"September 13." Lindsay said softly.
"September 13." He repeated.
"I can't believe it. It seems so far away, but not far enough." She said as he held the door open for her.
"There's a lot to do." They slowly walked down the street, away from the doctor's office.
"Diapers, strollers, cribs, clothes. We have to get double of everything."
"Babies are expensive. Do you wanna grab something to eat?"
"Yeah. I could eat a horse. I'm starving." As they headed into the diner where she had broken the news, she couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about the prospect of telling everyone else the news.
"What can I get ya?" The waitress that brought them their menus was a different waitress than the last time they had been in here, but one that they had had many times before.
"I'll have a coffee, please." Lindsay told the waitress.
"Actually, we'll both have milk. Thanks." The waitress eyed them suspiciously, but took the order and left.
"What the heck was that?" She hissed.
"You can't have coffee; it's bad for the baby. Besides, a little bit of calcium never hurt anyone." He smirked at her as he looked down at his menu.
"You could've asked before you changed my order. I'm pregnant, I don't belong to you." With that she turned to her menu, closing the topic.
After they had ordered their meal, Danny decided to broach a sensitive topic.
"So, I don't know when you wanna tell Mac, but I think we gotta let our families know fairly soon. My sister already knows, and I'm afraid she'll slip something to my mother. If Ma finds out from someone else, she's gonna be pissed."
"I'm not sure how my family is going to take this. This will be the first grandchild."
"This'll be the fifth. Nicky has Paul and Becky, Mikey has Joey and Timmy. Now I gotta warn ya, Ma's gonna wanna meet you, but my Dad's not so…respectable."
"As long as you're willing to meet my family, I'm sure I can handle it."
"When I say not so respectable, I mean, he's in the mafia."
"I know. I'm not worried, you've managed to stay out of trouble, and I'm guessing you can take care of this kid. Now, you might not want to meet my dad."
"Oh yeah?"
"He's very protective of his little girls. And he owns a shot gun."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"No problem."
Tonight was the night that they would be telling Danny's family. It had been over month since they had made their decision to start telling people, but with the size and complexity of Danny's family, this was the earliest they could get everyone together. They had decided to tell both their families on the same day. They would go to dinner with his family and then they would call her family.
The buzzer at her door went off, letting her know that Danny had arrived. She quickly ran to the intercom. Her hair was still in curlers and she only had half her make-up on when she pressed the button allowing her to speak with the person that had buzzed.
"Hello?" She said into the wall.
"It's Danny." The wall crackled back to her.
"Are you sure you're Danny? I've been told there are a lot of creeps living in New York."
"Very funny, Montana. Are you gonna let me in?"
"Come on up. I just have to finish getting ready." She went back into the bathroom to finish her make-up and hair. Once he arrived in the apartment, he came to stand at the bathroom door while she finished getting ready.
"You look great."
"Thanks. Is your mom going to approve?" She indicated her simple black skirt, with her favourite pink sweater. Hoping that it would look alright.
"She'll approve."
"I didn't know what to wear. I've never had to tell someone that I'm about to make them a grandmother."
"Neither have I, but when Mikey and Tia told my parents they were expecting, she was wearing fishnets, so I think you're good." He helped her into her coat, and waited in the hall while she locked up.
Waiting on the front step at Danny's parents was a nerve racking experience. She knew that Danny's parents and his siblings and their families would be there. It was a lot of people to be telling. When Danny's mother opened the door, all of her worries disappeared.
"Get in here, you two, it's freezing out there." They were quickly whisked into the house, and their coats were removed. "Danny, she's beautiful. Why haven't you brought her around before?" Lindsay blushed a little at the comment.
"Ma, you're embarrassing me." Danny informed her.
"You must be special. Danny never brings girls home. He's always too busy, with the job he says. I know the truth, he's afraid they'll meet us, and never want to speak to him again." She ignored her son, as she steered Lindsay into the living room. Danny quickly made the introductions.
"Alright, here we go. In the armchair, is my dad Vinny. On the couch is my sister Nicky and baby Becky. Next to her, we've got her husband Max. My sister-in-law Tia and my big brother Mikey. And here on the floor, we've got Louie. And of course, the woman with the gift of the gab, my mother, Maria."
"Stop being so cheeky, Daniel." She said as she cuffed him on the back of the head. "Now, what's your girlfriend's name?"
"Sorry, this is Lindsay." Danny introduced her.
"Alright, introductions have been made. Nicky, Tia, you round up the boys and then we eat.
After an excellent dinner, in which Lindsay ate more food than she ever thought she could, the family went back to the living room. Danny's mother was hovering around with tea and coffee, when Danny decided it was time to make their announcement.
"Ma, you might wanna take a seat. Lindsay and I have an announcement."
"You're getting married, aren't you? I knew there was a reason you brought her home. Vinny, our baby's getting married."
"Maria, shut it. Let the kid talk." Vinny barked from his armchair. Over the course of the evening, Lindsay had developed an extreme dislike of Danny's father and from the way the evening had gone, it seemed that Danny shared that dislike. Danny raised his eyebrows at Lindsay and she nodded, indicating that he should continue.
"Lindsay and I are having a baby." Immediately, chaos broke out in the room. Nicky and Tia swept in to hug Lindsay, while the men in the room congratulated Danny. The only silent figure in the room was Danny's mother.
"Mrs. Messer, are you alright?" Lindsay asked the lady.
"Danny, you are getting married. This is wonderful. Another baby and a wedding…" She was starting to ramble.
"Ma, we're not getting married." As soon as Danny had said this the room went eerily quiet.
"You're not getting married?" Lindsay noted that Mrs. Messer was starting to look a little red in the face. "You can get her pregnant, but you won't marry her? I didn't raise my sons to be cowards. You are supposed to be the good son, but you get a girl pregnant, and you won't marry her? I am ashamed. What is this poor girl's family going to think of us? That I raised a son who won't marry the mother of his child." As Mrs. Messer continued with her speech, Danny was looking more and more guilty. Lindsay decided that she had to step in.
"Mrs. Messer, it's not Danny's fault. He asked me to marry him, but…but I just don't think I'm ready to get married. This whole pregnancy thing was very unexpected and a little intimidating. So, please don't be mad at Danny." With that Mrs. Messer pushed Max out of the way, and sat down next to Lindsay.
"Oh, Lindsay. I'm so sorry. I know, pregnancy can be very intimidating. I didn't mean to make you feel badly. You don't want to get married yet, we'll leave it be, for now." She wrapped her arms around Lindsay, but Lindsay could tell from the look on Danny's face that the "for now" was a very serious "we'll see."
"Thanks for speaking up. I was about to get murdered." He said as he took her hand to lead her down the stairs.
"I know. Your mother can be very scary. I have a feeling that we'll be hearing more about our marriage, or lack thereof." She said as she settled her into his as they walked along the street.
"You better believe it. Once Ma starts on something, she doesn't let it go. She'll leave it until after the baby's born, but she won't be completely happy until you're Mrs. Daniel Messer." She felt a little tingle go through her as she heard that. Part of her wondered what it would be like to be Mrs. Daniel Messer, while another part of her was screaming for her to stop being so ridiculous. Danny would never want to marry her. They had decided that they were a bad idea; they had to think about what was best for the baby.
"Let's get back to my place. I want to change before we call my parents. These pantyhose are killing me."
"Monroe residence." The slightly accented voice said over the line.
"Hi, Mom, it's Lindsay."
"Hi sweetheart. You sound a little funny, is there something wrong with your phone."
"No, I'm on speaker phone. Can you get Daddy and Ashley and put the phone on speaker?"
"Sure. Just a minute." Danny and Lindsay could hear the family getting ready then Lindsay's mom got back on the phone."
"OK, we're all here." Lindsay's mom said.
"Hi, Lindsay." The sound of a male and a female voice came on the line.
"Hi Daddy, hi Ashley. I've got someone here with me. His name is Danny."
"Mr. and Mrs. Monroe. Ashley." He nodded his head the way he usually did when meeting people.
"Well now, this sounds serious. Are you sure everything is OK, sweetheart?"
"Mom, everything is fine. The reason that we called is that we wanted to let you know that…we're having a baby."
"You're having a baby?" The sound of a father, unsure of what to say to his daughter, could be heard through the phone.
"Yes. And I'm very happy. We're very happy."
"We're very happy, Mr. and Mrs. Monroe." Danny quickly chimed in.
"So he's sticking by you? Not like Mary Jane's fellow, who left her high and dry when she was in the family way." If the moment hadn't been so serious, Danny would have laughed at the term "in the family way."
"Yes, Mom. He's sticking by me. He came with me to my first doctor's appointment. I met his family this evening."
"Well…as long as you're happy…You're having a baby. Oh, sugar, I'm so happy for you."
After another half hour on the phone with the Monroe's, Lindsay and Danny hung up the phone.
"Well, this was quite a night." He said to her. They were sitting together on her couch. Without even noticing, she had ended up slightly curled into his side and he had his arm resting along the back of the couch.
"Yes it was." She looked up at him as he checked his watch.
"It's late. You must be exhausted, so I should get going." She looked at the clock and noticed that it was getting close to 1:00 am.
"Why don't you stay? My couch isn't too bad."
"I think I'll take you up on that offer." She grabbed him a pillow and blanket from her linen closet and went to get ready for bed.
Shortly after they had said goodnight and turned out the lights, Danny heard a noise from the bedroom. A few seconds later he saw Lindsay's head pop around the door.
"Danny?" She whispered.
"Yeah?" He said as he sat up and turned the light on.
"Are you scared?" She asked him, coming to sit on the end of the couch.
"Of what?" He asked as he scooted closer to her.
"Of having this baby." She glanced up at him nervously, hoping that he didn't think she was a nutcase.
"Terrified." He told her as he smiled at her.
"Me, too." She smiled back as he wrapped his arm around her.
Author's Note: So, this chapter is a little longer than the previous chapters, but I'm trying this new "longer" thing. I've gotten a couple of complaints about the shortness of my chapters, so I hope you like. Also, I'm going to fast forward after this chapter. I'm also going to warn you that I haven't been watching CSI: NY for very long, so if my characterization is bad, you know why. As always, please review, it's my drug of choice. Thanks.