A/N: Hey guys! Writers block is a terrible thing, I really want to make every scene as good as possible though ;) Thank you so much for the feedback too, my most reviewed story! Also, some awesome name suggestions so far, it's gunna be hard to pick one XD And I thought I better make this baby a girl since Greg has his son, Oscar, in my other stories ;) Anyway, hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Please Review :) xx

Chapter 17: Awakening

After the scan, Morgan returned to Greg's bedside. She was too excited not to tell him the news, even if he couldn't hear her – although Morgan liked to believe he could. The expectant mother couldn't believe it, they were going to have a daughter; a little girl who Morgan could pass all her knowledge of womanhood down to, and who Greg would go mental worrying about trying to protect her – Morgan knew she'd have to be the parent of reason, and the thought made her laugh a little.

When she arrived, Morgan was saddened to see Greg still hadn't woken up; it had been nearly three days after all and she was starting to worry. What if he never woke up? What if he never got to hold their daughter? See her first steps, first day at school, first date…the thought brought tears to Morgan's eyes, she couldn't imagine a life where Greg wasn't in it, and she couldn't imagine raising a child on her own – but she trusted Greg to pull through for them; he always did.

Morgan sighed as she sat beside Greg and took his hand in hers. The baby was kicking again and so the CSI rest her husband's hand on the bump so he wasn't missing anything else.

"You feel that, sweetie?" Morgan said to Greg with a somewhat sad smile "The baby just can't settle without you, and she needs you to sing to her again…yeah, she's a she, we're having a baby girl" she said with a slight catch in her throat and a tear slipped down her cheek. She hated the fact Greg missed the scan and she hated he wouldn't wake up.

A finger suddenly twitched against Morgan's stomach…maybe she'd spoken too soon. The blonde inhaled a sharp breath of excitement as she placed her hand over Greg's, and she felt in astonishment as her husband's fingers slowly began to move in motion with the baby.

"Greg?" Morgan said pleadingly as she grasped his hand tightly "Greg, baby, can you hear me?"

"M…Morgan" Greg mumbled – he was so quiet, but he was there, he was coming back to his wife and child.

"Yeah, yeah it's me sweetie" Morgan said with a smile, the tears now streaming down her face were those of joy. "C'mon, open your eyes" she said, running a hand lightly through Greg's soft hair.

Greg very cautiously began to open his eyes , scared that if he'd open them fully then the caring voice of his wife, and the beautiful movement of his baby would all have been a dream, and he was actually still stuck in that hellish place where he wasn't with the family he so desperately loved. The last thing Greg remembered was telling Morgan and their child that he loved them very much, because he greatly feared he would never see them again. But now, as he looked up through slightly fevered eyes at his smiling wife, Greg couldn't help but get a little emotional too.

"Hey" he said in a raspy voice as he shakily lifted an arm to cup Morgan's cheek, and stroke a tear away with his thumb "I'm sorry" he said sadly, hating to see the distress he had caused to tarnish his wife's complexion.

"You have nothing to be sorry for" Morgan said firmly as she clasped the hand Greg was holding to her cheek, giving him some much needed warmth "We've just been so worried about you, we missed you" she said.

"I missed you too" Greg said deeply, as tears began to build in his own eyes. He couldn't believe how lucky he was, coming so close to death, yet now he could be there for the birth of his child. "I missed you, Bump" the father-to-be said with a smile as he placed a hand back on Morgan's stomach "You helped daddy wake up" he added proudly.

Morgan smirked "Well get used to it, she'll be doing a lot of that when she's born, but I'm not sure it'll be in a helpful way though" she joked. However, Greg did not laugh, in fact he looked rather shocked, and Morgan frowned at him worriedly "Are you alright?" she asked.

"She" Greg said quietly, and Morgan's eyes widened a little as she realised what she'd done.

Morgan bit her bottom lip nervously "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to slip out like that…."

A thousand watt grin suddenly burst across Greg's face "We're having a daughter!" he exclaimed in disbelief , as sudden burst of adrenalin allowed him to sit up in bed and pull Morgan to sit beside him. "This is the best news ever to wake up to!" Greg said happily.

Morgan couldn't help but laugh at his giddiness "I'm glad you think so" she said.

"Hey, my little girl…" Greg spoke as he put both his hands on the bump "I love you and mommy, and I missed you both so, so much" he said honestly "but I'm here now, and not going anywhere, I'll always be there for you, I promise" he looked up into Morgan's eyes then, and stole a kiss from her delicate lips. It felt so good for them to connect again; their family was finally reunited.

The couple eventually separated their lip lock, but still their hands remained clasped in each other's, neither willing to let go just yet.

"This is the first time she's stopped moving in almost three hours" Morgan told Greg with a smile "she can relax now that she can hear you again, she knows she's safe"

"Yeah, and I promise I'll always protect her…protect both of you" Greg said firmly, as he draped an arm around Morgan's shoulder and pulled her close to his side, just wanting to breathe in her sweet sent.

"Well, it looks like we'll be the ones looking after you for a little while" Morgan teased, but she hoped Greg would take some time for himself now to recover, rather than just fretting about her and the baby all the time.

Greg just rolled his eyes "It's just my fatherly nature taking over" he tried to justify himself. There was a pause, and then he gave a deep sigh "I'm sorry I missed the scan, I know you hate going to hospitals by yourself" he said, still feeling guilty.

"Hey, I told you, don't apologise" Morgan lightly scolded him as she ran a hand through Greg's hair "the only people who should be sorry are the bastards who did this to you"

"Oh, yeah, speaking of which…" Greg said as he shuffled a little awkwardly in the bed, his eyes suddenly downcast.

Morgan frowned worriedly "Sweetie, what is it?" she asked. Greg looked a mix between worried, ashamed and embarrassed. "C'mon, you can tell me" Morgan said softly, and gave her husband's hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

"I…I know who did this to me" Greg said, still tiptoeing around the subject.

"Well that's great!" Morgan said, not understanding what was bothering Greg so much if it meant they could catch the bastard responsible. "Who is it?" she prompted "you don't have to be scared…" she added gently.

"I'm not scared anymore" Greg assured her with a small and somewhat forced smile "It's just…you're gunna freak out when I tell you, and I don't want you to get upset, and I'm ashamed I let him get the better of me…"

"Greg, I was always going to get upset, no matter who it was" Morgan told him "This psycho almost took you away from us…" she stopped there –It wasn't worth thinking about what could have been, Greg awake now and that's all that mattered.

"But I'm here now" Greg repeated his earlier words, serious about the fact he was never going to let Morgan or the baby forget that. He paused again, and looked down at the sheets "It was Kyle" he mumbled.

"What?" Morgan said in disbelief. Greg must be mistaken, surely…Kyle was still in custody; he had to be!

"I know" Greg said with a smirk "Sure, I punched the guy in the face, but I wasn't exactly expecting this as revenge"

"Why the hell would nobody tell us that he'd been let out!?" Morgan exclaimed angrily. "That bastard had already done enough to us! God, how could I have ever been so stupid as to date him" she said looking down at the floor guiltily.

"Morgan..." Greg said gently, turning his wife to face him "You can't blame yourself for events happening now because of what happened before we even met, it's not logical" he said with a small smile.

"I know" Morgan sniffed "I just…" she turned to look into Greg's eyes; how could anyone cause hurt in those soothing brown orbs "I hate that you got so hurt" she said with a quiver in her voice, before the tears started to flow once more.

"Hey…" Greg said sadly, as he pulled his wife's head to rest lightly on his shoulder, and wrapped an arm around her waist "You know Bump doesn't like hearing you're upset" he said "I'm going to be okay now, yeah? I'm not going anywhere…"

Morgan nodded weakly into his shoulder, and the married pair sat holding each other tightly for a while, and never willing to let go.

"I love you" Greg finally said as he realised he hadn't had chance to tell Morgan that in days.

"I love you too" Morgan replied, and they shared a slightly more passionate kiss than before, missing each other's feel and touch.

Eventually, they pulled away when a nurse knocked on the door and entered the room. Greg and Morgan pulled apart with embarrassed blushes at being caught in such an intimate embrace, but luckily the nurse just laughed.

"I see you're happily awake, Mr Sanders" she smiled.

"Oh, yes" Greg said, still feeling a little awkward.

"I just came to check on you, but since you're awake I'll go fetch the doctor" she stated and left, before returning a couple of minutes later with said doctor in tow.

"Well Mr Sanders, everything is looking very good considering you were in a coma less than an hour ago" the doctor said with a smile "Surgery was successful, although the second bullet shattered your hip, so we had to replace it. I'm afraid it's going to take a couple more days in bed and a few hard weeks of physical therapy"

"Sure, I can do that, anything" Greg said determinedly; he was gunna work damn hard to walk properly again so he could play with his little girl.

"I thought so, I see you've got a good support system going for you" the doctor said, smiling at Morgan.

"I really do, the very best" Greg replied honestly as he took Morgan's hand and she smiled at him.

"Now, how's the pain doing at the moment?" the doctor asked "Do you need some more painkillers?"

"No, I'm alright" Greg said; although he could tell Morgan knew he was lying.

The pain in his abdomen was pretty strong, but he'd been so hyped up upon waking and learning about his daughter, that he hadn't realised how much he physically hurt until now. But he didn't want any medication because he knew it would make him sleepy, and he'd done enough sleeping over the last few days. He now wanted to spend every moment he had with his wife and child, both of which he loved so much.

"Okay then, I think it's best we get some food in you soon, and I'll check back with you in a few hours" the doctor said with a smile.

"Thank you" Morgan said, returning the gesture, and then the doctor and nurse left the room. She turned to Greg and saw that he was desperately trying to keep his eyes open – she smiled at his adorableness "Sweetie, if you're tired then go to sleep" Morgan encouraged him "We'll be here when you wake up"

"No…"Greg weakly protested as his eyes were already starting to close "Missed…enough…" he sagged down slightly in the pillows and soft snores were soon eliciting from his lips.

Morgan gave him a loving smile before standing up from the bed and placing a soft kiss on Greg's forehead. The blonde then went outside the room for a moment, taking her phone with her, she had a very important call to make.

"Hello?" Nick answered the phone.

"Hey it's Morgan, Greg's awake" she told him happily.

"Really? That's great!" Nick said, sounding highly relieved.

"Yeah it is, but there's something else I needed to tell you" Morgan said cautiously.

"What is it?" Nick asked.

"Kyle was the one who shot Greg" Morgan told him, and there was only a stunned silence on the phone "You think you can handle the asshole for me?" she asked.

"With pleasure" Nick replied deeply and Morgan smirked.

Kyle deserved everything that was coming to him.