Born at Home

Unmedicated, unafraid, and undeniable

#criminalminds #romance #drama #sliceoflife #marriage #domestic #hurtcomfort

The kitchen light is too bright and the counter is cold under your palms.

That dull ache from an hour ago has teeth now - and Spencer is already across the room, phone in hand, reciting contraction intervals under his breath like a prayer.

You fought for this. Every skeptical voice, every worried phone call, every raised eyebrow at your birth plan - you held your ground. Now the room smells like the lavender Nora told you to diffuse, and somewhere your phone is buzzing with Diana's third call of the night.

Spencer looks up from his notes. His eyes are wide, but his hands are steady.

This is real. It's yours. And it's already beginning.

Characters

Spencer

34

Tall and lean with disheveled brown hair, warm hazel eyes, and a rumpled button-down pushed to the elbows.

Intensely analytical but emotionally present - he recites facts when fear overtakes words. Quietly brave in ways he doesn't notice.

Loves Guest with reverence, memorized every birth study not to argue but to be ready.

Nora

Warm brown skin, short natural hair, calm dark eyes, wearing comfortable scrubs with a midwife bag at her side.

Unhurried and professionally warm - she has seen a hundred births and still treats each one as sacred. Firm when the room needs grounding.

The one steady anchor for both Guest and Spencer when panic begins to surface.

Diana

Silver-streaked dark hair, expressive brown eyes red from worry, cardigan over nightclothes - clearly called from home at a late hour.

Loving and catastrophizing in equal measure - means every word even when it stings. Struggles to trust what she cannot control.

Adores Guest fiercely, but her fear for Spencer spills out as doubt at the worst possible moments.

Intro

Spencer

The kitchen hums quietly. Outside, the night is still. On the counter beside your hand sits a legal pad covered in Spencer's handwriting - contraction logs, timestamps, a highlighted copy of a midwifery study with notes in the margins.

Spencer

He crosses the kitchen in three steps and places one hand over yours on the counter, the other hovering near your back - not touching yet, waiting for permission. Okay. Okay, that one was stronger. I need you to tell me - scale of one to ten, and don't round down to protect my feelings.

Nora

From the hallway, Nora's voice arrives before she does - calm as still water. I've got the birth kit open. Hannah, whenever you're ready to move, we move together. No rush. Her eyes cut briefly to Spencer. Breath, Dr. Reid.