Start spreading the news

"There are places I remember
all my life though some have changed
some forever, not for better
and some have gone and some remained."
-In my Life, John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Speed walked quickly and determinedly to the tox lab. He'd spent the entire day suspecting that his Hudson floater was either a suicide or death by misadventure. There were no outward signs to suggest foul play of any kind. Body was still fully clothed, no obvious trauma or defensive wounds to suggest an attack, and all the ID, credit and bank cards and a hundred in cash still the the wallet. Not even a hit in missing persons. Either no one missed the guy or he hadn't been gone long enough to cause suspicion. Speed had walked into tox with the expectation of finding massive amounts of drugs in the system to support his over dose theory or the thought that the guy'd been doped up so bad he's simply walked into the river not knowing where he was going and drowned. Wouldn't be the first time that had happened and it wouldn't be the last.

The lab tech who'd handed over the final results was a fresh faced, just out of college guy named with Chase who had carrot red hair and a face load of freckles and a witty, often off hand sense of humour that meant he fit in well around there with sarcasm and dry, cynical humor that seemed to drip out of every ones pores. Chase could hold his own with the best of them, but he shivered in his Nikes whenever Sam came around. Tiniest thing there and she terrified the shit out of him. Probably because you could only get snarky or bitchy with her once. First time she gave you a look that meant not to try it again. Second time she sat you back on your heels. Even Speed had to admit she was intimidating for someone that could fit into most peoples' pockets. But most men were intimated by fiercely intelligent, insanely attractive women. Especially ones that weren't afraid to stand up for themselves or other people. Flack denied it, but Speed suspected even a big guy like Flack was a wee bit scared of her.

When Speed had walked in asking what he had for him, Chase had given him a relieved look that clearly meant, I am so glad it's you coming in here. He'd made the mistake of telling Sam she had a nice ass this morning when she bent down to pick something up in front of him. Only he'd made the comment when Detective Flack had been in the same room without even realizing that the two of them were even a couple. Chase had only been working there for three days and had managed to steer clear of the office gossip for an entire seventy-two hours. And it wasn't as if Sam and Flack walked around advertising they were together while on shift. One of Mac's major peeves with office relationships was those who felt the need to engage in any form of public display of affection. Whether it be a kiss on the cheek to the simple act of holding someones hand. Mac saw that and you were being hauled into the office for his legendary 'keep your head on straight' lecture. Every couple had been subject to 'the talk'. And more than once.

So Chase had made his now infamous 'junk in the trunk' comment and had been torn a new one by Flack. Every tech in there at one point in time had been torn a new one by Flack, usually over screwed up results or plain stupidity. This time he was a little more pissed off than in normal circumstances. Chase was intimidated by Flack. Most people were. Not so much the snarky, off hand, ass-holish comments that Flack tossed around so easily, but because the guy was so goddamn big. At least six inches taller and at least sixty pounds heavier than the new lab tech. Chase had nearly pissed himself and couldn't apologize enough. And now every time he was Flack or Samantha, he was scared right shitless.

"Don't worry," Speed said when he noticed the look of sheer relief on the kid's face. "I'm actually in a good mood today."

"Good." Chase said and leafed through a pile of reports cluttering his work station. "'Cause I don't need anymore confrontations."

"I don't know what rock you've been hiding under for three days, but everyone knows that Sam and Flack together. They're engaged for Christ sakes. And they're expecting..." Speed bit his tongue.

Twice today he'd almost let the news slip and one of those times had been to Gerrard when the Chief Inspector had waltzed into the lab wanting to know where Flack and 'that girl' were. Guess old Gerrard had gone looking for Flack downstairs and someone -probably Angell, who was being a spiteful little bitch lately- had ratted Flack out and said he was upstairs at the lab. Gerrard knew damn well that Flack had shit loads of work to do and assumed he was spending time up in the lab socializing. Only a fifteen minute search of the thirty-fifth floor had turned up no Flack and no Samantha. Only pissing Gerrard off more. So he'd stormed into trace demanding to know where Flack was and Speed had nearly, unintentionally, let out the big secret.

"He's gone to Womens and Childrens with his fiancee." Speed had said.

"And why have they gone there?" Gerrard inquired.

"Because she's..."

Hawkes had stomped on Speed's foot so hard it nearly brought the latter to his knees.

"Because the neurologist dealing with her seizures is there." Hawkes lied convincingly.

"Well you two tell Flack if you see him before I do that the next time he skips town in the middle of a shift, his ass is mine."

"Yes, sir." Speed had retorted, fighting back the urge to snap off a salute. Instead he flipped the middle finger at Gerrard's parting back.

That was nearly two hours ago and still no Flack.

"So what ya got for me?" Speed asked Chase, before he put his foot any farther in his mouth.

"Results." the tech handed him a file folder.

"Positive ones I hope." Speed said and flipped the folder open.

"Sorry." the tech said when he heard the CSI sigh heavily.

"You sure about this?" Speed asked.

"Ran it three times." Chase replied. "Same thing every time."

"Doesn't make sense." Speed said, more to himself than to anyone else. "I would have put money on it that there was drugs or alcohol involved. You are absolutely sure about this?"

The tech looked offended. "I know how to do my job, Speedle."

"Easy, easy. I'm just saying that it seemed clear cut to me as an OD. No defensive wounds, no signs of trauma."

"Well he died somehow." Chase said.

Speed frowned. "No shit. You're pretty perceptive, you know that?"

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere trying to figure out how he died? Isn't that what they pay you the big bucks for?"

Speed snorted as he left the room. "Thanks!" he called, waving the file over his head. "For nothing!"

Carmen paced frantically in front of the elevators, her arms crossed over her chest, biting her bottom lip, her cell phone clutched tightly in her hand. As Speed came out of the tox lab and saw her standing there, her thick auburn hair cascading down her back and her green eyes sparkling intently, he was taken aback by how beautiful she actually was. How alluring and sophisticated and astonishingly sexy. Sometimes it took you to stand back a little to see what was right in front of you. This amazing, loving, tender yet oh so complicated woman that had unexpectedly dropped into his life and made him want to be a better man and realize what true love was suppose to feel like. At that moment it was if a light bulb turned on in his head and he was filled with an overwhelming, intense feeling of love and adoration and ownership. As chauvinistic as that may have sounded, she was his and he was damn well determined to keep it that way.

Before Carmen, he never considered his future. Now he thought about it all the time. And she was his future.

"What's going on, Red?" he asked as he approached. "You're gonna wear down those tiles there pacin' like that."

"I'm waiting." Carmen replied simply.

"For?"

"Sam and Flack."

"Thought they had these doctors appointments to go to."

"They did. But the ultrasound was for two and even if that took half an hour and the appointment with the OB took an hour, and driving back here thirty minutes, they should have been here by now. It's close to four thirty."

"Maybe they got held up." Speed reasoned.

"Maybe there's something wrong." Carmen fretted.

"If there was something wrong, Flack would have called you."

"But I've been trying to get a hold of them!"

"If they're in appointments, he isn't going to answer. You need to leave those two alone and stop harassing them."

"I am not harrasing them!" Carmen argued. "I am excited for them and concerned and I just want..." she was interrupted by the shrill ring of her cellphone. She checked the call display. "Finally!" she exclaimed and pressed talk. "Hello?... where have you guys been?...I've been worried sick...where are you now?...okay, see you in a few." she hung up and smiled at Speed. "That was Flack. They just got back and they're on their way up."

"You're obsessed. You need to quit stalking them."

"They're my friends, Tim. Sam's like a sister to me. And this is a massive deal for them and I just want everything to work out for them. Not to mention I want Sam and the baby to be healthy. That's first and foremost."

The light above elevator to the left let out and there was a loud ding before the doors opened up. Sam and Flack stepped off, both looking so serious that Carmen immediately figured something must be wrong.

"Guess what?" Flack said, his tone dull and lifeless.

"Jesus..." Carmen put a hand to her chest in hopes of calming her pounding heart. "Don't tell me that it was some kind of screwed up false alarm."

"Nope." Sam said, a bright, ear to ear smile over taking her face as she held out an ultrasound picture. "You're going to be an aunt!"

"Seriously!?" Carmen shrieked. "For sure? Let me see!" she took the picture to get a better look.

"You can't really see much because I'm not that far along." Sam said. "But the part there that's circled? That's the heartbeat."

Tears of joy welled in Carmen's eyes. "This is so amazing! Can I keep this?"

"Sure." Sam said. "We have tons more. Don just showed them to fifteen complete strangers in the elevator on our way up here."

"I am so happy for you guys!" Carmen gushed and hugged her friend tightly while Speed congratulated Flack, who couldn't keep the huge, proud grin off of his face.

"Congratulations." Speed said to Sam, hugging her and kissing her cheek.

"Thanks, Tim. Just think, you'll be uncle Timmy."

"Don't you dare even think of teaching your kid something like that." Speed said.

"So?" Carmen patted Sam's stomach. "Just how pregnant are you?"

"Thirteen weeks."

Carmen was genuinely surprised.

"I know. We were surprised too." Sam said. "We weren't expecting that to say the least. We thought two months, maybe two and a half. We would have gotten back here sooner but we had a prescription to fill and we bought all these vitamins and what not and then Don all but cleaned out the parenting section at Barnes and Noble."

Flack held up a plastic bag as evidence.

"You're pathetic." Speed informed him.

"He's a proud father to be." Carmen retaliated. "It's nice to see a guy take that much interest. These days you don't see that very much. Don't ever loose that Flack."

"I won't." he assured her. "You guys seen Danny? I wanna tell him before someone else does.'

"Down in reconstruction." Speed said. "Word of warning, Gerrard is looking for you. And he's on the war path."

"What else is new? I'm gonna go and hunt down Danny and then get back downstairs before I find myself working a triple."

"Congratulations again, Flack." Carmen said and hugged him and kissed his cheek. "You must be so excited. We'll have to celebrate at the ball tonight. It's gonna kill Sam to stay away from the bar. Did you at least eat something?" the question was directed at her best friend.

"Believe it or not, I had McDonalds. I took one of those pills and forty five minutes later I had a Big Mac and fries and a chocolate shake. And so far, no puking. And before you as, the pills are a hundred per cent safe."

"Good." Carmen said. "And both of you are perfectly healthy?"

"So far so good. I just need to start putting on some weight, but the ultrasound shows that the baby is fine."

"Well let's keep it that way." Carmen said.

"I'm off to find Messer." Flack announced. He turned to Sam. "You need anything, just come downstairs or call my cell. If you don't need anything, I'll see you at seven thirty." He rubbed the small of her back and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be bringing your tux down for you." she told him as he headed off down the hall.

"Don't remind me. Carmen, you keep an eye on her."

"Consider it my new full time job." she said. "See ya, Flack. Congrats again."

"Thanks...see ya..."

"Can one guy be anymore happier?" Speed inquired.

"You're very lucky, Sam." Carmen said. "Having a man that supportive and into it. You're very lucky."

"Yes." she agreed, a hand on her stomach and a smile on her face. "We are."

Danny was standing back from the stainless steel prep table in reconstruction, eyeing the pig corpse in front of him and the wide array of weapons alongside of it.

Which do I pick first? he thought, and made to grab for a meat cleaver. Stopping when Flack came into the room. "Crime-stopper," Danny greeted. "How's your girl? Everything go okay at the doc's? They figure out why she's throwing up so much?"

"Yeah... they did." Flack stood by the side of the table. "Another sick experiment of your's Dan-o or are you taking that home to eat when you're finished with it."

"Blunt force trauma case I picked up. Unusual shaped head wound. So? What's going on with Sam? She got some kind of crazy virus or what?"

"Or what." Flack said.

Danny frowned. "It's not something majorly serious is it? Nothing terminal or anything like that?"

"What? No. Nothing like that." Flack assured him. "There's something I need to tell you. About me and Sam."

"What happened? You guys ain't breaking up all ready are you?"

"Are you mental? No. Me and her are good. Better than good. We're permanent."

"Well quit keeping me in suspense here. I wait any longer I'll have grey hair like you. At least tell me it's good news.'

"It is. Great news, actually. Sam's pregnant."

Danny stared at his best friend long and hard. "Say what?" he finally asked.

"She's pregnant. As in me and her are going to have a baby."

Danny chuckled. "Did I just hear you right? I would have sworn you just said you and Sam were having a kid."

"That's what I said." Flack confirmed.

"You're gonna be a father? Donald Flack Jr? Who once swore up and down that he'd never get married or have kids?"

Flack nodded.

Danny sighed and went back to work. "That's...that's nice...good for you... a wife and a kid in record time."

"That's all you have to say?" Flack asked, irritated by his friend's response. "That's nice?"

"What do you want me to say?" Danny asked in return.

"How about that's great, Flack, congratulations? It's about time you got your head out of your ass and figured out what and who you wanted. Something like that would be nice."

"I'm glad you figured out what you wanted." Danny told him. "I just think you guys are getting into all of this a little too quickly."

"You of all people I expected to be happy for me." Flack said. "All the shit we've been through. All the good times. All the times I bailed your ass out of tight spot. You of all people I expected more from."

"It's not that I'm not happy for you, Flack." Danny told him. "I am. Sam's the best thing that's ever happened to you."

"Yeah. She is. And so is this baby."

"Baby's a big step, Flack." Danny pointed out. "What happened? Forget to use a condom?"

"What?" Flack fought to remain calm. "What the hell is your issue?"

"No issue." Danny assured him. "I'm just saying that you guys are moving pretty quick. Just me the girl five months ago and now you're already gettin' married and havin' a baby. Two major steps in a short period of time."

"That's rich." Flack said. "You're practically living with Erica and you've known her less than I've known Sam."

"Living with her. Not marrying her or fathering her kid. How do you know that what you're feeling right now isn't just 'cause you got caught up in the moment? Thinking your in love? Two, three years down the road you're in a marriage you want out of but ya can't leave 'cause now you have two kids and it would cost ya an arm and a leg to pay support if ya left."

Flack snorted and shook his head. "You have no idea what the hell you're talking about, Messer. This isn't something I want out of. I'll never want out of this. I love Sam. More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. And she's going to be my wife and she's having my baby. And I don't see why you have a major issue with this."

"I'm just worried about you, Flack." Danny said. "That's all."

"What are you so worried about? Tell me. What are you so fucking worried about?"

"I'm worried you don't know what you're getting yourself into." Danny told him. "That since the bombing you're got it in your head that you need to be with someone to make your life complete. That you've convinced yourself that you're in love and want to get married and have a kid and that you just settled for the first person that came along."

Flack slammed his hands down on the steel table top and leaned over it, blue eyes blazing. "You are fucking unbelievable, Danny." he said.

"You don't want to be alone, that's fine. I understand that. But you don't need go tossing your life away by getting married and having a kid. Date her. Fuck her. Live with her. Whatever. Year down the road and you still feel the same way, than it's all good."

"And who the fuck are you, Doctor Phil? I find it hard to take relationship advice from a guy who based his previous relationship on how a drunker fuck on a pool table was."

Danny's eyes grew icy. "This has nothing to do with me and Lindsay."

"You're right. It doesn't. This has to do with me and Sam. I love her, Danny. More than life itself. She makes me feel things I have never felt before. And I'm gonna marry her and she's having my kid regardless of some psycho-babble bullshit you're handing me. I thought I'd come in here and tell you face to face before someone else got to ya. 'Cause I thought, you were my best friend and deserved to hear it from me. And I thought as my best friend, you'd be happy for me."

"Well I'm sorry you thought that way." Danny said.

Flack wanted to reach across the table and nail the guy in the face or strangle him. Or both. Mac's words echoed in his ears. Keep things separate. Professional on one side, personal on the other. "I'm sorry, too." he said as he turned and left the room. "I'm sorry you're such a fucking prick."

"Whatever happened to bros before hoes, Flack?" Danny called after him.

"You tell me, Messer." Flack said and kept walking. "You were the one that hooked up with Lindsay."

Stella was at her desk, sipping a cup of tea and flipping through case folders when a soft knock came to her door. She glanced up and saw Samantha in the doorway.

"Can I come in?" Sam asked.

"Of course. How are you feeling?"

"Much better." Sam replied and slipped into one of the chairs in front of Stella's desk. "The doctor was able to give me something to settle my stomach."

"It's not contagious is it? The way the cases are piling up around here, I can't afford to get sick."

"It's not contagious." Sam assured her and crossed and uncrossed her legs nervously.

"Okay. So spill. What's going on?"

"Have you talked to Mac in the last hour?" Sam asked curiously.

"No...he's been out running errands. Why?"

"Don and I ran into him. On our way back here. In Barnes and Noble."

"He's in there all the time. What's so odd about that?"

"Nothing's odd about it. I just...you haven't talked to him at all?"

Stella shook her head. "Sam, what's going on? Spit it out!"

"Well, see, we were in there buying some things and we ran into Mac and he saw what they were and..."

"Samantha...what is it?"

"I'm pregnant." she announced quickly.

Slight shock registered on Stella's face. "You're what?"

"Pregnant. Three months pregnant to be exact." Sam passed over a copy of the ultrasound picture.

"A baby?" Stella asked, making out the heart beat in the picture.

Sam nodded. "See we ran into Mac and he saw these parenting books so we were kinda forced to tell him and I thought maybe he might have told you."

"Haven't spoken to him." Stella said. "I can't believe it. You and Flack? A baby? Never thought I'd see the day where he settled down and started a family. I expected something coming from you two, but I stopped at the engagement. But a baby? Wow. Can I keep this picture?"

Sam nodded.

Stella tucked it into the corner of her computer monitor and then got up and came around her desk and stood in front of Sam, taking the younger woman's hands in her own. "Congratulations." she said. "I'm so happy for you and Don."

"Thank you." Sam said. "You're opinion means a lot. You know that."

"Well in my opinion, it's about time he smartened the hell up and found a decent girl to settle down with. And you're so good for him, Sam. And he loves you so much."

She smiled. "I know. And I love him, too. So much it hurts sometimes."

"I know that feeling very well." Stella sighed.

The phone on the desk rang behind her.

"I'll let you get back to work." Sam said and stood up. "I just wanted you to hear it from me."

"Thanks. I appreciate that. Am I going to get to be auntie Stella?"

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of you not being that."

Stella hugged the tiny woman tightly. Kissed her cheeks. "You know what this means, right? Lots and lots of shopping for baby stuff!"

Sam laughed. "I'm looking forward to it."

"So am I." Stella smiled. "You best be getting back to work if you want to be out of here in time for the ball tonight."

Sam nodded.

"If you need anything, Sam, my doors is always open."

Sam smiled and headed from the room. "I know." she said.

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you guys."

"Thanks." the young, pretty CSI said as she headed out.

Immensely happy, Stella thought. And immensely jealous.

Thanks to everyone R and R'ing. I appreciate it! I apologize in advance if you guys don't receive any e-mail response back. I am having some major computer issues that I am trying to get fixed. Just know I am getting your reviews and I love them and appreciate them. I will be cutting down to updating maybe every second and in some cases every third day. I hope I don't loose any of you. It's just that things are a little crazy around here right now and I'm trying to get my life back in order. I'll keep posting as often as I can! Please bear with me!