AN: hi guys, happy monday!

welcome to the last hly update of 2024🥲 so sad

anywayyyy

here's a few TWS:
anthrax
dead bodies
panic attacks
trauma responses
hotch
that all looks terrifying so there's also a surprise in here :)
that is not a threat i'm autistic my tone is not great :)

i hope you guys enjoy! happy new year everybody! <333

•

"it's heartbreaking to hear someone say 'i wasn't always like this'. and, by 'this', they mean their anxieties, their fears, the little things that make you uncomfortable, the songs that make them look away and hold back tears, the way they struggle to trust again. as if 'this' version deserves any less love and care than all of the people they have been. as if 'this' is something that makes them a burden." - crystal lanerie taylor 

•

Delilah was getting pretty used to being called into BAU cases these days, especially now she was back at work after being cleared.

Kid cases were common.

What she wasn't used to, however, was being called in and finding the fucking army on the floor as she stepped off the elevator.

Delilah stared at the soldiers in confusion, heading straight to the conference room where JJ was stood with a woman and the rest of the team.

"Are we dealing with a terrorist thing?" Delilah asked.

"Lilah, this is Dr. Linda Kimura, chief of special pathogens with the CDC," JJ said.

"Okay, so, chemical shit," Delilah muttered.

"Last night, twenty people checked into emergency rooms in and around Annapolis. They were all at the same park after two pm yesterday. Within ten hours, the first victim died. It's now just past seven am the next day, we have twelve dead," JJ said, handing them all files.

"Lung failure and black lesions. Anthrax?" Morgan asked.

"Anthrax doesn't kill this fast," Spencer said.

"This strain does," Kimura said.

"What are we doing about potential mass targets; airports, malls, trains?" Emily asked.

"There's a media blackout," Hotch said.

"We're not telling the public?" Emily asked.

"We'd have a mass exodus," Morgan said.

"The psychology of group panic would cause more deaths than this last attack," Dave said.

"Yeah, and if it does get out, whoever did this might go underground or destroy their samples," Spencer said.

"Or, if they wanted attention and didn't get it, they might attack again. Doesn't the public have the right to know that?" Emily said.

"If there is another attack, there's no way we'll be able to keep it quiet. Our best chance of protecting the public is by building a profile as quickly as we can," Hotch said.

"What do we know about this strain?" Spencer asked.

"The spores are weaponized, reduced to a respiral ideal that attacks deep in the lungs. Odourless and invisible," Kimura said.

"A sophisticated strain. Only a scientist would know how to do that," Dave said.

"These lesions are doubling in size in a matter of hours," Morgan said.

"It's not the lesions I'm worried about. It's the lungs. We don't know how to combat the toxins once they're inside. And the reality is, we may lose them all," Kimura said.

"The remaining survivors have been moved to a special wing at Walter Reed hospital. Our offices will become a small command centre," JJ said.

"We'll be working with military scientists from Fort Detrick," Hotch said.

"General Whitworth is coming here?" Dave asked.

"He's in charge of site containment and spore analysis. Determining what strain this is will help inform who's responsible," Hotch said.

"My team is in charge of treating all victims," Kimura said.

"Reid, go with Dr. Kimura to the hospital, interview the victims. Morgan and Prentiss, there's a hazmat team that will accompany you to the crime scene. There's Cipro. Everybody needs to take it before we go," Hotch said, pointing at the tray of pills on the table.

Delilah pulled a face.

"We don't know if it's effective against this strain, but it's something," Kimura said.

"This is really happening?" Emily asked.

"We knew this could happen. We've done our homework. We've prepared for this. This is it," Hotch said, swallowing his pills down.

"Jindan," Dave said, holding his little pill cup up. "May you live one hundred years."

Delilah swallowed her pills dry, slipping from the room and pulling her phone to her pocket. She knew their phones would be monitored soon, so, she shot a quick text to Liv, then one to Nora, basically warning them both to stay indoors until she said they could go out, and to not let the kids out.

Liv and Nora both shot back thumbs up. Delilah deleted the messages because she knew the FBI wouldn't waste their time going back to check, and even if they did, she wasn't under orders to keep her mouth shut, yet.

She could focus now she knew her family was safe. She hoped JJ could, too.

"What are you doing here?" Dave asked, stepping out of the room with a smile.

"Strauss text me telling me I was on this case," Delilah said. "I'm just as confused as you."

"I need your help with the military officers," Hotch said, stepping out of the room and giving her a glance over. "How's your wounds?"

"I would rather stab myself than work with you on anything ever again," Delilah said pleasantly. "I'm going with Spencer."

"You are?" Spencer perked up, looking over at her from where he stood in the conference room.

"I am technically a doctor like you, right?" Delilah said. "And I know medicine better than the rest of you. It's the obvious solution."

"I don't like that solution," JJ said, stepping into the hallway. "We have two kids. It's not safe."

"They are safe, don't worry," Delilah said. "And I have my anthrax vaccinations. I get my yearly booster. I'm good. Besides, I can't catch it from them. That's not how it works."

"She's right," Dave said.

"It's anthrax," JJ said. "Delilah, it doesn't always have to be you."

"I'm safe there," Delilah said, giving JJ a look. "Bambina, sono al sicuro."

"I know you're safe," JJ said. "But it's still terrifying."

"It is," Delilah agreed. "But it will be over faster if I go with Spencer. Besides, if I stay here, I'm gonna punch Hotch."

Hotch stepped back. JJ nodded her head.

"Wouldn't blame you," she muttered. "You call me every half hour!"

"I will," Delilah laughed, kissing her cheek softly. "I'll check in in half an hour. Spencer, let's go."

Spencer grinned at her, the two of them heading towards the elevator where Kimura was waiting for them.

"Are there any other strains with similar symptoms?" Delilah asked.

"No," Kimura said, shaking her head. "This is a new strain and we have no idea how to stop it. When it's in the lungs, it's... We can't remove it."

Delilah nodded slowly, running her hand through her hair as they stepped onto the elevator.

"Okay," she said. "So... I mean, it has similar properties to Anthrax. The chemical base will be primarily the same. There'll just be altercations to make this a specific strain. We need to find that scientist. Fort Detrick might actually be a good place to start. We should consider any scientists there that have lost jobs or had red flags in their files, as far as red flags in the military can go."

"That's a good idea," Spencer said, nodding his head. "They would know the most about Anthrax and how to weaponise it. You know, it might not even be a scientist that worked there."

"Yeah, we should consider the scientists they've rejected, too," Delilah said. "I mean, it makes sense, right? You don't get to work here so you prove you can create something that they can't control or stop? Surefire way to get on their radar, and Anthrax is a painful way to kill. There's a lot of anger manifesting in our unsub, and a rejection could trigger that."

"I'll text Hotch to look into it," Spencer said.

"Make sure he thinks it came from you and not me," Delilah said. "You know he'll just ignore me."

Spencer nodded, shooting off a quick text before the elevator doors beeped open.

"Let's go to the hospital," Kimura sighed.

•

•

Delilah and Spencer stared at the flatlining monitors of another victim in the hospital. Dr. Kimura left the room, sighing as she shook her head at them.

"Thirty eight year old high school history teacher," she said. "Leaves two kids behind."

"Seventeen out of twenty five dead," Delilah murmured, eyebrows furrowing together.

"This strain is duplicating every thirty to forty five minutes. It's poisoning the lungs, causing massive hemorrhaging and organ failure," Kimura said.

"Extreme bacterial amplification. Whoever created this had to at some point go to the trouble of testing it," Spencer said.

"What do you mean?" Kimura asked.

"Well, look at the testing phases outlined by the CDC," Delilah said. "We have to start with rodents, then cats and dogs, then small trial runs with people before they launch it on a wide scale. This is the wide scale. We're missing his trial run."

"We would've heard about a previous Anthrax attack," Kimura said.

"Not if it presented itself as something else," Spencer said. "And it could've."

"If it didn't give him the magnitude of results he wanted, the unsub could've altered it to have the strain duplicate faster," Delilah considered. "We need to find what else it could've manifested as, what symptoms would've been around. Maybe there weren't even symptoms."

"No symptoms?" Kimura asked.

"Maybe they died too quickly," Delilah said. "Look how long it's taken for seventeen people to die. It's fast, but it's painful for them. If there wasn't a media blackout, the world would be falling apart waiting for news. Maybe, with the small trial run, the concentration of the drugs were higher. No physical symptoms, just... Call around, see if anyone came in, fell into a coma and died suddenly. Meningitis might've been a first thought when looking at the case."

"I'll make some calls," Kimura said, nodding her head.

"Thank you," Delilah said. "I need coffee. Yes?"

"Yes," the two of them sighed.

•

•

Delilah and Spencer sat at the nurses desk on the special ward, watching the chaos around them as they waited for the team to call them back. They did, after a moment, Spencer answering the call as they put a headphone in each.

"Hello?" Spencer said.

"Reid, you have me, Rossi, and Hotch," JJ said.

"You've got me and your girl genius, JJ," Spencer said.

"Kimura made some calls. It turns out that, two days ago, two people in two separate Baltimore ERs and one person in a Philadelphia ER slipped into comas and died suddenly," Delilah said.

"Now, the COD on all of them was meningitis, like Lilah thought it would be. Doctors didn't test for Anthrax because the illnesses presented themselves as meningitis, but I think it can be caused by Anthrax," Spencer explained.

"Did they show symptoms that we're seeing now? The lesions?" Dave asked.

"They wouldn't have if the bodily functions expired as quickly as they did," Delilah said.

"How quickly?" Hotch asked.

"All dead within three hours of being admitted," Spencer said.

"But the first patient died yesterday at ten hours," Hotch said.

"You can overdose in an hour or in ten hours depending on the concentration of the drugs," Delilah said. "Higher concentration, faster death, no exterior symptoms, but still organ failure."

"What are their names?" Hotch said.

Delilah told him the names, hearing him hurry off with another set of footsteps.

"JJ, what's wrong?" Delilah asked.

"What?"

"You sounded sad when you called us. What's wrong?" Delilah asked.

"Hotch said I can't tell anyone to stay home with the boys because of the media blackout," JJ whispered. "And nobody is answering my calls or texts."

"I told them to stay home and I'd tell them when they could leave," Delilah said. "I didn't tell them why, but they're safe. They're not answering because it's Henry's nap time and Mason will be napping with him, which means Jack and Ziggy will, and Nora, and Haley, and Colin. Will and Liv are in work. The rest of us are here. We're all safe."

JJ exhaled slowly.

"You told them to stay home?" JJ whispered.

"Of course," Delilah said. "I never received orders to not tell them to stay home, you did. If Hotch has a problem, you tell him it's on me, yeah? I'll deal with it later. They're all safe, probably snoring right now, and we'll be home soon to be with them. Everything is okay. You can do your job without worrying."

"Thank you," JJ murmured. "I didn't even think about doing it before they announced the black out."

"What else am I a girl genius for?" Delilah grinned. "I love you."

"Ti amo, mio sole."

Delilah laughed softly as she ended the call.

"When did she get good at Italian?" Spencer asked.

"When she shacked up with a pseudo Italian and her extensive Italian family," Delilah said.

"Her accent is getting better."

"That's Ziggy," Delilah said, rolling her eyes fondly. "He's been very good at helping her and Mase learn."

"How is Mason?" Spencer asked curiously.

"He has a Minecraft date with Will tonight, so, good," Delilah said.

"Will and Mason get on well, then?" Spencer asked, a small smile on his face.

"Honestly, Will's kind of just adopted Mason as his own the same way we have," Delilah said. "It's really nice, actually. He didn't have to, but he did, and he did it off his own back. He's at every soccer game, and they bond over video games, and he has photos of both the boys on his desk at work. His coworkers think he has two sons. It's... He's great."

"You can never have too many people loving a kid," Spencer said.

"That's what Will says, too," Delilah said, smiling slightly. "He's a good man."

"You actually like him, don't you?" Spencer said.

"JJ could've done worse," Delilah said, giving him a small smirk. "Come on. We have work to do."

•

•

Delilah and Spencer followed Kimura down the hallway towards the last four patient rooms still holding living patients on the ward.

"It feels like the plagues of Egypt," Kimura said.

"Ten scourges created by God. Plague six was unhealable boils believed by biblical scholars to be caused by anthrax," Spencer said.

"Never missed Sunday school, did you?" Kimura said.

"Actually, I've never been before. Lilah has, though," Spencer said.

"Unfortunately, yes," Delilah said. "How's she doing?"

Kimura sighed as they looked at the female patient lying in the bed hooked up to machines.

"She's a fighter. She's held on this long because she's young and strong. But she's started to bleed into her lungs," Kimura said.

"One of four left," Spencer said.

"We're running into another problem. When the next of kin have questions, what do we tell them about cause of death?" Kimura asked.

Delilah and Spencer shared a look.

This was not good.

"The team are delivering the profile now," Spencer said.

"We need to start figuring this out, too," Delilah said. "I mean, those locations are specific to him for a reason. Why that park? Why that bookstore? He'll know everything about previous attacks, and... I don't know. I don't even know where we start finding this guy. We need to start digging deeper, but where do you look for domestic terrorists?"

"Let's see if anything comes back from the profile," Spencer said. "Hopefully one of the military men know something."

"Hopefully," Delilah said. "Because we're looking at an ever growing plague at this rate."

"And that is the opposite of what we need," Kimura murmured.

"Exactly," Delilah said. "We're screwed if we don't start making connections here."

"Then let's call the team," Spencer said.

•

•

Delilah watched men in Hazmat suits survey the perimeter of the scientist's office, Spencer and Morgan on either side of her.

"Clear so far," Hazmat said over the radio.

"Alright, keep me posted," Derek said. "This guy just had people over for a charity event last month."

"We should probably take a look around anyway," Spencer said.

The three of them headed up the driveway to look around, Spencer hissing as he caught himself on a rose bush. Delilah grabbed his wrist, glancing at the cut on his arm before wiping the blood away with her thumb.

"You okay?" she said.

"Yeah," he said. "Just a scratch."

She rolled her eyes fondly. Morgan's phone rang. He sighed, putting it to his ear.

"Yeah, princess, what's up? Uh-huh. Yeah, we're here now. Sorry, what? The lab is clean? You're sure? Alright."

Spencer headed towards a shed at the back of the garden, Delilah following curiously. They stepped into the shed, stepping through a sliding glass door into a home lab.

"Rich people," Delilah muttered. "Who has a home laboratory?"

Spencer didn't say anything as Delilah glanced at the shelves filled with vials and boxes.

"Delilah, I need you to get out of here right now."

Delilah raised her eyebrows, turning to look at him.

Around the corner, a caved in head looked back at her. There was a shattered vial on the floor with white powder spilling everywhere, and the air vent above it was blowing through the room.

"Reid?! Lilah?!"

"Get out!" Spencer cried.

Delilah was half frozen. Spencer shoved her towards the door, but Morgan was in their eyeline before he could get her out.

Morgan would come in and there'd be three of them in there, or Delilah could close the door and keep herself and Spencer in here, or she could just drag both of them out of the room and lock the house because Spencer had a cut on his arm and she was freaking the fuck out, and why wasn't her brain connecting the dots to her body to fucking get out of this room?

Spencer gave up on moving Delilah, slamming the door shut before Morgan could come in. He slid the lock into place, Delilah standing frozen as she watched Morgan bang on the glass.

"What are you doing? What's wrong?" Morgan asked.

"Believe me, get back," Spencer said, clicking the second lock on the door.

"Reid, open the door!" Morgan said.

"I'm sorry," Spencer said.

Morgan staggered back once his eyes caught on the vial shattered on the floor. Delilah's hand moved over her mouth and nose, knees giving in as she slowly sank down to sit on the floor.

"Lilah?!" Morgan cried.

Spencer knelt down beside her, hands shaking as he put them on her shoulders.

"I told you to leave!" he said.

Delilah blinked up at him, eyes filled with tears. Spencer's glare faded instantly.

"Lilah, what is it?" he asked.

"I don't want to be in here," Delilah whispered.

"I told you to leave and you wouldn't," Spencer said. "We need to get you out of here. Oh my god, JJ is going to kill me. She's going to kill me, then kill you, then bring us back to yell at us! Why didn't you leave?!"

Delilah's eyes fell to the dead body on the floor, chest tightening as she tried to breathe through the ache in her lungs.

"Hey, no," Spencer said quickly, "We are not having panic attacks right now, because then we'll inhale more of whatever that is and die, and we don't want to die. This isn't a cool way to die, just like that faulty elevator wasn't a cool way to die. We can't panic right now."

"I think she's already panicking," Morgan said, watching Delilah hyperventilate.

"Yeah, thank you, genius!" Spencer snapped. "Call Hotch! I got this!"

Morgan hurried off to call him. Spencer wrapped his arms around Delilah's shoulders, tugging her head forward so it fell in the crook of his neck.

"Hotch is gonna get you out," Spencer whispered, rubbing her arm softly. "Just breathe. Calmly. It's okay. I'm gonna get you out. You're also a lot stronger and harder to move than I thought for someone so short. Stop working out. I can't push you around."

Delilah squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to breathe through the panic.

It was almost laughable that she was scared of this, but she hadn't been scared of Foyet. She hadn't even been scared with Elliot, at the end. She knew she would live or die in either of them and it was fine.

It was fine because she could actually fight them. She could fight the evil that wore a face, but you couldn't fight chemical weapons.

"I owe JJ so many apologies," Delilah whispered.

"We're gonna get you out," Spencer murmured. "But, yeah, an apology couldn't hurt. Maybe a nice present, too, to lessen the blow."

"Spence?"

"Lilah?"

"Are you scared?" Delilah whispered.

"Terrified," Spencer whispered, resting his chin on her head. "Are you scared?"

"Stupid question, boygenius."

"Yeah, the panic attack should've clued me in, huh?" Spencer muttered. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Delilah muttered. "I panicked as soon as I saw the body and the powder and the vent. I knew... I know this is bad. I know there's a very good chance we're not going home to our families and- I can't-"

"I know," Spencer whispered, holding her as tears slid down her cheeks. "I know. We're gonna figure this out, Lilah. I promise. Just focus on breathing, okay?"

Delilah nodded, sniffing as she wiped her tears away.

Crying wasn't going to do anything except make her feel worse. She needed to compartmentalise this and focus, but how could she focus?

She couldn't fight this. She couldn't use psychology against a chemical weapon intent on wreaking biological havoc on her body. For all she knew, her organs were starting to shut down already.

Delilah was freaking out. JJ had warned her about this.

She'd find the one thing that scared her, the one thing she wasn't invincible against, and it would bite her in the ass.

She was never ever ignoring JJ's light suggestions ever again.

She really fucked up this time.

She felt like she was in a suspended state of calm as she watched Spencer take in the room from his spot holding her. He stood up after a while to really look around, stayed sitting down herself because she didn't think her legs would support her for too long if she stood up, now.

After a while, Spencer's phone rang, breaking through the silence. Delilah blinked at him as he answered it, putting it on speaker.

"Reid," Hotch said.

"Hotch, I really messed up this time," Spencer said, tugging on his shirt collar.

"Reid, we need to get you and Bellerose out and to the hospital," Hotch said.

"Delilah, yes, but I'm staying right here," Spencer said.

"No, you're not, Spencer," Morgan said.

"I'm already exposed," Spencer said. "It's not gonna do me any good to stop working the case."

"They're both already infected," an unfamiliar voice said. "Now, if Nichols created the strain, he may have also created the cure. And, if we remove one, we might as well remove both. They both leave, or they both stay."

"We need to see if there's a cure and figure out who killed Dr. Nichols," Spencer said. "But I want Lilah out."

"Both stay or leave," the voice came again. "It's too risky until we can even test the substance and see if it is anthrax."

"Come on, Hotch, say something to him," Morgan pleaded over the phone. "You have to get them out of there. She's freaking out, okay? And you know she doesn't do that. They have to come out."

There was a moment of silence. Delilah looked at Spencer, stomach sinking before Hotch even spoke up.

"He's right," Hotch said. "Their best chance is inside. We're gonna get suits and masks in to you right away."

"Don't bother," Delilah spoke up flatly. "It's not going to do us any good if we're already infected, is it?"

"Delilah-"

Spencer ended the call, throwing his phone on the table out of the way. He walked over to Delilah, crouching down in front of her with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's not your fault," Delilah murmured. "I panicked and didn't leave. I froze up. I did it with Foyet, too."

"What?" Spencer asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"In the backyard, I couldn't go in the house. I was frozen for a full ten seconds just waiting for something to happen," Delilah said. "I froze up, and I did it again here."

"That was a gut instinct," Spencer said quietly. "This was panic. I mean, you can't be brave all the time. Then you're not human. You're just a weapon, instead."

Delilah stared at him for a moment.

"I think I was always supposed to be a weapon," Delilah said. "I don't mean in the way that I did this to myself. I mean... My genetics are fucked. They loaded the gun. My childhood put it in the chamber. I'm the bullet that the FBI molded from that and they shoot me whenever they need me to fix a problem. It's why they keep pulling me on your cases. I'm a big gun, now, and I don't think I ever had a choice in this. Nothing makes sense."

"I know," Spencer said, squeezing her hand. "I noticed after everything happened with Elliot. They didn't handle that how protocol dictates. They didn't deal with Elle like that. It... It's not right. It's not. They all did this to you, but the fear? That's you. That's the human part of you and, as terrifying as this is right now, being human is good. Being human means you have something to lose, something to live for. You have a whole family waiting for you, and our fastest way out of here now is to solve this."

Delilah nodded, wiping the last few tears from her cheeks.

"We're geniuses," Spencer said. "Certified, tried, tested, proved. If anyone can solve this, it's us."

Delilah nodded.

"We need to find the cure and figure out who killed him," Delilah said, letting Spencer help her to her feet. "Why would I kill the guy who was trying to warn people about anthrax attacks? Because I wanted to eliminate the big brains behind prevention. Right. How did I get close to him?"

They gathered intel together.

Dead animals stunk in cages around the room, the scent not even registering in Delilah's mind anymore because she'd smelled worse. Nichols had been dead for two to three days based on decomposition rates when factoring in the air conditioning keeping the room cool.

There were signs of a struggle, missing equipment, a cluttered desk to juxtapose a smaller yet perfectly organised desk. There were instructions on how to boil lab-grade broth, sterilise lab equipment, and transfer spores; two sets of handwriting.

"He has a protege," Delilah said. "That's our unsub. He was trained right here. So, good news and bad news. Nichols likely did not agree with this plan, considering he's dead, so, it's likely the cure is still in here because the one party who wants to keep people alive is no longer here to do that. Bad news, that is probably definitely anthrax powder on the floor and I'm praying that it's not been activated with the spores."

Spencer stared at her, nodding his head.

"Right," he said. "I'm going to call the team and update them."

"Okay," Delilah agreed. "Will you see if JJ is there?"

"Do you wanna talk to her?" Spencer asked.

"No, I'll just cry and slow us down," Delilah muttered. "Just... Tell her I'm okay, and I love her, and I'm sorry. It probably doesn't mean anything, considering how often I fucking say it, but, still. I'm really sorry for this one."

Spencer nodded slowly, moving to the other side of the room near the door to call the team. Delilah kept looking for the cure, going through cupboards and scanning through the notes for any indication of it there.

She made a point to ignore Spencer as he asked Garcia to record a message for his mother in case he didn't make it out of this alive. She had to ignore it because the ball weighing in the centre of her chest was still aching and opening her mouth would send her headfirst into a breakdown, and the ache in her throat and burning in her eyes were really irritating her right now because she couldn't cry again.

Her movements became more frantic as Spencer asked Penelope where JJ was, as he relayed her message off before ending the call. She heard Spencer rejoin in the search, but the fear was driving Delilah forward.

The longer she was in this room, the more likely she was to die. She was reminded of the dark basement, the cold air through the vents that was actually chloroform infused and sent her unconscious for days at a time.

She flinched as she passed under the vent, every gust of cold air sending shivers up her spine. Her head felt fuzzy and part of her was entirely convinced she was going to pass out and wake up with the familiar ache of chloroform in her bones.

She held on tighter to the worktop, tugging at her hair as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe.

She'd be able to smell the chloroform if it was here, and she couldn't. She was just locked in a room against her will with an air vent, forced to find a way out of here that didn't get her or Spencer killed, chest and throat burning with a ball of emotions and something bitter on her tongue.

This felt like a fucked up chemical drug version of the basement, except Elliot was the Anthrax.

Delilah was really freaking out.

"Dr. Reid, SSA Bellerose."

Delilah blinked at Dr. Kimura as she walked into the lab in a full red hazmat suit with an oxygen tank on her back.

"You look nice," Spencer said, wiping his sweaty forehead.

"I haven't been in this outfit for a while," Kimura laughed.

"How are- How are the patients doing?" Spencer asked, sounding slightly breathless.

"Let's worry about you," Kimura said.

"I actually... I feel fine," Spencer said quickly.

"Ok, if you feel any pain, I could give you something," Kimura said.

"No, I- I'd rather not take any pain medication," Spencer said.

"We can at least make you feel more comfortable," Kimura said.

"I am comfortable and I don't want to take any narcotics," Spencer said, voice wavering on the verge of snapping.

Kimura looked at Delilah, who shook her head, shaking her hands out before tying her hair up out of her face.

"Okay. Tell me how I can help," Kimura said.

"We think the cure for this strain is in here somewhere," Spencer said.

"Well, shall I start here?" Kimura asked, motioning to the machines next to her.

"Dr. Nichols is a former military scientist, which means he's most likely secretive and most likely a little paranoid. He would have protected the cure, and probably would have hidden it from his partner. So look for something innocuous, something you would not suspect," Spencer said, starting to pace as he tried to figure out where he wanted to look next.

"Alright," Kimura said, starting to search.

Spencer's phone rang after a minute, but Delilah kept searching. Spencer coughed before answering.

"Hello?" he said. "I've seen better days."

Spencer coughed, Delilah looking over at him. Spencer put the phone on speaking.

"Lilah's here," Spencer said.

"Hey, queen Lilah," Penelope said softly. "I passed your message on."

"Lilah, Reid, stick with me. Listen, Prentiss and Rossi don't think the partner was a coworker. Can you tell us anything else about him?" Morgan said.

"We've already been through everything," Spencer said.

"Come on, now, kid, I know you're not thinking straight, but the boy and girl genius I know wouldn't stop looking."

Spencer cleared his throat, nodding as he started looking around.

"I see a, uh, a framed photograph of Dr. Nichols teaching. I see a... I see a binder with syllabi. Course assignments going all the way back to the nineteen seventies," Spencer said.

"He values himself as an educator," Delilah rasped, eyebrows furrowing.

"A teacher. I saw something earlier. I didn't- I didn't make a connection to it or to the partner, but he has a study on anthrax. He has an annotated bibliography, table of contents. It's formatted like a thesis and has writing in the margins in red ink, like the way a teacher grades a paper. Now, Nichols wouldn't have let just anyone in here, but he may have opened his lab for educational purposes, as a teacher," Spencer said quickly.

"So the partner must have appealed to him as a student. Nichols is helping him with his thesis," Morgan said.

"I- I can look up local PHD students," Penelope said quickly.

"Yeah, check the sciences. Biochemistry, microbiology," Morgan said quickly.

"Cross-checking with names of former employees or customers with grievances at the bookstore," Penelope said. "Nothing, my doves."

"Listen to this," Spencer coughed. "This country is woefully unprepared. Every household should have a two month supply of Cipro. Hospitals are in need of bio-safety level four decon wings."

"That's verbatim to what we heard from Nichols. The partner's adopted Nichols' views as his own," Morgan said.

"The chapters are on setting up triage and mobile emergency rooms. I don't think this paper was written by a science student. It's about city preparedness and response," Spencer said.

Delilah's eyebrows furrowed as she found an inhaler hidden in a little compartment under the desk. She stared at it for a moment, lifting it up to study it.

She coughed, wincing as she rubbed her chest and stood up straight again. She walked over to Kimura, who turned to look at her.

"Somewhere we wouldn't suspect," Delilah said. "But entirely effective and inconspicuous if he ever had to use it."

"The cure is in there," Kimura said.

"Can I just, like, pump all of this in my lungs and hope it stops me freaking the fuck out?" Delilah asked, turning her head to cough into her elbow.

"Let's hold off on that until we get out of this room, which we are now doing. Dr. Reid, Delilah found it. We're getting you two out of here," Kimura said.

Spencer coughed, hanging up the phone with a nod.

"Thank god," Delilah whispered.

•

•

The cold water against her skin was horrible. Her clothes felt like they were sticking to her skin more than they had in that room, but it was soothing in the way she could almost feel the chemicals being washed off of her.

Spencer stood in the little tent with her, though the hazmat team were working on putting a tarp up between them because they were going to have to get naked.

Traumatising.

Delilah wanted to die again now her brain was not being assaulted by trauma responses because why the fuck did she have to get naked in front of people? No, thank you.

"They're checking out Brown's house," Morgan said, walking over to talk to them through the little window of the tent.

"Go help Hotch," Spencer said, wincing as he started unbuttoning his shirt.

Delilah coughed some of the water out of her mouth, grimacing at the hazmat hosing her down. The woman gave her an apologetic look before spraying more water against her body.

It was freezing. Delilah coughed again, wrapping her arms around her chest with a shiver.

"Hotch has plenty of people helping him," Morgan said.

"He needs you more than I do," Spencer said.

"I'm gonna see you two off to the hospital," Morgan said.

"We're about to get naked so they can scrub us down. Is that something you really want to see?" Spencer said.

Morgan nodded once.

"I'll check on you later. Take good care of him, please," Morgan said, heading off.

"Get this to the lab. I hope you're right about this," Kimura said, handing the inhaler to another hazmat while looking at Delilah.

Delilah didn't answer, though.

Her eyes were on Spencer.

"Spence," she whispered.

Spencer blinked at her in confusion. Delilah stepped over to him, chest burning with another cough. She lifted one hand to her mouth, her other hand grabbing his arm and pulling it out to show Kimura the prick from the thorn on the rose bush.

"You cut yourself," Delilah said. "That's why your symptoms came on faster than mine. The air was contaminated and-"

She cut herself off with another cough, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

"Delilah only inhaled it," Kimura said, eyes moving between the two of them. "But it's in your blood. Open wounds... Dr. Reid."

"We need to go to the hospital," Delilah rasped. "Now."

Kimura nodded quickly.

Delilah was in a different ambulance to Spencer and Kimura, but her condition was nowhere near as bad as Spencer's. Her coughs were slightly eased with the oxygen, even if she still had to pull the mask away to clear her throat every few minutes.

She had an elevated heart rate and a dry throat, but she was coherent when answering questions.

She wasn't surprised when she was wheeled into the hospital after Spencer. She wasn't surprised when he was wheeled off before she could even say anything to him, though her chest ached with another coughing fit that had her tugging the oxygen mask off her face.

"It's okay," one of the army doctors told her, rubbing her back as another shoved a tray in front of her to catch the blood spilling over her lips. "Just breathe. We're going to help you."

"Spencer?"

"He's with Dr. Kimura. He's in the best hands."

"Don't let him die," Delilah coughed. "He's my brother."

"We'll try our best," he promised. "Don't you die on us, either. He's gonna need you later."

She wasn't planning on it, even as the next coughing fit wracked through her chest and sent her head reeling.

"I don't want any narcotics," Delilah rasped.

"Are you sure?" the army guy asked.

"I'm as coherent as I'll be for the next few hours," Delilah said, tasting blood on her teeth. "No matter what I say, do not give me narcotics."

They nodded their heads, wheeling her into a room to get her hooked up to a proper oxygen machine and get some fluids in her while they waited for confirmation on the inhaler containing the cure.

All Delilah could think of was Spencer.

He tried to get her out before thinking of himself, and now look at him. If she'd been less traumatised, maybe she would've helped him figure it out faster.

Maybe he wouldn't be fighting this hard to survive her if she could keep her shit together on the few BAU cases she was called to help on.

She didn't even know why she'd been called in on this case, though. She was a genius, yes, and she had her PhDs in chemistry, biology, psychology, criminology, and child psychology, but that wasn't the point.

She wasn't the fucking Anthrax expert.

She never should've even been on this case, and now it had led to this.

Hotch helped it lead to this. He agreed to keep them in there. He listened when some random guy told him they both stayed or they both left. Spencer would've left with her, she knew it, but Hotch decided they'd stay and make themselves useful.

Delilah's throat burned, tongue thick with the taste of copper and something so chemical and bitter against her tongue. She gagged, the doctors shoving a bowl beneath her face in time for her to throw up.

She really needed a new job.

That was fucking clear.

•

•

Everything felt heavy when Delilah regained consciousness.

It was kind of terrifying, considering she hadn't even realised she'd passed out at one point, but she was beyond familiar with hospitals and waking up in them by this point.

It didn't make it any less scary, ultimately.

It was definitely emotional whiplash to go from trauma response fuelled panic attacks in some Anthrax lab to waking up in a hospital bed with needles stuck in her arms and a heart monitor clipped to the tip of her finger.

She was also alone.

That was fucking horrible to wake up to.

Delilah blinked at the clock, squinting at the numbers for a moment.

It was eleven in the morning and she was on her own.

It had been late afternoon the last time she checked.

Delilah pressed the nurses button repeatedly, staring expectantly at the door until it opened and Dr. Kimura smiled at her.

"Look who's awake," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Is Spencer dead?" Delilah asked.

"He's very much alive, thanks to you," Kimura said. "How are you feeling?"

"Heavy. Can I see him?" she asked.

"We had to sedate you," Kimura said. "No narcotics, don't worry. Just a little help to put you to sleep so you would stop fighting the oxygen. You were panicked and it wasn't helping the respiratory distress. You've been asleep for a good few hours and x-rays taken this morning show your lungs are all clear. You'll be good to be discharged in a few hours."

"Can I see him?" Delilah repeated.

"Yes," Kimura said.

She checked Delilah's vitals before unhooking her from the machines. Delilah quickly changed into the clean outfit in the go-bag someone had left for her, then brushed her teeth and her hair. She followed Kimura down the hallway to Spencer's room, smiling when she saw him eating jello with Morgan.

"Hey, you're awake!" Morgan said, getting to his feet with a grin. "You're scaring me a lot lately."

"I'm scaring myself," Delilah muttered, sighing as she hugged him.

Morgan wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back for a moment before letting go of her. She moved over to Spencer's side, sitting down on the bed facing him.

"You're okay?" Delilah checked.

"I'm okay," Spencer said, giving her a smile despite the oxygen tubes in his nose. "Thanks to you. Seems like a common theme. You're always saving my life."

"Yeah, well, that's what sisters do," Delilah muttered.

"You're the best big sister ever," Spencer said, wrapping her into a hug. "You're itching to get out of here, aren't you?"

"Where's JJ?" Delilah asked instead.

"She was here all night," Morgan said. "She took Mason to school this morning and she's on her way back with breakfast for all of us. I texted her when I saw you. She's about twenty minutes away."

"Did we solve it?" Delilah asked.

"Yeah," Spencer said. "And the other four victims survived."

"Good," Delilah murmured, rubbing her face as she moved to sit in the chair beside his bed. "Pass that jello. I need something to do."

Spencer handed over a tub of jello and a spoon, picking up his own with a happy smile.

"It's a good day to be alive," Spencer said. "I love jello."

Delilah heard JJ before she saw her. She was on her feet and in the hallway before JJ even turned the corner around the nurses desk, holding a coffee tray with four cups in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other.

She stared at Delilah for a moment, then walked right past her and set the food and drinks down on the desk in Spencer's room. She kissed his forehead, then walked right back out of the room and grabbed Delilah's hand.

She tugged her down the hallway back to Delilah's room, guiding her in and closing the door behind her.

Delilah was tucking herself against JJ's chest before the lock even clicked into place.

JJ sighed softly as she wrapped her arms tightly around Delilah, holding her as her shoulders shook with sobs. JJ guided them over to the bed, sitting down and tugging Delilah onto her lap.

"Breathe, baby," JJ whispered, slipping her hand under Delilah's t-shirt to rest over her heart. "You'll hurt your lungs and throat more. Try and breathe for me."

Delilah tried. She really did. Her chest seemed to jump up and down as she sucked in a breath, a rattling sound echoing in her lungs. JJ shushed her softly, pressing her lips to Delilah's forehead three times.

Tears burned against her face and soaked JJ's t-shirt. JJ tightened her grip, guiding Delilah's ear over her heartbeat.

"Focus on me," JJ whispered. "Concentrati su di me."

Delilah forced herself to focus on the steady heartbeat ringing in her ears. She slipped her hand under her own t-shirt to rest over JJ's hand, pressing it harder against her chest until she could feel the dull ache of her own heart beating through their flesh and bone.

They were so human.

Delilah was so human.

It terrified her how human she was, how fragile she was, how delicate.

She could've died. Maybe she almost did. She wasn't sure how bad her condition was and she didn't want to know, but she couldn't not know how bad she'd fucked up with JJ again.

All she did was scare her with near death experiences.

She'd asked Delilah not to go to the hospital. She'd asked Delilah to stay at the BAU. If she stayed, if she'd fucking listened for once in her life, if she'd trusted JJ to shoot her in the right direction, this wouldn't be happening right now.

She owed it to JJ after Foyet to be more careful and she'd fucked up again because her brain shut down with a trauma response and she couldn't get out of that room fast enough to not be here.

JJ was so warm, though, and so soft and delicate. Her hand hurt so sweetly as it pressed against Delilah's chest to keep her focus on her heart.

It was easier to breathe when she could feel JJ clogging up all of her senses.

"I'm so sorry," Delilah whispered.

"I know," JJ whispered.

"I really mean it. I didn't-"

"I know," JJ whispered. "You didn't know what was in there and you wanted out. Morgan told me. Penelope told me. Hotch and the army commander kept you guys in there to work it. This isn't on you."

"I should've listened-"

"You didn't know going to the hospital would lead to this," JJ said softly. "You didn't. This is not your fault."

"Why aren't you mad at me like you were with Foyet?" Delilah whispered.

JJ sighed, wiping Delilah's tears off her cheeks and shaking her head.

"I was worried and it manifested as anger," JJ said. "I wasn't mad at you, or at least not for a good reason. And I am mad now, but not at you. You wanted out. You asked to come out and they ignored you. This is not on you."

"But-"

"No," JJ whispered, pressing a soft kiss to Delilah's scarred forehead. "No. We're not talking about this if you're not going to listen. I am not mad at you. I'm terrified, but I'm not mad."

"I'm sorry."

"I know," JJ whispered. "I know, baby. It's okay. I promise. We're okay."

"Do the kids know?"

"No. I told Mase that we only finished the case this morning and you were tying up loose ends. We can't technically tell them about it, anyway, but Liv knows. Em and Dave know, too, so, Nora and Colin, and Will and Haley will know by now. Just not the kids."

"I don't want them to know. I'll just scare them."

"That's okay. Mase won't bat an eyelid. We'll just tell them you're coming down with a cold if they ask about the coughing."

Delilah nodded, burying her face in JJ's neck. JJ tightened her grip on Delilah, thumb stroking over her chest softly.

"I had a panic attack."

"I know."

"Everything was... It felt like the basement, and it wasn't. The air vent reminded me of the vent back there, and the dead body, and- and Hotch not letting me out and-"

Delilah cut herself off, shaking her head with a small groan. JJ hummed gently in her ear, rocking them back and forth for a moment.

"You're safe," JJ whispered. "You're safe now, honey. I've got you."

"I know."

"We're gonna take you home, soon. Just a bit longer."

Delilah nodded. JJ ran her fingers through Delilah's hair, fixing it out of her face and giving her a tired smile.

"I love you," JJ whispered.

"I know," Delilah whispered, blinking up at JJ. "I love you. I'm sorry."

"We're good," JJ assured her, kissing her forehead. "We're good, baby."

•

•

Something changed after that.

To be fair, change was something that always happened, except it was usually way less noticeable.

This change, however, was like a neon sign gleaming down on them.

JJ knew Delilah had wanted out of this case, she knew Delilah wasn't allowed out, and she didn't blame Delilah.

That wasn't the change.

The change was Delilah. She'd felt scared. She'd genuinely felt terrified she was going to die in that lab or the hospital and the fear still wracked through her body when they were home and she had to watch JJ leave to go to work a few days later for another case.

The fear was a stark reminder of how human she was, how much JJ was right about Delilah not being invincible, and the fear just reminded her how much shit JJ put up with from her.

Normally, she'd hate herself for putting JJ through this, and she did. She always would, but the hatred for herself was something she'd long grown used to living with, like a wound she kept reopening on their shared souls every few months and stitched up temporarily with empty promises she'd always go back on because she would always save the world over herself.

This time, though, the hatred towards herself was overwhelmed with gratitude to JJ.

She was just as scared about Delilah dying as Delilah had been in that lab, and Delilah knew this was a constant state of mind for JJ because JJ felt fear normally, and Delilah was numb to it.

It shouldn't have taken this for Delilah to remember that JJ was normal, even with her unconditional love to Delilah.

It was with this unconditional love in mind that Delilah found herself stood in a jewellery store while JJ was on a case.

Mason had Henry on his hip, carrying the six month old from glass display to glass display, their faces reflected as they looked around. Will sat on one of the chairs holding Henry's pram in place with his foot on the wheel, flicking through a catalogue curiously.

"So, do you know what you want?" Liv asked, looking in the glass displays herself with Ziggy at her side.

"What are we even here for?" Haley asked, holding Jack on her hip. "I mean, I did think engagement rings, 'cause a family trip to the jewellery store seems excessive for anything else, but you're very quiet, Lilah. I can't tell."

Nora chuckled from where she and Colin stood near the till, Colin paying for their new matching bracelets.

They'd picked charm bracelets, though the charms were specifically made by the jeweller. They'd picked several charms together, one each to represent the members of their family here and who had passed on.

"Of course it's engagement rings," Nora said. "It's why she's so quiet. She's trying to process if she's really about to pull off a whole elaborate engagement."

"Is that why there were flights to Italy on the computer history?" Liv asked. "I thought it was for the grand prix, but then I thought that the Italian grand prix isn't until September, and the flights were for June, so, I'm not so sure. You also prefer Monaco, no idea why."

"Monaco?" Mason asked. "I'm judging you, mamma."

"It's the most boring race," Dave said. "That's why we love it. We can get drunk and eat and miss laps without missing anything because nothing happens."

"So, you don't actually like the Monaco Grand Prix, you like Monaco," Will laughed.

"Yeah!" Dave said.

"Not the point," Liv said. "Are we here for an engagement ring?"

"Yes," Delilah said. "You're all here for moral support. I would've like Em's opinion, too, but she's working away with JJ and dad, so, I'm getting on with it. I'm not sure if we're going to go to Italy for it, but it's an option now Henry is older. The only drawback is-"

"Nobody wants their kids there after they get engaged," Mason said, giving her a grin as he bounced Henry. "You and mom want some alone time."

"I was actually more concerned about flying with his pram and how fussy he would be with the jet lag, and how the jet lag would fuck you up, but, you know what? Yeah," Delilah said. "Me and mom want some alone time sometimes."

"We can have our own boys trip, Mase," Will said.

"And we're naturally gonna throw the biggest party ever when you come back if you do go to Italy," Nora said, walking over to them with a smile. "Now, start looking. What do you want? What are we looking out for? What colour?"

"Silver," Delilah murmured. "She wears silver, and I want something that symbolises us. I don't mind getting it customised. I don't have a set date in mind, so, I can wait. Nothing too much, though, you know? She'll have it at work and stuff, and she's not a loud person when it comes to that. It just needs to be her."

"Then you're probably best getting a customised ring."

Delilah jumped at the voice, lifting her head from the display rings to look at an old man. He smiled at her.

"It is more expensive-"

"Not a problem," Delilah said. "How long does it take?"

"I can have it done in about six weeks, providing we come up with a design today. It can be tweaked throughout the process, but you should know that, at a certain point, we can't change things," he said.

"That's fine," Delilah said. "I don't know what I want, though."

"Then let's start at the beginning," he chuckled, pulling out a catalogue and handing it to her. "This takes you through all of my previous designs to give you an idea for your own, too. I won't repeat designs, but it helps you picture what you want yours to be. Try and look for things you dislike before you look for things you like. It'll be faster to narrow down options, that way."

Delilah nodded, flicking the catalogue open. The others gathered around her, all looking at the photographs of the rings.

"I don't want it too thick," Delilah said. "And it'll have to match the wedding ring, like a set. I don't need the wedding ring made yet, obviously, but I know I want it to be a set that goes together."

Mason started humming We Go Together from Grease, Liv laughing and ruffling his hair.

"I don't think you want any big clunky diamonds, either," Nora said. "She'll be terrified to break it."

"She will," Delilah agreed. "I like this, where it doesn't fully connect because of the pendants, but does that go against the symbolism of the rings? I mean, the circle thing?"

"I think it depends on what the pendants will be," Liv said. "Like, this is leaves and a flower, but you could do... I don't know, a moon and a star, and have the star be the diamond, and I think that symbolism will outshine the circle thing. Besides, the wedding ring can be a circle, and that can have the sun, or something. Then it's very you and it fits the theme."

"It does," Ziggy said. "I think she'd love it."

Delilah did, too. She nodded her head.

"Okay," she said.

The jeweller grabbed a notebook and a pencil, starting to sketch up a quick design. He drew the engagement ring first.

A waning crescent moon sat on the left side, with a diamond star settled in the middle. The ring didn't fully connect, leaving a sliver of air between the pendants, but Liv was right. It worked and it looked beautiful.

He kept sketching. This was a half sunburst ring that looked like it would fit around the crescent of the moon to fill the circle of metal missing from this ring. It would keep them as a pair, this way, and there were little tiny diamonds in the rays of the sun that he added shading onto to show the sun reflecting off it.

"What do you think?" he said. "What do you hate about it, first?"

"Nothing," Delilah said honestly, staring down at the page. "I thought it would be harder to do this."

"Love can be hard," Nora said. "But it can also be incredibly easy. You know her well, and you know what she'd like. It fits you two. It makes sense."

It did make sense, and Delilah couldn't really picture it in her mind right now, but the sketches had her confident in how much JJ would love them.

"Then I'll take them," Delilah said.

They discussed ring size and material, and cost, but Delilah didn't care about the cost. She paid it all off today so she wouldn't have to worry about remembering payment dates.

It wasn't like she didn't have the money, after all, and the cost didn't matter if it was what would be the best fit for them. She loved the design, and she loved how much it fit them.

She gave him her number to keep in touch, then ushered them all out of the shop with a content sigh.

"Right," Delilah said. "Now we have a proposal to plan."

"Yes!" Mason said, bouncing Henry on his hip with a grin. "If you do it in Italy, it's common courtesy to take us with you at some point in the future."

"We could do a family trip and disguise it so she doesn't suspect something," Haley said. "We all go together for a few days, Lilah proposes somewhere so we can be there for the celebrations after, then we fly home with the boys and give them a few days to themselves."

"That could be really good, actually," Liv said, looking at Delilah. "I mean... It's quite rare we'll ever get to take a family holiday with all of us. If we plan it now, we can make sure that Em, JJ and dad are home for it."

"We could start in Rome," Delilah said, taking Henry to put him back in his pram so they could walk back to the car. "Do the sightseeing shit. Pompeii isn't that far of a drive, or the Amalfi coast. We can do a day trip and then head down to Amalfi. I think that would be a nice place to do it."

"It sounds perfect," Nora grinned. "Colin and I can skip Pompeii and head down early to make sure the house is all ready for us."

"We'll fly home early, give you two a few days to celebrate," Colin laughed. "It'll be perfect."

"It does sound beautiful," Liv said.

"Do you think she'd want something at home, though?" Delilah said. "Somewhere we have history?"

"No," Liv said honestly. "You guys go ahead, actually. I think this is a sister conversation."

Haley stuck behind, but Nora, Colin and Will ushered the kids ahead. Delilah ruffled Mason's hair as he went, smiling back at him when he beamed up at her.

"Look, JJ told me that Italy you is a very different person to USA you," Liv said. "You can let go there. You came back different and happier. It's an escape. The baby moon being in Italy was the best thing you could've done to reassure JJ that you were all in. There's so much trauma here in Virginia, and I don't think these things should interfere with that. You deserve these moments to be perfect."

"She's right," Haley said. "Besides, the family holiday will throw her off completely. We can blame Aaron as to why we're doing it. She won't even question it. It'll be great! Besides, you know Dave is just gonna pay for all of us to go, so, a free holiday on your rich dad? Yes, please, all day every day."

Delilah laughed, rolling her eyes fondly.

"So, it's settled, then," Delilah said. "Italian road trip."

"Now where is the most romantic place in Rome to propose?" Liv wondered. "We'll have to make a list ASAP to plan it."

"There's a lot of places," Delilah said. "We'll figure it out."

"This is exciting!" Haley beamed, jumping up and down on her feet. "We'll have a wedding to plan, soon!"

"It's not legal," Delilah pointed out.

"Who cares?" Haley said. "Colin doesn't. He'll ordain it no problem."

"Except it won't actually be legal," Liv said. "Unless you do a civil partnership."

"JJ can decide," Delilah said. "I never really wanted the whole wedding thing. Marriage, sure, but the party? She can choose. It's her day, and my day will be perfect as long as she's happy."

"I wish there were men like you," Haley said. "I'd snatch you up if I could."

"Thanks," Delilah laughed.

"Are you gonna wear a dress?" Haley asked.

"Uh, probably not?" Delilah said honestly. "I'd feel more exposed in a dress, I think. Especially with my scars. I know nobody cares, but... I don't know. I don't want that to be a big thing. I don't want it to distract me. Suits can cover me up better."

"Then we better find a designer for that," Liv murmured, eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. "Oh, this is so exciting! We're gonna have a wedding!"

"Don't ruin the surprise before it's even a real thing," Delilah said.

"Yeah, this is top secret, Livs!" Haley grinned, swinging an arm over Delilah's shoulder. "We have to keep the baby's secret proposal under wraps! Make sure Emily keeps her mouth shut, too."

"She will," Liv laughed. "Don't worry. Just be excited! This is a good day!"

It was a good day.

Delilah just hoped that the actual proposal went as smoothly as this.

•