Title: Babysitters
Author: BeautifulxxDisasterx
Pairing: pre-slash Morgan/Reid
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
Summary: Derek Morgan opened the door, a blonde, screaming baby girl held in his arms. It's safe to say that Spencer Reid was, officially, awake.

***

The sharp ring of a cellphone slicing through darkness and silence yanked Doctor Spencer Reid out of his extremely peaceful slumber. A groan escaped his lips. He ignored the call.

But then it rang...and rang...and rang...and rang.

Until finally, his hand reached out of the covers and pulled the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he mumbled, stealing a glance at the clock spitting a glowing green "6:17 pm" at him. He'd only gotten an hour of sleep after an extremely tiring case.

"Hey, kid. You have got to get over here and help me out. It's an emergency, man." Agent Derek Morgan's panicked voice rang through. Reid sighed. He'd lost count of the times that his team member had helped him out, even just by talking to him. He knew it was time he helped him. If only it wasn't right now.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second." he agreed, pulling himself out of bed and flipping the light on.

"Thanks, kid. I owe you one."

"Yeah, yeah." he muttered before slapping his phone shut.

Blindly, he dressed himself, not really sure what he was throwing on, and not really caring. Sleep had been evading him lately, as it always did during a case, and he had been hoping that he could have that evening and night to sleep for hours on end. He knew it was impossible to replace the sleep one already lost, but he was hoping to rest up for whatever case would happen upon the team next. He sighed, grabbing his phone and slipping it into his trusty messenger bag, which he had already pulled over his head to rest at his side.

Reid wasn't quite sure if driving was the best idea as he slid into the driver seat without knowing how exactly he got there from his apartment, but he had his keys, so he figured he might as well. Thankfully, he did manage to get himself to Morgan's apartment building safely, even though sleep was still heavy on his eyelids. He heaved himself out of the car, dragging his bag along with him. Muttering under his breath all the way, he made his way into the talk red brick building and to apartment C16, banging his fist on the door as soon as he reached it.

Derek Morgan opened the door, a blonde, screaming baby girl held in his arms.

It's safe to say that Spencer Reid was, officially, awake.

He was quickly ushered in.

"Make her stop screaming, kid!" he pleaded.

"How in the world do you expect me to do that?" he dropped his bag to the ground.

"How should I know? You're the genius!"

"Ugh! Did you try feeding her?"

"Yes."

"Changing her diaper?"
"Of course."

"What about music? You know, these researchers once did a study and found out that-"

"Reid, man! I have tried everything, and she still won't stop!" his distressed friend assured desperately.

"Why didn't you call J.J. or Prentiss or Garcia?"

"I did. None of them picked up."

"Gah!" he exclaimed, already frustrated by the baby's cries. Finally, he just took her.

She stopped crying.

She looked up at Reid through teary eyes expectantly. He walked her slowly to the kitchen, eying her every few steps. He pointed to her food.

"Do you want that?" he inquired. She giggled. "Alrighty then." he muttered, sitting her down in the high chair and pulling up a seat in front of it. He gathered a spoonful of the dinner and shuffled it into her mouth. The baby swallowed and beamed up at him.

As the genius fed the baby, Morgan stared on in shock.

"How do you do that?"

He only earned a slight shrug in response.

"What's her name, anyhow?"

"Aislyn." he muttered, still in awe.

"And why, may I ask, do you have her?"

"She's my niece. My sister adopted her from England or something like that. She needed a babysitter for the night, so I agreed. Didn't exactly know then that she cries so much." he explained. Reid nodded before turning to face the baby girl as he gave her the last bite of her dinner.

"Aislyn, why do you cry so much?" he asked her.

"As if she can answer you."

She swallowed as she gave a small shrug of her shoulders, emitting a giggle. The young profiler looked up at Morgan.

"I guess she can." he said with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Are you all done?"

Aislyn nods, so he lifts her up out of the chair, earning a grin that scrunches up her big, brown eyes.

"What time does she go to bed?"

"8 o'clock." his companion answers.

"How are we going to keep a baby entertained for an hour and a half?"

"Ask yourself, pretty boy. You're the genius."

"You're so bothersome."

The two FBI agents sit down on the floor, Reid with the baby sitting happily in his lap, and attempt to entertain her. They push around cars, they dress a baby doll, which they end up taking to the fake store, and they use Little People to talk to her for a good half hour. Once these begin to bore her, the trio sits on the couch to watch a short video her mom provided Morgan with. All this takes them up to just past 8, pulling out a sigh of relief from the two babysitters.

Reid precedes to change Aislyn's diaper and put her in her pink dinosaur footy pajamas (Morgan had offered, but when he tried, the baby just screamed again). She giggles momentarily when he lifts her up into the air, telling her sternly that it is time for bed. He thinks she understands, so he takes her into the spare room where a small crib is set up for her. As she is laid down, her eyes begin to water.

"Night, night, Aislyn." he mumbles with a wave.

The baby does not want to sleep.

The second he steps away from the crib, she dissolves into screams. Reid bites his lip, but leaves the room to join Morgan on the couch.

"Aren't you going to go get her to stop again, genius?" he asks.

"Actually, babies will usually stop crying after around a half hour at night after you put them to bed. Eventually, they just get tired of screaming, so they stop."

"Some of those random baby facts might have been helpful about 2 hours ago."

A shrug.

45 minutes pass, and yet, Aislyn has not stopped crying.

"Go fix it!" the older profiler orders. His companion groans.

"Can't it be your turn?"

"Remember last time we tried that? It worked out amazingly well."

"Fine, I'm going."

He drags himself into the room, trying the practical approach first.

"Stop crying please."

It doesn't work.

He knows he shouldn't pick her up because she has to fall asleep in the crib, but he does anyway. For once, this doesn't help either. The clueless genius bounces her, walking slowly around the room, which doesn't help. He talks to her, he sits down, he lays her down, nothing works.

Then, after what seems like hours, a distant memory tugs at the back of his mind. He's 4, and he's crying. Because of what, he doesn't know, but he is. His mother, back when she was slightly sane, gathers him in her arms and starts singing some song he doesn't know the name of. But the words take him off to somewhere else, and he's not so sad anymore.

So, he sings.

It's the same song his mom sang to him, and he still doesn't know what it is, but he sings it anyway because he can't think of anything else to do. By what he thinks is the end (well, it's all the he can remember), the small baby girl has her head resting on his shoulder, her breathing slow. Gently, he lays her down in her crib, pulling the blanket up to her chin. He smiles slightly, thinking that at least his mother was good for something.

Silently, he leaves the room to join his partner on the couch for the second time that night.

"She finally asleep?"

"Mhmm." he's distant, and it's obvious.

"Talk to me, kid."

Reid turns to look at him.

"I don't even know what that song was. I just...I remember my mom singing it to me once when I was really little. I guess it's just hard to remember those times when she was even a little bit sane." he mumbles. Morgan sighs and slings his arm around his shoulders.

"Just be glad you can remember them. You don't just have to think about those not-so-great times with your mom, kid."

"I guess so. It's simply weird when I do since it's such a rare occurrence." he glances at his friend again, "And please, Morgan, don't psychoanalyze me."

"Sorry, pretty boy. It's hard to get out of the mindset."

"Yeah, I know."

There's a silence as they sit there and watch whatever is on the TV, but neither one of them is watching. It doesn't take long for Reid to slip off into slumber, and Morgan follows closely behind, not having the energy to try and move.

Both of them fall asleep hoping with all of their hearts that Aislyn decides to sleep the whole night through.

***