Thanks for all the reviews! And thanks to my beta, Alisa!

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Mac asked.

Horatio sighed and rolled his eyes. Mac had asked him so many times, he had lost count. Horatio could understand that his younger lover was worried about him going to work while being pregnant, but the redhead had desk duty and wasn't likely to be exposed to anything dangerous. Besides, Mac couldn't protect him from everything.

"Mac, if you ask that again I'll… I'll scream." Horatio said.

"Scream?" Mac chuckled, "Is that the best you can do?"

"Well I could shoot you, but I really want our child to grow up with two parents." Horatio said.

Mac chuckled, and kissed his lover on the cheek. Horatio smiled and opened the door to leave.

"You wouldn't shoot me." Mac said.

Horatio just smirked and walked to his hummer.

"You wouldn't." Mac called to him, "I know you wouldn't."

Horatio just shrugged and got into the hummer. He started the engine and drove away. Mac frowned and closed the door.

"He wouldn't shoot me." He said.

Of course he knew that pregnant men and women were pretty much capable of anything. He had never thought his lover would throw anything at him either, but he had been proven wrong the day before when Horatio had thrown the remote control at him. It hadn't hurt, but it proved that while he was pregnant Horatio Caine was not afraid to lose his control.

"He did throw a remote control at me, so… he might shoot me." Mac said and sat down on the couch in the living room.

Elvis soon joined him and purred as he lied down in his lap to snuggle. Mac had spent the whole weekend unpacking his things after moving down to Miami. Now, he was officially a retired cop and had a whole day with no plans.

"Okay, what to do, what to do." Mac said and scratched Elvis, "Ah, we can paint the nursery."

He looked down at the ginger cat and Elvis just meowed at him.

"You're right, I can paint the nursery." Mac smiled, "I'm talking to a cat… again. Why is it that every time you and I are alone, I talk to you?"

He hadn't expected an answer from Elvis and he didn't receive one. The cat just purred louder and closed his eyes.

"Well, if I'm going to paint it I have to buy paint." Mac said and stood up.

Elvis glared at him for interrupting his snuggling and ran off to the bedroom; probably to hide under the covers to sleep. Mac grabbed the car keys to Horatio's private car and drove to the mall. It was time to buy some paint for the nursery.

-I-

The team was just as bad as Mac, when it came to mothering their boss. They were on him like bees on honey and worried way too much for his liking. He sought refuge in his office. He knew that the team would leave him alone for a few hours if he was there; they'd think he was "safe" there.

"Growling at the paperwork won't make it go away." A female voice said from the doorway.

Horatio looked up to see Alexx Woods smiling at him. She hadn't seen him earlier in the shift, since she had been busy with an autopsy down at the morgue. Now she was free and her first stop on her break was Horatio's office.

"I'll try not to mother you too much, but I just wanted to know how you are feeling today." Alexx said and sat down on the guest chair.

"I'm fine. I'm tired and I'm beginning to get hungry, but I'm fine." Horatio said, "I just wish everyone else would understand it."

"Well, we're all worried about you." Alexx said, "You always look after us and put everyone else's well-being before your own, and now it's time for us to look after you."

"I'm not going to break into two, just because I take the stairs to the lab rather than the elevator." Horatio said.

Calleigh had freaked when the Lieutenant had arrived at work and chosen to use the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator that had gotten stuck. If Horatio wasn't pregnant she would have never freaked out; giving him a tongue-lashing for not being careful and possibly injuring himself.

"I know I'm also overprotective, but this is a bit too much." He sighed.

"Well, talk to them about it." Alexx said, "You know none of us will stop worrying, but we will back off if you tell us to. The only person who won't take a step back will be Mac. But my husband was the same during my two pregnancies."

Horatio smiled at the mention of his lover. He loved Mac with all of his heart, even if the man drove him nuts with his overprotective mothering. He knew everyone only meant well and he appreciated their concern and their protectiveness, but not when they were doing it too much.

"How do I tell them?" Horatio asked.

"Just tell them that they need to give you some space." Alexx said, "You're only 11 weeks pregnant, so they should back off a bit."

"Yeah, I guess you'll all be more and more worried as the pregnancy progresses."

"Oh yes, we will." Alexx grinned, "Just remember, that we're only looking after our favorite redhead."

Horatio grinned. Alexx was right. The team was family and family took care of each other.

At lunch Horatio kindly told his team to give him some space and not worry too much. The team blushed, as they realized they had all acted like nervous mother hens towards the redhead and that he probably had enough of that from Mac at home.

"What is Mac doing today by the way?" Calleigh asked, "It's his first day alone in the house."

"Probably painting the nursery, buying clothes for the baby, checking baby name books." Horatio shrugged.

"Aw, that's cute." Calleigh grinned.

-I-

Mac was taking a break from his painting project in the nursery while having lunch and reading through a book of names for girls. He was absolutely sure that the baby was a girl. Not that he would be sad if the baby was a boy, but his gut told him it wasn't a boy and he trusted his gut.

He liked so many, many names in the book and he had circled all of them to show Horatio later. There were for example, the names: Caylee, Ainsley, Debbie, Fatima, Cadence, Drew, Michelle, Ashleigh, Mary and Catherine.

Since Mac was all about girls' names, Horatio had told him a few boys' name, like Kevin, Noah, Michael, Patrick and Gavin.

The two of them would have a really hard time naming the baby once it was born. They had decided to wait until they could finally hold their bundle of joy to name it. When Mac was done, he went back to the nursery and continued painting the walls.

He used a light green color and painted the rails white. Soon the room would be filled with furniture and toys. Mac couldn't wait to start buying furniture for the child.

He had never thought he'd be so excited about having a child. He had to admit that the only other time he had ever thought of having children, was when he was married to Claire. When she had died, he had put that thought away and unconsciously made himself think that children wasn't for him or that he would be a bad father. With Horatio by his side, he knew he would be the best father he could be. His lover would be an amazing father too.

Mac truly hoped the baby would inherit his lover's red hair and blue eyes. He wouldn't be disappointed if the baby didn't, but he would love to have a little redhead running around in the house. Just the thought of little feet sounding on the floor made him smile. And he didn't mind at all the fact, that he would have to wake up in the middle of the night and feed the baby.

All the things that came with having a child were a blessing, not a curse.

Mac had already bought several photo frames where he and Horatio could put pictures of their child. Mac couldn't really wait several more months, before he got to hold his and his lover's surprise. Because the baby sure was a big surprise. A happy and wanted surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.

-I-

"It's so unfair." Horatio muttered.

Eric and Calleigh were out on a scene with Frank and Alexx. Ryan had just returned from a crime scene with Frank and Horatio was still stuck in the lab. He was eyeing the coffee machine and trying to control his urge to just have one tiny little cup of coffee. He wasn't allowed to drink it anymore now that he was pregnant and Mac had even gone as far as to quit drinking it himself, just to keep Horatio from doing it.

However, the New Yorker could handle not having coffee, Horatio couldn't. And what was worse was that he didn't have his craving at the lab either; pineapples.

He had already sent Mac out late at night to buy pineapples, because he desperately needed it. Horatio had never liked it before he got pregnant, but now he was obsessed with it.

"Why are you growling?" Ryan asked.

He went to the coffee machine and saw Horatio angry glare. Ryan bit his lower lip to keep from laughing as the big, tough redheaded CSI who could scare the most deviant men and make a grown man cry by just looking at him, was growling at a coffee machine. Nothing ever made Horatio Caine lose his control… except the damn coffee machine that he couldn't touch without having someone from the team slap his hand away and give him a tongue-lashing.

"You realize that this is the perfect opportunity to quit the coffee." Ryan smiled and sat at the table cross from his boss, "After the baby is born you might not even go back to drinking it, because you've been away from it so long."

"I know, but I really want coffee." Horatio sighed.

Ryan chuckled, "If I run to the store across the street and buy some pineapples, will that cheer you up?"

Horatio lit up like a lighthouse and grinned, "You would do that?"

"Yeah, if it keeps you from murdering the coffee machine with your angry glare, then yes."

Horatio rolled his eyes as Ryan smirked.

"Okay, thank you Ryan." He said.

"Anytime, H." Ryan smiled and left.

It felt like an eternity for Horatio, but in reality it was just five minutes before Ryan returned with a pineapple. He had never seen Horatio so interested in food before, but the man had finished eating in under a minute and he was a much, much happier man when he was done.

-I-

When Horatio came home, he found his lover asleep in the recliner with green paint all over his hands and face. Horatio smiled and looked inside the nursery; it was beautiful. Perfect for a kid. It warmed his soul to know that Mac had spent all day painting the walls. He heard Mac groan and stir and went back to the living room where he was.

"Hello, love." Horatio smiled and gave the younger man a kiss on the lips.

"Hi." Mac yawned and took Horatio's face in his hands to kiss him some more.

When they parted Horatio had two green hand prints on his cheek. Mac chuckled.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. You're face is also green." Horatio said.

"Hey, look in the name book." Mac smiled and handed the baby name book to his lover.

Horatio's eyes widened, as he saw how many names Mac had circled to show that he liked them.

"Mac, we're having one child not a hundred. How are we going to be able to choose between all these names?" Horatio asked.

Mac shrugged, "Nobody said naming a baby was easy."

Horatio shook his head amused and dragged his lover to the master bathroom.

"You are going to give me a massage." Horatio smiled, "I need it."

"Anything for you, love." Mac grinned.

The two of them got undressed and stepped inside the shower. Horatio loved getting a massage while taking a shower and as Mac worked on his back, the redhead just relaxed and enjoyed the moment of being pampered.

"I love you Mac." He said.

Mac kissed his love's neck and smiled.

"I love you too."

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Editor/Beta's notes: "I apologize if I've missed any mistakes, I am human...I do my best to catch ALL mistakes, but some can slip through.Thanks, Alisa"