Disclaimer: No infringement of copyright intended. All characters originated with CSI: NY

Disclaimer 2: Any similarities to the work of notesofwimsey are intentional, as this is corroboration, of sorts. This story takes place approximately a year after Journey's End (we think). Thanks wimsey!

Chapter 1

A Beautiful Boy

Mac straightened his tie as he walked up the steps, cleaning his shoes carefully on the welcome mat outside. Rain in New York might not be like rain in Bozeman, with all the mud and muck of the spring run-off running down the gutters, but it wasn't neat and tidy, either. He felt self-conscious, which was ridiculous; he'd been doing this for over a year. Could it have only been so long? So much had happened. His two "kids," Danny and Lindsay, had finally realized the potentiality of a relationship and gone for it, he'd found Reed, or Reed had found him, and Peyton was in his life.

All in all, a good year's haul, I think. He smiled and knocked briskly on the door. It opened immediately. He smiled down at the curly-haired little boy.

"Hiya Mac!" Sam said excitedly, grinning.

"Hey, when did you lose a tooth, Sam?" Mac was a little surprised at how quickly he was growing up. He ignored the brief flicker of pain at the thought that as much as Claire had wanted another child, wanted a child with him, they'd never gotten around to it.

"Three days ago. I lost it eating spaghetti! It was pretty funny, but it kinda hurt. Thee?" Sam said, sticking his fingers in his mouth to show his friend. "Thith ith my gig goy toot, ad th'oodle guh shtuck ateen th'ig toot adittl toot, an Ib'it dan" he pulled his fingers out of his mouth, wiping them on the seat of his jeans, "and it just knocked the other tooth out." He grinned again, showing it off.

"Sam? Who is it?" Elena stuck her head around the corner of the hallway. "Detective, hello! Sam, why didn't you let him in properly?"

"It was my fault, Elena," Mac smiled, "I asked about his tooth."

"Ah, the infamous tooth story," Elena laughed. "Would you like to come in now, Mac?"

"Well, I think it's really up to Sam. Do you want to go now, or can it wait for me to have coffee with your mom?" Sam considered for a moment, and then nodded.

"It can wait, Mac." Mac smiled again as he tousled the boys' already tangled curls.

"Okay, so can I come in, then?"

"Oh, yeah," Sam giggled, moving out of the way for Mac to enter the house. Mac carefully took his shoes off.

Sam grabbed his hand and led him to the kitchen, although Mac had been through there a dozen times. Mac smiled and let himself be enthusiastically dragged along. The change in Sam was amazing, truly. For a little boy who'd been close-mouthed and terrified of speaking out of turn, he'd become effervescent in the past few months. Mac heard endless stories about Mrs. Richardson, his second grade teacher, and about Jack Thomas, his best friend.

After they'd reached the kitchen, Mac leaned down to look at the little boy in front of him. "You know what I forgot, Sam?"

Sam looked at him, puzzled, tilting his head to the side.

"I forgot to give you your present." Mac pulled an old Batman comic from his jacket pocket, handing it to the little boy. "This was my favourite superhero when I was younger. I found this comic book lying around, and I thought I might pass it on to you."

Sam took the book, holding it reverently, then threw his arms around Mac's waist in a hard hug. "Thank you," he said simply, withdrawing almost as quickly as he'd hugged his older friend.

"You're welcome. How about you go read it in the living room while I chat with your mom? We have a little while before we have to leave for the movies."

"Okay. Don't leave without me."

Mac smiled, "How could I leave without my favourite movie buddy?" Sam hugged him again and dashed out of the room.

Elena smiled. "This one does have words in it, doesn't it?" she chided gently.

"Mostly pow and bang. But there's some fun words like justice, revenge, and maybe a little bit of love, too," Mac smiled back. She laughed, and reached into the cupboard to grab a couple of mugs. The stiff man never ceased to amaze her with his jokes and humour. For an older guy who'd seen a few things no one should have seen, he was sharp.

She poured him a mug of hot, strong coffee, handing it to him with the sugar bowl and a teaspoon. He sat at the kitchen table, taking up less space than she always expected him to. She watched him measure two carefully level spoonfuls into his coffee before asking, "How are you, Mac? You look tired."

"I'm fine, Elena. Lots of stuff to do at work, but that's not unusual. How are you? And José? Sam looks good, he's starting to grow. I'll need to get him a new t-shirt soon."

"I'm very well, thank you. Things are crazy, but they always are. José's become head of maintenance at the museum, which is good. He loves it there, and so does Sam. I thought that Sam wouldn't like to spend so much time there after…" her words caught in her throat, but she cleared it bravely, "after what happened last year."

"I know. He surprises me, too. He's a brave kid. Braver than most I've met, I'll give him that." Mac took a long sip of coffee. "Mmm… exactly what I needed, thank you, Elena."

"He's still loving school, of course. The girls are starting to notice him, I think. He still loves science; I think you've converted him, Detective. He's reading like a fiend, too. Anything he can find. He keeps drawing people, too. He says he's practicing, he wants to be an artist for the police department when he grows up. He hates math, but we're working on it. Oh, and Carolyn contacted us a few weeks ago," Elena finished, turning away and busying herself with an unimportant task.

"What? That's a violation of the injunction."

"I know. I hung up as soon as she said who she was. It shook me up a little, I won't mind telling you." She tried to hide the shaking of her hands by wiping down the immaculately clean counter-top.

Mac stood, reaching over and taking Elena's soapy hands in his own. "Elena, I promise you that she will never take Sam away from you. You are a better parent than she could ever be, and I know that." He allowed a sly smile to creep across his face.

"I know, Mac. Thank you."

He dropped her hands the instant his confession was over, wrapping them around his mug of coffee and sitting down again.

Carolyn had called them? The mere thought made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She was so far out of her league. He'd thought he'd made that clear last year.

Seeing Mac lost in his thoughts, Elena quietly finished cleaning the kitchen.

CSI: NY-CSI: NY-CSI: NY

The hearing had been smaller than Mac anticipated. The Astors were a well-known family, and not just to the educated museum-goers. The news of Ceci's death had been released only a few weeks before the custody hearing involving Sam was presented.

Mac smiled reassuringly at the little boy, in his pressed shirt and dress pants, his face scrubbed clean and his hair gelled to lie flat. The end of his hair were already starting to curl again; no gel could completely tame it. Sam waved at him gravely, then turned to sit between his parents, his feet sticking straight off the edge of the bench.

Mac glared through the whole of Carolyn's impassioned speech, about how she'd not had access to Sam for five years. She spoke of how her older sister had browbeaten her into giving him up, and that now her boyfriend was away again (Mac noticed she didn't say "back in jail, this time for second degree murder"). She was without her sister, she was all alone, and she'd always loved the adorable little boy, and was proud of him.

Mac was disgusted by her tears, barely masking the greediness on her face as she looked at the beautiful child.

The next to take the stand was José Martinez. He handled himself well, always coming back to the decision made by him and Elena to affirm her American status before adopting Sam properly. There was no mask on his face when he spoke of his son, proudly and defiantly pointing out that he'd been integral in the investigation of his aunt's death, a death that Carolyn's meddling had caused.

Mac took the stand shortly afterwards. He answered each question clearly and concisely, though to this day he still didn't know exactly what he was asked. He was cut to the quick by the look of hope on Sam's face, mirroring the look on the faces of his parents. More than anything, he wanted to help this little boy.

He spoke with disdain over Carolyn's insistence that she could better take care of the child, returning to the admission that she'd never seen him before, and was more concerned in his waking up to confess to the murder of her sister than his well-being. He spoke with rising passion about the love and support of Elena and José in that difficult time, encouraging those listening to look at how healthily the young boy had dealt with his trauma.

Elena had spoken with surprising eloquence about her connection with Sam, her desire to give him a life he deserved, her firm belief she could be the mother he needed. Mac had little doubt about that.

Sam had looked scared when the female judge had asked him to join her in her chambers, but after a look at Mac's reassuring smile, he swallowed and nodded. The judge had reached down to take his hand as she led him to the room behind her bench, and Sam had straightened his shoulders, ready to defend himself. Again.

Mac had never asked the boy what the judge had asked him. He didn't want the child to think he was being pressured into revealing what he'd said. Mac assumed that Sam had answered the same questions kids always had to in those situations. "Who do you want to be with?" "Who takes care of you the most?" "Who do you feel safe with?"

The ruling, of course, had gone to the Martinez. How could it not? No one was going to buy the tears of a spoiled, irresponsible, trust-fund baby. Carolyn had been publicly devastated, but Mac thought she'd get over it sooner rather than later, and told her directly to stop fretting over it.

"Carolyn," he called, seeing her dashing in disgrace from the courtroom. She turned, her face becoming a mask of cold fury upon seeing him.

"Yes, Detective?" she said, her voice bitingly icy.

"You haven't taken my advice to this point, but I'm willing to try again if you'll listen to me," he said, and continued before she could say anything. "My suggestion to you is that you start seeing someone without a drug problem and who is not likely to become dangerous. Sam is out of your reach now, but perhaps a little domesticity wouldn't be amiss for you. Don't forget that I will be checking up on him as often as I have the time, and that hare-brained kidnapping attempts are not good ones." He smiled chillingly, and walked past her out of the courtroom.

CSI: NY-CSI: NY-CSI: NY

He had kept his promise. He had visited Sam at least once every two weeks since the hearing. José and Elena had named him Sam's godfather at Sam's recent baptism, and he had been present for the boy's seventh birthday party. He'd seen more children's movies in the past year than he had in probably his lifetime. He had worked hard at this relationship with the little boy, and he wasn't planning on giving it up. He'd even introduced Sam to Reed, wanting to share both his families. He had a picture in his living room, beside the picture taken of him and Reed in Central Park, of the three of them standing in front of the doors to FAO Schwartz. Sam had taken to Reed, and also to Natalie Chance, Reed's girlfriend.

It didn't matter what it would take. Sam was in Mac's life, and he was staying there. No matter what.

CSI: NY-CSI: NY-CSI: NY

"Mac?" a pair of huge brown eyes blinked up at him.

"Sorry, yes, Sam?"

"Are you done your coffee?"

"Just give me another five minutes, okay, kiddo?"

Sam nodded and scurried out of the room again.

"Sorry, Elena. I was trying to think of what she might be up to. Carolyn."

"Always the investigator, Detective. It's all right, I understand. Besides, the number of things you've done for this family… I think I can let you zone out a time or two."

He smiled tightly, draining his coffee mug and getting up to rinse it out in the sink.

"Thank you for the coffee. Sam and I will be back before long. I think this one is a short movie."

"Thank you, Mac. Just have him home in time for bed."

"Will do, I promise." He strolled into the living room. "Ready to go, kid?" Sam looked up, eyes shining, nodded and jumped down off the couch.

"Don't forget your coat," Elena called from the kitchen. "And come and give me a kiss!"

"Okay," Sam ran into the kitchen, and swiped his coat off the floor in front of the door on his way back. "Ready," he said, taking hold of Mac's hand.

"Good. Let's go."

A/N: A translation of 'tooth talk,' if necessary: "See? This is my big boy tooth, and the noodle got stuck between the big tooth and the little tooth and I bit down."

Just in case anyone is curious: yes, I did stick my fingers in my mouth and then wrote what it sounded like ;)