How Long More?

The detail of the 3-D sonagram print amazed Eric Delko. He could see the unborn child had his father's mouth. Maybe there was a mini H on the way after all.

"How long more, H?" He asked his boss.

"Six weeks till the date the doctor gave Aimee but you know it could be longer, or sooner." Horatio laughed. "I'm hearing 'how long more, daddy?' from Rachel every night now. She even asked if she could be in the room when he was born."

Eric smiled.

"What did you tell her?"

"'Said the doctor told us she was too young."

"Well, you might not be wrong. Some doctors don't allow siblings in the labor room, or the hospital has a policy against it. You can blame the hospital and make them 'the bad guy' if she gets really mad."

"Good idea. 'Didn't think about that.

"So when you and Calleigh gonna have a baby?" Horatio inquired bluntly.

"What?" Eric asked, taken back by the question.

"C'mon Eric! It's no secret that you want children and so does Calleigh. And not to mention before you two were able to come out with it, yours and Calleigh's relationship was the worst kept secret in Miami. The notion that you two were just roommates, or just roommates with benefits was laughable."

Eric smiled. "Were we that bad at it?"

"Afraid so. But tt wasn't like we were gonna tell IAB on ya," Horatio replied. "Everyone I talked to said it were about time. But you're avoiding my question, when are you two going to have a baby? And don't give me that 'well, we'd have to be married first' bull. Your mother might be of the old school but you're not. Don't forget Rachel was five months old before Aimee and I got married."

Eric and Calleigh were witnesses, along with Rachel Caine when her parents were officially married in a judge's chambers. Rachel watched from Calleigh's arms.

"Right. I forget about that. I'll have to talk to Calleigh about the baby calender."

Eric wondered if his friend and boss knew something he wasn't saying after the older man left the trace lab. Horatio was right; Eric's mother may have thought the two "had" to get married to have a baby but he and Calleigh didn't. His girlfriend had started taking prenatal vitamins in advance four months prior. They had started "trying" three months ago. Contrary to what the young CSI thought, Horatio knew nothing.

Yet.

Horatio Caine had a full head of strawberry blonde hair at birth. His hair started to turn color at age of three and by age four he was "a total carrot top." The relentless teasing he received was only made a small bit easier by the fact he fortunately didn't have freckles to go along with the red hair. In his primary school years his teachers thought his red hair was "adorable." His schoolmates not so much so. The father-to-be hoped for the boy's sake that the new baby would inherit his mother's dark hair or if he were born a strawberry blonde he'd stay that way.

If not, Horatio pondered, I suppose I'll be able to sympathize with him.

The lieutenant came to two pieces of news that evening; one being especially thrilling. Aimee had been to the doctor that day and after a thorough exam and sonagram, the doctor moved the patient's due date up by a week.

"Really? That's great!" Horatio said, wrapping his wife in a big hug and kissing her passionately. His right hand tenderly stroked Aimee's extended belly. "We're gonna get to see you sooner than we thought, little man," he said, planting a kiss on where his third child was growing.

"And in other news, I don't think she saw me, but guess who I saw leaving the doctor's office today?"

"Who?" Horatio said as he held his wife to the couch by the hand.

"Calleigh," Aimee said, sitting down.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They had me waiting in exam room three and she must have been further the hall. The door was partly open and I saw her walking down the hall, talking to the nurse. I didn't get to all of their conversation, too many people talking in the hall to my disappoint but I did clearly hear Calleigh say she didn't need prenatal vitamins 'cause she were already taking them."

"Hm," Horatio replied. "Time to start poking at Mr. Delko more." he told his wife about his blunt inquiry about a Duquesne-Delko baby.

"Well, I'm glad that I could provide you with further information," Aimee laughed.