Where There's Life, There's Hope

by Meredith Paris

This can't be happening! Not today!" Lindsey paces, or she tries to; given that she is eight and a half months pregnant, it's more of a waddle. Two hours and thirty-five minutes after that, it's Danny who is pacing. The arrival of the Monroe-Messer baby.

Title: Where There's Life, There's Hope
Author: GoodIsRelative & Meredith Paris
Rating: PG/K+
Characters: Lindsay Monroe, Danny Messer, Mac Taylor, Stella Bonasera, Don Flack, Sheldon Hawkes, an unnamed security guard and his sister Natalie Durant, an OB resident at Presbyterian.
Pairing: Danny/Lindsay
Spoiler Warnings: All the seasons. Spoilers for all seasons, especially up to 5x10 The Triangle (And beyond. Only 'cuz we're special like that.)
Word Count: 1,461; according to OpenOffice.
Summary: "This can't be happening! Not today!" Lindsey paces, or she tries to; given that she is eight and a half months pregnant, it's more of a waddle.
Disclaimer: CSI: NY and all recognizable characters are under the property rights of and belong to Alliance Atlantis Communications, Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Production, Jerry Bruckhemeir Television, CBS Productions, Alliance Atlantis Productions, Clayton Entertainment, et al. No harm is meant or intended.
Author's Note: Because CSI: NY brings the LOLs and snarkage out of me and GoodIsRelative like nothing else, I came up with a crack!baby!fic idea. GoodIsRelative made me write it, then I made her write it and this is the combined efforts of us. Plus she's a really good nagger. Also, we can come up with a better baby arrival than the writers. Try it. Watch how they have the little one arrive, then come back, reread this and tell us that we did it better.

***

"At least we know it is not a fake gas leak terrorists are using to get their cash back," Stella offers as the announcement that the CSI building is in complete lock down ends. Procedures had been changed since that incident a year ago.

"This can't be happening! Not today!" Lindsey paces, or she tries to; given that she is eight and a half months pregnant, it's more of a waddle.

Two hours later, Lindsey resigns herself to the fact that her last day before leaving on maternity leave is going to be a lot longer than she had planned.

Two hours and thirty-five minutes after that, it's Danny who is pacing.

"DANNY! Sit down! You are making me motion sick!" Lindsey finally yells at him. "I swear if you make me throw up, I will do it on you!" She stands up, puts her hands on her hips and then her face shows her shock as her water breaks. "No no no no no no no! Not today...not today. My due date's not for two more weeks."

It is Danny who screams for Mac. "We gotta get her out of here, Mac! She needs a hospital!"

"Calm down, Danny. I'll find out what we can do." Mac picks up a radio but he knows what the answer will be – he makes the call to calm Danny down. But he isn't surprised when the order comes back for everyone to hold steady; no one is leaving.

Mac doesn't recognize the kid – and he is a kid, the shiny shoes scream just-out-of-the-Academy – who walks into the lab area from the stairs a few minutes later.

"Sir, I heard your radio call. My sister, she's an OB resident. She's, uh, visiting me, my first day and all." The kid even blushes.

Mac smiles. "Older sister, eh?"

"Yeah. Still thinks I'm the baby brother. I'll send her up, but I have to go back down."

"I'd appreciate it. You head back to your post and send her up. I'll make sure she gets out fine or send her back down to you when this is all over." Mac nods.

As a woman enters the lab area, Lindsay yells, "Oh my god, Danny, you're never having sex with me again!" Lindsay then not-so-gracefully slides to the floor and leans her head against the wall.

"Hi, my name is Natalie Durant," she says as she approaches Lindsay and kneels down in front of her.

"Please tell me you're here to deliver this baby." Lindsay says.

"I'm a OB resident at Presbyterian."

"Thank GOD!"

"Contraction?"

"Yeah."

"Can I take a look?"

"Oww. Yes."

"Her name's Lindsay." Danny speaks up then, still dazed by all that is happening. He's really going to be a father.

"Lindsay, how long have you been having contractions?"

"Past couple of hours."

"I need to take your pants off."

"What?!" Danny tunes in for those words.

"That's Danny." Lindsey smiles at Natalie. "He's a little slow."

"This baby isn't coming out her nose, Danny. I need to take her pants off."

Lindsay decides right then that she loves this woman. "Danny, just shut up. Natalie, you and I are going to be friends."

Natalie just smiles and helps Lindsay take off her pants. After a quick examination, she smiles again. "Lindsay, you're at 10 centimeters. It's time to start pushing."

"Danny, you know how I said you're never having sex with me again?"

"Yeah, Montana?"

"I meant it."

"I'm sorry; what was your name?" Natalie asks Mac.

"Mac. Mac Taylor."

"Mac. We need another person in here. Someone who knows Lindsay. Someone she trusts. "

Mac moves to find Flack, and Danny turns to Natalie. "What do you need him in here for?"

"Are you the baby's father?" She deflects his question with one of her own.

"Oww, yes!" Lindsay says and then clenches her hands together.

"Okay, I need you to get against that wall there and have Lindsay lean against you."

Mac returns with Flack then and Flack asks the dumb question of the evening. "Lindsay, what's going on?"

"She's in labor and we're about to push." Natalie replies.

"Wait, what?" Flack does a double take.

"Labor, Flack! It's what happens when one is about to have a baby!" Lindsay looks like she wants to smack him upside the head, if she wasn't busy trying to pass a watermelon through a hole the size of a softball.

"Mac, Flack. I need you to get on each side of Lindsay." Natalie takes charge again.

Mac and Flack do so, when Stella enters the office. "I have blankets," she offers, holding up a stack.

"Great, I need you to cut two of those in half."

"What do you want us to do?" Mac asks, still kneeling next to Lindsay.

"I need you to hold her leg up."

Mac and Flack just stare blankly at her.

"I don't have stirrups. You're it."

"Having a baby here! Do what she says!"

Natalie takes Mac's hands and places them in the correct positions on Lindsay's leg and then does the same with Flack. If Lindsay wasn't currently giving birth, she'd laugh at how flustered Flack and Mac are at the moment.

"Okay, Danny, I need you to have Lindsay up against you and hold her hands in yours. Lindsay, when I say push, you're going to push from your stomach down. We're going to push for a count of ten. Ready."

There's a knock on the door and Natalie sees a person stick their head into the room out of her peripheral vision.

"Um, Mac?" Hawkes asks.

"Giving birth here, Hawkes." Lindsay breathes in between contractions.

"Um, okay. I'll come back later."

"Good idea, Hawkes." Mac says, when Natalie readjusts his hands.

"Okay, Lindsay, I think a couple more pushes and we'll be there."

"I really hope you're right about that." Lindsey says, the strain showing in her voice.

Stella reappears with the blankets. "Here you go, where should I put them?"

"Right next to me."

"Does anyone know where I can get a suction bulb?"

"I'll get one." Stella says, her gaze looking anywhere but at Lindsay.

"Thanks," Natalie says at Stella's retreating back.

"I can see a head." Natalie announces a few moments later. "Just keep pushing."

"I am pushing!" Lindsay yells at her.

"1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10..." Natalie counts out, ignoring Lindsay's comment.

Stella comes back into the room and Natalie sticks out her hand, pulling the suction bulb out of Stella's grasp. "Just going to suction now. Could someone hand me a blanket?"

Stella grabs one and unfolds it. "Here," she places it between Flack and Natalie.

"One last big push, Lindsay."

"Ahhhhhh!" Lindsay grounds out and Danny hears a baby cry.

"It's a girl!" Natalie says happily and holds her up after wrapping her in the blanket. "There's your mommy, baby girl. Happy birthday, sweetheart."

Lindsay rests her head against Danny's shoulder. "It's a girl," and Danny hears tears in her voice.
He doesn't know what to say or what to do. He has a daughter.

Hawkes is back. "Thank god it's a girl. At least we know she'll be as pretty as her mom and not look like Danny!" That draws a laugh from everyone as they all breathe a sigh of relief that the ordeal – or at least this one – is over. There is still the matter of them being in lock-down.

Mac's cell rings then, startling everyone.

"Taylor." He can't help the smile on his face.

"Mac, it's Detective Angel. The building's safe now and we're sending an EMT team up to you guys."

"They're sending up an EMT team now," Mac says as he pushes the end button on his phone.

"A bit late, but better than never, I suppose," Natalie comments wryly.

There is a ride to the hospital, doctors checking Lindsay and the baby out, but it is all a blur to Danny.

They are finally settled in a room – doctors want mom and baby to spend the night – and Lindsay and Danny are content just to watch over their baby girl when there's a knock on the door.

"Come in," Lindsay says and Natalie enters.

"Hi," Natalie says, pushing her purse up. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Sore, tired, but good." Lindsay says, her gaze going back to her daughter.

"How are you doing Danny?" Natalie next asks.

"Well, um, about the same as Mon-Lindsay here."

"She's adorable and looks healthy," Natalie says. "Have you decided on a name yet?"

Lindsay and Danny exchange a look then Lindsay looks at her. "We'd actually like to name her after you, if that's okay."

Natalie looks shocked and then a smile appears on her face. "I'd be honored."

"What you do think, baby girl?" Danny asks his now sleeping daughter. "Think Natalie Caitlin Messer fits?"