Title: Surprise
Authors: Ginny and Kathie (the Evil!Council!Duo)
Fandom: CSI:NY
Rating: FRC
Disclaimer: If they were ours…they would have a lot more fun.
Warnings: AU, Fluff. Pure Fluff.
Words: 3317
Summary: Lindsay gets a surprise…
Authors Notes: We accidentally created another universe: the Family Universe. In this universe Mac and Stella had three children: Tom, Lucy and Henry. How does Mac cope after Claire's death? With a very supportive network of friends and teammates.

"Tom! Lucy! Hurry up! Uncle Don and Uncle Danny are going to be here any second!" Mac shouted down the hall. He knew that Lucy was in her room, but he wasn't entirely sure where Tom was or what mischief he was getting into.

"Catch me Daddy!" Henry, the youngest of his three, shouted just before he jumped off the couch. Moving quickly, Mac easily caught the five year old.

The boy squealed in delight and wrapped his thin arms around Mac's neck. Mac shifted him to one hip and went to investigate what his oldest was doing.

He found Tom in the room he shared with his brother, jumping on his bed. He'd just stepped into the room when Tom threw a stuffed monkey at them.

"Tom!" Easily he caught the monkey. "Stop that and get ready. Uncle Danny and Uncle Don will be here soon."

Tom grinned and held his arms out. "Me too," he demanded.

"You're getting too big for that," Mac grumbled. "Come on, where are your shoes?"

"Don't know," Tom shrugged, his arms still held out.

With a small smile, Mac kissed Henry on the forehead and put him down before lifting Tom. Tom was going to be too big to do this or want to do this soon.

"Where was the last place you had them?"

"On my feet?"

"And where did you put them? You're going barefoot if you won't find them in the next two minutes," Mac threatened and put him down. "You're getting too heavy for this."

"Uncle Don can carry me," Tom said thoughtful and scratched his head. "But then, uncle Don is bigger than you. And Uncle Danny said you're getting old." He smiled at his father.

"Go find your shoes!" Mac simply said.

"I don't think you're getting old Daddy," Henry said from where he now sat on the floor playing with the

abandoned stuffed monkey.

Mac chuckled. "Thank you Henry. Why don't we go see if your sister is ready."

Henry nodded and stood. "Why aren't you going to the zoo with us?"

"Because I have to work today," he hated that reason, but Don and Danny made it easier on him when they offered to watch his kids.

"Are you working with Lindsay?" Lucy asked from where she lurked outside the bedroom door. "And why isn't she an aunt like Aunt Stella is?"

Mac sighed. "Maybe you can come to the lab tonight, pick me up, and meet Lindsay? But you have to promise that you will behave."

"We always do," Tom called from under his bed. Mac smiled. "Almost always," he said and went to knock on Lucy's door before poking his head in. "Lucy? Are you ready?"

"No," she grumbled and frowned unhappily. "Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I want hair like Aunt Stella! Mine is boring!" She looked at him with wide, tear-filled eyes, and she reminded him so much of Claire in this moment that he felt the old familiar stab of pain in his chest.

"Maybe you should ask Aunt Stella about that," he said carefully. "Brush your hair and get your shoes, okay?"

"I want pigtails!" she said and grabbed his hand. "Daddy, can you help me with them?"

This second there was a knock on the door, and the sound of feet tripping over each other to get to the door.

"Tom! Henry!" Mac called out sharply, but before he could add another word, the boys had arrived at the door.

"Who's there?" Tom called out. Mac noticed that he was wearing only one shoe and sighed softly.

"It's me, Danny."

Tom snorted. "How do I know it's really you, Uncle Danny?"

"Because if you don't open the door, Don and I won't take you to the zoo. Go get your dad. He recognizes my voice, after all."

Tom turned around and looked questioningly at Mac.

"You can open the door," Mac allowed, and Tom did.

As soon as the door opened, Tom gave up pretending to be responsible and threw himself at Danny. "Hi Uncle Danny!" he greeted. "I want to see the lions and the tigers at the zoo, okay?"

Henry, just behind Tom, jumped at Don, hugging his legs tightly. "Hi Uncle Don!" he squealed.

Both men chuckled. "Hi boys," Danny greeted, ruffling Tom's hair. "I think we can manage lions and tigers.

Should we see the bears too?" he looked up at Mac and smiled.

Mac couldn't help himself and answered the smile.

"Maybe," Tom allowed.

"Okay. Then go and find your second shoe, will you? I won't carry you just because you forgot to put it on."

Mac watched as his son ran to his room without arguing. "I'm getting jealous," he commented.

Danny shrugged. "Nah. It's just when they want something. Where is Lucy?"

Lucy chose that prompt to bounce past Mac and into Danny's outstretched arms. "I want pigtails, Uncle Danny, and daddy said to ask you," she whispered into his shoulder.

"Sure, princess." Danny put her down and took her hand. "Daddy still doesn't get it right, huh?"

She shook her head. "He's trying," she explained seriously. "But yours are better." Danny only chuckled.

In the meantime, Don had peeled Henry off his legs and had picked him up.

"I have to admit that I'm impressed Mac," Don said, smirking slightly.

"Why?" Mac asked warily.

"You managed to get one of them ready. Usually all three have gotten the better of you." Don teased.

Mac frowned at him, but it was tempered by the amusement in his eyes. "Very funny." He held out his arm, stopping Tom as he came running into the room, with his other shoe. "No running in the house," he reminded his eldest sternly.

"Sorry Daddy," Tom said sheepishly.

"When do you want the rugrats home?" Danny asked. Mac noticed that not only had Danny finished putting pigtails in Lucy's hair, but they were even and the part was straight.

He hesitated before answering. "I thought that you could bring them by in a few hours. We could all go out for dinner after that?"

Danny nodded. "Sounds good to me...Don?"

"Sure." Don shrugged and threw Henry into the air.

"Don't drop him," Mac sighed. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, daddy," Lucy said and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, and off we go," Danny shooed them all out of the apartment. "I'll give you a call when we're ready to come to the lab, alright? Giving you the time to hide the weapons and all."

Mac nodded. "Thank you. I really appreciate it - it's your day off, after all."

"No problems. I like 'em, and I like spending time with them." He grinned suddenly. "I can't wait to see Montana's face."

Mac raised one brow at him, "I thought we'd discussed that."

Danny managed to look sheepish for a moment. "She's still goin' on about knowing you better, is all," he said.

Mac couldn't help the slight snicker that escaped. "She can believe that, but it's not like I've hidden the pictures of them that are in my office."

Danny smirked but managed to keep any more comments to himself. "Have fun at work. Call if anything comes up. And be careful."

"I will," Mac promised.

"Okay, kids. Say bye to your dad," Don called out, and all three of them tried to hug and kiss him at the same time.

"Have fun. Behave. Do what Uncle Don and Uncle Danny tell you," Mac said and kissed all of them before straightening. "If anything happens..."

Danny nodded. "I know, Mac," he replied. "Come on, let's go."

Mac watched them get into the elevator before he closed the door to finish getting ready for work. He wasn't really worried about them. His kids adored their 'uncles' and the 'uncles' adored them back. Spoiled them rotten too. He didn't know how he would have made it, if he hadn't had Danny, Don, and Stella.

Shaking away the melancholy thoughts, he grabbed his own jacket and headed for the office. Hopefully it'd be a calm day and he could catch up on the ever-present pile of paperwork.

A few hours later, when he was still signing reports, he almost regretted that there had been no new cases to keep his mind occupied. His thoughts circled around Claire and around his three children - they had kept him going when Claire had been killed. It was not easy, being a single parent with three little kids, but somehow he had managed so far, and he was grateful for the help his friends and co-workers had always offered him.

Another glance at the clock told him that it would be at least another hour until Danny and Don would bring him his kids back. He sighed and tried to concentrate back on his paperwork.

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted the silence in the office.

Only minutes later, Mac stuck his head into the trace lab. "Lindsay - you're with me. We have a d.b. in Central Park."

Lindsay frowned, but she went to get her kit.

"Stella..." Mac hesitated slightly. "Danny and Don will bring the kids later..."

"Great! I haven't seen them in a couple of weeks," she smiled.

"I could call and ask them to take them home..." he offered. "I hate to impose on you guys more than I already do."

"Mac, how many times do we have to tell you that we love those kids. I think Danny and Don are starting to think that they are theirs too."

Mac snorted. "Danny told them I'm getting old," he said with a small smile. Stella frowned. "That was not nice." She nodded at Lindsay who was waiting by the door, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet. "It will be a surprise for her."

Mac grinned and grabbed his own kit that he had put on the ground when he had entered the room. "They want to meet her. I just hope none of them starts calling her Montana...I don't want my kids to witness her murdering Uncle Danny."

Stella laughed. "I'd pay to see the look on her face."

"So would I," Mac admitted, "but I'll deny I said that if you ever repeat it."

"What was that about?" Lindsay asked when he finally reached the elevator.

"Nothing," Mac told her.

"Have fun," Stella called after them and grinned.

"I'll finish here and wait for the package," she added.

Mac nodded. "Thank you."

An hour and a half later the elevator doors opened again and three hyper kids came flying out.

"Daddy!" Lucy shrieked, running straight for his office. She was followed close behind by her brothers. She skidded to a halt when she saw Stella and changed directions. "Aunt Stella!"

Stella smiled and hugged Lucy, and the boys quickly.

"Where is Daddy?" Tom asked her.

"Crime scene. He'll be back soon," Stella promised. "You've grown!" she then said and pushed a hand through Tom's dark hair. "A bit more, and you're as big as your dad."

"Uncle Don is bigger than Daddy," Lucy said. Henry only stuck his thumb into his mouth.

Stella smiled. "Come on, we can go into your dad's office and sit down there. How was the zoo?"

The three kids answered her at once.

"Awesome!"

"I saw Lions!"

"We watched the penguins swim."

"Uncle Danny bought us ice cream and cotton candy and--"

"I think that's enough," Danny cut in. "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to tell anyone what lunch was."

Tom shook his head and smiled mischievously, "We said we wouldn't tell Daddy."

"Yes, and Aunt Stella isn't telling Daddy, too," Lucy said and took Stella's hand.

Stella bit back a laugh. "It'll be my secret," she promised as they entered Mac's office.

"I want to color," Henry announced.

"Me too," Lucy agreed.

"I want to play a game," Tom decided.

"You want to color?" Don asked and the younger too nodded. "You're in luck. I happen to know where your

Daddy keeps his crayons and coloring books." He opened the bottom drawer of one of the file cabinets and pulled out several coloring books and boxes of crayons.

"And I just happen to have some games in my office. Want to go pick one out?" Danny asked Tom.

"Do you have Connect Four?"

"I think I do. Let's go find out."

After half an hour of playing and coloring Stella looked up.

"Look, there's your Daddy," she said. Tom jumped down from Mac's chair and ran straight to Mac.

"Daddy!" he called and jumped in Mac's arms.

Mac caught him easily. "Careful with the Evidence," he said sternly. "How was the zoo?"

"It was fun." Tom beamed at him.

Lindsay made a startled sound, and Mac finally turned around to her. Lindsay's eyes were very big and very round in her face.

"I didn't know you had a kid," she said slowly.

Of course, Lucy and Henry chose that second to race towards Mac and hug his legs.

"I have three," he said simply. "Hi munchkins." He knelt down and hugged all three of them before looking up at Lindsay, who was still looking shocked. "Lindsay, I'd like you to meet Tom, Lucy, and Henry. Kids, this is Lindsay Monroe."

They looked at Lindsay with curious expressions on their faces.

"Say hello to Mon...roe," Danny called out from around the corner.

"You're not an aunt like Aunt Stella is," Lucy tells her, eyes wide in innocence.

"You work with Daddy an' Uncle Danny an' Uncle Don," Tom told her.

"I do," Lindsay answered uncertainly. Not only did Mac have kids, but the others knew about them.

"Why?" Henry asked.

"Why do I work with them?" Lindsay asked, still trying to wrap her mind around the whole thing, but Henry shook his head.

"Why aren't you an aunt?"

Lindsay shrugged. "I .. don't know?" she offered with a small laugh.

It was Danny who stepped in, saving her from kids' attention. "Why don't you go show your dad the pictures you drew," He suggested. "And you can tell him how many times you beat me at Connect Four," he told Tom.

"She never answered the question," Lucy mentioned from behind Mac's knee.

"That's because nobody asked her to be an Aunt...yet," Mac said and brushed a hand over Lucy's head.

Danny laughed quietly. "It's like having three Mini-Macs around. But they are nice," he explained to Lindsay.

Mac frowned. "I'm nice, too," he said.

"Daddy's the nicest," Henry said loyally.

"I'm sure he is," Lindsay said, smiling weakly. She watched as they pulled Mac after them. "Why didn't I know that he has kids?"

Danny shrugged. "He doesn't talk about them when he's investigating murderers?" he offered. "You've met them now...what do you think?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It's a bit of a shock." She paused before asking, "Why do you know about them?"

Danny shrugged. "I work here for a bit longer, Lindsay," he finally said. "Claire sometimes brought them here, so they would know their father. Mac's always been addicted to work."

"You knew Claire?"

"I worked here for almost two years before the attack. Yes, I knew her. Met her for the first time when Mac had to detour to the house to take her to the hospital when we were heading back to the lab after a crime scene."

"Hospital?" Lindsay repeated. "What happened?"

"Lucy," he answered with a smile.

"Oh." Lindsay frowned. "It's strange to see him like this," she finally admitted.

Just in that moment, the elevator opened and Hawkes walked in.

"I thought it was your day off?" he greeted Danny and smiled at Lindsay.

"It is," Danny replied and shrugged. "We promised the rugrats dinner with Daddy."

Hawkes' smile widened. "They're here?"

"You know about them?!" Lindsay asked, her voice high pitched.

He gave her a look of confusion. "Of course I know them. I'm the one who stitched Tom up the first time he decided to jump off the coffee table to see if he could fly."

"Uncle Shel!"

The high-pitched voice was the only warning they got before Tom threw himself in Hawkes' arms. "Careful there," Hawkes said with a smile. "You're getting too heavy for this."

Tom frowned. "That's what Daddy said too. But Uncle Don said he could still give me piggyback rides and stuff."

"Uncle Don's a little bit bigger than me," Hawkes pointed out.

"Uncle Danny!" Lucy summoned, poking her head out of Mac's office. "Come here!"

"Be right there Princess," he promised. He started to walk over, but Lindsay grabbed his arm.

"Why didn't Mac tell me?" she couldn't but feel hurt.

Danny sighed. "Mac's always been closed off about his personal life. The kids see the team as family."

"I'm part of the team," she pointed out.

"You haven't been for long. Come on, even you have to know that Mac's a bit stubborn when it comes to change."

"I know him--" she automatically started to say, but stopped. Obviously she didn't know him very well. "There are pictures of the kids in his office," Danny pointed out.

She smiled sheepishly, "I thought they were nieces and nephews."

"They are all his, as far as I know." Danny smiled.

Lucy awaited them by the door of the office. She had pushed her hands in her pockets and was bouncing on the balls of her feet. It reminded Lindsay of someone -

she smiled suddenly. "You spend a lot of time with them?"

Danny pushed his glasses up his nose. "Yeah. Why?"

"She's picking up your habits," she pointed out.

Danny smiled softly. "You're my princess, right, Lucy?"

"Yes!" she answered before turning towards Lindsay. "Can you braid hair?"

Lindsay nodded. "I do," she answered, not sure where this line of questioning would lead.

Lucy grabbed Danny's hand. "Do you want to be my aunt, like Aunt Stella?" she then asked.

Lindsay's frown disappeared and made room for a smile. "Sure."

Lucy nodded seriously. "But nobody makes pigtails like Uncle Danny," she said.

Lindsay smiled. "He never showed me," she answered.

Danny groaned softly.

"Uncle Danny's the best," Lucy assured her. "Daddy can't do them at all." Her emphasis on the last two words made Lindsay laugh.

"And what's about me?" Don asked from his spot on Mac's couch. Henry had climbed into his lap and was quietly sucking on his thumb.

"You're the best, too, Uncle Don," Lucy promised. "Even if you can't do pigtails."

Mac laughed and put some files from the drawer of his desk into his briefcase. "Are you hungry?" The kids nodded, and Mac stood up to get his coat. "Then let's go and get something to eat."

He stopped in front of Lindsay. "Join us?" he offered. "If they've eaten half the sugar today of what I think Don and Danny gave them, I could need another sets of hands to keep them controlled. Stella is coming too."

"Uncle Shel too," Tom mentioned.

"I want fries," Henry mumbled around his thumb.

"I want chicken nuggets," Lucy declared.

"Really?" Lindsay asked uncertainly.

"You wouldn't have met them if I didn't want you to know about them," Mac assured her. He'd known that he was going to have to introduce Lindsay to them sooner or later. He'd debated ways of telling her until she'd shown up at the jazz club, helping him decide that shocking her a bit would be best.

"I'd love to go," she answered.

"Good," Mac said simply. "Let's go," he ordered. "I bet Aunt Stella's at the elevator waiting for us."

That got them moving. Lucy grabbed Danny's hand, Henry took Don's and Tom stayed with Sheldon as they pulled them toward the elevator.

Mac smiled a half smile as he watched his kids with their aunts and uncles. He was lucky to have a family like this.

The End.