Lindsay sighed as she picked up her purse. She started to leave her office, but glanced around the room longingly, at everything from her wedding picture on the desk to her computer chair – the most comfortable one she'd ever had. Today had been her last day on the job. Dr. Addler had insisted on her going on maternity leave, while Lindsay protested, saying that she could work right up until the delivery. "Not bed rest, Mrs. Messer, just maternity leave. You need to settle down. Working this hard isn't good for the babies," she said. "You can still be up and about but not nearly as much as you have been."

Danny knocked on the open door and walked in. "You ready to go?"

"No." Lindsay replied bluntly.

"Honey, I know this is hard for you, but it's for the best. You know that."

"I know…but what am I going to do with all my time? I mean, the babies aren't due for nearly 3 weeks."

"You never know, they might come early."

"Whatever. Let's just go." They were halfway out of the building when Lindsay stopped. "Do you know where Stella is? I didn't get to say goodbye to her."

"I think she already left, Linds. Sorry." Lindsay detected one of those small mischievous grins of Danny's, but didn't say anything.

Lindsay didn't speak on the way home, still grumpy about not being able to say goodbye to Stella. She tapped her foot impatiently when Danny fumbled with the key. Finally, he swung the door open, and she entered the apartment ahead of him. She flipped on the light, to see a bunch of people. "SURPRISE!" they shouted.

Startled, Lindsay squealed and jumped back, hitting Danny in the chest. He held out an arm to steady her.

Laughing, Stella ran up to Lindsay and hugged her. "Figured you'd need some cheering up, since today was your last day." She whispered into Lindsay's ear.

Tears pricked the younger girl's eyes. "Thank you so much, Stella. This means a lot to me!"

Stella turned to Danny. "Get out of here!" she scolded. "This is a baby shower, no men allowed!"

Danny chuckled, "Ok, ok, don't shoot me." He kissed his wife briefly on the lips. "I'm meeting Flack, Hawkes and Mac at the bar down the street."

"Alright," she said, "Just don't bring back any skinny, non-pregnant hotties!" she joked.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Once Danny had left Stella dragged Lindsay into her living room where she saw the few female friends that she had in New York – Sheila, the young, hip Australian hairdresser who lived downstairs, May, the sweet, middle aged widow who lived next door, Peyton from the crime lab, and Stella, obviously. She was also shocked to spot her college roommate Marianne, best friend since 3rd grade Miranda, old friend/fellow cop from Bozeman P.D. Adrianna, her mother, and most surprising of all, Lily.

Lily approached her sister cautiously. "I'm so sorry," she said, tears forming in her eyes, "about everything! I wanted to make it up to you, so I came here when Danny called. If you want me to go I understand, but I really want to be here for you from now on."

In response, Lindsay grabbed her sister and hugged her hard. After a few tears were shed, they broke apart and Lindsay greeted the rest of her friends, which involved a whole lot more squealing, hugging and crying. Finally everything settled down, and the ladies all sat down, slightly cramped in the small living room.

"Time for presents!" Stella cried.

It wasn't until then that Lindsay noticed the beautifully wrapped gifts piled on the coffee table, with even more stacked underneath. "Oh guys!" she exclaimed, "You didn't have to!" She picked up the nearest gift anyway. The card said that it was from Adrianna, and she unwrapped it to find matching pajamas – one blue, one pink - that read: "Cradle Robbers beware…my mommy and daddy are cops!" Lindsay cracked up, thinking it was hilarious, even though the term "cradle robbers" wasn't even used in the right context. "I can't wait to show these to Danny!" she said, holding them up for everybody else to see.

The next present was from Sheila. Opening it she found a gift certificate to the salon where her Australian neighbor worked. "Get a massage, or a hair cut or something," she said, "It'll be relaxing, and we all know that come May you're gonna need some relaxation!" Everybody chuckled. Also in Sheila's package were color coded pacifiers and bottles, which would make Lindsay's life SO much easier.

From May, Lindsay received handmade coupons good for 3 nights of free babysitting and some cute outfits.

Nancy and Lily spared no expense when shopping for Lindsay and her babies. Among their numerous gifts were a double stroller, boxes and boxes of wipes and diapers and enough outfits to get the babies through a year, as well as little onsies that depicted an outline of Montana. "Mom!" Lindsay gasped, "You didn't have to do all this!"

"Yes I did, honey, they're my first grandchildren. If they're going to live so far away from me you should at least be able to tell them 'Look at all this stuff Grandma got you!' Besides, I had forgotten how exciting baby shopping is!"

Stella presented Lindsay with two adorable mobiles to hang above the babies' cribs. Lindsay also received an assortment of stuffed animals, clothes, onsies, and blankets, as well as two baby bouncers.

"Thank you guys SO much!" Lindsay exclaimed when she was finally finished with all the gifts. "Danny and I will hardly have to buy anything!" she joked, although it was partly true.

The ladies all settled down and talked then, covering every topic that had to do with babies, from giving them baths to changing dirty diapers. "Hey," Miranda piped up suddenly, "have you guys decided on names yet?"

"Yes," Lindsay said after a moment's hesitation, "but you don't get to know them yet. We're pretty sure of the names we want, but we're going to wait until after they're born to make it official, you know in case we see the baby and think that the name is all wrong for him or her."

"Makes sense," Marianne agreed, "I mean, you wouldn't want your child to look like a Jessica or something and be named Sarah." Everyone laughed.

"Hey!" Lindsay remembered, "Do you guys want to see the babies' room?"

All the ladies got excited and started giggling like little girls. They all stood up and followed Lindsay to the guest room turned nursery that she and Danny had labored hours on. When they all crammed into the small room a reverent silence filled the four walls, as though the babies had already been born and were sleeping. The walls had been painted light yellow – a neutral color, they had decided – and the dresser, two cribs and changing table were white. There were 6 drawers in the dresser, two across and three down and the knobs of the drawers on the right were painted pink, the ones on the left were blue.

"It's beautiful," Lily breathed, expressing the opinion of all of the other ladies.

"It's kind of plain," Lindsay retorted.

"It's still beautiful, so…. peaceful," Peyton piped up. They all stood there admiring the room for a few more minutes.

"I'm getting kind of claustrophobic," Adrianna said from the center of the group, causing everybody to laugh and file slowly out of the room.

Soon everybody began to leave. May and Sheila both hugged Lindsay, offering their congratulations one more time before going back to their respective apartments. Peyton left soon after that. Miranda, Marianne, and Adrianna had checked into a hotel about a block away before coming to the shower. "We didn't want you to feel overcrowded," Marianne explained.

"How long are you guys staying?" Lindsay asked.

"Our flight leaves Friday morning," Miranda said.

"That only gives us two days together!" Lindsay complained.

"Montana calls!" Adrianna joked as they left the apartment, leaving only Stella, Nancy and Lily.

"Thank you so much, Stella!" Lindsay exclaimed, "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

"Hey, thank that husband of yours," Stella told her, "He's the one who had the idea to invite all your friends from Bozeman."

"Still, thanks," Stella hugged Lindsay one more time before heading to the door, "I'll miss you," she said before stepping into the hallway, "At work. I'm gonna have to fend for myself with all those guys around."

Lindsay smiled, "I'll tell Danny to make sure they're nice to you."

"Ok," Stella laughed, "I'll call you tomorrow."

"So…" Lindsay began returning to where her mother and sister sat. "As you can see we don't have a guest room anymore. The couch pulls out into a bed, but I won't be offended if you want to go to a hotel."

"The couch will be just fine," Lily said, surprising Lindsay. "Come on!" she protested at the shocked expression on her sister's face, "I'm not THAT stuck up."

"No comment," Lindsay replied, giggling.

Lindsay was chatting with her mother and sister when Danny arrived home. Lindsay ran over to him and gave him a big hug and kiss.

"How'd it go, baby?" he asked grinning.

"Wonderfully. Stella told me that it was your idea to invite Miranda, Marianne, and Adri." Tears pricked her eyes. "Thank you so much. It meant a lot to me."

"I know," he said, hugging her again.

Nancy and Lily turned around, pretending to unpack their suitcases, in attempt to give the young couple some privacy. Soon, the two of them came over to the ladies and sat down on the edge of the bed that had been pulled out of the couch. "Thanks you guys," Danny said, "It meant a lot to both of us that you came." Nancy and Lily turned back around to face them.

"I know that I haven't been the best sister," Lily began tearfully, "But I really want to be a part of your lives now, and the babies' lives, if they ever decide to come out," she bit her lip waiting for their response.

"That sounds good," Lindsay said quietly.

"Lily, I know that we didn't meet on good terms, or leave on them, so I'd just like to say that I'm sorry, and that I'd like to start over," Danny added holding out his hand, which she shook. "Danny Messer, I'm the lucky guy who somehow got this beautiful girl next to me to marry me," he introduced himself.

"Lily Monroe, I'm the sister of that beautiful woman who you got to marry you." She said back.

They all talked for a while until Lindsay began yawning. "I think I'm gonna turn in," she said.

"I'm right behind ya," Danny added. "G'night," he said taking Lindsay's hand and leading her to their room.

"I'm pretty tired, too, mom," Lily said.

"Me too," Nancy yawned.

Soon, all the lights were out and the apartment was quiet.

It wasn't until about 2 A.M that moved again occurred in the home. Danny shuffled to the kitchen and began searching through the cupboards, still half asleep.

"Looking for something?" Nancy said coming up behind him and causing him to jump, nearly peeing his pants.

"Oh, Nancy, you scared me!" he exclaimed.

"Something wrong?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, we don't have any peanut butter," Danny said pulling a coat over his sweats and grabbing his wallet and keys, "We have bread and jelly, but no peanut butter."

Nancy cocked her head, confused.

"Lindsay's hungry," Danny explained, "She wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I'm going to go get some peanut butter. Why don't you go back to bed?"

"Ok," Nancy said, but as soon as the door shut, she began to laugh, glad that her baby girl picked such a fine man to be her husband.

A/N Whew. That's the longest chapter yet! It was fun to write though, and I just had to add that little peanut butter sandwich thing at the end. Remember what Nancy had said about that? Anyway, review please, and the next chapter will come soon. Up next: Lily meets a certain somebody that might convince her to visit her sister more…