Title: Gift of Love

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, Anthony Zuiker and CBS do.

Author's Note: Cath/Nick partial AU story continued. Reflections on Spring Creek is located in Plano, Texas.

Beta'd by: Simply Laura

Genre: Romance

Rating:

Chapter 4: The Next Chapter In Their Life

Ms. Lily Flynn

Mr. and Mrs. William Stokes

Invite you to witness the marriage of their children

Catherine Annalisa Flynn & Nicholas Parker Stokes

On Saturday the twelfth of June

One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Three

At half past one in the afternoon

At the Reflection on Spring Creek

In Plano, TX

Reception to follow immediately after

Please RSVP by the twelfth of May.

Without a doubt the wedding ceremony had been beautiful and moving. Marie had pulled all the stops to help Catherine plan the perfect wedding. Catherine had been pregnant for four months and wasn't showing yet so she chose a Victorian style gown with high waist paired with a dramatic bridal hat-veil combo.

Following a brief honeymoon in San Antonio, they settled right into a routine and the next several months went by quickly. All throughout the pregnancy, Catherine felt fine and there were no complications; the only thing that was different was she had developed weird cravings for strawberry jam and cream cheese sandwiches, marmalade with anything and the worst yet, mayo and ketchup on anything fried.

-x-

On a beautiful and crisp afternoon in early November, Catherine was on maternity leave and was spending the day with Cassandra. She was on the couch reading a book when all of sudden she felt gushing water, and she thought oh-no this can't be happening yet.

Nevertheless, it was happening when the contractions kicked in. She tried to keep it down but when it became unbearable she yelled, "Ow!"

Fifteen year old Leah was in her room working on her oral presentation when she heard her aunt. Quickly run to the living room she asked, "Aunt Catherine what's wrong?"

As one short contraction passed Catherine managed to get out, "Leah, sweetie my water broke and your cousin is ready to make her entrance!"

Leah, who was an aspiring physician, knew the baby wasn't due for two and half more weeks. She remained calm and jumped into action, "Okay I will call Uncle Nick and let him know and then I will go and get mom."

Catherine gritted her teeth and nodded as Leah made the call and then ran to the backyard to get Cassandra. A few minutes later Cassandra came running back in with her sun hat still on, "Come on sis. Let's get you the hospital."

Cassandra got her shoes on and then gave Catherine a hand in standing up and with Leah and Aiden in tow they were on their way. On the way to the ER at Dallas Medical Center, Catherine had a few more contractions hit but she stayed as composed as she could by breathing in and out like what she learned in Lamaze class. Cassandra stopped briefly at the ER entrance and she instructed both Aiden and Leah to go find a nurse or orderly and get a wheelchair. Soon she saw the two came back with not only a nurse and a wheelchair but Nick as well. Nick immediately helped Catherine out of the car and into the wheelchair. As Cassandra went to find a parking spot, the nurse wheeled her in with Nick holding the overnight bag right next to them with Leah and Aiden close behind, Nick held her hand in his and whispered, "I am here. My supervisor granted me two weeks leave of absence."

All Catherine could do was nod, hold his hand and hope for the best. Once Catherine had checked in and they were patiently playing the waiting game, Nick notified his parents, the rest of his siblings and their families, her mom and sister as well as Sam about the impending arrival. Following ten more hours of painful contractions and then aiming a boatload of curses at Nick in the delivery room, Lindsey Ava Stokes came into the world at 2:06 am weighing at six pounds even measuring at 19.1 inches. Catherine held their newborn daughter for a short time before giving into sleep.

Catherine slept for several hours when she was woken by a beautiful sound, the sound of their baby girl's coo. Even though she was tired beyond belief she couldn't help but tear up at the sight of Nick sitting in the chair next to her bed, cradling their newborn daughter.

She heard Nick whisper, "Lindsey you have so many people who love you baby girl, your mom and I, your Grandma Jillian and Grandpa Bill, Grandma Lily, and many aunts, uncles and cousins too, you are one lucky little girl."

Catherine smiled and as she reached over and stroked the baby's downy skin and added, "Nicky I know she already has wrapped around her little fingers."

Nick beamed and before he said another word he heard their newborn gurgle and coo, melting both of their hearts. Within a matter of a few hours, the visiting hours began and everyone wanted to hold Lindsey, including Leah.

All had been going well; Lindsey was growing and developing at a steady pace. However, the tranquility was broken. The Stokes were celebrating their annual 4th of July celebration at Jillian and William's place when Alexandria came running out of the house yelling, "Catha, Nicky you got to come I think there is something wrong with Lindsey."

Catherine quickly put down her lemonade and Nick put down his iced tea and the two of them followed Alexandria to the nursery. There when Catherine saw Lindsey crying and coughing hard her heart dropped. She went to the crib and gently picked her up and tried to soothe her, "It's okay baby girl. Mommy's here. Everything is going to be all right."

Normally Lindsey would settle down when Catherine soothed her but this time it didn't work. Lindsey buried her head in her mother's neck and kept on crying only now she was screaming and coughing. That was when Nick who was close by felt Lindsey's head and exclaimed, "Oh my word Cath, she is burning up! Lexi, could you go and find a thermometer?"

Alexandria nodded and quickly ran out and nearly ran into Jillian on the way and Jillian and she asked, "Alexandria what is wrong?"

Alexandria swallowed and said, "All I can tell you is Lindsey is in major distress."

Jillian ran in and saw her son and daughter-in-law were trying to soothe her youngest granddaughter and the level of baby Lindsey's cries were becoming agonizing for Jillian. Right as Lexi came back with a digital thermometer, Madison had followed right behind. She wanted to see what causing Lindsey's sudden discomfort. Madison gently coaxed Lindsey to open her mouth and had the thermometer under her tongue and when it beeped Madison and went she read the temperature of 103 degrees she freaked and began giving directions, "Nicky grab the extra bag of clothing for Lindsey that Catherine and you that you had packed and left here with mom and dad. Catherine, Jefferson and I are taking you guys to the hospital we need to get Lindsey to the hospital now!"

With that, everyone split in separate directions and within an hour everyone was at the local hospital all there to support Lindsey, Catherine and Nick, all of them not knowing what was going to happen next.

Although Lindsey had been quickly admitted, the two weeks they were at the hospital was unnerving to say the least; she was hooked to a lot of machines and was fed through tubes in her nose. From seeing her being poked and prodded and going through a battery of tests (ranging from pH tests and bone tests) to determine what was wrong. Her woeful crying because of all the pain was particularly heart-wrenching for Catherine and at times she would be around by Lindsey's crib around the clock to comfort her. When word had reached the Dallas Crime Lab, Nick's supervisor put him on paid family leave so he and Catherine could be with Lindsey.

Catherine, Nick, Madison, Jefferson and Jillian and William were in the room with Lindsey when Dr. Eliza Quillon came in and asked, "Mr. and Mrs. Stokes I would like to speak to you about the test results."

Jillian and William convinced them they would keep Lindsey company and Catherine, Nick along with Madison and Jefferson had insisted on following the doctor outside.

Dr. Quillon cleared her throat, "I am afraid the results of the tests we have performed on Lindsey indeed she has intermediate Werdnig-Hoffman disease and will not be able to live to see her first birthday. I am sorry."

The doctor was interrupted by Madison's and Jefferson's gasps Catherine burst into tears and Nick who was also tearing up held her close as she continued, "I would advise to take her home and make her as comfortable as possible. I will go and get the discharge papers ready so you can leave when you I'm done."

With that, the doctor went on to make her rounds. Catherine, through her tears asked, "Nick what are going to do? I refuse to believe we are going to lose Lindsey. There must be some other way."

Nick had absolutely no words to help calm his wife down but to keep giving soothing rubs and whispered sweet nothings. That was when they heard Madison spit out angry words, "How can they treat Lindsey like this? I knew I should have said to take her to elsewhere."

Jefferson put his arms around his wife and when Cath interjected, "Maddie, this is not your fault."

Nick confirmed what Jefferson had said, "Yeah Maddie, Catherine's right. You have stop beating up yourself."

Madison shook her head seeing as how this was all her fault she was the one brought up unnecessary anguish. Then she remembered something, "Okay Nick Catherine I will go and call a friend of mine at Children's Medical Center, Dr. Lyla McKinnon who happens to be well respected pediatrics and she owes me favor. We will take her there for a second opinion."

Madison went to make the call and Nick and Catherine looked at each other and Nick knew he needed to go and sign the discharge papers while Catherine went to get Lindsey dressed and ready to go while letting Jillian and William know what had happened. With that Jillian and William went home, asking to be kept postedon what was happening. After saying that they would, Nick and Catherine were on their way to a different hospital.

When the four of them arrived at Children Medical Center after a short drive with no traffic, they went in and saw Dr. Lyla McKinnon was already waiting for them. By now Lindsey had buried her in Catherine's neck and was crying pitifully, leaving Catherine and Nick feeling even more helpless as they could only gently rub her back. Madison thanked her and after quick introductions and handshakes, Jefferson stayed back in the waiting room as Madison filled the doctor in as the nurse checked Lindsey and got her in a private room and the IV hooked up, and Dr. McKinnon quickly went to work.

As Dr. McKinnon was doing her checkup she asked a few routine questions to get a better idea, "How long has your daughter been sick?"

Catherine shook her and said, "She has been sick on a half for two weeks now and sadly we couldn't find out what was causing Lindsey's illness and we have been giving the run around and many diagnoses."

Dr. McKinnon listened to what Nick and Catherine were telling her as and she got out her stethoscope to listen to Lindsey's heart and breathing. Somehow Lindsey knew this doctor wasn't going to poke her like the others. When the doctor told her to breathe in and out she did and she didn't flinch and even stopped crying and tried to smile at the good doctor.

Dr. McKinnon gave the little girl a reassuring smile as she moved the stethoscope around. Once she was done, she whispered a word of praise to Lindsey before turning to Nick and Catherine, "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, Madison, I am going to order a CT scan in order to confirm what I suspect is making Lindsey sick."

Nick couldn't help but interrupt and ask, "What is making her sick?"

Dr. McKinnon replied, "I suspect it is pneumonia and it's good thing you brought her in when you did. I will go order the scan now and then I will put a rush on it and then take it from there."

Nick, Catherine and Madison all nodded and let out a big sigh of relief after the doctor left the room. They now knew it was not spinal muscular atrophy but they knew pneumonia could have been deadly at Lindsey's age. Madison went outside and made the phone to the family know the updates.

When Lindsey was prepped and ready to be wheeled into get her scan, she began crying when she realized she was going to be separated from her mom and dad, they both kissed and promised her they will be with her once the good doctor had to do what she needed to do. Once the scan had been completed it was confirmed Lindsey had by now contracted a severe case of bacterial pneumonia and was lucky to be conscious at this stage. Dr. McKinnon ordered a regimen of antibiotics to help rid of the infection and an antipyretic for her fever.

Within a matter of days, color was returning to Lindsey's cheeks and she was more playful and lively once again as she interacted with the family and who came by to visit and leave her a present.

By end of the third week of July, Lindsey was now well now well enough to be discharged and go home to recuperate further. Catherine and Nick could not thank Dr. McKinnon enough for saving their little girl. They made the quick decision then to have her be Lindsey's pediatrician.

Now they know they will not lose Lindsey and that she will grow up surrounded by all to be healthy girl with a lot people who love her.

A/N 2: Thanks for reading Chapter 4 of "Gift of Love". Hope you have enjoyed the chapter and as always reviews are appreciated!