Disclaimer: see my profile

Warning: This takes place in the fourth season after "Memoriam." For my purposes, Austin isn't in the picture. Also, most of the reserach for this piece came from the internet and from my beta REIDFANATIC, who is a nurse. Some medical facts and procedures will be tweaked by me for the purposes of this story. It isn't my intention to offend anyone that has had fertility problems. If I do, I apologize in advance. Please remember that many women get artificially inseminated who are single. I'll be exploring that part of reproductive medicine instead of other options, although some of them will be mentioned in the course of the story.

A/n this will eventually be a Reid and Emily romantic pairing because you know me, I love my romance.

Emily slammed her apartment door. Tears were running down her cheeks as she hurried into the did she let her mother do this to her? She should be able to throw off the little remarks, and prods, that her mother found so easy to sling her way. Why couldn't her mother realize that she was happy in her job? She didn't need to find something else to do with her life.

She tossed her purse on the table in the corner of the small kitchen. Her coat got thrown over a wooden chair. She toed off her shoes and left them next to the chair. Her hand was on the cupboard that housed an unopened bottle of bourbon before she took hold of herself and headed for the cupboard with her selection of herbals teas.

She made a cup of chamomile tea and took it to her living room. The grey sky outside reminded her that fall was here to stay and winter was on its way. Only five more weeks till the beginning of the holidays. That was going to be one more day in hell with her parents if they decided to stay in town and celebrate for a change. If she were lucky, they'd skip the holidays and she'd be spared from having to listen to her mother complain about the lack of grandchildren.

"I don't get her attitude." Emily said to the grey tabby cat that leapt up on the couch next to her.

The cat curled up on the big sectional sofa and swished her tail at this question. "Why am I asking the cat about my mother?" The cat lifted a paw and began washing its face. "You're no help!"

The cat stopped grooming long enough to meow loudly. She got up and rubbed against Emily's thigh with her head.

"Okay, I'll get you a treat."

She went back to her tea and the sofa after going to the kitchen and getting a treat for the begging cat. "Why is it that you can get me to give you extra treats? I'm supposed to be the one that says no in this relationship." Sophie turned her back on Emily and began to wash once again. "Why do I bother with you?"

She left the cat sitting on the sofa. Her tea was getting cold and she decided that she didn't want it.

The book shelf at the north end of the room looked promising. She'd find something to read till it was time to think about dinner. Perhaps she could salvage what was left of the Wednesday afternoon. Hotch had required that they all take two days after a very tough case. It was ending too soon for her. If only she could have two more days…

She had her hand on "Anne of Green Gables," when her cell phone rang. "That better not be Jordan." She growled.

The number on the caller id was vaguely familiar. She opened her phone, grateful that it wasn't a case calling to her."

"Emily Prentiss."

"Hello Emily. This is Dr. St John's office. We have you scheduled next Monday for your annual checkup. Unfortunately the doctor can't be here that day. Her mother is undergoing surgery and she's going home Saturday."

"Oh, I'm sorry… When can I reschedule?"

"She'll be able to see you Friday afternoon."

"That's fine as long as I don't have to go away for a case."

"Is four pm okay?"

"Yeah, I think I can sneak out early."

"I'll put you down. Have a good week."

Emily hung up the phone and attempted to lose herself in Prince Edward Island during the late nineteenth century. She got as far as the fourth page before the realization hit that she couldn't concentrate. She put the book aside and got up to pace.

Her mother had hit a nerve. As much as it galled her to admit it, her mother had touched on something that had been nagging her for over a year. She wasn't getting any younger. The possibility for marriage and children seemed so far out of the realm of possibility as to be negligible.

She looked at "Anne of Green Gables," and thought about the possibility of adoption.

"They won't let you adopt. They'll say that with your job you wouldn't be able to give a child sufficient attention."

That was true enough… She remembered talking to Connelly in counter-terrorism, who couldn't conceive a child with his wife. His wife had been heartbroken when the adoption agency told him that his job was too dangerous and stressful.

"The question is do you want to have a child with your job?"

Sophie leapt up on the end table and sat there looking like a statue she'd seen in the Louvre once of an Egyptian cat.

"What do you think Sophie? Have I gone nuts? I have a good life. No one depends on me."

The cat swished her tail.

"Well, except for you."

She picked up the book that had been tossed to the side of the couch. The picture of the red-headed girl was so familiar as she'd read this over and over again since she was twelve years old. What had Marilla imagined when she thought of adopting a boy? Had she imagined what he looked like, or what his personality had been like?

"This is nuts. You're going to get your head together and stop thinking about this. "

She nodded her head and put the book aside. The grandfather clock in the corner struck the quarter hour. It was time to think about something to eat.

Three hours later, dinner was over, the dishes were washed and the kitchen tided. Sophie was curled up on the sofa staring at Emily as she sat down on the couch with "Anne of Green Gables" again. Emily read another six pages before tossing the book aside for the third time.

Maybe some mindless television would be the way to get her mind off the ridiculous idea. But, one pass through her cable stations showed that idea to be a big loser. Sophie left her perch on the other end of the sofa and jumped up next to Emily. She laid her head in Emily's lap and meowed.

"Why are you so solicitous today?"

Sophie eyed her with something like insult.

"I'm not giving you any more treats. You've had your quota for the day."

Sophie meowed and crawled into her lap.

Emily patted her for several minutes while her mind whirled. Don't blame your mother for everything. You're just angry because she hit a nerve. You're the one that's been thinking of the alternatives to marriage.

"It's JJ's fault." Emily informed Sophie, who just looked at her.

"Well it is! She has this great guy and a baby. It's not fair that she got the last viable donor."

Sophie meowed and shoved her head into Emily's hand.

"I'm not going there." She informed the cat.

Sophie shoved her head into Emily's hand again and stared up at her with her golden eyes.

"No, I'm not going to do it."

Sophie meowed, jumped out of her lap and sat with her back to Emily.

"Okay, but if this goes badly it's your fault!"

---

Emily picked up the notebook she'd found in her desk drawer. She was sitting in bed with a mug of hot chocolate and a plate of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.

Sophie sat next to her on the bed. She shoved her head into Emily's hand and meowed impatiently.

"Okay, who do we start with?"

Sophie stared at her. "You're a lot of help now that you got me to do what you want!" Sophie meowed.

"Alright, we'll start with Hotch."

She made a column of pros and cons for her boss. This is nuts!

It may be nuts, but it's the only way!

"Okay, for the pro side: Attractive, smart, older than me, stable, he has his own home, he has a child of his own, and he's a lawyer, good leadership skills, a good dresser, friendly with my parents.

The pro side didn't look like she'd put much thought into it. She just didn't know him that well. He was an enigma that she found next to impossible to profile.

The con side was easier. There were very few cons: he never smiled, and he was a workaholic, he already had a child that he didn't see very often.

The next candidate was going to be the most difficult. Rossi was in some ways very easy to read and in other ways very difficult to read. She stalled for a minute by picking up a cookie and taking several bites. The chocolate should have been too much with the cup of hot chocolate, but her motto was you could never have too much chocolate.

"Okay, let's get Rossi out of the way. For the pro side: reasonably attractive, no nonsense, a dry sense of humor that could catch you off guard, he likes art, and books, he has plenty of money, committed to his job, compassionate at times.

The con side was a little easier too: obsessive-compulsive, neat freak, fussy, been married three times, was responsible for most of the anti-fraternization rules at work, and he was older than she wanted.

The next choice was Morgan. His pro column was pretty extensive. He was attractive, very intelligent, physically strong, sensitive in his own way, and he worked as hard as any of them on the job, he had a great sense of humor, and he loved his family.

The cons were more difficult and easy at the same time: he never knew when to stop in time when teasing Reid, he refused to settle down with one woman, and he had a very hot temper that boiled over at the least provocation. He disregarded his own safety many times when trying to take down a un-sub.

The last person on her list after she also listed a few guys she knew outside of work was Reid. It was a short conversation with him, about if he wanted to have baby geniuses, which had started her thinking about in-vitro or artificial insemination, a few weeks ago.

His pro list was very easy: attractive, a genius, kind, gentle, young, he liked magic and was good at it, he was capable of incredible leaps of logic and intuition that helped them solve a lot of difficult cases, and he had a way of making them laugh without meaning to.

The cons list was pretty extensive too: interesting fashion sense, young, she'd heard that kids didn't like him, he went off on strange tangents and quoted statistics at the least appropriate times, there was mental illness in his family, but he was past the age of onset, and he had a tendency to get into life threatening situations with distressing regularity. Hopefully that wouldn't be passed on in the genes!

"Well Sophie, the list is done. Now how do I make up my mind?"

Sophie meowed and jumped off the bed. She left the bedroom with her tail in the air.

"A lot of help you are," Emily yelled after the disappearing cat.

She picked up the plate of cookies and ate two more before admitting that she already knew who her choice was. It had been obvious from the moment she'd first considered doing this crazy thing.

The only thing left to do was to ask her choice if he'd help her. Oh yeah, that was going to be the easy part!