"Louie!" Danny exclaimed. He rose and hugged his brother. Louie seemed a little unsteady on his feet, but otherwise healthy.
"How did you get better so fast?" Danny asked. He looked back to Lindsay, who was pale, chocolate brown eyes wide. Her hand went to Gio's shoulder as if to assure herself that he was still there. Louie embraced Danny, then stood back to look his brother over.
"Trust me, it took too long for my taste," he joked, "You look good, D." Danny nodded humbly.
"You're not lookin' half bad yourself, Lou," he laughed. Danny felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see Fina standing by his side, blue eyes bleary. Danny scooped her up into his arms, ignoring his mother's protests. The five year-old settled her head on his shoulder and looked out at Louie, simply observing.
"Angel Girl," Danny whispered, "This is your Uncle Louie. Lou, you've got to meet my family." Danny motioned to Lindsay to come closer, and she did, not taking her hand off of Gio's shoulder. As she came up next to Danny she pulled her son into half a hug, holding him to her side. Danny's hand on her back helped her relax but not let go of her son.
"Louie, my wife, Lindsay and our kids, Gio, Fina," he looked between the twins, "Alex and Aiden, wait, Aiden and Alex," he joked, switching between the two. Fina laughed.
"Nona has Alex and Aiden's on the couch next to Annie, silly Daddy," she giggled. Danny rubbed noses with her, and then turned back to Louie.
"The littlest one is Anna," he said, "She's three months."
"Gee whiz, D," Louie joked, "You're a busy man!" Louie walked cautiously over to the easy chair and sat down. Danny settled on the love seat with Fina in his lap and Lindsay opted for the couch, scooping Aiden onto her lap. Gio slipped into the next room with his grandfather, and Danny's mother walked back into the kitchen, taking little Alex with her.
"So Louie," Danny broke the silence, "How long have you been awake?"
"Two months, give or take," Louie said, "Pop said you was real busy wit' your new baby, said it'd be better if we didn't tell you. Thought we should surprise you."
"Well," Danny laughed, "You sure did that. What did the doctors say?"
"That I'm a miracle," Louie said, "But we all knew that already." His appearance was smug but his eyes held the same sparkle as his little brother's did when he was in a teasing mood. Danny sat and talked to his brother, finally making up for that day so many years ago. Fina grew bored and headed into the kitchen, Lindsay followed her, taking Aiden, but leaving Danny in charge of Anna.
The kitchen smelled of a delicious Chicken Parmesan. Alex was awake and perched on her grandmother's hip as the old woman moved around the kitchen, testing one thing, adding to another. Fina found the stepstool her grandfather had made especially for her and pulled it up to the counter.
"Nona, I want to help," she declared. The woman smiled down at her and handed her the bread and garlic butter mixture along with a butter knife, so she could make the garlic toast. Lindsay sat down at the table and snuggled Aiden close. She hadn't been this scared since the day Danny and Fina disappeared. Her stomach was tied up in knots. She felt a tear slip down her cheek.
"Mama, no cry," Aiden said, startling Lindsay. She blinked away the ears and forced a smile.
"Mama's okay, sweetheart," she said, stroking Aiden's baby soft blond curls. Danny's mother looked over and clucked again. It was no wonder Danny said his mother epitomized the Italian 'Mother Hen' stereotype. She crossed over and wrapped Lindsay in a hug.
"Don't you worry," she said, "It would take a fool to say that your Giovanni belongs anywhere else, and Mama Messer don't raise no fools." The Italian woman kissed her daughter-in-law on the top of her head and patted her cheek. Lindsay chuckled.
"Thank you," she whispered. She looked up to see Fina watching them inquisitively. Both mother and grandmother flashed the little one a reassuring smile and the happy-go-lucky child returned to her task. Lindsay smiled, shifted Aiden and stood.
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"You help the little Angel with the bread and leave the rest to me," Mama Messer said. As strong of a country girl and a mother Lindsay was, when she was in Mama's kitchen, she was a kid again.
Dinner finally got on the table and the family gathered around the table. As one would expect from a large Italian family, it was noisy. The twins threw pasta at each other from their highchairs, and Lindsay could have sworn she saw Danny and Louie flicking burnt garlic bread edges at one another. Anna woke up halfway through dinner and decided to be fussy, so Danny lifted her from the carrier and settled her on his left arm and continued eating. Lindsay marveled at how much of a natural he was with all of their kids. She looked next to him at Gio, searching for the similarities she'd seen in the little boy's face since the day he'd come into her life. Now, all she could see was Louie. She saw him in the dark hair that was messily spiked and the dark eyes that looked at his broccoli with distaste. But then she smiled as the strategy she saw next was pure Danny. Gio took advantage of his father's distractions and slipped a single broccoli flower onto Danny's plate. Then he turned and added one to his grandmother's plate. He waited for his dad to eat the broccoli flower, then added another. He did the same with his grandmother's plate. Gio continued the pattern until the last piece, which he made a big deal of eating. Normally, Lindsay would have put a stop to it as soon as she noticed but tonight, she was feeling lenient.
After dinner, Mama Messer shooed Lindsay and the children out of the kitchen and into the living room. Lindsay let Alex and Aiden down to crawl around and play. Fina's immediate response was to play with them, she was determined to help them start walking. Gio sat for a little bit, before he
convinced Fina to play checkers with him. She tromped him three games in a row, and they started to wrestle. Louie took in Gio's eight extra inches and five extra years.
"Aren't you afraid he's gonna hurt her?" he asked Danny. The CSI just laughed.
"Just watch," he said. Sure enough, when Fina had had enough, she used her martial arts training to gain the upper hand and pin Gio to the ground. Louie looked impressed.
"That one's got some fire in her," he said, "She'll make a good cop when she grows up."
"If that's what she wants," Lindsay asserted. Louie smiled at her. She was good for his little brother, Louie decided, smart, sweet, with a spark of her own.
"D, what's the deal with your kids?" Louie asked, musing over something he'd been wondering about all evening.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked.
"I mean, that your oldest one would have at least been well on the way before I went under. And I would have known if you had one on the way," Louie said, "Mama never stopped talking about her good son," Louie said. Lindsay reached out and grabbed Danny's hand for comfort as he took a deep breath.
"Louie, there's something you need to know about Gio."
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DunDunDuuuuh! I know, how mean of me! but It's 1 am and I have church in the morning. And this seemed like an appropriate place to end this little segment. Hope you like it!