CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: FIRST FEW WEEKS !

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        THE FIRST FEW WEEKS WERE ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY FOR THE WILLOWS-REID APARTMENT. First, Spencer and Casey had finally brought their newborn back to their home. Morgan and Garcia — appointed the new godparents — had lingered just to stare at the newborn baby in front of them.

         Eventually, Casey had to tell the two scamper off before they could eat him up. Now, Spencer and Casey were left with their child, staring at him themselves and amazed that they had brought such a delicate thing into the world.

They were then left with the simple question as they gazed on him.

Now what?

Well, it was simple.

Sleep.

And of course, that didn't last for too long with baby Christopher now being a part of the picture. Both Spencer and Casey often took turns to calm him and keep him quiet. This went on from 1am to 1:30am to 1:45am to 2am and so forth. Eventually, the two couldn't keep up with whose turn it was and both stayed up with the baby.

(Christopher was currently sleeping in a drawer since the crib wasn't quite finished yet... hey, the baby was two weeks early, they thought they would've had more time to prepare).

As they kept trying to find ways to calm the baby down, it was like it was the baby against them. Christopher kept crying and screaming and drinking milk and... pooping. (Casey and Spencer definitely flipped a coin for that one).

Once the clock struck 5am, it had occurred to Spencer Reid and Casey Willows that this parenting thing was gonna be harder than they thought.

Week 1

The first Spencer and Casey had to get to business with, they had to fix the crib up for the baby. Casey, at first, left Spencer to the job of fixing it but... to be honest, he wasn't doing a good job of doing so.

Casey eventually decided to help Spencer but quickly realized she wasn't much help either. With no other way to get this thing together, the two decided to have their next best option available.

Calling their good friend, Derek Morgan, to build it for them.

Morgan had come over and helped build the nursery and didn't need any help at all, he knew what to do. Casey knew he could do it based on how many houses he had helped build with his construction work side hustle.

It had taken a few hours but Morgan had eventually finished it and when the finishing touches were added, Casey had placed her baby in the crib and he slept soundly. They had thanked Morgan for the work done in the room and had offered him a drink.

"How has work been?" Spencer asked, getting him a glass of water. "Same ol', same ol'. Catch the bad guy, save the girl. Oh, and your replacement, Casey, she's great." Morgan explained.

"I'm glad you guys like her. I had a good feeling with that one. You know her and Hotch knew each other?" Casey asked. "Yeah, it was a case they took when Gideon was still working at the BAU. I only heard stories about it." Morgan told, taking another sip of his drink.

"Anyways, how are you guys doing? New baby and all." Morgan motioned over to the nursery. "We're doing good. We're..." Casey began to yawn, causing Spencer to yawn simultaneously. "Tired... obviously. But that's all a part of raising a baby together."

Eventually, Morgan had left, leaving Casey and Spencer to try and at least get some sleep. They were trying to be as quiet as they could... but got nowhere because the baby had started crying again.

Spencer and Casey did a round of rock-paper-scissors and ultimately — it was Spencer's turn.

Week 2

         Casey had been feeding Christopher for at least an hour now. It felt weird, a tiny human suckling on her breast. (Edith had made giving a baby regular formula some like it was a death sentence so Casey decided to try breast-feeding).

While Casey had been writing to her father about the newborn baby and was adding some pictures so he could see what the baby looked like, Casey checked her watch and wondered where the hell Spencer was. He had been gone for nearly an hour.

The couple's brains had been a little scattered since they were barely getting sleep recently due to the little life they created. Casey had often found herself falling asleep on the toilet recently. Which is why Casey hadn't even realized her cell phone was ringing.

Casey had grabbed the cell from her purse on the counter and held it to her ear. "Hello?" She began. "Hey, Case." JJ's voice had been heard on the other end of the phone. "Just thinking of you and Spence. How you guys doing?"
"Oh, hey, Jay. We're just..." Casey looks at the baby on her chest. "Dealing..."

"How's motherhood treating you?" JJ asked, curiously. "Is it always this hard?" Casey questioned and JJ chuckled a bit. "All a part of normal post-pregnancy. It's hard after a while. Trust me, when Henry was born, it was not a picnic for me or Will."

"I'm just... new to this whole thing. I'll get the hang of it eventually." Casey sighs. "I'm sure what you're doing is certainly more thrilling than baby poop and vomit."

"Well, we're actually on a case right now in Tennessee."
"Spill the details."
"Are-are you sure?"
"I have a baby on my boob, I have no idea where my fiancé is and I'm about a centimeter close to having a mental breakdown because I haven't had a full night of sleep in over a week, please spill the details."

"Okay, well, a girl has been abducted and her father has been stopping at nothing to pinpoint the neighbor. And we know he's done the crime, but the problem is... we don't have a warrant. And we've tried to get one, but we haven't had much luck." JJ explained.

          "My best guess would be to check the house while he's not there. Get a stakeout truck and a group together and wait until he leaves to go in." Casey told.
           "That'd be illegal."
           "Not if we believe that he's a part of an abduction of a young girl and knowing Hotch, he's not about to let this guy get away."
            "Trust me, him and Hudson have been butting heads on how to get in this guy's head. We don't know how to come about this and it's like they're throwing us off the whole investigation."

            Casey furrows her brows, "I thought things were going well with Hudson." She frowns. "They are," JJ assures. "But with her and Hotch at this moment, things aren't. They just have different ways to try and handle this situation. And you know Hotch and how stubborn he is."

            "I might bring that idea to Hotch, though. Thanks, Casey." Casey nods, "Of course, I'd like to do at least a little work while I'm away, in a way." She chuckles.

            Suddenly, the front door opened and in walked Spencer and then Casey had realized just how much of a mess he looked. He was wearing striped pajama bottoms and a plain white T-shirt and his hair was messy, like usual and his stubble was growing in.

As Casey had realized just how much of a mess he looked, she then remembered what she had been mad at him for. "JJ, I'll call you back. I have a fiancé that's about to get yelled at."

        Casey hangs up the phone. "An hour and a half to go get milk?" She questioned, checking her watch.

Spencer looks down at the carton in his hand and then looks at Casey, guiltily. "I think, um..." Casey awaited his answer, seeing no patience. "I might've closed my eyes in the store parking lot." Casey scoffed and stands up from where she's sitting and hands the baby over to her fiancé and heads into their bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Spencer questioned.
"To get a very well deserved hour-long nap. I'm the mother, I deserve it!" With that, Casey closed the door and Spencer started quieting the baby in his arms.

As soon as Casey's head hit the pillow, she had fallen into a deep slumber. Two hours went by and she had finally stirred awake and realized she overslept the time she said she was gonna wake up at.

Casey yawned, still tired and she sat up and walked toward the door and opened it. She rubbed her eyes and she walked towards the nursery and found Spencer, sleeping like a baby on the chair they had in the nursery with a book opened on top of him and their baby also on top of him, more awake than ever.

Casey had smiled at the scene and had taken this opportunity to take a photo of this moment so she'd never forget it. She had then decided she had tortured Spencer enough and she decided to let him sleep and took the baby carefully out of his arms.

Week 3

By the time the third week rolled around, no one had heard anything from Casey or Spencer. It was total radio silence. Naturally, the team had gotten worried but had figured that they hadn't been spending too much time with the couple or their newborn, but they wanted to respect their privacy.

        JJ, Morgan and Garcia had decided to plan a surprise visit after a case. Garcia baked brownies for the two, Morgan had brought the board games and JJ brought over some of Henry's old toys he wasn't using anymore.

Garcia had knocked first and no one had answered. "Casey, Spencer, it's us, JJ, Morgan and Penelope!" Garcia looked at JJ and Morgan and shrugged. Morgan tried the door and figured out that it was unlocked.

When they had walked in, they had seen Spencer and Casey both asleep — Casey was curled up in a ball on the couch while Spencer's head was the only thing on the couch cushion, he had slouched down to the floor. Their son had been laying on his back, fiddling around in his swaddle, awake and not making a noise.

Morgan, JJ and Garcia chuckled quietly once they had seen the three on the couch. Garcia even managed to take a picture. They had then taken notice of what a pigsty their place was. It looked like Casey's old apartment before she moved in with Spencer.

The three FBI agents were trying to remain as quiet as they could until Morgan had taken the liberty in knocking something over, causing the couple to awake from their slumber and their child to start crying.

"Nice going." Garcia commented to Morgan. "My fault." Morgan told.

Spencer rubbed his eyes once he saw the three figures that resembled his friends — hoping they weren't some hallucination due to the lack of sleep he's had. "Morgan? Garcia, JJ, what are you guys doing here?" He asks.

"Well, we wanted to come and surprise you guys. Your door was unlocked." Garcia tells. Casey carefully grabs her child from the couch and tries to quiet him down. "Just five minutes, I want five minutes of quiet." The woman says as she tries to comfort her child.

"You kinda had it for a while." Morgan comments and JJ hits him across the chest. "Here, we can look after him for at least—" Casey had pulled away from the offer from Garcia.

"I can take care of him. He just needs... a bath? Feeding? His diaper changed? Oh, my God, who am I kidding? I don't know what this kid needs." Casey sighs.

"It's a diaper cry," JJ says, remembering the cries from her own son. "Casey, we're here to help. Whether you and Spencer like it or not. I mean, look at yourselves. Look at your place. You're lighting the candle at both ends. Spencer, you have spit-up on your shirt. Casey, your hair looks like a rat's nest and when's the last time you two have showered?" JJ questions.

Both Spencer and Casey look at one another and realize that they don't know how long it's been since they've showered.

"Look, we'll take care of Christopher for the night. What you two need is to shower and get at least eight hours of sleep." Morgan tells. "Are you guys... sure?" Spencer asks. "We're 100% sure." Garcia nods.

"Okay..." Casey says hesitantly. "Make sure you rock him to 'Rock-A-Bye-Baby' gently and slowly. Both in that order."
"His favorite book is 'Goodnight Moon'," Spencer starts. "Reading to babies early often stimulates brain development and actually helps their brain grow."
"I have two extra bottles in the fridge in case he gets hungry. He'll probably sleep through the night, if so." Casey added.
"And if he—"

"We've got this covered," JJ assures. "You two just take care of yourselves."

After Spencer and Casey take their showers, they wind up getting into bed around 8ish or so. Garcia had taken this opportunity to tidy up their place a bit and both JJ and Morgan had helped.

             They had helped clean the nursery and had flipped a coin for who was gonna change the diaper. Spoiler alert: Morgan pulled the short straw.

            They had given Christopher a bath and made funny faces at him so they could try and get a little smile out of him.

            When Christopher got hungry and fussy, they had gotten one of those bottles from the fridge and JJ heated it up and gave it to Christopher when it cooled down.

            Garcia had laid out the toys in front of baby Christopher to see which ones he might like. He liked the knitted blue bear that JJ received at a baby shower. They had changed him into a little onesie and swaddled him in his little blue blanket.

            They placed him in the crib and one by one: Morgan, JJ and Garcia had fallen asleep in the nursery. And by the time Casey woke up the next morning, they were still there. She had called Spencer out of bed and showed him the scene and they knew they had to catch the moment on camera so they took a picture of it.

Week 4

At this moment in time, Spencer and Casey were packing to go to see Spencer's mother in Las Vegas. "Are we sure that it's safe for a four-week old baby to travel a far distance?" Casey asks.

         "I'm sure," Spencer told. "Most pediatricians believe that a 4 to 6 week-old baby can handle airplane flights." Casey sighs, "I'm just making sure, I mean, he was just born and..." Spencer holds his fiancée's shoulder and assures: "Everything is gonna be okay. We'll be home before you know it."

          Casey takes a deep breath and Spencer kisses the girl's head. "Everything's gonna be fine," Spencer tells as he grabs the suitcase. "When did I become the sensible one? Usually, I'm the one freaking out."

         "Because you didn't spend hours in labor with this little guy." Casey tells as she places baby Christopher in her arms and Spencer takes their stroller, baby bag, suitcases and passports.

           The flight to Las Vegas wasn't long and baby Christopher stayed quiet the entire time so there was a good thing. Today, they were taking the baby to go and meet his grandmother, Diana.

          Spencer secretly hoped and prayed that they were coming on a good day but with the recent phone calls he had with his mother and her doctors, it seemed like she was doing better. They had gotten a hotel room for a couple of nights, so they stopped at their hotel room first before going ahead to the hospice.

They had entered the hospice and were greeted. "Dr. Reid, Miss Willows. How nice to see you again." The doctor recognized the two since the last time they had come here together and had eventually grew to remember Casey's name and knew Spencer because he was always in and out here.

The doctor gasped as she had seen the new guest with the couple enter along with them in a stroller. "Oh, my goodness! Congratulations on the new baby! He is so cute!" The doctor smiles.
"Thank you." Casey smiles politely. Spencer then turned his attention to the room he'd always entered. "Is my mom available to see today?" He asked, hoping the answer would be yes.

"Yes, she is," The doctor smiles. "She's been talking about you a lot recently. Both of you, actually." She says as she walks them down to Diana's room. "She's been bragging about the baby to almost everyone she's talked to." The two chuckle, happy to see that she's had some light recently. They remembered the first time they told her and how happy she was that her son was now having a child of his own.

The doctor had opened the door for Spencer and Casey and announced to Diana that she had visitors. The woman had left to leave them to their reunion.

Diana had been perched at the windowsill, doing her routinely reading. She had immediately stopped once she saw her son, of course. "Spencer." She said. "Hi, Mom." Spencer greeted and Diana hugged her son tightly. It had been a while since they had done so.

       Spencer pulled away and looked at his fiancée, putting a hand at the small of her back to bring her closer. "You remember Casey." He told. "Of course, how could I forget?" Diana hugged Casey next, which Casey wasn't really used to. But it was nice.

        Diana's eyes then thwarted to the stroller. "Oh..." She clasped a hand over her mouth in shock. And looked at her son and his fiancée in shock and then back at the baby. "Is that...?" Casey nodded at the woman.

Spencer had taken the baby carefully out of the stroller. "This is Christopher, he's your grandson." He tells and gives Diana the baby to hold. She looks at the sleeping baby in awe. "Aw, he looks just like you, Spencer."

       "So we've been told." Casey smiles.

       "Oh, he's beautiful." Diana comments and she looks towards Casey and noticed the ring on her finger. "You finally asked her?" Spencer nodded at his mother's words. "You knew?" Casey asked.

        "I was one of the first people he told, of course." Diana told. This was true, Spencer had been planning to ask the big question for a while. He just didn't know how to come about it. He had asked his mother for advice and she told him to follow his heart. And his heart belonged to Casey. And also to this newborn baby boy, of course.

         They had spent a few hours at the hospice, letting Diana spend quality time with her new grandson.

Week 5

That week after, Casey and Spencer finally decided to go shopping for new stuff they needed. More food, more diapers baby clothes. "How much money did we spend exactly, today?" Casey questioned as they walked through the door. "$207.56, exactly." Spencer tells.

        "We need to stop spending so much on Christopher." Casey tells. "You're the one who wanted the fifty-dollar overalls. With the matching forty dollar shoes." Spencer pointed. "They had Winnie The Pooh and with the name - Christopher - I had to get them." She had said 'had' as if it was 'need'.

Casey had then checked the mail on the floor that had been in front of the front door, a package also came with their collection of envelopes. It had been a few bills and a couple of "congratulations!" letters for the new baby. Spencer had taken the opportunity to put everything away since he always liked his apartment clean and they were getting out of their habit of having a messy apartment because of a baby. (The team had been over to help them out pretty often now).

          Casey had placed baby Christopher on the counter in his little baby seat as she checked the mail they received and Spencer had made funny faces as he put things away, trying to preoccupy himself and the baby.

           Casey checked the bills and turned her attention to the box in front of her on the counter. "Who's that from?" Spencer asked, curiously. Casey shook her head in confusion: "No clue." She had expected another baby gift but something seemed different about this one.

            The girl examined the package with brown wrapped on it and it was tied together with a thread and an envelope was stuck in between the thread and wrapping. Casey grabbed the envelope and opened and it revealed some familiar handwriting to her that just completely confused and drew her in for a shock at first.

             "Spence..." Casey said. Spencer had noticed the girl's face and got concerned. "What? What is it?" He came around the counter and looked at the envelope and he was just as shocked at the handwriting.

            He had read it aloud as Casey pulled out a frame with a little bird feather inside it. "'Little guy might be interested in birds, one day. You never know. Congratulations on the new baby. -Uncle G.'" They knew exactly what that 'G' stood for.

          It made Casey happy knowing that her uncle Gideon was still looking out for her and keeping tabs on her. Casey wanted to send a 'thank you' card but Gideon hadn't put his address on the envelope or anywhere near it. She decided that maybe it was for the best not to say anything.

          The couple knew where they were gonna hang the frame at and that it was in the quiet area of their son's nursery.

         "It's a finch feather," Spencer says. "The loss of finches losing their feathers can happen all at once, resulting in bald patches, but—" Casey interrupts. "But for the finch species, it's considered normal." She reveals, making Spencer look at the girl in shock and confusion.

          "When you grow up with someone like Gideon, facts like that annoy you but they stay with you, mostly because you hear it all the time. It ends up becoming the same thing." Casey explained.

          Casey stared up at the feather and smiled at the memories she had shared with her uncle and hoped he was doing okay — wherever he was.

this was a long one butttt
i really hope you guys liked this-
lowkey kinda sucked but i just wanted y'all to get a glimpse of this cute little family yk? 😁
anywaysssss
thank you all for reading!
i hope you guys like it!
i'm gonna have a few more chapters like this before going back to episodes lol
the next one is gonna be a little sad so brace yourselves tbh
-mya </3