CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END !

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         WHEN CASEY REID WOKE UP IN HER OFFICE THIS MORNING, SHE FORGOT WHERE SHE WAS. She automatically remembered that she had spent that night at her office since it was too late to drive last night.

           Casey checked her phone this morning and saw that her text had no reply from Spencer and she figured that maybe he was sleeping in since this case was rough on him. She couldn't blame him.

            She decided to freshen up and remembered the extra clothes she had in case of emergency and changed into those in the bathroom.

            When she walked into the conference room, the women of the BAU were already there, watching footage from the night prior. Apparently, they'd gone back to Penelope's place and drank the night away. Now, they sat down and watched the footage with green smoothies in front of them.

          "I am both horrified and delighted there's evidence of last night." JJ said. "Wait, what is this?" Tara questioned as she sipped from her drink and almost looked like she was about to throw up. "It helps with hangovers, and that is all you need to know." Garcia said. "It tastes like you scraped the forest floor and juiced it." Tara said in a disgusted tone. "Even that's too generous. Ugh."

          "Sounds like you guys had fun last night." Casey comments. "Casey, you missed a totally baller girls' night." Garcia said. "I'm sure once this thing comes out of me, we'll have another baller girls' night. Trust me. I promise."

          "Hey, hey!" Luke walks in with five coffees in hand. "Emily told me what you guys were getting into, and I figured you could use these." He places the holder on the table.

          "Thank God." Tara sighs in relief. "Get this caffeine into my face hole."

          Garcia looks at the label as Casey grabs a coffee from the table. "This is from Lunacorn. Luke Alvez, stop making me like you!" Garcia tells as Casey chuckles. "Ha! Never." Luke smirks and Matt, Erik and Rossi walk in.

         "Vision boarding go well?" Matt asks, looking at the screen of the footage. "Oh, you have no idea how many stickers were used." Garcia says.

         "Where's Reid?" Erik asks. "Yeah, I want to talk to the whole team." Rossi announces and Casey sighs, "Oh, Spence probably slept in. He took yesterday really hard." JJ nods, "Understandably so."

         "Well, let's start our after-action review now, and we'll fill him in when he arrives." Emily said as Casey sat down in her seat as Garcia did her digging. "Ok, DNA results coming at ya."

        "Casualty count still hold at 8, including Roberta and Everett Lynch?" Luke asked and Garcia nodded, "Yes." She then takes a double-take. "Wait, no."

        Everyone freezes in their spots and Casey decides to ask, "Garcia?" Garcia furrows her brows and nods, "Yes, eight casualties — our six agents, Roberta Lynch, and Orlando Gaines, the private investigator. That's it."

        Tara then chimes in, "Wait. Wait a minute. That means that—"
        "That Everett Lynch is still alive." Casey says, furrowing her brows in the utmost confusion.

          How did he manage to escape an explosion like that? This made no sense. How could he pull all of this off? Now, Casey knew that Everett Lynch was alive and he was on the run.

            Her husband actually figured that out just before he collapsed right on their living room rug.

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         Spencer had no idea how he ended up here. He knew he was seeing things the minute he saw Hotch, Morgan, Gideon and Elle in the office once more, like they never left. Like it was the good old days again.

          And then seeing Chief Strauss again and then adding in the mix of one of the BAU's first difficult unsub, George Foyet. He couldn't wrap his mind about what was going on. He'd heard the story of Casey seeing her mother and Gideon after she got shot but this was different.

           Why would his brain automatically channel George Foyet? Out of all the people he had to see. As he fiddled with his pen in the conference room in his mind, he stared at Foyet and questioned, "Why are we here? You think this is my hell?"

         "Doesn't matter what I think. I'm not in control. This is where you first met me." Foyet smirks and points to the screen where his mugshot popped up, "Ha. Look at that handsome devil."

         Spencer pieced it together. "So, Strauss was the angel, and you're the devil." Foyet shook his head, "I never said that. Just the handsome part."

          "You know, he was never really good at picking up social cues." Spencer's eyes glistened towards the doorway and he couldn't believe who was standing there. "Unless his girlfriend had to translate everything for him."

         Damion Brambilla, with an evil smirk etched on his face.

         "Damion Brambilla." Spencer's eyes rocked between Foyet and Brambilla. "Why would I picture you two? Hmm? Of all the offenders
that—"

         "Because I killed that sweet Haley and old Aaron Hotchner was never the same. None of you were. I was the beginning of your end." Foyet admitted. "And The Demon, here, he was just as bad as me, killing your wife's sister, I mean, come on. This kid definitely took a page out of my book." Foyet explained.

       "The point is — we were the worst of the worst. You hadn't seen anyone like us before. Your team was nearly destroyed after what we did to you guys." Damion explained.

         Spencer thought about it. Foyet and Damion were probably two of the worst unsubs they ever had to deal with. Up there with Cat Adams and the Multiplier. It made sense but he sure as hell didn't want them to be the last people he'd ever see.

        "This Good vs. Evil game is all you know. And we're the best your rattled brain could conjure." Foyet told, standing up to Spencer.

          The two men had begun to walk out and Foyet turned around. "You gonna follow us or what? We gotta show you something."

Spencer shook his head at himself before exiting the conference room and suddenly entering a bar. A bar he recognized.

Of course, he remembered this as the bar Casey went to after Sawyer's funeral. And the thought of the man, he turned his head towards the man sitting at a barstool with a glass of whiskey in his hands.

"Sawyer?" Spencer asked, very confusedly as he approached him.

Sure enough, Sawyer Gunthey turned his head and gave a smirk to the man. "Hey there, Reid." He greeted. Spencer turned to Damion and Foyet.

Sawyer spoke up once more, "I know, probably not somebody you'd expect, right?" Spencer cautiously looked at the man and then back at the bar in confusion. He remembered where he was but why was he here?

"Why are we here?" Spencer decided to question. "I just need you to see something." Sawyer said, turning Spencer towards the floor of the bar.

A drunk Casey leading Spencer to the dance floor...

        "Ooh, slow song!" Casey smiled and grabbed Spencer's hands. "Let's go..." She slurred out. "I-I don't dance, maybe not a good idea." Spencer tried to pull away but Casey fought a little bit harder. "Just-just keep your eyes on me. Just-just shut up and dance with me!"

       Casey pulled him close to her and put her arms around his neck as Spencer began to slowly and awkwardly put his hands on her waist. Casey put her head on his shoulder as they slow-danced. Flightless Bird, American Mouth blasting on the radio as they rocked back and forth.

        Sawyer spoke up, "When I was alive, I saw it." Spencer watched as his thirty year-old self danced with a twenty-four year-old Casey. He'd be a fool if he didn't see the signs back then. He was very naive back then. And so was Casey. How could they miss this? They had feelings for each other way back then.

        "I saw how you two looked at one another when the other wasn't looking." Sawyer turned back to Spencer. "You loved her."

       Spencer looked down. He thought about the outcome if Sawyer had survived his wound. Would Casey still have ended up with him? Would it not have worked out between Sawyer and Casey? He shook his head, "But she loved you."

       Sawyer chuckled to himself but shook his head, "No, she loved you." He clarified. Spencer turns back to him and then back at the ground. "Do you remember how crushed Casey was when I died?" Sawyer asked.

        Spencer looked at their past selves dancing on the floor. "I thought she would die right along with you." He admitted.

       "You saved her, Spencer." Sawyer reminded him. In some deep root of his mind, Spencer knew this. "And if you die... I don't know what she'd do. All I know is that... she needs you. And so does Christopher and Lennox."

       Sawyer pauses before continuing. "And your unborn daughter." He adds.

      Spencer's eyes widen and turns to Sawyer in an instant. "We're-We're having a girl?" Sawyer smiles at his and nods,  "And she's gonna need her father. So will Christopher and Lennox. And Casey will need her partner. You can't leave when you have so much to stay for."

       His heart warms at the thought of the little girl in Casey's stomach. His mind immediately goes to Garcia making a comment about how he was "girl dad coded" or something like that. It made him think about how good of a father he would be to a little girl of his own. He seemed to be doing a good job with Lennox so far, he couldn't possibly screw this up. He had to be there for the family he created. For his wife, his son, his daughters.

       "Is this to persuade me into going back?" Spencer wonders. Sawyer shrugs, "In a way, yes. I'm just reminding you of the choices you have. But you make the choice." 

        "Yeah, this is all very touching and whatever but dude's brain is gonna turn into split pea soup if we don't get him to where he needs to go next." Damion comments and Spencer turns to Sawyer, who pats his shoulder in comfort.

         "Tell her 'hey' for me, okay?" Sawyer asks and Spencer nods as he then goes to follow Damion and Foyet to the next destination of his brain.

          Foyet opens the door and suddenly, Spencer, Damion and Foyet are in his home, standing over Spencer's unconscious body. Blood is coming out of his nose and his phone is knocked over by his head. Spencer shakes his head at this. No one has found him yet?

        "Well, I hope somebody finds you. That big brain's gonna be a bowl of mush." Foyet comments. "What a way to go out, huh? Slow brain bleed." Damion smirks. "And nobody knows you're here. Not even that sweet wife of yours. It's tragic and yet ironically fitting."

          Damion then nudged Foyet and pointed towards the couch and Foyet then nods, "Ahh. Of course." Spencer then turns his attention to the couch and he sees a woman sitting there, back facing them. He furrows his brows, trying to think of who it could be.

        Foyet pat Spencer's back as he and Damion walk out. "It was good to see you again, Doc." Spencer doesn't draw them any attention and more so brings his attention to the woman on the couch and as he approaches closer, he finally sees who it is and tears brim at the corner of his eyes as he chokes out —

         "Leah."

        Sure enough, the young woman turns to him and smiles, "It's good to see you again, Doc."

       Spencer chuckles to himself in disbelief, "It's you. It's really you." Leah shrugs, "It's me."

       Suddenly, Spencer falls to his knees and begins to sob. "Leah, I'm so sorry." Leah furrows her brows, "For what?" Spencer begins to cry more as he shakes his head and grabs Leah's hands, signifying that she was really here.

      "I let you die. I wasn't smart enough or fast enough to save you. If I was... you'd be here right now and... Casey, she-she would—" His thought goes to his wife and how he wishes she was here right now to see her sister.

       "Stop." Leah speaks. "Don't you dare be sorry. I have no regrets. What happened was meant to happen. Just like you and Casey were meant to be together. My death was supposed to bring you two back together."

       Spencer sighs and looks at the woman. "I miss you." No one would've guessed it but Leah and Spencer had a relationship that was very much a brother/sister relationship. You wouldn't think so but they were close, cracking jokes with one another every now and again.

        Leah smiles, "Gah, I miss you, too. But lucky for us, we have some time together right now."
       "I need that."
       "You've been holding on to trauma, a lot of it. But what sent you on this journey is something different. You're at a crossroads."

        Spencer thinks to himself and then looks back at Leah. "Can you help me through it?" Leah nods at him and then grabs his hand. "But first, I need to tell you something you or Casey don't hear enough of. The world is a good place. And you need to believe that."
 
        Spencer holds back his tears and smiles at Leah as she asks, "You ready?" Spencer lets Leah's words sink in, reminding himself of this and nods, "Yeah."

        God, he wished his wife was here right now.

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Back at the roundtable, the team begins to discuss how in the hell Everett Lynch could've escaped. Casey paced as she was on the phone with the Reno PD and then finally hung up when she got what she needed.

        "Reno PD just confirmed they found supplies under Lynch's hideout." Casey told. "So he must have built an escape to the tunnels under the house." Emily added.

        "This guy's a planner," Tara says. "He picked that target because it gave him an escape route."
         "We profiled Roberta would take them both out, but because of her love for her son, she hesitated." JJ said. "And that hesitation gave Lynch the seconds he needed to execute his plan." Matt added.

        "All right, so he escapes right before the explosion." Luke says. "So, that means that we got to get back to Reno before someone else gets hurt." JJ says. "But Lynch could be anywhere by now. And if he's good at covering his tracks, he's got nothing left to lose." Erik tells.

        "Garcia run a search on Lynch aliases, any credit card activity." Emily orders. "He's radio silent for now." Garcia tells as she looks through the info on her laptop. "It's only a matter of time before this guy gets desperate enough to use one of his old aliases, and when he does, we've got him cornered." Tara explains.

         "Stop. Stop, stop." Rossi advises. "Apply what we know based on our experience with Lynch and others like him. That's all profiling is, that's all it ever was." Casey looks at the man carefully. "Now, you're Lynch. You have the full force of United States law enforcement on your heels. Where else do you go? Who else do you hurt?"

          Casey suddenly chimes in at the realization, "Us. They come after us. They always come after us. When their plans fail, they put us six feet under. Internally or externally."
         "He'll get off on the power of attacking on our home turf." Rossi nods.

         Casey then nods, "We need security for our loved ones. Luke, Matt, Erik, contact troopers at all state lines. Emily, notify the director that the Lynch case remains open. JJ, Garcia, come with me to go and check in on Spence."

        The two women nod and Casey stops in front of the door and taking a breath for a second, holding her stomach. "You okay?" JJ asks, bracing herself in case Casey ends up passing out. "Yeah, I'm good. Just needed a second. Let's go."

         With that, Casey, JJ and Garcia had begun driving down Casey's house. As they drove, Casey then received a phone call incoming from Lennox💚. Obviously answering, she puts the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

          All of a sudden, clamors of cries are heard and Lennox is speaking hysterically and panicking. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Lennox, slow down. What's going on?" She asks.

          "It's Dad! Please come quick, please!" Lennox pleads and Casey's heart drops as she tries to keep Lennox calm and keep herself calm as well. "We'll be there in two minutes. I promise. Jayje, step on it."

           Understanding it's an emergency, JJ steps forward on the gas and they quickly park in front of the house.

           Lennox and Chris are found crying on the porch. JJ goes to tend to the kids as Casey and Garcia enter the house and find Spencer, unconscious on the ground.

         "Oh, my God. Spence!" Casey kneels down and goes to touch his face and to check his breathing. Garcia gasps and is quick to call the police. "Spence. Baby, can you hear me? It's Casey, baby, come on, wake up." Casey pleads.

         "We need an ambulance immediately at 1051 Prescott Street. We have an agent down." Garcia orders. Casey looks up at the woman as JJ walks in. "Oh, my God, Spence! Is he okay?" JJ kneels next to Casey as she nods, "He's breathing."

        "Yes, we have an agent down. That's what I said!" Garcia tells and suddenly, Spencer jerks and Casey moves back a bit as JJ and Casey both mutter, "No, no, no, no."

          Spencer begins to convulse into a seizure as he flails his body around and Casey looks up at Garcia. "Tell them to hurry. Now!"

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            Spencer sighed as he and Leah stared straight ahead at Gideon's gravestone in the cemetery. He wondered why he was here, he wondered why Leah would bring him here. "Why are we here? I made peace with Gideon dying." He stated.

          "When's the last time you saw him?" Leah wondered. "12 years, 7 months, and 23 days ago. Casey would try and write to him about Christopher. She figured he was always up at that cabin so she always tried to stay in contact with him. I never knew why, but I think it was a way she could cope."

          Spencer often questioned why Casey continued to write letters to Gideon long after he stopped being at the BAU. But he figured that it was a way to reach out. I mean, the man raised her almost her entire life.

         Leah shook her head, "You're not keeping track of disappointments at all." She spoke sarcastically and Spencer shrugged at that. It was hard not to keep track of all of them when he could remember all of them so clearly.

       "My dad wrote me a note when he left. Gideon did the same thing. To both Casey and I. He was the one that convinced me to join the team. And then he left. All to believe in happy endings, I'm just sad he never got one." Spencer admitted, teary eyed.

        Leah shook her head almost immediately, "Oh, no, he got one, all right." Spencer turned to her. "I met him a little while ago. He watches over all of you like hawks. Especially Christopher, he always tries to tell him he's always there for him through messages. I don't blame him, I do the same. But he got his happy ending." Leah chuckles to herself. "He's obsessed with this octopus named Mildred. She's a prankster, and he loves hanging out an 8-limbed mollusk, trying to figure out how she became so playful and wise."

        Spencer chuckled to himself as he nods, staring at the gravestone. "She evolved." Leah nods, "Yep. We all have to. Death or not."

        Spencer looks at Leah, sad enough to know that she wasn't gifted a happy ending either. He wondered what death must've been like for her. If it was different. If it went a little something like this.

        "Were you afraid... to die?" Spencer questioned. Leah looked at the gravestone and thought about it and finally shook her head, "No." she answered simply. "I knew it was coming. I knew... I wasn't gonna make it out of there alive. I put up one hell of a fight though. I figured... when I die, I might as well go down a soldier."

          That then brought up Spencer's next question. "Did it hurt?"
         "Are you kidding? It hurt like hell. But then... it stopped. And all of a sudden, there was peace. And even when we die, we evolve. There's no staying in one place or being the same person. Death changes you. But you keep going." Leah answered.

          "How did you become so wise?"
          "When you die, you gain a lot more time to learn."

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         Casey stayed close to Spencer's gurney as the doctors wheeled him into the emergency room. "I'm right here, Spence. Okay, I'm right here." Casey tells as Garcia and JJ follow behind her.

          A doctor comes up and quickly introduces herself as she looks at Spencer, "This is Dr. K. Can you hear me, sir?" She goes to check his head and asks, "How long has he been unconscious?" She questions.

        "I— I have no idea." Casey answered and JJ decides to speak for her since Casey sounded like a blubbering mess. "There was an explosion 24 hours ago. Could it be a concussion?"

       "So he's been under a lot of stress?" Dr. K questions, shining a light in his eyes. "Yes, he's an FBI agent. We're usually under a lot of stress." Casey tells.

       "I need to run some tests." Dr. K looks at the women. "Are you family?" JJ and Garcia look at Casey. "I'm, uh, I'm-I'm his wife." Casey then looks at Garcia. "Garcia, could you call his mom? She's gonna wanna be here for this." Garcia nods as Casey continues, "She's down at Brookfield."

        "We need to get him to CCU. Mrs. Reid, if you could come with me." Casey nods as she follows with Spencer's gurney.

        Garcia and JJ slowly follow behind and JJ gets a message from one of her bosses. "It's Emily." She tells Garcia. "Go." Garcia decides that she'll be staying with Casey and Spencer.

       "No, no, no. I'm not leaving. Casey and—" JJ tries but Garcia interrupts, "Casey and Spence will understand. The team needs you. I've got this. Go." Garcia quickly follows behind the two.

        In Spencer's room, Casey begins to pace, holding and rubbing her belly in stress when Garcia walks in with news. "Diana should be here any second." Casey nods at the woman as she takes a deep breath, stressing about her husband.

         "Have you had a minute to sit down?" Garcia questions. "I can't sit down. Not when he's like this." Casey points to Spencer, unconscious in the hospital bed. "Was he like this? With me? When I was in the hospital?" Casey questions.

         Garcia looks at Spencer in the bed and softly chuckles to herself, "He might've been worse." She remembers. "He would not leave your bedside until you woke up."

          Casey sniffles and looks at Spencer as she looks down at her stomach and the worst thought comes to mind. "What if he—?"

         Garcia quickly shakes her head, "No. No, Casey Reid, do not think that way right now. Because Spencer, he's strong, he's gonna come out of this. You know that, right?"

         Casey nods, getting a grip on her thoughts and deciding to listen to Garcia about this. He had to come out of this. He just had to.

         Casey then wipes her tears and looks at Garcia, changing the subject. "Uh, Lennox and Chris, did Isaac pick them up?" Garcia nods, "Yes, he did. I'm keeping him posted right now." Casey nods back at the woman, "Okay."

          Suddenly, outside of the room, Garcia finds Diana, being led to the room by her doctor at Brookfield. She is quick to rush over to her. "Oh, Diana, hi. Hi. It's Penelope. I work with Spencer and Casey? I've come to see you before."

         "You're almost as tall as I am," Is the first thing Diana says to Penelope and Casey is quick to rush over to them and to calmly speak to Diana.

        "Diana, Spencer fell and he hit his head really hard, and he's not conscious." Casey speaks carefully to the woman. "Well, let's wake him up. Let's see him." Diana scooches past Garcia and Casey to go and see Spencer. "No, wait."

         "Spencer." Diana stands over the bed, looking down at her son. She looks closer and then speaks up, "It's not him." She stands as she shakes her head in disbelief, "No. No, no, no. This is not my son."

          Suddenly, Diana looks down at Spencer's wrist and she sees the scar on his wrist from when Spencer was trying to balance on the backyard fence and Diana suddenly comes to the realization that this was her son.

         Diana shakes her head in disbelief as she begins to sob. How could this happen to her boy? "Oh, my baby." She mutters as both Garcia and Casey begin to cry right along with her. Diana places a hand over her son's shoulder and silently begs him to wake up.

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         "Why do you fight this?" Leah asked Spencer as the two walked through the cemetery. "If I die, I'll let down, my mom, Casey, the team, everybody who depends on me." Spencer revealed.

           Leah shrugs as they decide to take seat on a nearby bench, "Family is resilient. And as for strangers, people were hurt before you joined the BAU, and they'll get hurt whenever you leave."

         "I guess I'm stuck." Spencer tells. "More like frozen from grief. Your father's physical absence, your mother's psychological one." Spencer thinks to himself, "It's paralyzing."

        "How do you move through it when you can't move?" Leah asked. Spencer then comes up with that answer quickly, "You go back to the beginning. I grew up telling stories about who I was: son, friend, student, teacher, genius, husband, father."

        "Don't forget hero." Leah chimes in. "Not always." Spencer shrugs, reminding himself that he was the one who couldn't save Leah. It was always something that ran through his head.

        "What happened to me... was meant to happen. I was meant to die. No one is meant to live forever. I was meant to see my mom again, to meet Gideon. You have to stop blaming yourself for that." Leah told. "You seek and gain approval by anyone. It's time to stop."

        "What if my brain's bleeding out 'cause there's nothing left for me to do?" Spencer questions. "The world needs you to do what you love. Have you done that?" Leah asks.

        Spencer thinks to himself. Has he done that? Has he completed what he needs to? "I don't know." He answers.
       "Sure you do," Leah tells. "What do you love?"

       "I love magic and ghost stories." Spencer answers.
       "What else?"

      "Jell-o, kumquats, teaching, learning, books, hope, making connections, making a difference, Casey, my kids." Spencer lists and Leah nods, "That's a lot to love."

        Leah then stands up and looks down at Spencer. "So what's your decision? Do you stay or do you leave?"

        Spencer doesn't think about it quick. He knows that he has to stay. This brain bleed can't be the thing that kills him. There is still so much left to learn for him. He still has to raise his children. He still has to have time with Casey. He needs all of that. He can't bear another minute without them.

       "I have to stay," Spencer tells. "Sawyer said I have reasons to stay. And I have to believe that's true. And I know it is."

        Leah nods, "I'm glad you realized." Her smile then drops, "Otherwise I'd kick your ass." She jokes as Spencer chuckles at her.

        The two then exchange a hug and then Spencer pulls away and looks at the woman. "We miss you." He tells. "There's not a day Casey doesn't wish you were still there." He admits to her and Leah shrugs, "I'm always there. You guys just never see it. In any case, I miss you guys, too."

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        "Mrs. Reid? The conservative approach would be surgery. It may reduce the swelling around Spencer's brain faster. There is risk. It could cause seizures and even more bleeding." Dr. K lists to Diana and also Casey as she sits vigil at Spencer's bedside, praying he makes it out of this.

         Diana sighs as she shakes her head and looks around, "I thought it was Tuesday, and it's not Tuesday. And so I can't tell you."

        Garcia reads the room and looks at the doctor. "Could we have a minute?" Dr. K nods, "Sure." She exits the room and Diana sighs as she looks at Garcia. "What would he want? I don't want to make the decision."

        "I can't make this decision, either. I'm not as smart as him. I-I can't, I—" Casey sighs as she grabs Spencer's hand, silently asking him what to do.

        "Diana, Casey, you know, one time, Spencer told me that you two and I are three of the smartest people he knows. I guess there's some study that shows that the heart and the stomach have like cells of consciousness, like a second brain. And I get it that your brain, Diana, has done things to attack Spencer sometimes, but your heart and your guts have always known what's best for him. Am I right?"

         Diana nods, "Yes."
        "So, all three of us, we're just gonna use our brilliant insides to make a brilliant choice for Spencer right now, okay?"

          Before they can even make the decision, Spencer then convulses again and Casey moves out of her chair, away from the bed. "Ohh! What's happening to my boy? What is happening to him?" Diana questions.

          The doctors rush into the room and Casey looks away, she couldn't see Spencer like this. She couldn't watch this unravel. As the doctors help him, they get his seizures to stop and he's beginning to breathe normally again.

          It isn't until an hour later, he's beginning to show signs that he's slowly becoming conscious. Casey runs a hand through Spencer's hair as she calls his name and sits closely to the bed. "Spencer? I love you, can you hear me? Spencer?"

          As if he was drawn to her voice, Spencer's eyes opened a bit as he exhaled out of his mouth and Casey spoke once more with a big smile on her face. "Hi." She whispers softly and Diana grabs Spencer's hand. "Hi, Spencer. Can you hear me?" She speaks this time.

        "That's a good sign." Dr. K speaks. "Is he gonna be okay?" Garcia wonders. "He's putting up one hell of a fight. But it's still too early to know for sure. I need to keep him here for tests."

          Casey nods, "That's good to hear." She breathes, ignoring the pain in her belly for a moment as she focuses on Spencer. His breathing, his face, his features. She felt as if she didn't appreciate all of that enough until this very moment.

         Suddenly, Garcia excuses herself out of the room and goes to take a quick phone call.

━━━━━━

         Diana and Casey stayed on the same side of Spencer's bed as Garcia had come back from her phone call with the team. "Has he been here before?" Diana asks, peaking both Garcia and Casey's attentions. "In the hospital, like this?"

         Casey nods, "Yes." Diana then looks down at Casey in her seat. "Were you here for him?" Casey nods and without hesitation says, "Every time." She runs her hand through his hair as she continues, "Whether we were together or not. He was there for me and I was there for him."

       "Aw, how awful for him to have gone through all of this." Diana shakes her head, only coming to the terms that Spencer's job was this kind of dangerous.

       "It was, actually," Garcia chimed in. "And then there was the time Agent Hotchner was in the hospital. And Morgan's wife. And Agent Hudson. And Casey earlier this year, twice and me. Yeah, I've-I've actually been in hospitals more times than I am caring to admit." Casey realizes that every time someone had been in the hospital on the team, Garcia was always there. She was always there.

         "Sometimes I think there's got to be a better way, you know." Garcia looks at Spencer. "There's got to be a better place."

         "There is," Diana tells. "There is for all of us." Diana then leans forward towards her son. "Spencer, I saw some cumuliform heaps today. His favorite clouds. I plucked that for him. Everything is up there. And we pluck what we want when we want and we let go what we don't."

           Casey smiles, remembering the time she was upset on the jet and how he plucked out a fact about clouds to make her feel better. He often did that for multiple reasons. One being that Casey was the only one that would actually listen to him when he rambled and the second reason being that he always hated seeing Casey sad or angry about an outcome of a case. And what Casey realized was that he was there every time. Every time.

       "That sounds very good," Garcia says. "Ok, I am plucking a memory about Spencer's eyes, and they are brown with gold on the outside." She smiles.

        Casey shakes her head, "I think they're gold on the inside." She whispers. And as if on cue, Spencer opens his eyes once more and this time, he keeps them open. Garcia then smiles to herself, "Gold on the inside."

       "I'm his wife, I know his eyes like the back of my hand." Casey smiles. "Hey, we were just plucking eye memories of you." Garcia tells Spencer as he utters out with a small smile, "I heard you."

         Casey sniffles as she hears Spencer's voice and she thanks God that she's able to hear that voice again. She also silently thanks her mother and Gideon and Leah, hoping that maybe they're the reason he's come back down to her.

         "Forgot how much I loved those clouds, Mom. You helped me remember." Spencer tells his mother and Casey smiles as Diana looks down at her son, holding his hand and running her own hand through his hair, "I did, huh? Well, maybe I can come back tomorrow and we can watch clouds together."

         Spencer then looks over at his wife with a loving smile on his face as Casey runs her hand through his locks once more. "Am I alive or is this heaven?" He asks and Casey chuckles.

        "You are very much alive, Spence and— ooh." Casey frowns a bit as she looks down at her stomach, getting Garcia's attention. "You okay?" Casey looks at the woman and shrugs, "Yeah, yeah, it's nothing."

         Garcia then narrows her eyes and then asks, "How far apart are your contractions?" Casey shrugs, "Uh, every... four minutes or so?"

        Garcia's mouth drops and she scolds, "Casey."
        "I was worried about Spencer and it wasn't the right time and I didn't want to have this baby with him being unconscious, Penelope." Casey explains.

        "What?" Spencer asks, catching his attention at the mention of his own child and Casey looks at her husband and nods, "Yeah."

         "Newsflash, Baby Genius #2's on the way, Boy Genius!" Garcia cheers. "Oh, I have to get a wheelchair and a doctor!" Diana doesn't even think twice when she decides to leave Spencer's room and shouts — "I need a doctor, my daughter-in-law's about to give birth!"

         Spencer tries to sit up and look at his wife. "Are you really about to—?" Casey nods, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're about to have another baby. She's coming."
         "She?" Spencer asks.
         "Yeah, I-I-I think she's a she. She feels like a she. I think she's coming." Casey tells as she begins to breathe.

        Without a second thought, no matter how much pain it would bring him, Spencer sits up, going to kiss his wife on the lips quickly. "I love you. So much." Casey smiles back at him, "I love you even more."

         Only a second later is when the doctor's come in and have Casey dressed in a hospital gown and her on a gurney, being brought to Spencer's room so he could witness the birth.

          Since she had basically been feeling her contractions all day long, she only had two centimeters to go before giving birth to her child.

And when she finally arrived at 10 centimeters, Spencer was in that room with her, holding her hand from the hospital bed and encouraging her to push and praising her, telling her that she was doing great, that their little bundle of joy was almost here.

And soon enough, there it was.
There she was.

Soon enough, there Casey and Spencer were, their beds joined together, Casey holding their little girl in her arms as they gazed at her lovingly. Spencer had quietly asked if he could hold his little girl and Casey slowly and softly handed her to him and as soon as she was in his arms, Spencer nearly burst into tears.

"I will love you... forever." Casey nearly burst into tears as Spencer said that to their newborn child and smiled. This was her happy place. All the stress was gone, all of it, vanished out of thin air.

Garcia and Diana were in the room, watching and gawking at the couple and their newborn daughter and Diana mutters out, "She's beautiful."

"Just like her mom." Spencer chimes in and Casey gives her husband a small smile. "She has Spencer's eyes." Garcia then added as Casey replies with — "Brown with gold on the inside."

"Oh, she's gonna be a heartbreaker." Garcia laughs as Spencer then chimes in, "Now, wait a minute, she's not dating until she's 25." Before Casey has the chance to respond to that, there's a knock on the door.

Everyone looks up, seeing the team, all at the doorframe. "Hey..." Matt and in follows him, Erik, Luke, Emily and JJ and everyone exchanges their hello's. Tara and Rossi were in another room, getting Rossi's arm checked out after he was shot by Lynch.

"Oh," JJ clasps a hand over her mouth out of excitement. "Oh, she's beautiful, Casey." Luke places a hand on Spencer's shoulder softly, "Congratulations, man." Spencer mutters a small 'thank you', keeping his eyes on the bundle of joy in his arms.

"Hey, too many people in here?" Isaac's voice chimes in and next to him, Lennox and Chris were. "Hey!" Casey speaks hoarsely as Chris cheers, "Mom, Dad!"

"Hey, big guy!" Spencer whispers as Chris carefully climbs up on the bed to join his parents. Lennox moves next to Spencer's side of the bed with a relieved smile on her face. "Christopher, Lennox... we'd like you to meet someone very special." Casey speaks. "This is your baby sister."

"Would you like to give her a kiss?" Casey asks as Chris leans to give his little sister a kiss on the forehead. "Aw." Isaac looks at his sister and smiles, "Good job, sis."

"So, have you decided on names yet?" Erik wonders out of curiosity.

Spencer and Casey look at one another and Casey speaks again, "Well, uh, Spencer and I had a few names in mind. And we decided that we're gonna name her Violet Leah Diana Reid." She reveals.

Casey continues, "Violet because I've always liked the name. Leah, after her aunt, who would've loved her." Isaac smiles at this, knowing Leah would've loved it. "And Diana, after her wonderful grandmother." Casey smiles at her mother-in-law at this and Diana's heart just warms at that.

Spencer then looks at Casey and asks, "Can I tell them?" Casey looks at JJ and Emily and nods at him. "And we also talked and... JJ, Emily, we want you to both be godmother."

The two women exchange a look and JJ and Emily smile in disbelief. "Of course." Emily smiles. "Yes, 100 times, yes." JJ nods immediately.

Lennox then looks at Spencer and asks, "Can I hold her?" And Spencer nods, "Of course. Just mind her head." With that, little Violet is guided into Lennox's arms and the teenager holds the baby in her arms and smiles down at her.

"I've always wanted a little sister." Lennox says. Casey furrows her brows at hearing the hoarseness in the girl's voice. "Lennox, are you crying?" Lennox shakes her head as her voice gets higher in pitch. "No, I just got something in my eye." She tells and everyone in the room chuckles.

"Hi, Violet. I'm your big sister, Lennox. And this is your family. It's the best one you're ever gonna have. Trust me on that."

Casey looks around the love in the room and is so eternally grateful for it. And knowing that this is the next step in the chapter of life.

A chapter where she would no longer be at the BAU.

This was the beginning of the end.

two more chapters left! 😞

i really hoped y'all enjoyed this
i hope you guys enjoyed the cameos hehe🤭

also baby violet is here!!
i'm so excited because my spin-off i'm planning has something to do with her🤭🤭 stay tuned for that!!

also

me because there's only two more chapters left in this series ever and now i can't live vicariously through this series anymore:

i can't believe we're almost done
it does not feel real at all
anywayssssss

thank you all for reading
i love you all!!
-mya </333