Note From The Author—We all knew that I wouldn't leave the last chapter at something bad. I swear I'm like physically incapable of unhappy endings, no matter how brief they may be. Either way I hope you're enjoying this as we're getting closer to the end, which we are. Here we go again.

Disclaimer—I do not own the characters of CSI: NY.

"I can't believe you haven't done this yet man," Danny said, shaking his head. "Stella's eight months pregnant and you've got no nursery?"

Flack narrowed his eyes at him. "Because it's so easy to decorate a nursery with only one good leg and arm, especially considering I broke my dominant arm?" he asked.

Danny laughed. "So what's your excuse for the four some odd months before the car accident?"

"If you two would quit fighting like an old married couple this would go a lot faster," Hawkes told them from the doorway. "And I've got a shift starting in three hours."

"You're right," Flack said, surveying the plain white walls of the spare bedroom they were turning. "May as well get started."

For a while it was like a Three Stooges movie, especially with Flack trying to work leaning on crutches and holding a roller on the same side. Before long Danny and Hawkes basically told him to just sit down and leave it to them. It was bad enough with Danny trying to maneuver with a broken arm without Flack trying to keep his balance with a loaded paint roller.

Midway through the room Danny and Hawkes took a break and for a minute they just sat around and talked over soda and potato chips.

"This is all sort of surreal isn't it?" Hawkes asked. "The three of us painting a nursery."

Danny grinned. "Little bit man. How's it feel being a father to be Flack?"

"It's surprising more than anything. I mean I always wanted kids, but having kids with Stella? That was something I barely even dared to dream of and now it's happening. It's freaking amazing."

"Well, It couldn't have happened to two better people. Now let's get going again so we can get this finished," he said with a smile.

By the time Hawkes had to take off for his shift they had finished painting, and the nursery was a pale yellow instead of white.

"Looks pretty good," Flack said. "Good thing you two were willing to help or this never would have gotten done before we really need it."

Danny shrugged. "No big deal, you know I'm willing to help with whatever, especially since you can hardly stand up on your own without crutches and Stella couldn't really paint a nursery right now."

"Well we both appreciate the help. Though I think Stella and Lindsay may not be too thrilled when they see the state of us," Don told him with a laugh.

Turned out Flack was right. Stella got home only about fifteen minutes after Danny's departure and her eyes widened when she saw him. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked.

The same pale yellow paint they'd picked out for the walls of their nursery was splattered all over his clothes, his face and his hair. "Well, I tried to help with the painting for a while. Didn't take too long before we figured out that wasn't too great of an idea, as you can imagine."

She shook her head. "I can see. Thank God for Danny and Hawkes," she said with a smile.

"Couldn't have done it without them," he said. They walked together into the nursery and he sighed and slung his arm over her shoulder, partly for the proximity and partly so he didn't fall on his face. "Well, it may not look like much at the moment but once the paint dries we can put the crib and everything else up. Once we get that done it'll all be ready."

Stella laid one hand on her belly. "It really hits me every now and then. It may sound ridiculous, but I'll be going along and all of the sudden it just comes over me. In a little over a month we're going to have a baby; we're going to be responsible for this little life. It's a bit frightening."

Flack turned his head to kiss her temple. "It is kind of scary, but it's amazing. You're going to be a great mother."

"I worry sometimes. I catch myself wondering how someone who grew up without parents can possibly be a good parent themselves," she said quietly.

He turned so he could look her in the eye. "Stell you're the most caring person I have ever known. It doesn't matter how you were raised, you turned out amazing and you're going to be amazing with our…" He paused and smiled. "With our whatever we're having."

Now she smiled again. "Give it a little while and you'll know exactly what our 'whatever we're having' turns out to be." She leaned up to kiss him. "We're going to be good at this," she said quietly. "We both are."

A week later the nursery was complete. The crib and changing table were set up along with a little dresser full of the clothes they'd been collecting, including the I Love New York and Mexico onesies. Stella couldn't help but give in to the compulsion for a rocking chair and it sat near the crib with the stuffed animal Lindsay and Danny had brought back from the honeymoon. They'd gone with the one color, just the pale yellow; no border to keep it simple. A couple days after they got everything set up Flack walked in to find her sitting in the rocking chair, her hand stroking over the stuffed sea creature.

For a moment he just leaned against the doorframe watching her. Like the magnitude of having a baby sometimes hit Stella, it often hit him just how incredibly lucky he was to have her in his life. Every now and then she would say something or do something, something as simple as laughing or pushing her hair out of her face, and it would just wash over him. He constantly wondered how it was that he had gotten lucky enough to end up with this beautiful brilliant woman, why she'd fallen for him of all people. This was one of those moments.

Sun streamed through the window, shining in and sending light haloing around her curls, and he found himself wishing the baby would have its mother's hair. Her eyes were closed as her hand stroked idly over the soft material of the stuffed animal and she rocked gently. She was so breathtakingly beautiful sitting there in a pool of afternoon sunlight, the stuffed animal resting on top of her large belly. As it had since the moment she'd begun to show, seeing her that way made him almost giddy. He took one last look before he hobbled into the room on the one crutch he could manage.

"Hey," she said quietly, looking up when he came in.

"Hey."

Stella stood. "Shouldn't you be sitting down?"

Flack grinned at her. "Isn't that my line?" he asked.

"Well, I may be about to pop but I didn't just lose the use of two of my limbs. Come on, we'll go out on the couch."

She turned to leave but he reached out with his good arm to take hold of her hand. "Stell, I love you, you know that right? I feel like I don't tell you enough."

"I know." She leaned in to kiss him gently. "I love you too."

The pain killers they had him on made it incredibly easy to drop off, so despite the two casts he was working with he pretty much slept like the dead. He didn't even notice when Stella got up. She had been tossing and turning all night when she finally decided to just get up. She headed out into the kitchen for a glass of water and figured she would try to read a book or something.

Not a lot penetrated the haze of medicated sleep, but Stella's harsh cry of pain came through loud and clear. He was up and out of bed as quickly as his injuries would allow him. "Stell!" Cursing the blasted crutches he had to deal with he made his way out to the kitchen. He found her there, bent over the island in pain, her hands clutching painfully at the counter. "Stell what's wrong."

Breathing as deeply as she could manage she turned to him, a tear tracing a path down her cheek. "I'm having contractions. I think we're having a baby… now."

Flack's heart beat wildly in his chest. "It's too early."

She nodded. "I know; it's not that early but it's still early, but evidently Baby Flack is just as impatient as his or her parents can be, because this is happening."

"Okay, we're going to have to get a cab, there's no way I can drive." The bag they had packed was by the door and Stella grabbed it on their way out. As fast as they could they were out on the street hailing a cab. When it pulled up Stella slid in and Flack climbed in next to her. The cab took off from the curb for the hospital. Five minutes into the ride Stella's hand convulsed around Flack's with the pain of another contraction.

He whispered any low soothing words he could think of until she rode it out. "Okay?" he asked.

Stella nodded. "I'm okay, but when they talk about the pain of childbirth, they're not kidding."

"I can tell. We're almost there Stell, it'll be okay."

"I know," she responded. For the remainder of the ride she hugged in close to his side, taking the comfort she could. "Are we ready for this?" she asked quietly.

He turned to kiss her temple. "Ready or not, this is where we are. So we'll be ready."

Note From The Author—Short I know, but I didn't want to put everything into one chapter. Next chapter you meet Baby Flack. Yay!