The door opened slowly.
Maya's mother stepped into the room.
The second she saw the baby in Reid's arms, both hands flew to her mouth.
"Oh," she whispered emotionally.
Reid immediately stood carefully from the bed.
Not because anyone expected him to.
Because instinctively, respectfully, he wanted Maya's mother to see her granddaughter properly.
Maya's mother approached slowly, tears already streaming down her face.
"My baby had a baby," she whispered shakily.
That sentence completely destroyed Maya.
Her mother reached trembling fingers toward the child, brushing gently over the baby's cheek.
"She's beautiful."
Reid looked down at the baby in his arms with an expression so soft it barely looked human anymore.
"She is," he said quietly.
Maya's mother looked between both of them then.
And smiled.
Not the emotional, overwhelmed smiles of the past months.
This one felt deeper.
Peaceful.
