My Way is Clear

by Simply Ginger

Nick meets a paramedic after getting injured at a crime scene. In an AU, this is their story. This is not a slash and all the characters from CSI show up eventually.

37. Follow On

Chapter 37 – Follow On

"Nick?"

I looked up to see Catherine in the doorway, "Yeah?"

She gently shut the door and took a seat bedside me, "I don't quite know how to say this but I have a question."

I folded my arms across my chest, "I might have an answer."

"I couldn't help but notice earlier in your locker that you had a certain book…" She trailed off, hinting at me to take the bait. When I remained silent, she sighed, "Is Anna…"

Catherine saw the Bradley Method book I had in my locker. Anna was determined to have this baby naturally with no pain medications, so I picked the book up for her earlier tonight and left it in my locker. I figured I'd at least have some fun if anything with teasing Catherine, "Is Anna what? Human. Yes. She's very human. Anything else?"

"Nick…"

I sighed, "Yes. Anna is pregnant."

Catherine screeched, "Nick!" She reached down to hug me, knocking me off balance on the bench in the locker room, "How's she doing? How far along?"

"She's fine other than morning sickness nearly every day. She just had her first doctor's appointment not too long ago and was thirteen weeks when we found out, but she's closer to seventeen now."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Ask Anna. I was under a gag order until just recently. Her co-workers only found out a little bit ago after Bryan spilled the beans."

"Let me throw her a baby shower." Catherine's face lit up, "I can have it at my house and we can invite your parents plus everyone here at the lab plus everyone at her work. Oh, please say yes."

Catherine was on the verge of begging which made me uneasy, "You'll have to talk to Anna about that one. She'll be at work in a couple days." I grabbed the pregnancy book and shoved it down in my bag, "I'll tell everyone at work tomorrow when Grissom hands out assignments. Think you can keep it a secret until then?"

Saying she would, Catherine left the locker room with a big smile plastered across her face. I just hoped she'd be able to keep quiet.

True to her word, the next day at work, I sat down in the break room with Sara and Warrick as we waited on Catherine, Greg and Grissom to show up. Sara was playing a game on her phone and Warrick had his head down on his arms. If I knew the two of them, they'd be all over me if Catherine had blabbed her secret. Earlier when I passed by Hodges, Mandy and Wendy, they didn't say anything to me and I know that Mandy and Wendy would have cornered me and wanted all the juicy details. I planned on telling Anna about Catherine wanting to throw her a baby shower and I didn't think she'd have any problems with it. After I made my announcement after Grissom was through, I'd tell Catherine to get with Anna to go over the details of whatever baby showers included.

After the assignments were handed out, I told everyone I had an announcement, "I have something I wanted to tell everyone. I was told to keep quiet about this until now but I was told that I could tell everyone that…"

Catherine looked like she was about to burst, "Anna's pregnant!"

"Thanks, Cath."

I got hugs from Grissom, Sara, Warrick and Greg and after I told them as little as possible about Anna's pregnancy, I was thankful I was working alone tonight. Catherine had Lindsey but as far as CSI children went, that was it. Lindsey was born before I started working here. I was still in Texas so my child would be the first CSI baby as Catherine called it. I could only imagine what that meant.

I got through with my case early and Grissom told me I could go home, which I was grateful. Anna was asleep when I got home and didn't even stir when I got in bed next to her. I was exhausted from the baby news as well as work work and the never ending court cases I had to testify about and it felt good to get a few hours' sleep and I really needed it.

Anna's crying startled me and in my drowsiness, I became tangled in the covers. Finally kicking them off, I found Anna leaning against the wall in our closet. She was half dressed for work and her work pants were down around her ankles but I couldn't figure out why she was crying, "Anna?" The words that came out of her mouth were jumbled and I couldn't understand her, "Honey, calm down." I hugged Anna as she kicked out of her work pants and continued to cry, "What is it? Are you okay? The baby okay?"

Sniffling, she let me go and wiped her face with the back of her hands, "My pants!" With that, it set off another round of crying, "My pants!"

I wasn't following, "Are on the ground. Do you need help? You can't reach them? What?"

"No! They won't fit anymore."

I had to hold back a laugh that all of this was due to Anna having to swap to her maternity pants for work, "Oh." I couldn't think of anything else to do except hug her and she let me but continued to cry, "Honey, it's okay. They're just pants."

"I know." Sniffling again, I handed her the maternity pants that were hung up next to the pair she tried and couldn't get on, "But it's just…" She trailed off as she tried to gather her thoughts and held up her maternity pants, "I have to wear them now."

"You are pregnant, love. Of course you have to wear them. You're already showing and we both knew you couldn't wear them for much longer."

With that, it set Anna off on another crying binge and I knew I was to blame. I gently led her back to the bed and had her sit down as I sat on the floor in front of her, "Anna, it's okay. They're just pants."

"But I can't wear them anymore!"

Clearly I was going nowhere fast. With a little bit of reverse psychology and the promise I'd bring donuts by work later on, Anna cheered up and put on her maternity pants. I told her I loved her and kissed her goodbye and breathed a sigh of relief when she finally left.

Anna's next doctor's appointment was a week later and I told her I'd meet her at work and follow her there. I made a mental note to ask Dr. Lindley if crying over pants was a normal thing or not. She had another episode over fruit when we ran out of apples earlier in the week, but I made an emergency trip to the store and came back with a sack of apples and that resulted in a very happy wife.

Since everyone at work knew Anna was pregnant, everyone was going out of their way to allow me the time off I needed to go to the appointments with Anna. Today, Greg filled in for me on the court case we were headed to so I could get off in time to get to the station to go with Anna.

When I got there, she was nowhere to be found, but Bryan was outside putting his gear in the back of his truck. He'd be the perfect one to ask about Anna's mood outbursts, "Hey, Bryan?"

He stopped in his tracks and looked at me, "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When Cathy was pregnant, did she just…" I tried to think how to word it without insulting Anna, "Did she just burst out crying for no reason?"

He laughed as we walked back inside the station, "Lord yes. She'd cry at Hallmark commercials. She cried because our septic system was flooded due to rain and she couldn't flush the toilet after she peed. She cried because the grapes in the fridge were red and not green. We should have bought stock in Kleenex. Lemme guess, Aggie has started crying over something stupid?"

"Yep. She was upset last week because she had to wear maternity pants and not her uniform pants."

"It gets better usually a year or so after the baby's born."

I blanched. I had to deal with two years of Anna crying over pants and the wrong color grapes? This was one of those things no one told me and it wasn't in that baby book she bought about what to expect during a pregnancy nor was it in the one I bought for her. I leafed through it, going over some points, but I failed to see anything about uncontrollable crying over grapes listed. "Seriously?"

"Unfortunately. You've got nine months of the pregnancy plus the hormones after the baby's born. It does get better and hopefully for your sanity's sake, you don't have to deal with it as long as I did or the cravings Cathy had which always seemed to happen at four in the morning."

Anna was already going through donuts like they were going out of style. I remember my sister wanting mashed potatoes, but nothing weird, "What'd Cathy want?"

"Pecans. She wanted lots of pecans which was strange because she never really wanted pecans before but being the dutiful husband I am, I obliged and bought lots of pecans."

"Do I even want to know what the two of you are discussing?" Anna was standing behind us, leaning against the hallway wall, "Secret man conclave?"

"Just giving CSI Man some pregnancy tips. You know like when you ask for something stupid at four in the morning, he better go get it?"

Anna smiled, "So far, the only things I want are donuts and I get enough of them here and in Summerlin. Pickles and ice cream don't sound appealing to me yet."

"Thank God." I breathed a sigh of relief that nothing weird had happened yet, other than the incident earlier with Anna's pants and the apples.

I told Anna I'd meet her at the doctor's office and left the station. Since I left earlier, I beat her to the office and parked towards the front of the building. With nothing else to do, I began to daydream as I stared at the sonogram photo I had taped to the visor of my truck. I wanted to know what the baby's sex was, but Anna didn't. This was the appointment where we could find out if we wanted to but out of respect for Anna, I wouldn't find out. I didn't know if I'd be able to contain myself and not be able to spoil it when I came home with footballs and clothes for boys.

If it was a boy, I already had plans for him. I wanted him to play sports like I did in school. Football for sure or my parents would never let us live it down and maybe baseball if he wanted. I wasn't much on hunting or fishing and there weren't many places in Nevada to do either, but there were plenty of other activities. Boy scouts maybe. My brother and I were both members and we had a lot of fun going hiking and camping. Then another thought hit me, "Wait a minute. I play golf. That's something we could do together." I could buy a set of golf clubs for him and I'd teach him how to play. "Perfect. Something Anna could do with us." When we went back to Texas, I'd teach him to ride a horse and learn how to feed and care for them like I did when I was younger. I'd show him where I grew up and my old schools. "Or I could just put him on one of ours. What am I thinking?" Pregnancy brain wasn't something only women had problems with.

I stared at the sonogram again, what if the baby was a girl? Girls can ride horses. Anna does. I recoiled at the thought of me in a tiara and pink tutu sitting at a plastic table having a tea party with a bunch of dolls, but it was part of what being a father was all about. As long as the pictures didn't get out, I could probably endure it.

My mind continued to wander about the thought of a daughter when dating came up. "She'll date when she graduates college." I smiled at my rule. I know how I was when I was a teenager and I could only imagine that teenagers today would be just as bad. "But I do carry a gun. Even better!" My dad put the fear of death into a few of the boys that my sisters brought around and I'd be even better. Camouflage paint, a hat with a tree branch on it. I'd do it all. My daughter would never date. Of course, she'd also likely never speak to me again, but I could manage to live with that.

I heard a knocking on the glass which startled me. Anna was standing next to my truck and waved at me when she got my attention, "Welcome back, Space Cowboy."

I shook it off and took Anna's hand and went inside, "Was just daydreaming."

"About?"

"You know how you were worked up over nursery and diapers and clothes and stuff?"

"Yeah…" Anna looked concerned, "What was yours about?"

"Dating. If this baby is a girl, she'll date when she's in college."

Anna groaned and pushed the button on the elevator, "Let's get her born, first."

She got checked in with her doctor and took a seat next to me on the plastic couch in the far corner of the room. I started leafing through a magazine while Anna closed her eyes, "Tired?"

"Nauseous."

"Do you need to…" With that, Anna got up off the couch and headed towards the bathroom. "I guess that's a yes." I waited on her to come back and after she got settled in next to me and got a magazine and after a few moments passed, I decided to tell her about Catherine, "Catherine wants to throw you a baby shower."

Anna put her magazine down, "Bryan said Cathy wanted to also. Maybe Cathy and Catherine could do it together? Catherine's house is more centrally located rather than everyone having to come to Summerlin to ours or to Cathy's. Just promise me you won't let them have any stupid games…"

"I'll do my best."

"Anna Stokes?"

Anna set her magazine down and stood up when the nurse called her name. I stayed where I was, telling Anna to have someone come get me when she was done, "Nick, I'm just here for some blood work and an ultrasound. Unless you're scared of needles, you can come back."

I followed Anna and the nurse through the door and into the back of the office. As always, the first thing with any appointment at a doctor's office, they wanted weight. Anna got on the scale but didn't want to know how much weight she gained. I saw the nurse write the number down and it wasn't that bad but I kept my mouth shut knowing how sensitive women were about their weight. Last thing I needed was a meltdown in the doctor's office.

We were dropped off with the phlebotomist who took her time in drawing enough blood out of Anna to run several tests. Finally, we were ushered into the ultrasound room and told that the tech and Dr. Lindley would be in shortly.

Anna yawned and sat on the table before lying back. I helped her put a pillow behind her head and held her hand as we discussed baby names, something we still hadn't agreed on, "Claire?"

I shook my head, "No. I know you said no Meri-something like your name, but what about Mary like the Virgin Mary? Mary Anne or Mary Catherine?"

"Catherine would think we named the baby after her."

She had a point, "Fine. Mary Ellen? You know? Like the Waltons?"

Anna groaned, "Lord we are gonna need mediators. I like Caroline but you already said no. Tabitha? Micah? Julie? Cora? Anything you like?"

"Caroline is a maybe but it's on the no side of maybe and I don't like the others."

"Well, I don't see you being helpful."

I brought up a list of baby names on Anna's iPhone, "Top ten baby names are…"

Anna interrupted me, "No. I'm not using a popular name. I'm not having our daughter go to school with a name like Peyton and being in a class with a dozen other Peytons. I don't want to go all celebrity and name her after a color and a plant but it won't be in the top ten list and no Jaydens either. I can't stand that name."

I kept searching for baby names while the ultrasound tech came in with Dr. Lindley. The tech got busy setting up while Dr. Lindley took some measurements and told Anna that her preliminary blood work looked fine, but the full panel would take a few days to get back, "Everything going okay? Any questions?"

"I have one." I put the phone down and hoped what I was about to say wouldn't upset Anna, "Is it normal for pregnant women to be sort of…" I had to walk on eggshells here, "Emotional?"

Dr. Lindley looked at me out of the corner of her eye as she kept an eye on Anna to make sure I didn't upset her. When the only thing Anna did was yawn, I knew I was safe, "Quite. When a woman is pregnant, her emotions run rampant. It's normal." She turned her attention to Anna, "I take it you were upset?"

"Yeah." Anna looked embarrassed, "I had a moment the other day about having to wear maternity pants at work. My regular work pants wouldn't fit anymore."

The ultrasound tech said she was ready to begin and Dr. Lindley excused herself and said she'd be back when we were finished to check on the baby herself. Still wanting to think of a name for a girl, I read the nametag on the woman in front of us. Her name was Elaine and I began to play that around in my head until I heard her speak, "Looking good. Looks real, real good. Do you want to know the baby's sex?"

Anna shook her head, "I don't but my husband does. You can tell him, but I don't want to know."

"Let's see what we have here. There's the baby's head." She pointed to the screen, "And there's an arm."

"That thing right there?"

"Yep." Elaine pointed to the blob on the screen, "That's the baby's arm but I can't get a clear view of the area I need to find out what it is." As she moved the wand around, she started to laugh, "The baby is mooning us. See?"

Pointing to the screen, I could faintly make out what she was talking about, "Figures." Anna was getting her way at least for now. I didn't know what our baby's gender was but I wanted to find out.

Anna wiped gel off of her stomach and sat up with my help after Dr. Lindley came in to check on the baby as well as Anna. We left the office with a sack full of prenatal vitamins as well as several thick brochures on childbirth, pregnancy and common problems with answers to questions about labor and delivery. She also advised us to pick a delivery hospital and take a tour of the labor and delivery suites as well as the nursery and the post partum floor as she walked us out, "I have privileges at Desert Palms as well as St. Sebastian's so either of those would work for me."

"Desert Palms is fine. Nick and I have both been there before." Elaine handed Anna more printouts from the ultrasound and she smiled, "Adding these to the baby book I've started."

Dr. Lindley told us she'd see us again in another month and told us to have a good day.

Anna made another appointment on her way out and handed me the bag with the pamphlets and vitamins in it, "Blood tests, ultrasounds, and more. Prenatal health is filled with needles and blood vials." I watched as she peeled the Band-Aid off of the inside of her elbow where the nurse had drawn blood, "I swear I think they're vampires or something."

"Drinking blood does not make you a vampire. It makes you a haematophage."

"Touché." Reaching up to kiss me, Anna hit the button of the elevator, "See you at home?"

"Actually, I have a better idea." I could tell by the look on her face what Anna was thinking, "No, not that. Well, at least not right now. I meant we should probably go baby shopping or something. We don't have anything we need. No diapers or wipes or bottles or clothes or anything."

"And I do need to register for stuff for the baby shower Cathy and Catherine are planning. Where to first?"

The elevator dinged and we stepped in, "How about we ride together and then on our way home, I'll drop you off and you can go home from there? It'd be easier than taking two cars."

"Fine with me."

I led Anna out into the parking lot and helped her in my truck. I suggested we go to Babies R Us first because that seemed to be the logical place to start.

"Excuse me?"

The cashier closest to Anna turned around, "Yes?"

"I need to register for a baby shower. Can you help me?"

The woman took us over to customer service and had us fill out a form with basic information on it. After we were done, she handed Anna a scan gun and told her to scan everything we wanted in, "It'll create a registry for you and after you're done, give us about a day and all of your stuff will be online. Your friends and family can search for you by either your name or your husband's name and your list will appear and can be printed off. When someone buys you something off of your list, the quantity will go down." She showed us a sample list, "See here where it says four packages of Pampers were scanned?"

I took the printout from the woman and Anna and I both looked, "Yeah." I pointed it out to Anna, "So according to this, someone bought this person two packages of Pampers and two are still left?"

"Precisely. Scan as much as you want or as little as you want. There's no limit. When you're done, just bring the scan gun back to me and I'll give you a printed list of what all you scanned plus some freebies for registering with us."

Anna told the woman thanks and took the scan gun from her as we made our way to the strollers, "Wow."

I echoed her sentiments and looked at the aisle of strollers with as much awe. Anna quickly found one she liked but the price was more than what she was comfortable with. When we found car seats, we ran into the same problems. The cheapest car seat for infants was just less than a hundred dollars. I wasn't aware baby supplies were so expensive, "Why not start at the back and work our way front? Looks like nursery stuff plus diapers are in the back?"

Anna agreed and took my hand as we started towards the back of the store. I scanned in a stuffed football and a tiny baseball glove when Anna wasn't paying attention. She scanned in a few teddy bears and some baby furniture before we finally made it to the back of the store.

I told her that my sister used a sling with both of her kids, "Allison said it was helpful when she was out running errands and needed her hands free." I found a moderately priced one and handed it to Anna, "Try it on. See what you think."

"How does this thing work?" Anna managed to get it over her shoulder like a backpack, but the part where the baby went was upside down, "Are we supposed to strap her in or something? Is it a baby backpack?"

Looking as clueless as Anna, I found a sales clerk who told Anna she had the sling on upside down, "It goes this way." I watched as the woman flipped the sling over and adjusted it to the proper setting, "Baby goes in here and your hands are still free to do whatever you need, but your baby is close enough to be comforted."

I told the sales girl thanks as I watched Anna fiddle with it, "I don't get what's wrong with just holding her."

"Me either. Should you put it on the registry?"

"Why not?" Anna took the sling off and scanned the barcode before putting it back on the shelf. While we were there, we scanned in diapers and wipes plus diaper bags and baby monitors. When I told my mother about the baby shower, she said she and dad would buy the car seat and my sisters would buy the stroller if I'd get Anna to pick out which ones she wanted. I felt a little guilty with the price of both, but while Anna was scanning plenty of onsies and baby shampoo, I used her iPhone and Googled the stroller and car seat she wanted and found that the reviews were not only positive, but the safety features were a comfort to me.

Finally, we headed back over to the stroller aisle. I was bewildered at the choices. Some looked like cars while others looked like the ones my parents had when I was a baby. I saw the one I Googled and told Anna to scan it, but she hesitated, "Nick, that stroller is almost two hundred dollars."

"But it's the one you want."

"Yeah." Anna sighed and handed me the scan gun, "But it's so expensive."

"Honey, my sisters are gonna take care of that stroller and I think Tyler said Marissa will help also. My parents are gonna buy us the car seat we want so we need to pick out what we want and not what's the cheapest. I don't want Thing in something cheap that can hurt him or her."

Anna rolled her eyes, "Thing?"

"Baby's new nickname."

She groaned and shook her head, "No."

We finished up at Babies R Us and planned on going to another store, but Anna was tired and wanted to go home. I dropped her off at Dr. Lindley's office to get her truck and headed home to wait on her.

Another week passed and Anna was back at work. Cathy and Catherine had set up the baby shower at Catherine's house and Anna was actually looking forward to it. She started to feel tired more than usual and was taking naps whenever she could. Her biggest complaint was the baby was awake when she was trying to sleep and when she was awake, Thing was asleep. Our resident pregnancy expert, Cathy, told Anna this was normal and said Cody did the same thing. Cathy's only advice was to sleep whenever Anna could because the later on in her pregnancy she got, the harder it'd be to sleep.

I was begging Anna to start taking it easy at work, but she insisted she felt fine. I had her shift captain on my side who also insisted that she start cutting back her shifts. Her doctor said as long as she kept her duty light, she was free to work as long as she wanted. I knew I had Bryan on my side also in that he'd keep Anna out of the back of the ambulance and make her drive, which was less stressful on both her and the baby. I had suggested she take leave from LVFD and try dispatching but she only said she'd think about it. Brass had told me that one of the dispatchers with the LVPD was on break from surgery and would likely be out for a while. I was hoping Anna would take it. She'd be away from the fire department and away from the danger, but I was having a hard time convincing her to take a desk job.

When she finally got home, I wanted to continue our conversation from last night at the station, but the topic of conversation quickly drifted when Anna mentioned the new baby pool at work, "Bryan started a baby pool at work." She looked annoyed, "He's supposed to call you or ask you next time you come by the station to see if you want to join in."

I had a funny feeling that Bryan would start something like this, "And how many people are in it so far?"

Anna went to lie back in bed after she kicked off her boots, "Everyone on my shift at the station plus most of the people on relief. He just started it Tuesday, so by the time we get back to work on Monday, it'll probably be just about everyone."

"Am I supposed to be upset that people are betting on you and when this baby will be born?"

"Meh. I don't care. It's all fun and games."

"Let me guess. You bet?"

"Damn straight I did." Anna put my hand across her stomach, "It's our baby and we should have a chance at winning the money."

"So what happens if no one gets it right?"

"I have a provision in it that the money goes to the animal rescue in town where I got Draco from." Anna had adopted Draco when she first moved to Las Vegas from Happy Hounds Rescue and volunteered there from time to time. "So we'll see who wins. Right now, the buy in is twenty dollars."

I told Anna I'd stop by next time she was at work and make a bet, but I felt uneasy betting on my own child. It was still entertaining to say the least and I knew that once my co-workers found out about it, they'd want in on it as well.

Our first wedding anniversary was four days later, during one of Anna's off days. I had put in time off to spend with Anna and Grissom happily approved it. With Anna still sound asleep in the bed, I got to work fixing her breakfast to bring to her in bed. Popping a couple of bagels in the toaster oven, I scrambled some eggs and fried some bacon, making sure to save some for the dogs. I dug out a serving tray from the pantry and set it up for her, complete with a plastic flower in a vase I had gotten from the store on my way home from work. When I got back from the kitchen, Anna was stirring in bed, "Happy anniversary, honey."

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up as much as she could in bed. I put the tray across her lap and pushed my pillow behind her to add support, "You're so sweet."

I took the cover off the dish and she saw I had made her two plain bagels, several strips of bacon and scrambled eggs, "I hope that's okay…" I didn't want to tell her 'I hope it doesn't make you throw up' but she got what I was trying to say.

"Perfect." She stabbed a bite of the eggs with her fork and swallowed it followed by a drink of milk and part of a strip of bacon, "Absolutely perfect."

I fixed my plate and got back in bed with Anna. Turning on the TV in our room, I channel surfed until I found a Walker, Texas Ranger rerun on TV. The show was cheesy, but it was filmed in Dallas and being from the area it was fun to pick out local landmarks. I had gotten good over the years of picking out places they filmed and had even been to a lot of them as a child. When the episode was over with, I took both of our plates back to the kitchen and let the dogs out in the back yard. Anna snuggled up next to me and managed to nap on and off for a couple of hours until I told her we had to get up, "I've got plans."

"Oh?"

"Yep." I got out of bed and held out my hands to help her out of bed, "And no, I won't tell you what they are. Now get up."

I took a shower with Anna and helped her get dressed. She found a sundress with an empire waistline that she could still fit in to but couldn't quite reach to get her shoes fastened. With her finally ready, I quickly got dressed and led her out of the house and headed into Vegas.

"No hints whatsoever?"

"I'll give you one. What I have planned is in Vegas."

Anna groaned, "You're no help."

I let her keep guessing until we got to the Venetian. She guessed skydiving, a David Copperfield show and baby shopping but none were correct, "We're here."

I let the valet open the door for Anna and handed him a tip, "Thanks." When I got to the passenger's side of my truck, Anna was staring up at the hotel, "Any guesses so far?"

"Nicky, I'm already pregnant. Though a romantic night alone with my husband does sound good."

"That's later on." I smiled as I led Anna through the hotel and back to where the entrance to the Emporio D'Gondola, "I hope you don't get seasick."

"A gondola ride?"

"Why not? I've always wanted to go on one and I figured now would be the perfect time." I checked us in and led Anna to a bench on the outside of the hotel to wait our turn. One other couple was in front of me and it looked like they were about to get married. "Remember how I suggested this for an idea when we were trying to decide on a venue for our wedding?"

"Yeah. I also remember telling you Bryan and Cathy would have to swim behind us for the ceremony since only two people can fit in the marriage gondola at a time. I'd never hear the end of it."

I took Anna's hand in both of mine, "And my parents would have disowned us." I watched as the young couple in front of us kept looking at each other, oblivious to the fact that life was going on around them. The woman was probably Anna's age but the man was a bit older, with graying hair at his sides. He had his hand on the small of her back and she had her arm looped through his. Wearing nothing but a simple white strapless dress and heels, she looked like the typical bride in Vegas. He was wearing a button down shirt and Dockers and when their turn finally came up, he helped her into the boat and gently sat down beside her, "So sweet."

For a spring day, the outside temperature was perfect. It was just about the same as when we got married. The sun was shining overhead with only a few clouds in the sky. Anna leaned in to me and tightened her hold on my hand as we continued to wait. Finally, they called my name and I helped her up and into the gondola. When I got seated, the gondolier took his place and looked at us, "Welcome aboard the gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel in beautiful Las Vegas." The boat bumped slightly when he shoved off, "My name is Cristiano Bracali and I am a gondolier at the Venetian. For the next half hour, you'll be transported around the grounds of the Venetian with me as your guide. As customary, we'll pass by several bridges and we have a tradition with each one of them."

Anna spoke up, "What's that?"

"In Venice, it's considered good luck to kiss as you go under each one of them."

I smiled, "It's our first wedding anniversary, so that won't be a problem." Anna took one of my hands in hers as we slowly made our way around the lagoon.

"Congratulazioni!" Cristiano steered the small boat around the lagoon slowly as beautiful Italian music played in the background. People on the street stopped to look at us and waved as we floated by. I paid for both the indoor and the outdoor rides so our ride would be slightly longer than the normal one.

As we were instructed, Anna and I kissed as we passed under each bridge and there were about six bridges. "I love you." I brought Anna's face closer to mine, "So much. You've given me everything and you have no idea how happy I am."

She returned the kiss and laid her head on my chest, "I love you too, Nicky. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

I put my hand across Anna's growing stomach, "I've got a life I never imagined."

When we were finished, Cristiano and I both helped Anna out of the gondola. She thanked him for the ride and took my hand and I led her back upstairs and out towards one of the restaurants inside the Venetian. Canyon Ranch Café was one everyone at work told me to try so since we were planning to be here anyway for not only the gondola ride, but for another surprise after dinner, I figured why not.

The hostess seated us rather quickly. I guess Anna being pregnant sent us to the front of the line for seating. She ordered a strawberry smoothie and a bowl of vegetarian chili and I ordered a burger. I knew Anna was eating light to keep the morning sickness in check, but I was hungry.

I told her I still had one more surprise left, but I was keeping quiet on what it was, "Not telling you. You'll find out when dinner is done."

Anna polished off her soup and smoothie a lot faster than I did my burger, "I'm done. Now tell me."

She had a way of twisting what I said to benefit her at times like this, "Fine. I'll tell you when we're both done."

Pouting ever so slightly, she started to people watch as I finished up. We discussed some more baby names and picking out colors for our nursery. Anna had asked Cathy about using Cody's crib and she said that was fine. "We still need a few more things, but we registered for a lot at the baby shower, so I'd like to wait until that's done."

"When's your shower?"

Anna was stirring the last little bit of Cool Whip in the bottom of her glass from her smoothie, "I'm twenty six weeks or about six months along now. Cathy said it's bad luck to have it before then, so it'll be next Saturday. I'm off work and so is Cathy. I think Bryan wants to come get you to play golf or something. He'll be by himself and said something about male bonding time. Catherine stopped by the station the other night and said she sent out the invitations to everyone, including your family. I told her not to bother with mine. I'm not sure who all is coming, but she said she invited a lot of people. I made a strict provision not to have any stupid games like cut the string to fit around my stomach. That's just wrong."

"Why?" I thought Anna looked good pregnant but she was concerned about her weight, "Dr. Lindley said you're fine with your weight and the baby's weight."

"That's not it. I know I'm pregnant and all but I still feel blah."

I left some money on the table for the bill and stood up, taking Anna's hand in mine, "Then I know exactly what will make you feel better. Last part of our anniversary surprise is around this way."

I led Anna out of the Canyon Ranch Café and led her toward Blue Man Theater, "I know you said you wanted to go."

Anna had the same reaction as with the Celtic Woman tickets I got her for her birthday a while back, "You're the best husband ever."

Two hours later, the show was over with and we both were covered in toilet paper and streamers. Anna was picking confetti out of her hair and I had a shirt full of glitter from the air cannons that the Blue Man Group fired during the show. It was a lot of fun and the perfect ending to our day.

A week later, Bryan came by and picked me up on the day of the shower and told me he'd drop Cathy and Anna at Catherine's. I made tee time at one of the golf courses in town and spent the afternoon chasing golf balls with Bryan. Rather than keeping up with strokes, we decided to count lost golf balls and whoever had the most lost golf balls won. Bryan beat me with a score of six lost golf balls to five.

When I got home, the living room was full of baby stuff. Mountains of diapers and wipes were stacked in the couch and in the corner was the box with the stroller I wanted. I smiled knowing my sisters and sister in law pitched in for that with Anna. She wasn't home yet but I could tell she had been. I had bought the paint for the baby's room and went to work painting the room while I waited on Anna to get home. Since we still didn't know what the gender of our baby was, we picked out a light green color with white trim for the doors and molding around the ceilings. I told Anna we could always paint it later if we didn't like it of if we wanted to change it.

By the time Anna and Cathy got home, I had most of the wall coloring done but the trim and the molding needed to be finished. Cathy was helping Anna move the rest of the stuff from the baby shower inside the house and when they were done, Anna started to show me what she got, "Oh, this one is from Catherine. She told me you had to open it."

Anna tossed me a shoebox sized box wrapped in silver paper, "Any clues as to what it was?"

"Nope." Anna was separating piles of diapers into age groups and was lining up the wipes and the shampoos and stuff for the nursery, "She just said that you had to open this one on your own."

I tore into the paper and pulled out a card. The card inside the box read 'Since you don't know the gender of the baby, you get two of them. Love, Catherine and Lindsey' Digging deeper into the tissue paper and confetti, I pulled out two onsies, one in pink and one in blue. Written on the front side was Little Stokes and on the other side was CSI in Training. I held up both onsies and showed Anna, "From Catherine."

"So sweet. We can put both of those in the diaper bag I'm taking to the hospital when the baby's born. Baby can come home in one of those."

"Which one were you planning on using for Thing?" Anna had two diaper bags on the couch, "You've got two."

Anna either didn't hear me or didn't care that I called the baby Thing again. I had taken to calling it Thing as a nickname, mainly to annoy her until we decided on a name, "Actually, I've got three, but I'll be using the green one." She pointed to a green plaid print diaper bag on top of the edge of the couch, "It's got room for my stuff in there as well and I don't want to be one of those mothers that need a valet to bring in my eight suitcases full of stuff."

"Are you nervous yet."

"Terrified." Anna didn't even look up from her sorting, "Absolutely terrified."

"Why?"

She dropped a package of wipes and moved over closer to me, "What do you think? Are we ready?"

"We will be." I kissed Anna and handed her the onsies Catherine got us, "I promise you we will be."

A/N: Gondola ride in Las Vegas just sounds like something Nick would do and it's something I've always wanted to do…with George Eads. =) Please leave a review. It makes me happy when my readers take time out to tell me what they think.

Unless a plot bunny attacks, the next chapter will be the first part of Grave Danger. All of the GD chapters are written out but I need to polish them since I wrote those plus a few of the after chapters as well as the birth of Anna and Nick's baby several months ago.

Expect Grave Danger to cover at least three chapters, if not four, then the after period where Nick starts his recovery to last even longer than that. I hated on CSI where it was Grave Danger one day then a week later, Nick was fine. I know Nick mentioned on CSI he spent "a few weeks" in Texas to recover, but his recovery will take a lot longer and be a lot more in depth, at least in my CSI world.

Look for another chapter of my Facebook CSI story either later this week or early next week.