Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and all its characters belong to CBS. I own nothing. Feel free to read and review, but please don't copy.
AN- No medical knowledge here.
Previously on Criminal Minds- Grinning, the doctor turned and began walking down the corridor. He would have his revenge very soon.
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Dr. Sawyer whistled as he walked down the pediatric ward corridor. Although it was his rotation off and he was bone tired, he'd had no choice but to come back to the hospital. He had a gut feeling he was needed. And if there was one thing he had learned in all his years on this Earth, it was to trust his gut instincts. Sawyer had been all ready to get into bed and sleep for a week when it'd hit; the feeling the Hotchner boy was in trouble. Of course, given the kid's track record that was pretty much a given. And truthfully it could be his worn out brain's imagination. But Sawyer wasn't willing to risk it. He had done that once and the results had been catastrophic. Josh refused to allow it to happen again. There were not going to be anymore Callies; not if he had anything to say about it. The memory of the pretty little girl who was taken too soon spurred him on. He quickened his pace. He needed to see Little Britches now! Determined to get to his patient ASAP, he hurried around the corner and ran smack into a nurse coming out of one of the rooms.
"Oops! Sorry!" Sherry apologized, catching her patient's chart before it could hit the floor. "What are you doing back here Dr. Sawyer? I thought your shift was over."
"It is. I just need to check on a couple of things before I go home." The physician distractedly replied. He glanced down the hallway, doing a double take when he saw a certain nurse coming out of Spencer Hotchner's room. "Crap! Excuse me!" he said before sprinting down the corridor. He didn't know what Helen had been doing in his patient's room. The youngster wasn't due for any meds or anything else for that matter. There was no reason for her to be in the kid's room…unless. Sawyer skidded to a stop in front of the nurse in question. "Helen, what were you doing in Spencer Hotchner's room just now?"
"I was just adding the new medication to his IV like you ordered." Helen brightly answered.
The physician's brow furrowed. "What new medication?" he questioned, the butterflies in his stomach morphing into elephants.
"The one you wrote on the chart." The nurse vaguely responded, unsure as to why the doctor was so worried about a medication he had prescribed.
"Which was?" Dr. Sawyer prodded.
"Ummm, I don't recall." Helen told him. "Why? Don't you remember what you prescribed?"
Josh was halfway down the hall before Helen even finished speaking. Ignoring the young woman's calls, he raced around the corner and over to the nurse's desk. He snatched the Hotchner folder off the hanging stand and yanked it open. "Oh God" he muttered, dropping the open file. Sawyer spun around and dashed back towards the hallway, barking orders as he ran.
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Aaron slammed a hand onto the call button. "Help! We need some help in here!" he hollered, cradling Spencer to his chest. "Come on! Come on! Pick up dammit! We need help now!"
"Ca-ca-'t bw'f" Spencer wheezed. Fisting his daddy's shirt, the tiny boy struggled to draw in a breath.
"Shhh Spencer, save your energy for breathing." Aaron calmly said, though on the inside he was anything but calm. His son's lips were turning blue from lack of oxygen and it was scaring the Hell out of him. The only thing keeping him from losing it altogether was the knowledge that freaking out wouldn't help Spencer. He had to be calm in order to assist the suffocating boy. It took everything he had and then some to maintain his composure but Aaron somehow managed to do just that. "Hang in there buddy, help is on the way." He assured, hoping he was right. "Just concentrate on your breathing. The doctor's coming. He'll have you fixed up in no time. You just have to hang on. That's it. You're doing good. NO! Don't close your eyes. Don't do this! Open your eyes Spencer! Come on kiddo, stay with me. They'll be here any second now. You just have to hold on a little longer."
Spencer's eyes remained closed. His breathing hitched and then stopped.
"NO!" Aaron shouted. "You're not doing this! We are not going to lose you!" Laying his little one on the bed, he tilted Spencer's head back and began rescue breathing.
The room went silent; the only noise the sound of Hotch's breathes as he forced air into his son's lungs. "Come on, Spencer! Come on! Breathe buddy! Please!"
After what felt like hours to Aaron, the door burst open and Dr. Sawyer rushed inside. The young physician dashed over to the bed and clamped off the IV. He ripped off the tape securing the line before yanking the IV out of his patient's hand. He took the ambu bag from Sherry and turned to Hotch. "Move Mr. Hotchner so I can help Spencer." He ordered. Getting a death glare in reply, Sawyer softened his voice and added, "Come on man, I'll take good care of him. Promise."
Hotch reluctantly nodded and took a few steps back to allow the doctor access to Reid. He didn't go far however. Aaron only backed up enough to give the doctor and nurses room to work. He refused to go any farther. He wouldn't leave Spencer…a flood of medical personnel entered the room. They swarmed around the bed, pushing the frantic father further and further away from his son. Before he knew it he was on the outside of the room. Aaron heard the words 'we're gonna have to intubate him' before the door was unceremoniously shut in his face. The distraught father backed up until his back hit the wall and then he slowly sank to the floor. Dropping his head into his hands, he prayed for Spencer to be alright.
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The BAU family hurried down the hallway to their baby genius' room. The short, urgent text from Aaron had left them all antsy. It meant something was wrong; very wrong. Racing into the hospital room, they froze. Not only were Hotch and Spencer nowhere in sight, the bed had been stripped and all the balloons, baskets, and toys Garcia had covered the room with were conspicuously missing. Panicking, the group rushed out the door, down the long corridor, and around the corner to the nurse's desk. "Excuse me" Morgan called to the bustling nurses behind the counter. "Where's Spencer Hotchner? He isn't in his room and it's been cleaned out."
Sherry gazed sympathetically up at the terrified family. "Spencer has been moved to pediatric ICU." She told them. The matronly woman went around the circular desk. "If you follow me, I'll take you to the waiting room. His father is there."
"Thank you" Dave muttered. Walking along beside Helen, he added, "What happened? We thought he was doing better."
Sherry sighed. "Dr. Sawyer will explain everything to you once he's finished examining and treating Spencer." She replied.
"How's Hotch taking this?" Emily asked, knowing the usually composed man was probably freaking out about now.
Sherry shook her head. "Not well. I'm sure having you here will help though." she answered. She turned a corner and then stopped next to an open entryway. "Here we are. Take a left after you get through the doorway and you should see Mr. Hotchner."
"Thanks" Morgan told the motherly lady before following the rest of the team into the large room. Spotting Aaron sitting on a couch at the back of the room, he hurried over. "What happened man? Why's the kid in ICU?"
Hotch looked up at his worried friend. "I think it was a reaction to a medication he was given." He said. "Sp-Spencer was fine. He was eating and joking. We even played a couple of games of poker. It wasn't until a few minutes after a nurse added a new medication to his IV that the trouble began. Spencer started having trouble breathing. He, he stopped breathing before help arrived. I had to, to…" He broke off as Dr. Sawyer strode into the room. Sitting up straighter, Aaron took a deep breath and asked, "How is he?"
Sawyer raked a hand through his hair. "I'm guessing that you've already figured out Spencer had a bad reaction to the medicine." He stated. Getting a nod, the doctor continued. "And you're right for the most part. But the thing you don't know is why. See, what happened was no accident. Somebody wrote that medication on Little Britches chart and then put it on the desk of the one nurse who wouldn't question it. Any other nurse would have balked at giving that to a child especially one as young as Spencer."
"You mean someone deliberately tried to kill my sweet baby!?" Garcia cried.
"Afraid so ma'am" the physician answered.
"But they didn't, right?" JJ softly questioned. "Spencer's going to be okay now, isn't he?"
"Of course he is JJ" Will assured his wife. "The doc pumped his stomach or something like that to get the drug out of his system and the kid's bouncing back already. Right doc?"
Dr. Sawyer ducked his head. He took a deep breath, blew it out, and then raised his head, locking eyes with Hotch. "I'm sorry. We did everything we could but the damage has already been done." He replied, the sorrow clear in his voice. "If he has any other family members, you should call them in to say their good byes. He's not gonna last through the night."