Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!

A/N: Here's the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R. My muse loves the attention. :D. Thanks to Aphina for betaing this! The song title is from Creed.

Chapter 31.

With Arms Wide Open

Flack watched Cory as she stormed out of the building after her confrontation with Angell. He shook his head, thanking the powers that be that Lindsay was less volatile than her. If just by a thought, Lindsay appeared at his side. "Hey, Don. What's up with Cory? She looks pissed."

Flack shrugged. "Her and Angell just butted heads. I think she's going to blow off some steam. How are you doing? I know you haven't been feeling well, lately. At least you're not pregnant."

Lindsay felt white hot pain encompass her heart, but she tried not to let that show. "I feel much better, thanks. Oh, well. I've got paperwork to do." She stood on tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the cheek. "I'll see you at home." Lindsay turned from him, careful to keep her expression neutral.

She walked into her office, trying to stop the tears from flowing, to the notice of Stella, who immediately pulled her off into the bathroom. "Okay. What's wrong?"

"Don doesn't want kids. He said that he hoped that I wasn't pregnant," she cried.

Stella drew Lindsay into a hug, puzzling over what the younger woman had just said. "Have you told him? Even that you suspected?" Lindsay shook her head and Stella sighed. "Linds. You need to tell him. I know that you think it's too early for kids, but I think that after the initial shock, Don will be happy."

Lindsay raised her watery eyes to Stella's, drawing strength from her. "Really?"

Stella smiled. "Yes. I think so. So wash your face, and start planning on how you're going to tell him!"

Lindsay nodded and looked down at her paperwork. "Alright. I'll tell him tonight. I just hope your right, Stel. I don't want to fight with him over this."

Stella just smiled, trying not to fume internally over the careless words that Don had said. She was about to say more when her pager went off. "Well, I guess that's my signal to go. I'll see you later, Linds."

Lindsay nodded and began to plan. She was planning dinner when her pager went off. Looking down she saw that she needed to go to a scene. With a sigh, she grabbed her kit and made her way into the hall, where Mac was waiting for her. "What do we have?"

Mac looked at her, noticing the stress lines around her eyes. "DB on fourth. You okay?"

Lindsay smiled wanly. "Yeah. Just a little tired. Let's go."

When they got to the scene, Lindsay had forced the impending dinner with Flack to the back of her mind. She grabbed her kit and walked into the building, which reeked of decomp. Scrunching her nose and feeling her stomach lurch in protest, she walked to where the uniforms were standing, with their handkerchiefs over their noses. "What do we have?"

One of the uniforms looked at her, his face tinged with green. "Dead guy, decomposed pretty badly. Civilian called it in when they walked by the building and smelled him."

Great. Just what I need. Badly decomposed bodies. Why did I sign up for this again? Lindsay sighed again, but other than that remained professional. She nodded to the uniform and walked into the room. Fighting off the urge to throw up, she looked around the room. It was bare except for the dead body in the middle of the room.

She felt Mac walk up behind her. "Well," he said. "At least there won't be a lot to process. Who's the ME today?"

"Ah. The stench of decomp just wakes me up in the morning," Marty said behind him. "Gotta love my job," he continued sarcastically.

Lindsay laughed. "Hey, Marty. Can you give us a cause of death?"

Marty looked at her. "I can try, but I'm going to have to pop him first, otherwise he could explode from all the built up gas inside of him." He looked down at the body. "I'd say, given the amount of bloating, he's been here at least five days."

Lindsay looked away as Marty created a hole in the body to let the gas escape. As the body regained normal proportions, he shook his head. "I don't see any obvious signs of death, but with this level of decomp, I'm going to have to get him back to the morgue to be certain."

Both Lindsay and Mac nodded. They looked at each other and quickly began to process the scene, so they could get away from the stench.

Several hours later, Lindsay felt like she had scrubbed her skin off. Even with the help of lemon juice, she could still smell the lingering stench of the crime scene. Finally, deciding that she couldn't do anything else, she stepped out of the shower and got dressed in a new pair of slacks and blouse. Pulling her hair back into a pony tail, she walked back into the lab, to process all the trace that they had found. There wasn't much. They had not found any fibers, no footprints and only a handful of finger prints.

She was working on the fingerprints when Marty walked in. "Here's the fingerprints off the dead guy. I still haven't found any obvious wounds, so I'm running a tox screen right now. Maybe that will give us something."

"Thanks, Marty. I'll get to work on it."

Marty looked at her. "Are you okay, Lindsay? You seem a little tired lately."

She smiled softly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just haven't been sleeping much."

Marty winked at her. "Tell Flack to let you get some rest!"

Lindsay just laughed as she scanned the fingerprints into AFIS. "Don't you have a tox screen to see to?"

"Fine. I can take a hint. Seriously, if you need anything, just let me know."

"I will." She turned as the computer beeped. "Huh. Our dead guy is a missing person. Name of Alvin Byron. He's from Oak Park, Illinois. Family reported him missing about three years ago. Says here that he was in the advance stage of Alzheimer's." She turned and looked at Marty, who walked over to the computer. "Maybe this wasn't a murder?"

Marty just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but I'll get on it." He shot her another smile and walked out of the lab. Lindsay sighed as she prepared to call the Oak Park PD, so they could notify the family.

Later that night, when she had gotten home, Lindsay took another shower. She dressed carefully and planned out dinner. She put together a salad and put some potatoes in the oven to bake. Then she pulled the steaks out of the refrigerator to thaw, while they were cooking.

She paced nervously in the kitchen, trying to figure out how she was going to tell Don that she was pregnant. His words from that morning kept repeating themselves back in her head. At least you're not pregnant. "Oh, Don…" she murmured to herself.

She jumped when she heard his key in the lock. Trying to calm herself by taking deep breathes; she put on a brave face, knowing that she had to hide her emotions temporarily. She smiled as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, sweetheart. How was work?" he asked as he grabbed her in a bear hug.

She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Depressing," she answered. "I was called to a scene, severally decomposing body. Turns out the DB was a missing man from Illinois, who had Alzheimer's. He died of exposure. That's just…depressing."

Flack looked down at her, seeing multiple emotions crossing her face. Instinct told him that wasn't the only thing wrong, but he let it slide for the time being. "I'm sorry."

Lindsay sighed. "Thanks. Anyway, I cooked dinner. It should be ready in about half an hour if you want to unwind a bit."

Flack nodded. "Yeah. I think I'll go take a shower. I had to chase a subject through a trash filled alleyway. I know I must reek of garbage."

Lindsay laughed. "Better garbage than the smell of decomp. I just got it off my skin!"

Flack walked towards the bathroom, laughing.

A few hours later, after the leisurely dinner, Flack decided to find out what was really wrong. "What's wrong, Linds? I know that it's not just the case that is getting to you."

Lindsay sighed, knowing that she couldn't put it off any longer. "When you said this morning that you were happy that I wasn't pregnant, what did you mean? Do you not want kids?"

Flack looked at her, surprise in his eyes. "No. I want kids. I'm just not sure that I'm ready for them. I mean, with our jobs…and I don't think I'll be a good dad."

Lindsay looked at him, sorrow filling her heart. "We'll always have the same jobs, Don. We are not going to change as people."

He nodded. "I know. It's just—we've both been terrorized on the job. Hell, I was blown up. I can't imagine bringing a child into the equation right now."

Lindsay stood up and walked into the living room. Don followed her. With tears shining in her eyes, she looked at him. "Well, start imagining. I'm pregnant." She watched his face carefully and saw that shock that encompassed him.

"But…but…" he stammered. "How?"

Lindsay felt her temper break. "Do I really have to explain the birds and the bees to you, Don? Come on."

Flack shook his head at the vehemence in her voice. "That's not what I meant! I mean, we were careful."

"Yeah, we were, but shit happens Don," she replied scathingly as she walked out of the room.

Flack stared that the place she had stood. I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to be a dad. I'm going to be a dad! He shook his head clear and proceeded to the bedroom, regret filling his heart as he noticed her crying silently on the bed. "Linds? Sweetheart? Please don't cry."

"Why not?" she asked between sobs. "You aren't happy. This will only drive us apart."

Flack knelt in front of her. "I'll admit that I didn't handle this very well, but…we're going to have baby?" he asked, wonder filling his voice.

Lindsay looked up at him and noticed that the shock had been replaced by an incredulous expression. Not trusting herself to speak, she just nodded her head.

Flack wrapped her in his arms and whispered into her ear, "We're going to have a baby. We created life?" He felt her nod, as joy replaced the regret in his heart.

AN: Okay. So much needed FlackLindsay fluff! So, what did ya think? Go read Gotham's Heroes!

Soccer-Bitch - Are you in SD? If so, I hope that everything works out! I have a friend out there and I was so relieved when she told me that she didn't lose anything, but my heart goes out to everyone that did. I'm glad you liked the chapter. It's one of my favs.

magic munchies - I think you were 145, but I'm not sure. (:p) Thanks! This chapter and the next are all about the ships, so good updates for all fans!

brainDamage - First of all, congrats on your 18th b-day! And flirt with him, girl! I'm glad my muse is back too, but she's a bit scattered at the moment. I have ideas for like 3 more stories in my head that are trying to come out! Darn it. I was looking forward to sleeping! Anyway, my muse shows up when I'm overworked and that I have been for the last month. So expect at least weekly if not bi-weekly updates.

CSI junkie - I'm glad that I was able to surprise you! I promise, I have a lot more twists coming up. I hope that you like them! Thanks!

Axellia - I'm glad you like the backstory! You're responsible for some of it. I'm definitely willing to let you bounce ideas off of me and I did get the plot breakdown and I must say, Wow. That was a lot of breakdown!

Aphina - It's always the smallest bit of evidence that catches the killer! I'm glad you liked the resolution to that. I like the history on Alexis although I must thank Cheryl since I kept bouncing ideas off of her! I like Cruz. What sucks is that my muse is really leaning on killing him off and I don't want to! (:o) I'm still fighting her on that.

EmSyd - Thanks! I can't believe that you read all of them in what, 2 days? Wow. I'm stunned.