Getting Through This Together

Emergencies

They're in the briefing room when Spencer gets a call. Usually he would ignore it, but caller ID showed that it was his daughter's school calling.

"Sorry, I have to take this," He said, standing up and walking out of the room.

"Spencer Reid," He answered the phone as soon as he was outside in the bullpen.

"Mr. Reid, this is the school nurse. Kate's been complaining of a stomach ache and she has a fever, you have to come pick her up," she said.

"Ok, I'll be right there," Spencer said, gathering his things. "What do you think it is, a bug, the flu?"

"In my professional opinion she shows all the signs of appendicitis. You should bring her to the hospital when you pick her up." Spencer's heart rate picked up. Appendicitis? She hadn't been complaining of any pain before school.

"Will do. Tell her I'll be there in ten minutes." Spencer hung up and rushed back into the briefing room. Hotch, who had been talking, stopped when he saw Spencer in the doorway.

"I have to go, it's an emergency. I'll call you as soon as I can," He said.

"Wheels up in an hour do you think you'll make it?" Hotch asked.

"No, I'm going to have to sit this one out," Spencer replied.

"Okay. Keep me posted."

Spencer drove as quickly as the speed limit allowed to his daughter's school, trying to compose himself along the way. He knew that if Kate saw how nervous he was it would scare her. He had to keep a brave face for his little girl.

The entire time his mind wouldn't stop racing. He ran through statistics about mortality rates for children with appendicitis. If she did have it, she would most likely be fine seen as how they caught it quickly and Kate was already in good health. His anxieties seemed to overtake logic however, as he couldn't keep his mind from straying into "what if"s.

Finally he was being buzzed into the front doors. He signed in quickly, his handwriting nearly illegible, before nearly bolting down the corridor to the nurse's office.

The first thing Spencer noticed in the nurse's office was his daughter laying down on a cot in the back corner. He tried to even out his steps, even though he wanted to rush over to her.

He nodded to the nurse who sat at her desk as he walked by, taking deep breaths the entire time.

"Hey honey," he said, sitting down next to Kate and placing a hand on her cheek. "Not feeling good?"

"My tummy hurts," She groaned.

"I know. We're gonna go see the doctor, okay?"

"Doctor Green?" She asked, perking up a little. She's always loved her pediatrician, ever since she was a baby.

"No, we're gonna see a different doctor. We have to go to the emergency room," Spencer said, gently sitting her up.

"I don't like the emergency room," she whined. "Don't make me go."

"I know you don't Kate, but we need to make sure that you're gonna get better." Spencer picked her up, supporting her with his left arm while the right one slung her backpack over his shoulder.

He signed Kate out at the main office, then carried her out of the building. Despite the heat of Virginia in September, Kate shivered. Spencer buckled her into her car seat, wrapping the blanket he kept in his car for emergencies around her shaking body.

The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. In reality it only lasted twenty minutes, but twenty minutes spent listening to your child cry and groan in pain might as well be twenty years.