Later on that afternoon Miranda comes home, "mommy. Daddy I'm home."
Eric comes down the stairs, picks her up and spins her around, "hey baby girl. How did the rest of school go?"
He puts her down and she says, "a little better. The girls that teased me left me alone the rest of the day."
He sat her on the couch and smiled, "that was good. I'm glad they left my little girl alone."
Miranda put her head slightly down and raised her eyebrows, "daddy. I'm a big girl re-mem-ber?"
He chuckled and rubbed her head, "I'm sorry. I'll remember to not call you that in public."
She put her book bag down and pulled a box out of it, "daddy I made something for the house. Be very careful with opening it it's very gentle."
He puts it on the table in front of the couch and kneels down to open it. He widened his eyes and said, "wow. Did you grow this in school all by yourself?"
She jumped in his arms and said, "yup. I did it just for you daddy."
Just then Cal comes home and sits on her favorite chair, "boy am I beat."
Eric comes over to her and starts rubbing her feet.
Calleigh notices Miranda on the couch alone, "I'm sorry sweetie. Come here." She does so and Cal kisses her forehead wraps her arms around her and holds her, "how did the rest of today go?"
Miranda looked at her as if she was about to cry, "mommy. You didn't notice the flowers I gave daddy."
Cal looks up and said, "Oh my gracious. They're beautiful. How long did it take you to grow them that big?"
She laughed and said, "half the marking period. But I also did something for you since I knew pink was your favorite color."
She got off of Calleigh and took a long white box out of her bag. She gave it to Cal and said, "here mommy." She handed Cal the box and she opened it.
She looked at Miranda as if she was about to cry, "thank you baby. I'm sorry I got mad at you at the lab."
Miranda hugged her,"it's Ok mommy. I'm sorry I left school without asking"
Cal picks her up and sets her on her lap again, "it's Ok. How about you, daddy and I spend the weekend together?"
She looks up at Eric and said, "yeah. That sounds like fun. What are we doing?"
He looks up at her sitting on Calleigh's lap and tickles her, "we're gonna spend tomorrow at Uncle H's for a picnic with everybody."
She jumps in his lap and said, "that sounds great. How early do I have to get up?"
He looks up at Cal and she says, "we need to be there by lunch time. He's making so much food it's not even funny."
She giggled and said, "great. I love his burgers. They're great."
The next day they get up and head over to H's.
Horatio greets Cal, with a hug, Eric with a handshake and he scooped up Miranda and squeezed her tight, "hey. How's my favorite Goddaughter?"
She hugged him and said, "I'm great Uncle H. I couldn't wait to come to see you."
He holds her in his arms and laughed slightly, "well Grandpa Frank, Aunt Maxine and Aunt Alexx are here. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Nat haven't gotten here yet."
She put her head down and said, "Aww man that's too bad. I have something for both of them. Can I give Aunt Maxine and Alexx the gifts I have for them?"
He kissed her forehead and puts her down before running his fingers through her hair and says, "yeah. They're outback."
She runs to the car and gets the boxes, "Uncle Horatio can you close the door for me?"
He comes up to her and shuts the car door.
She puts the boxes in her arms and runs up to Maxine and Alexx, "Aunt Maxine. Aunt Alexx. I have something for you."
They turn around from talking to one another and notice she has boxes in her hands.
They come over and take them from her.
They all sat at the picnic table and Miranda said, "one box is for each of you."
Alexx opens her box first to reveal a potted tulip plant.
She looked up at Miranda and said, "thank you. Let's get some water for it. It looks a little dried out."
Miranda hugged Alexx and said, "you're welcome Aunt Alexx. Before we put water in the pot I want Aunt Maxine to open her gift."
Maxine sits the box in front of her and opens it to reveal a frame with a photo of Maxine holding her while they're looking at each other laughing.
Maxine gets up and hugs her tight, "thank you. I'll keep this on my desk at work everyday."
Just then Nat calls out to Miranda, "hey girl. I hear everybody else is getting presents. Where's mine?"
Miranda pulls out a bag from under the table and says, "here Aunt Nat."
Natalia sits down and opens the box.
She pulls out the book and ran her fingers through her hair.
Miranda looks at her and asked, "is something wrong Aunt Nat?"
She smiled and said, "no sweetie. Why on earth would you think that?"
Miranda looked on the ground and said, "because that was the day my friend went missing and I hung out at the lab while mommy and daddy went to find her."
Nat sat her on her lap and pulled her head up, "listen Miranda. I'm not upset because you gave me the book at all. In fact I love it. I'm upset because I think of what happened to your friend everyday and think of what I would do if somebody ever took you from mommy or daddy."
Just then Ryan arrives with Tripp as Horatio trails behind them.
They all greet each other and Ryan notices the gifts everybody has and crosses his arms, "Ok Missy. Where is mine?"
She pulls an envelope out of her jacket and said, "here uncle Ryan."
He hugged her and said, "thank you girl."
He opens the envelope and pulls out the tickets, "Thank you so much. You did great."
Just then H looks at the envelope and asks him, "what did she give you Wolfe?"
He held up the tickets and rubbed it into their faces, "season tickets to the entire baseball season this year."
Horatio looked at him in jealousy, "wow. What a gift. How did you get those Miranda?"
She looked at Eric and said, "daddy helped me buy them off the computer."
Ryan walked up to him and hugged him, "thanks man."
Eric hugged him back and said, "just a little thank you for being a great uncle to her."
He sat down, put Miranda on his lap and hugged her from behind while whispering, "great choice little lady. Daddy's very proud of you."
Just then she goes back in the house and gets a box for Horatio, "Uncle H you need to sit down to open this. It can be damaged very easily."
He looks at Calleigh and she nods her head. He does so and Miranda give him the box. He slowly opens it and looks at Miranda with wide eyes, "did you pick this out yourself?"
She giggled and said, "kind of. I told mommy what I wanted to do for you and she helped me pick it out."
Just then Maxine looks in the box and asks, "what is it?"
He pulls out a leather jacket and shows it to everybody.
Frank looks at her and said, "these are all great gifts but what did you do for me?" She put her arms around him and said, "I saved the best for last."
She took another bag from under the table and said, "here grandpa Frank."
She pulls out a tall box and Frank slowly begins to open it. He pulls back the paper and looks at Miranda w/ wide eyes, "I can't believe you did that for me. I've always wanted one of these."
She hugs him from behind while Frank pulls out his sandy brown cowboy hat and says, "now when you go out to catch bad guys you can wear it to have a part of me with you."
He hugged her from the side and said, "thanks princess."
Just then they leave for the beach.
They all sit down and Calleigh sits on Eric's lap while Nat sit on Ryan's.
Miranda sits on Horatio's lap and he hugs her from behind, "so what do you want for lunch?"
She looks in the basket and says, "you made my favorite hamburgers.." She grabs one from the basket and grabs a juice. She starts to eat her sandwich and says, "Daddy. Uncle Horatio look at that." They turn and watch dolphins come out of the water.
She grins and says, "I wanna go play with them."
She runs off and Eric runs after her, "Miranda Alicia come back here young lady."
Miranda doesn't hear him and continues to run in the water.
Calleigh jumps up and sees what's going on, "MIRANDA!" She runs into the water after her but Miranda falls into the crashing waves.
They pick her up and Alexx comes up to them and kneels down next to her. She begins CPR process while Horatio comes next to her and starts mouth to mouth.
They continue the process and H calls an ambulance.
A few minutes later they arrive and the head EMT asks, "ok. What's going on?"
Calleigh walked away and Ryan held Nat, "she saw dolphins in the water and went to play with them. We called her several times but she couldn't hear us. She couldn't hear us, we got her out of the water and started CPR process right away."
The EMTs kneel down and do their work to check her out and they tilt her head to release the water from her lungs, "it doesn't seem as though she has any water in her lungs which is very good."
Calleigh comes back and asks them, "is my baby going to be ok?"
The EMT looks up at her and says, "she'll be fine. Just keep an eye on her for the rest of tonight and tomorrow. If anything changes bring her to an emergency room immediately."
Eric and Cal nod their heads and he continues to work on her and he packs up his things, "she'll be fine. Keep her away from the water for a day or two."
Eric picks up Miranda and they both hug her, "don't ever do that again. You had us nearly scared to death."
She puts her head down and says, "I"m sorry daddy. Are you mad at me? If you are are you gonna punish me?"
Calleigh pushes her hair back, "yes. I am a little upset but I'm glad you're ok. No we won't punish you. Just don't run off like that again."
They put her down and she sat back on H's lap and she finished her sandwich. She tried to open her juice but couldn't get the straw in. Ryan grabs it from her and says, "here." He put the straw in the hole and gave it back, "there you go."
Nat took a sandwich out of the basket and broke off a piece and fed it to Ryan.
He bit it and said, "thank you." T
hey continue their day together and when Cal, Eric and Miranda go home Eric tells her it's bath time.
She goes and gets her bath and changes into her PJ's and curls up in Eric's arms.
He rubs her sides and asks her, "are you ok?"
She smiles at him and says, "yeah. I'm fine."
Calleigh sits next to them and says, "well. The EMT told us we have to stay with you tonight so which one do you want to stay with you tonight?"
She smiled and asked, "can both of you stay?"
Calleigh laughed before looking up at Eric, "sure we can. I think daddy would like that."
About 2 hrs later, they put her to bed, read to her and kiss her goodnight before cuddling up around her.