Had anyone told Greg Sanders ten months ago that he'd be engaged, having a child and putting out for a down-payment on a house, he'd have given them the number of his sister's counselling practice. Yet that was what he faced when he woke up on that beautiful afternoon in May. He'd been with Nadine nearly sixteen months; the first six of which had been filled with some of Greg's happiest memories. But then reality had set in, when Nadine had told him about her past boyfriend who'd all but killed her chances of getting pregnant. That fear of being barren had been put to bed two months after that conversation when Nadine discovered she was in fact having a baby. On Christmas Eve, he'd proposed to her, with a ring that was designed after his Nana Olaf's. But plans for the wedding had been postponed until after the baby had been born, so that Nadine wouldn't be doubly stressed, and more importantly, she could fit into the dress she always wanted.

He sat up on the bed, yawning widely before taking a towel into the bathroom for his shower. When he emerged, his skin flushed from the heat of the water, he saw Nadine sitting on the couch reading from one of her nursing texts.

"I'm going to catch a lift with you babe," she called absently. "Tina called and wants me in for observation on a bone marrow transplant."

"Nadine, I thought we talked about this." Greg stopped, walked over to her, not really caring that she was going to be mad at him for dripping on the sofa. "You're on maternity leave; that means not going to the hospital and taking care of no children except ours."

"I'm just watching, okay? I get to sit in the gallery eating chocolate dipped pretzels while making notes."

"Alright. But if you so much as-"

"Greg I can barely bend over to tie my shoes, what makes you think I'm capably of assisting in major surgery?"

By the time he'd dropped her off at the hospital and was walking down the hallway to the locker room, Greg couldn't help but breathe a tiny sigh of relief knowing he wouldn't have to be in the field that night, since Nadine's due date was coming closer. Grissom was having him participate in more seminars – though those were a given, since he was training towards his CSI two specialty of serology – which meant spending time less time in the field, and there was more work that could be done at home so that if and when he needed the break to spend time with Nadine, he could be there with her.

He also knew, of course, that his constantly being there would drive her absolutely bat-shit crazy and she'd insist he was doing everything wrong, then apologize herself to death.

Still, as he pulled his books from his locker and had a brief flash back to high school, he heard his phone ring. He glanced at it briefly, saw Nadine's name flicker on the screen and flipped it open.

"Hey you."

"Hi honey, just letting you know I'm up here in the gallery watching things and making notes, okay?"

"No chocolate-dipped pretzels?"

"No, but I did find something called a Take 5 in the vending machine. It's yummy."

"Alright, well remember our deal. I'm going to be here the whole shift and Renee said she'll come pick you up when you call her."

"Okay, I have to go, Tina's giving me the 'get-your-ass-off-the-phone-and-pay-attention-white-girl' eye."

"Oh and Nadine? I love you."

"Love you too."

Greg hung then, and turned his thoughts back to his books, his head bopping along in time with the music on his iPod. Time seemed to get away from him; the next time he came up for fresh coffee and a change of the play list, he saw his sister had phoned.

Such a little mother, letting me know my woman is home safe, he thought absently. Then his thoughts were jump-started when his cell phone rang once again and this time, it came up with Nick's name.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell have you been?"

Startled at the harshness of the Texan's voice, Greg pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it absently, the resumed talking. "What?"

"I'm in the middle of a triple homicide, I'm up to my ass in blood and DNA and God knows what else, and I've got your sister up in my ears going on and on about not paying attention to your god-damn phone. Call…her…back…now!"

The line went dead, making Greg shake his head as he hit the speed dial for Renee's cell phone. She picked it up after one and a half rings.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Uh-oh, Greg thought. "You know, you and your boyfriend answered the phone in the exact same way? It's kinda freaky, almost like-"

"Shut up you moron, Nadine's in labour."

Greg's gut turned to ice. "No, she can't be; it's too early."

"Apparently Junior doesn't think so

Greg stood in the middle of the conference room, frozen to the spot. Then suddenly, without warning, he was all but sprinting down the lab hallway for the doors.

TBC…