A tiny heartbeat and not so baby steps
"I was glued to my TV and it looked like he looked at me and said
"Best start putting first things first."
Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip over and start again
Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth"
-Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney
A/N: I am dedicating the first part of this chapter to Aphina for lending me her 'baby' and letting me do things to her and trusting me enough not to torture her too much.
Carmen checked her watch. It was quarter to one on a blustery Friday afternoon. There were four heavy garment bags slung over her right arm and a massive plastic bag with four shoe boxes twisted around the fingers of her left hand as she crammed into the packed elevator and struggled to reach between people in order to press the button for the thirty-fifth floor. New Yorkers could be real ignorant bastards. They weren't too keen on holding open doors and helping old ladies across the street, and thought nothing of stepping off a curb and stealing the cab you'd been trying to hail for the last twenty minutes. Carmen supposed there were people like that everywhere. The kind that didn't look you in the eye when you talked to them or didn't return a smile or a pleasant comment you passed their way. But on long days such as this one, when your last nerves were thisclose to snapping, every little thing led you to believe you lived in the shittiest place on earth surrounded by the shittiest people on earth. The old man behind her checking out her ass didn't make things better and she made a point of stomping on his foot by mistake and not apologizing when he told her off.
One highlight of the day was the nine eleven charity ball being held that evening in the grand ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria. She wasn't normally the evening gown, sip champagne and hob knob with the upper crusters kind of girl, but with the whole team attending as ambassadors of the crime lab, she knew it was going to be a hell of a good time. It always was when they all got together. Which, with the crazy shifts they were all working, didn't seem to happen often enough. Not to mention that things were starting to change in peoples' lives that didn't leave them a lot of time or energy to socialize. Danny and Erica were getting closer and closer and were beginning to discuss moving in together. He spent all of his time at her place and barely hung out with Flack anymore, let alone anyone else. Not that the latter had much time to be doing much hanging out now that his own life was coming together at record speed. A wedding three months away and a baby on board. Overwhelming for anyone. Yet he seemed to be taking it all in in stride. A permanent smile embedded on his handsome face and less weight resting on his broad shoulders.
Mac and Stella were buying a brownstone in Brooklyn. The news of that had surprised people more than the news of Samantha and Flack getting engaged. With them, everyone seemed to sense it coming and were just waiting for it to happen. With Mac and Stella, they were all left guessing when and if Mac was finally going to be able to let the ghost of Claire and the memories of Peyton take a back seat to Stella. Stella had put the mistakes of Frankie Mala and Drew Bedford behind her and was desperate to begin a new chapter in her life. With Mac. Danny had told Sam and Carmen that the team always knew that there was something there between Mac and Stella and that they never understood why the two didn't see it for themselves. And no one could be happier for them now that after years of unexpressed feelings on both parts, the two were in love and disgustingly happy.
Selfishly speaking, Carmen was the most happiest with the way things were going with her life. After the disaster that was her first husband and years spent vowing she'd never let herself fall in love again in order to spare herself the suffering and anguish that came with it, she'd found, despite all of her initial reservations, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Grow old with. Have children with. And Carmen Devine was not a children person. They were fine as long as they were someone elses, she'd always said. Spend the day with them and send them home when they got on her nerves. But now, surprisingly, she found herself imagining life as a mother. Maybe being so close to someone that was so much in love and expecting a baby of their own and seeing the way Sam's eyes sparkled and her face lit up at the mere mention of the baby inside of her, had opened Carmen's eyes and heart to the fact she'd always wanted that for herself but had never been with someone she'd consider giving that much of herself to.
And now she had. She'd never felt so loved and cherished and adored before. She'd never had a man in her life that all he had to do was walk in the room and her heart fluttered and her knees grew weak. Someone who could express so much affection and tenderness with just a simple glance or a slight touch or smile. Someone who could make her feel things she'd never thought possible after such a tumultous past. An all consuming, overwhelming love that took your breath away and nearly brought you to your knees and made your head spin and your heart ache. It was frightening. Yet oh so perfect and welcome. Tim had taught her that it was okay to be weak and need someone as badly as she found she needed him. That she could rely on him through thick and thin, trust him to protect her and make her feel safe and whole. And that she could give herself to him wholly.
Her life and her heart had never felt so complete.
Now if only the murderers and evil doers of New York City would co-operate just a bit. A seemingly endless parade of crime scenes since eight that morning was a clear indicator that no one would be out of work in time to go home and get ready before heading to the ball. So Carmen had made a quick run to her place and then on to Flack's (courtesy of the key Sam had tossed her way) and picked up everything the four of them had planned on wearing that night. The tuxes felt like they weighed a ton and the bag with the shoes was twisting around her fingers and agonizingly cutting off the blood circulation by the time she made it to the locker room and stuffed everything into hers and Sam's locker.
Next time, she thought, as she headed for the break room and a well deserved snack and a tea, the guys do all the running around and the heavy lifting. This girl is on strike.
She wished she could say the same to the mountains of work waiting for her down in the layout lab. New York definitely lived up to moniker of the city that never sleeps. And that included any one affiliated with the NYPD and the crime lab.
Sam was sitting on one of the couches in the break room, nursing a large bottle of water and flipping through case files when Carmen came strolling in.
"Thought you'd be long gone by now." Carmen commented. "Don't you have that appointment at two?"
Sam nodded and pushed her glasses up onto her head and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "Doctor Lightheart. An OB over at Womens and Childrens. Apparently she's one of the best. Guess my doctor's tight with her and that's why she got me in so quick. Normally you wait a couple weeks. Sometimes even a few. And that's if she wants to take on another patient."
Carmen yawned and took a bottle of water from the fridge and a bag of salt and vinegar chips from the vending machine and joined her friend on the couch. "What about the ultrasound?" she asked, plopping down beside her friend.
"We go there first. It's done in the hospital's radiology department so thankfully we don't have to travel. I've developed a tendency to become car sick very easily."
"Where's Flack? Its almost one and with the traffic the way it is, you guys are going to need at least forty five minutes to get there."
"He got held up in Queens talking to a possible witness in your guys' case. He's hoping to be here by one thirty, but if not, Hawkes said he'd take me."
Carmen arched an eyebrow. "Hawkes knows?" she asked.
"He figured it out." Sam replied, putting her glasses back on and sipping her water. "He is a doctor after all and he is very, very observant. I can trust him not to tell the others."
"I put your dress and everything else in your locker." Carmen handed Sam her key. "Can't believe Tim and Flack are going to be wearing tuxes."
"I can hardly wait." Sam declared. "My man is going to be so fine."
"How are you feeling?" Carmen asked.
Sam shrugged and took a huge swallow of water.
"How much you have to drink?"
"A litre. I was suppose to be finished an hour before the ultrasound, but I couldn't do it. Shhh.." she placed a finger over her lips. "Our little secret. Don will kill me if he thinks I didn't follow the instructions right to the letter. How cop is that?"
"Have you eaten lunch?"
"Eat? I can't stop throwing up! Let's keep that between us too, to avoid me being reamed out."
"You have to eat, Samantha." Carmen scolded her. "You need protein, vitamins, minerals, shit loads of calcium. All the calories you can get. That baby is relying on you to keep it and yourself healthy. And how is that going to happen if you loose weight instead of gain? I have honestly never seen someone this sick."
"It's suppose to be morning sickness." Sam said. "It lasts all day and all night! I think I'm being punished. Seriously. God's getting back at me for the bad things I've done. Getting pregnant out of wedlock, having premarital sex. I swear he is. Why else would I be suffering like this?"
"Must be a boy." Carmen said.
"I said the same thing to Don yesterday. I told him that only a guy would make a woman suffer like this."
"You guys want a boy or a girl?"
"I've always wanted my first born to be a boy. I don't know why. Guess it's the whole protective older brother idea for whoever comes next. He says it doesn't matter, but I think Don wants a boy, too. All guys want their first to be a boy."
"A Donald Flack the third?"
"Are you kidding me? He'd kill me if I even suggested it. He's always trying to get out from the shadow that name casts on him all the time. He wouldn't think of doing that to his own kid."
"Speaking of the name," Carmen said. "When's this dinner with his parents suppose to take place?"
"Sunday. They're having us under the assumption I'm just the new girlfriend. Don's freaked."
"I know. He was rambling on about it at our scene today."
"He's nervous how is parents are going to react having two bombs dropped on them. Gaining a daughter in law and a grandchild just out of the blue. Let's just hope the situation is a positive one."
"You don't sound too optimistic."
"I'm trying to be. God, enough water!" Sam sat the nearly empty bottle on the table in front of them. "If I drink anymore I'll either be sick or explode. Both, maybe."
"I just hope this OB can give you something to stop all the puking so you can actually keep food down." Carmen sighed, beyond worried for both her friend and the baby she was carrying.
"Hawkes mentioned a pill, Diclectin, that is practically a miracle worker. He said to ask about it."
"Sam, for God sakes, be careful with medication. Look at all the women that thought Thalidomide was safe and took it while they were pregnant and their babies were born with all kinds of problems. And what about your other meds? You can't stop taking the seizure ones, can you?"
"I don't know. They said I need to have another MRI to see if there's anything that suggests the seizures will be permanent."
"And what about the depression and anxiety meds?"
"I've been off of them since the attack."
Carmen blinked. "You have? You never told me that."
Sam shrugged. "Didn't want to get your hopes up in case I needed to go back on them. So far, I'm doing okay."
Carmen leaned across the couch to hug her friend. "I am so proud of you. You know that, right? You've come so far in such a short period of time."
"Thanks. Don't get too excited, though. Might need to go back on them when I meet Don's parents."
"I'm sure everything will go nice and smooth. But just watch the meds, Sam. You don't want anything bad happening.'
"You sound just like Don. Do you two get together and talk about these things before hand?"
"He's just concerned." Carmen told her. "And he loves you and this baby and wants everything to be okay. And we all love you. All of you. We just want everything to go smooth for you guys."
"Why do I feel like things will be anything but smooth?" Sam sighed.
"'Cause it's you and Flack." Carmen reasoned. "Nothing's ever easy for you two."
Sam's phone, sitting on the table in front of them, beeped noisily and she leaned across the table to pick it up. "Oh fuck off all ready," she said when she saw who it was.
"Who is it?" Carmen asked.
"You would not believe me if I told you." Sam replied.
"Try me."
"Don's ex-girlfriend. The rich one. Dylan...Denise...whatever the hell her name is."
"Devon. What does she want? And how'd she get your number?"
"She's been calling Don constantly for about two months now. Short of changing his numbers, he ignores her the best he can. Guess she stopped by downstairs yesterday and he wasn't there and Angell wagged her big mouth off and told her that Don had gotten engaged and, God bless Angell's soul, my name and where I worked. Somehow Devon managed to get my number and now..."
The phone rang again.
"this is the result." Sam finished. "It's constant."
"Give me the phone and I'll tell her where to go and how to get there." Carmen said.
"Do it in person. She's going to the ball tonight. Guess she attends all this charity gigs."
"Wonderful." Carmen sighed.
"You have my permission to fuck her right up." Sam said.
"Whose fucking who up?" Flack asked as he entered the break room, catching the end of the conversation.
"Carmen's going to bitch slap your ex into the middle of next week." Sam told him. "She keeps calling me. Four times in a half an hour. Next time you answer it and ask her what the hell she wants."
"She hangs up when I answer." Flack said. "Block out her number. I told you to do that four hours ago." he went to the fridge and helped himself to someones bottle of water.
"She's using unknown name, unknown number." Sam told him. "I thought you said she was stupid."
"She is. But not as stupid as Angell apparently. I'll take care of her when I see her tonight. Both of them. Trust me."
"How'd it go in Queens?" Carmen asked as Flack parked himself on the arm of the couch. "Good witness?"
"Not even close. He definitely did not see anything remotely related to our crime. He told me that he saw three people, all together, dumping the body. OJ Simpson, Saddam Hussein and Hitler."
"No Osama?" Sam asked. "He didn't show?"
"Guess he had the night off." Flack replied. "Are you ready? Drink all your water?"
"For the most part."
"Suppose to drink the whole thing." he informed her.
"My bladder is only so big. It will not hold a litre of water."
"Did you eat?"
"Well..." Sam said.
Flack looked at Carmen, an eyebrow raised.
"Don't look at me." Carmen said. "I just got here."
"I had some crackers and an apple." Sam informed them.
"That is not eating." Flack said. "You throw it up?"
"Just a bit."
"I say we hold her down and force feed her" Carmen suggested.
"You know what I hope?" Flack asked. "I hope the doctor puts you in the hospital and shoves a feeding tube in ya and leaves it there for the next however many months."
"You're mean!" Sam exclaimed.
"Tell Carmen how much weight you've lost since the time you thought you had the flu to this morning. Tell her so she can beat your ass." he downed his water and stood up.
"Not that much." Sam said.
"Eleven pounds." Flack announced, tossing the empty bottle into the recycling bins across the room. "She's lost eleven pounds."
"Not good, Sam." Carmen declared, shaking her head.
"Like she wasn't small to begin with." Flack said. "Now she really does fit in junior clothes."
"You're exaggerating." Sam told him. "And besides..." she stood up and rubbed his stomach. "You have enough weight for both of us."
"Cute...you're cute. If you weren't a woman and pregnant, I'd beat your ass."
"I like your love handles." Sam declared. "Sometimes you look like the pregnant one. I'd say..." she pinched his stomach. "at least five months."
He smirked. "You know what? Let's go." he gestured to the door.
Carmen couldn't help but laugh at their good natured teasing. "See ya later, guys. And make her eat something, Flack."
"Yeah...right." he said as he followed Sam to the door.
"Maybe I'm trying to be a skinny, anorexic pregnant chick like Nicole Ritchie." Sam told them.
"Uh... no." Flack said. "Let's go."
"Magic word." Sam retorted.
"Now."
She grinned at Carmen. "I love when he gets all bossy, aggressive cop. I almost take him seriously."
Flack sighed exasperatedly. "Samantha..."
"All right, all right. I'm going, I'm going. Sheesh."
Flack shook his head as he watched her leave the room.
"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you." Carmen said.
"Oh, I know. I'm just trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to put up with her for the rest of my life."
"Are you coming or not?" Sam called from the hallway.
"Patience is a virtue, Flack." Carmen reminded him.
"Yeah? Well whoever said that never met her."
"And you thank God every day that you did meet her."
He smiled. "Absolutely." he said.
The waiting room of the ultrasound clinic at Women's and Children's was packed solid with expectant mothers and their nervous spouses. Women in various stages of pregnancy, including ones that could barely walk and looked like they could pop any second.
Sam watched one such woman, as she left the actual ultrasound area and slowly made her way through the waiting area on the arm of her husband. The woman looked like she was carrying a small elephant never mind a baby.
"I so hope I don't get that big." she commented to Flack.
"You kidding. Bigger." he teased and stretched out his legs and leaned his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes.
"Bite your tongue." Sam said and went back to her magazine. Anything to keep her mind off of the fact she needed to go to the washroom. "Did you turn your phone off?" she asked.
"It's on vibrate." he replied. "I turn it off and a call comes in, Gerrard will have my ass."
"That guy's an ass hole." Sam declared.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"And you're starting to scare people."
"Why?"
"Your badge and your gun are spooking them. I think they think you're escorting a prisoner to an appointment."
"And I'm sitting here with a felon with my eyes closed trying to take a nap?"
"Hey, it's the NYPD. Anything is possible. Seriously though. People keep staring at us."
"Maybe I should 'cuff ya to the chair and really freak them out." Flack suggested.
"Honey, I think your handcuffs are partly responsible for getting us to this moment."
"You know what go us to this moment? Someone forget to take their birth control pills for five straight days." Flack told her.
"It happened before that.'
"So that means you forget to take them on more than one occasion. How does someone as smart as you forget to take the pill? This proves my whole more education less common sense theory."
"Only thing it proves, Donald, is that you can't keep it in your pants."
He smirked. "No is a very simple word, Samantha." he retorted.
"I do not know the meaning of that word."
"Apparently." he said and got smacked in the arm by her magazine.
"You are being a real pain in the ass today." Sam told him.
He opened his eyes and sat up. "Just joking. Come here." he put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into him to kiss the side of her head. "You're being way too hormonal all ready." he said. "Freaking out on me last night for leaving socks on the floor and the toilet set up."
"I almost fell in at three in the morning!" she exclaimed.
"Next time turn the light on." he suggested.
"Next time put the seat down."
"Hey, if I want to leave the seat up, I can. It's my..." he bit his tongue to prevent next word from escaping his mouth.
"You are so damn lucky you caught yourself you finished that sentence." Sam said.
He bit his bottom lip and nodded in agreement. "What time are we suppose to see this doctor at?" he asked, checking his watch.
"Whenever we're done here."
"I have to be back at four." he informed her.
Sam sighed.
"What? I do. I can't help it. I've got loads of work to do and we gotta be at that stupid goddamn ball thing for eight."
"Aren't you excited? You get to wear a tux."
He snorted.
"And we ge to spend the night in a fancy hotel room and you get to see me in a fancy dress."
"All I care about is getting you out of the dress." he said.
"Is that all you think of?" she asked.
"You really have to ask that? I'm a guy. A guy who gets to sleep in the same bed as someone who looks like you and has a body like you do. Do you blame me for being a perv? And you're usually the one who initiates things anyway."
"What?" she laughed. "You are so full of shit! You're the aggressive one and you know it."
"My back and shoulders beg to differ." he said.
"God!" she exclaimed, shaking both legs. "I have to pee so bad!"
"Gotta hold it. You don't hold it and we'll have to come back and do this all over again."
"I'm telling you right now, they press on my stomach to much and I'll pee all over them."
"Just don't think of anything that has to do with water." Flack told her. "Don't think about the way the kitchen tap drips constantly or the way the neighbour upstairs constantly runs the water or the way it's suppose to piss down rain for the next three days."
"Stop!" she cried. "You'll make me pee my pants."
"And whatever you do, do not think about Niagara Falls."
"Don!" she scolded him. "Don't! Or I swear I will pee myself right here and you'll have to clean it up. You just wait until you're forty five and you have to go for a prostate exam. I will needle you until you can't take it anymore."
"If you even think I'll let some doctor..."
The door to the ultrasound viewing area opened. "Samantha Ross?" a tech, chart in hands called into the waiting room.
"Ready?" Flack asked, standing up and offering his hand. "Let's go see what this brat looks like."
It was a small cramped room with nothing in it but a simple hospital bed, two metal chairs and an elaborate ultrasound machine. The tech introduced herself as Allison. She was tall and slightly chubby with cropped red hair and a piercing in her eyebrow and numerous studs in each ear.
"Just lie down and pull your pants down a bit and I'll get set up here." Allison said to Sam.
Sam giggled. Mostly from nervousness. "Pulling my pants down got me here today." she said as she did as she was told.
Flack cleared his throat and shook his head at her and tried not to laugh.
"Well it is." Sam said and settled her head against a pillow.
Allison pulled up a chair and nodded to it. "Go ahead, Dad, have a seat."
Hearing someone call him that for the first time took Flack by surprise and he felt his chest tighten with emotion and his stomach feel anxious.
Allison noticed the badge clipped to his pants as he sat down at the head of the bed. "Are you both police?" she asked curiously.
"He's a detective and I'm a crime scene investigator." Sam told her.
"Like the show?"
"Just like it. Only we don't get test results in a minute and it takes longer than forty five to solve a case."
"You're lucky if you solve it in forty eight hours." Flack said. "If you even solve it all."
"Is this your guys' first baby?"
Sam nodded. She was shivering because room was cold and she needed to go to the bathroom, and because she was scared right shitless.
"Exciting, isn't it?" Allison said as she sat down in front of the ultrasound machine and opened Sam's chart. "So, according to this letter here from Doctor Lightheart, you're here to have the pregnancy confirmed and dated. So what I'll be looking for mostly is the heartbeat, umbilical cord and placenta." she noticed Sam's ring. "Very nice." she commented. "You must have been a very good girl."
"I was. Another reason why we're here. I was too good."
Allison laughed. "But I bet it was fun getting to this point." she said.
"You have no idea." Sam told her.
"Okay. We're ready to start. Did you drink all your water?"
"I did. And I warn you now that if you press too hard, I'll make a mess."
"Wouldn't be the first time that's happened. I promise I'll be as gentle as possible. Now this is going to be cold..." she warned and smeared a gel like substance on Sam's bare stomach. "You're tiny so we won't have trouble getting good pics. Nervous, dad? You look nervous."
"A bit." Flack admitted. "More excited than anything."
"Lots of excitement to come in the next several months, trust me. I have three kids of my own. Each time is just as exciting as the one before it. So let's see if we can find this little baby of yours."
Flack picked up one of Sam's tiny hands and held it tightly, stroked her hair with his other hand.
She turned her head and smiled and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
It took several long, agonizing minutes for Allison to find what she was looking for. Prodding and poking and swirling the transmitter over Sam's stomach, occasionally stopping to input information into the computer. Such a long wait to see anything made both Sam and Flack extremely nervous. They wondered if the reason why the young woman was having trouble finding anything was because there wasn't anything to find. That they'd gotten their hopes up for nothing.
Samantha was crest fallen and near tears and was about to ask if they couldt just stop and get the hell out of there when Allison finally stopped her exploration and hit a couple of buttons on the keyboard in front of her.
"Here we go!" she announced.
Sam squinted as she looked at the screen. "I don't see anything." she said. "Looks like a whole lot of nothing."
"You're just in the early stages." Allison told her. "Not much to see until about the twentieth week. But right here..." she pointed to a spot on the screen. "that's the umbilical cord. See it stretched up like that? And here..." she pointed to another spot. "that is part of the placenta... and this right here..." she enhanced the image and tapped a finger against the screen. "That's your little ones heart beat."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "I don't really see anything."
"I'm sure. See...you can see the movements. And that's a strong heart beat, trust me."
"So I am pregnant?"
"One hundred percent."
"That's amazing." Flack said.
His tone was so soft and quiet that Sam didn't even recognize his voice. She'd been so intently looking at the screen beside her that she'd almost forgotten he was even there. She looked over at him and there were tears trickling down his face. She smiled and tightened the grip on his hand and reached out to touch his face gently.
"See what we did, Sam? What we made? It's amazing." he said and kissed her softly and gazed into her eyes with adoration and pride.
"Congratulations." Allison said, beaming. "If you want, I can print up some pictures and you can take them home."
"I'll keep one at my desk." Flack said, wiping at his eyes. "You know, when I look at it, it'll make the bad days more bearable knowing I have something to look forward to."
Sam stared at him. "Who are you and what have you done with my fiance?" she asked.
He just shrugged and smiled and kissed her.
Suddenly a whole new life was right there in front of him. Another chance to be the man he wanted to be and knew he could be.
An hour later they were out of the appointment with Doctor Lightheart and armed with prescriptions and a list of things to pick up and places to call. The doctor - a tiny little ball of energy with snow white waist length hair and an Irish accent- had gone through the results of the ultrasound. Measurements of both the fetus and the uterus dated the pregnancy at thirteen weeks. Farther than both of them expected it to be. At three months, plus one week, it meant that they'd only been together a month when she'd conceived. She was all ready pregnant -barely- at the time they had their conversation at the zoo about kids. And at the time of the attack. Doctor Lightheart had no explanation as to why the baby had survived the incident, other than it must have been an act of God.
After being weighed and sent for a triple screen test -a simple blood test that could, by certain levels of hormones in Sam's blood, determine the percentage of which the baby may carry some genetic or chromosonal defect- they were given a detailed list of vitamins and supplements to pick up and a prescription for the medicine that Hawkes had recommended. They went to the nearest pharmacy, got the script filled and loaded a basket with pre-natal vitamins and folic acid. Sam couldn't wait to start taking it and start feeling human again and took the first one in the car the second the prescription was filled. Then they talked about what they'd do if that blood test showed anything was wrong with the baby. They agreed that unless it was life or death to Sam or the baby or both, they'd have it no matter what. If that baby could survive what happened to its mother, it was meant to be on earth. It was simple as that.
They planned to start telling everyone the news as soon as they got back to work. First, they went to the Barnes and Noble book store a block from the lab and spent some time browsing the parenting section. Picking up a chalk load of reading material. Something called The Pregnancy Journal that Sam could fill out as each week went by or she experienced something new. A copy of Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn, one of The Expectant Father and the old standard, What to Expect When You're Expecting. That last one they actually looked at it in the aisle.
Flack found the thirteen week section. There was a to scale drawing of a fetus.
"Looks like a tadpole." Sam commented.
"I was thinking it looked like your brother." Flack said and shut the book.
"Way to insult our child!" Sam laughed. "Saying it looks like Adam!"
They had just started to head for the cash when a familiar face stepped out of one of the nearby aisles and the three of them stood staring at each other.
"Uh...hi..." Sam stuttered. "...Mac..."
Her boss looked at the two of them. Saw the deer caught in the headlights look on both of their faces and the stack of books in Flack's hands. The title of the top one catching his eye. A slow grin crossed his face.
"You two have something to tell me?" he asked.
"Surprise?" Sam offered.
"First an engagement and now a baby?" Mac asked. "You two have been busy."
"One has nothing to do with the other." Flack told the older man.
"When did you find out?" Mac asked.
"About an hour and a half ago." Sam replied.
"So that's the appointment you had to go to. How far along?
"Three months, one week." Sam replied.
"Congratulations." Mac said sincerely and offered his hand to Flack.
"Thanks, Mac." he said and shook the hand of the man who once saved his life.
"Congratulations, Samantha." Mac said and embraced her and kissed her cheek. "You realize what this means, right?"
"I can work in the field until I can't stand on my feet anymore?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Means you and your brother will be spending a lot of time together in the lab." Mac replied.
She pouted.
"We'll have to go over what you can to and what you can't do. Certainly no radiation of any kind or exposure to toxins. And probably ballistics is out of the question too."
"You're killing me, Mac." Sam declared. "Are you always like this when an employee gets pregnant?"
"Actually," he said. "You're the first employee that's ever gotten pregnant since I've been in charge."
"See what happens when you hire a Brooklyn girl, Mac?" Flack teased. "All hell breaks loose. Next thing you know, women are gonna be getting pregnant all over the place at work. It'll be like it's contagious."
Mac frowned. "I'll pretend you didn't say that."
"Could be Stella." Sam chirped.
"Just for that," Mac teased. "You're in trace for the next six months"
Thanks to everyone whose R and R'ing and adding me to their alerts! Apologies to anyone who didn't get an e-mail back. I was having major comp. issues ad was lucky to get this done!!