A/N~ Just so you all know, Michael Gideon Reid was born on November 2, 2007. Also just so you know, this chapter wasn't supposed to be anywhere near this long, but the muses took me to places that I didn't expect.

I looked over to my husband, but my smile faded when I saw the look of pain on his face.

"Spencer?" I asked, getting everyone else's attention. "What's the matter?"

8888

Ariel's P.O.V.

He didn't answer at first. "Sweetheart? What is it?"

That was when he looked at me, and I nearly flinched. The look in his eyes was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was tortured, but resigned - like he knew something terrible was about to happen but had no idea how to stop it.

"Can… can you guys give us a few minutes, please?" he asked everyone quietly. "Just, just, ah… go down to the cafeteria and get yourselves some coffee or something." There was a moment or two when everyone just stared at him, but surprisingly, Agent Rossi was the first one to say anything.

"Sure thing, kid." he said, moving towards the door. "Just give us a call when you're ready." The rest of our family started to follow him out of the room before Spencer spoke again.

"Actually… Morgan, Kat, uh, would you, um… stay?" Spencer asked, and my nerves started to ease a bit. If that was all that he wanted to talk about, then things were fine.

They both nodded, and Kat came and sat down on the edge of the bed, handing Michael back to me as she did.

Once the door shut, they turned to look at my husband.

"What's up, pretty boy?" Morgan asked, and I giggled for a second. No matter how serious the situation was, that nickname would always make me laugh.

"We have something we want to ask you…" I began, but Spence cut me off.

"Ariel… there's something you should know first." he said softly. "It's about what the doctor told me."

"Fine, but can we please tell them first? I've been dying to ask for so long now." I asked, carefully shifting Michael around so that he was laying down with his head on my chest.

Spencer paused for a second, then gave a soft smile. "Alright." he finally agreed.

"Yay!" I said, before remembering that there was a baby sleeping on top of me. Surprisingly, Michael hadn't moved an inch - he didn't even appear to have been bothered by it.

"We wanted to ask you guys," I began, trying to be quieter this time, "if you wanted to be Michael's godparents."

They looked shocked, and I was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to ask them when they didn't say anything for a few minutes. "Umm, guys?" I said, trying to regain their attention. "Anything to say? Anything at all?"

"Wow." Morgan was the first one to say anything. "I'm just… wow. Yeah, kid, I'm… I'm honored."

Kat, of course, managed to put it in a less succinct manner. "Of course, chica. I'd like to see anyone try and get at this kid."

That earned her a strange look from Morgan, but I couldn't help but feel my heart melt a bit when she said that. Kat knew me better than just about anyone - she might have been the one person who knew me even better than Spencer did, and that was saying something. She knew everything that had ever happened to me, and she also knew just how crazy life could be when we were on the road.

"Now then, what was it you wanted to tell us?" I said, turning back to my husband. He looked nervous, which surprised me more than anything. He hadn't been nervous around me since the night that he had asked me to marry him.

"It's about Michael." he said, and the tone of his voice made my heart drop.

"What about him?" I asked. At this point in time it was taking all of my willpower to keep from losing it completely. That - and the fact that I was still hopped up on painkillers and had a baby sleeping on top of me - were the only things that actually kept me in the hospital bed. "Spencer Reid, you're not making things any better by being cryptic, so just spit it out."

"He's deaf." he said quickly, and in that moment I knew what it meant to have the earth ripped out from under you. It was like I was falling, with no idea of when I might land - I only knew that it would be bad when I did land. Almost like skydiving without a parachute.

"What?" I asked, horrified. "Are you sure?" If the situation hadn't been so mind-numbing, I knew for a fact that Spencer would have responded to a question like that with sarcasm. Luckily, he didn't - I didn't think I would have been able to make it through the conversation without breaking down if he had.

"The doctor was positive. There's a chance that he might be able to use hearing aids when he gets older, but we won't know for sure until he's at least six months." he explained sadly, moving to come and sit next to me on the hospital bed. "He's deaf, sweetheart." he finished, pulling me close so that my head rested on his chest.

Suddenly I thought of something. "This is all my fault." I said, making Morgan and Kat look at me in surprise. I had honestly forgotten that they were even there - they must've been trying to give us a bit of privacy, which was much appreciated.

"What're you talking about?" Morgan asked, looking at me in disbelief.

"The car accident." I said softly, trying to hold back my tears. "If it wasn't for that damn accident, none of this would be happening.

"Hey." Morgan said, moving up so that he was sitting on my other side. "None of this is your fault, sweetheart. If anything, it's the driver's fault. Remember that sonuvabitch?"

I nodded, trying to see his face through the haze of tears. "And we're gonna get him, alright?" he said. "I don't care how long it takes, we're gonna get this guy."

I laid my head back against my husband's shoulder as I gave Morgan a watery smile. "Thanks, Derek." I said.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Penelope peered around the corner, saying "Knock-knock. Anybody home?"

Spencer smiled at her. "Yeah." he said softly. "Come on in, Garcia." he pressed a kiss to my temple before moving to stand up. "Hey, uh Morgan? Would you and the guys mind helping me out with something?" he asked, sounding anxious.

8888

Rossi's P.O.V.

Dr. Reid met us outside of his wife's hospital room, looking more worried than I had ever seen him. Morgan slipped out after him, and it was only after JJ and Prentiss went inside that he said anything.

"I need your help." he said quickly.

Morgan nodded, seeming to already be on the same page as the younger man. "Hotch, we gotta get that bastard in jail." he said, and Dr. Reid turned to look at him in confusion.

"What? No, that's not the issue right now. Well, that is the issue, just not the most pressing one at the moment."

Morgan looked at him like he had lost his mind - which, as far as I knew, he had. "Are you nuts, kid?" he protested. "Your girl -"

"Is fine for now." Reid said, cutting his friend off. I had learned a lot about those two in the two days that I had known them so far. One of the first things that I had learned was that they were best friends, practically brothers. They watched out for each other in every sense of the phrase, and now was no exception. "There are three mama bears in there, and only one of them is my wife - I think they're covered."

Morgan couldn't help but smirk at that.

"So what's up, G-man?" one of Ariel's friends - I think his name was Finn - asked softly. I assumed that the guys were all Ariel's friends, although I had already been wrong about things today.

"There is nothing set up at home for Michael yet." he admitted. "We thought we had at least another few weeks to get ready, and with how crazy things have been lately…"

"No worries, my man." another one of Ariel's friends spoke up. He was on the shorter side, and was obviously of Asian descent. "We'll take care of it."

"Thanks, Lee." Reid said gratefully, tossing him his keys. "Come on." he started to go towards the elevator, but Finn stopped him. "Hold up, Spencer. Stay here with the mermaid and the little one."

Gabe smiled. "Yeah, we've got this under control." he said, reassuring him. The doctor - and I still didn't know what he was a doctor of - looked unconvinced.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and this time it was Hotch who stepped up.

"Go and be with your wife, Reid." he instructed. "I'll make sure that they don't destroy anything." That was apparently the right thing to say, because the younger agent seemed to loosen up and relax a bit.

"You know the place, help yourself to any food in the fridge." he said, rattling off instructions. "There's baby-proofing stuff on the kitchen counter, and all of the furniture and things are in the baby's room - it's right across from our bedroom. Guys -" he pointed to the three men that I didn't know "you know where it is."

Morgan clapped Reid on the shoulder, cutting off any more words. "Relax, pretty boy." Anything you need us to bring for you?"

He thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Yeah, can you grab the, um, there's a bag in Ariel's closet of her stuff, and could you grab some clothes for Michael too? I don't think Ariel's going to want him to leave her in whatever pastel stuff they have him in now."

Gabe snorted. "You got that right."

"We'll be back soon." Hotch promised, before leading us out to the SUV. The three other men climbed into their cars - Finn and Lee got into a gorgeous black car, while Gabe climbed into a little blue convertible.

As soon as we started driving, I started asking questions, "What exactly is Doctor Reid a doctor of?" was the first one.

Hotch smirked, while Morgan chuckled. "The better question is what isn't he a doctor of." Hotch answered. "You know that each person on the team is an expert in something… Reid is our expert in pretty much everything. He has PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering, and BAs in Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy."

I whistled. "You weren't kidding when you said he was your resident genius."

"How long have Dr. Reid and his wife been married?" was my next question.

"A little over six years now." Morgan said, smiling.

"And to think, he still comes off as being the baby of our rag-tag family…" Hotch added.

Morgan finished off what we all thinking. "Now the kid's got a kid of his own." We were following the other cars through D.C., and it seemed like I wasn't the only one who didn't know where we were going.

"How are you handling all this, Dave?" Hotch asked me, and I looked at him in confusion, so he quickly elaborated. "You worked alone for so many years, to come back and be on a team is hard enough. But then to find out that we're more of a family…" he trailed off.

"I'm not going to lie," I said slowly. "It's a lot to take in." but then I smiled. "But I think I can handle it."

8888

Ariel's P.O.V.

"Oh, look at him." JJ cooed, running the tip of her finger over his cheek. "He's so cute."

"Wait until you see this." I said, smirking as I pulled the little pastel hat that the nurses had put on him off.

The girls all gasped in surprise as I revealed the little red mohawk that Michael had been born with.

Emily laughed. "Uh oh, here comes trouble!"

"He needs a little leather jacket to go with that hair." Penelope added.

"You've got that right." JJ said. "How's Spence doing?"

I laughed, even though I was terrified. The truth was, I didn't really know how he was doing. He had barely told me that our son was deaf before disappearing from the room. "Surprisingly well. He's still terrified to hold Michael, though - he's afraid that he'll drop him." The whole thing was ridiculous, and I kept telling him that, but he refused to believe me.

The knowledge that my baby boy was deaf had settled in my stomach in tight knots, and I knew that if I thought about it for longer than a few seconds, I would burst into tears again.

That was when Spencer walked into the room again. He came right over to the bed, and his smile only grew when he saw the little red mohawk. His long slender fingers caressed his little head as he pressed a kiss to my temple.

"I sent the guys back to the house." he said quietly, settling himself down next to me on the bed. "They're going to grab some clothes for you and hopefully some less pastel ones for Michael."

I smiled up at him. "Oh thank god." I sighed, leaning my head back against the stack of pillows.

JJ looked confused. "What's wrong with what he's wearing?" she asked, and Kat smirked.

"Ariel hates pastels." she told the others. "I have no idea why, but she always has."

"I don't know why, okay?" I said - this was a conversation that Kat and I had had a surprising number of times before. "I just don't like them."

"He's so quiet." Penelope said, sounding surprised, and Spencer and I shared a look. "I would've thought that we would have woken him up by now."

"There's a reason for that." I said softly, before turning to look back at my husband. "Do you want to tell them or should I?" I asked him softly.

"I'll tell them." he said after a moment's hesitation. "He's so quiet because he's deaf." he said, and there was utter silence from the ladies of the BAU.

Their silence seemed to be affecting Spencer as much as it was affecting me, because he started rambling. "0.003% of children born in the United States have some form of detectable hearing loss. Actually, it doesn't appear to be genetic, as 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents. Also…" I clapped a hand over his mouth to get him to stop rambling.

"So that's how you get him to stop." Emily noted, but she still seemed like she was having trouble processing what he had said.

8888

Rossi's P.O.V.

We pulled up outside of a beautiful house in a little neighborhood. I was surprised, to say the least. I didn't know what Mrs. Reid - Ariel, I reminded myself - did for a living, but it must have been something good to be able to afford this house. It was a large house with a wood paneled and stone exterior, and large, curved-topped windows. The front door was set into the house a bit, and dark-stained.

Morgan whistled. "Damn. This place is fine." he said, and I couldn't help but agree with him.

Gabe looked over at the other man. "You haven't been here yet?" he asked, and Morgan shook his head.

"The team's been so busy lately, I barely even remember what my place looks like." he explained as Finn unlocked the front door and let them all inside.

"Help yourself to anything in the fridge, guys." Finn said as he headed up the stairs. "I'm gonna throw together Ariel's stuff."

I thought that was a bit odd, but didn't say anything about it. I decided to skip the kitchen for now, and take a tour of the rest of the house. The living room was about what I had expected - photos were hung up on one wall, almost covering it entirely. One of the other walls had a large television on it, with several different video game systems set up underneath it. Framed concert posters surrounded it, and the third and fourth walls were covered in CD cases and more framed posters and t-shirts.

The next room I saw looked to be a library, which I had expected. What I hadn't expected was to see Chaucer side-by-side with Patterson, or Shakespeare's complete works next to Cornelia Funke.

I was about to go and snoop around some more when Hotch stuck his head in the room. "Dave, are you ready to go? We've got everything that we need, and Morgan, Finn, and Gabe are going to stay here and put together the nursery."

I nodded, determined to get to the bottom of things some other time. But there was something about the young doctor and his wife that just didn't seem right...

8888

Ariel's P.O.V.

I nearly sighed in relief when the Hotch, Lee, and Rossi came back, carrying two bags with them. "Who picked out clothes for Michael?" I asked immediately, and Lee raised his hand, smirking.

"I did." he said.

"Thank goodness." I said, and Spencer pouted.

"What happened to the clothes that I picked out?" he asked.

"They did not come with us." Lee replied firmly, and I couldn't help but snort out a laugh.

Spence gave me another injured look, and I sighed. "Sweetheart, I love you like no other, but your fashion sense is terrible." Then I grabbed ahold of his tie and used it to pull him down for a kiss. "Although it can be terribly useful at times." I said, opening my eyes as I finally released my hold on him.

"Eww, guys!" Emily teased us. "There are little children present, you two."

I sent her a mock glare as I went to pick Michael up. "Ariel, what are you doing?" my husband asked in alarm as I moved to climb out of the bed.

"I'm changing his clothes, killer." I told him, rolling my eyes.

"No, you're not - you can't." Spencer said quickly, hovering slightly. "You aren't technically supposed to even have visitors yet, but you managed to convince the doctors to let everyone in, and I really don't want to know how you managed that. So you are not getting out of that bed."

"Try and stop me." I replied, and he practically spat out his next words.

"If you don't get back in that bed right now, Ariel, I'll ask the doctor to sedate you."

8888

Spencer's P.O.V.

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. But I wasn't going to back down. I knew that a fight was coming on, and decided to try and get everyone out of the room as soon as I could.

"If you guys wouldn't mind, we need to be alone for a bit." I told our family. They all looked more than a bit shocked, probably due to what I had just said. In all honesty, I was more than a little shocked by what I had said. But at the moment, I didn't care.

Ariel waited until Hotch closed the door behind him before saying anything. "What the hell was that, Spencer?" she snapped.

"Ariel, you need to be resting!" I said frantically. "I get that you want to put on your brave face, but you can't right now. Your body needs you to rest. Michael needs you to rest." Up until that point, I didn't really know what I was saying. Words were pouring out of my mouth with no real rhyme or reason, and I just prayed that somehow it would make her see sense. "Please." I finished, and there were a few seconds of silence before she said anything.

When she did, she flopped back down onto the bed with a pout, momentarily forgetting that Michael was laying there. I scooped him up quickly, cradling the blanket-wrapped bundle close to my chest.

Ariel looked at me in fright. "Okay, you were right." she said quickly. "I need some sleep."

I nearly sighed in relief, but avoided it in favor of putting Michael back in the plastic bassinet that he was supposed to be sleeping in.

I had no idea how I would get Ariel to actually learn to take care of herself, but I was going to have to make sure that she did. Otherwise it could spell disaster for her… and for Michael.

If you want to see what the house looks like, copy and paste this into Google:

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Thank you to ahowell1993, tannerose5, gossamermouse101, tlcroft, Momochan77, curlystruggle for their reviews.

Hopefully I'll get the next chapter done in time for Christmas!