Chapter Thirty-Six:

Allie groaned and tried to free herself from the large weight on top of her. Oh, it was just Greg. She opened one eye and smiled, placing her hand on one of his shoulders. He was a skinny, skinny man, so why was he so intent on crushing her into the mattress? She placed her other hand on his side and shook him lightly. He stirred, quietly, letting his mouth fall from her ribs, to her stomach. She rolled her eyes at the non-stop fluttering of her insides and shook him harder this time.

"Hey, Greg! Babe, you're...squishing...me." She groaned again as he attempted to wrap his arms around her. Reluctantly, she arched her back so as he could do so. One hand went under her back, one hand travelling down to her leg, finally hooking itself to the back of her thigh. Allie wrinkled her nose. Jesus, he really was trying to kill her. She gave up on him for the moment, pushing away the thin layer of curtain surrounding the four-poster bed. She was supposed to be flying out to Miami that morning, giving a lecture on being a lab-technician or some such thing. How To Be A Lab-rat 101, Greg called it. Her flight was in an hour and a half. That left no time for anything, but maybe a shower. With a quick glance down at the sleeping lump atop her, she decided she would never ever tire of it. She sat up, letting Greg get woken up in an ungraceful manner. He groaned and furrowed his eyebrows. He never appreciated getting woken up like that. "Sorry, baby...uh, my flight's in an hour and a half...I'm thinkin' you'll have to remove yourself." She grinned at him and kissed him on the head. He reluctantly got off of her and wandered over to his side of the bed, intent on sleeping for another twenty minutes, tops.

"Ugh..." Greg yawned, rubbing furiously at his eyes. "Can't you just stay here? We'll miss you..." He lay himself down on his side. Allie swivelled her legs out of the side of her bed, searching for her shirt and jeans. She giggled.

"'We', huh? You and whose army? Anyway, it's just an overnight stay, thing. You'll have me back tomorrow night." Allie sat down on the edge of the bed, puling her jeans on. She was a little less awake than she would've liked, but she couldn't complain. The next thing she knew, Greg arms were around her waist, his mouth lingering around the nape of her neck, making it's way down her neck, and her back. "Hey, now...don't start that...ohh..." She shut her eyes and bit her lower lip. "Alright, that I like, but I have to go!" She stood up and turned to him, planting a single kiss on his lips.

"You're mean." Greg sat back, gazing at her meaningfully as she crossed the room to the door. She foraged about in her drawers and produced several garments, flinging them onto the bed next to Greg. He yawned once more and shut his eyes. Allie smiled to herself, glancing over at him.

"Okay, you, there's food in the fridge, all you have to do is pop it on the microwave and cook it for three minutes. Dylan and Frank are coming over for a few DVDs, be nice to them, and make sure to switch everything off before you go to bed." Allie stopped and frowned at herself. He'd only been living with her for the last three and a half years, if he didn't know these things by now, would he ever learn?

Greg sighed. He was drifting off again on the plane of unconsciousness, barely listening to anyone. "Mmph." At this, Allie rolled her eyes once more and headed off for a shower. One she felt that she was clean enough and business-like enough, she bundled Greg into the car and drove them to the airport. She decided that, whilst he'd been awake for a while now, Greg didn't really need to drive. Basically, he was there for moral support. "You've got your passport?"

Allie smiled. "Yes, Greg."

"And your toothbrush?" An affirmative nod. "Vitamins? MP3 Player? Shoes? Fruit?" After answering all these questions, Greg started rambling on about possible techniques she could use for mentoring all the students. Allie listened to him intently, half-mesmerized, half-wondering if he'd ever grown up. At the airport, they'd hurriedly said goodbye, not really wanting to part with one another. Greg had sullenly walked back to the car, while Allie settled into her flight. She hated planes; especially the way they dipped, and sped up, and made your ears pop. And what was with the no-MP3-rule? She'd sat next to a man that had been plugged directly into an iPod the whole way there, and nothing, which only annoyed her even more. Soon after, she fell asleep.

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When she got to Miami, however, Allie was rushed right into the studio. She'd met Horatio, and the rest of the team, and they had prepped her on a few subjects. She'd written down some stuff, but none of it seemed good enough, or right. So she flew right in there on the pros and ons of being a technician, everyone listening eagerly, and there was the occasional mistake, but she managed to cover it up so as no one noticed. Afterwards, she sat down and listened to the students' questions. The first row was dotted with misfits, girls and boys dressed in the most controversial fashion statements, and the row behind them were mostly sensibly-turned-out boys, a few girls dressed to their nines. The rest were just randomly thrown together. Allie crossed her legs, worrying slightly over whether or not she looked professional enough. A girl in the front row, covered in piercings, dressed completely in black stuck her hand up.

"Is the pay any good?" She sounded surly, and Allie shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"The pay's just fine, but, but, but..." She inhaled. "The thing you guys have to remember is this; even if you're getting paid a great wage, if you don't like the job, then there's never gonna be any satisfaction for you. You've gotta do what you want to do, screw how much cash you've got in the bank." Did that sound professional? Allie sure hoped so. This whole situation was just plain bizarre, and she was wondering why she and not Greg was doing this. A few more, slightly pointless, slightly difficult questions were asked involving the team, her boss, and other such intricacies of DNA technology. Allie decided that she was glad that she only had to do this once, and once only. The long haired student in the row behind Surly-Sue, stuck his hand up next. "You, Sir?"

"Do you have a life, like, out of your lab? I mean, a personal life?" Floppy-Haired Boy seemed unsure of himself, or of his question, as if he'd only just gotten out of his diapers and had been bundled straight into college. His hair was enough to make each and every single girl in the studio turn green with pure envy. Allie smiled.

"Actually...uh, I'm married, but I met my husband in our lab. I'm not exactly into the whole rave scene, but yeah, personal lives are just as easy to handle as they were before. Well, I mean...I think they are." She hadn't had too much experience with it. After another half-hour of questions, she finally ambled her way out of the studio, leaving a whole bunch of semi-happy students in her wake. Several of them - including Floppy-Haired Boy - came up to her and thanked her for being such an inspiration, which was both confusing and fantastic. She headed off for one quick cup of coffee with the Miami Dade Team, including Eric Delko, Ryan Wolfe, and Jessica Lucas, a newbie and Ryan's heavily-pregnant girlfriend. After that, she'd had a random chat with Horatio Caine and then went back to her hotel room. That was when it happened.

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She flopped down onto the hard mattress in her hotel room. It was a small, green-clad room, smelling lightly of some form of air-freshener, or some thing that should be banned from being used in such a small place. She pulled her hoodie on and zipped it up. Two minutes. She had roughly two more minutes before she had to rush back into the bathroom. In that time, her mind almost whirred out right out of her skull, engraved with a thousand thoughts. She glanced up at the ceiling, down at the floor, trying to clear her mind but it was absolutely no use. She stood up, acutely aware of the fact that she was being driven insane by this room, and hovered around outside the bathroom door. She began pacing, something which she had always hated, but nevertheless, it passed a few, excruciating seconds. Allie Sanders had always been blessed with impatience, but this was pathetic! She walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the tub. The offending stick she was waiting on was lying there, right there, on the sink beside her. She tried her best - honestly! - to ignore it, not to look at it before her two minutes was up, but she did have to sneak one little grudging look at it just to see if there was any sign of colour, red or blue. Nothing. Not yet, anywho. Only one minute to go and the whole place was filled with silence. She had bought the pregnancy test earlier, in Miami, away from Greg. She was ridiculously late, slightly irritable and in desperate need of a knickerbocker glory for some reason, so all of these things somehow amounted up, and came into her mind at once, and now, here she was, waiting for the little blue line to show up. Finally, the two minutes were up. Allie immediately bolted upright and braced herself. She glanced up at the mirror, checking herself over, and then glanced down at the little white stick with a tiny screen on it.

Oh, God. It had not one but two little blue lines on it. Allie momentarily smiled to herself, but the immediate wave of panic that followed almost overwhelmed her. What if she miscarried again? What if something worse happened the next time? Almost instantly, she decided that she would wait a while before she told Greg. She tossed the whole pregnancy kit into the bin and washed her hands. A wave of emotions clung on to her; she was pleased, excited, intensely happy, but also close to being paralyzed with fear. Slowly, she headed back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed once more. She glanced down at her stomach and bit her lower lip. What was she supposed to do now? Well, she couldn't do much until she got back to Vegas. She quickly checked her watch, noting that there were only fourteen hours until the flight home. Suddenly, her phone buzzed away merrily in her pocket, causing her to jump slightly. She pulled it out and pressed the green button.

"Yellow?" She had long since given up trying to greet people conventionally. If they didn't like it by now, they could just lump it.

"So...what are you wearing?" Greg. Obviously. Like all good marital conversations, they always started off with blatant innuendo, quickly progressing into something much deeper. Allie grinned, having to restrain her mouth from spilling her massive secret. She giggled at Greg and looked down.

"Hmm, well...not very much, actually...just a smile, and a hat...maybe one sock...oop, no...not anymore." She let herself collapse backwards, twirling a small strand of hair around her finger. "Yourself?"

Greg made a derisive noise from way up high in his throat, and Allie could just picture the smile on his face. "Meh, you know...stuff..." He sounded momentarily distracted, half concentrating on Allie and half on something else. "Uh, so how was your lecture?"

"Dandy, thanks. Nice kids. Very smart. I think I sounded kinda professional. I looked the part, anyway. You set our house on fire yet?"

"No!" Greg groaned, letting the line go silent for a few seconds. "Hold on..."

Allie rolled her eyes. "What are you doing?" Knowing Greg, it was probably something shonky, sneaky...but did he have to make such a noise about it? Bang, clang, clunk and thwack could be heard over the line, arousing Allie's suspicions even further.

"Huh?" Greg hadn't heard her. She shook her head, tutting. "Sorry, I was, uh...fixing something. Anyway, I have to go, so I'll pick you up tomorrow...two-ish?"

Allie grinned. "Yesm. At the airport, Greg." Fairly obvious, but she didn't want to end up stranded. "Are you okay over there?" Once, she had left him alone in the apartment, and he'd ended up soaking the place with bath-water, everywhere, even in the bedroom. That was not a nice night. She didn't speak to him for three hours, and he never spoke to her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." he still sounded shoddy, but Allie let it go. He was probably only doing something to his car. No need to panic. "I love you."

"Love you, too. Be good." Allie sat up and looked at her not-swollen belly. More than likely, he would only be on for another ten seconds or so. She could handle ten seconds, but not any longer. Any longer, and she might just have to tell him.

"Always am. Bye." And, much to Allie's dismay, he'd hung up pretty quickly after that. Allie turned on the tiny TV in the corner of the room, pulled off her clothes and snuck into the bed. Tomorrow, she'd be back in Vegas. Then she'd be fine. Although, she found to couldn't sleep. She tried sleeping on her back, both sides, middle of the bed, side of the bed, but nothing. She sat up, eventually, and looked down at the weight on her mind. The baby. She rolled her eyes and lay down on her side, hand on her abdomen. She sighed and glanced around the room.

"Hey...uh...you." Oh, man, she was cracked. Completely nuts, insane, a mentalist. She was speaking to her stomach. A part of her anatomy, and she was about to begin a discussion with it. "I'm Allie, and I guess I'm your mom. At the minute, we're in Miami, and it's extremely hot over here. Then again, I suppose it's kinda warm in Vegas, too...anyway, I hope you like it in there...you'll probably be in it for a while." She paused, unsure of what to ramble about next. "Guess I'd better tell you about your dad, huh? Well, his name's Greg Sanders...he's twenty-nine, he's very smart, kinda cute ina rakish sort of way, so he says...uh, and we met in the crime lab. I sincerely hope you don't ever set in foot in one of those places. They're not so safe for little people." Allie swallowed and turned onto her back, hand over her rib-cage. "Anyway, back to Greg. He's a bit of a goofball, but you'll learn to love him. Then there's your grandma, Bonnie. She's a little bit hard to take, but she means well. And there's my dad, your grandpa. Eric's his name. He's what we call, 'Our Man in Havana', or 'The International Jetsetter'. Dylan, I guess, is your uncle. He's a little bit strange, wears a lot of black, can be a complete ass. But he's nice. And Frank's lovely, although he's not really related to you." She bit her lip, thinking hard on what else she had to tell the baby. "Whoa, you'll have a great-grandma. Congratulations to you. Wish I had a great-grandma. Oh, and then there's Michelle, and Jimmy. You'll love Michelle, too, she's uber-fun. And she'd probably make a decent-enough babysitter, come to think of it...Now, let me just tell you about your daddy's family..."

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The next day, Allie could not wait until she was back in her house, in her own bed, able to keep the baby to herself. She was settled outside of the airport in Las Vegas, nestled into a cosy-enough chair, too tired to yawn, but too energetic to close her eyes. She had been awake until three-in-the-morning, rambling to the foetus. She no longer felt as worried about it, but she still would have to wait a few more weeks before she told anyone. Even Greg. Seeing him heartbroken was something that she couldn't handle, especially over something like this. After a while, Greg arrived, got her bags for her, kissed her gently on the cheek, opened the door for her - it was worrying. He had never been as...as...etiquette-minded, or thoughtful. He had been just fine, but this was amazing. He had talked just as much when he was in the car with her, feeding her random bits of information about his recent visit with Papa Olaf. Once they arrived at Glen House, Greg had, once again, carried her bags for her, made sure that he had opened the door, told her to go ahead of him, and then he'd locked the door behind him.

Allie cleared her throat, utterly confused. "So, uh, what's all this secrecy about?" She enjoyed secrecy, and gossip, of course, but this was just pure strange. Greg smiled, wickedly, and moved over to her, taking her jacket off and flinging it with gay abandon, onto the floor. He took her hand and led her into the bedroom. "Hey, now, hold up a second, Greg, I have noteaten since last night-"

"Relax." Greg held a hand up, eyebrows raised, smile fixated on his lips. "That's not what we're doing. Well, not unless..." He stopped, cursing his dirty mind. And Allie's. "Anyway, I figured, since you've been away working a lot recently, and we haven't seen that much of each other, I thought..." He paused again, let his over-talkative-hands rest and looked down at the door handle beside him. He let go of Allie's hand and opened the door, motioning for her to go on ahead. She gave him a suspicious look and pushed the door open. Then there was a gasp at the sight that befell her. The whole room was covered in all sorts of fancy petals, candles, and a few other romantic things that Greg had sought out for this one specific occasion. The room smelled vaguely of flowers, and the window was letting in a soft breeze every now and then. Allie grinned wildly.

"Greg, it's...wow. Just wow, man. It's amazing! Did you do all this yourself?" Stupid question, Allie, of course he did! Greg nodded, leaning against the wall, gingerly. "Thank you...I-just..."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." He waved the thought away quickly, being modest again, and swept her up off the floor and onto the bed. "Now...take off your shoes," He leant forward and kissed her on the cheek, mouth hovering around her ear and spoke in a whisper. "And relax." Greg started for the door, then, and paused on his way out. "And make sure to look under the bed..." He had winked at her, mystically, and then waltzed out of the room, leaving Allie to her own devices. She sat down on the bed, removed her shoes, and her sweater, and crossed her legs. She picked up a soft, silky pink petal from the bed and examined it. Then, of course, she glanced under the bed. There was a thick, white box, decorated with a single red ribbon tied into a bow. Allie momentarily danced up and down with joy in her head, and this was before she'd pried it open. She started off gentle with the bow, but then she just tore it right off, unable to restrain herself from doing so, and flipped the lid on the box up. She widened her eyes at the folded, red silk that resided under a few sheets of bubble-wrap. There was a yellow note atop it, with a simple smiley-face etched onto it, and an 'Love, Greg XOX' beneath it. She quickly pulled the garment out of the box and undressed herself in under five seconds, flat, before quickly pulling on the slip. It just slid onto her nicely, in a hugging-manner. Allie grinned and sat back on the bed, fluffing her hair up. After meeting the long-haired student yesterday, she and her hair felt thoroughly inadequate. A few seconds later, Greg emerged from behind the door and grinned. Allie tilted her head at him, faint smile across her lips. Greg set a few bottles of stuff down on the bedside cabinet and furrowed his brows for a second, turning to look at her, completely. Good God, his brain had just melted onto the side of his skull. Apparently, so had his tongue.

"You like?"

Greg nodded. He liked it very much, indeed. So much so, in fact, that for once in his life, he couldn't remember whatever genius thing he had planned to say to her. Instead, he smiled and pulled her into a passionate, heart-wrenching kiss that lingered for a few moments after he had moved to the other side of the room. "Alright, Al, lie down. Please." Of course he only added the 'please' as an afterthought.

"Greg, babe, are you gonna to kill me? Or is it something...kinky? You know me and kinky, Greg, we don't really get on so well..." Reluctantly, Allie betrayed the words that had just emitted from her mouth and lay herself down on the bed, on her stomach, mind, momentarily feeling a twinge of guilt over squishing the baby. She mentally begged it not to hate her in future life. Greg laughed and shook his head.

"No...I just, I think you kinda deserve this." He perched himself behind her, bottle of essential oils in hand, and slid the straps of her slip down her shoulders, squeezing a handful of the cold liquid out onto his hand before rubbing it onto Allie's back. Allie inwardly gasped at his touch and bit her lower lip. He pressed an even, firm hand down onto her back, massaging her gently, occasionally worrying if he was too rough, or too gentle. Allie didn't care. He was perfect, in her eyes, with his strong hands, his gentle whispers into her ear, the way he managed to make her fawn over him with just a kiss on her shoulder, or wherever. After another long while of Allie-Love, as he so affectionately put it, Greg eventually gave up and lay down next to her. Allie grinned and pulled him onto her chest for a brief second, arm placed haphazardly around his shoulder. Never in her life had she felt as relaxed, and content. Greg sighed, merrily, and kicked each of his shoes off, trying to climb into the rest of the bed properly. He kissed Allie and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"I take it you missed me, then." Allie watched him in awe as he removed his jeans and flung them behind the curtain. Such a lazy-yet-intricately wonderful person to watch. Greg raised his eyebrows and stretched out. Being a masseuse was tiring work. He himself deserved a massage!

"Well, I guess..." Greg closed his eyes and frowned. Allie furrowed her eyebrows and shifted onto her side, propping her head up with her hand.

"Greg? Hey, what's going on in that spiky-head of yours?" Usually, he talked and talked for ages when they were in bed, but this was curious. He'd been semi-quiet - aside from those damned whispers directly into her ear-drum - when he was massaging her, and now this. Allie felt increasingly worried, and it was beginning to show. She didn't want to have to worry about Greg and a baby. Greg opened his eyes and glanced up at her. He sighed heavily and considered something for a moment.

"Nothing's goin' on." Therein lay the problem. Nothing was going on, remotely. It had been months, months, since the incident with the baby, and they'd been trying almost every night since, and - boom! Nothing. Greg felt worse than impotent. He knew, he just knew, that is was his fault. "It's just...I mean, I'm a patient man, a very patient man but...Doctor Pendanski told me that it would take time for us to get pregnant, but Allie, baby, it's been eight months. Eight, I mean...it's me. I know that it's me..." Greg would have rambled on for another few minutes, but he just had to desist right at that very moment to frown at Allie, who hadn't stopped smiling throughout his rant. "What?"

Allie's eyes softened as she placed a stray hand on his face, moving onto that spot under his ear that turned him onto putty in her hands. "Oh, Greg. It's not your fault. I swear that it has nothing to do with you."

This did not help Greg in the least. "No, Allie, something should be happening. And it's not." And then he started grousing about being useless, or some other thing that Allie just couldn't help smiling at. "Allie!" Greg shrieked, sitting up now, unable to stop venting his spleen.

Allie giggled. She, quite frankly, was enjoying herself. "Yes, Greg?"

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because." This was far too much. Whilst it was oddly attractive, she just couldn't handle him hating himself any longer. "I'm already pregnant." This caused much of a similar reaction to the first time, except there was that twinge of 'are you sure?' and 'is it gonna be okay?', but Allie reassured him. After all, carpe diem. Live life to the full. Take a risk, all that jazz. Really, she just wanted to shut him up and get a full night's sleep.

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A/N: Hola!

Okay, sorry for the long wait, but, but, but, I wrote this chapter very hurriedly, then I didn't like it, so I re-wrote it and NOW it feels like Allie's been pregnant for years! I split it in two, as well, because it was about seven-thousand words, LOL, and that would've been inconvenient for everyone! There's gonna be a lot less dialogue in the next chapter, and it's an uber-rushed pregnancy, LOL!

Thanks to all my reviewers, only two chapters left...sniff. Then two more fics and then I'm retiring! Early retirement, woo!

Now, I usually ramble on about something in my AN, so I will now advise each and every one of you who read this - yeah, I see my stats, non-reviewing people!! LOL! Nah, I'm grateful, you're okay. - to go and watch 'Inside I'm Dancing', or 'Rory O' Shea Was Here' if you're in America/Australia - do I have any Aussie readers? That would be uber-cool!! - with James McAvoy. Great film! Really sad, but kinda fun, too. It's about these two men in wheelchairs, can't remember what they've got, but anyway, they get put into this care home place and then they kinda befriend each other, and James McAvoy's a bit of a rebel, but he's living his life to the full and whatnot...but just go and watch it immediately!

Please press Ben, he's been suffering the most God-awful loneliness lately, and he needs a few friends. I really want more than two reviews this time, so pretty please??

Have a great rest of the day,

Mary-Louise

XOX