A/N: Hey guys! Here we are again... who thought that we were going to get some Lucy this week? I did. *hand up sadly* sooo close... next week though! next week. I have no idea where Fred took this. I left him to it and he did what he did with it. Go figure. I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless.

Huge thank you to everyone who read, read and reviewed and favourited last week's one-shot. I'm glad you liked it guys :) M&M cookies for: webdlfan, dannylindsayfan, MesserFamilyFan100, afrozenheart412, GigglesforCSI, Catty, 18lzytwner, brendanakai and rhymes (so good to see you back!)

Without further adieu, let's get festivities under way! :)

Glancing around the apartment, Danny Messer had to admit that he was impressed with his efforts. Their apartment was no longer a brown, cream and green decorative theme, but rather a sea of pink. The banners were blue-tacked to the wall. The snacks, drinks and games were ready and waiting. The balloons had been blown up and Lucy was currently staring at him in awe.

He never knew why, but every time Lindsay took a large, leadership role in their case, he drifted off into the background, usually chasing leads and analysing evidence and although he'd missed her throughout the whole of the day, he'd decided that it was pretty amazing to watch his wife kick ass like she had today.

He'd been watching her earlier in the day in her interrogation; when she was at the peak of her questions, throwing them at Elaine at nearly a mile a minute… and Danny could only imagine how that must feel like. Lindsay had a way of making you want to provide her with the answers to her questions… at least, for him it did. There was something in her eyes that made him want to please her… and if he didn't know the answer, more times that not, it left him desperate to find the answer. That was why, he thought, that she was such a good investigator.

That and of course, she was damn sexy when she was determined to get her answers.

"When's Mommy home?" the little voice peaked up from her place on the couch once again.

"I just told you," Danny said as he leant over the couch so that he was right by Lucy's face. "When this hand gets to the number 12, okay?" he pointed to the clock that he'd given Lucy ten minutes ago. "You have another 5 minutes, okay?"

"But it's already been five minutes," Lucy complained. "I'm bored."

"I know, but at least you only have another five minutes now, right?"

"I want Mommy." Lucy jutted her lip out. "She pwomised she'd be here."

"Whoa, you better reign that in right now, princess." He tapped her on the cheek. "There is still plenty of time for me to call everyone and tell them not to come. And if I do; that definitely means no princess dolls or horseys for Lucy. Do you understand?"

She nodded sadly and turned her eyes back to the clock. "I sowwy."

"That's better." He smirked as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "How about you come and help me tie these balloons up. If you're doing somethin' baby then it might make the time go quicker."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. He smiled as he set the clock down on the couch and picked her up over the back of the couch. "So, does it look good, your majesty?"

"It looks bootaful!" Lucy giggled as she soaked in the image of pink that her father had transformed their living room with. "Mommy's gonna be so happy, Daddy!"

"You think?" Danny smirked. "I'm sure Momma's gonna love all of the blue-tac marks all over her walls from the banners."

"Huh?" Lucy tipped her head to one side.

"Never mind," he smirked. "So anyway, how excited are you?" Danny smiled at his daughter. "On a scale of one to ten."

"One scabillion, four hundred and sixty seven! I'm so, so, so 'xcited!" Lucy cried. "it's my birthday, Daddy!"

"I know!" he smiled. "And you're three years old." He said as he held up three fingers. "Three whole years! You're such a big girl now. I remember when you were just a little baby."

"And I camed out of Mommy's tummy?"

"Yep," Danny nodded. "I remember. On that day, do you know what your Mommy was doing right now?"

"You remember?"

"Of course I remember," Danny smiled as he pinned up some balloons and ribbon to kitchen alcove. "I'll remember everything about that day for the rest of my life."

"Really?"

"Of course!" Danny nodded. "You're my first baby girl, I'll always remember!"

"But Daddy, I your ownly baby girl, right?"

"Well, we'll see about that." He commented cryptically. "So, do you wanna know what your Mommy was doing?"

"What?" Lucy whispered excitedly.

"She was crying," Danny said with wide eyes. "She was telling me that she wanted to see you that much, she just couldn't understand why you wouldn't come and meet us."

"I didn't want to see you?" Lucy asked. "But why? Why did Mommy cry?"

"Because she wanted to meet you; she'd waited for so, so long." Danny paused with a smile. "Why didn't you want to come and see us?"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "I don'ts know!"

"Well, do you know what I said to Mommy?" Danny whispered.

"What?"

"I said that she had made you such a good little home in her tummy that you just felt so safe that you didn't want to come out just yet. You wanted to take your time… I think that Mommy kept you so safe that you just didn't want to leave."

"I remember that!" Lucy exclaimed.

Biting his lip in amusement, Danny nodded. "I thought you might." He paused. "Do you remember when I was whispering to you to come and meet us?"

"Uh…" Lucy's little tongue poked out to lick her lips as she thought about it. "Ugh… no."

"You don't remember?" Danny feigned hurt. "Well, I told you all the things we'd do together and you know what I said?"

"What?"

"That you and I would decorate our little home on your third birthday together… because I knew that you'd remember this. You were too little before… but now? I think you can remember. And we've had fun, right? Did Daddy make good on his promise?"

"I remember forever!" Lucy cried.

Just then, they heard the key in the door. "Mommy's home!" Lucy cried.

Within seconds, the door was open, and a flustered Lindsay was on the other side, juggling arms full of different party paraphernalia.

"Oh god, where is that baby girl?" Lindsay gushed as she pushed through the door. "Where's my honeybun?"

"I'm over here," Danny called out playfully while Lucy giggled.

"Not you, goofball!" Lindsay smirked as she kicked the door shut while she juggled some last minute snacks and Lucy's birthday cake. "Happy birthday, baby girl!"

"MOMMY!" Lucy cried as she slid out of Danny's arms, nearly giving Danny a heart attack as she jumped to the floor. Without a second's thought, she darted across the apartment in her tights and skidded into Lindsay's legs. "MOMMY! YOU'RE HOME!"

"I missed you so much, baby." Lindsay whispered as she collected her daughter in her arms and snuggled her close to her chest. "Have you had a good day with Nana and Papa?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "She gotted me this dress. Do you likes it?"

"I love it!" Lindsay exclaimed as she absorbed the image of her daughter in a Tinkerbell dress; the one that she'd desperately wanted from the Disney store months ago. A strategic move on Lindsay's part in mentioning it to Danny's Mom; as soon as she'd mentioned it, she had seen the strike of an idea glaze over in her mother-in-law's eyes… one less thing that she had to worry about for Lucy's birthday.

"So, what did you bring me?" Lucy giggled as she glanced down at the bags Lindsay had dropped to the floor.

"Uh, what was that?" Lindsay raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "I do hope you're not going to say that to your party guests, Lucy."

"Sowwy," Lucy blushed before peaking in the bags.

"Hmm," Lindsay shot a stern look towards her daughter. "I thought so." She paused for a moment before opening the gift wrapped bags. "I have lots of surprises."

Lucy gasped in awe. "I have so many!"

"Because you're so special," Lindsay smiled before looking towards Danny and adding, "And Mommy has no willpower and doesn't know when to stop."

"You can say that again," Danny shuddered as he thought about the hit their bank account must have taken after Lindsay's second trip to the toy store. "You have an illness," he smirked. "An addiction."

"It's once a year though," Lindsay defended herself. "And I think she deserves it, right baby girl?"

Lucy nodded as she shook the presents to try and work out what they were.

"Hey Linds," Danny called out as he stood from the couch. "Those better not be from Good Luck Ceramics, babe..."

"Oh you're hilarious," Lindsay smirked as she picked up Lucy's cake and lowered it for Lucy to see. "What do you think? Do you like it?"

"A bunny!" Lucy cried. "And it says Lucy!"

"It does say Lucy, shall we read what it says?" Lindsay smiled. "It says, Happy 3rd birthday Lucy. Have a wonderful day, lots of love, Mommy and Daddy."

"YAY!" Lucy cried. "it looks yummy! Can I have some now?"

"Ugh sorry, I don't think so," Lindsay shook her head. "because what about your candles?"

"We do them now?"

"But everyone will miss them." Lindsay reasoned. "And you don't want to miss everyone singing happy birthday, do you?"

"Oh yeah," Lucy frowned. "I'm hungry though, Mommy."

"Hmm." Lindsay licked her lips and cast a wink in Danny's direction. "Well, come with me to the kitchen then and we'll see if we could find something for you to have a little snack on. K?"

"Okay!" Lucy smiled. She took Lindsay's hand and skipped next to her mother as they made their way through the apartment. Danny stood from the couch and quickly followed his girls into the kitchen, where on the counter-top sat a cupcake.

"Oh my goodness, Daddy is this yours?" Lindsay exclaimed.

"No…" Danny shook his head. "Is it yours, Mommy?"

"No… whose could it be?"

"Mine?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"Shall we look and see?" Lindsay smirked. "Hmm, oooh, look at this," she said as she picked up the cupcake and showed her daughter the little cake. "It has a candle in. Who could it be for?"

"Me?" Lucy gasped.

"I think you're right," Lindsay smiled. "Will this do for now?"

"YES!" Lucy cried. "Can we light the candle so I can blows it out?"

"I think so," Danny smiled as he reached for the box of matches that he had strategically placed next to the cupcake when he got home from work. "You ready to sing happy birthday Mommy?" he asked as he lit the candle carefully and Lindsay lowered the cupcake to Lucy's level.

"I sure am," she replied as she cleared her throat. "On three, one, two… three!"

With wide eyes, Lucy listened to both of her parents sing Happy Birthday to her softly. Lindsay soaked in the image of her daughter and how happy she was. She felt a rush of love as she felt her husband's hand on the small of her back, steadying her from where she was crouched on the floor next to him. With a big breath, Lucy blew out her candle and grinned at her parents. Soon though, her grin disappeared.

"What's wrong, honey?" Danny asked.

"I forgot to make a wish."

"Silly," he smirked. "Here, let's light it again. Pretend that was a practice. Ready for Happy birthday again, Mommy?"

"I sure am," Lindsay smiled.

"Her biggest gift was standing right next to her," Lindsay whispered. "And she never even knew it."

"You don't realise what you had until it's gone." Danny commented as he wrapped his arms around Lindsay waist as he pulled her into his lap on the couch. "I think it's one of those things."

"I don't," Lindsay said. "I know exactly what I have," she said as she wrapped her arms around Danny's neck and pressed a long kiss to his cheek. "And I'm never, ever going to let myself forget just how much the people in my life mean to me. Especially you and Lucy," she added. "You're everything to me. I'm just lucky that I see that… Elaine didn't and I think that's where she went wrong."

"Well, I also think that Elaine has had it a lot easier than us in her married life; it sounds like things were so good going between her two guys that she didn't need to think about what she had," Danny suggested. "We've nearly lost each other a good few times so, I think after the first hurdle, you kind of appreciate exactly what it is that you have and you don't take it for granted."

"Shouldn't take a bullet, a psychotic serial killer, or whatever else that's tried to tear us apart to make us realise that though." Lindsay pointed out. "It should be there from the start. I know it was for me. You're my husband and I love you with everything that I have."

"And I love you too." Danny replied as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "I guess we got lucky," he said. "Not everyone in their marriage loves each other in the way that we do."

"I can't see why you'd marry someone if you didn't love them."

"Well like you told me about Elaine, she thought she loved Calvin, but she didn't love him in the way that she loved Willis. I guess there are different ways to love people; and some people are just not meant to be no matter how hard you try."

"People could say that about us. For a while there it seemed like a constant battle for us to be together… like the universe was working against us."

"Yeah, but also it showed us that we really, truly wanted it. We wanted us, and I think that's what the universe was making sure of. That we were in it together, forever." Danny smiled. "I'm going to love you for the rest of my life; I think I just needed the realisation of that to hit me in the face."

"Oh you did?" She raised her eyebrows. "How romantic."

"Oh please," Danny smirked. "Don't try and tell me for a second that you were absolutely positive that you knew you were going to marry me and live happily ever after with me. I don't buy that."

"I would like to think so."

"But truthfully…. You didn't." he smirked. "And if you did, then you're crazy because I was the biggest pain in the ass going for quite a while there. If you felt like you wanted to marry me then you have to have the patience of a saint."

"I do." She smirked.

"Alright, smartass… all I'm saying is, I always knew I loved you… I just didn't realise how much I love you."

"How did we even end up here?" Lindsay giggled.

"I have no idea," Danny smirked. "It's like that weird part of Youtube. You'll be looking for a song… then another… then another… then boom, you're watching a cat hit a printer and have no idea how or why you ended up there… or why you've been watching similar videos for an hour and a half."

Lindsay laughed heartily and shook her head. "God you make me laugh sometimes."

"Well, I try my best," he smiled as he pressed another kiss to her temple. "Hmm, where is the birthday girl? She's taken an awful long time to get changed."

"LUCY!" Lindsay called out. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Her little voice echoed through the apartment. "I nearly done."

"Okay!" Lindsay laughed before turning to Danny, "I know exactly what she's going to wear… it's going to be pretty interesting."

"I sense sarcasm there, Mrs. Messer. Care to elaborate?"

"Mhmm," Lindsay smirked as she took Danny's hand and ran her thumb over the skin unconsciously. "She's going to have on her white tights with the stripes."

"Obviously," Danny nodded, as he pictured Lucy's favourite tights.

"Then the purple skirt with the love hearts."

Danny smirked, knowing full well that Lindsay was absolutely right.

"And then she's going to have on her aqua blue top with the cherries on that your Mom got her, coupled with her pink cardigan."

"You seem pretty confident. Wanna bet on it?"

"I'd bet my life on it," Lindsay smirked. "I know my daughter."

"Why are you so confident?"

"Because, I know her; she tries to get me let her wear that exact outfit every single day. I have no idea why, but she does… so the first opportunity she gets to dress herself? You can bet your ass that's what she's wearing."

"Look! I look bootaful, right?"

Lucy's parents turned to face their daughter and both couldn't help but laugh. As predicted, there Lucy was, stood in the exact outfit Lindsay had just described.

"Well, there's no denying you know our daughter, is there?" she smirked.

"Oh Lucy, you look beautiful!" Lindsay gushed. "Come over here, let Mommy and Daddy see how beautiful you look!"

Skipping across the apartment, Lucy stopped just in front of her parents.

"Oh god, look at that ridiculously cute smile." Lindsay sighed happily. "Get over here, let me see you." Lindsay reached towards her daughter and pulled her up on her lap, letting the little girl's feet dangle over her father's lap. "God we love you." Lindsay smiled as she peppered kisses all over Lucy's 'ridiculously cute face'.

Lucy giggled at the expression of adoration from her mother. "I wub you too, Mommy!"

"What am I?" Danny gasped, "Chopped liver? Thanks girls. Appreciate it."

"Don't be silly Daddy!" Lucy giggled. "We love you the mostests, right Mommy?"

"Right," Lindsay nodded solemnly, "We definitely love you the most Daddy."

"You keep us safe!" Lucy smiled. "Just like Mommy keeped me safe, right Daddy?"

With tears in her eyes, Lindsay looked down at her daughter and then to her husband, "I kept you what?" she asked in a small voice.

"Safe," Lucy reiterated, seeking confirmation that she'd used the right word from her father. "You keeped me safe, Mommy."

"I did?" Lindsay asked as she touched her chest with her hand. "When?"

"When I was right there," Lucy smiled as she prodded Lindsay's stomach. "Daddy tolded me so. He said that I didn't want to leave your tummy because you kepted me soooooo safe."

"He did?" Lindsay whispered as she turned to her husband. "You said that?"

Danny nodded. "I sure did. I mean, come on, how many other little girls refuse to leave their Mommy's tummy even after ten hours of persuading them to?... not this girl." He smiled as he prodded Lucy's button nose. "She was just so adamant that she wanted to stay, she stayed a little longer."

"'cus you made it so comfy," Lucy giggled.

"Oh I did, did I?" Lindsay laughed tearfully. "I'm glad you thought so. I tried very hard."

Lucy smiled. "Can I go play 'til Uncle Mac gets here?"

"Sure thing," Lindsay nodded. "No peaking at your presents though," Lindsay smiled as she wiped her tearful eyes.

"You're something else," she whispered after watching Lucy with her toys for a few moments. "You said that to her?"

"Well yeah," Danny nodded. "I was feeling a little nostalgic and remembered looking at my watch and telling you how long you'd been in labour, and saying all the stuff that I did and thought she'd find it neat."

"I wish I could remember more of that day," Lindsay said sadly. "It all just seems like a big blur to me. A big, painful, but oh so worth it, blur."

A moment passed where Danny didn't say anything before he lowered his voice. "Would you do it again?"

"What, labour?"

"Yeah, have a baby." He said softly.

"You know I would," she returned in an equally soft tone.

Danny nodded contemplatively.

"Why?" She pressed.

"I just… just wondering; that's all." He paused. "It's something to think about."

Lindsay leant towards him and pressed a kiss to his lips softly. "It is,"

But, before their kiss could go any further, their apartment buzzer sounded.

"You ready for this?" Danny whispered as he playfully gave her an Eskimo kiss.

"About having a baby or today's festivities?"

"I'll let you decide for yourself," he said as he stood up and moved across the room to scoop up an excited Lucy to go and answer the door; leaving Lindsay to think.

Was she ready for the day's festivities? As her co-workers clamoured through the door and the sound barriers for their apartment hit a new high, she shuddered... she was about as ready as she would ever be for the rest of the day.

But was she ready for a baby? That was quite the question.

While she mulled it over, she waved at their co-workers as they discarded their jackets and gushed over Lucy and her 'wonderful outfit'. Her eyes fell on Danny as she watched her husband whisper something to her daughter, to which Lucy stared at Danny in awe. Danny then passed Lucy over to Mac as if she was the most precious thing in his life and should be handled with the greatest care. He then turned to look at Lindsay and winked before ushering everyone away from the apartment door and began offering drinks. As she watched the man she married attend to his fatherly duties as the birthday girl's Daddy, her hand fell to her stomach and she couldn't help but smile.

She was ready.

I told you. blame Fred. This was his doing; not mine.

Hope you enjoyed. As ever, comments and reviews are loved... and secretly I think I'm a little bit addicted to them so... do me a favour and help me out with feeding the addiction?

Thanks for reading guys! :)