Sunshine

When her daughter woke up and asked for "'Yan" Calleigh didn't know what to think.

"You had fun with uncle Ryan, didn't you?" She said carrying the child from her room. She wasn't working today and presently her husband was teasing their co-worker at the lab. Eric had to be in early, at 7:00am, that morning.

"I tell you, Nat, not only is this guy great with kids but he's a hellava housekeeper!" Looking at Ryan, he said "good luck keeping that up when the baby arrives though."

Almost as soon as she asked for her uncle, Nevaeh was looking for her daddy.

"Daddy's at work," Calleigh told her.

"Wab?" Nevaeh asked.

"That's right, at the lab. You're so smart!"

Natalia knew how much Ryan had enjoyed the evening with Nevaeh Delko. He was all talk about it when he got home.

"It's too bad little ones have to go to bed so early. I could have played with her all night."

Ryan told his fiancée how cuddly and affectionate the Delko's daughter was. She wasn't at all shy about giving hugs and kisses. Ryan was also beginning to realize just why pregnancy was so sexy on the woman you loved. Natalia was about fourteen weeks and beginning to show. She herself didn't see what was so attractive about this. Calleigh told her to just enjoy the attention. Calleigh added that she thought all pregnant bodies were beautiful, minus her own when she was carrying Nevaeh. Natalia's fiancé's over-protectiveness was in full gear already.

And swiftly getting on the expectant mother's nerves.

That was something Calleigh could relate to. She didn't know how she hadn't strangled Eric for treating her like glass, as if being stuck in the lab during her whole pregnancy and having to leave her beloved ballistics at six months pregnant wasn't bad enough.

Calleigh and Nevaeh having lunch with Natalia on Calleigh's day off. Natalia laughed when she heard Nevaeh had asked for Ryan that morning. Hearing his name again, Nevaeh looked up from the paper she were scribbling on.

"'Yan?" She asked, looking around.

Both woman laughed.

"I think daddy's gonna be jealous," Natalia smiled.


"And she complains I'm being over-protective," Ryan complained to Horatio, Frank and Eric in the breakroom. "By the way, where is Natalia?"

"What? You haven't seen her in fifteen minutes?" Frank teased.

"She's at lunch with my wife and daughter," Eric said. "Relax, Romeo."

"Oh. You're one to talk! You were just as bad with Calleigh!" Horatio said.

When Natalia got back to the lab, accompanied by Calleigh and Nevaeh, Eric was out with Horatio. Ryan was in the trace lab. Nevaeh was in Natalia's arms.

"Wanna see uncle Ryan?" Natalia asked the baby.

Nevaeh nodded eagerly. "Si!"

Natalia left Nevaeh with her mom, put on her lab coat and entered the trace lab.

"Hey," she said, kissing Ryan's cheek.

"Hey you," Ryan replied, kissing her back. "How was lunch?"

"Good. There's someone right outside who wants to see you."

"Oh really?"

Nevaeh ran to "'Yan" when she saw him step out of the lab doorway. Ryan scooped her up.

"Hi ya, cupcake!" He said. "Am I happy to see you!"

The CSI smiled as the baby kissed his face.

When he heard his and Natalia's baby was on the way Ryan couldn't wait for the arrival, the more time he spent with Nevaeh Delko the worse that anticipation got.


And Daddy had nothing to fear after all. Nevaeh lit up and got down from the waiting room bench as fast as she could when she saw the elevator doors open and him step out. The squeal of "dada!" pulled him from the file he was reading. It was a good thing he had heard his daughter and looked up or else he might have been bowled over when she ran into his legs. A visit from his wife and daughter was welcome anytime but today especially. The case Eric was working involved a toddler intentionally killed by his father for "crying and whining incessantly." To make the circumstances worse, after the child had expired from a fierce blow to the abdomen, something which had taken hours itself, the man placed his son in the driveway and backed over him.

He then claimed the death was an accident, he hadn't seen the baby in the driveway.

The man finally broke down and told the truth after a few hours in interrogation with Tripp and Eric. When he did, he didn't profess to be sorry; he blamed the baby for being "annoying" even his happy babbling got on his nerves, he said "never wanted the kid anyway." Eric so needed to to see his child this afternoon.

"Hello, princesa!" He said, picking up Nevaeh, tipping her into a cradling position for a second before bringing her back up and kissing her cheek. "You're just who daddy needed to see!

"Hey," he said to his wife.

"Hey," she said to her husband, kissing him. "Tough day?"

Calleigh could read him like a book.

"You might say," he said. "I might be late tonight."

"That's all right. I'll have your favorite dinner waiting for you."

Eric loved Calleigh's homemade macaroni and cheese, as did their daughter.

"I'll take cardboard as long as you two are with it," Eric smiled softly.

Nevaeh was uncharacteristically fussy that night because she was teething. Even though this could be irritating, especially after a long day at work, Eric couldn't fathom harming his child simply because he was "annoyed." if anything, the case from the day gave him more patience that night.