I bet you guys weren't expecting something from me so soon, huh? Or if you did, I bet you guys thought it would be the hunger games related. Well, you're in for a surprise. I opened up Word tonight and just started typing. There's not really any rhyme or reason to this story other than it's Lucy's birthday today (an app I have on my phone tells me things I posted on my facebook over the past five years and five years ago it tells me I was tagged in a picture my BFF made saying 'It's a girl! Baby girl Messer'. Then with some gentle nudging from my other BFF I thought Fred and I might as well try and write something that was slightly more fluffier than the last thing I posted.

So with this in mind, I spent the majority of the afternoon today thinking of what I could come up with and I was coming up short with just about everything – so instead, we went for just typing out my stream of consciousness and what my little brain would have liked to see down the line for DL. You'll see some familiar characters. There might be surprises too. Who knows.

To be honest, I am just super excited that Fred has actually constructed something worthy of posting in one sitting. this has not happened for months. MONTHS i tell you. so with this in mind i wasn't going to argue with him. what he said got transfered onto word from my mind and that was that.

ETA: gaaaaaah i've edited this three times and lost it each time by hitting a random key, i'm beginning to lose the will to live! this is the fourth time i'm editing it so fingers crossed!

Also, I like to throw mentions in to my other loves. Sue me.

"Come in!"

Pushing the door open, he cleared his voice and leant against the door frame. "I was just coming to say dinner's nearly ready. Mom will be home soon."

"Ok, thanks Dad." Lucy Messer replied to her father as she folded down the corner of the book she was sprawled on her bed reading. She reached across her double bed and grabbed the note-pad and began scribbling something down. Intrigued, Danny Messer ventured further into her room and sat on the edge of her bed.

"What's this?" he gestured to the books scattered all around her.

She glanced up and rolled her eyes, "What do you think it is?"

"Ah, the dreaded homework. How long have you been working?"

She glanced to her opened laptop at the foot of the bed and sighed. "Since we got home at four."

"Lucy, it's nearly seven thirty!"

"Yeah well I need to have read this book to chapter twenty and write notes so…"

"Aw, Luce." Danny sighed. "I… I'm sorry kid."

"It's not your fault. I'm quite enjoying it actually."

"What's this you're reading?" he asked as he picked it up. He held the book a short distance away and furrowed his brow. "Mockin-Mocking what?"

"Mockingjay," Lucy replied with an eye-roll.

"Oh, Mockingbird."

"No Dad, Mockingjay. It's an amalgamation of two different words."

"Amalgamation? I didn't even know you knew that word." Danny snorted. "Alright, go on...tell me what's it about?"

"It's for my social studies class, we're talking about the Government and basically this is a futuristic novel. It's set after the end of North America and a new… country; I guess has been set up. It's told through the eyes of a teenager as she comes up against the totalitarian government that controls the different districts. Every year twelve to eighteen year olds are put forward to a televised event where they basically fight to the death. Katniss, the main character goes in place of her little sister and it kind of just escalates to the point where this seventeen year old is the face of this massive revolution. It's pretty interesting actually."

Danny blinked at his daughter dumbly. "They teach stuff like that in schools?"

"Well it's been good for debates," Lucy shrugged. "There's a movie adaptation too. They were made like ten years ago. They're actually pretty good. There's like four of them. The two main characters won Oscars for the lead in the last movie. Apparently it was a real mix up in the whole Oscars set up. She'd won before but he hadn't. Based on what I saw in the trailer for it, they definitely deserved it. The actor that played the other main character was perfect. I am dying to watch the last two movies but I wanna wait, you know till I finished the book… but it looks amazing. I bet you and Mom would like it."

"What's the main character called again?"

"Katniss." Lucy deadpanned.

"As in the aquatic plant?"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Literally only you and Mom would know that."

"What were you writing down?"

"Oh, well we had to analyse the impact of different characters on Katniss this week and how they affect her decisions. I chose Peeta."

"Peter?"

"No, Peeta, Peet-a. There's an a at the end of his name."

"As in Pita bread?"

Lucy snorted.

"What?"

"In the story, his family own a bakery."

"Oh for goodness sake," Danny rolled his eyes. "Alright, and what about this Peeta bread? How does he affect Katniss?"

"In loads of ways." Lucy explained. "He's her rock, he was her District partner in the games and they actually ended up winning together in the first one and because of it he becomes so important to her and everything that she does is focused around him and her family, making sure they're safe. And while she's doing that, Peeta's sacrificing himself to protect her. He's one of the reasons she agrees to be the lead for the revolution… which brings us back to the debate."

"When did you get so smart?" Danny then blinked. "You know, there's a reason I did sport in High School,"

"Yeah, and that worked out so well for you, huh?"

Danny smirked as he ruffled Lucy's brown hair. "Alright kiddo, that's enough sass from you. Dinner's basically ready so go wash up and then come downstairs, okay?"

"Alright," Lucy called as he headed out of her bedroom and down the hallway. He knocked on the door currently blasting music and he braced himself as he headed in.

"BEN!" he bellowed over the sounds of the drums being beaten to a pulp. As soon as his voice carried over the banging, his eleven year old stopped in his tracks.

"Yeah Dad?"

"Dinner's nearly ready… go ahead and wash up. And what did I tell you about this? Lucy's working on homework."

"I asked her and she said it was okay!" his voice squeaked and Danny could only smile at the changing sounds of his little boy's voice. "You told me to check with her and she said it was... I promise!"

"Alright, well no more... okay?"

"Ok."

While Lucy was a carbon copy of Lindsay, Ben was exact replica of him. With his short, spiky ash blond hair and cheeky smile, Ben and him together were like twins, spread out over decades. As he closed his son's door and made his way downstairs, Danny dodged the pink toys and colouring books that were scattered across the living room floor. He headed into the kitchen and smiled at the sight.

"How you gettin' on with those questions, pumpkin?"

"They're hard, Daddy."

"Did you try addin' with your fingers?"

"Yeah but I… I…. I can't."

"Can't isn't a word, Lydia," Lucy's voice breezed into the room as she dropped a kiss to her baby sister's head. Danny hadn't even heard Lucy come down the stairs, never mind enter the kitchen. He watched as she took a seat next to the five year old. Lucy turned the paper to see what her little sister was working on and pursed her lips together. "Hmm, I think we might be able to get these done before dinner, what do you think Lyds?"

"I can't sissy," Lydia sighed thumping her head against the table top that she was working on. "I tired and I can't."

"You can," Lucy giggled as she hooked her finger underneath her sister's chin and made her look at her. "Look, count my fingers. Six-" She held up six fingers, "Add two. Go on, count how many fingers I'm holding up."

Lydia attempted to count the numbers in her quiet, reserved voice. As she caught sight of Lucy's reassuring smile, she gained confidence and deducted that the answer was eight, which she recorded down on her homework sheet.

"See, that wasn't too bad… next one." Lucy paused as she looked at the question. "Ben, get over here… we need your fingers."

Danny turned as he watched his son sit himself down next to his eldest daughter and offered his ten fingers in the direction of his baby sister. "How many do you need Lyds?"

"Ugh, ten and five."

"Well that's good… I got ten." Ben smiled. "And I think Lucy has five… five brain cells maybe!"

Lucy elbowed him in his side as she held up one hand of fingers. "Smart ass,"

"Oooooh, Lucy said a bad word Daddy! Lucy has to puts a dollar in the curse jar!" Lydia called, her blonde curls whipping her face as she turned to face Danny.

"Yeah but Lucy gets a night off that tonight," Danny winked at his seventeen year old as she flashed him a toothy smile.

"Ugh, no fair!" Ben scowled as he turned his attention back to Lydia. The five year old tried to carefully count each finger.

"Um, fourteen?" she finally offered.

"Count it again," Lucy smiled reassuringly.

As Danny watched his three children work together with smiles and giggles, he folded his arms and let out a slow breath. Lydia had been quite the surprise for him and Lindsay. They'd been talking about having another baby a year or so after Benjamin was born, but they never made any actual decisions. They'd figured that when the time was right, they'd naturally follow the path. But things had happened which just seemed to put a hold on their expansion of their family. Danny's dad had passed away when Lucy was nine and Ben was four. Then, Lindsay's dad had died a year later.

Of course happy things had happened in those years too. Sid had gotten the all clear from his cancer diagnosis. Mac and Christine had gotten married. Flack and Lovato had split up, but Flack had recently been dating a school teacher and it seemed like they were getting pretty serious – which Danny took great pleasure in teasing him about. Then there was Adam and Michelle who had been surprised with a little girl and a marriage that followed. Hawkes moved to California. Jo headed off to lead a lab back in Virginia.

The thing that had hit them the hardest was when Mac retired. They'd expected it for a while but when the time eventually came, the change was drastic. Mac had been a fundamental part of life in the lab and one day that was it. He was gone. In reality, he'd not just disappeared one day – it was quite the lengthy trade off process with the new head of the crime lab. It was a good transition that both Danny and Lindsay were comfortable with. It was just different, and between the two of them, their busy lifestyles and demands of parenthood with two full time jobs, having another baby just wasn't something on the table for them.

But just as Lindsay had settled into the leadership role and unpacked all of her boxes into her new office, she'd started to feel a little off. They had put it down to stress originally. She'd missed a few periods, skipped a few meals and was generally feeling run down. When she felt the first wave of nausea hit though, she knew. And so did Danny. So while she was adjusting to being Detective Lindsay Messer, head of the crime lab, she was also adjusting to the idea of being pregnant again. Luckily with two pregnancies already under her belt, she'd breezed through her pregnancy with Lydia – which had utterly astounded Danny. He knew his wife was amazing. He'd thought so when she worked right up to her due-date with Lucy, then again with Benjamin. She had worked hard back then – but that work had been nothing in comparison to the workload she had as head of the crime lab. She was the most capable person for the position. Between the two of them, they had discussed it at length. Once they knew Mac's intentions of retiring they began to question where they were at. Danny was already second in command, after Jo had left and really it had seemed most reasonable for him to step into Mac's shoes – but when they weighed up the options and considered the expertise of Mac, Danny pondered whether he was actually the person to lead the New York crime lab. They'd interviewed people from across the country and Mac made sure he was sat right in the middle of the interview panel and had politely declined every single argument put forward in support of each candidate. Deep down, Danny had known who Mac wanted for his successor. Danny also knew it was going to take some convincing. Mac had dropped subtle hints to Lindsay in passing over the months where he was tying his loose ends together. She'd laughed them off regularly. She'd rolled her eyes and she'd basically told Mac jump off the Statue of Liberty because there was no way she was going to be responsible for his lab.

It was funny how things worked out.

"You look lost in thought, oh husband of mine."

"Jesus Linds!" Danny gasped, turning around. "I didn't even hear you come in!"

"Well you wouldn't, staring so intently at them how you were. They helpin' her with her math homework?"

"Yeah, she's struggling to add numbers together again." Danny sighed. "I think it's a confidence thing."

"It was the same with Lucy. Don't you remember, she used to struggle all the time… now look at her. She's got no problems." Lindsay breezed through the kitchen. "Hello my little cherubs," said brightly as she placed a hand on Benjamin's cheek and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before moving to Lydia and then to Lucy.

"Hey Mommy!" the three chorused in sync.

"Did you have a good day?" Lucy asked as she turned in her seat to face Lindsay.

"It was okay, busy, tiring. I have a stack of paperwork that needs signatures… I'm almost sick of writing Messer." She flashed a grin in Danny's direction.

"Hey, well we can always fix that, honey." Danny drawled as he headed further into the kitchen.

"More importantly," Lindsay ignored the quip from her husband, "Did you have a good day, Lucy?"

"Yeah," she shrugged.

"Lyds?" Lindsay turned to her five year old.

"Ugh, that stinky boy I keeps telling you 'bout was mean again."

"Oh no!" Lindsay gasped as she leant across the centre island. She rested her chin on her hands as she balanced on her elbows. "What did he do today?"

"He… he… he… he made me switch juice boxes at snack time Mommy! I was so cross!"

"Why?" Lindsay pursed her lips together.

"Because he took the grape one I had and switched it out for fruit punch! I gonna punch him!"

"But you hate grape and fruit punch is your favourite. Maybe he was trying to help you."

Lydia scowled at the counter top she was sat at and exhaled sharply. "He. wasn't. he. smells." she emphasised each word dramatically.

"And you better always remember that," Danny said as he moved further into the kitchen and pressed a kiss to the top of Lydia's blonde hair.

"What about you Benny?" Lindsay asked. She was now the only one that still called Benjamin by his childhood nickname – aside from Lucy who still sometimes let the name slip every now and then in her moments of love for her little brother.

"It was ok I guess. I made the football squad, not for this year but next year. We start training soon."

"Oh Benny, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you." Lindsay paused as she turned to Danny. "Did you know?"

"I picked him up from practise. He wanted to tell you himself; right bud?"

"Yeah, I guess," Benjamin shrugged, rubbing the side of his neck.

"Well I'm glad, I'm proud of you," Lindsay smiled as she reached across the island and squeezed Ben's nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Okay," she finally said as she moved around the kitchen. She glanced over at Danny with a smirk on her face. "Did we all wash up for dinner?"

"Yeah, Daddy told us to like ten minutes ago," Lucy replied. "We were just killin' time till you got home."

"Ah okay," Lindsay licked her lips as she got out five plates from the cupboard. "Everything ready then, Dad?" Lindsay directed her questions to Danny.

"Yeah, all the pans are on the stove. They just need to be served up."

"Alright, Luce, will you give me a hand? I just need to go grab something before we sit down." Lindsay asked.

Lucy nodded obediently and stood instantly. She rounded the centre island in the kitchen and moved towards the stove. As she did so, Lindsay grabbed the camera she'd conveniently placed on the counter before work.

"So, Luce, now that you've got your senior license, you gonna try save for a car?" Danny asked, his voice travelling through the kitchen. There was a small hitch in his throat that he prayed didn't give him away.

"Meh, I dunno. Probably." She said as she reached for the pans. She halted for a minute and cocked her head to the side. "Dad, the pans aren't even on."

"Crap, seriously?" he implored. "Aw man…"

She placed her hand on the pan with the covering lid. "Dad, they're stone cold. What were you even doing? You told us dinner was ready."

"Will you check inside and see what the food is like? We might need to re-heat it all up."

Lucy huffed as she pulled off the opaque lid and gasped. "Dad, why's my damn license in the pan?"

"I've got no idea." Danny said, licking his lips. "It must have come in the mail today."

"So naturally the place we store mail is the stove top. Awesome, Dad!" Lucy turned, sticking two thumbs up in his direction as she held her new driver's license in her hand.

"Alright, sassmaster." Danny smirked. "Relax!"

"Check the other pan." Lindsay suggested.

Lucy eyed both of her parents suspiciously before opening up the second pan, again covered with an opaque lid. She stood on her tiptoes and glanced inside before shaking her head and closing the lid again.

"You're not even serious. You're not. You can't be."

"Why, what's inside?" Danny asked, rounding the side of the centre island and wrapping his arm around Lindsay who was busy snapping pictures.

"Don't play dumb! You know what was in there!" Lucy said, moving away from the pans.

"Open it up Lucy," Lindsay smiled.

Lucy reached for the pan with a shaking hand. She pulled off the lid and reached inside. She carefully pulled out the single key-ring with the single key on.

"What is this?" Lucy asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

Danny glanced over at Lindsay, whom was looking over at him. Both had glee in their eyes before they turned back to one another. "I don't know… are they your keys, Mommy?"

"Nope, not mine." She shrugged. "Yours?"

"Nope."

"But you two are the only ones with cars!" Lydia's little voice piped up from where she sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Hm, you're right Lyds… Hey Mommy," Danny teased, "What age do you get your senior license in the state of New York?"

"Eighteen officially, unless you've done driver's ed which means you can upgrade when you're seventeen. Why?"

"I don't know… just, three cars, I wonder what we could do with three. I mean I've got one, you've got one… we don't need another one. Maybe Lydia could use it to get to all of her pre-organised functions and galas." He smirked in Lucy's direction.

"Daddy don't be silly, I can't drive a car." Lydia paused for a moment as the realisation hit her. "Ooh, ooh, you could give it to Lucy!" Lydia cried in excitement.

"Hey, that's an idea." Danny playfully considered it. "What do you think, Mom… that car you just picked up, would Luce like it?"

"I dunno," Lindsay shrugged. "I guess."

"Wait, what car?" Benjamin implored.

"Yeah!" Lucy cried, "What do you mean, car you just picked up?"

"I mean, is it worthy of being a birthday present?" Danny continued, completing ignoring his children's onslaught of questions.

"Any old regular birthday present? Probably not, no… it's too nice to be just any old present. A birthday present for an amazing daughter who hasn't said two words about her Mom and Dad being so busy that they couldn't celebrate her birthday on the day… and have finally managed to both be free a week later and she still isn't expecting any fuss or celebrations… I think it probably just scratches the surface."

"I'm so confused," Benjamin muttered. "Are we eating dinner or not?"

"Shut up!" Lucy scowled at him. "Guys, are you sayin-"

"We're so sorry Lucy," Lindsay said, closing this distance between herself and Lucy. "It's been eating us both up that we couldn't make it home for your birthday. Mac told us that you were fine about it, but we weren't. You guys miss out on so much and we feel so bad about missing your birthday… we just couldn't get away."

Lucy frowned. She completely understood the responsibilities placed on both her parents. When she had turned the news on when she got home from school and had seen the triple homicide flashing up with breaking news headlines, she had been fully aware that she wouldn't be celebrating her birthday with either parent. It was the sacrifice they made as a family. It had turned out okay though. Her beloved Uncle Mac had picked her up and taken her to do her driver's exam, and then had driven her to the bowling alley for her birthday celebrations with her friends.

It had been a tough week while they were working on piecing together the evidence to secure a conviction. She'd had to wake the kids up and make sure they were all at the bus stop on time for school. She'd had to make the packed lunches on the days where her Mom or Dad hadn't made it home from work, and she'd had to do the laundry for Lydia's school uniform. But it was okay. She didn't mind. It was a situation that had been taken out of their hands and she got it. She did. She didn't like it, but she understood it.

This however, she did not understand.

"I'm confused." She said softly.

"We've been thinkin' about doin' it for a while," Danny said. "We think you deserve it. You've definitely earned it… your grades are amazing; you help out as much as you can. We can't ask for more from you. We felt like you deserve that little bit of freedom since you've worked so hard for it."

Lindsay stepped closer to her daughter, who was now slightly taller than her and wrapped her arms around her slender waist. "I'm so sorry we couldn't do this on the day, but happy birthday. Daddy and I hope you like it."

"Are you serious?" Lucy asked, her voice low and unsure. Surely they were joking. Surely.

"Dead serious," Danny smirked as he closed the distance between himself and his daughter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Happy birthday, Lucy!"

Before his lips barely left her forehead, Lucy was off like a flash, running through the house to the front door with both Ben and Lydia hot on her heels. Lindsay and Danny listened as the front door was nearly ripped from the wall in Lucy's haste as she plummeted down the drive way. Despite the door being slightly shut after Benjamin and Lydia had barrelled through it after her, they could hear Lucy's excited squeals as her eyes registered the car with the big bow on the driveway.

"Think she's surprised?" Danny smirked at his wife, who was equally beaming.

"I'd bet a hundred bucks she starts crying." Lindsay grinned.

As they both made their way towards the still opened front door, they could hear the laughter from their son and his mocking taunts. "Oh my god, Lucy, get a grip, you're seventeen and cryin' like a damn baby!"

Rolling his eyes, Danny huffed heavily as Lindsay stood up onto her tiptoes and stopped him mid step. She pressed a hand against his torso and leant up to press a kiss to his lips. "I believe you owe me a hundred dollars, Messer."

"Add it to the tab." He scoffed as he pressed his lips against her forehead. "I'll buy us all dinner." He said as he grabbed his jacket. He and Lindsay both headed down the path, leading to the driveway where their three children were admiring the new arrival of Lucy's car. Both Danny and Lindsay stood for a moment, appreciating the look of excitement and awe on their eldest daughter's face. "Guys, go get your stuff." Danny finally said, "Lucy's driving us all to dinner."

"I am?" She squeaked.

"We've driven you knuckle heads around for the last seventeen years. It's about time one of you started repaying us. We'll need to go to the gas station first."

"What? Why?"

"So we can fill your tank up, goofball," Lindsay teased. "Come on go get your stuff and then get in. Lucy, you're driving so you get to pick where we eat."

"Do I get to pay the tab too?"

"Nope, Daddy's got that covered," Lindsay said as the kids ran inside to grab their things. Lindsay opened up her car door and grabbed Lydia's booster seat from the back. She placed it on the seat in the middle and strapped Lydia in once she screeched to a halt next to Lindsay after retrieving her shoes. Ben followed closely. "Now, same rules apply in Lucy's car as they do in Mommy's. Lucy's in charge of the music. Lucy needs to concentrate so no shouting. No moving around. You sit and look out the window or we play a game. We don't distract Lucy because it's important she concentrates, okay Lydia? Benny?"

"Okay Mommy," the two replied with nods as they buckled themselves in with the seatbelts.

Lindsay ran up to the house, locked the front door after grabbing her purse. She then ran to the back seat and climbed in as Danny buckled his own seat belt.

"Right, I uh… I guess if we're all strapped in… oh god, are we sure this is okay?" Lucy stuttered. "This is a lot to deal with."

"You're gonna be fine, kiddo." Danny said, laying his hand on her shoulder as her hand hovered over the gear shift. "It's just like when you and I were out getting in your driving practise. It's not different."

"I've got my entire family in the car now!" Lucy snapped. "It's a little different; a bit more responsibility now, Dad!"

"Alright, so you just need to concentrate as usual and it'll be fine. You know what to do."

Lucy took a deep breath and puffed her chest out as she put her new car into reverse and slowly backed off the drive. She successfully got them out onto the road and then shifted to drive and began sailing down the street.

Twenty years ago when Danny Messer met Lindsay Monroe, neither of them thought that they'd be the two people responsible for the smooth running of the New York crime lab. During their ups and downs in their relationship, they hadn't envisioned themselves with three children. And yet, here they were, sandwiched into their eldest daughter's first car. Despite everything that they'd gone though, it seemed like they were just meant to be. Fate, the universe – whatever it was insisted that they spent their lives together.

As Lindsay exhaled softly, Danny reached behind into the back seat and squeezed Lydia's knee, earning quiet squeals. He repeated the action to Ben, which earned him a smack to the hand, where he transferred his hand to Lindsay's knee, where he squeezed her softly, before moving his attention back to the front, offering tips and advice to Lucy as she needed it.

From where she sat, Lindsay could see his greying hair, his balding patch, his wrinkles. She watched as he squinted out of pure stubbornness, rather than have his eyes tested again. She watched as he offered praise to their daughter as she navigated them through their residential neighbourhood.

She'd only dared to dream of this type of life with him; fearful that things wouldn't work out. She'd always been too scared to let herself believe in a happy ever after. And yet, here she was. It was funny how things worked out.

"This is so weird!" Lucy exclaimed, glancing in the rear view mirror at her Mom who was smiling from ear to ear.

"You have no idea, Lucy. No idea."

So apparently this is where fred and I took the story. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I've never really been able to shake the idea of DL having three kids, and I just love the idea of them having two girls with the names that they both wanted. And then Benny, well, I feel strongly that he's canon in my head sooooo... there we go with that one.

hope you guys enjoyed this one. I would absolutely love, love, love to hear from you! thanks for reading! :)