The Arrival of Aiden Luciana Claire Sarah Messer
Danny/Lindsay
Danny and Lindsay's daughter finally arrives to the delight of her family and friends.
Spoiler: Greater Good
A/N: I don't own the characters of CSI: NY. I only own my original characters.
A/N2: Originally I wanted in the story for Baby Girl Messer to be named just Aiden Sarah Messer, but I had decided to give her three middle names. Danny and Lindsay will explain why later in this story.
"Adam, page Danny now!" an extremely pregnant Lindsay Monroe-Messer said as she grabbed the stunned lab tech. "Get the keys to any car, I don't give a rats ass which one and meet me at the garage in five minutes. My water just broke."
Mac Taylor observed the pregnant CSI from his office. He wondered why she had bothered coming in to work. Maybe she wanted to get her mind off the fact she had just gone into labor. Another possibility was that she was still in her place after Danny left for work before the labor began. What if she felt like going to work and her water had broken while processing a piece of evidence. He figured that Adam had things under control so he focused more on convincing an ex-con that he did not kill a teenage girl.
Garage
Adam helped Lindsay into the car and put her suitcase in the back seat. Once their seatbelts were fastened, Adam slowly pulled out the parking lot. He took a glance of the woman next to him. He didn't want to say anything to her for fear of getting any body parts or organs ripped out of his body. He could see that she was on the phone calling her husband.
"Danny, you have not responded to my calls or the most recent page that Adam sent!" Lindsay screamed into her cell phone during a contraction. "My water broke about ten minutes ago and my contractions are about 15 minutes apart. When you get this message, please call me. Adam is taking me to the hospital."
Back in the Lab
"Danny, your wife has just gone into labor," Mac approached the CSI who was processing a fragment of glass that hide reddish-brown paint or dried blood on it. "I had just seen her get a little rough on Adam. I believe she attempted to call or page you at least once. Poor Adam had to either page or call you too."
"Shit! Mac, I gotta get to the hospital!" Danny panicked.
"Do you know which hospital she's being taken to?" Stella joined in the conversation.
"Yes, and I will need a ride to the hospital," Danny replied as he took out his cell phone, scrolled down the address book until he got Lindsay's number and pressed talk. "Montana, it's Danny. I am on my way to the hospital. I hope our little bambina isn't born until I get there. She better wait until daddy gets there so he could welcome her to the world."
Danny was so preoccupied with leaving a voicemail to his Lindsay that he didn't realize Sheldon was walking the opposite direction and the two men almost collided into each other.
"Danny, you are lucky that I am not carrying any evidence on me, just paperwork," Sheldon hissed.
"Sorry, Hawkes, Lindsay has gone to labor and I am trying to get a hold of her," Danny replied.
"Do you need someone to take you to the hospital? I'll take you if you don't mind waiting a few moments while I give this to Mac."
"Sure."
Manhattan Streets
In a matter of less than ten minutes later, the two men were in an SUV driving on the streets of Manhattan. They were trying to dodge traffic and at the same time trying not to kill somebody.
"Hey, asshole, my wife is about to have our baby girl!" Danny shouted at the car in front of him and Sheldon. "I want to see my daughter born! My wife will wring my neck if I am not there for her!"
"Danny, I am trying to get you there in one piece," Sheldon said. "I also want to get back to the lab in one piece. Don't try to antagonize our fellow drivers! I promise to get you there before she is halfway dilated, you know 5 centimeters."
"Yeah, I learned about that during the childbirth classes," Danny anxiously sighed.
"Relax, she won't have the baby without you!"
"I hope you are right, Hawkes. I hope you are right."
Sheldon decided to drive faster to get the nervous soon to be father to the hospital. He managed to dodge taxis, angry pedestrians and other pissed-off motorists until arriving at the hospital. He dropped Danny off at the sidewalk.
"Hawkes, thanks for the ride," Danny smiled as he was about to close the door.
"Don't mention it," Sheldon beamed. "Just be there for Lindsay and the baby."
Danny closed the door and walked into the entrance of the hospital. He approached the receptionist in the information desk.
"Sir, may I help you?" the young woman asked in a sweet sounding Southern accent.
"My wife is having a baby," Danny answered. "Her name is Lindsay Monroe-Messer. Do you know if she was already admitted or not?"
"Let me see," she said as she typed up some information. "It looks like she was admitted about ten minutes ago at the labor and delivery floor. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and her room is 412."
"Thank you," he happily sighed and called the elevator.
The ride up to the fourth floor felt like an eternity for Danny. All he could think about were his wife and not yet born daughter. When the elevator finally arrived at his requested floor, Danny got off and started to look for Lindsay. He went to the room that she was assigned to, but she was not there. He continued to look for her until he saw a wheelchair carrying his wife being pushed by a very familiar young man.
"Danny!" Lindsay shouted. "You have finally arrived!"
"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Danny smiled at her.
"How did you get here?"
"Sheldon gave me a ride. I am assuming that Adam gave you a ride here."
"You were somewhere in the lab," Adam said. "I was the nearest person Lindsay got her hands on when her water broke."
"Thank you for being there for her," Danny shook hands with his colleague. "I'll take it from here!"
Adam left to return to the lab after hugging Lindsay and telling them he will visit after the baby arrives. Danny wheeled Lindsay back to her room and helped her into bed. She attempted to find a comfortable position so she could relax for a while. A young woman with Asian features in her early to mid thirties entered in the room.
"Dr. Lee, I didn't expect you to be here now," Lindsay said to her doctor. "I called you as soon as started my labor."
"I have an emergency c-section to take care of," Dr. Lee told her. "Since I am here, I will check your progress."
"Please don't tell us that she is fully dilated," Danny said. "I would hate to miss her laboring."
"Is your husband a comedian that we didn't know about?" Dr. Lee asked.
"No, he is a detective and CSI like me," Lindsay replied. "He sometimes can be a wiseass."
Dr. Lee put on a pair of gloves and an examining gown. She examined her patient to find out how her labor was progressing. She removed her gloves and disposed them in the red garbage bag. She applied a small amount of tepid gel on Lindsay's belly and placed the transducer on the gel to hear the baby's heartbeat.
"Lindsay, you are approaching 3 centimeters in dilation and your daughter's heartbeat sounds very good," Dr. Lee said. "If you feel up to it, you can walk in the hallway to progress the labor further. I anticipate that you and Danny will be parents before the new day dawns."
"It looks like I am getting an extra special present on Mother's Day," Lindsay chuckled.
"She probably wants to make her grand entrance in the world before your special day," Danny smiled.
"If you excuse me, I have a c-section to perform," Dr. Lee cleared her throat. "I will have one or two of the nurses check in on you. Once I am finished with this patient, I'll check your progress."
It wasn't even five minutes after Dr. Lee left the room that Stella appeared.
"Stella, we weren't expecting you to visit at this time," Danny said.
"Mac and I were talking to a witness/suspect just now," Stella explained to the couple. "She is a doctor in this hospital. I figured that since you are here, I might come and visit."
"Where's Mac?" Lindsay asked.
"He is briefing that ex-con that the death of the girl was an accident."
"My doctor just examined me and I am making some progress. I am already tired of lying in bed and I want to go for a work."
"I'll join you and we could talk. Where's Danny?"
"He probably went to get a bite to eat or something to drink."
The two women walked down the corridor, stopping every few moments so Lindsay could breathe through a contraction.
"What if I am a lousy mother?" Lindsay asked. "What if she grows up hating me? Maybe when she is nine, she'll be suspended from school for beating up another girl in the schoolyard. Or at sixteen, she probably get a part of her body pierced besides her ears. Possibly, she'll get a get a tattoo of a heart with the name of her latest punk boyfriend named Spike, Chains, Killer, Psycho, Mr. Sadist or Whips. Either the tattoo or the piercings will cause a new and unique infection that can be treated only with a newly experimental antibiotic regiment. The major side effect would be that she is prone to anxiety attacks and she'd end up taking an anti-anxiety medication that would give her an eating disorder. What if she comes home knocked up by a guy that Danny can't wait to beat the crap out of? What about if she sneaks out of the house to attend a party a friend is having without the parents around? Danny or I would ground her for at least a month! What if she joins the female version of the Tanglewood gang?"
"Lindsay, relax!" Stella interrupted her colleague's rants. "I have a feeling that you will be a wonderful mother since you are worrying about the baby and she hasn't been born yet. Don't worry about if her boyfriend knocks her up or appears to be a punk. Flack will probably have the guy arrested and thrown into Riker's Island or Sing-Sing for harassing his 'niece'."
"Maybe she will grow up to follow her parents' footsteps and go into forensics," Lindsay sighed as she felt a contraction and breathed through it. "Possibly she could be a doctor, a teacher or a lawyer."
A contraction arrived that so intense that Lindsay found it too much for her to continue walking. She and Stella returned to the room where a concerned Danny was sitting on a chair. Lindsay, helped by both Danny and Stella, laid down in bed. She returned to her room in time for another check in her labor's progress. The nurse came in and put on a clean pair of gloves and examined Lindsay.
"Well, you are progressing nicely at six centimeters," the nurse beamed.
"Just four more to go until it's time to push," Lindsay said.
"You should try to rest," the nurse replied. "You're going to need a lot of energy for the baby."
Lindsay nodded and closed her eyes so she could take a nap. Even though she was resting, she would breath through the contractions as they came and went. Danny pulled up a chair and placed it about two inches away from the bed. He sat down and carefully held Lindsay's hand. A moment later, he was also asleep, exhausted from the day. He knew that as a labor coach, he also needed energy to motivate his wife to get her through the grueling part of labor.
About two hours later, Lindsay woke up from her nap with a contraction that was more intense than the one that she felt while walking the hallway with Stella. She squeezed Danny's hand so hard that he woke up from his nap.
"Ouch! Montana, what the hell is that all about?" Danny asked while wincing at his wife's strong grip of his hand.
"Danny, this is the worst contraction I have yet to feel!" Lindsay snapped.
"Come on, breathe through it! Just remember what they taught you in our Lamaze classes!"
"Stop it with the breathing!"
When the contraction subsided, as if on cue, a different nurse entered the room to check on Lindsay. The nurse introduced herself and prepared to examine her patient's progress.
"Congratulations, you are fully dilated and ready to push," the nurse smiled. "I'll go and page Dr. Lee to let her know that you are ready. I think she has grabbed a bite to eat after she had to perform an emergency c-section."
As if on cue, the subject of the nurse's discussion arrived.
"Hello Lindsay," Dr. Lee said. "I had gotten Joanna's page stating that you are ready to have this baby."
"The sooner she comes the better," Lindsay slightly chuckled.
"If she responds to your pushing her out," Dr. Lee told her patient. "She could be born in about two hours, give or take fifteen minutes.
After Joanna set up the stirrups, Danny helped her put Lindsay's feet on them. He turned to his wife and commenced his role as a coach.
"Okay, Lindsay, now take a deep breath hold it and push!" Dr. Lee said.
Lindsay started to push and breathed between pushes while Danny counted to ten and encouraged his wife. Dr. Lee directed Lindsay on when to push and to keep on pushing the baby out. Joanna also told Lindsay the same thing. After each push, Lindsay grunted and/or screamed. About an hour into the pushing, Joanna noticed that Lindsay was sweating from the pushing. Joanna went to the cabinet, took out a towel, ran it under cold water, wrung it out and placed in on Lindsay forehead. Another fifteen minutes later, Dr. Lee prepared herself for delivery by putting on a protective gown, gloves and face mask.
"You are so close to giving birth," Dr. Lee said to Lindsay. "Right now, I'm beginning to see her head."
Lindsay continued to push with grunting and screaming in between pushes. Danny continued to encourage his wife while wincing as she squeezed his hard in a tight grip. Dr. Lee and Joanna motivated her and told her that she's almost finished. Joanna had placed a dry towel on Lindsay's chest.
"Lindsay, she is almost out," Dr. Lee announced. "Just one more push is needed and make it a good one."
"I can't!" Lindsay protested as she panted. "I am so exhausted."
"Come on, Montana!" Danny persuaded his wife. "You can do this! If you can handle some of the criminals we have dealt with in our jobs; you can handle pushing our daughter into the world!"
Lindsay, motivated by meeting her daughter, gave this one push all the strength she could. She growled loudly until she could hear the cries of a newly born baby. She finally collapsed back in her bed from the entire procedure.
"Congratulations Lindsay and Danny, you are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl!" Dr Lee happily announced as showed them their daughter and placed her on the towel.
Joanna helped Dr. Lee place two clamps on the umbilical cord. Danny was given a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord. As Baby Girl Messer was cleaned off and taken to the scale to be weighed. The little girl also had her footprints taken which caused her parents to chuckle.
"What is so funny?" Dr. Lee asked.
"Her footprints were just taken," Danny said. "It kind of reminded us that processing suspect prints is part of our jobs."
Four minutes later, the baby was wrapped in a pink blanket and wearing a matching hat was handed to the waiting arms of proud Lindsay as Danny looked on the sight of his wife and daughter. He attempted to lightly run a finger down her cheek and she grabbed his finger.
"You are like your mother," he softly said. "She has one hell of a grip."
"Shut up, Danny!" Lindsay giggled.
Dr. Lee smiled at the sight of the young family, but she knew that the little girl needed a health assessment. Lindsay had been through a tiring, but well worth it, ordeal and need to rest. Danny looked like he had been through the wringer a few times. Joanna took the tiny bundle off of Lindsay's hands while Dr. Lee went to get an orderly to bring a cot for a very exhausted Danny.
A few hours went by and another nurse entered the room slowly pushing the portable crib that held Baby Girl Messer. Both Danny and Lindsay were wide awake and refreshed.
"She is ready for her first feeding," the nurse said to the new parents. "She also wants to spend some time with her mommy and daddy."
"If you ask us if we have a name for our daughter," Danny said. "We are working on giving her one that we can agree upon."
The nurse placed the baby girl in Lindsay's cradled arms and helped the new mom with nursing the little girl. Danny watched in awe at the sight of mother-daughter bonding. When the baby had her fill, Lindsay positioned her on her shoulder and burped her.
"Danny, did you call our family and friends, yet?" Lindsay asked.
"Not yet, but I am going to make the calls," Danny smiled. "I am worried about telling your parents about their new granddaughter."
"Oh, you don't have to worry," she reassured her husband. "When I visited them in Montana, they were upset at first. However, they immediately came around. I must confess something to you, I wanted to wait to find out the sex of our baby. My mother and father dragged me to my old OB/GYN's office to have an ultrasound just to see their grandchild. When the ultrasound technician asked me if I wanted to know the sex of the baby, I said no. However I was outnumbered by my parents."
"I originally thought we were having a son," he confessed. "I had bought a book on boys' names. Since you sent me that text about us having a girl, I had to buy a book on girls' names."
"I hope you didn't return it just in case we might try for a son in the somewhat near future," she wondered.
"It's in one of the bookshelves," he smiled.
"Danny, I need to discuss something before you go," she urgently said changing the subject. "I was thinking to ask Mac to be our daughter's godfather and Stella to be her godmother. What do you think about that?"
"I think it is a lovely idea," he beamed. "Why don't we wait until they come to meet our daughter?"
"That would give them a little surprise," she smirked. "Now go make those calls before they wonder if I am still in labor!"
Two hours later Danny made all the phone calls he could make, even leaving messages on voicemails announcing the new arrival. He returned to the room to find Sheldon, Mac, Stella, Don and Adam surrounding Lindsay's hospital bed. There were cards, flowers, a pink Mylar balloon that said 'It's a Girl!', a gift basket and a few stuffed animals. Danny took sat next to a smiling Lindsay who still was holding the little girl.
"She is such a beautiful little girl," Adam said.
"Can I hold her?" Stella asked.
"Go right ahead," Lindsay said as her friend and colleague gently picked the newborn from her mother's arms. "She is such a precious baby girl!"
"So, have you decided on a name for her?" Sheldon asked as Stella gingerly place the baby back in mother's arm.
Danny said 'Lucy' and Lindsay said 'Lydia' at the same time. This left their friends/colleagues baffled that the couple hadn't decided on a name for Baby Girl Messer. Only Sheldon was sympathetic to couple's indecision since it took his parents six weeks after his birth to finally decide on a name for him.
"Mac, Danny and I have reached an agreement that we want to ask you to be her godfather," Lindsay said. "Stella, we would ask you to be her godmother."
"I would be honored," Mac and Stella both replied in unison.
"Mac, I think 'godfather' is codeword' for 'diaper duty'," Don chuckled. "Stella, 'godmother' is codeword for 'mall duty'."
"Stella and I will spoil her rotten," Mac replied.
"She has her mommy and daddy to spoil her," Danny insisted and earned himself a few glares. "Come on guys, you will have plenty of opportunities to spoil this little cutie!"
An hour later, it was just mother, father and daughter in the room. The little girl was asleep so Danny took her off of Lindsay's arms and placed her in the portable crib.
"Montana, what's the matter?" Danny asked. "You have that perplexed look on your face."
"I was thinking about names for our daughter," Lindsay sighed. "Hear me out on this one and keep your mind open. What do you think about Aiden Luciana Claire Sarah Messer?"
"Why give her Aiden as a first name and three middle names?"
"I wanted to name her Aiden after that strong, tenacious and undaunted young woman who gave her life to catch a rapist," she explained calmly. "Luciana is for your brother Louie, the first letter being L. Claire is for Mac's late wife. Sarah is for one of the victims in that diner shooting that took the lives of my friends years ago."
"I think you have done Aiden, Louie, Claire and Sarah each an honor," he smiled. "They would have been so proud of you."
"As little Aiden grows up," she added. "I would love for her to know these people and what they meant to us."
"She will through the stories that her parents, family members and godparents will tell her," he smiled.
"How about we give her at least one sibling: one brother and one sister?"
"I am not putting you through this ordeal again, Montana."
"Tell you what, let's wait until Aiden is two to try for another one."
"Okay, we'll try before she turns three."
The new parents looked over at their newborn daughter with amazement. They created baby Aiden, she inherited half of each of their DNA. They looked forward to watching her grow up, even though Danny would love for her to stay a baby forever.
FINE
