Lanie began to weep tears of joy as she leaned back against the bed, Dave patting down her forehead with a soft cotton towel.

'You did it, Mom. Our baby's here.'

'What is it?' she cried.

Dave laughed, saw Harvey holding the wailing newborn, its arms and legs wriggling like little worms.

'It's a boy. We have a son, Elenia.'

'A boy?'

'Yeah.'

'Let me see him.'

Harvey passed the new mother her baby in the sterile receiving blanket, still covered in small smears of blood and the umbilical cord clamped, waiting to be cut. Through her tears, Lanie laughed joyfully as she looked at him.

'He's perfect.'

'Time of birth is eight-twenty-six pm. Daddy, you want to do the honours?' Harvey nodded to the scissors.

Dave snipped the spongy tube, watched as Lanie cooed at him with a watery voice. His son, he thought, his absolutely gorgeous, beautiful son. Swiping his hand under his nose he let his emotions pour out, kissed Lanie's temple as she held their baby.

'Nicely done, Mom.'

'Same to you, Dad.'

Honey-Milk, who by now had stripped off her mask and gloves wept a little as she watched them, remembering how it felt to hold Dell for the first time with Ryan beside her . Not wanting to break up the tender moment she went over to the table where Dave had set the video camera to record the birth, picked up the digital still and began to quietly snap flashless photos of them, discreetly zooming in on the new addition to the Twelfth Precinct's second generation. When she was done, she walked over, patted Harvey on the shoulder.

'Lanie, Dave, if I could just have him for a few minutes.' With practiced moves Honey-Milk picked up the baby boy, took him over to the waiting scales and bassinet where they would perform the necessary physical and get his vitals onto his baby chart.

'Where's he going?' Lanie asked on a little sniffle as Honey-Milk walked away with her newborn, making Dave laugh.

'She's going to weigh and measure him, do all those medical things they need to do, and then give him a little wipe-down bath, my love,' he told Lanie, bumping his forehead against hers. 'You were amazing.'

'I was such a wuss, crying and whining like that.'

'Not from where I'm standing.' He kissed her flushed cheek. 'I love you so much, Elenia.'

'I love you. Take the camera, I don't want to miss any of it.'

Dave nodded, kissed her once more, then picked up the video camera and began filming as Honey-Milk did her job and began to rhyme off the statistics.

'Gumball is a jawbreaker. Eight pounds, three ounces or three point seven-one-five kilos. Mad props to you, Lanie,' she said, placing him on the scale as he whimpered a little, then moved him to a padded bassinet where she took out the paper measuring tape. 'Length is eighteen point five inches or forty-six point nine-nine centimetres. You'll be a tall one like daddy. We're going to get him all tidied up and ready for traveling to Lanie's room.'

'He's not going to the nursery like Dell?' Dave asked, not tearing her gaze away from that angelic face for one minute. He had his mommy's eyelashes and ears and his cheeks and nose, she'd already noted. Those little details of them both in this unspoiled creature.

'Dell was three weeks early so he was in the nursery to make sure he didn't develop any complications.'

Honey-Milk continued her examination of the baby's joints while Dave looked on; the little guy was exercising his lungs full force. 'Hey little man,' he cooed at his boy, still trying to wrap his head around it - he'd made this little creature with his beautiful Lanie. This was what had been growing inside her all that time, nudging at his hand and using Lanie's bladder as a Douglas Adams hitch-hiker might use his towel. He winced only a little when Honey-Milk tested the scrotum to ensure there were no abnormalities and sympathized when he saw his son's lower lip tremble.

'You know, in about eighteen years, you'll be crying tears of joy when a hot blond handles the jewels,' he said, making Honey-Milk snicker.

'You've been spending way too much time around my husband and his partner.'

She finished the physical exam, and once the remaining bits of birth fluid and other things Dave didn't care to think about were wiped away, Honey Milk outfitted him with a dark blue hat with the NYPD crest printed on it before she wrapped him up in a little yellow blanket with number twelves all over it.

'I brought these in from my locker when Lanie was at about eight centimetres,' she said, picking the baby up to walk back over to Lanie, who'd delivered the placenta and the cord blood and other goodies were properly sealed up for research and saving purposes.

'Here you are, Mom.' Honey-Milk gently laid the infant in its mother's arms, its body wrapped tightly so his little hands were tucked up near his face. His skin was pinky and caramel, tufts of black hair sticking out from under his cap. He was wailing with a healthy sized set of lungs; Lanie instinctively began to speak in a soothing way to him.

'It's okay, it's okay, little guy, Mama's right here.'

He apparently recognized her voice because his wails subsided to whimpers, then into little mewls and gurgles as he blinked his big eyes at her, too dark to tell what colour they were. As she continued to speak, he settled and watched her.

'Look at you, with those big eyes, and Daddy's nose. You're the one who was craving lemon tea and Auntie Merry's smoothies every morning.'

'Do you have a name picked out yet?'

'No.' Dave shook his head. 'We haven't found the right one yet.'

'Okay, then for now he'll be Baby Boy Parrish-Robbins.'

Lanie gave Honey-Milk her best 'come on, girl' face, given her current level of energy. 'Jenny, if you like, you can put 'Gumball Parrish-Robbins' on the bassinet.'

'Seriously?'

'Consider it a thank-you for the NYPD baby gear. You're already so spoiled by your aunts and uncles, you have no idea. You're getting designer threads right out of the womb,' she told her son, then looked back up at Honey-Milk. 'Am I doing this right? I'm holding him right?'

'You're just fine.'

'Can I hold him?' Dave asked in a shaky voice, accepted his son into his arms from Lanie. 'Hey little man,' he murmured, noticing how his son focused on him the same way he'd looked at Lanie, fell in love as he saw those eyes blinking. 'Yeah, you know who I am too, don't you? So what are we going to call you? Can't just give an awesome little dude like you any old name, it has to be the best in the world.'

Lanie could think of only two names. 'What do you think of giving him his godfather's name?'

'As a middle or first name?'

'First name. I'd like his middle name to be my dad's.'

'I think...' Dave said, studying his son pensively, watching him yawn and falling in love all over again. 'That is a great idea.'

Finished with his clean-up, Harvey untied the strings from his surgical gown. 'Would you like me to Nurse Ryan out to let your friends know about the new one's arrival?'

'No, it's okay. Dave.' Suddenly fatigued, Lanie wanted to crawl into a soft bed with cool welcoming sheets and sleep for a century or two. But she'd get this part out. 'Can you and Honey-Milk go tell them? And ask him to come in to see us first?'

Dave nodded, knowing exactly who she meant. He kissed her deeply once, added a light one as she curled onto her side for some much deserved and needed rest while the nurses did their work. He stepped out into the hallway, removing the protective gown from over his clothes, inexplicable energy propelling him towards the waiting room.

'We've picked out a name,' he said to Honey-Milk, 'but we have to wait to say it because...well, you'll see why.'

'Okay. You want me to do the talking?'

'No. Oh, wait.' Dave stopped when they were halfway across the skywalk, pulled out his cellphone to dial his parents in Albany; his mother picked up on the fifth ring.

'David? Is it baby news?'

'I'm a father, Mama,' he said, Honey-Milk clutching his arm excitedly when he jumped, held the phone away from his ear as Claudia screamed in joy. 'Mama, Mama, calm down.'

'David! You're a papa! When?'

'About twenty minutes ago. A little boy.'

'A boy! Sergio!' Claudia let out a stream of Italian so quick and jumbled Dave could barely understand his mother except for the words 'Lanie' and 'baby boy'. Thirty seconds later, he heard his father's voice on the other end of the line.

'David, you have a son?'

'Yeah.' Dave squeezed his eyes shut, hoping he wouldn't cry. 'Eight pounds, three ounces. Big gumball.'

'I'll say. And Lanie is fine? No stitches, no emergency procedures?'

'Not a one. Doctor said it was a textbook delivery. Listen, Papa, I have to go, I need to tell my friends, they're all in the waiting room.'

'Of course, of course. Congratulations my son.'

Dave clicked off the call, took a few steadying breaths before he and Honey-Milk continued to the maternity wing's waiting lounge, the very same one where they'd all waited for this news from Ryan almost two years before. He saw Lanie's family - Beckett and Castle and Alexis, Lili and Cam, Meredeth and Esposito, Gil and Robina and TJ, and most importantly Ryan - all finding various ways to keep themselves occupied with card games or magazines or iPod videos. It was Meredeth who caught sight of Dave and Honey-Milk, had everyone else shutting up. All were waiting with baited breath for Dave to speak as Meredeth asked with a single word.

'So?'

'It's a boy.'

The room burst into noise like fireworks, everyone on their feet and cheering with joy. Castle and Esposito both slapped him on the back, while the women hugged him and each other; he couldn't help it, he began to weep openly in front of them, but no one teased him, they just passed him tissues to swipe the tears off his face. He looked around at all of them.

'Thank you very much, all of you. I know Lanie wouldn't have made it without your love and support, and I know she loves all of you but she asked for one of you specifically.'

R&R&Enjoy!