Title: Namesake
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: T
Pairing: N/S
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I do like to play with them sometimes
Spoilers: mild for "Gum Drops"

A/N: I haven't been able to write much lately, so I haven't posted anything new or updated TTBW in awhile. One of the ladies that I work with, her son was killed in Iraq last week, so everyone has been in a ratherdepressed mood, and honestly I just haven't been able to transfer any of the thoughts in my head to paper (or screen). The few times I have, I've pretty much stared at a blinking cursor after a paragraph or so. I suppose this fic is an outward growth of what's been going on in my head this past week or so. This wasn't the initial post ep fic I had planned, but I've been stuck with my other one for awhile, and this came to me. I'm still planning on finishing the one I've started, but it might be awhile. Oddly enough, you'd think this would be chock full of angst, but try not to choke on the fluff.

Julie: I hope you're starting to feel better! I'm still working on that fic just for you, maybe this weekend? I see that you've updated "Quarter Past Tuesday," and as soon as I post this, I'm off to review.

Claire: I could really use an update from you right about now. Every time I hear that song, I wish for a new chapter. Hope your life isn't too hectic, I haven't talked to you in awhile.

Support our troops. Bring them home.

Nick opened the door carefully, peeking his head inside before fully entering the room. He couldn't help but smile softly as he took in the sight before him. The covers were pulled up practically to Sara's shoulders, her head leaned back against the pillow and eyes closed. Her hair was gathered in a messy ponytail, curls spilling over her pillow as Nick listened to her deep and easy breathing. He let the door close quietly behind him, before making his way over to the bed and sitting gingerly on the edge; he didn't want to disturb his sleeping beauty, but he just couldn't resist reaching out to grasp her hand.

He was pleased when her fingers found his upon their own free will, entwining with his as her eyes fluttered open.

"Hey," she whispered, beaming up at him through sleepy eyes.

"Hey." Nick grinned at her, squeezing her hand gently. "I know I'm breaking my promise, but I just couldn't resist."

"What promise was that?" she asked sleepily.

"Well, about two hours ago, you forbid me to ever touch you again. Made me swear never to come near you."

"I did not…oh. I did, didn't I? Well, when you squeeze something that large out of an opening that small, we'll talk about who can touch who again, alright?" The glint in her eyes and the smile on her face belied her words.

Nick winced involuntarily at Sara's remark, and squeezed her hand again. He focused on the beautiful face beaming back at him, and felt himself choking up, not for the first time that morning. "I'm so proud of you," he managed to get out.

A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, and she smiled up at him, her free hand resting over their entwined ones. She replied simply, "I had some help."

"No, that was all you darlin…I was just along for the ride."

"Well, I was talking about the nurses and Dr. Marvela, but I guess you did help a little bit too," Sara teased lightly. Nick chuckled and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. He rested his hand on her forehead, lightly brushing several stray curls out of her eyes as her expression turned more serious. "Really, Nick…I couldn't have gotten through that without you."

Nick could see that Sara was getting teary eyed again, causing his eyes to water a little too. It had been a very emotional, very exhausting day for them both, and Nick was still in awe that any of it was real. He leaned his forehead against hers, whispering huskily, "Hey, til death do us part, remember? I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

Sara's chin quivered, and two tears made their way down her cheeks. "I love you."

Sara and Nick had been married for two years, and dated for a year before that, but Nick still couldn't help the amazement he felt every time he heard those words tumble from her lips. "Hey, today's a happy day…no tears," Nick whispered, even though he was quickly losing the battle with the moisture in his own eyes. He repositioned himself, wrapping an arm around Sara, and carefully pulling her to his side, letting her covers drop to her waist. "I love you so much."

Sara laid her head in the crook of his shoulder, running her hand lightly across his abdomen. She sniffled a few times, but Nick didn't feel anymore tears hit his shirt.

"How are you feeling?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Tired…sore. How attached are you to the idea of having a son?" Sara tried to adjust her position slightly, groaning in the process.

Nick smiled, resting his head against hers. "Let's see how we do with her first, and then decide about another." Personally, he wouldn't mind having another one, or even another few, but he figured it was best not to bring up the subject less than three hours after Sara had given birth to their first.

"Nick?" Sara asked quietly, finally stilling her hand traveling across his chest.

"Yeah babe?"

"Are we ready for this?"

Nick rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "Well, I guess we're about to find out." This was obviously not the answer Sara was looking for, because she stiffened in his arms. "Darlin, this isn't something we can learn out of a book. It'll be hard, but I think we can handle it."

Sara's voice was small, laced with exhaustion and doubt. "What if I'm not maternal enough?" Nick thought that some of Sara's doubts had to do with the hormones running rampant through her system, and the exhaustion of nearly ten hours of labor, but he also knew that these doubts had bothered Sara throughout her entire pregnancy. He had tried to assuage her fears over the past months, but nothing he had said before really seemed to penetrate that thick skull of hers.

That didn't mean that he would stop trying though. "I'm not worried about that at all," he answered, planting a kiss on her temple. Sara's eyes met his questioningly, full of doubt and a hint of fear. "I saw the way you looked at her the first time you held her" he explained gently. "She's a lucky little girl."

Nick felt a few tears hit his shirt, and heard her sniffle a few times before she got her voice under control. He stroked her hair, waiting for her to stop crying.

"When are they bringing her in?" she asked, wiping a hand across her face.

"Should be soon, the nurse said she was almost ready for her first feeding." Nick paused, waiting for Sara to finish yawning before he continued. "You know sweetheart, they can keep her in the nursery while you get some rest. They can bring her in whenever you want…"

Sara shook her head firmly. "No, it's better for her to stay in here. Having the baby in the room promotes bonding, and it's an easier transition to taking her home."

Nick resisted the urge to laugh at Sara's very firm reasoning, no doubt something she had found in one of the million books she had read over the past six months, and instead nodded.

"Besides," she added softly, "I want to keep her with me for awhile."

Nick smiled, understanding that feeling very well. "Well, you should probably try to get some rest before they bring her in. And if you change your mind…"

"This from the man who just spent a half hour staring through the nursery window…" Sara murmured. Several minutes later, she was asleep. He listened to Sara's deep and even breathing as she dozed in his arms.

Sara had been asleep almost twenty minutes when a soft knock got Nick's attention. He looked up to see the door opening. A nurse entered, pulling a portable crib behind her. The nurse, a pretty red head whose name badge read Cindy, carefully pulled the crib next to Sara's bed.

"Someone missed her mommy and daddy," Cindy announced quietly with a smile, checking Sara's hospital ID bracelet against the baby's. Sara stirred slightly, opening her eyes and beaming when she saw the crib next to her bed. "Does this little angel have a name yet?"

Nick and Sara both smiled sheepishly. "We're still working on that," Sara replied, eyes never leaving the little girl as Cindy lifted her out of the crib and placed her in Sara's waiting arms.

Nick knew he was biased, but he also knew that he had never seen a more beautiful baby before in his life. Curious brown eyes darted back and forth between Nick and Sara, a pink face peeking out from the hospital issue baby blanket. Nick was sure she was going to have Sara's curls, a few already escaping from the pink cap atop her head. He reached towards her with his index finger, lightly tracing a line down her cheek. He laughed as her head turned towards his finger expectantly, and then placed his finger in the middle of her palm, delighted when her tiny fingers grasped at his much larger finger. He tore his eyes away from their alert daughter long enough to glance over at his wife, who appeared as enraptured by their small beauty as he was.

"Are you ready to try nursing her?" Cindy asked, pushing the portable crib to the side.

Sara nodded and adjusted the baby slightly in her arms. "Nick, can you?" she asked, but he was already untying the back of her hospital gown.

She let one side fall forward, and with a little help from the nurse, positioned the baby and successfully got her to latch on to Sara's breast. Nick attempted to move out of her way, but her hand on his arm stopped him. So instead, he settled next to her, giving her some more room and watching in awe at the sight before him. Once the nurse was satisfied that Sara had things under control, she quietly left the family alone, after reminding Sara to use the call button if they needed anything.

Nick couldn't resist the urge to tuck a curl that had escaped her pony tail behind her ear. Sara smiled at the gesture, and turned towards him for a moment, finally noticing his stare.

"What?" she asked a bit self consciously.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right now?" he whispered.

Sara smirked. "I'm a sweaty, exhausted mess in a hospital gown, with about a half dozen other things wrong that you really don't want to know about."

"You're a glowing new mother, currently nursing our firstborn," Nick countered with a grin. "You're beautiful."

Sara rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the baby, but Nick didn't miss the watery smile, or the way she ever so slightly shifted closer to him. He lowered his arm to rub across her back lightly in circular motions.

Sara sighed a few minutes later, holding the baby to her shoulder as she gently burped her. "You know, she's right…"

Nick continued to rub her back, amazed at how naturally Sara was taking to the baby; for someone who was terrified about her maternal instincts, she seemed to know what she was doing. "Right about what darlin'?"

"Eventually, we are going to have to pick a name for her." She sighed again.

Nick ran a hand over his head. It was something that they had struggled with since Sara's first sonogram. They hadn't been able to agree on a single name, frustrating them both beyond belief. Sara had bought out the baby names book section of the local Borders, and they still hadn't come up with anything that they both liked for more than a few days at a time.

"You don't think Baby Girl Stokes is a good name?" Nick joked weakly, earning him a glare. "Well…how about Christine?"

"She doesn't look like a Christine." Nick looked over at the baby, now cradled in Sara's arms and grasping her mother's finger while looking back and forth at the faces of her parents. Nope, not a Christine. "Jenna?" Sara shook her head. "Marie?" Another head shake. "Well, do you have any suggestions?"

Sara bit her lip and nodded. "I was thinking earlier, while you went to check on her…what about Cassandra?"

Nick felt his breath catch in his throat, and he searched Sara's eyes. It had been nearly four years since they had been called out to Pioche and that blood soaked house, but little Cassie McBride had occupied Nick's thoughts many times since. No one could deny the effect that little girl had had on Nick. He hadn't seen Cassie since the day she had to testify at Luke Daniels' trial, but had checked on her several times over the years. Nick found out shortly after the trial ended that she had been adopted by a family from Ely, and he could only hope from there that she was finally getting to live some semblance of a normal life.

"Are you sure? You really like…"

Sara smiled. "We want to give her a name with meaning right? What's better than naming her after a smart, brave, determined little girl?"

Nick nodded, finding his voice failing him at the moment. He swallowed hard a few times, feeling a few tears escape his eyes, despite his efforts to the contrary. He was surprised to feel Sara's fingertips brush across his cheek comfortingly. Nick looked over at her with a grateful smile, and then looked down at their daughter, who seemed to be settling in quite comfortably in her mother's arms. He brushed a careful hand over her pink baby cap.

"What do you think sweetie?" Nick whispered, thinking for a moment. "Think you can handle being Cassandra Meredith Stokes?" He looked at Sara questioningly, pleased when she nodded at his choice for a middle name.

"I think she's content with it," Sara added, smiling at the baby now asleep in her arms.

Nick couldn't resist the urge to softly brush his lips against Sara's, careful not to crush the sleeping baby between them.

"Well, now that Cassie's asleep, you should try to get some rest."

Sara nodded, her eyes already closing as she reluctantly handed Cassie over to Nick. "Have you called anyone yet?" she asked through a yawn.

After planting one more kiss on Sara's forehead, Nick carefully rose and settled in the chair next to Sara's bed, marveling at the feeling of holding his little girl. It took him a few extra seconds to process Sara's question. "My parents are on the next flight out of Dallas, and I'm assuming by now that my entire family knows. I called Catherine and Greg while they were moving you here, and Catherine said she'd tried to fend everyone off for a few hours until we got settled."

Sara nodded, already drifting off to sleep. Nick spent the next two hours glancing back and forth between his two beautiful sleeping girls, making silent promises to each; he would make sure to give them the same happy ending that they were giving to him.

FIN.