Disclaimer: CSI:NY is the intellectual property of CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer Television.
Chapter 7: What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
What are you doing New Year's New Year's Eve?
Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight
When it's exactly twelve o'clock that night
Welcoming in the New Year on New Year's Eve
"Okay, Lindsay, you're doing fine. You're about 8 centimetres dilated, so you have a ways to go. Just remember to breath through the contractions, and you'll be fine." Deborah's voice was calm as she patted Lindsay's hand and helped her off the table back on the chair she had been straddling.
Danny rubbed Lindsay's lower back, trying to keep her focused on breathing and not on the pain of her labour. The baby was turned the wrong way, with its face up instead of down. It wasn't a problem, Deborah had assured them, but it was going to make things a little longer and a little less comfortable for Lindsay. "We want to avoid pain meds if possible, though," Deborah cautioned, "They slow labour down, and that gets hard for the baby. Just keep breathing, Lindsay."
Deborah examined, Lindsay breathed, and Danny rubbed and talked, a steady, soothing stream mixing comfort with cheerleading. The contractions were coming so close together that sometimes Lindsay felt she had only one breath between them. Other times she fell asleep for what seemed to be hours before the next contraction. Everything was focused on this one thing; the wave of pain that began at the edges of her consciousness, then swept over her, holding her under the surf, before retreating to the edges again.
Finally, she grabbed Danny's hand, hard, and sobbed, "That's it. I can't do this any more. Make it stop, Danny. Just make it stop."
Deborah smiled in satisfaction, "And that's transition. One more quick exam, Lindsay, but I'm betting you are fully dilated."
Lindsay had to move back to the table for the exam, and Deborah called the birthing team as soon as she had completed it. "Okay, Lindsay, in a little bit you're going to want to push…"
"Now," Lindsay said with determination.
"No, Lindsay, listen to me. I know you want to push, but you need just a few more minutes here before you do. Cleansing breath, then 'hee, hee, hee', okay? Don't push yet."
Lindsay was leaning back on the raised bed, her feet braced below her. The doctor came in at a run, "Okay, Lindsay, let's do this! How ya' feeling?"
"I want to push!" She growled it deep in her throat. Danny looked at her in alarm; he had been warned that his wife might turn into a screaming virago, but no one had warned him about the possibility of a werewolf.
"Good, good. Save some of that energy; you're going to need it. Now let me look, and if I see hair, you're good to go." She motioned to Danny, "You can let go of her hand and come here, Detective. She can do this on her own."
Deborah stepped into Danny's place, and he moved to the bottom of the bed. "Linds, the baby's crowning!"
"You're going to feel the burn now Lindsay, so relax as much as you can and let your body tell you what to do." Deborah was talking quietly in Lindsay's ear.
"I'm going to push," Lindsay said again.
"Use your breath, then. Bear down … 3, 4, 5 … more? Good girl!"
Danny yelled, "Montana! Here he comes!"
"Okay, stop a minute, Lindsay, and breathe! We need to clean out the baby's airway." The doctor moved quickly and efficiently, pressing gently on Lindsay's belly to help her focus again.
"Take a breath, Lindsay. Feel the wave, and push when you're ready."
"Get ready, Detective!"
"Oh God!"
Lindsay was almost silent as she pushed for the last time, only letting out a groan at the last moment. The baby slid out into Danny's waiting hands, and gasped in his first breath, only to let it out again in an angry squall as he went from purple to red in one heartbeat.
"It is a boy. Lindsay, it's a boy." Danny's voice was awed and choked with tears as he cut the cord under the doctor's direction and carried the tiny baby to Lindsay. She reached out her arms as the nurse handed Danny a towel to begin a rough cleaning and keep the baby warm.
"Time of birth: 12:00:01 New Year's Day!" A nurse wrote it on the chart as she looked up and grinned. "Looks like you may have beaten everyone in the New Year's baby stakes, Messers!"
Lindsay and Danny didn't even hear her. All their attention was on the little boy in Lindsay's arms.
Across the city, the lab had exploded in cheers and wanton kissing when the Old Year was officially pronounced, and the New Year was welcomed in. In the midst of all the noise (and some pretty wanton kissing from her husband, who was fending off all the other men), Stella felt her cell phone go off, its merry Trumpet Tune penetrating even the lab rats' cheering and singing of "Auld Lang Syne".
"Hello!" she answered it casually, still gripped in Don's arms, "Danny? Danny, is that you? Wait a minute! Just wait a minute! Don – shut them all up a second, would you?"
Don whistled, a sharp, piercing sound which made the ears ring, but had the desired effect. "Everyone shut up a minute! Messer's on the phone!"
Stella turned up the volume on her phone and people held their breath to hear. "Go ahead, Danny, everyone's listening."
"It's a boy, Stel, a perfect, beautiful little boy, 9 lbs 12 oz. Can you hear him?" In the distance, a baby could just be heard, bawling his lungs out. "Lindsay is great – she's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. It was incredible."
Even the people at the furthest reaches of the lab could hear Danny's voice break. Then he laughed, "Lindsay says to stop talking and tell you to come meet your godson, you and Don. Oh, tell Mac and Sheldon to come too. And Dr. Sid. Hell, tell anyone who wants to come!"
Stella had to clear her throat. "Tell Lindsay we're on our way, and we're bringing the champagne!"
The whole room burst into cheers and yells of congratulations and best wishes to Lindsay as Stella turned off the phone before jumping into Don's arms and kissing him stupid.
By the time Mac, Stella, Don, and Sheldon made it to the birthing centre, Lindsay had already showered and changed into clean clothes, while Danny had watched his son going through the testing every baby does in the first few hours after birth. Danny could hardly bear to let him out of his arms. Lindsay was positively bouncing with energy; she felt as if she had jumped out of a plane and was still floating on adrenalin. She greeted everyone with a kiss and a babbled apology for not explaining what was happening earlier.
"Where's Sid?" she asked, a little surprised. "I thought he'd want to be here!"
"He would have, I'm sure," Stella said, as she hugged Lindsay, "But when we left he was curled up in the morgue with one arm around a tech, and the other around a bottle, snoring! We thought we'd send him in the morning."
Stella was the first to hold the baby, to exclaim over his tiny fingers and fluffy blond hair. He was quiet but awake, examining each person who spoke to him carefully before turning his head to search for his mother's voice again.
Sheldon had grabbed a digital camera on the way out of the lab, and was snapping pictures as if documenting a scene. He preferred the role of observer, even here.
When Don held the baby, he looked at Stella with a hint of longing, "He's so little. I don't even remember Star being this little any more."
Stella laughed, "She was this little only about five months ago, Don!" Having come a little early, Star had been a lot smaller when she was born. Compared to Star, this one looked like he could walk out of the hospital under his own steam. Stella shuddered at the thought of delivering a three month old, and glanced at Lindsay with a touch of awe. She looked pretty serene about it all.
Lindsay caught the look and laughed, "Born for breeding, my doctor back home said. Guess he was right!"
A nurse came to the door just as Don reluctantly handed the baby over to Mac. "Mrs. Messer? There's a reporter here from the Associated Press. She'd like photos and a story."
Danny looked up suspiciously, "What are you talking about?"
The nurse laughed, "I was right! Your baby was the first one born in New York."
She looked around the room at the uncomprehending faces. "The New Year's baby?" She said it slowly, giving them all a minute to catch up. "He was born at 12:00:01? That's the earliest of all the babies born tonight?"
She watched the information sink in around the room. Mac's face split into a grin as he looked at the baby in his arms. "That makes you King of New York tonight, little guy! Hey, Danny, you haven't told us his name. Or are you still working that out?"
Lindsay blushed, "No, we figured that out a long time ago. Turns out we were both sure it was a boy, but there are too many men to name him after."
Danny jumped in, "So we picked one name for him which would remind us of the Grays and one for my family. We figure we'll just have to keep having kids until all the other names have been used up!" He winced when Lindsay and Stella each smacked him, Lindsay on the shoulder but Stella on the head. "Hey," he protested, laughing, "Lindsay was the one who said it!"
"You push a ten pound turkey out your butt and you get to talk about the next one!" Stella told him seriously, as the reporter and photographer came in.
"Can we quote you on that?" asked Casey White, the young reporter who had been assigned to the "soft news" section. She was hoping to get noticed with this story, and her eyes widened in appreciation as she looked around the room. With at least two decorated officers in the room, she thought her chances of a front page story were looking good.
Sure enough, next day, her by-lined story ran on the front page of all the major papers in New York, together with the headline, "New York's Finest Produce New Year's First!"
The accompanying picture had Detective Mac Taylor, Detective Don Flack, Detective Stella Bonasera-Flack, and Dr. Sheldon Hawkes standing behind a beaming Danny and Lindsay holding little Graeme Louis Messer.
A/N: I have loved this little world, but this is the last story in this particular AU. Now that more information about Lindsay's past is coming out in the show, new possibilities are opening up.
Thanks to all the people who read the stories, especially this last one, and to all my reviewers who really did show me why people risk putting ideas out into the world. When those ideas are greeted so graciously and sometimes even enthusiastically as mine have been, the impetus becomes a drive, and a pleasure!
Happy 2007 (and here's hoping for a great DL ending to Season 3)!