One thing remains constant about women, no matter who they are. They like babies.
Number 10 in the Ducks in a Row Series
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"Sara!" Catherine walked into the garage, calling to the woman whose feet were sticking out from the underside of the mangled Jeep before her. Sara rolled out from the undercarriage of the Jeep, and wiped at a few hairs off her face.
"Hey."
"So Andy just called the lab with an update." The older woman was grinning widely. Andy… she knew an Andy… Martin. Mia's boyfriend. Fiance.
"And?" She smiled up at her coworker, who was tapping her foot incessantly, seething excitement.
"Mia's home with the baby."
"And?" She propped herself up on her elbows.
"Annnnd when can you be done here?"
"Hour or so?" Sara sat up, grinning. "He said we could stop by, didn't he?" The vigorous nod from the older woman made Sara shake her head with amusement.
"You in?"
"Obviously."
"I'll push papers until you're off, then." Catherine headed out of the garage, and Sara watched her go, down the hall, rolling her eyes at the extra bounce the other woman had in her step. Greg came out of the DNA lab, and headed towards the break room, cocking an eyebrow in Sara's direction.
"Sara Jane." He called down the hallway, to her. "Coffee?" He grinned at her nod, and disappeared into the break room. Sara scribbled down some notes on a legal pad on her knee about collections made from the underside of the car.
"So what's up with Catherine? She practically pranced down the hall." He walked into the garage, handing her a steaming mug of decaf break room sludge.
"Andy called. Said Mia and baby are home safe. Thank you." She accepted the mug from him, and took a long sip.
"And?"
"He said we could drop by."
"Ah." Greg took a sip of coffee, leaning against the stool behind him. "I take it you are going?"
"Greg. New baby. Obviously going." She grinned at him, and he rolled his eyes, convinced that was what she sounded like as a thirteen year old. "Just tell Cath you want to go, too."
"Yeah, no. Too much estrogen. I'll wait until there are pictures all over the lab, thanks." He smiled at her, and pulled her pant leg, making her glide towards him on the roller she was still sitting on. He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, and pushed her back towards the Jeep. "You women are all the same."
"How's that?"
"Women and babies. You see them, and you turn to mush. Your voices all get three octaves higher, and you fail to make coherent sentences." She smiled at him, as his eyes quickly scanned over the Jeep with a somewhat lamentful expression on his face.
"I'm sorry you're stuck in the lab, Greg. Really." He glanced at her quickly before taking another sip.
"Well, one must take one for one's team, I believe is what Ecklie told me."
"You let him push you around too much."
"That's what happens when you change careers. It's fine. There's new machinery to play with." Greg swirled the black coffee in his mug, resting his head against the crate behind him, cocking his head to the side, looking at her.
"What?"
"Just enjoying your beauty." He grinned at her tiredly, and laughed as she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah. Me and the oil grease and the dirt smudges and the coveralls and-"
"I love it when you wear the coveralls."
"Greg, not at work."
"Have I told you how much I want to do it in the garage?" He was clearly joking with her, by the expression across his face, but his words had a serious tone, that both created an uncomfortable pressure below her waist and made her laugh simultaneously.
"Greg, seriously."
"Or the layout room. Or interrogation. Oh!" He sat up, and leaned forward conspiratorially. "How about the DNA lab?"
"Gregory! The DNA lab has glass for walls!" Sara laughed softly.
"Exactly." His eyes sparkled, darkening as they swept over her folded limbs. "So what time are you coming home from the estrogen-fest?"
"I won't be long. Andy will probably kick us out." Sara drained the rest of her coffee and glanced at the mangled Jeep behind her. "I have to get this processed, though."
"Alright aleady. I'll leave you to it. Stop by when you go to leave?"
"Of course."
Greg got up, holding a hand out for Sara's empty coffee cup, and leaned down to press a slow, gentle kiss to her mouth. Just as she reached up to tangle her fingers into his hair, and pull him closer, he broke the kiss, and stood, grinning down at her.
"That's what's waiting for you at home." He cocked an eyebrow at her playfully, and made his way to the break room to deposit the coffee mugs without another word. Sara watched him go, her eyes falling on the gentle slope of his shoulders, covered in the lab coat. There really was nothing sexier than a man in a lab coat. Smiling to herself, she laid back down on the roller, and scooted under the Jeep once more, to inspect the suspension. They could totally do it on the roller. Focus, Sidle.
And hour or so later, she had stopped in at DNA, where Greg had accepted the kiss she pressed to his lips before continuing on presenting the DNA results from Nick and Warrick's case. She had gotten in the Denali with Catherine, and as they pulled into the driveway of the little house Mia had bought last spring with Andy, she couldn't help but smile.
"He's beautiful."
"He kept me up all night." Mia laughed, shifting the tiny baby in her arms. "Rock paper scissors for who wants to hold him first." Catherine and Sara glanced at each other, taking seats on Mia and Andy's couch. After the best two out of three, Mia handed the sleeping little bundle to Catherine, sitting back and relaxing, rubbing her tired arms.
"Hello." Catherine held a finger out to the newborn, and he first brushed his fist against her finger, then wrapped his hand around it, squeezing tightly.
"What name did you finally agree on?" Sara glanced at the newborn before turning her attention to the DNA tech.
"Miles. Miles Davis Martin." Mia grinned broadly. "Andy has a thing for jazz."
"Hi there. Oh he's so sweet." Sara leaned over Catherine's shoulder, making faces at him as he woke up.
"So. You and Greg." Mia leaned forward carefully, picking up the mug of tea from the coffee table, and turning her attention to Sara. "Let's see the ring." Sara grinned, leaning forward, and holding her hand out to Mia, who examined the tiny sparkly diamond in the delicate setting. "That's gorgeous."
"His grandmother's."
"Wow."
"It's still a bit new to all of us." Catherine glanced up at the two women, holding Miles and rocking him gently, lulling him to sleep again. "You should see the huge grin he has plastered on his face. You'd think he won the lottery."
"Warrick owes me fifty bucks." Mia smiled, leaning back into the chair. "I'm sure Greg will still be grinning by the time I get back."
"I'm sure he'll be grinning fifty years from now." Catherine laughed softly, and turned her attention back to Miles, who was yawning widely.
"How are you feeling?" Sara asked, her eyes sweeping over the few bottles of pain reducers on the cabinet behind Mia.
"Pretty good, actually. Glad to be not pregnant anymore. For a while I thought he'd never come out."
"Lindsey was like that."
"You and Greg thought about children?" Mia abruptly shifted her attention to Sara, causing the other woman to blush slightly.
"Uh, no. Well, not yet."
"What do you think?" Catherine asked softly. Sara glanced from Miles to Catherine, and to the tiny diamond on her finger.
She had never thought about children, she wasn't very good with them. Greg, however, he was a natural. The kids that lived in his apartment building all but cried when he told them they were going to have to find new xBox partners, because he was moving in with her. He was effortless with his nieces and nephews, the few that she had met. When they worked cases involving children, he never hesitated in calling dibs on extracting the information they needed form them. He was casual with teenagers, talking them out of their nerves about the latest rock album or the baseball scores before getting them to trust him enough to spill their secrets. He was every kid's favorite big brother, or crazy uncle. Greg, Greg was the one that was good with children. She didn't even have the desire to hold Miles, afraid she would break him. Or drop him.
"Greg would make a great father."
"What about you?" Mia arched an eyebrow at her, smiling softly.
"Well, I'd hardly want to be the one to rob him of a chance to be someone's father."
After about a half hour, Mia had begun to look tired, and Catherine handed Miles back to his mother, and they bid goodbye to Mia and Andy, making their way to the Denali in the driveway. Catherine drove Sara to her apartment building, and the ride was quiet, save for the steady stream of commentary about how well Mia looked, how cute Miles was, how difficult labor was, from Catherine. Sara barely listened, but nodded in agreement, and laughed at the right intervals.
Something else was on her mind.
Children.
Children with Greg.
Suddenly she felt incredibly anxious to get home. Greg would have gotten off shift about an hour ago, and he had indicated that he would meet her at her apartment. He had been right. Babies did strange things to women. Sara had never, in her life, ever, thought about having children of her own. Ever. Now she wanted to sit down and discuss this. Did he want children? Of course he wanted children. How could he not want children. She rubbed her stomach absently, wondering for a moment what it would be like to be eight months pregnant. The thought scared her, there was no way she could be responsible for another human being.
But there was something about the idea of being eight months pregnant with Greg that didn't raise her blood pressure. Maybe she could be okay with having children. Why hadn't they talked about this before getting engaged?
"You're not even listening to me." Catherine's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she turned to face the other woman, before realizing they had pulled up at her building.
"Huh?"
"I said have a good night off."
"Right. Yeah, hey thanks." Sara unbuckled herself, and grinned at the older woman brightly. "See you Wednesday."
"Tell Greg I said hi." Catherine waved, and pulled out of the parking area, leaving Sara to make her way up the stairs to the apartment. She opened the lock with her keys before tossing them in the bowl, and shrugging off her jacket as she shut the door behind her.
"Greg?" She called out to him, not seeing him at first glance.
"In here." He came down the hall from their bedroom, pulling a tee shirt over his frame, allowing her to catch a glimpse of his abdomen. "So how was the estrogen trinity?"
"What did you call me?" She arched an eyebrow at him as he pulled her against him, and kissed her sweetly.
"The old mother, the new mother, and the- never mind." He wrapped an arm around her waist, and hugged her lovingly. "Ah! You even smell like baby."
"I didn't even hold him."
"Him! What's his name?" Greg let go of her, making his way to the couch and flopping down casually. She smiled, the act itself was within his realm of normal motions, but she couldn't help but smile, she rather liked him 'flopping' into her life like he had. What she didn't know, however, was how he had managed to flop his way into her heart, but she rather liked him there, as well.
"Miles. Miles Davis Martin." She smiled softly at him, and kicked off her shoes, and Greg lay back, hand extended to her. She climbed on top of him, resting her head against the crook of his neck. He pressed a kiss to her hair, and wove his leg around hers, hugging her tightly.
"She mentioned Andy liking jazz I think at some point, maybe when they were first dating." She felt him relax under her, and she sighed deeply, relaxing as well.
"Greg?"
"Mmhmm."
It was now or never.
"What d'you think about children?" He didn't answer right away, but continued to run his hand along her back.
"See, now, this is what I was talking about earlier…you know, with the whole babies do strange things to women." She rolled her eyes, not bothering to look him in the eye. Instead she listened to his heartbeat, soft and even beneath her. He wasn't freaking out. He had already made up his mind.
Oh god.
"Seriously."
"Children in general, or children that hypothetically share DNA with you and me?"
"The latter."
"Children that would have you and I as parents?"
"Yes." She sat up, resting her chin on her hands on his chest casually.
"What do you think about children that share our DNA?"
"I asked you first." She smiled nervously at him, waiting for him to answer. He bit his lip, looking as if he was choosing his words carefully, before looking back at her with a grin forming on his lip.
"Sharing DNA sounds good." She sat up, and laughed, smacking him. He chuckled, holding up a hand to guard himself from her as he sat up, and twisted to lean against the back of her couch, with her in his lap. His hands found her hips, and she rested her knees against his shoulders, looking him in the eye, sitting on his thighs. He leaned in to kiss her, and she rolled her head away, running her hand through his hair.
"Seriously, Gregory."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"You want my honest, truthful opinion?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Yes I want children."
"Greg-" Sara tried her best to remain visibly calm, but she failed miserably.
"Sara Jane, relax."
"I just, I don't know. I've never wanted children. Ever. But today, today Mia asked me if we had thought about kids. I panicked." He crinkled his brow, listening to her carefully, regarding her seriously. She smiled faintly at him, and leaned an elbow on her knee. "I panicked, until I realized she was talking about us. You and me. Being pregnant was always a scary thought, Greg, but being pregnant with you." She paused, biting her lip nervously. "That doesn't sound so bad."
"Yeah?" He leaned back against the back f the couch, and grinned at her. "Really?"
"Maybe one."
"One?"
"Yeah."
"Sara?"
"Mmhmm."
"I would love to have one child with you." He slipped an arm around her waist, and shifted her so that she lay across the seat cushions, and he hovered just above her. He dropped a slow, lingering kiss to her lips, and he leaned into her, wedging his way between her thighs. He couldn't help but grin as she wrapped a leg around his hip lazily. In time, they would be the third leg of the estrogen trinity. The old mother, the new mother, and the mother to be. He pulled away from her, and she moaned softly, frustrated at the loss of contact.
"Gregory."
"How about I take you up on that baby idea?"
"Now?" She arched her eyebrow at him and pulled him down to meet her lips.
"We could always use the practice." His words were mumbled against her, and he laughed as her hands went straight for the hem of his tee shirt, pulling it urgently off his slim frame. Practice indeed.
………
A/N: remoob1513 suggested like a million years ago that Sara go to visit Mia after she had the baby that was referenced as the reason Greg is back at DNA in 'Ducks in a Row: the Eternal Bliss of Greg Sanders'… even though that story came out in November. This one's for remoob1513… sorry it took me six months.