"Did I hear the news right?" Alexx asked Horatio. "It's a boy?"

She had been out of the lab for two weeks. The M.E. had attended a week-long seminar in Chicago and taking a week off afterwards. She asked Calleigh what was new and was told that her boss's wife was having a baby boy.

"You did," Horatio grinned.

"That's wonderful, Horatio. I know Rachel must be so excited." Alexx offered to share any helpful hints on the differences of taking care of little boys verus little girls with the expectant couple when Aimee's due date got closer.

Horatio smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "We should take you up on that. Eric said you might offer us 'baby boy bootcamp' when the baby gets in."

"Bootcamp, huh?" Alexx laughed. "I wouldn't exactly call it that since you two already know what to do with a baby in general.

"I don't guess you two have picked out any names yet."

Horatio shook his head "no."

It was still too soon for that. But Aimee told Horatio that she might want to call the baby Matthew, Horatio's middle name. But they both had other names in mind; Austin, Zachary, Liam, Jesse and Adam were on the list. They didn't want to pick a name too soon. Horatio wasn't sure about calling his son after his middle name. But he also knew that if it was what his wife really wanted it would be so. Maybe he could convince her to settle on Matthew being a middle name.

Aimee was close to four months pregnant now. She was showing a little, she had gained almost twelve pounds and the baby bump was starting to appear again. This made both she and Horatio smile. The mother-to-be wasn't feeling any baby's kicks yet but was looking forward to when that would start. Ninety-eight percent of the time Aimee could say she loved being pregnant. Fatigue from her first trimester had subsided but Aimee had another type of fatigue. The fatigue of trying to keep up with a three-year-old and an eighteen-month-old while being pregnant.

"How come you're yawning, mommy?" Rachel asked after breakfast one morning. "Did you sleep? Did you have bad dreams?"

"Sometimes your baby brother makes mommy sleepy," Aimee told her little one.

"Bad!" The little girl said. "He not being nice to you, mommy."

"Oh no, honey. Your baby brother isn't bad. That happens to all mommies."

"Oh."

Eric and Calleigh both had the day off. The Caine girls enjoyed being with Uncle Eric and Aunt Calleigh. Eric was even teaching the girls Spanish. Rachel was becoming particularly fluent, like her mom. Aimee had been enrolled a Spanish Immersion all her school years. her borther had too, till the sixth grade when he asked their parents to take him out of it. Cheyenna seemed to be picking up the second language fast as well. Eric called, telling Aimee that he and Calleigh were going for a picnic in the park. He wanted to know if they could take the girls along. They wanted to take them to Seaworld afterwards.

"Sure," Aimee said. "Did Horatio tell you to call?"

Even if Horatio had, Aimee didn't mind. A nap sounded like a very good idea.

"No, he didn't," Eric said. "He doesn't even know," the Cuban chuckled.

"Ewic! Cawwie!" Rachel exclaimed when she saw her father's co-workers walk in. She ran to the doorway, her little sister close behind.

"Hi ya," Eric said, picking the three-year-old up.

"Hola!" The little girl replied.

With the girls gone and the house quiet, Aimee laid back on the sofa and putting her feet up. It was close to lunch time, her girls would be having a picnic and Aimee was going to order in Chinese. Picking up toys and doing laundry could wait.

The delivery guy had just left when Horatio called.

"What's up? How come it's so quiet?"

"The girls aren't here. Eric and Calleigh got them out for a picnic and a trip to Seaworld."

"I see." .

Horatio knew the co-worker couple both loved children and the older man had a feeling that the duo might have some of their own in the future. They were great with Rachel and Cheyenna and the two little girls always seemed to jump at the chance to go do something with them.

"And I had a craving for Chinese. The delivery guy just left," Aimee told him.

"Aw. Save me some dumplings."

"Not on your life. I'm already sharing with your son and he's inherited mommy's liking of rice."

"Well, excuse me," her husband laughed. "You feelin' okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Aimee said. She then told Horatio what Rachel had said about her baby brother that morning.

Horatio smiled on the other end of line. Rachel was a very smart little girl who could be quite protective of her immediate family when she thought someone was being 'mean' to them. The baby her mom was carrying wasn't really real to her yet at her age so it didn't come as a shock to Horatio that she said her unborn brother was being "bad."

It hadn't surprised Andy Michaels when his younger sister called him weeks ago and told him that she and her husband were expecting a third child. He didn't know what to make of his little sister being further ahead of him in life. Andy and his girlfriend of six years had broken up several months before. He was living with two buddies in a dump of an apartment. Aimee was married going on four years and was on her third child. The family lived in a large house close to the beach. The fact his brother-in-law was older didn't even cross his mind anymore. Horatio was a great dad to his nieces and he couldn't treat his sister any better.

Aimee and everyone in the family thought they knew why Andy wasn't in the same spot in life. Despite the fact that Andy was a great guy and could have any girl he wanted, he seemed to gravitate towards women who were sluts. His last two girlfriends had cheated on him and had been for a while before he realized it.

Still Andy was happy for his sister. She deserved a man like Horatio Caine and his nieces and nephew-to-be deserved the kind of father Horatio was.

Calleigh and Eric were now seriously discussing marriage and children. They were sure that a wedding, most likely an informal one would be quickly be followed by children.

"What's the hold up with you two anyway?" Aimee asked Calleigh. Aimee Caine was talking in general, not specifically in either marriage or children. "You can get started on your future and not have to worry about your jobs now. That was what was stopping you before."

The ballistics expert had come over to drop off some Easter goodies for the girls. The children had ran off to play with their plush bunnies.

"I don't know," Calleigh said, sheepishly. "It's definitely not the thought of being with Eric the rest of my life that scares me. I guess part of me doesn't know how I'd handle pregnancy and childbirth.

"What's it like?"

"I can't answer that question for you, Calleigh," Aimee said. "It's different for everyone and can be different daily. Sometimes hourly. But even with the bumps in the road, being a mom is awesome."

Just because for the most part Aimee enjoyed pregnancy didn't mean it would be the same for Calleigh. The lieutenant's wife wasn't even going to address labor and childbirth. The only positive thing she could say about that was there were an end to it. Aimee also knew it was possible to loathe every moment of being pregnant and but love parenthood.

"Horatio is after rubbing off on you," Calleigh smiled in reference to how Aimee said she couldn't answer that particular question for her.

Aimee laughed.

"After four years what would you expect?"