The final chapter is dedicated to a little girl named Ellie. Ellie passed away a little over a year ago from cancer. There is an inspirational website in her memory called Lift Up Ellie and Wtiger5 and asked that any interested notify her by profile if you would like to be directed to that site.

This chapter is also dedicated to those who have taken this journey with me. Many have written to tell me about cancer fighters and by doing so have inspired me. You all have inspired, challenged me, given me great ideas and kept me on my toes! Thank you all!

I hope the ending is like a dessert after a satisfying meal! Let me know, I'm curious…

Chapter 29

The drive was great as he made his way to "Dream Day on Cape Cod", a camp for seriously ill children and their families. He realized again how much his life had changed. Taking a Thursday and Friday off on a whim, and making a ten hour drive to Brewster Massachusetts to see his eight year old BFF and her family at a camp of children battling different diseases, on her ninth birthday, to tell her in person that he was in remission.

He'd called Hotch and told him that he urgently needed to leave town, that he he'd be back Sunday night, and Hotch had told him that there was nothing that required any immediate attention. He drove a rental vehicle that made better mileage than his classic and didn't turn the radio on. He was in an introspective mood and was comfortable in the silence with his thoughts.

The last two hours he drove with his window down because he was so tired. His energy level was nowhere near normal yet. He'd returned to work part time and was able to work on desk work for a few hours daily, and when he went to Seattle he tolerated that with a nap at the hotel each day. He knew they were making an exception for him in the field, but he was grateful to be with the team, fulfilling his role once again.

Garcia and Emily's goal in life was to feed him. His appetite was back; lagging a little, but steadily improving. His hair was just starting to regrow and felt soft on his scalp and arms. He had no idea what the color or texture would be when it was a normal length, or how thick his eyebrows or eyelashes would grow back. He thought he might be back to shaving the next week. All in all, work and life eventually would be back to normal, but right he now understood the seductive nature of family, and soon he would be with the newest members.

The camp was beautiful, but the most beautiful thing about it was all the children and their families running or involved in activities. Eleanor promised him she would be in the lodge so he parked the car and carefully moved past the windows avoiding detection. When he opened the door, she was facing away, on her computer. He quietly walked up behind her. Leaning over he saw what she was working on.

"You can't believe I'd forget your birthday would you?"

She spun around and jumped up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Spence! I should have known!"

He hugged her back. "Nice email! Have a little faith my BFF. Happy ninth birthday!"

Bittsy let go and grabbed his hands. "Come on! Come see Mom and Nanny!"

As they walked toward the cabins, Bittsy pointed out various friends and activities. As she pointed out friends she gathered a following of two, one with hair, and one without. And they all clamored around Bittsy and Spencer. When she reached the door of her cabin, she introduced the two girls to Spencer. Juanita was a brown eyed Hispanic girl with no hair wearing a light pink hat, and Ellie was pale with green eyes and short blond hair.

"Guys, this is Spence, my best friend! He is the smartest, coolest guy in the world. He taught me to play chess and we've been to two zoos and he knows about all kinds of animals. He gave me my computer and came here for my birthday!" Effusively she went on, "Spencer and I went to every chemo together, we cut our hair together, and he puked and even bled in our apartment!"

"Wow!" said both girls at once. Evidently body fluids were impressive.

"This is the camp of the toughest girls in the world. We even have our own mottos." Bittsy explained to Spencer.

"In it to win it!" Ellie said.

"We can do it one treatment at a time!" Chimed Juanita.

"Mine is 'kicking cancer's butt with a smile'!" Bittsy said with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face, and as he looked at these girls he realized he was looking at hope.

With that, the other two girls smiled and went racing back to their activities while giggling. Spencer decided right then that if joy had a sound, that was it.

Then Eleanor and Nanny came out of the cabin to welcome him. After saying hello to them he remembered he needed to go to the car to get Bittsy's birthday present. Since she wanted to walk with him they talked about camp and about the team. They brought back her present to the cabin and she opened it excitedly. He'd given her chess software for her computer and software for the game "Go" as well as the actual board game and promised to teach her before he left. Her other birthday gift was that Eleanor and Nanny had invited him to stay tonight and tomorrow to participate in the camp activities with them. After that Bittsy took Spencer on a walk and they headed down to the water.

"Spence, why else did you come down here? You've got something important you're thinking about. I can always tell. What is it?"

"Well, it just felt wrong to tell you over the phone. Yesterday I found out I'm in remission."

She stopped in her tracks and jumping up into his arms, wrapping her little legs around his waist she tipped back her head and screamed, "Yeehaw!" as long and loud as she could.

Suddenly it hit Spencer. "I'm in remission! I made it Bittsy, I made it!" And he cried into her neck, because he felt alive and unafraid.

The next day was beautiful and for the first time since he was a child, Spencer painted. He painted weird shapes of animals and people. He gave several away to the kids. He was telling scary stories to the kids and teaching several what chess was while he and Bittsy demonstrated.

Late the next morning, two SUV's pulled up to the lodge. Spencer was only half paying attention until he realized his entire team as well as Garcia and JJ had come all the way to see Bittsy and him. They each had two buckets of ice cream except Hotch who was carrying a big box. As they saw Spencer and Bittsy they made a circle around them.

"Reid, Morgan told us something, but we need to hear it from you." Rossi started.

Emily picked up where he left off "Something very important."

Spencer looked baffled. "I was driving to Massachusetts for Bittsy's birthday?"

"No, Spence. Something more important; as in a doctor's appointment on Wednesday?" JJ hinted.

"Oh! Morgan told you though, right?" Spencer was still puzzled, "I'm in remission."

"I told them the whole story kid, but they insisted we come because they wanna hear it from the man himself." Morgan explained.

In the meantime Bittsy was making the rounds hugging each member as they wished her a happy birthday.

"You guys came for my birthday!"

"Of course my sweet pea! That and to visit our charming genius." Garcia picked up the slim, elated girl.

"Did he tell you in he's remission? I knew he could do it! Yeehaw!" She crowed.

And JJ yanked Spencer into a tight hug and screamed, "Yeehaw!" as well.

By then then the rest of the team members gathered around and all started screaming at the top of their lungs, "Yeehaw!" and Juanita and Ellie ran to see what was going on. Without even knowing what the ruckus was about, the two little girls started shouting as well. Members of the team were also yelling, "Happy birthday BamBam!" Eleanor and Nanny walked up and joined the group and greeted all of the team members excitedly.

By now the yelling had attracted many of the campers and their families. Bittsy had climbed team member to team member and ended up sitting on Spencer's shoulders, and so above the crowd she started yelling and the attention quickly focused on her and she held her hands above her head in a victory sign and yelled,

"Everybody, Spencer's in remission, he did it! And then the crowd started clapping, and the children that had joined the crowd started cheering.

Eventually the crowd started to thin down and just their group was left including Juanita and Ellie and they made their way back up to Spencer and Bittsy. Spencer let Bittsy shimmy down his long torso and then the girls and Spencer all exchanged high fives.

Bittsy then asked, "Are you all gonna stay in our cabin?" and Morgan picked her up and put her on his broad shoulders, and tilting his head way back so that Bittsy could look into his eyes and he asked, "Are you gonna sleep on the floor so I can sleep on your bed?"

"No!" She giggled.

"Well then, I guess l'll stay in the hotel with the team." He said.

"Hey guys, are we ever gonna eat your ice cream?" Juanita asked.

Hotch and Emily picked up the two girls and put them up on their shoulders.

"Yeah guys, let's go open up the ice cream!" Hotch left the box he'd been carrying, and with an evil grin, started off at a jog toward the lodge. With a grin, Spencer started walking toward Bittsy's cabin.

"Don't wait for me; I'll be there in an hour or so." He called over his shoulder.

The rest of the team exchanged glances and Spencer said, "Don't worry, after all that I just need my nap." and they watched his slowly retreating back.

Morgan looked up at Bittsy. "Should we follow?" he asked.

Bittsy looked down at Morgan. "Nope, just me." She said.

With that Morgan helped her down and watched as Bittsy followed Spencer toward the cabin.

As Spencer sat down on the edge of his bunk, Bittsy stepped into the cabin. She walked over and sat with him on the edge as well.

"I'm okay BamBam, just tired and the crowd kind of got to me. I'm still not through being tired during the day yet." He explained.

"I know. Me too, it's just that there's so much to do here and I don't wanna miss anything!" She enthused.

"And I don't want you to either. I'm really okay, just tired." He reassured her.

"Everybody was really happy you're in remission. She said.

"Yeah they were; and they don't even know me." He looked at her and smiled, "That was nice."

"Of course they know you. You're one of us. In fact, you need a motto." She smiled back.

"Besides don't screw it up?" He laughed.

"Seriously Spence." And just like that she became his serious, in-charge, tough BFF, teaching him how to survive.

"How 'bout, 'you and me; all the way.'?" He said and held up his pinky.

Bittsy came to the lodge for ice cream, and so did all the children who could eat, and as many family members who wanted some. Then for all the children, they passed out FBI tee shirts. They'd brought a variety of sizes so all had something that they could wear, and they also passed out FBI ball caps. Each team member was touched by the strength and determination in their eyes. Bittsy was so overjoyed for all they did and the special love that they had for her, she sat in each of their laps and hugged them again. Eleanor and Nanny thanked the team, and thanked Hotch for letting Spencer spend time with them.

An hour later, Spencer did come to the lodge and his eyes were brighter and he was moving better. He ate enough ice cream to make JJ, Garcia and Emily happy, then he moved outside where most of the campers were blowing huge bubbles and he joined in.

"Looks like the Reid effect is a thing of the past." Rossi said out loud to the rest of the team while they watched Spencer laughing and helping others.

"Yes, it is." Hotch smiled quietly.

"Look at him." JJ said with a tender smile.

"All those kids. They're so beautiful, and he's so happy with them." Garcia said wistfully.

"Don't worry baby girl," Morgan said, "he still needs us, and he knows it."

For some reason at that moment, Spencer looked over at them and smiled. And then he was back playing with the other children, but always staying close to Bittsy.

Eleanor and Nanny had joined them and Eleanor said, "He helped save my daughter."

"And she helped save him." Emily said.

They watched all the bubbles floating and sparking in the sun and looked back to see Spencer and Bittsy laugh and high five each other, and as if they knew the team was thinking of them, they waved joyously.

And loud enough for their group to hear, Rossi summed it all up.

"And a little child shall lead him."

The End

There is nothing as determined as a child with cancer. They are not ignorant of the tough road ahead, but they are determined in spite of it. ~J.S. Lopez

Early detection is an important key in the role of defeating cancer. Because many different types of cancers have symptoms that mimic other physical ailments, knowing your body is key as is following age guidelines for cancer screenings.

Statistics supported by the NIH on the website of Medline Plus, a service of the US Library of Medicine NIH, National Institutes of Health.

Cardiac disease is the #1 killer of Americans: more that all cancers combined, but,

In ages 1-4 cancer is the third leading cause of death preceded by accidents and developmental and genetic conditions present at birth.

Ages 5-15 cancer is the second leading cause of death preceded by accidents.

This is according to NIH, updated 2010.

Again, this is not an endorsement of any website.

Again, I own nothing related to Criminal Minds- just a fan.