A Baby Story
Part 2 Danny's Point of View
By: ioanhoratio
AN: Here's the next chapter! Hopefully all the grammar marks will remain! ;) Thank you so much for sticking through to the end of the previous chapter even though it took some deciphering! LOL!
Special Thanks to: laurzz, pretty7, Daisybelle, nkhn923, madmush, new-york-babee, LME, DAnNSfreak, Brichen86, afrozenheart412, qwen24, soccerbaby, Calleygirl80, Flynn, Mystick225, californication, Hylen, bonafide11, Colie04, LuBr, webdlfan, saderia, SexyPunk54, FoxPhile, uscrocks, and JavaJunkie4evr! You guys are awesome.
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Danny was miserable. He and Hawkes had only been at the crime scene for about 15 minutes but that had been more than enough time to make Danny uncomfortable. He was taking photographs of a dead body; a body that had been dumped in a small, dank cellar with no ventilation. While the weather outside was sunny and cool, the room Danny found himself in was dark and stuffy. The smell of mold and rot permeated the air, making his eyes water. The noise of the city was muffled, making him feel like he was buried and alone. Thankfully, this particular scene had less work required since it was clearly just a place the body was dumped and not the primary crime scene. It would make the case harder for them in the long run but right now all Danny cared about was getting out of this room as soon as possible.
The limited space didn't allow for much more than Danny and the body so once he and Hawkes had given the room the once over the doctor had returned topside to search for any evidence left by the anyone who would have been involved in the crime. Hawkes had stepped out into the sunlight and took a deep breath of fresh air. He nodded to the officer assigned to stay onsite. It was clear both men were grateful to be at the top of the stairs.
Just as Hawkes set down his forensics kit to begin a preliminary visual inspection of the area, he felt his phone buzz once. Pulling it out he saw he had a voice-mail. 'Odd,' he thought, 'I don't think it even rang.'
He quickly dialed his voice-mail and listened as Adam's voice carried through the speaker, "Adam it's Hawkes, I mean, Hawkes it's Adam…sorry…uh…listen I need to talk to Danny. It's a bit of an emergency…
The moment Hawkes heard Adam's voice squeak on the word emergency he turned and headed straight back down the stairs. Danny had mentioned his concerns about Lindsay's contractions and whether she should be at work. Hawkes had assured him that most pregnant women experience false labor or mild contraction but that when Lindsay went into to true labor they would know. From the panicky tone of Adam's voice Hawkes suspected that time had arrived.
'But why didn't he just call Danny's phone directly?' he wondered.
He continued to listen to Adam's message as he descended deeper into the underground caver, "I'm grabbing a company truck because I took the subway this morning…Linds…grab car…she's violent…to deliver baby…
Adam's message had become garbled by static and silence then abruptly ended. Hawkes glanced down at the phone and realized what the problem was. It wasn't the message that was garbled but rather his phone had lost the connection to his voice-mail. Apparently this tiny room underneath the concrete really was a void. His phone had no signal.
"Danny!" Hawkes called out as he raced down the last few steps.
At the urgency in Hawkes' voice Danny quickly glanced up asking, "What?"
"Your phone man! Do you have a signal?" Hawkes shot at him.
Danny knew the implications of not having a signal. He frantically pulled his phone out from his back pocket and sure enough the screen testified of his loss of communication.
"Shit!" Danny exclaimed as he rushed up the stairs nearly knocking Hawkes down as he shoved the camera into the doctor's hands. He took the stairs two at a time, desperate to reconnect to the world of wireless communication.
Not even pausing to acknowledge his re-entrance into the world of the living, Danny stuck his phone away from his body and began walking around, impatient for his phone to acquire its signal. Once the connection had been re-established Danny's fears were realized. His phone emitted a series of beeps indicating several messages.
Danny again released a colorful expletive as he waited for his phone to retrieve the messages. Hawkes walked up just as Danny heard the cold, robotic voice of his phone say, "You have five unheard messages; first unheard message…"
"Five?!" Danny felt his stomach drop and his heartbeat speed up.
At Hawkes' questioning look, Danny raised his finger as a sign for needing another few moments. Then Lindsay's voice could be heard through the speakers, "Hi, Danny. It's me. You know your very pregnant wife. Just calling to let you know my water broke, you're no where to be found and Adam is driving me to the hospital. So, you know, just whenever you get a chance call me."
"Wiseass," Danny mumbled, "Well at least she's not panicking. That's a good sign."
Hawkes nodded in agreement as Danny skipped to the next message. Danny was surprised to hear Adam's voice, "Um, Hi Danny. It's Adam…um…from the lab. Listen, Lindsay's about to go into labor and you and Doc are gone, Stella's in court, and Mac has the day off so I guess I'm going to be getting her to the hospital but if you could hurry or something. I'm not sure exactly what to do. I mean I know how to drive, but I mean, like, if she has to give birth in the car or something. I'm probably not going to be very useful plus I doubt Lindsay wants me to be looking at her…um…down there. Although, I did see a cat give birth onc…"
The phone beeped indicating the end of the message. Danny gave a frustrated growl as he skipped to the next message.
"Oh, sorry," Adam's voice again carried through, "your phone cut me off. Just get to the hospital a.s.a.p…uh, bye."
Danny aggressively punched the keys on his phone and the next message that played was his wife's, "Danny we're on our way to the hospital. I really wish you would answer. I think my contractions have started. Call me as soon as you can. I love you."
Danny's heart broke at the vulnerability he heard in her voice. Danny kicked himself for not checking his phone earlier. He turned his attention to the last message left by his wife, "OK. I'm at the hospital. I am walking in right now to have a baby. Where the hell are you?! Please hurry. I don't want to do this without you."
Danny had apparently spoken too soon because Lindsay definitely sounded scared and panicked in that message.
Turning to Hawkes, Danny started talking fast, "I gotta get to the hospital. She needs me. I gotta get there. What if she has the baby before I get there?"
Danny was so caught up in his worst case scenarios that he didn't notice at first that Hawkes was on the phone. Impatiently motioning for Sheldon to hand him the keys, he was brought up short when heard Hawkes say, "Alright, thanks Mac. I'll let you know."
"Ya called Mac?" Danny asked stupidly.
"Yeah, look, we only have one truck here and I'm going to need it to finish this scene—plus Mac and I agree it would be better if you didn't drive yourself. So Officer Watson is going to stay with the body while I take you to the hospital. Then I'll come back and finish."
Danny didn't care to argue. He simply responded with, "Let's go." Hawkes followed close behind him as they ran for the truck and soon the pair was moving down the road.
Finding it difficult to focus on his surroundings, Danny asked, "How far do you thing we are from the hospital?"
"Probably 20-25 minutes," Hawkes answered.
Danny groaned, "Come on man. She's already there. We gotta hurry."
Taking in his friend's concern and excitement, Hawkes threw caution out the window. He flipped on the truck's emergency lights and hit the accelerator.
This obviously pleased Danny since he immediately quit grumbling and instead tried to call Lindsay.
"Damn it," he griped.
"Everything alright?" Hawkes asked concerned.
Distractedly Danny answered, "Voice-mail." Then into the phone he recorded, "Hey baby. I got your messages. I'm so sorry I didn't get your calls. I'm on my way 'K? I'll be there soon. Don't worry, everything's goin' to alright OK? Just hold on. I'll see you soon."
Danny hung up the call and had to fight the desire to immediately try and call her again. Instead he leaned his head back and gave a frustrated sigh.
"Don't worry Danny," Hawkes assured him confidently, "Lindsay's going to be fine and most babies, especially first babies, usually take a while. You're not going to miss it. Just take a breath and remember as nervous as you are right now Lindsay's going to be 100 times worse. She's going to need you to be calm and comforting."
Danny roughly ran a hand over his face and answered, "Ya right Doc. I know ya right. I just…we had this all planned ya know? If I wasn't with her then Mac or Stella or you were gonna be with'er. I had three back ups and she still had to find her own way to the hospital."
"Adam obviously got her there safely," Hawkes reminded him.
"Yeah, I know, it's not about that. We had a plan, right? We had a plan but she's there without me, I don't know what's going on and it just feels like everything is goin' wrong and spinnin' out of control. That scares the hell outta me," Danny explained forcefully.
Before Hawkes could comment he saw out of his peripheral vision Danny turn from the passenger side window to look at him, "I couldn't talk to Lindsay about this. In fact I've been afraid to even say the words out loud," Danny admitted quietly, "but what if somethin' goes wrong? I read about all kinds of things that could go wrong. I mean woman still die from childbirth. Or what if somethin' goes wrong with the baby? What if I lose one of 'em today or…both? I don't…I don't think I could…" Danny trailed off as his mind created scenario after scenario of what tragedies he could experience today.
Hawkes knew how dangerous Danny' line of thought was and relied on his medical training to help as he sharply interjected, "Danny, you have to stop this man."
His comment was met with silence and Hawkes took that as his cue to continue, "I saw it time and time again in the hospital. A positive attitude is more powerful than you think Danny. You can't do this to yourself or to Lindsay. You can't let the 'what ifs' ruin this day for you. Yes, childbirth is not something to be taken lightly but you guys aren't doing this alone. The hospital is going to keep a close eye on both Lindsay and your daughter. Lindsay and your daughter need you to focus on making this a truly special day for them."
Danny nodded his head, gazing down at his phone and whispered, "My daughter."
He was finally going to meet her. His emotions waged a war as Danny tried to balance his excitement with his anxiety. He closed his eyes briefly as he focused on the on thing in his life that brought him peace; Lindsay. He allowed himself to remember how happy she had been when he had surprised her for a second time by showing up on Montana following his suspension.
She had been sitting on her parent's porch swing when he had pulled up the Monroe's long drive way. Not expecting visitors, Lindsay's face was marred by curiosity as she hefted her cumbersome body off the swing. Danny had thought his heart was going to pound out of his chest he was so excited to see her. He had climbed out of the rental car and just grinned at her. He had watched as her face registered his and without a moments hesitation she had waddled to him as quickly as her heavily pregnant body had allowed.
Needing no other prompting, Danny too had begun to move toward her. They had met in a tangled embrace as Lindsay both laughed and cried while placing small, frenzied kisses all over his face.
Danny didn't think there had ever been another person in the world he was so happy to see and who was as equally happy to see him. It had touched him deeply and would be a moment he would treasure for the rest of his life.
In their tight embrace he had felt their daughter kick against his stomach. Feeling a bit of the terror ebb as he allowed the memory to wash over him, Danny opened his eyes. Today he would get the chance to finally feel her skin against his.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, "We're nearly there. I betta try Linds' phone again."
Hawkes acknowledged his comment with a quick nod, grateful that Danny seemed to have pulled himself out of his momentary hysteria.
A frustrated groan filled the cab of the vehicle as Danny complained, "Why isn't she answering her phone?" Then turning his attention to Hawkes he instructed, "Doc take 57th right there. It'll be faster."
"Danny I got this. I got this," Hawkes tried to assure him but Danny's distracted, "alright" indicated he had already turned his attention back to his phone.
"Voice-mail…again," he whined frustrated, "Baby, It's me. We're close ok? Hold on 'til I get there ok? I don't wanna miss this. I love you. I love you ok?"
Danny nearly dropped the phone as he felt the car swerve severely to miss a guy who was climbing out of the car. Both men had shouted at the idiot but the guy was soon forgotten.
"Up here, right here doc, doc, doc," Danny insisted, "ok right there. Make a right, go around the corner an…and pull into emergency."
Danny didn't even know what emotion he was feeling as they pulled up to the hospital entrance. He was just so overwhelmed. All he knew for sure was that he needed to see Lindsay. He jumped out of the truck almost before it stopped.
"Hey Danny," Hawkes shouted to his retreating form. Danny turned to see what the problem was. "Congrats brother," Hawkes smiled at him.
After a quick, manly fist bump and a hasty, "Thanks Doc" Danny again made a run for his wife.
Danny was a little winded by the time he made it to the Maternity Ward but he wasn't going to slow down too much. Walking quickly through the people and checking every room he passed Danny finally turned a corner and saw her.
Lindsay.
She was sitting is a wheelchair cradling her belly. As she saw him he knew the look of relief on her face mirrored his own.
"Hi," she mouthed to him happily.
He'd found her. He'd finally found her.
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Yeah! They are united.
Next up: Danny, Lindsay and Rosie. We can finally get down to getting this labor started ;)
Thanks for reading!!!