CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: FAMILY EMERGENCIES !

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      CASEY WILLOWS WAS BACK AT WORK AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE TEAM. Of course, excluding Vivian, she was now healing from her injuries and her kids had decided to stay with her so they could take care of her. Casey was fixing some stuff up on her desk when JJ and Morgan had approached her.

"Hey, Ace." Morgan greeted. "Home sweet home, huh?" JJ jokes with the woman at her desk and Casey looks up at JJ and Morgan and chuckles. "Oh, you bet," Casey looks back at her desk. "Feels like I never left."

Casey had yawned and like Superman to the rescue, Spencer had come over to her desk with two cups of coffee, one cup being for her. "Here you go." He says softly and Casey smiles widely as she takes the cup. "Thank you, my love." She says. "Of course."

As Casey takes a sip from her coffee, Morgan speaks up. "Hey, you guys see Vivian at all recently?" He quips, wondering if anyone had. "Uh, yeah, I brought the boys by to cheer her up. She's doing better than before. That's for sure." JJ tells.

"That's good to hear." Casey nods. Vivian had assured to everyone that she was okay and didn't need the team visiting her all the time. But, of course, the team went against her wishes. Of course, Hotch did, that was her boyfriend.

"And how are you two doing?" JJ wonders, eyes locked on both Casey and Spencer. Before the two can even answer, Morgan raises a hand. "Let me guess, nothing but sweet, sweet loving your entire break?" He jokes.

Casey scrunches her face up at her coworker. "Um, gross..." She scoffs. "But accurate." Spencer follows, causing Casey to smack him on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"The kids were over at Leah and Isaac's most of the time but they got enough Mommy and Daddy time." Spencer stated with a tight-lipped grimace. "And we got enough Mommy and Daddy time." Casey added.

Both JJ and Morgan scrunch their faces up and JJ closes her ears and shudders. "La-la-la." She says and receives a look from Casey before JJ stops. "You two are gross. Probably grosser than anyone else here in a relationship." Morgan stated.

"Maybe, but I don't see you tying the knot anytime soon, mister." Casey comments towards Morgan. "Yeah, when are you and Savannah gonna get married?" Spencer wonders, leaning backwards and practically sitting on his wife's desk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Morgan holds his hands up defensively. "Pump the brakes, brain and beauty."

"You two have been together for a while now." JJ tells, agreeing with Spencer and Casey. "Just because they had a baby a year into dating," Morgan motions to Casey and Spencer. "— doesn't mean I gotta follow in their footsteps."

"Hey, don't bring us into this." Casey says.
"Or our kid." Spencer adds.
"Besides, it took us three years to get married," Casey interjected. "Don't be like us."

Casey could see that Morgan was taking it into consideration and before she could call him out on it, Hotch had exited out of his office. "Everyone in the conference room. We have a case." He informs, walking into the conference room.

Before the four can even head up the stairs, Casey's cell rings and it gets everyone's attention as she speaks into it. "Willows," She immediately raises her voice. "Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down, Lennox. Slow down, I can't understand you."

"Lennox?" JJ wonders.
"What's going on?" Morgan asks.
"Did-did something happen?" Spencer asks.

Casey throws a panicked finger over to the three as she listens to Lennox and she is freaking out now, but trying to keep it together. "What?!" She blinks her eyes a few times, wondering if what she was hearing was true. Spencer, Morgan and JJ all watch, wondering what is wrong. "Uh, which-which hospital?"

Spencer's eyes widen once he hears the word 'hospital' leave Casey's mouth. "Hospital?" He asks.

"We will be there in-in a second flat. Stay where you are." Casey hangs up the phone and stands up from her seat. "What's going on?" JJ questions.

"I need my... bag." Casey pushes her hair behind her ears to try and see downwards without her hair getting in her face. "Where's my bag? I need my bag." She panics, now.

"It's right here." Spencer hands the bag to Casey and she begins to relentlessly dig through it for her car keys. "Casey, what was that phone call about?" Morgan wonders but Casey isn't answering, she's just trying to get her car keys a single for her access.

"Casey." Spencer repeats, needing to know what she was told. "Christopher had a seizure," Casey reveals and she looks up at Spencer with tear-filled eyes meeting his shocked and sad ones. "We need to get down to the hospital."

"You guys go ahead. We'll tell Hotch, he'll understand." JJ tells and with that, Morgan and her head on up to the conference room while both Spencer and Casey make it out of the BAU to the parking garage.

Before Casey can even hop in the driver's seat, Spencer opts in, knowing that Casey wasn't in the right mindset to drive after receiving news that her son had a seizure back at home while she was at work.

As Spencer drives to their destination that Casey told him about, he glances every so often to check on his wife. She stares out the window and picks at her fingernails anxiously. She doesn't even realize her tears are forming on her face. She goes from picking to biting her nails every few milliseconds, not knowing which one was better for her sanity.

Spencer had managed to swipe her hand away from her mouth before biting her thumbnail again and just holding her hand in her lap. His thumb strokes over her knuckles every so often, trying to assure her without words that everything was gonna be okay. She just had to believe it.

Casey knew what he was trying to do and luckily, believed him even without him saying anything. This was the first time there was ever a medical emergency with Christopher ever. And from a seizure? Of course, a mother would be worried about her son in any circumstance.

        They quickly got to the hospital, rushing in through the doors almost immediately. "Leah, Lennox?" Casey called towards the waiting room. Leah immediately popped out of her seat and removed her head from her hands and Lennox stopped her pacing.

       "Casey, Spencer!" Lennox rushed over to the both of them. "What happened?" Casey immediately asked. Leah looked at the couple with tears in her eyes. "He-He just started seizing out of nowhere. I went to go and make them breakfast and I go to his room and it started happening and I didn't know what else to do so Lennox called 911. I'm so sorry, Casey." Leah explained, Casey immediately shook her head. "No, it's fine. You guys did the right thing calling us."

        "Is he okay?" Spencer asked. "I don't know, they haven't given me any update." Leah stated. Suddenly, a doctor came around the corner, looking at the family. "Christopher Reid?" He asked.

       "We're his parents." Casey spoke, gripping Spencer's hand. "Is he okay?" Spencer repeated to the doctor now as he approached them. "Your son is alright for now. And you two do not have to worry, seizures are common in children with fevers." Both Spencer and Casey look at one another. "I need to run some more tests to make sure he's out of the woods, but he looks healthy enough. In the meantime, I'll let you visit him."

     "Thank you." The doctor walks away and Casey looks towards Leah and Lennox. "He had a fever?" She asks, her voice cracking as she does so.

      It wasn't often that Christopher wound up with a fever but when he did, Casey had stayed home from work to look after him. No matter if it was a paperwork day or if they had a case. And Spencer would stay, too. They didn't even know he had a fever until this morning.

     "He wasn't getting out of bed this morning." Leah said. "I just thought maybe he just came down with a cold. I thought I would be able to handle it."

     Spencer thought for a moment. "Febrile seizures are seizures or convulsions that occur in young children. They're triggered by fevers typically above 101 degrees Fahrenheit." He explained. "So, this may all just be from a fever?" Lennox asks. "Most likely," Spencer turns to his wife. "Remember when Henry had one of those?"

     Casey nods, remembering the time where JJ was out on a case with the team and miles away from home, Henry had a seizure when he came down with a cold. "Right," Casey remembered. She knew Henry was okay, so Christopher had to be okay. "He's gonna be fine." She says, more like a mantra to herself instead of reminding Lennox and Leah that he was.

       Spencer and Casey soon entered Christopher's hospital room and seen that Christopher was okay. Seeing him connected to those wires and an IV broke their hearts but he remained unbothered, playing with his toy cars and planes. "Mommy! Daddy!" Casey rushed over to him, running a hand over his locks and peppering him with kisses on his head and cheeks. "Oh, my sweet boy. Hey." She smiled brokenheartedly for him. She knew he was okay, he had to be, for her sanity. Spencer was on the other side of the bed, holding Christopher's hand comfortingly, staring at his wife — who was keeping her emotions to herself and trying to be stable for Christopher.

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Seeing that Lennox had already been through a lot this morning, Spencer took her to the cafeteria so she could get something in her stomach. Lennox had picked out a strawberry yogurt and an apple juice. Spencer settled on bad coffee.

They were making their way back to the room slowly walking with one another as Spencer began to talk to Casey. "That was a, uh, brave thing you did. Calling 911. Thank you." Spencer awkwardly nodded at Lennox. "You don't have to thank me. I would've done it for any of you."

In all honesty, Spencer and Lennox never spent as much time with one another like Casey and Lennox had. Of course, there were few times they had and it was obvious Lennox trusted Spencer and that he would never hurt her but Spencer figured since of all of the things she had been through, he kept distance from Lennox so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. But Lennox meant it, she trusted him.

"Lennox," Spencer spoke again as they continued walking. Lennox turned her attention to him. "I know we don't really get alone time together like you have with Casey, but I do want you to know that I am very glad that you're a part of our family now." He stated.

Lennox smiles a bit, "I'm happy about it, too. You and Casey and Christopher, you guys are probably the best thing that's ever happened to me." She pauses and her breath hitches. "And I think we should go through with the adoption papers."

Spencer raises his brows. "You-You do?" He asks, wondering if Lennox really is all in for it. "My caseworker said I just need a few more visits down and we'll be able to. I mean, that is, if you still want to adopt me." Lennox said.

Spencer Reid carefully placed a hand on Lennox's shoulder as they continued to walk together. "Lennox, I-I can't imagine us not adopting you. You know, 80% of placements make it to legalization. After the paperwork is in, the success rate is 98%."

"Well, let's just hope I'm a part of that 98%." Lennox jokes, creating a small smile on Spencer's face as they turned a corner.

Casey had stayed with Christopher in his room as he continued to play with his toys. Casey had received a call from JJ, so she picked it up and sat in the seat next to Christopher's bed. "He has a fever?" JJ asks.

"102," Casey replies. "I sent Leah back home so she could rest. She was probably more frightened about what happened than Lennox was."

"How is she doing?" JJ asks, mentioning Lennox. "Good, she's a little shaken up. But I think Spencer's taking care of her." Casey told. JJ takes a breath of relief. "I'm glad Chris is okay. Are you keeping him there for the night?" She wonders.

Casey sighs, but it's more of an exasperated sigh. "As much as me and Spencer both hate it, we have to. They have to run more tests on him to make sure it's not anything bad."

There's a small pause and JJ speaks to Casey, "Well, we're about to deliver the profile, so, uh, keep me posted." Casey nods, "I will. Thanks, Jej." "Of course."

With that, the two hang up and Casey hears some struggling and things clattering on the ground and furrows her brows because she swears she hears a familiar voice. She stands up and walked to the doorway and sure enough, it's Penelope Garcia, carrying her equipment with her and dropping gift after gift below her and letting out a string of censored curses.

"Penelope?" Casey asks and Penelope looks up. "Oh! Hey, my lovely!" She greets. "Uh, hi." Casey says, wondering why Penelope's here and how she found out. "Why didn't you tell me about my godson being the hospital? Is he okay?" Garcia asks as Casey exits the room to talk to Penelope.

"He's alright for now," Casey said. "How did you even know about—?" Garcia gave a look to Casey and Casey sighs, realizing. "Morgan told you, didn't he?" She crossed her arms. "He wanted to make sure you and Reid weren't alone." Garcia said. It was just like Morgan to keep tabs and to tell Garcia to keep an eye on Casey and Spencer in their time of need.

"You really didn't have to come down here." Casey said. Garcia looks at Casey in disbelief. "Are you kidding? I had to. The poor baby genius must be so scared."

"He's resting right now, but you can come in as long as you're—"

There's a frantic beeping sound coming out of Christopher's room and Casey rushes in along with a few doctors and sees that Christopher is having another seizure. Casey hadn't noticed Garcia walk in right afterwards, her mouth agape at the sight. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God." She panics and Casey clasps a hand over her mouth as the doctor's turn Christopher at his side and leave him be.

Immediately, Spencer and Lennox come rushing in next. Casey realizes that they have to have Christopher go through his seizure. Casey turns towards her husband and holds on him. Spencer shields her as she turns away from the horrific sight.

        Thirty minutes passed after that. Casey paced in the waiting room, along with Lennox, going in the opposite direction. Spencer looked at the two, sitting in his seat. Great, I have two now. He thought, knowing Casey only paced when she was anxious and hoped for good news. While helping with the case they had at the BAU, Garcia couldn't help but worry her head off about Christopher.

        They received news that Christopher was okay and they could go and see him again. His doctor came back and Penelope offered to stay with Christopher while Spencer and Casey went to go and talk to the doctor. Lennox decided to go with as well, even when both Spencer and Casey told her to stay with Penelope and Christopher. But she was a stubborn almost thirteen-year-old.

        "We ran tests on Christopher," The doctor revealed. "And he has what we suspect as status epilepticus. Now, status epilepticus is—"

        Spencer immediately interrupted him. "A life-threatening condition in which a person has a prolonged seizure or one seizure after another without regaining consciousness in between them. And although many seizures don't cause immediate medical attention, this one does."

        The doctor is flabbergasted as Spencer had finished the diagnosis for him. "Right."

       "Is there anything that causes this?" Casey decided to ask. "In children, the main cause is an infection with a fever." The doctor answers.

      "In adults, the common causes include: strokes, imbalance of substances in the blood, such as low blood sugar." Spencer added on. "Forgive me, Dr. Reid, I thought you said you weren't an MD?" The doctor furrowed his brows. "Oh, I'm not." Spencer said, nodding the him as he tightened his lips.

      "He just... reads a lot." Lennox comments.

      "Is there a- is there a... treatment for this condition?" Casey wondered. "Seizure management involves "emergent" treatment with benzodiazepines so we need to get permission from you with giving him the treatment and the medicine to help." The doctor told. Casey took a deep breath, content there was a treatment for this.

       "Is there a chance he may have a seizure again?" Lennox decides to ask out of curiousness. "Seizures can prolonged every few hours with status epi, but if we give him that treatment, it may stop his seizures." The doctor tells.

      "Uh, Dr. Reid, Miss Willows, may I speak with you in private?" The couple look at one another as Lennox sighs and rolls her eyes strolling back into the room.

      They are little way away from the room and the doctor takes a notepad out and writes on it. "I would like for Christopher to come in every few weeks for checkups regarding his breathing and his seizures for treatments."

      "Why would we need to do that?" Casey asks, eyebrows furrowed. "For precaution." Spencer answers, sending a look to the doctor. He stares him down and suddenly figured it out. "Spencer," Casey spoke up, noticing the look. "Is he not telling us something and you just figured it out?"

        There is a long, long pause and the doctor stares back at Spencer, who's read his mind. Spencer crosses his arms and Casey could swear she hears his breath hitch and his eyes grow glossy. "Seizures also indicate cancer." Spencer answers, utterly crushing Casey's heart in the possibility. "Indeed, Dr. Reid, yes." The doctor nods.

      "You're saying my son might have cancer?" Casey questions. "I am not saying that. But there is a very slim chance. If you take him in for frequent visits every few weeks to take precaution and help him with treatments, you are very much saving his life and helping us catch it... if it does come. And it's a very big if." The doctor explains.

      "They would just be doing it to take precautions." Spencer says, calming his wife down a bit as he wraps an arm around her. "There's a chance he might not even have it." The doctor tells.

      "And if he does?" Casey asks.

      Casey didn't even want to think about the possibility of her son having cancer. This morning when they left, he was fine. The other day, he was happy and healthy and running around the house like it was nothing. Playing with his toys, building pillow forts with his dad. He obviously didn't have it, but there was a very slim chance he did. And all from a seizure. After everything Spencer and Casey had been through and this was the kind of thanks they got from all of the bad. Since his birth, Spencer and Casey swore to never let anything back happen to him. And now, here they were, getting laughed at in the face by God. Casey took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She envisioned the happy Christopher. It scared her, knowing there was a possibility that he could get cancer. He didn't have it, but she knew that when anything good happened in her life, it was only a matter of time before that happiness was taken away from her. It was like the Reid-Willows family were just a case of never-ending bad luck at every turn.

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        Spencer and Casey kept Christopher at the hospital that night. No one even bothered going home that night. Garcia had luckily helped the team with their case and they were heading back home now. It was amazing how quick she was at her job. She refused to leave the hospital, in her seat as she clacked away on her computer.

        Casey was in the hospital bed with her son, he was laying on top of her arm and she was holding onto him by his torso. He only had one more seizure after the doctor talked to her and Spencer. She refused to leave his side ever since he got the treatment he needed. Casey ran her hand through his locks, stroking them back as she began to slightly close her eyes while doing so.

         Spencer had been sitting up in an uncomfortable chair beside them, his chair and Lennox's chair touching as Lennox rested her head on Spencer's shoulder, resting her eyes as she trying to get some sleep.

        The room was silent up until a small 'Daddy?' filled the room. Spencer looked up from the book he had left in the car and closed it once his son got his attention. "Yeah, bud?" He asked.

      "Can you tell me a story?" Christopher asked. "What story do you wanna hear?" Spencer sat up a little bit, so as not to disturb Lennox on his shoulder. "I wanna hear about the one where you and Mom met." Christopher spoke, making Casey open her tired eyes.

       Lennox then sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Can I hear it, too?" She asks. "I wanna hear it, too." Garcia decides to chime in, realizing she's never actually heard how her fair maiden and resident boy genius met.

       "Ask and you shall receive." Casey says, practically telling Spencer she wanted to hear too.

       Spencer cleared his throat and settled his book on the table connected to the bed. He decided to start by how all fairytales usually started and the way he often told his stories. "Once upon a time," He said, Christopher and Casey opening their eyes more as they listened. "There was this goofy looking dude. He had goofy hair, goofy mismatched socks, goofy button-up shirts. Everything about this guy was goofy. But the only thing that wasn't goofy had been his intelligence and his job. This guy just started out in the FBI, if you could believe it. Twenty-three and he's in the FBI."

       "And there was this girl," Spencer's eyes snapped over to his wife. "She was about your mom's height, looked like your mom but she wasn't exactly your mom just yet. She had confidence and fashion sense and dare I say, stubbornness." Casey sent a glare over Spencer's way. "Sorry." Spencer mouthed and Casey's face softened.

       "But even with all of that, she was probably one of the most prettiest girls that the goofy FBI guy had ever known. He didn't quite think of her that way, though, no. Not at the point." Spencer told.

        "One day, the goofy FBI guy was dealing with a case that involved a very bad guy. And one that same day, the pretty, stubborn, girl was visiting her uncle, because he was the king of the FBI and she liked to visit him a lot."

       "Uncle Gideon." Chris smiles.

        "Yeah, that's right, Uncle Gideon," Spencer smiles back at his son. "And she was visiting him and bringing him lunch but she looked around and he was nowhere to be seen. So, she approached a random desk and the random desk belonged to the goofy FBI guy and he was currently sitting at it. She asked if maybe he had seen the king and he directed her to his magical lair. She thanked him and went about her day. Little did they both know, that was just the start of something new and magical." Casey smiled as he finished the story. "The end."

         There is a long pause as Spencer looked into her husband's loving eyes. The ones that told her that everything was gonna be okay. And that's when she knew that things would be. She brought her attention back to her son and then grew sad again.

       "That's really how you met?" Lennox questioned, backing up as she looked at Spencer with furrowed brows. "Yeah, I expected something more than that." Garcia spoke up.

     "What did you expect, rainbows and kittens?" Casey joked towards Garcia. "Kinda." Garcia shrugged.

      "Pen, need I remind you, I was sixteen when I met him? We never would've expected something to happen between us." Casey told Penelope.

       This caused Lennox to whip her head back to Spencer. "You were sixteen when you met him?!" She questioned. "And you were twenty-three?" Spencer then thought to himself. "Well, I was almost twenty-four."

      "Later, later." Casey waved a hand, glossing over the fact. She held the hand that Christopher trapped her out to Spencer and he took it into his hand and gave a small smile to her as he stroked her knuckles.

      "I liked your story, my goofy FBI guy." Casey joked as Spencer chuckled a bit. "And I love you, my pretty stubborn FBI girl."
       Casey glared at Spencer. "I am not stubborn."

      "You can be." Lennox shrugged. "Do you wanna be grounded?" Casey said, her eyes lingering at Lennox. Lennox mouthed 'sorry' to Spencer, who understood.

      "So, uh, what are you guys gonna do, with Christopher, I mean?" Garcia decided to bring up the elephant in the room.

      Seeing Casey grow uncomfortable, Spencer spoke up for the both of them. "Well, uh, the doctor said we should be taking him in frequent visits. He just wants us to be careful. There's a chance he won't have it."

      "And if he does?" Lennox asks.

       Casey locks eyes with Spencer and suddenly grows tense. She slowly begins to retract her arm from under her son and stands up. "I'm gonna, uh, go use the bathroom."

       Despite there being a bathroom right in the room, Casey found herself going over to the bathroom in the main hall and finding that just a single-stall bathroom. She found solidarity in the peace and silence despite everything that happened today. She sat on the toilet, she lied about needing to go. She just needed to take a breather and she couldn't afford to have her son see her break down, it would scare him.

        Casey's head fell into her hands and she began to sob. She sobbed as quietly as she could, trying not to risk anyone else walking in. But little did she know, Spencer had followed her and had been standing outside the door and heard her crying. It broke his heart, hearing his wife isolate herself just so she could cry.

         Knowing she needed her alone time, he waited there for fifteen minutes until she exited the bathroom and was met with Spencer. She had spent nearly five minutes trying to make it look like she didn't just cry in the bathroom only for her to break down again.

          Spencer wrapped his arms around his wife as she grabbed onto his cardigan and sobbed right into it. They stayed there, like that, for another five minutes until Spencer pulled away and held her tear-stained cheeks into his hands.

          "We are gonna do everything... everything... to make sure he's still healthy, okay?" Spencer assured to her, tears filling in his own eyes as he spoke. Casey nodded as Spencer wiped away the tears from under her eyes.

         Noticing that he started to cry a bit, Casey cupped his checks and wiped the single tears coming from his left eye. Casey read Spencer like a book, he was trying to stay strong for her like she was for him. Casey removed her hands from his face and wrapped her arms around his neck, comforting him as he then cried into her neck.

          First, Spencer's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and now, there's a possibility his son may develop cancer if they're not careful enough? He was gonna do everything and anything to make sure his son came out healthy in the end for him and Casey. All he had to do was pray that this was just a fever thing that Christopher had and that he was gonna be okay in the end.

         "We're gonna be okay... we're gonna be alright." Casey said as Spencer continued to sob into her neck.

am i evil? yes. do i care? no. 🤭

me writing this:

i know this was sad i'm sorry!!
but i love you all and thank you for reading!
more to come and soon!!
-mya </33

p.s. any theories about where we go from here?