Disclaimer: I do not own CSI New York or any of it's characters.

Chapter Sixteen

Stella woke up early the next morning. Her neck and back were sore from lying twisted on the hospital bed. She rubbed her eyes and pushed herself slowly up off the bed, being careful not to wake Madeline.

Her whole body ached. If she wasn't standing in the hospital, she'd say last night was a dream. She'd say that Madeline wasn't really hit by her boyfriend, and that she wasn't really pregnant. Stella picked up the note from Mac. It said she didn't need to worry about coming into work. She thought about everything she still needed to do during the day. She walked out into the corridor and took her phone out of her pocket and typed out Madeline's parent's number. As she went to hit the call button, she hesitated, holding her finger over the key. Was it her place to tell them about the pregnancy? She decided against it, thinking it best for Madeline to tell them herself. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage as the phone rang.

"Hello?" said a deep, gruffly voice on the other end.

Stella's heart stopped. She suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Um...hello? Is anyone there?"

She closed her eyes and breathed in.

"Yes, hi, this is uh, Stella. Stella Bonasera." She eventually managed to stammer.

The voice on the line went silent too. A minute felt like an eternity. The silence was deafening.

"I'm sorry, I'll call back later." She said.

"No, don't. It's okay. How are you? It's been what, 10 years? What's going on?"

"Cameron, it's about our daughter."

Stella quickly rambled off everything that had happened, she really just want to get off the phone. Talking to Cameron was awkward and uncomfortable, and she really just wanted to be with Madeline.

"Oh, and she's going to be staying with me for another week. Can you make sure you tell your mom and dad?" Stella said.

"Yeah, I will. Send my love, tell her to get better. It was great talking to you, Stella." Cameron hung up the phone.

Stella sighed and pushed the hair out of her face.

"Stella? Mum? Are you out there?" Madeline called out from inside her room.

"Yeah honey, I'm here."

Stella walked into the room where Madeline was laying looking tired and miserable.

"Morning" Stella smiled as she kissed Madeline's cheek.

"Can we go home now? I'm starving, and this food looks disgusting." Madeline whined.

"Doctor Rayleigh should be around soon, we'll find out what's going on and then I'll take you home. I'll get you some proper food too."

They sat in silence for a while, both of them too tired to speak. Eventually, Stella got up and got herself a coffee and some water for Madeline. When she came back, she found Doctor Rayleigh and a young nurse in Madeline's room. Stella quickened her pace and got into the room.

Madeline had a huge grin on her face, a smile Stella hadn't seen in a few days. It was a strange feeling, Madeline looked so happy and it warmed Stella's heart, but at the same time it broke her to see her daughter in a hospital bed.

"I can go home!" Madeline squealed. She looked like she wanted to jump up and dance.

"That's great honey!" Stella said, holding onto Madeline's hand and kissing her palm. "So does she not need a CT scan now?" Stella asked, turning towards the doctor.

"Not now no, I've had another look at her charts, and it appears that the seizure was caused by extreme low blood sugar."

"Low blood sugar?" Stella questioned, her brow creased.

"Yes, Madeline have you been eating properly?" The doctor asked, switched his gaze from Stella to Madeline.

Stella looked down at Madeline, who started to look uncomfortable with everyone staring at her.

"No, I haven't feeling well this week. I've barely been able to keep anything down, just water."

"We'll prescribe you something to keep your blood sugar levels up. You may also want to start taking pre-natal vitamins." The doctor said, raising his eyebrow.

Madeline, who was still holding Stella's hand, tensed up. Stella looked down at Madeline, smiled, and squeezed her hand.

The doctor finished handing Stella various bits of paperwork, all she had to now, was to sign Madeline out and they were free to leave. Stella was relieved to finally have Madeline come home. It had only been one night but it felt like they'd been gone a week. She also felt anxious, once they were home, she was going to have to talk to Madeline about the baby. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to having. The exact same thing was playing on Madeline's mind. She knew she was going to have to explain herself and she really didn't know what she was going to say - she just felt so guilty. As she got up off of the bed, Stella walked into the room, holding another cup of coffee.

"Are you ready to go Madeline?" Stella asked cheerily.

"You know you drink too much coffee, right?" Madeline asked back, eyeing the takeaway cup.

"That is not true. This is tea." Stella laughed and raised her cup.

"It's still caffeine." Madeline shrugged. "And yeah, I'm ready to go."

Madeline grabbed the cup out of Stella's hand and took a huge gulp of it. She swallowed the hot drink and grinned at Stella, before handing the cup back.

Back at the apartment, Madeline dropped herself down on the couch and threw her head back onto the cushions. Stella soon followed, collapsing right next to her daughter. It was quiet for a few minutes. Neither of them could muster up the energy to talk. They were both avoiding starting the conversation.

"Do you ever get bored being a police officer?"

"Well, technically I'm a crime scene investigator, and no, it never gets boring. Each case has its own little surprises."

"Ever kill anyone?" Madeline asked. She wasn't stalling anymore, she was genuinely curious.

Stella hesitated. She didn't want to scare Madeline, but she didn't want to lie to her either.

"Yes. I have." She sighed.

"I once ran over a squirrel in my car. I cried for an hour afterwards." Madeline said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I'm not sure that's quite the same thing." Stella laughed.

"No I guess not. I'm going to get something to drink." Madeline pushed herself up off the couch. She was doing everything she could to avoid explaining herself.

When Madeline returned, she was sucking on a juice box and had a bag of Skittles in her hand. She sat back down on the couch and stretched her legs across Stella's lap.

She opened the bag of Skittles, threw one up into the air and caught in her mouth with a grin.

"Impressive." Stella nodded. "So, Madeline, as much as I wish this conversation wasn't happening..."

Madeline cut her off. "Well let's not have it then."

She went to swing her legs off of Stella's lap, but she wasn't quick enough. Stella grabbed on to her legs and pulled her back down.

"How long have you known about it?" Stella asked, looking directly at Madeline.

"Remember when you had to go to work and I wanted to go shopping earlier this week? That's when I found out. I didn't say anything, I was too scared. I'm sorry." Madeline couldn't bring herself to look up from her lap.

Stella was silent for a minute. She didn't want to lose her temper and start an unnecessary argument. The silence was almost uncomfortable. Both wanted to speak, but they didn't know what to say.

"You didn't think of saying anything when you got sick? That could've been really dangerous Madeline!"

"I know! It was stupid; I was just trying to pretend it wasn't real. You're really not mad at me?" Madeline's voice started getting high-pitched, like she was trying not to cry.

Stella reached her hand out and laced her fingers around Madeline's.

"Yes, it was stupid. Incredibly stupid, but no I'm not mad at you."

"Why though? I would be mad at me. In fact, I am mad at me." Madeline asked. She looked confused, but grateful that she wasn't in trouble.

"Madeline, when I got pregnant with you, I was the same age as you are now, give or take a few months. Yeah, I was angry, really angry. And I was disappointed in you. When I gave you away, as difficult as it was, I hoped it would stop you making the same mistakes I did." As soon as she uttered the last words, she regretted it.

"I was a mistake?" said Madeline, a look of hurt shot across her face.

"No, sweetie, that's not what I meant. You were just a surprise. A beautiful, wonderful surprise, but I had no-one to help me. I didn't have parents who could look after me. I wanted you to have better than I had. I grew up in an orphanage; you grew up in a beautiful house with parents who could give you everything. You were my baby and you deserved the best."

Madeline leant forward and wrapped her arms around Stella's neck, hugging her tightly. Stella put her arms round her daughter's waist and held her. Madeline let go and pulled away. She picked her juice box and stuck the straw in her mouth.

"I am grateful, you know. I wasn't but I am now." She said, while chewing on the straw from the juice box.

"So, what are we going to do?" Stella asked, pulling the straw out of Madeline's mouth and dropping it onto the coffee table.

Madeline looked shocked. She raised her eyebrows and her eyes widened.

"We? You're not making me go back home?"

"I can't make you do anything, honey. And yes 'we'. I told you, I'm not going anywhere. I wanted to talk to you about going home." Stella said.

She looked at Madeline, who was avoiding eye contact. Stella hesitated before speaking; she wanted to be sure she was doing the right thing.

"Madeline, if you want to go back to England and never see me again, I'll understand. I'll be heartbroken, but I'll understand. I don't know if I can watch you leave again. So if you want to stay here, I couldn't think of anything better." A tear rolled down Stella's cheek. Madeline reached up and wiped it away.

"You're really going to let me stay?" Madeline's face lit up. Tears of joy rolled down her face.

It was Stella's turn to wipe away the tears. She held on to Madeline's hand and looked her straight in her eyes.

"Of course I'm going to let you stay. I want you to stay! But you're going to have to do the grown-up thing her Madeline, you need to call your parents and tell them. You need to tell them about everything."

Madeline looked down at her lap. She twisted her fingers round. Stella watched her daughter's body language. She looked so uncomfortable.

"Madeline?" She asked, trying to push her for a reply.

"I don't want to tell them." She whispered. She twisted little braids in the ends of her hair. She couldn't bring herself to look at Stella.

"Honey, you don't have a choice. You have to tell them. You have to be responsible. You're not just making decisions for you anymore Madeline. My choices affected you, and now your choices and going to affect this baby. You have to be responsible."

Madeline shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes.