Company

Lindsay Messer jumped at the chance to meet Lt Caine's wife and children. It was going to be nice to get out the hotel room as well. She hadn't got to see much of the city. Lindsay smiled at her husband as he talked about meeting Aimee and the two little girls.

"Aimee's really nice. Their lil' girls are adorable. Rachel proudly told me that she's getting a new baby soon. But she's getting a little brother. Cheyenna is adorable too. It was great seein' 'em. Aimee said she'd be glad to show you some of the city."

Lindsay laughed.

"Sounds like I'm in for a good time tomorrow," she said.

Lindsay had met first Horatio Caine five yeas ago when he came to New York City to help investigate a case linked to a fugitive from Miami. She had always thought he was a good man but like her own supervisor it was readily apparent he was lonely and that there was something missing from his life. Arriving at his address the next day, it was obvious to Lindsay that the Miami lieutenant had found that missing piece. When she stepped through the front door Lindsay was greeted by a bare-foot, diaper-clad Cheyenna Caine a few feet in front of her.

"Hi there," Lindsay said. "You must be Cheyenna."

My god! Those eyes! She thought. Danny was kidding! Her husband had told her the Caine had the brightest blue eyes.

Cheyenna nodded and pointed to the baby carrier. "Baby." She said.

"Yeah, this is my baby," Lindsay said. "Would you like to see her?"

The little girl nodded again. Cheyenna's parents and sister came downstairs then.

"Lindsay!" Horatio said with a big smile, coming over giving her a hug.

Lindsay had never seen an expression on the redhead's face before. This was definitely a different, much happier man.

"Hey. Long time," she replied.

"For sure. And who's this pretty girl?"

Lindsay put the diaper bag down and placed the baby carrier on the kitchen table.

"This is Lydia," she picked up the baby from the seat. "Can you say 'hi' to Horatio?" she said to the baby.

"Hello there, Lydia. You look like your daddy."

"You wanna hold her? 'Not even gonna ask you if you know how to hold a baby."

"Absolutely," Horatio said, taking Lydia.

"Hi. You must be Aimee," Lindsay said, "what's your name?" She asked Rachel who was at her mother's side. Cheyenna was now next to Horatio, he was bent down to her level as she looked curiously at the baby in his arms.

"Rachel," the little girl said, shyly. "I'm three years old."

Lindsay started to enjoy herself very quickly at the Caines' house. Aimee was very nice. It was evident she and Horatio were very happy and had great kids. The two woman chatted in the kitchen while Rachel and Cheyenna watched cartoons. Lindsay fed her daughter. The five were going to take a stroll to the beach shortly. Lindsay was looking forward to seeing the ocean. The New York City CSI was curious to how Aimee and Horatio met.

Aimee smiled as she told the story of the flat tire and a waitress sitting them together three weeks later. "You could call it fate, I guess," she said.

Aimee's two girls ran in to the room then.

"Can we go to the beach now, mommy?" Rachel said.

"Okay. Let's go brush your teeth and get your shoes," Aimee said, starting to get up.

"Want me to take them up?" Lindsay said. "I don't mind."

The memory of what it was like to move around and walk stairs while pregnant was still all too clear in Lindsay's mind. She didn't mind helping out her new friend.

"Okay. Can you guys show Lindsay where your stuff is?" Aimee enjoyed taking baby Lydia in her arms while her mother went upstairs.

Rachel nodded and reached for Lindsay's hand. Danny's wife smiled.

"Did you ever think of stopping at one?" Lindsay asked "You never thought 'I'm never going through that again" after the first time?"

Lindsay still felt guilty about saying, thinking and feeling that way. Aimee could tell.

"Well, twice I said that for a few months after. But I didn't regret going through it, and I know you don't. You shouldn't feel guilty, trust me. You adore Lydia. Everyone can see that. You can love your baby more than anything and admit childbirth is hell. You have to stop beating yourself up, Lindsay!

" It did take me a close to a year to start thinking of having a second child. That being said, we hope to have four. I don't know what you and Danny want. Every family is different."

The five were now at the beach. Rachel and Cheyenna played in the sand a few feet away. Lindsay felt a bit odd that a woman six years younger than her had advice that made her feel better. Then again Aimee had been married longer and had two toddlers and a baby on the way. She and Danny had been married less than a month before Lydia was born.

"Do you ever worry that you won't have enough time to give to more than one child? I mean, Danny and I have been talkin' and I'm contemplating only going to back to work part-time, 'cause otherwise she'd spend too much time at the babysitter's and they'd get to see all the special things and firsts. Even with that, I worry that each kid wouldn't get enough attention."

"I thought about that, too, at times. It sounds weird but when you add one to the ones you already have, you all just adjust."

After that, the conversation turned more light.

"You two worried about how the 3 a.m. diaper changes are gonna go with this one?"

Aimee laughed. She knew what Lindsay meant. It was easy to remember the "precautions" of changing a baby boy during the day but being half asleep at three in the morning was a different story.

"We already have the bet going who's gonna get it first. If it don't happen in the first week he gets too relaxed."

The Messer Hotel Suite

"Enjoy your day at the beach?" Danny Messer asked.

"It was great," Lindsay Messer said. "I even learned to build a sandcastle coutesy of Rachel. And we went to seaworld. I told Aimee anytime they're in New York to look us up."

"That's great. Sounds more fun than my day."

The Caine Home

"Rachel wants to know when we're going to go to New York City."

It was the end of the day and Aimee had her feet in Horatio's lap.

"Oh really?" Horatio said.

"Yeah. She wants to go during the winter so she can see snow. Lindsay told her any time we went that she would show her around and she could play with Lydia."

It was going to be a while but a second child was no longer a far-fetched idea for the Messers after meeting the Caine family. Horatio had told Danny he couldn't imagine how boring life would be with just one child. Danny had asked him the same thing about being able to give each child enough attention and not just him because of the unpredictability of his job but Aimee as well. He knew just because Aimee didn't have a money-paying outside the home, she did the equivalent of two, maybe even three jobs.

When the Messers arrived back home and Mac Taylor asked them what the best part of the trip, both Danny and Lindsay had to say it was meeting and spending time with the Caine Family. Lindsay asked Mac if he knew Horatio and his wife were expecting their third child, a boy. It was news to Mac but he couldn't say he were surprised.

"I gotta say marriage and children have really changed Horatio. He's one happy man nowadays."

"I can think of two more people that happened to," Mac said with a smile.