A/N: Hello again, everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.
I want to thank Quilter1993 for giving me the idea for this chapter.
It was a few days into 2014 and the first Saturday of the year. Usually, Spencer and Élise would take the children out of the house for a few hours. However, since Élise is still preparing to give her testimony to potentially be the next Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States, Rose took Opal on her daily walk while Spencer offered to take the children somewhere after breakfast.
And that somewhere was the Bethesda Row, located at the intersection of Bethesda Avenue and Arlington Road in the downtown district of Maryland, which was about twelve-thirteen miles from McLean. A great place to grab a bite, dozens of shops, and walk around, including the 37,500 square foot spaced Barnes and Noble.
"Interesting…" Spencer had his hazel eyes on some picture book value collections that would be perfect for Séraphine when she starts Pre-K this upcoming year. Which reminded him that he and Élise that the two needed to… "Whoa!" that thought was caught close when he felt a hard tug forward caused by Séraphine and Isaac going a little farer than they were supposed to.
"Hold it right there, you two…" Spencer wheeled the children closer to him. Since Séraphine and Isaac were getting older—and more boldly independent—he and Élise thought it would be a good idea for the children to have backpacks with harnesses on them. Élise was more against it since she worried about the negative reactions and some of the safety risks, such as strangulation and injury. Spencer convinced her that it would give them a sense of independence and freedom while giving them some peace of mind by keeping the children closer to them.
Spencer squatted to their heights. "Remember what we promise?"
Séraphine blew an annoyed sigh. "No goin' too far…" Isaac nodded his head in agreement.
"Exactly." Spencer winked. "Now, if you two are good…I'll get you two cupcakes, okay?"
Séraphine and Isaac cheered.
It was minutes until two o'clock in the afternoon, and Élise was still in her office, preparing her testimony. It was the most significant potential break in her legal career and one of the biggest moments that could happen to her. She hasn't felt this anxiety since…so many moments in her life, from graduating Rutgers to graduating Harvard Law; from her engagement to getting married; from her pregnancies to the deliveries; from the hell and back of last year's troubles.
It was a whole moment, to say the least.
If confirmed, she'd be the head of the DOJ, the President's principal advisor for all legal matters, as well as a member of the Cabinet. She could potentially be one of—if not the—most powerful woman in the country.
"Élise...?" a distant voice called for her.
"Huh?" Élise didn't even see Rose standing by the door, holding a white ceramic plate that had a sandwich with kettle-cooked potato chips. "Oh, hey, Rose…"
Rose strolled to her desk and set the plate down. "Still keeping yourself busy with the Senate testimony coming soon?" she asked.
Élise slumped back in her chair with her hand on her head. "I swear, Rose…I haven't studied this much since my school years, and let me tell you, I studied a hell of a lot for the Bar exam because I was so worried about failing."
"You know FDR failed the Bar when he took it the first time; the same with Hillary, JFK Jr, Kalama Harris, even our First Lady."
Élise held her arms open and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm a worrywart."
"Don't worry too much," said Rose with good intent. "I read it can lead up to an aneurysm."
Élise pressed her bow lips together and hard. "Oh, yeah…" she had a bite of the sandwich. "Mmm…" Élise licked her mouth. "This a BLT?"
"Yup."
Élise had another bite. "I'm not gonna lie, I've been craving for a BLT…" she kept chewing while she picked up her phone and wasn't too worried about answering with a mouthful since Spencer called her. "Yeah, I—yeah, I'm sitting down right now."
Élise heaved her desk drawer open, grabbed her sparkling water bottle, and closed it. "I'm surprised you three are not home right now…" after she swallowed, Élise jugged her water until such news came to her that her eyes bulged and nearly spit took on Rose.
"What happened to Séraphine!?"
What happened was after nearly an hour at Barnes and Noble, Spencer, Séraphine, and Isaac had just barely stepped outside and onto the cobblestoned pedestrian street when Séraphine slithered out from her father's grasp, ran in the direction where they would have been going when she tripped and slipped onto the salted ice patch.
"AHH!"
"SÉRAPHINE!"
"OWWW!" Séraphine shrieked and started crying in pain, clutching her left leg. Her scream caught the attention of a few bystanders.
"Hey-hey-hey, Fifi…" Spencer cowered and gently took off her coat to make sure nothing was broken there before zipping her up again. He methodically examined her left leg, and by the sounds of her pains, it was broken, and there were a couple of small cuts on her left temple as well. As a father, he needed to do everything he possibly could to comfort her and Isaac, who was thankfully not hurt. "It's gonna be okay. It'll be okay."
"Daddy, is Fifi…?" Isaac stood there and seemed oblivious to what was going on.
"Everything's going to be okay, Ziggy." Spencer's voice mustered and was trying to steadily hold it together, even when calling 911. It may have been out of reach, but to ensure it wasn't a spinal injury and keep Séraphine's left limb in the position it was in to keep her from screaming louder, Spencer pulled him closer and kissed his head and Séraphine's. "Everything's going be fine…"
An ambulance came in about two-three minutes and took everyone to Bethesda General Hospital's pediatric care center. A nurse called for the family, led them into their office, and told them the doctor would be there soon.
Séraphine was on the exam table, her hand clenched onto her leg. "It hurt, daddy…" she winced from the pain. "Ouch…"
Spencer set Isaac down on the patient's chair and kissed her head to comfort her. "It'll be okay, Fifi. We just have to wait for the nice doctor and…"
The door swung open, and there came Rose with Élise, who looked surprisingly calm and collected.
"Mommy…!" Séraphine cried out for her before wincing again. "Ow…"
Élise came to her side, kissed her head, and examined her face, and she could feel her insides prickle with worry when she saw the minor cuts on her temple.
"Everything's gonna be fine, baby…" said Élise with eerily serenity and massaged her back. "It'll be fine…"
The door opened and closed again when a woman above average height, with a flawless medium-ish brown complexion, her long dark hair with soft wavy ends, and in the white doctor's coat uniform, pants, and sensible shoes, had her clipboard on her.
"Hello, everyone," she warmly greeted. "I'm Dr. Savannah Hayes."
Everyone greeted her back, and Rose quickly introduced herself before leaving, though a particular conversation Spencer had with Morgan after a case brought him to have one of his thinking faces. "Savannah…Savannah?"
"The neighbor I've been dating for the past few months…a doctor at Bethesda General Hospital…"
Spencer unintentionally blurted out, "You're Savannah…"
Savannah twisted her mouth a bit. "Huh…?" she seemed confused.
"Uh-uh…Morgan's Savannah…" Spencer stuttered. "You're that Savannah…Morgan…"
Savannah opened her mouth, still seeming a bit confused, before she started wagging her finger. "Oh…oh! So you're Dr. Reid…" now she was getting it. "Derek's told me so much about you." Spencer smiled. "And who's this wonderful woman…?" she eyed Élise in the chair while holding a semi-squirmy Isaac in her arms.
"My wife, Élise; this one here is our Séraphine and our little guy Isaac…"
Savannah waved again and got right down to business. She cleared her throat and asked, "So, what can I do for you today?"
Spencer explained. "We were at the Bethesda Row, and we had just left Barnes and Nobles when this go-getter started running and fell on a saline ice patch."
Savannah hissed through her perfectly straight white teeth. "Ouch." Séraphine nodded. "Well, I'm gonna take a closer look at it, okay?"
She rested her hand on Séraphine's leg and asked her where she felt the pain until Séraphine told her. "Well, I'm gonna take care of that, okay?"
Séraphine moaned. "I wanna go home now…"
Élise jolted up. "Yeah, let's go home…"
"And miss out on getting an X-ray?" Savannah lifted an eyebrow and raised her voice a bit to try and get Séraphine excited and less scared. "Don't worry; it's not gonna hurt one bit."
Spencer simplified it for her. "Think of it as a…big camera. I'll be with you the whole thing."
"And I'll stay here with this one…" Élise swathed Isaac in her arms and got his attention by showing him her gold necklace chain.
Spencer scooped Séraphine and followed Savannah to the other room, where he set Séraphine down on the examination table. Savannah placed a special apron over her body before taking the X-rays. After that was done, Savannah did a quick check-up on her and escorted the two back to her waiting room, where a pale and mousy hair-styled nurse handed her an envelope. Savannah opened it—it was Séraphine's X-ray of her left leg—and placed it on the board.
"Yup; looks like you broke your leg…" Savannah announced with her hands on her hips.
Élise held her hand over her mouth. "Oh, my…"
"But the good thing is that I'm gonna fix it by putting a cast over it so it can heal. And do you know what the best thing is?"
Séraphine shrugged her shoulders. "What?"
"You can pick out what colors you want…"
Spencer gasped to get Séraphine excited. "You hear that, Fifi? You get your own colors."
Séraphine perked up a little bit.
Thirty minutes passed, and Séraphine's pink and purple leg cast was set in, along with a small band-aid on her temple.
"So, how's the leg?" Savannah asked.
Séraphine scratched at it. "Heavy. And itchy."
"Give it a day or two…" Savannah advised. "And remember…"
Spencer listed the dos and don'ts of what to do when in a cast. "For the next few days, keep the leg elevated and dry, don't get it wet or ignore any swelling, and check daily for any cracks, smells, or skin infections…"
Savannah chuckled, amazed by Spencer's knowledge. "Derek told me you were a doctor."
"Well, I'm not that kind of doctor," Spencer clarified. "Three PhDs."
"Sure you didn't go to medical school?" Savannah folded her arms and joked; she grabbed a small lollipop from her desk and gave it to Séraphine. "Here's a reward for being brave."
"Thank you."
Within the next ten minutes, Spencer and Élise were on their way out, and Savannah had the hospital wheeled Séraphine out in a special vehicle for her condition.
"Weee!" Séraphine giggled; she rode in a little red wagon with Isaac inside with her. "This is fun!"
Spencer asked, "You like it?"
"I want one like this." Séraphine batted her eyes. "Please, daddy? May I have a wagon like this?"
How could Spencer say 'no' to a face like hers? "I'll think about it, okay?"
Élise rested her hand on her head. "Oh, I'm so ready to go home. I think I had enough excitement for one day."
"Hey, everyone!"
Spencer and Élise circled and saw Rose coming down the hallway with a giant basket in her hands.
"I thought I bring a little reward for Séraphine being such a trooper…" Rose smiled; the pink princess-themed gift basket contained small games, books, stuffed toys, and candy.
"Thank you, Rose!"
The family got home twenty minutes after leaving the hospital; while Spencer attended to Séraphine's needs and Élise to Isaac, Rose got a quick start on an osteo-fracture-friendly family meal, using the ingredients that Spencer told her the foods needed for Séraphine to get the proper protein, calcium, Vitamins C & D, iron, and potassium nutrients.
White-and-dark-meat chicken for the main course, leafy and green vegetable salad, and parfait made with fortified yogurt, nuts, and berries.
Spencer thought it would be best if Séraphine set the first night with him and Élise in their bedroom and comfortably set her between them with a lift pillow.
"Daddy…" Séraphine jiggled the small pink handbell that was in the gift basket. "Daddy!"
Spencer changed into a dark purple pajama set and sauntered out of the bathroom. "I'm here. I'm here…"
"It itchy…" Séraphine grumbled. "Itchy so bad…"
"No-no…" Spencer stopped Séraphine from scratching at it. "Don't do that; you don't want to get sores or nasty infections now, do ya?"
"Ew…" Séraphine groaned.
"I hope you learned your lesson, young lady, about running around the ice."
Séraphine sighed. "I did. Where's mama…?"
Spencer kissed her forehead. "Let me go find her, okay?" Spencer cruised out of the bedroom and looked to his left, seeing Élise coming out of Isaac's bedroom, already looking exhausted. She had just closed the door as Spencer crept up from behind.
"Whoa!" Élise leaped. "Don't do that!" she shoved Spencer's shoulder. "Stop doing that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" she faded her back against the wall and had her hands over her face.
Spencer laid his hands on Élise's shoulders. "Oh, sorry…"
Now Élise gripped her throat. "Oh, Lord…oh, God…oh…" she had only taken a few small steps away from the wall before Spencer entrapped her by the way, turned her around, and hugged her.
"There-there…"
Élise sobbed softly.
"Believe me, honey, I was worried, too…" Spencer pulled back, and Élise wiped her tears. "The most important thing is that Fifi's fine; these accidents happen, and kids get cuts and broken bones."
"I know…" Élise shook her head. "I swear, Spence when you called…I was…ready to go off and attack…you know I don't play with my children. One thing I know, I'll die for my children."
Spencer kissed her forehead. "I know you would; I would, too…"
They had another kiss and hugged when Séraphine rang her handbell again.
"She better not be ringing that bell too much…" Élise warned as Spencer led her to their bedroom.
Spencer reminded Élise amusingly again, "Well, I remember you ringing that bell nonstop."
Élise scoffed funnily. "I was pregnant and carrying our children, thank you very much." When they got there, Élise closed the door behind her, and she and Spencer sat between Séraphine.
"Can I have a bedtime story, please?" Séraphine fluttered her eyes at Spencer.
"One bedtime story, okay?" Spencer had a book in his hands from the stack on the bedside table called The Very Fairy Princess.