AN: I don't own any of the CSI:NY Characters or any of the show's storylines that I may refer to from time to time, but the rest of the plot is mine.

Thanks to all my reviewers - B1U3B311, Madison Bellows, hope4sall, EmSyd & Soccer-Bitch

12. Too soon

Don opened the door just enough to be seen. He hesitated as Mac lifted his badge, waiting to see how things played out. Mac didn't appear surprised to see him, which was something.

Mac took in the younger man before him, trying to keep his face neutral, not give anything away. He was a little surprised to find Don so casually dressed, in tattered jeans and a blue sweater, but then he realised that he would hardly be walking around right now in a suit. Don was blocking the door and things were quiet inside so he couldn't tell if Laura was even there, although he knew she was from the conversation he'd had with the Feds downstairs.

He saw a moment of apprehension pass Don's eyes as they looked at each other.

"Detective Taylor, Detective Angell." Mac introduced them formally, as he had for all the other neighbours. "We're sorry to bother you but can you tell us what you know about your neighbours? Particularly the man in 417."

"Nah, sorry, don't even know the guy, we ah kinda only moved in a coupla days ago." Don replied, relieved that the message had got through and that it wasn't Danny or Stella standing in front of him. He glanced up and down the corridor as Mac continued his questioning.

"We?"

"Yeah, my wife and I, this place was vacant and we needed someplace to hang."

"Is you're wife available, can we ask her a couple of question?"

"She's resting right now."

Don considered his words carefully, not wanting to give anything away, but still let Mac know they were ok.

"Resting? Is she sick?"

"Who is it Danny?" Laura called as she approached the door. Don eased it open as she appeared beside him and he draped an arm around her shoulders.

"Danny?" Mac asked slightly amused. Don shrugged.

"Katie, they're detectives, something happened down the hall, they want to know what we can tell them."

"Nothing really, we sort of only just got here. Haven't really seen much of anybody. ... Although there was a guy, blonde hair, kind of straggly, I think he was from 417, but I can't be sure."

"What made you notice him?"

"I had been down to the laundry, ... when I got back ...I dropped my keys, the guy, Graham he said his name was. He saw and picked them up for me, that was maybe two days ago, I haven't been out much since."

"Did either of you hear anything from down the hall in the last few days?"

"Nah, next door play the TV pretty loud come nights, Katie rests most in the day. Most folks don't hang around much."

"Ok well if you think of anything give me a call." Mac handed over a business card as he had for all the other enquiries he had made. He paused a moment and caught Don's eye. Don slightly inclined his head in a form of mutual acknowledgement, before Mac turned away and Don and Laura stepped back and he closed the door.

"Looks like they got the message." Sighed Laura, running her hand over her stomach.

Don's phone beeped and he checked the message then deleted it. "We have to go Kat."

She nodded.

--

Mac and Angell re-entered the apartment where Danny and Stella were packing everything up. "Mac did you see them? Are they alright?"

"Stella, they're fine. She looks a little tired, but otherwise fine. Do you have an ID yet?"

"Nothing, no ID or drivers licence. We'll have to run prints at the lab."

"His first name may be Graham, young couple down the hall said she saw him a couple of days ago, gave me a vague description and a plausible explanation for talking. He says the neighbours play the TV too loud at night, they claim not to know anything and honestly, I don't think they heard anything."

"What have they got themselves into Mac?" Sighed Stella.

"We'll talk back at the lab. Are you done here?"

"Yeah, ME's office are on their way up to get the body."

"I'm gonna go make some calls." Mac left with a parting comment.

--

Don and Laura left the building and began to make their way a few blocks to the subway.

Once in the subway station they went towards a payphone at the end of the platform.

A few minutes later Don replaced the receiver. "Mrs Henderson wants to see us, ... she may have a family."

Laura stared at him, he could see the nervousness in her eyes, although outwardly she hid it well. "Already?"

"What do you want to do?"

Don knew this was really getting deep now, they followed through on this and if anything went wrong they were putting their own family at risk.

"They have to be stopped." She barely whispered, aware that they could be easily overheard. He eyed Laura carefully, looking for any reason to pull the plug and get them out, but she gave him none. He saw the sad determined look in her eyes and nodded to her.

"They will be."

--

Within an hour Don and Laura found themselves back in the waiting room at the house on the upper west side. Laura tried to sit reading, but the babies were awake and kicking, so she was fidgeting. Don glanced at her.

"Kat?"

"They're awake, I've got 1 set of feet under my ribs and you don't want to know where the others are. ... I need the bathroom." She hissed.

Pushing herself from the chair and with a hand supporting the bump she made her way towards the ladies room. Don picked up the magazine she had dropped in the chair and flicked through it trying to remain calm. He hated being apart from her for more than a few minutes at the moment and he hated it even less that they had been yanked from their normal workload for this job, but he couldn't forgive himself if this place stayed in business longer than necessary. He glanced around the room seeing the camera in the corner. He knew they were being watched.

The minutes ticked past and he looked at the clock on the wall again. Laura hadn't returned, it had been almost 15 minutes, he was beginning to get concerned when he heard the door open and looked up. "Katie?" He jumped up and crossed the rooms in just a couple of steps. "You don't look well, baby."

"... Danny, .. I- I've changed my mind, ... I'm sorry I know we agreed, but I can't give up our babies." Laura whined, her eyes fixed to the floor, her face pale as she leant against the door post.

"We agreed, this is the best thing for them, Mrs Henderson is gonna find them nice homes. I don't want you struggling to bring up kids, I need you to be there for me. ... We're here to find out about the parents and sign the papers, it's too late."

"No, you agreed." She looked at him defiance in her eyes. "Gino's bad news and I don't want you working for him, but this isn't the answer either. I want these babies, they are ours, something we created. I will not just sign them over."

Don tried to read the look in her eyes, but they were glaring at him. He raised his eyebrows questioningly, she was playing out something they hadn't discussed and it confused him.

"Katie, you don't see this is what's best for everyone-"

"Danny!" She tipped herself slightly forward so he had to catch her. "Get me out of here now!" She hissed in his ear.

"Danny! Katie! I'm so glad you're here we have some wonderful news!" exclaimed mrs Henderson as she approached them and noted Katie's look. "Are you alright my dear?"

"Fine." Answered Laura curtly. "I need some more time to discuss something with Danny, can we come back later?"

"I think it would be a good idea if we went to my office and discussed things there. ... You're not looking good Katie, perhaps we should have the doctor check you out."

"It's ok, Katie's a little tense right now the babies have been really active and- ... Kat?"

He felt her fingers dig into his arms as she tried to keep her breathing even.

"Katie are you having contractions?"

Laura looked up at Don as he wrapped an arm around her waist to support her. He caught the lone tear which slid down her cheek and the momentary look of panic in her eyes. He almost dropped her and passed out himself right there. This wasn't the plan, it was all supposed to be finished before she went into labour.

"Katie? Do you think you're having contractions?"

"It's too soon." Was all she could whisper back.

The receptionist appeared with a wheelchair and Don eased Laura into it. "We'll get the doctor to check and then we'll discuss your options. 33 weeks is a little early, but if everything is ok we can give you something to slow things down." Mrs Henderson rambled as she took charge of the wheelchair and lead them down the corridor.

Don saw little way out at that moment without blowing their cover, they needed to see a little more of the operation and Laura was in no state to make it out without help. He had sensed her fear and panic at the turn of events and for the moment the main priority was protecting the babies, so he followed the women into the exam room.

"Mr Stevens, can you help Katie into a gown and onto the bed and I'll find the doctor."

She glanced between them and left the room. Don leaned down and gave Laura a hug and she clung to him, sobbing into his shoulder. He reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like an inhaler and keeping it secreted in his palm he pressed it a couple of times.

"It's not supposed to happen like this"

"I know babe, ... I'm getting help, he whispered as he dropped the inhaler back in her bag. How bad is it?"

"Bad enough. ... I don't want them giving me any drugs, please don't let them."

"But Kat if it will slow things down that's gotta be a good thing right?"

"... No drugs, not until you get me to a hospital. ... I don't trust them, and neither should you."

"I don't, but if it's best for all of you then we gotta think about it."

"Not here, not these people, please?" She pleaded the fear evident in her eyes. The sound of the door opening drew them apart quickly. A middle aged Asian man stepped in followed by Mrs Henderson.

"Danny I asked you to help Katie onto the bed, .. you aren't even changed." She commented harshly.

".. Yeah well you ever think that she's scared? You may be used to all this, but we ain't had kids before and this ain't right, I know that much, it's too early, she will be alright won't she?" Asked Don still trying to keep up the pretence, but his fists clenched tightly to stop him hitting someone and just getting them out.

"It's ok, Mrs Henderson, we can manage, would you let me check the young lady and we'll see from there what's necessary, I'll need to see Katie's medical records too." The doctor counselled. Reluctantly Mrs Henderson left the room and closed the door. "Now let's see what's happening with these babies."

Don eased Laura from the wheelchair and onto the bed and stood holding her hand as the doctor raised her top and placed gel onto her stomach. A moment later they were looking at the ultrasound monitor as the doctor studied the measurements.

--

Mac, Stella, Danny and Hawkes were in Mac's office, the door closed. Mac leant back against his desk as the others found themselves a place to sit. Stella thought Mac looked tired. the last few months had gone from bad to worse and he was spending more time in the lab again. Never a good sign.

"What's going on Mac? Why are Laura and Flack holed up in that building?" asked Stella.

"... There's an FBI investigation going on into a private clinic and adoption agency on the upper west side. They've been running a sting operation, been at it for 6 months, it's about to bust open a baby smuggling ring. Seems like parents, mostly young mothers in the tri-state area who are down on their luck are using it to sell their babies, supposedly to good adoption homes. ... The Feds have had a woman undercover trying to break her way in, but she was in a car accident a couple of weeks ago, her and her baby are fine, but she's had to be taken out of the loop, she was about to make her first visit to the clinic and they needed someone fast to step in. They haven't got anyone in reserve and heard about Laura. Her undercover work and the pregnancy put her at the top of their radar."

"I can't believe Flack agreed to letting her anywhere near it." Exclaimed Danny.

"Fraser insisted, if they agreed, they both went in, even he wasn't prepared to face Flack by suggesting she went alone."

"What's at risk Mac? If these guys are into smuggling babies what else are they doing?" Stella questioned, a frown etched across her forehead.

"It's a high class operation and they're very careful about their clientele, which is why they couldn't fake the pregnancy."

"So why can't we talk to them?" Danny piped up.

"There's a strong possibility they're being watched. See who they meet, that's why they had to drop everything since making contact."

"Mac, how's Laura holding up, she's already had problems, she looks big enough to deliver any minute, if that's a big baby and she delivers early without proper medical care-"

"Hawkes, they know the implications, I doubt Flack would let anything happen, or for her to have gone in without medical clearance."

"What can we do to help them?" Asked Stella

"Keep this to ourselves. No one in the lab knows, it stays that way, even to Lindsay. Word leaks out what they're doing and it gets to the wrong hands it could have dire consequences." Mac's phone rang and he pulled it from his desk and pressed the answer button as he lifted it to his ear. "Detective Taylor ... When? ... Are they alright? ... I see, ... I appreciate the head's up, I'll join you with some of my team. ... Agent Collins I hope you're still praying they come out of this OK."

Mac cancelled the call and looked at the concerned faces before him. "Stella, I need you to stay here and run the lab. Hawkes, Danny you're with me. The FBI are going to raid the clinic in response to an emergency code."

"Mac I should go, Laura could probably use a friendly face."

"My main concern right now is her medical condition, for that I want someone she'll trust on hand. Hawkes, that's you. We don't know what may have happened inside, you could be flying blind."

"If one of them's conscious I can handle it."

"Danny, you know Flack better than any of us, he's been there for you, now you have to man up and do the same for him, this all goes wrong and he'll need a friend, I don't want you going all hot headed on me. I trust that you can do this."

"Sure Mac. I'm there."

"Stella, I know you want in, but I don't know what will happen, or how long we'll be. I need you to take charge here, we've got your case from the apartment, and a couple of others on the go, I want you to make sure the rest of the team don't screw it up. We'll call you as soon as we know anything. Anyone asks any questions we've gone to help NArco clean up a raid site from this morning."

"Ok Mac." He looked at the three faces before him and noted their concern, this was personal. Stella watched him as he looked at them all. The worry and conern etched across his face. She stood up. "You'd better get going. ... Take care of them Mac, bring them back safe."

She hugged Mac then walked out.

--

"OK Katie, ... I'm gonna talk to Mrs Henderson, but we're going to need to move you to hospital. You're babies have decided they are ready to be born." The doctor announced with a smile before leaving the room. Don helped Laura sit up.

"You're doing great Kat, we'll get you to the hospital and I'll call your Doc. Everything will be OK babe" he told her with more conviction than he felt, as the door opened again.

"We have a car waiting out back, don't worry Katie everything will be fine." Assured the receptionist starting to help her from the bed and into the wheelchair. Quickly they moved her to the car out the back and they were driven away as the police swat team moved in past them. Don took Laura's hand praying that they were on their way to a real hospital and he hadn't let them get walked right into some trap. He felt Laura's hand tighten around his and looked at her, then rested his hand over hers on her stomach. He didn't care what it looked like at this point, he was about ready to blow everything up anyway, they were his babies and she was his wife and he would do anything to protect them right now.

I know I'm really mean, leaving things like that ... you know what feeds my muse, evil person that she is... yeah she's even got rid of my fluffy plot bunnies! Please help me rescue them...