A/N: First CSI Fanfiction. OK, so it's my first fic in several years.
Unbetaed, all mistakes are mine.
Spoilers- Yup, Through LD
Ship: GSR (because it makes me happy)
Disclaimer- You would know if I owned it… I'd take the shirt off Nick Stoke's back.
Please bolster my confidence! R/R.
Miracles. His life was full of them: big ones, small ones, in-between ones. Not a year went past that he didn't count some sort of miracle shaping his life. Hell, in a round-about way, a miracle had put him in this little out of the way church, with a car full of groceries, begging for just one more.
It had been a miracle that she came, a miracle she stayed. A miracle that had saved her in the lab; a miracle she lived after Adam Trent put that shard to her throat. It had been a major miracle that she spoke to him after he kissed her that night and cowardly walked away. And another miracle she gave him another chance after Nick was saved from his tomb.
And yet, it was the smallest of miracles that had him kneeling in a pew on this night.
Pinned under a car in a muddy wreck, Sara had held on for him… and for Jackson.
He was never meant to be, Sara was told at a young age she wasn't able to bear children. And yet, a miracle happened; though, at the time neither of them regarded him as such. It had taken him thirteen weeks, four days to grow accustomed to the idea. He sent Sara the cocoon as a gift, symbolizing his enthusiasm. She had taken a little longer. But by twenty-two weeks and one day, they were sweetly arguing over names, harassing each other with lurid names for progeny.
"Percy Ahab," Sara had suggested, her eyes dancing with mischief. Visions of a battered boy with toilet swirled hair, wearing suspenders and carrying a broken book of sonnets filled his head.
"Agatha Myrtle," he retorted, imagining the child that had unceremoniously flushed Percy Ahab.
They had so much fun that afternoon, and for several others after that as they thoroughly weighed the options from multiple sources, analyzed meanings and tried to come up with nicknames. They were scientists, after all.
And then the unthinkable happened. She spent twelve hours pinned under broken, bent metal. Her leg was smashed, her body bruised and contorted as the weight of the car held her against the softened desert floor.
They found her; he held her and spoke to her as if they were the only two people on Earth. For a moment, he didn't think about the small miracle, only focusing on the fact that Sara was safe in his arms.
The team had given them their space, waiting for hours in a hospital waiting room for any sort of news. And when he told them of the smallest miracle… they shared his joy and his tears.
When she came home, it had been his duty to replenish the fridge and find entertainment to abate the boredom of strict bed rest. A midnight run to the closest Wal-Mart had proved the best option for her varied list, though he normally considered that store a precursor to Hell.
Despite the late hour, the number of small children in the store astounded him. Perhaps he had never noticed before, but on this night there seemingly an extraordinary number of them… all with one word on their lips: "Daddy."
That word taunted him! It was a moniker he never thought he would bear… but then she made it possible. The title hung precariously in the balance, the odds favoring its disappearance. Only this time, he would have an idea of what he was missing out on. His heart fell. He knew the risks. He knew what the obstetrician had said and the risks the neonatologist had outlined of entering the world so soon. His heart became heavy and a prayer lifted from his breast, willing any divine power to protect his small family.
The squeaky-wheeled buggy instantly became heavier as he passed too close to the infant section. Tears nearly rose to his eyes when he realized him might never have to make a midnight run for diapers. He envied a frustrated young father who tried to quiet his tired toddler in Spanish.
Just as he felt his nose grow warm and tears springing to his blue eyes, he saw something. If he had been a man that believed in signs, he would have said it was just that. He was scared when he purchased it, afraid it would jinx Sara and the baby. He knew he would have to hide it until the time was right… but he couldn't pass it up. After all, it isn't everyday you find an almost perfect replica of your favorite blue Hawaiian shirt sized perfectly for a newborn.