got clamps for the umbilical cord?"

"Yeah, they're in the blue bag," Hotch answered.

Reid put on a new pair of gloves as he came inside and quickly located the clamps, along with a small pair of scissors.

Beth's grip on Hotch's hand tightened again and she grimaced in pain.

"You're doing great," Hotch told her. "You need to push now."

Reid put an arm around a distressed-looking Jack as Beth all but screamed in pain. "It's okay, buddy. Beth's working really hard to get the baby out now. That's why it's called labor. This is the hardest part, but it won't last much longer, okay?"

Jack nodded.

"Do you want to wait outside?"

He shook his head.

"Okay."

"I've got his head," JJ reported. "One more good push, Beth. Reid, I need you."

Reid patted Jack's back and went to JJ's side.

"Get one of those towels ready..." JJ suddenly squealed as the baby slipped free. "Okay, he's here. That was a little quicker than I expected, but he's okay..."

Reid wrapped a soft towel around the baby in JJ's arms.

"He's not crying," Beth panted.

Reid quickly made sure the baby's airways were clear with a bulb syringe. "He's breathing," he reported.

The baby made a whimpering sound that was quieter than the usual first cries after birth.

"Is he okay?" asked Beth.

"Seems to be," said JJ. "Reid, clamp off the cord."

"Not yet," Reid said. "It's still pulsating. If he's not a strong breather, he needs all the oxygen he can get from the placenta."

JJ smiled. "You'd think he was the one who had had two babies before..."

"I know what I'm talking about," Reid said.

"I'm sure you do. The baby seems to be breathing okay, though."

"Well, let's give him to his mother for a minute. Then I'll clamp it."

JJ and Reid transferred the baby from the damp towel into a clean receiving blanket and Reid gently placed him on Beth's chest. Hotch, Beth and Jack got their first good look at the new baby. It seemed to be a good color and ideal size.

"He's beautiful," Hotch said.

"He's perfect," Beth agreed. "He favors his father."

After a split second of confusion, Hotch smiled. "Yeah, he does."

Meanwhile, JJ went to the door and called, "Morgan, go to Hotch's SUV. There's paperwork for a home birth in my bag."

"Got it," Morgan called back. "Hey—boy or girl?"

"Boy, of course!"

Morgan laughed. "Okay, just checking. Garcia's on her way, and she'll want an update."

Inside, Jack was sitting on Hotch's knee, staring in wonder at the new arrival. "What's his name, daddy?"

"I think we decided on Joshua," Hotch answered.

"Good. I like Joshua. Can I hold him?"

"Not yet. Give him a few minutes with his mom."

"Okay, I'm clamping the cord," Reid announced.

"I... I'm still having contractions," Beth said uncertainly.

"That's okay; it's just the afterbirth. You can push if you feel like it."

JJ smirked. "He doesn't even give me a chance."

"Sorry, Doctor Jareau. At least you officially delivered the baby. You should be very proud."

"Oh, I am."

"What's afterbirth?" Jack asked.

"Joshua has been living in Beth for about nine months," Hotch said. "The placenta is a big part of what made it so he could live in there without eating or breathing. It sent all the food and air he needed through the umbilical cord. Now that he's born, the placenta doesn't need to be in there anymore, so it's being born, too."

"And you cut it off?"

"Yup. Joshua will have a little piece of the cord attached to him for a while, but then it will fall off. That's where your belly button came from."

"Really?" Jack's eyes were wide.

"Really."

Jack subtly lifted his shirt enough to look at his belly button, causing the adults to exchange a few grins.

"Hotch, do you want to cut the cord?" Reid asked.

Hotch looked uncertainly at Beth.

"You should do it," Beth said, smiling at him.

"Okay..." Hotch took the scissors from Reid and carefully positioned them between the two clamps near the baby's stomach. It had been a big moment for him when Jack's cord was cut, but this felt eerily different somehow. He's becoming part of this world... on loan to me from his real father. I'll try to raise him well. He cut the cord.

"That's it; you've got a baby boy, Beth!" JJ exclaimed.

Beth smiled and nuzzled Joshua's face.

"You should feed him soon," Reid said, grabbing a spare pillow to help prop up the new mother. "The first feeding is very important."

JJ busied herself with cleanup. "I don't think the horses will be eating this particular hay bale," she muttered.

A little later, after the baby had nursed for the first time, Hotch carried him outside to meet the rest of the team. He was surprised to find the parking lot well-lit, and not by emergency lights. The clouds had parted, sending a shaft of light down to pool around the horse trailer. It was coming from the rogue comet, the very thing that had sent them to Bethlehem in the first place.

"I know, right?" Prentiss said, seeing his surprise. "I think I can hear a helicopter; probably a news team reporting on the phenomenon. When they find out a baby was born in this spotlight, it'll be all over the country."

"Look how awake he is," Gideon exclaimed. "I figured he'd be sleeping by the time you got him out here."

"I figured we'd be old by the time you got him out here," Garcia snapped. "What took you so long? Oh, he's just the most precious thing on this earth!"

Hotch smiled. He really is.

It's not over yet. :) But now it's all falling action and fluff, to make up for the darkness and suspense. Leave a comment if you can spare a moment. Thanks!