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.

19. Mummy's Boy, Daddy's Girl

Neither Don nor Laura slept well that night, despite the exhaustion they both felt. She was having nightmares about the abduction and early delivery and he spent most of the night half asleep on the hard plastic chair at her side. The team had finally relented and gone home, especially when they realised there was no possibility of talking Don into leaving. Their protection detail, however, remained alert at their posts. At one point they were awake pouring over the photos again in awe that the tiny fragile beings were real and doing well, albeit several floors away in the hospital, but they were assured they were safe and being well cared for. Don was half laid on the bed his arm around Laura as she rested her head on his chest.

"Kat?"

"Yeah?"

"You really think we can do this parent stuff? ... I look at them and I'm scared shitless, that they're so small and so ... that they need us for everything."

"You'll be fine. Don they're here we can't send them back, you were doing just fine earlier with Emily. I know this is out of your normal league, it's out of mine too, but we made the decision to have children, we can back out now because it may be a challenge. We love them. They're ours and I can never give them up for anyone. If you even thought about it you wouldn't have chased them all over the city."

"But they're so small."

"Well your daughter might be, but your son's a bruiser, he's gonna be tall, all the nurses say so. He's going to have the girls falling at his feet. Just like you."

"Girls don't fall at my feet." He scoffed as Laura wriggled at his side.

"Oh no? What do you call Devon?"

"Business. ... You know I wouldn't trade you for anything."

"I know." Laura started really fidgeting.

"You OK babe?"

"No, find a nurse and tell her I need to pump, and here I was thinking your son was sucking me dry." Don eased himself off the bed and followed her orders.

--

Much to Laura's annoyance she was confined to bed the next morning in order to rest. Don split his time between her and the babies in NICU. It was just after lunch when Laura was finally allowed to go down and see them. They were met by one of the nurses and ushered into the staff lounge while she fetched a doctor.

"What's going on?"

Don shrugged, he could see her eyes scan the room then fix on the door, the fear in them evident. As much to calm his own nerves he sat down and took her hand.

"Why haven't they said anything? Was everything alright this morning?"

"Everything was good. ... They were doing really good."

The door opened and a doctor and the nurse entered. The nurse remained standing, hovering in case she was needed, while the doctor greeted the new parents and took a seat on the couch opposite Don and Laura.

"What happened?" Laura asked, tension evident in her voice.

"Kieran is doing very well, he's showing signs of jaundice which is quite normal in all babies. Emily is causing a little concern at the moment. Her jaundice is more pronounced and in the last hour she's developed a problem. We need to run some more tests to be sure, but we're fairly certain that she has a small Intraventricular hemorrhage." He paused and looked between Don and Laura. "It's a bleed in her brain." He noted the way Don's hand tightedned around Laura's the only outward sign that they were digesting the news. He continued. "As we discussed yesterday it is not uncommon in premature babies and we're being extra cautious, if it is the case we'll keep a close eye on her that things don't get worse and that we intervene if we need to."

"Can we see them?"

"Of course, Kieran's going to have some sessions under the phototherapy lamps over the next few days, but Emily will be under them fairly constantly for the next 24 hours and then we'll review how she's doing. For now she will need to remain fairly still, lots of movement can affect the bleed and we don't want that to happen. I'm afraid that means staying in her incubator for a few days except for the scans. ... I appreciate that it's a lot to take in, but do you have any questions at the moment?"

Don was quiet, Laura was conscious of the vice like grip he had of her hand. She glanced at him then turned back to the doctor. "What scans will you do and what treatment will you give her?"

"We'll start with a CT scan, it will give us a pretty good idea of what is going on. If we need to we'll do something a bit more detailed like an MRI, but another ultrasound in a couple of hours should be fine. It's quicker and we'll not need to keep her still. An MRI could take up to an hour and we would have to sedate her and we're not sure how she'll react. We will keep you informed of everything we do. If you want to be with her when we do the scan we will try and accommodate that. We'll explain everything again as we go along, but is there anything you'd like me to repeat now?"

"No, ... Just tell us what's the treatment?" Asked Don.

"Depending on the severity, if it's mild, just close monitoring. From the scan we have just done we're confident that's all she needs. If things get worse or the scan shows something more significant then we'll need to do something more invasive, but let us get the results first before we go into details."

"... How serious is this Doctor?" Asked Don.

"We're concerned enough to run the scan and monitor her closely, ... at this stage we don't see it as life threatening."

"... When are you going to do the scan?"

"We'll let her rest for a few hours and we'll repeat it about every 2 to 3 hours unitl we're confident that there is no danger ... Would you like a few minutes alone?"

"No, I'd like to see my children." Laura stated firmly. The doctor nodded. "Brenda will take you through now. ... Just so you're not alarmed, Emily has been moved into an open bed a few more wires attached to her monitoring her more closely, it looks scary, but they're not hurting her."

The doctor stood up nodded to the nurse and left. A moment later the nurse led Don and Laura to the nursery.

Laura noticed the room was bustling more than the day before. Three new incubators filled spaces that were there before. Easing their way between other babies and their nurses and parents they made their way to their own children. With a brief glance at their son they turned to Emily's open crib to assess her for themselves. A UV light was suspended above her casting a strange hue over her yellowing skin. Laura rested her hands on the side of the bed. Her knuckles turning white with the grip she had. Don rested one hand on the small of her back, the other over Laura's as she leaned against him and standing in silence they watched their daughter sleep, the monitors softly beeping in the background telling them Emily was doing fine. Don rubbed Laura's back for a moment before wrapping his arm around her and looking at her as she watched the baby. Emily had extra wires and tubes attached to her tiny body that made them scared to touch her. There were heart monitors, brain wave monitors, another IV line, an oxygen line in her nose and several others they couldn't identify.

"You can touch her, we just can't let you hold her right now." The nurse informed them gently. She had seen this so many times before she had lost count. Don was the first to move as he let go of Laura's hands and tentatively reached out and stroked his daughter's palm, he was a little surprised when she curled her hand around his finger and hung on and as if on cue, just like the day before, Kieran seemed to detect the attention being paid to his sister and started crying. "Emily's doing fine. If you have any questions just ask. Why don't you tend to Kieran and then I'll explain what we're doing here with your daughter, she'll probably sleep for a little while yet." The nurse encouraged.

Don tried to gently prise his finger away, but every time Emily jumped. "Um, looks like I'm a little caught up here babe. I'll stay here a while, ... you go." Don persuaded, rubbing her back again. "Kid probably wants feeding again."

"Actually he was fed a little while ago, he probably wants a clean diaper." The nurse informed them.

Don pulled a disgusted face at Laura making her smile. "Get used to it, I won't be around all the time to clean up after your kids, you'll have to do it some time." She replied quickly.

"Gross!"

Laura turned to the incubator holding their son and under the nurse's direction opened the doors and lifted the side screen. Talking to the baby she carefully lifted him out with the nurse's help. Once in her arms he settled down.

"Seems like he missed his mom." The nurse commented. Laura smiled.

"Here that Tiger, your son's a mummy's boy."

Don half turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "Don't even go there babe. My son is not going to be some soft emotional puppet for you to work into an Oedipus complex."

"All boys love their mothers, even you, I know you told her about proposing even before you'd asked me."

"Who told you that?"

"She did. I also know that when we go home and both of them are screaming at 2am and I'm in tears with exhaustion she'll be the first one you call for advice."

"You're wrong about that, ... it'll be Teresa." He grinned.

"Believe what you want darling, but I know you, Teresa's only got Pippa your mum had 4 of you under 7 trust me you'll call her."

Don let it slide, he hoped he would never have to wake anyone in the middle of the night for a screaming child let alone two, but she was right. None of his friends had kids yet and while he had learnt a lot from Teresa when she had Pippa, his mother would be the first on his list. He watched Laura as she cradled their son and talked to him, the baby's eyes watching her. He felt the grip on his finger tighten and pull him as she was startled by something, throwing her arms and legs out. The heart monitor spiked and they both looked over. The nurse noted their worried looks and smiled.

"She's fine, it will spike a little when she moves, it's quite normal." Don looked a little sceptical as he looked down at Emily as she continued to sleep. "I think she's dreaming."

When Laura looked she could see her eyes moving under her lids.

"I hope you're dreaming about nice things sweetie." Don whispered leaning closer to her and gently stroking her face. "Stay strong baby, your Ma and I want you to get well so you can annoy your brother, you got that?"

Laura watched him, tears in her eyes at how gentle and calm he was with her. He seemed huge alongside the fragile infant before him. Kieran began fussing in her arms, increasing the beeps on his heart monitor, drawing her attention. "Stop being so jealous of your sister, you have to share us you know. ... You serious K, you were only fed a little while ago, you can't still be hungry." She moaned good naturedly as he nuzzled her breast. "You definitely take after your father. ...Comeon then let's see what we can do, then Daddy can change your diaper."

"Kat! No diapers." he warned as Laura looked at the nurse and they prepared to move to the other room so she could sit down with Kieran for a while.

"Not a chance, he's half yours, half the responsibility is yours too. Diapers and all." Don decided not to answer back. He may sound like he was being a male chauvinist, but secretly he wanted to be involved, and what was worse Laura knew it. He just liked to tease her. "You OK with Emily for a while?"

"Yeah, doesn't look like she's letting me go anywhere just yet." He sighed, indicating the fist still curled around his finger.

"Looks like you've got yourself a Daddy's girl. Just wait until she starts wanting to date." Laura commented as she turned to make her way across the room with Kieran's nurse in tow. Don watched them for a moment as her words soaked into his slightly fuzzy brain. Then it hit him like a tank.

He was dead! He had a girl, a daughter, that meant boyfriends and dating! No, it was not happening, ... ever! "Get this straight sweetheart, there will be no boyfriends, no dating, ever, you don't even look at the boys or you'll be locked safely away for life." Don told her gently. She screwed up her face and shrieked. It made him jump at the sound which left her mouth, it was the loudest she had been since that first cry in the delivery room.

"I'd say someone doesn't agree with their Dad." The nurse at their side commented with a smile.

"Yeah well, I'm a cop, I'll find a way of locking her up!"

Sorry for the delay, the muse and the plot bunnies deserted me part way through. I'm not familiar with children in NICU so forgive me if anything isn't right. I may have used a little artistic license. Hope you like it. ... You know what to do...