Thanks for all the reviews!!!
And to Candace and Nat, I'm really sorry, but Nick isn't going to be the dad (but if it makes you feel any better, none of the other guys are too) and the reason for that is because I'm trying to make a no-ship story, so there isn't going to be any relationships formed or anything (although I seem to be going on a slight G/C slant. Weird. . .) (sorry no other shippage, but I will get on my knees and beg you to keep reading)
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"Hello?" Catherine mumbled sleepily as she pressed the phone to her ear. She wondered who would call right in the middle of the day.
"Catherine?" Sara's desperate voice responded. "I think there's something wrong with Maddie."
"What!?" In less than a moment, Catherine was completely awake and sleep all but forgotten.
"I don't know what's wrong. She won't stop crying and I've tried every possible thing I can think of. I think she's coming down with something."
"Like what?"
"I don't know!" Sara's aggravated voice answered, "Her cheeks are swollen and they're red and warmer than normal, but she doesn't have a temperature. Is this some kind of illness I've never heard of?"
"Sara, Sara, Sara," Catherine chided. "How old is Maddie?"
"Um, about seven months. Why?"
"Did ever occur to you that she's teething?"
"Teething? Isn't it a bit early?" Sara's voice had taken on an awed quality.
"No. It takes a while. They probably won't show up for another couple of months. And don't take this the wrong way, Sara, but for a woman as intelligent as you, you don't seem to know much about raising children," Catherine tried to take the sting out of the latter part of her answer.
"Well, I didn't have nine months to learn about all this. It was kind of sprung on me overnight."
"I know. Sorry."
"And I'm not good with children to begin with," Sara continued.
"Hey!" Catherine protested, "You're great with children. If you weren't, Maddie would be in a foster home by now. I know that, and you know that, you're just too nervous about the whole thing. Now if you don't have any more questions, I'd like to get some more sleep."
"Oh, right. Sorry Cath."
"No problem, just let me go back to bed now. Good night. . . day. . . whatever."
"Bye"
********************************
"You look like you haven't had any sleep. Not that you do sleep," Nick observed as Sara stumbled in the door of the break room with a sleeping Maddie in her arms.
"Sleep sounds really attractive right around now," Sara mumbled almost unintelligibly.
"Maddie still not able to fall asleep, huh?"
"No kidding. Who knew teething hurts? I don't remember it," Sara complained,
"I swear, if Catherine gives me anymore stuff, she's not going to have anything left."
"What?"
"To date, she's given me a baby carrier, a crib with the mattress, baby clothes, a baby bag, baby car seat for later, a baby carrier you strap around yourself, numerous toys, and baby bottles," Sara summed up, "and I'm sure she'd have given me more if I hadn't begged her to stop."
"Why?"
"Makes me feel guilty."
"Oh."
"You shouldn't feel guilty," Catherine replied as she stepped through the door, having heard the end of Sara's confession. "You need all the help you can get. And you didn't have nine months to plan for it, like you said."
Sara would have answered, had Maddie not woken up and started fussing. As she searched through the baby bag with one hand, Sara said, "I know, but it still makes me feel guilty, like I'm stealing from you." Having found the teething ring also donated by Catherine, she handed it to Maddie, who promptly began chewing on in.
Catherine was still formulating an appropriate rebuttal when Warrick walked in the door as well. "So how's the resident baby today?" he asked as Maddie twisted in Sara's arms and reached for him.
"Fine," Sara responded with a grin, "She wants you to hold her."
"Why?" both Nick and Warrick asked. Followed by Nick asking, "How come she never wants me to hold her?"
"She can't pull on your hair, it's too short. You could always grow it," Sara suggested easily. Seeing as Maddie was attempting to grab Warrick's hand, she added, "Careful, she's added chewing on other people's fingers to her repertoire."
"Teething, isn't she?" Warrick asked. "You know," he continued, "My grandmother used to say I was the child of the devil when I was a baby because I would bite on her fingers so hard." At the confused stares he received, he continued, "She didn't believe in those teething toys, so she would wrap a finger in a piece of cloth and let me go at it."
"Feel free to try it out," Sara answered, "Here's a towel. Tell me if your grandmother was right."
"Is that a challenge, Sidle?" Nick asked in amusement.
"Oh, yeah."
"Fine. I'm up for it. Toss me a something will you?" Warrick answered. He caught the baby towel deftly and wrapped it around his index finger. Without a second thought, he offered it to Maddie, who grabbed his hand immediately.
"Oh, you are going to be in so much pain," Catherine warned. "You've never done this before, have you?"
"No," Warrick conceded, "Why?" Catherine didn't have time to answer, because she and the rest of the room collapsed in laughter as Warrick winced at the pain shooting up his hand.
"Don't you know, Brown, that you're not supposed to stick your fingers in something you've never seen before?" Ecklie's voice drifted in. "Aren't you all supposed to be at work?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Ecklie, our shift doesn't start for another hour and a half," Sara responded with a polite tone. No one could tell if it was meant to be sarcastic or not. "Why aren't you at work?"
"I needed a coffee. And anyway, I wanted to see the baby star that can make everyone fall to their knees covering their ears," he answered, referring to the episode months before when Maddie hadn't stopped crying for about an hour. "Can I hold her?"
"Go ahead," Sara responded, "But if you drop her, or hurt her in any way, you'll have to deal with me. Okay?"
"Deal," Ecklie answered as he held out his arms to the little girl. She readily complied and soon she was held close to him trying to grab his hand. "She's cute," he continued, "No wonder why you all coo around her when she comes in. Sidle, you sure she's not your biological baby?"
"No. Did you ever see me pregnant?" Sara asked sarcastically. Everyone heard that tone that time. "What brought that up, Ecklie?"
"She looks like you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and a bit like Stokes. . . and Sanders, I guess."
While everyone in the room was intent on seeing the similarities, Maddie took this opportunity to grab Ecklie's hand and give it a huge bite. "Ahh!" he yelled, "Okay, this baby is dangerous." With that, he handed her back to Sara and tried to massage the aching digit covered in baby saliva. "I gotta get back to work." And with that, he walked out the door. They managed to restrain themselves until they were certain that Ecklie was down the hall. Peals of laughter echoed through the small room.
"What did I miss?" Grissom demanded, slightly bewildered by the night shift's sudden burst of hilarity.
***************************************
"We just had to bump into Hank," Sara grumbled as she and Nick strapped Maddie into her car seat.
"Yeah. I don't see him trying to hook up with women at a mall. He doesn't sound like that type of guy. I thought flirting over DBs was his style," Nick replied, trying to make light of the situation.
"Yeah," Sara responded as she climbed in beside the car seat. "It wouldn't have been too bad if we had just said, 'hi', talked about the weather and went on our way. But no, he had to congratulate us on the birth of our baby."
"Well, Ecklie did say it himself. Maddie looks like a cross between you, me, and Greg."
"Right. But it was really funny how Hank apologized like he did afterwards." Sara had to admit when she thought about it in retrospect.
"Yeah, that was probably the only good thing about agreeing to come with you shopping for a present for Catherine. We spent about three hours in a quarter of the mall. If I had known that it would take you that long, Sara, or I would have forced Warrick to come with us, share my pain," Nick complained. He punctuated his statement by turning on the ignition.
"Oh, come on," Sara returned as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway. "You're just in a bad mood because you would rather be spending time with . . . Candy? On your day off."
"Mandy," Nick corrected, glancing back at the woman in the back seat.
"Right, so you are just mad at me."
"I might be. But I've come up with a suitable punishment for you."
"Oh really? What?" Sara asked. She was answered by country music pouring out of the speakers. All she could do was groan.
"Hey, Sara," Nick said as he pulled into her apartment complex's driveway ten minutes later, "Aren't those your parents?"
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And I leave you with a slight cliffhanger!
(Again, I apologize for no N/S shippage, or any other shippage, so I tried to sort of make it up to you by making Hank think that Maddie's their baby. I know that's not the same thing, but please take it as a peace offering)
Please review!! (if you love it, or hate it, or just want to say hi)
And to Candace and Nat, I'm really sorry, but Nick isn't going to be the dad (but if it makes you feel any better, none of the other guys are too) and the reason for that is because I'm trying to make a no-ship story, so there isn't going to be any relationships formed or anything (although I seem to be going on a slight G/C slant. Weird. . .) (sorry no other shippage, but I will get on my knees and beg you to keep reading)
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"Hello?" Catherine mumbled sleepily as she pressed the phone to her ear. She wondered who would call right in the middle of the day.
"Catherine?" Sara's desperate voice responded. "I think there's something wrong with Maddie."
"What!?" In less than a moment, Catherine was completely awake and sleep all but forgotten.
"I don't know what's wrong. She won't stop crying and I've tried every possible thing I can think of. I think she's coming down with something."
"Like what?"
"I don't know!" Sara's aggravated voice answered, "Her cheeks are swollen and they're red and warmer than normal, but she doesn't have a temperature. Is this some kind of illness I've never heard of?"
"Sara, Sara, Sara," Catherine chided. "How old is Maddie?"
"Um, about seven months. Why?"
"Did ever occur to you that she's teething?"
"Teething? Isn't it a bit early?" Sara's voice had taken on an awed quality.
"No. It takes a while. They probably won't show up for another couple of months. And don't take this the wrong way, Sara, but for a woman as intelligent as you, you don't seem to know much about raising children," Catherine tried to take the sting out of the latter part of her answer.
"Well, I didn't have nine months to learn about all this. It was kind of sprung on me overnight."
"I know. Sorry."
"And I'm not good with children to begin with," Sara continued.
"Hey!" Catherine protested, "You're great with children. If you weren't, Maddie would be in a foster home by now. I know that, and you know that, you're just too nervous about the whole thing. Now if you don't have any more questions, I'd like to get some more sleep."
"Oh, right. Sorry Cath."
"No problem, just let me go back to bed now. Good night. . . day. . . whatever."
"Bye"
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"You look like you haven't had any sleep. Not that you do sleep," Nick observed as Sara stumbled in the door of the break room with a sleeping Maddie in her arms.
"Sleep sounds really attractive right around now," Sara mumbled almost unintelligibly.
"Maddie still not able to fall asleep, huh?"
"No kidding. Who knew teething hurts? I don't remember it," Sara complained,
"I swear, if Catherine gives me anymore stuff, she's not going to have anything left."
"What?"
"To date, she's given me a baby carrier, a crib with the mattress, baby clothes, a baby bag, baby car seat for later, a baby carrier you strap around yourself, numerous toys, and baby bottles," Sara summed up, "and I'm sure she'd have given me more if I hadn't begged her to stop."
"Why?"
"Makes me feel guilty."
"Oh."
"You shouldn't feel guilty," Catherine replied as she stepped through the door, having heard the end of Sara's confession. "You need all the help you can get. And you didn't have nine months to plan for it, like you said."
Sara would have answered, had Maddie not woken up and started fussing. As she searched through the baby bag with one hand, Sara said, "I know, but it still makes me feel guilty, like I'm stealing from you." Having found the teething ring also donated by Catherine, she handed it to Maddie, who promptly began chewing on in.
Catherine was still formulating an appropriate rebuttal when Warrick walked in the door as well. "So how's the resident baby today?" he asked as Maddie twisted in Sara's arms and reached for him.
"Fine," Sara responded with a grin, "She wants you to hold her."
"Why?" both Nick and Warrick asked. Followed by Nick asking, "How come she never wants me to hold her?"
"She can't pull on your hair, it's too short. You could always grow it," Sara suggested easily. Seeing as Maddie was attempting to grab Warrick's hand, she added, "Careful, she's added chewing on other people's fingers to her repertoire."
"Teething, isn't she?" Warrick asked. "You know," he continued, "My grandmother used to say I was the child of the devil when I was a baby because I would bite on her fingers so hard." At the confused stares he received, he continued, "She didn't believe in those teething toys, so she would wrap a finger in a piece of cloth and let me go at it."
"Feel free to try it out," Sara answered, "Here's a towel. Tell me if your grandmother was right."
"Is that a challenge, Sidle?" Nick asked in amusement.
"Oh, yeah."
"Fine. I'm up for it. Toss me a something will you?" Warrick answered. He caught the baby towel deftly and wrapped it around his index finger. Without a second thought, he offered it to Maddie, who grabbed his hand immediately.
"Oh, you are going to be in so much pain," Catherine warned. "You've never done this before, have you?"
"No," Warrick conceded, "Why?" Catherine didn't have time to answer, because she and the rest of the room collapsed in laughter as Warrick winced at the pain shooting up his hand.
"Don't you know, Brown, that you're not supposed to stick your fingers in something you've never seen before?" Ecklie's voice drifted in. "Aren't you all supposed to be at work?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Ecklie, our shift doesn't start for another hour and a half," Sara responded with a polite tone. No one could tell if it was meant to be sarcastic or not. "Why aren't you at work?"
"I needed a coffee. And anyway, I wanted to see the baby star that can make everyone fall to their knees covering their ears," he answered, referring to the episode months before when Maddie hadn't stopped crying for about an hour. "Can I hold her?"
"Go ahead," Sara responded, "But if you drop her, or hurt her in any way, you'll have to deal with me. Okay?"
"Deal," Ecklie answered as he held out his arms to the little girl. She readily complied and soon she was held close to him trying to grab his hand. "She's cute," he continued, "No wonder why you all coo around her when she comes in. Sidle, you sure she's not your biological baby?"
"No. Did you ever see me pregnant?" Sara asked sarcastically. Everyone heard that tone that time. "What brought that up, Ecklie?"
"She looks like you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and a bit like Stokes. . . and Sanders, I guess."
While everyone in the room was intent on seeing the similarities, Maddie took this opportunity to grab Ecklie's hand and give it a huge bite. "Ahh!" he yelled, "Okay, this baby is dangerous." With that, he handed her back to Sara and tried to massage the aching digit covered in baby saliva. "I gotta get back to work." And with that, he walked out the door. They managed to restrain themselves until they were certain that Ecklie was down the hall. Peals of laughter echoed through the small room.
"What did I miss?" Grissom demanded, slightly bewildered by the night shift's sudden burst of hilarity.
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"We just had to bump into Hank," Sara grumbled as she and Nick strapped Maddie into her car seat.
"Yeah. I don't see him trying to hook up with women at a mall. He doesn't sound like that type of guy. I thought flirting over DBs was his style," Nick replied, trying to make light of the situation.
"Yeah," Sara responded as she climbed in beside the car seat. "It wouldn't have been too bad if we had just said, 'hi', talked about the weather and went on our way. But no, he had to congratulate us on the birth of our baby."
"Well, Ecklie did say it himself. Maddie looks like a cross between you, me, and Greg."
"Right. But it was really funny how Hank apologized like he did afterwards." Sara had to admit when she thought about it in retrospect.
"Yeah, that was probably the only good thing about agreeing to come with you shopping for a present for Catherine. We spent about three hours in a quarter of the mall. If I had known that it would take you that long, Sara, or I would have forced Warrick to come with us, share my pain," Nick complained. He punctuated his statement by turning on the ignition.
"Oh, come on," Sara returned as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway. "You're just in a bad mood because you would rather be spending time with . . . Candy? On your day off."
"Mandy," Nick corrected, glancing back at the woman in the back seat.
"Right, so you are just mad at me."
"I might be. But I've come up with a suitable punishment for you."
"Oh really? What?" Sara asked. She was answered by country music pouring out of the speakers. All she could do was groan.
"Hey, Sara," Nick said as he pulled into her apartment complex's driveway ten minutes later, "Aren't those your parents?"
**************************************
And I leave you with a slight cliffhanger!
(Again, I apologize for no N/S shippage, or any other shippage, so I tried to sort of make it up to you by making Hank think that Maddie's their baby. I know that's not the same thing, but please take it as a peace offering)
Please review!! (if you love it, or hate it, or just want to say hi)